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NEW SERIES. VOLUME LIV. 


JULY-DECEMBER, 1921 


( 2.6.2 5175) 


Nf 


GARRISON, NEW YORK 
THE SCIENCE PRESS 
1922 


CONTENTS AND INDEX. 


NEW SERIES. VOL. LIV—JULY TO DECEMBER, 1921 


NAMES OF CONTRIBUTORS ARE PRINTED IN SMALL CAPITALS 


Aboriginal Population 
KROEBER, 162. 

Accidents Due to Eye Defects, 324. 

Acoustical Notes, C. K. Weap, 467. 

Acquisitive Instinct, W. D. Jonnston, 662. 

Apams, J. F., and T. F. Manns, Fungi Internal 
of Seed Corn, 385. 

Aerial Observations, of Earthquake Rifts, B. 
WILLIS, 266; of Physiographic Features, D. 
JOHNSON, 435. 

Agar, the Use of, L. S. WEATHERBY, 221. 

Agricultural Research, R. W. THarcuer, 613. 

Agriculture, International Institute of, 86; Cap- 
illary Phenomenon in, J. ALEXANDER, 74; Tilth 
in, L. S. Frierson, 193. 

Alaska, Map of, 456. 

“¢ Albatross,’’ the Steamer, 512. 

Albinism in the Black Bear, P. C. Stanpuey, 74. 

Alcohols, Physiological Action of, O. Kamm, 55. 

ALEXANDER, J., Bechhold’s ‘‘Capillary Phenome- 
non’’ in Agriculture, 74. 

Allen, Joel Asaph, H. EK. Anruony, 391. 

Alsberg, Dr., and the Bureau of Chemistry, 244. 

Ambystoma tigrinum, R. J. GitMorg, 13. 

American, Association for the Advancement of 
Science: Berkeley Meeting, 45; Southwestern 
Division, 352; Toronto, 352, 493, 576, 597, 605, 
623, 625, 641; Booklets, 149; Grants for Re- 
search, 511; Section H—Anthropology, EH. A. 
Hooton, 98; Section C—Chemistry, Chemistry 
in the United States, B. F. Lovenacr, 139; 
Pacific Division, Whose Business Is the Public 
Health, F. P. Gay, 159; Languages North of 
Mexico, A. E. Sapir, 408; Scientific Literature 
for Foreign Countries, H. D. Barker, 250. 

Americanists, International Congress of, A. 
HRDLICKA, 577. 

AntHony, H. E., Joel Asaph Allen, 391. 

Anthropology in Medicine, R. B. Bran, 371. 

Aphid Eggs,, A. C. Baxrr, 133. 

Arca lithodamus Sowerby, C. J. Maury, 516. 

Archives de Biologie, R. A. Buppineton, 603. 

ARTHUR, J. C., Sturtevant’s Notes on Edible 
Plants, 437. 

Artificial Nerve, R. A. SPAETH, 360. 

Astronomical, Meeting at the Potsdam Astronom- 
ical Observatory, 415; Society, American, 
J. STEBBINS, 440. 

Aus, J. C., Physiology and Biochemistry in Medi- 
cine, J. J. R. MacLeod, 577. 

Aurora, of May 14, 1921, A. E. Douctass, 14; 
At the Lowell Observatory, 183; Of September, 
1921, C. F. Brooks, 329; Electrical Effect of 
the, F. Sanrorp, 637. 

Auroral Displays, H. D. Curtis, 301. 


of California, A. L. 


Bascock, E. B., Gregor Mendel and Scientific 
Work at Brunn, 275. 
Bacteria in the Amer. Permian, R. L. Moopim, 194. 


Bacteriology, Dyes for, 224. 

BAEKELAND, L. H., The Engineer; Human and 
Superior Direction of Power, 417. 

Barer, A. C., Embryos of Aphid Eggs, 135. 

Baker, F. C., The Pleistocene, W. H. Dau, 606. 

Bamboo Grove, American, 624. 

Barker, H. D., American Scientific Literature for 
Foreign Countries, 250. 

BartscH, P., Morse on Gasteropods, 379. 

Barus, C., Theories of Natural Selection and 
Electrolysis, 53; Pneumatic Paradox, 155. 

Baxter, G. P., and A. F. Scorr, Atomic Weight 
of Boron, 524. 

Bran, R. B., Anthropology in the Medical Cur- 
riculum, 371. 

Brcerr, A. L., and R. A. Sawyer, Enhanced Line 
Spectra, 305. 

Big Trees, Gift of Nat. Geog. Soc., 43. 

Biologist, Responsibility of the, F. B. SuMNEr, 29. 

Biologie, Archives of, R. A. BuppineTon, 603. 

Biology, Club of the Ohio State University, 243; 
American, 269; in South China, 374. 

BisHop, S. C., The Temple Hili Mastodon, 170. 

Bouton, T. L., The Metric System, 275. 

Boron, Atomic Weight of, G P. Baxtrr and 
A. F. Scort, 524. 

Botany at the Toronto Meeting, R. B. Wyuim, 576. 

BraprorD, 8. C., Liesegang’s Rings, 463. 

Brascu, F. E., Bibliography of Relativity, 303. 

Brivers, C. B., Triploid Intersexes in Drosophila 
melanogaster, 252. 

BrRiMueEy, C. S., N. C. Acad. of Sci., 80. 

British Association, Edinburgh Meeting of, 87; 
Address of the President, T. E. TuHorpr, 231, 
257. 

Brooks, C. F., The Grand Aurora of 1921, 329. 

Bruchmann, Professor H., D. H. CAMPBELL, 67. 

Bryophyllum, The Polar Character of Regenera- 
tion in, J. Lors, 521. 

Buppineton, R. A., Archives de Biologie, 603. 

Butt, A., Polarization of Sound, 202. 

Burmaster, E. R., Chert Pits at Coxackie, 221. 

Burr, F. F., The Teaching of Science, 464. 

Caleulator for Gas-Chain Voltage, P. E. 
KuopstecG, 153. 

California, Acad. of Sci., 1921 Institute of Tech- 
nology, 119. 

CampBeLL, D. H., Professor H. Bruchmann, 67. 

CAMPBELL, W. W., Prof. Newcomb’s Logic, 113. 

Canada, Royal Society of, 229. 

Cannonball Lance Formation, W. D. Martrurw, 
27, 

CARMICHAEL, R. D., National Temperament in 
Scientific Investigations, 54; The Order of 
Nature, 631. 

CastLr, W. S., Blending Inheritance, 96, 223; 
More Linked Genes in Rabbits, 634. 

Ceramic Investigations, 243. 


lv SCIENCE 


Chamberlain, F. Morton, G. D. Hanna, 323. 

CHamBers, R. A., Micro-manipulation Apparatus, 
411; Micro-injection Apparatus, 552. 

Chemical, Laboratory of Cornell University, E. L. 
NicHous, 651; Meeting in New York, 110; 
Soe. Amer., C. L. Parsons, 16, 34, 56, 116, 
135, 138, 174, 203, 226, 254, 351, 441, 471, 525, 
555, 582, 609, 638; Training, Relation of to 
Industry, W. H. Coouiner, 367. 

Chemistry, and Civilization, 218; And the Public, 
251; Bureau of, and Dr. Carl L. Alsberg, 244; 
in War, 302; Industrial and Engineering, Jour- 
nal of, 486; Teaching of, N. H. GORDON; 656. 

Chert Pits at ‘Coxackie, E.R. BURMASTER, 216. 

Chlorine and Mercury, Separation of the Elements 
of, into Isotopes, W. D. HarKINs, 359. 

Choulant on Anatomic Illustrations, F. T. LEwis, 
379. 

Chromosome Relations in Wheat, K. Sax, 413. 

Cuurcy, M. B., and C. THom, Mold Hyphe in 
Sugar and Soil, 470. 

Clarke, J. M., Organic Dependence and Disease, 
C. SCHUCHERT, 550. 

Ciawson, J. W., National Temperament in Scien- 
tific Investigations, 53. 

Coss, N. A., Howardula benigna, 667. 

Coss, P. W., Experimental Differences, 200. 

Coccide of Ceylon, G. F. FErris, 330. 

COCKERELL, T. D. A., Earliest Bees, Wasps and 
Ants, 155; Scientific Literature in Europe, 436; 
Wollaston’s Life of Alfred Newton, 465. 

Comstock, G. C., Extra-Mundane Life, 29. 

Concilium Bibligraphicum, V. KeELuoee, 541. 

Condensation Pump, E. H. Kurta, 608. 

Conrad, H. 8., Vascular Plants, 15. 

Coouipee, W. H., Chemical Training and Indus- 
try, 367. 

Corr, W. W., Expedition for the Study of Hook- 
worm Disease, 595, 

Cost of Printing 
England, 114. 


Scientific Publications in 


CramMpron, G. C., The Irreversibility of Hvolu- 
tion, 92. 

Curtis, Hesrr D., On Sounds and Auroral Dis- 
plays, 301. 


Customs Legislation in England, 132. 


Datu, W. H., The Life of the Pleistocene, A. C. 
Baker, 606. 

Danish Deep-Sea Expedition, 402. 

Darwin, L., Eugenical Societies, 313. 

DavENFort, C. B., Research in Eugenics, 397. 

Davey, W. P., Crystal of Rock Salt, 497. 

DAvIssoN, C., *and C. H. KUNSMAN, The Scatter- 
ing of Electrons by Nickel, 522. 

Degrees, Honorary, at Yale, 10 ; Harvard, 11. 

Dempster, A. J., Ray Analysis of Zine, 516. 

‘“Denudation,’’? ‘‘Erosion,’’? ‘‘Corrosion’’ and 
‘“Corrasion,’’ F. H. Laurr, 13; W. G. Foye, 
130. 

Ditmer, M. E., and E. Gurry, Stains for the 
Mycelium of Molds, 629. 

Discussion and Correspondence, 13, 27, 53, 73, 90, 
113, 130, 152, 170, 193, 221, 248, 274, 300, ’329° 
377, 408, 435, 463, 490, 516, 547, 575, 603, 628, 
662. 

Displacement Method for Obtaining a Soil Solu- 
tion, F. W. Parker, 438. 

Distribution, Curve of, C. H. P. THuRSTON, 223. 


CoNTENTS AND 
InvEX. 


Dolo’s Law, G. C. CRAMPTON, 92. 

Dominick, Bayard, Marquesan Expedition, 571. 

Dorsey, N. E., Radioactive Quantity, 192. 

Doveuass, A. E., Aurora of May 14, 1921, 14. 

Drosophila melanogaster, Elimination of the X- 
chromosome from the egg of, by X-Rays, J. Ww; 
Mavor, 277; ‘Triploid Intersexes in, C. 
BRIDGES, 252. 

Duboseq Colorimeter, F. 8. Hammer, 172. 

Dyes for Bacteriology, 224. 


Earthquake Rifts, B. WILLIS, 266. 

Eclipse Expeditions to Christmas Island, 518. 

Edueation, and Public Health, S. J. Houmes, 503; 
Special Bureau of, 404. 

Educational Conference in Minnesota, 19. 

Ege-laying Habits of Megarhyssa, W. MarRcHAND, 
607. 

Eggs, Premature 
RIDDLE, 664. 

Hinstein’s Equations, H. Kasnur, 304. 

Electric Power Maps, 658. 

Electrical Effect of the Aurora, F. SANFORD, 637. 

Electrochemical Soc., Amer., A. D. SpinnMan, 498. 

Electrolysis, Natural Selection and, C. Barus, 53. 

Electrons, Scattering, by Nickel, C. Davisson 
and C. H. KUNSMAN, 522. 

Engineer, L. H. BarKELAND, 417. 

Engineers, American, in Europe, 70. 

Engineering at Princeton, 49. 

‘¢Hrosion,’’ ‘*Denudation,’’ ‘‘Corrasion’’ and 
*‘Corrosion,’’ FE. H. Lauer, 13; W. G. Poy, 
130. 

Eugenical Societies, L. Darwin, 313. 

Eugenics, Second International Congress of, Ad- 
dress of Welcome, H. F. OsBorn, 311; Research 
in, C. B. Davenport, 397; The American and 
Norwegian Programs, H. F. OsBorn, 482. 

Everest, Mount, Expedition, 429. 

EVERMANN, B. W., Fur Seals of the Farallons, 
547. 

Evermann and Clark on Lake Maxinkuckee, T. L. 
HANKINSON, 75. 

Evolution, Problems in, E. 8. GoopricH, 529. 

Exploration of the Upper Air, 268. 


Obtaining from Birds, O. 


Fair Weather Predictions,, 171. 

Farrcuitp, H. L., Geology, A. W. Grabau, 494. 

Farrand, President, Installation, 405. 

FENNEMAN, N. M., Municipal Observatories, 630. 

FERNALD, M. L., Distribution of Hybrids, 73. 

FErRIs, G. E., The Coccide of Ceylon, 330. 

Field, Herbert Haviland, H. B. Warp, 424. 

Film Photophone, 373. 

Fischer, Louis Albert, C. W. WaIDNER, 123. 

Flies, House, 624. 

Fuinn, A. D., The Technical School and Indus- 
trial Research, 508. 

Forest, Experiment Station, North Carolina, 404; 
A Southern, 487; Experiment Stations, 599, 
Forestry, Educational, 148; Legislation, 188; Sit- 

uation in, J. W. TouMEY, 559. 
Forster, G. F., Bleeding Rabbits, 580. 
Fossil Man from Rhodesia, G. G. *MacCurpy, 577. 
Fossils, Photographing, M. G. MEHL, 358. 
Foyer, W. B., ‘‘Denudation,’’ ‘‘Erosion,’’ ‘‘ Cor- 
rosion’’ and ‘‘Corrasion,’’ 130. 
FRANKLIN, W. 8., Physics Teaching, 475. 
Frierson, L. §., Tilth in Agriculture, 193. 


New Senies, ] 
Vor, LIV. 


Fuucuer, G. S., Scientific Abstracting, 291, 


Fur Seals, B. W. EvERMANN, 547. 


Gacr, S. H., Oil-immersion Objectives, 567. 

Gall Evolution, B. W. Wetus, 301. 

Galvanometer, Living, G. G. Scorr and JosEPH 
TuGaN, 90. 

Gas Chain Caleulator, P. E. Kiopstrc, 153. 

Gay, F. P., Public Health, 159. 

Genetic Factors in Blended Inheritance, W. E. 
CASTLE, 223. 

Geographical Distribution of Hybrids, M. L. 
Fernald, E. C. Jrrrrey, 517. 

Geological Congress Committee, 569. 

Geology, Grabau’s Text-bock of, H. L. TF atr- 
CHILD, 494; as a Profession, H. P. Lirrir, 619. 

German Men of Science, Deaths of, 165. 

Ginmorg, C. W., Sauropod Dinosaur Remains, 274. 

GiuMorE, R. J., Ambystoma tigrinum, 138. 

Giupin, C. J., Country Planning, 131. 

Gladiolus, Disease of, L. McCuutocn, 116. 

Goiter, E. R. Hayuurst, 131. 

GoopricH, E. §., Problems in Evolution, 529. 

Gorpon, N. E., The Teaching of Chemistry as a 
Science, 656; and R. C. Winny, Absorption by 
Soil Colloids, 581. 

Gortner, R. A., Sigma Xi, 363. 

Grabau, A. W., Geology, H. L. Farrcuinp, 494. 

Graphie Analytic Method, R. von Hunn, 334. 

Gregor Mendel and Scientific Work at Brunn, 
E. B. Bascook, 275. 

Grucory, R., The Message of Science, 447. 

Grimes, Earl Jerome, 658. 

Growth, High-Temperature Record for, 
MacDovuaeat, E. B. Workine, 152. 


ED pels 


Hatpane, J. B. S., Linkage in Poultry, 663. 

Hammett, F. 8., The Duboseq Colorimeter, 172. 

Hankinson, T. L., Lake Maxinkuckee, 75. 

Hanna, G. D., Frederick Morton Chamberlain, 
323. 

Harkins, W. D., The Separation of the Elements 
Chlorine and Mercury into Isotopes, 359. 

Harriot, Thomas, 85. 

Harris, J. A.. and H. R. Lewis, Second-year 
Record of Birds, 224. 

Harrow, B., Vitamines, P. G. Stites, 358. 

Harvard, School of Public Health, 188; College 
Observatory, Director of the, 486. 

Haveuwour, F. G., Sporozoan Infection, 249. 

Hayuurst, E. R., Goiter, 131. 

Health, Public, Harvard School of, 188. 

Hermann von Helmholtz, Centenary of the Birth 
of, T. C. MENDENHALL, 163; ‘‘Optik,’’ Hnglish 
Translation of, J. P. C. Southall, 575. 

Henry, A. C., and J. F. McCuenpon, Soil Fer- 
tility and Vitamine Contents of Grain, 469. 
Henry, Joseph, Fund of the National Academy 

of Sciences, 542. 

Hens, Second-year Record of Birds, J. A. Harris 
and H. R. Lewis, 224. 

Hering, C., Electromagnetic Forces, 492. 

Herrick, C. J., Ranson’s Anatomy of the Ner- 
vous System, 409. 

High-Temperature Record for Growth and En- 
duranee, D. T. MacDoucat, E. B. WorkIne, 
152; Altitude Expedition to Peru, 542. 

HULLEBRAND, W. C., S. 8. Voorhees, 484. 

Hormes, S. J., Public Health and Medicine, 503. 


SCIENCE Vv 


Hookworm Disease, Expedition to Study of, W. 
W. Cort, 595. 

Hooton, E. A., Section E—Anthropology, 98. 
Horrizip, J. J., On the Emission and Absorption 
of Oxygen and Air in Ultra-Violet, 553. 
Hospital, Fifth Avenue, of New York, 

Johns Hopkins, Medical Board, 125. 

Host, An Ideal, R. A. Spanru, 377. 

Howagrp, L. O., On Some Presidential Addresses, 
641; The War Against Insects, 646. 

Howardula benigna, N. A. Coss, 667. 

Howse, J. L., Lawrence’s Warbler, 302. 

Hrouicka, A., Congress of Americanists, 577. 

Hunn, R. von, A Graphic Analytic Method, 234. 

Hunan-Yale College of Medicine, 126. 

Hunt, F. L., and M. J. Myers, Cardiac and 
Respiratory Sounds, 359. 

Hunrrr, A. F., The Toronto Meeting, 605. 

Hybrids, Geographic Distribution of, M. L. Frr- 
NALD, 73; H. C. Jerrrey, 517. 

Hydrogen-ion, Concentration of Cultures of Con- 
nective Tissue from Chick Embryos, M. R. 
Lewis and L. D. FrLron, 636; in Soil, C. 
OLSEN, 539. 

Hygiene, Public, Lectures, 459. 


402; 


Illumination, Commission on, 218. 

Impact on Bridges, 625. 

Indexing, Cooperative, of Scientific Literature, 30. 

IncEersouu, L. R., Physical Museum of the Univ. 
of Wis., 548. 

Inheritance Blending, W. E. CastLE, 96, 223. 

Insects, Destructive, P. Poprnau, 113; 
Against, L. O. Howarp, 646. 

Iowa Lake Side Laboratory, 25; Acad. of Sei., 
JAMES H. Lrnzs, 306. 


War 


Jaquers, H. E., Longlived Woodborer, 114. 

Jurvrey, 8. C., Distribution of Hybrids, 517. 

JEFFREYS, H., Secular Perturbations of the Inner 
Plahets, 248. 

Jennings, Herbert Spencer, Celebration, 25. 

JOHNSON, D., Aerial Observations of Physio- 
graphic Features, 435. 

JOHNSON, E. H., The History of Science, 585. 

Johnston, J., Natural History of Fishes, D. 8. 
JORDAN, 92. 

JOHNSTON, W. D., The Acquisitive Instinct, 662. 

JorDAN, D. 8., Johnston’s Natural History of 
Fishes, 93; Latitude and Vertebre, 490. 

Jordan, Dr. W. H., The Retirement of, 270. 


Kamm, O., Physiological Action of Alcohols, 55. 
Kasner, E., Hinstein’s Equations, 304. 
Karsner, H. T., The Teaching of Pathology, 81. 
Keren, W. W., Vivisection, 250. 

Keen’s Surgery, 8. McGuire, 332. 

Kriioce, V., University and Research, 19; Status 
of University Men in Russia, 510; The Con- 
cilium Bibliographieum, 541. 

Kentucky Acad. of Sci., A. M. Prrmr, 156. 

Keyser, ©. J., Nature of Man, 205; Analysis of 
Mind, B. Russell, 518. 

KuopstsG, P. E., Gas Chain Voltage, 153. 

Kuorz, O., Meteorologische Zeitschrift, 663. 

Krorser, A. L., Population of California, 162. 

Kurta, h, H., A Condensation Pump, 608. 


vi SCIENCE 


Ladd, George Trumbull, C. E. SzasHore, 242. 

Lauer, F. H., Use of the Terms ‘‘Erosion,’’ 
‘*Denudation,’’ ‘‘Corrasion’’ and ‘‘Corro- 
sions) 2) 3° 

LAMPLAND, C. O., H. N. RussEeuu, V. M. SLIPHER, 
The Aurora, 183. 

Land Utilization, 375. 

Lane Medical Lectures of Stanford Univ., 460. 

Lanemuir, I., Types of Valence, 59. 

Latitude and Vertebre, D. 8. Jorpan, 490. 

Lawrence’s Warbler, J. L. Howe, 302. 

Ler, H. A., and M. G. Merpaua, Leaf Stripe 
Disease of Sugar Cane in the Philippines, 274. 

Luss, J. H., Iowa Acad. of Sci., 306. 

Lewis, F¥. T., Choulant’s History and _ Bibli- 
ography of Anatomic Illustrations, 379. 

Lewis, M. R., and L. D. Fenton, Connective 
Tissue from Chick Embryos, 636. 

Lewis, W. L., John Harper Long, 48. 

Liesegang’s Rings, Hue MoGuiean, 78; 
BRADFORD, 463. 

Life in Other Worlds, W. D. MartHEw, 239. 

Linpury, J. G., Aurora in Latitude 27° N., 14. 

Linkage in Poultry, J. B. 8. Haupane, 663. 

Linked Genes in Rabbits, W. E. Castur, 634. 

Littie, H. P., Geology as a Profession, 619. 

Livineston, B. E., Toronto Meeting of the Amer. 
Assoe., 597, 623. 

Logs, J., Quantitative Basis of the Polar Charac- 
ter of Regeneration in Bryophyllum, 521. 

Lone, J. A., Microscopie Sections, 330. 

Long, John Harper, W. Ler Lewis, 48. 

Lorentz, Professor, Lectures, 572. 

Lovunacr, B. F., Chemistry in the U. S., 139. 


MacCattum, G. A., Epidemic 
Reptiles, 279. 

McCuenpon, J. F., Vitamine Food-tablets and 
the Food Supply, 409; and A. C. Henry, Soil 
Fertility and Vitamine Contents of Grain, 469. 

McCuiune, ©. E., Zoological Research, 617. 

McCutuocn, L.,Bacterial Disease of Gladiolus, 116 

MacCurpy, G. G., Fossil Man from Rhodesia, 577. 

McGuigan, H., Liesegang’s Rings, 78. 

McGuirg, S., Keen’s Surgery, 332. 

MacLeod, J. J. R., Physiology and Biochemistry 
in Medicine, J. C. Aus, 577. 

Magnetic Susceptibilities, S. R. Win1ams, 339. 

Magneto-optical Effect, E. THomson, 84. 

Man, Nature of, C. J. Krysrr, 205. 

Mange in White Rats, A. H. Surry, 378. 

Manns, T. F., and J. F. Apams, Fungi Internal 
of Seed Corn, 385. 

Mapping the United States, 165. 

Marcuanp, W., Megarhyssa, 607. 

Mastodon, in America, H. F. Osporn, 108; Temple 
Hill, S. C. BisHop, 170; Prehistoric Engraving 
of, J. L. B. Taynor, 357. 

Mathematical Requirements, 295; Gift, G. A. 
Minuer, 456; Soc. Amer., R. G. D. RicHarpson, 
584. 

Mathematics, in Spanish Speaking Countries, 
G. A. Miuurr, 154; Pure, G. A. Minne, 300. 
Matruew, W. D., Cannonball Lance Formation, 

27; Life in Other Worlds, 239. 

Maury, C. J., The Rediscovery and Validity of 
Arca lithodamus Sowerby, 516. 

Mavor, J. W., Elimination of the X-chromosome 
by X-rays, 277. 


8. C. 


Pneumonia in 


be 
CoNTENTS AND 
INDEX. 


Mepatna, M. G., and H. A. Lin, Leaf Stripe 
Disease of Sugar Cane, 274. 

Medicine, Spirit of Investigation in, L. G. Rown- 
TREE, 179. 

Mrut, M. G., Photographing Fossils, 358. 

Meisincrr, C. L., True Mean Temperature, 276. 

Mellon Institute, Director of the, 375. 

Mendelian or Non-Mendelian, G. A. SHULL, 213. 

MENDENHALL, T. C., Hermann von Helmholtz, 163. 

Mental Defectives in England, 403. 

Merriam, J. C., and C. Stock, Pleistocene Verte- 
brates in an Asphalt Deposit in California, 566. 

Metabolism Energy, Law of Surface Area in, 
J. R. Murtin, 196. 

Meteorologische Zeitschrift, O. Kiorz, 663. 

Meteorology and Climatology, Notes on, C. LE R. 
MEISINGER, 276. 

Metrie System, in Japan, Howarp RicHarps, 23; 
English Pronunciation for the, T. L. Botron, 
275; and the National Acad. of Sci., C. D. 
Watcorr, 628. 

Miami Aquarium Association, Laboratory of, 430. 
Micro-manipulation Apparatus, R. CHAMBERS, 
411; Injection Apparatus, R. CHAMBERS, 552. 
Microscopie Sections, Protecting from Injury, 

J. A. Lone, 330. 

Microscopy, Dark-field, Special Oil-immersion Ob- 
jectives, S. H. GacE, 567. 

Minter, G. A., Mathematics in Spanish Speaking 
Countries, 154; Definition of Pure Mathe- 
matics, 300; Mathematical Gift, 456. 

MiuirkAn, R. A., The Significance of Radium, 1. 

Molding Sand Research, 570. 

Moopigr, R. L., Bacteria in the American Permian, 
194; Stensid on Triassic Fishes from Spitz- 
bergen, 578; Advances in Paleopathology, 664. 

Morse, E., Living Gasteropods of New England, 
P. Bartscu, 379. 

Mortality Statistics for 1920, 429. 

Mulford Biological Expedition, 148, 512. 

Municipal Observatories, N. M. Fenneman, 630. 

Muruin, J. R., Energy Metabolism, 196. 

Mycology, Bureau of, 242. 

Myers, M. J., and F. L. Hunt, Experiments on 
Cardiac and Respiratory Sounds, 359. 


National Temperament in Scientific Investiga- 
tions, J. W. CLAwsoN, 53; R. D. CarMICHAEL, 
54, 

Natural Selection and Electrolysis, C. Barus, 53. 

Naturalists, Amer. Soc. of, H. F. OsBorn, 576; 
Toronto Meeting, 460. 

Nature, Order of, R. D. CarMICHAEL, 631. 

NicHois, E. L., Chemical Laboratory of Cornell 
University, 651. 

Nichols, Dr. E. F., and the Presidency of the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 543. 

Nitrogen, Fixed, Production of, 87. 

Norris, H. W., Sharks, 465, 630. 

North, Carolina Acad. of Sci., C. S. Brimury, 80; 
Pacifie Ocean, Map of the, 511. 


OBERLY, E. R., Abstracts of Articles, 491. 
OvrELL, A. F., Sidewalk Mirages, 357. 
OusuHimMA, H., The Sea-urehin, 578. 

Ohio Acad. of Sci., E. L. Ricr, 281. 
Olenellus Fauna, 8. J. ScHOFIELD, 666. 
OLSEN, C., Hydrogen Ions in the Soil, 539. 


New ‘Series, ] 
Vor, LIV. 


Optieal Soc. of Amer., 
351; I. G. Priest, 501. 

Orton, James, Memorial to, 216. 

Ossorn, H. F., The True Mastodon in America, 
108 ; Congress of Eugenics, 311; Eugenics, the 
American and Norwegian Programs, 482 
American Society of Naturalists, 576. 

Oxygen and Air in the Extreme Ultra-Violet, 
J. J. HoprieLp, 553. 


Rochester Meeting, 70, 


Paleopathology, Advances in, R. L. Moopin, 664. 

Parasitism as a Disease, T. Suirny, 99. 

Paris Academy of Sciences, 24. 

Parker, I. W., The Displacement Method, 438. 

; PARKER, G. M., The Ray Society, 517. 

PARSONS, C. ne Amer. Chem. Soce., 16, 34, 56, 116, 
135, 138, 174, 203, 226, 254, 351, 387, ‘441, 471, 
525, 555, 582, 609, 638. 

Patent Office, 599. 

Pathology, The Teaching of, H. T. KarsNner, 81. 

Pawlow, Professor, 296. 

Prtrr, A. M., eee Acad. of Scei., 156. 

Phenomenal Shoot, B. W. WELLS, 13. 

Philosophical Soe., Amer., 336, 363, 389. 

Physical Laboratory, British, 1257; Museum of 
the Univ. of Wisconsin, L. R. INGERSOLL, 548. 

Physies, Problems of, O. W. RicHARDSON, 283; 
Teaching, W. S. FRANKLIN, 283. 

Planets, Secular Perturbations of, H. JEFFREYS, 
248. 

Pleistocene, Vertebrates in an Asphalt Deposit, 
California, J. C. Merriam and C. Stock, 566; 
Life of the, W. H. Dat, 606. 

Pneumatic Paradox in Acoustics, C. Barus, 155. 

Pneumonia Epidemic, G. A. MacCaLLum, 279. 

Polarization of Sound, A. Buuu, 202. 

Poor, C. L., Motion of the Planets and the Rela- 
tivity Theory, 30. 

PorENnog, P., Control of Destructive Insects, 113. 

Population of the German Empire, 324. 

Precision Determination of the Dimensions of the 
Unit Crystal of Rock Salt, W. P. Davey, 497. 

Prisst, I. G., Optical Soc. of Amer., 501. 

Printers’ Strike and ScIENCE, 9. 

Prouty, W. F., Phenomenal Shoot, 170. 

Public Health Association, 326. 


Quotations, 15, 30, 74, 114, 1382, 
251, 302, 331, 378, 493. 


171, 195, 224, 


Rabbits, Bleeding, G. F. Forstrr, 580. 

Racovirza, E. G., Scientific Literature and Ap- 
paratus for Roumania, 249. 

Radioactive Quantity, N. E. Dorsry, 193. 

Radium, Significance of, R. A. Minuikan, 1, 373. 

Ranson’s Anatomy of the Nervous System, C. J. 
Herrick, 409. 

Ray Society, G. H. Parxer, 517. 

REESE, A. M., Venomous Spiders, 382. 

Relativity, Theory, C. L. Poor, 30; Bibliography 
of, F. E. Brascu, 303. 

Research, University and, V. Kettoce, 19; in 
Eugenics, C. B. DAVENPORT, 397; Organization 
for, 487; Spirit of, S. R. WILLIAMS, 538; How 
to do, A. W. Stmon, 549. 

Rice, E. L., Ohio Acad. of Sei., 281 

RicuHarps, H., Jz., Metric System in Japan, 23. 

RicHarpson, O. W., Problems of Physics, 283. 

RicHarpson, R. G. D., Amer. Math. Soe., 416, 584. 


SCIENCE vil 


Riddle, Lincoln Ware, W. J. V. OstTERHouT, R. 
TuHaxter, M. L. FERNALD, 9. 

Riwpie, O., Premature Eggs, 664. 

Roserts, E., Variation of Individual Pigs in 
Economy of Gain, 173. 

Rockefeller, Foundation, 109; Institute for Med- 
ical Research, 49. 

Roosevelt Wild Life Memorial, 166. 

RowntreELz, L. G., The Spirit ‘of Investigation in 
Medicine, 179. 

Royal, Institution, 74; Observatory at the Cape 
of Good Hope, 217; Society Medals, 659; So- 
ciety of Canada, 229. 

Russet, H. L., Testimonial to, 520. 

Russenti, H. N., V. M. SuipHer, C. O. LAMPLAND, 
The Aurora, 183. 

Russell, B., The Analysis of Mind, C. J. Krysmr, 
518. 

Russia, University Men in, V. Krtioae, 510. 


S., Anecdote Concerning Dr. Field, 605. 

SANFORD, F., Electrical Effect of the Aurora, 637. 

Sapir, E., Amer. Languages North of Mexico, 408. 

Sauropod. Dinosaur Remains, C. W. GILMoRE, 274. 

SAvILLE, M. H., Ancient Skeleton in Ecuador, 147. 

Sawyer, R. A., "and A. L. BECKER, Enhanced Line 
Spectra, 305. 

Sax, K., Chromosome Relationships in Wheat, 413. 

ScHOFIELD, S. J., Olenellus Fauna in Southeast- 
ern British Columbia, 666. 

ScHUCHERT, C., Clarké on Organic Dependence 
and Disease, 550. 

ScigncE and the Printers’ Strike, 9. 

Science, Club of the University of Texas, 69; of 
the University of Mississippi, 108; Evolution 
of, and the Place of Sigma Xi, R. A. GorTNER, 
363; Message of, R. Grecory, 447; Specializa- 
tion in Teaching Of; Hp as Burr, 464; History 
of, in American. Colleges, KE. H. JOHNSON, 585. 

Scientific, Events, 9, 24, “48, 68, 85, 108, 125, 148, 
165, 187, 216, 249, 268, 271, "295, 324, 351, 373, 
402, 428, 457, 485, 511, 542, 570, 599, 624; 
Notes and News, 11, 26, 50, 71, 87, 111, 127, 
150, 169, 189, 219, 244, 297, 326, 353, 376, 405, 
431, 461, 488, 514, 545, 573, 601, 626; Litera- 
ture, Indexing, Cost of Printing in England, 
114; Abstracting, G. 8S. FuncHErR, 291; E. R. 
OsBERLY, 491; and Apparatus for Roumania, 
E. G. Racovirza, 248; in European Countries, 
T. D. A. CockERELL, 436; Bureaus of National 
Societies, 544; Journals Published by the Gov- 
ernment, 600; Investigations, National Tem- 
perament in, J. W. CLawson, 53; R. D. Car- 
MICHAEL, 54; Books, 75, 92, 303, 332, 358, 379, 
409, 437, 465, 494, 518, 550, 577, 606, 631. 

Scniaver, W. L., The Zoological Record, 663. 

Scorr, G. G., and JosrpH TuGaAN, Living Gal- 
vanometer, 90. 

SrasHorE, C. E., George Trumbull Ladd, 242. 

Shark and Remora, H. W. Norris, 465. 

Sharks at San Diego, H. W. Norris, 630. 

Shoot, Phenomenal, W. F. Proutry, 170. 

SHuLL, G. A., Mendelian or Non-Mendelian, 213. 

Sidewalk Mirages, A. F. OpELL, 357. 

Sigma Xi, Meeting of Executive Committee, 
Henry B. Warp, 45; Secretaryship of, 572; 
Lectures at Yale University, 488. 

Smon, A. W., How to Do Research, 549. 

Skeleton, Ancient, M. H. Saviie, 147. 


vill 


SLIPHER, V. M., H. N. RUSSELL, C. O. LAMPLAND, 
The Aurora, 183. 

SmirH, A. H., Mange in White Rats, 378. 

SmirH, C. A., Utah Academy of Science, 96. 

SMITH, T., Parasitism as a Disease, 99. 

Smithsonian Institution, 68. 

Social Aspects of Country Ci 
Gitprn, 131. 

Soil Colloids, Absorption by, N. E. Gorpon and R. 
C. WitEy, 581; and the Reason for the Hxis- 
tence of This State of Matter, M. Wuitnry, 
348, 653. 

SouTHALL, J. P. C., Helmholtz’s ‘‘Optik,’’ 575. 

SpaeTH, R. A., An Artificial Nerve, 360; An Ideal 
Host, 377. 

Special Articles, 15, 30, 55, 78, 93, 115, 133, 155, 
172, 196, 224, 252, 277, 303, 334, 359, 385, 411, 
488, 469, 497, 521, 552, 578, 607, 634, 664. 

Specialization in the Teaching of Science, F. F. 
Burr, 464. 

SPILLMAN, A. D., Amer. Electrochem. Soc., 498. 

Sporozoan Infection, F. G. Havenwour, 249. 

Stains for the Mycelium of Molds, M. E. Dirmur 
and H. Grrry, 629. 

Stanpury, P. C., Albinism in the Black Bear, 74. 

Starks, E. C., Inconsistency in Taxonomy, 222. 

Srzpprins, J., Amer. Astronomical Soe., 440. 

Steele Chemical Laboratory of Dartmouth Col- 
lege, 458. 

Stellar Parallaxes, Study of, 9. 

Stensio on Triassic Fishes from Spitzbergen, 578. 

Stings, P. G., Vitamines, B. Harrow, 358. 

Stone, Winthrop Ellsworth, 428. 

STRONG: R. M., Whiteness in Hair and Feathers, 

Sturtevant’s Notes Saint XOb 
ARTHUR, 437. 

Sy uebee Organic Chem. Manufacturers’ Assoc., 

3. 
Sumner, F. B., Responsibility of the Biologist, 39. 


Planning, 


on Edible Plants, 


Taxonomy, E. C. Starxs, 222. 

Tayior, J. L. B., Prehistoric Engraving of a 
Mastodon, 357. 

Technical School and Industrial Research, A. D. 
Furnn, 508. 

Technicians in Industry, 378. 

Temperature, C. LE Roy Mrrsinerr, 276. 

THatcHer, R. W., Agricultural Research, 613. 

THom, C., and M. B. Cuurcu, Mold Hyphe in 
Sugar and Soil, 470. 

THomson, E., Novel Magneto-optical Effect, 84. 

THorPE, T. E., Address of the President of the 
British Association for the Advancement of 
Science, 231, 257. 

Tuurston, C. H. P., Curve of Distribution, 223. 

Tilth in Agriculture, L. S. FRIERSON, 198. 

Tongass National Forest, 166. 


SCIENCE 


ConTtENTS ANB 
Inver. 


Toumey, J. W., State Forestry, 559. 
TuGan, J., and G. Scort, Living Galvanometer, 90. 


University and Educational News, 12, 27, 52, 72, 
90, 113, 129, 152, 192, 220, 247, 273, 300, 329, 
355, 3877, 407, 4385, 463, 490, 516, 575, 603, 628. 

Utah Academy of Science, C. A. SmirH, 96. 


Vaccination for Smallpox in England, 217. 

Valence, Types of, I. LANnemurr, 59. 

Variation of Individual Pigs, HE. Rosrrrs, 173. 

Vaseular Plants, H. S. Conran, 15. 

Venomous Spiders, A. M. RexsE, 382. 

Ventilation, Ozone and, 457. 

Vibrations of a Tuning Fork, P. T. Youne, 604. 

Vitamine Food-Tablets and the Food Supply, 
J. F. McCnienpon, 409. 

Vivisection, W. W. Kren, 250. 

Voorhees, Samuel Stockton, W. F. HinLEBRAND, 
484, 


Waipner, C. W., Louis Albert Fischer, 123. 

Watcort, C. D., Scientific Bureaus of the Gov- 
ernment, 493; The National Academy of Sei- 
ences and the Metric System, 628. 

Warp, Henry B., Executive Committee of Sigma 
Xi, 45; Herbert Haviland Field, 424. 

Wrap, C. K., Acoustical Notes, 467. 

Weather Predictions, 171. 

WEATHERBY, L. §., Agar and the Removal of a 
Swallowed Object, 221. 

Wetts, B. W., A Phenomenal Shoot, 13; Gall 
Evolution, 301. 

WewnricH, D. H., Zoology—Methods of Teaching, 
120. 

Whiteness in Hair, R. M. Srrone, 356. 

Wuirtney, M., Soil Investigations, 348; Origin of 
Soil Colloids, 653. 

WitiiaMs, S. R., Magnetic Susceptibilities, 339; 
The Spirit of Research, 538. 

Wiuuis, B., Earthquake Rifts, 266. 

Wisk, L. E., The Chemistry of Cellulose, 479. 

Wollaston’s Life of Alfred Newton, T. D. A. 
COCKERELL, 465. 

Woodborer, Longlived, H. E. Jaqums, 114. 

Woodward, Henry, 295. 

World’s Supply of Wheat, 268. 

Wvruir, R. B., Botany at the Toronto Meeting, 576. 


Yale University, Honorary Degrees, 10; Forest 
School, 325. 
Youne, Vibrations of Tuning Fork, 604. 


Zine, Positive Ray Analysis, A. J. Dempster, 516. 

Zoological, Record, W. L. ScuatEr, 663; Research 
as a Career, C. E. McCiune, 617. 

Zoologists, Amer. Soc. of, 431, 600. 

Zoology, General, Course in, D. H. WrnricH, 120. 


SC LEN CE: 


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ii ‘SCIENCE—ADVERTISEMENTS 
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SCIENCE 


Frinay, Juty 1, 1921 


The Significance of Radium: Proressor R. 


BANA MULTATSTIRCAN ape yay staan acy a ciohoseee one cuevierenst s 1 


Scientific Events :— 
The Printers’ Strike and Science; Grant 
for the Study of Stellar Parallaxes ; Honor- 


ary Degrees conferred by Yale University; 


Honorary Degrees at Harvard University. . 9 
Scientific Notes and News................. 11 
University and Educational News.......... 12 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Use of the Terms ‘‘Erosion,’’ ‘‘ Denuda- 
tion,’’ ‘‘Corrasion’’ and ‘‘Corrosion’’: Dr. 
Freperic H, Lauer. The Breeding Habits 
of Ambystoma tigrinum: RatpH J. Gi- 
MorRE. A Phenomenal Shoot: B. W. WELLS. 
The Aurora of May 14: Dr. A. E. Doue- 
Lass. The Aurora seen from Sinaloa, Mez- 


ico, in Latitude 27° N.: J. Gary Lixpuey, 13 


Quotations :— 
The Mount Everest Expedition.........., 14 


Special Articles :— 
An Outline for Vascular Plants: PRoressor 


ILENE YS. | CONARD ay eae tee ee ee 15 


The American Chemical Society: Dr. CHARLES 


LGPEARSON Suomi eeee ees, REET Oh 16 


MSS. intended for ‘publication and books, etc.,intended for 
review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. . 


THE SIGNIFICANCE OF RADIUM1 


WE are met to-night to honor a discovery 
and the discoverer, and we are doing it in a 
way which I am sure delights her soul as 
much as it does mine. The custom of man- 
kind, when it would do honor to one who has 
had the good fortune to be of service to his 
fellows, is to make a hundred thousand dollar 
parade, or to fire a hundred thousand dollar 
salute, or, in rarer instances of sounder judg- 
ment, to build a hundred thousand dollar 
monument. Compare that sort of an expendi- 
ture of the fruits of human toil with the glad 
donation which you are making to-night of a 
hundred thousand dollars, not merely for the 
alleviation of suffering and the arrest of dis- 
ease—that is important—but for something 
which is vastly more important and more 
fundamental than that, namely, for the pur- 
pose of making it possible to peer farther into 
the secrets of matter, for upon that vision and 
the control of nature which that vision must 
precede depends the weal or woe of our chil- 
dren and our children’s children for countless 
generations. 

I wish to add a second element of unique- 
ness to this occasion. Knowing Madame 
Curie, as I have had the good fortune to do, 
I am sure that she would not wish me to speak 
a word of fulsome praise or to picture her 
as a superman; she is that because she is a 
woman, but not because she has had the ca- 
pacity and the good fortune to make dis- 
coveries of the first importance. It is a com- 
mon and a pathetic spectacle to see military, 
political, and social leaders who come con- 
spicuously into the public gaze, lose their 
sense of perspective and begin to regard them- 
selves as holding a commission from the Al- 

1 An address delivered at the National Museum, 
Washington, D. C., on the evening of May 25, in 
connection with the presentation of a gram of 
radium to Madame Curie. 


2 SCIENCE 


mighty. I have never known a great scientist 
to make that blunder. And there ought never 
to be one who makes it because the business 
of science is to see things as they are. Madame 
Curie has always remained simple, modest 
and unaffected in the face of the world’s ap- 
plause. That is the highest compliment which 
a fellow scientist can pay her, and the surest 
sign that she is not an ordinary person. 
With that I have paid my tribute of respect 
and honor and admiration to the discoverer. 
Now for the discovery. How did it come 
about? What is it? What is its significance 
immediate? What is its significance remote 
and far-reaching? In order to answer that 
series of questions I wish to begin by disabus- 
ing your minds of the idea, if they harbor it, 
that a discovery in science is an isolated event. 
A science grows in the main as does a planet 
by the process of infinitesimal accretion. 
Practically every experiment in physics is a 
modification of an experiment which has gone 
before. Almost every new theory is built like 
a great medieval cathedral, through the ad- 
dition by many builders of many different ele- 
ments, one adding a little here and another 
a little there so that to the eye of a distant 
observer in the clouds the whole structure 
seems to move forward in a practically con- 
tinuous way. Even when you get close up and 
begin to see the discontinuities, for they are 
there, each experiment in the development of 
a given field of science is found to have a pedi- 
gree just as truly as has a race horse. Man- 
o’-war did not develop his marvelous speed 
in one generation. A dozen sires and dams 
contributed to that result. In precisely the 
same way, when in 1896 Henri Becquerel, pro- 
fessor of physics in the University of Paris, 
discovered the new, extraordinary property 
which certain types of matter were found to 
possess and which was named radio-activity, 
that discovery was sired by one made a year 
before by Roentgen, and Roentgen’s was sired 
by Leonard’s, and Leonard’s by that of Hertz 
in 1886, and Hertz’s by the work of Maxwell, 
and Maxwell’s by that of Faraday in 1831, and 
Faraday’s by that of Oersted in 1819, and Oer- 
sted’s by Volta’s, and Volta’s by Franklin’s, and 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1383 


so on without limit. And the point to which I 
wish to call your attention now is that it is of 
incalculable importance that there should be 
people like those who have given this gramme 
of radium to Madame Curie who have a vision 
that extends, not to this generation only, but 
to the generations that are to come a hundred, 
two hundred years ahead, and who consciously 
set about starting such. a train of scientific 
discovery and progress. 

But for our present purpose I wish to break 
into this chain of scientific development at 
the discovery by Professor Becquerel of this 
extraordinary phenomenon of radio-activity 
made in the physical laboratory in which 
Madame Curie had been studying for some 
years. The discovery itself was really a simple 
thing, as are practically all great discoveries. 
The year before Roentgen had found his X- 
rays, as he called them, which had the pe- 
culiar property of making it possible for one 
to see his own skeleton. That attracted the 
world’s attention and Professor Becquerel was 
endeavoring to see whether rays that would 
penetrate in that fashion could be produced 
from other sources. He naturally took ura- 
nium, because of its fluorescent property, to 
see whether it, under the action of light, 
might perhaps transmute the light waves into 
penetrating waves of the kind Roentgen had 
obtained. What did he find? He tried it in 
the light and he tried it in the dark, and he 
found that it was not necessary to have light 
at all, but that a bit of uranium put away 
in a black paper on top of a photograph plate, 
itself would blacken the plate. In other 
words, there was a property of self-activity in 
that uranium. It emitted rays of some kind 
which would affect a photographic plate and 
discharge an electroscope. The discharge of 
an electroscope, in popular language, is simply 
this: When you comb your hair on a cold 
winter day and it stands out in all directions, 
it is because it becomes electrically charged. 
If now a bit of radioactive substance is held 
above your head, your hair will fall down 
again, 7.e., your electroscope will be discharged. 
The laboratory electroscope is merely a gold- 
leaf which stands out like your hair when it 


JuLy 1, 1921] 


is charged and collapses when it is discharged. 
The electroscope then became the chief agent 
by which radio-activity could be tested, and 
Madame Curie with her husband—for she had 
been married the year before to Pierre Curie, 
professor of chemistry in the University of 
Paris—began: the study of other substances 
than uranium to see how general this new 
property was, and they found that the two 
heaviest elements in nature, uranium and 
thorium alone of the then known elements, 
possessed it, but they also found that the 
natural ore of uranium, which we commonly 
eall pitchblende, and which is more than fifty 
per cent. uranium oxide, although it contains 
many other minerals like barium and lead 
and bismuth—that this pitchblende discharged 
the electroscope approximately four times as 
fast as did pure uranium oxide. This meant, 
as the Curies at once interpreted it, that there 
must be some hidden elements in the pitch- 
blende which had the same radio-active prop- 
erty as uranium but in larger degree. And so 
they began the search to see if they could not 
separate the element which was responsible 
for that activity, and after two or three years 
of arduous work Madame and Monsieur Curie 
were able to announce that, by using the or- 
dinary methods of chemical analysis, by mak- 
ing precipitates and testing the activity both 
of the precipitate and filtrate to see with 
which the activity went and therefore what 
were the chemical properties of the substances 
that had it, they had been able definitely to 
discover the existence of these two new radio- 
active elements of which Dr. Walcott spoke. 
The first of these did not exist in sufficient 
amount so that it could be detected by any 
other properties than its activity. This was 
named polonium, in honor of the land in 
which Madame Curie was born, for her father 
was a professor in the Technische Hochschule 
at Warsaw. This polonium, by the way, has 
been one of our most useful agents in getting 
at the inner properties of the atom, because 
is has the power of emitting one type of ray 
alone and not a mixture of rays as does the 
other and more famous radio-active element 
which the Curies discovered. This other new 


SCIENCE 3 


element they named, appropriately, radium 
because it had a radio-activity a million times, 
weight for weight, that of the pitchblende, 
and three or four million times that of pure 
uranium. 

This is the simple, unadorned tale of the 
discovery of radium, but I am sure you do 
not appreciate the kind of painstaking re- 
search and labor which that simple tale re- 
presents. You may perhaps get a little glimpse 
of what it means—of what a search for a 
needle in a haystack it was—when I say that 
the amount of radium in uranium is one 
part in 3,200,000; or that, in order to get the 
little gram of radium which is being presented 
to Madame Curie to-day it was necessary to 
take 500 tons of Colorado carnotite ore, which 
possesses two per cent. of uranium and _ to 
treat it with 500 tons of chemicals, apart from 
water and coal. So that, you see, the problem 
of bringing to a successful issue that search 
was one that places Madame Curie and her 
husband in the front rank of the world’s 
scientific men and women. 

The Nobel prize for 1903 was awarded 
jointly to Henri Becquerel and Monsieur and 
Madame Curie for their studies in radio- 
activity, and in 1911 the Nobel Prize was 
awarded to Madame Curie alone for isolating 
radium—getting it as a pure metal (in the 
early experiments it was a bromide or chlo- 
ride), and for determining its atomic weight, 
which comes at 226.0. The heaviest element, 
uranium, has an atomic weight of 238, so that 
this is only twelve units lower than that. 

So much for the way in which the discovery 
came about. But what is radio-activity? 
Perhaps I can tell you in as few words as pos- 
sible by this simple statement. This gram 
of radium which you are giving to Madame 
Curie to-day, the volume of which is just that 
which I hold in my hand, and which you can 
see when the room is darkened—that gram of 
radium is continuously shooting off per sec- 
ond 145,000 billion particles which we eall 
alpha particles, and with speeds which reach 
the stupendous value of twelve thousand miles 
per second. Now, when you recall that the 
super-guns which bombarded Paris could not 


4 SCIENCE 


eject a projectile with a speed of more than 
about a mile per second, you see how feeble 
imitations of nature we have as yet been able 
to produce. No band of Mexican bandits 
running amuck on a Texas town can compare 
for a moment with a colony of radium atoms 
which perpetually bombard their neighbors 
with broadsides having muzzle velocities of 
12,000 miles per second. Not only that; these 
atoms of radium have lighter ordnance also. 
They shoot off in addition each second 71,000 
billion particles that are one eight-thousandth 
as heavy as these particles which I have called 
the alpha particles, and which are essentially 
helium atoms. If we call these alpha particles 
the 13-inch guns of the radium atoms, then 
we might say that they have also seventy-five 
millimeter guns which shoot off relatively light 
projectiles. These, however, have a speed 
which is more than ten times as great as that 
of the alpha particles. We call them beta 
rays. They are simply free negative electrons, 
endowed with a speed which is close to the 
speed of light, namely, close to 186,000 miles 
per second. But even that is not all. There 
is still one other type of rays that are being 
given off by this gram of radium. These other 
rays are the wireless waves of the denizens of 
the sub-microscopic world. They are ether 
waves just like light or just like wireless 
waves, except that the vibration frequency— 
the number of oscillations per second which 
the electronic inhabitants of the atom send 
off—amounts to thirty billion billions per 
second. These are the so-called gamma rays. 

Now as to penetrating powers. The alpha 
rays or helium atoms, shoot right through the 
walls of a thin glass tube just as though there 
were no wall there at all, and that, in itself, 
has thrown new light on the structure of mat- 
ter. It has shown us that the atom is itself an 
existence which is mostly empty space. It 
is like a miniature solar system through which 
it is entirely possible for a new satellite or 
planet to shoot without meeting anything. 
One of these alpha particles shoots on through 
hundreds of thousands of atoms before it is 
brought to rest. It goes through seven centi- 
meters of air which is of the order of a third 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1383 


of a foot. That is as far as the heavy projec- 
tiles which are shot off from the radium atoms 
can go. The lighter ordnance shoots a hun- 
dred times as far and the gamma rays are a 
hundred times more penetrating still. I have 
thought you would be interested in actually 
seeing for yourselves the effects of these rays. 
I shall show first the effect of the gamma rays 
because, being those that are used in thera- 
peutics, they are the ones you are most likely to 
be interested in. The gamma rays are simply 
ether radiations of very short wave-length, and 
whenever they pass through the atoms of mat- 
ter they have the extraordinary power of 
ejecting with great speed from these atoms the 
electrons which are contained within them. 
And when these electrons pass in turn 
through other atoms they knock new electrons 
out of these atoms and thus put many of 
them into a condition in which they can make 
new combinations more readily than when 
they are not thus “zonized.” Now there can 
searcely be any doubt that the therapeutic 
effects of radium are simply due to the fact 
that these ionized atoms have been put into 
a condition to make new chemical unions, 
i.e., to produce new substances which are de- 
structive of the normal tissues as well as of 
the cells of the disease which it is desired to 
destroy. But in some instances, at least, the 
disease is more susceptible than are the nor- 
mal cells and consequently it becomes pos- 
sible to arrest the growth of those disease cells. 
As a matter of fact, so far as the therapeutic 
effects of radium are concerned, the doctors 
who are in charge of the radium institutes 
will all tell you that you must not regard 
radio-active treatment as a cure for cancer. 
The only cure for cancer—the only certain 
cure—is surgical. Nevertheless, the effects of 
radium rays are to retard the growth of the 
malignant tumors and therefore to prolong 
life, so that, even in the case of cancers 
which are not capable of being operated upon 
—deep-seated concers—life can often be pro- 
longed several years by radium treatment. 
The medical specialists will also tell you 
that there are certain types of superficial tu- 
mors and skin diseases which can be perma- 


’ Juny 1, 1921] 


nently and effectively cured, so that this kind 
of treatment has already been of sufficient use 
in therapy so that all who are familiar with it 
are at one in believing that it is highly desir- 
able to introduce in all large centers of pop- 
ulation these radium and X-ray hospitals of 
the kind which exist in Boston, New York, 
Chicago, Buffalo, Los Angeles, and several 
other cities, and which Paris is now to have 
because of the gift which you are making to 
Madame Curie. 

The electroscope which by looking at the in- 
verted image upon the screen you now see 
discharging rapidly under the influence of 
the gamma rays from the radium, is exposed 
only to the rays which have passed through 
more than a half inch of lead; for the ra- 
dium is completely enclosed in lead walls 
of that thickness. This gives you some 
jdea of the marvelous penetrating power of 
these gamma rays. I now wish to show you 
some of Dr. C. T. R. Wilson’s photographs of 
the actual tracks of the alpha, beta and gamma 
rays through air. After seeing these straight 
line tracks of the alpha and beta rays you 
will not doubt that radium is actually shoot- 
ing off big and little projectiles of the kind I 
told you about. The wiggly, snaky tracks 
due to the gamma and X-rays are perhaps 
even more interesting and enable you to visu- 
alize somewhat what goes on in your body 
when you are taking X-ray treatment. Can 
you now wonder that these rays tend to destroy 
the tissues and to produce burns? =r 

Now a word as to the significance of this 
radio-active process. The therapeutic signifi- 
cance I have already referred to, but from my 
point of view the insight which radium gives 
into the nature of matter is of vastly more im- 
portance than any possible effeets it has in the 
cure of disease or in the alleviation of pain. 
Twenty-five years ago if we had been told that 
any kind of matter possessed the property of 
throwing out projectiles with these enormous 
speeds we would have said “ impossible.” But 
not only in the enormity of the speeds of these 
projectiles is radium astonishing and revolu- 
tionary. There is something sublime about its 
ceaseless, unaltering and apparently unalter- 


SCIENCE 5 


able activity, its complete indifference to in- 
tense heat or to extreme cold, to electrical or to 
chemical treatment of any kind. It is a 
property of the atom itself which we can not 
at present control in any way. 

But the third effect of this discovery is 
more important still, for what does it show 
that matter is doing? These alpha particles 
which are being shot off are portions of the 
atom of uranium or of the atom of radium 
and the thing which is left after the ejection of 
the alpha particle from an atom of uranium 
is no longer uranium. Its chemical and phys- 
ical properties have entirely changed. The 
uranium atom in shooting off one of these 
alpha particles is thereby transmuting itself 
into another element. When it has shot off 
three alpha particles it has transmuted itself 
into radium, and when it has shot off five more 
it has transmuted itself into lead. We have 
seen in the laboratory the growth of lead out 
of uranium, and have followed the whole chain 
of transmutation of elements through this 
radio-active process. This necessitates a con- 
ception of the nature of matter which was ab- 
solutely foreign to our thinking in the nine- 
teeenth century, and it is revolutionary in its 
significance. It means that these “eternal ” 
elements—this radium and this uranium which 
we have here—are not eternal at all. The 
average life of the atoms of this radium is 
just 2,500 years, and after that time the aver- 
age atom will have disappeared as radium, 
and if the world’s supply of radium has not 
then mostly disappeared it will be because 
new radium is being produced all the time 
out of uranium. But uranium is the heaviest 
element we know of, and what is happening 
to it? It too is disappearing. But whence 
came it? It is true that the aveyage fife of the 
uranium atom is approximately eight billion 
years, so that when you go back so far as 
that, you may be inclined to say that it doesn’t 
make much difference to this particular Re- 
publican administration where it did come 
from. Ah, but wait! In your thinking you 
have been forced to admit for the first time 
in history not only the possibility but the 
fact of the growth and decay of the elements 


6 : SCIENCE 


of matter. With radium and with uranium 
we do not see anything but the decay. And 
yet somewhere, somehow, it is almost certain 
that these elements must be continually form- 
ing. They are probably being put together 
now somewhere in the laboratories of the 
stars. That is still something of a guess, 
it is true, and yet the spectra of the nebule 
show that they contain only the lighter ele- 
ments. Can we ever learn to control the 
process? Why not? Only research ean tell. 
What is it worth to try it? A million dol- 
lars? A hundred million? A billion? It 
would be worth that much if it failed, for you 
could count on more than that amount in 
by-products. And if it sueceeded—a new 
world for man! But what have we got al- 
ready through the discovery of radio-activity ? 
An immensely stimulating new conception of 
the universe and of the way matter is be- 
having. 

Next the significance of radium with re- 
spect to the question of the availability of en- 
‘ergy. The amount of heat given off from one 
gram of radium in disintegrating into lead is 
300,000 times as much as the amount of heat 
given off in the burning of one gram of coal. 
There is, then, in the radium a supply of 
sub-atomie energy, and this raises the ques- 
tion as to whether such energy exists locked up 
in other atoms and as to whether there is any 
possible way we can get at it? Do not be too 
sanguine about it as far as radium is con- 
cerned, because if all the radium at present in 
the world were set to work, although it is 
300,000 times as potent as coal per gram in 
giving off energy, it would not suffice to keep 
the corner popcorn man’s outfit going. It 
does not exist in sufficient quantity. 

But what has its discovery done then in the 
field of energy? It has opened our eyes to the 
fact that certain kinds of matter certainly 
possess these stores of energy and it is almost 
a foregone conclusion that similar stores are 
also possessed by the atoms which we have not 
yet found to be changing—which are not 
yadio-active. The astronomer has for years 
been completely puzzled to account for enor- 
mous amounts of energy which the sun and 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1383 


He has not been able to find its 
It is impossible that the sun is 
simply a hot body cooling off, because we 
have evidence that it has lived longer than it 
could have lived if that were the case. The 
astronomer has now, however, seized upon 
the facts of radio-activity and surmises that 
these sub-atomic energies may be the source 
of the sun’s radiation. If so the supplies are 
not so limited as we thought. 

Look now at another side of this same prob- 
lem. I am thinking particularly of the work 
of Professor Joly and Lord Rayleigh, who 
have made measurements of the amount of 
radio-activity of the ordinary surface rocks. 
Professor Joly has computed that if there are 
two parts of radio-active material for every 
million million parts of other matter through- 
out the whole volume of the earth, and 
this is considerably less than he has found on 
the average in the earth’s crust, then this 
earth, instead of cooling off, is actually now 
heating up; so that in a hundred million years 
the temperature of its core will have risen 
through 1,800 degrees centigrade. That is a 
temperature which will melt almost all of our 
ordinary substances. What does it mean? It 
means that the life history of our planet is 
perhaps not at all what we have heretofore 
thought that it was. It means that a planet 
that seems to be dead, as this our earth seems 
to be, may, a few eons hence, be a luminous 
body, and that it may go through periods of 
expansion when it radiates enormously, and 
then of contraction when it becomes like our 
present earth, a body which is a heat insulator 
and holds in its interior the energy given off 
by radio-active processes, until another period 
of luminosity ensues. What I am now point- 
ing out is the growth in our conception of the 
world, the growth in the thoughts of men 
that has come out from these studies. Do 
not think that this is not of importance. 
When Galileo discovered the moons of Jupiter 
he was doing just about as useless a thing 
from the standpoint of its immediate appli- 
eability to human relations as he could have 
found to do. And yet what did he actually 
accomplish? He started off the train of 


stars emit. 
source. 


Juy 1, 1921] 


thought, the mode of attack upon physical 
problems which has made this industrial age 
what it is, and therein lies the tremendous sig- 
nificance of a discovery of the kind which we 
are honoring to-night. 

We are so close to this age in which we 
live that we do not see what it means; we do 
not see it in its relation to other centuries. 
And therefore I should like to take you up in 
an Einstein airplane that violates all the re- 
lations of space and time so that you may see 
with me a few spots in geography and in time. 
Suppose we sail first, in the present, to the 
banks of the Tigris or Euphrates and see a 
picture which Professor Breasted drew to 
my attention when he came back from a recent 
mission to the near east. He pictured the in- 
habitants of that region tilling the ground 
with a crooked stick, bringing their hard- 
earned produce to the shores of the river, put- 
ting it on crude rafts which were made from 
the skins of goats and sheep, and paddling it 
laboriously across to the other side. Then he 
threw on the screen a photograph of an an- 
cient Babylonian tablet which showed the in- 
habitants of that region four thousand years 
ago doing exactly the same thing in exactly 
the same way. Four thousand years without 
a bit of progress—each generation simply fol- 
lowing the last in living a miserable existence, 
reproducing its kind and then passing on. 
Leave that! It is a discouraging picture. 

Fly over into India and see this! I heard 
last winter Mr. Sam Higinbotham describe 
the conditions prevailing in that land now, 
where, as he said, millions of men go out into 
the fields in the morning with only a handful 
of grain—all they have to eat for the day; 
work a long day in perpetual hunger and feel 
that they would be perfectly happy if they 
could get all they wanted of such raw grain 
to eat. What wonder that Heaven for these 
men is Nirvana—the escape from existence! 

Now fly over China. To do so, you have 
only to look at the sign in front of this mu- 
seum: “ Millions starving to death in China 
unless they can get help from this western 
world!” Discouraging pictures! What is 
wrong with the world? Fly back to this 


SCIENCE 


a 


country and perhaps the following sights may 
suggest an answer. Circle above the Missis- 
sippi near New Orleans, and contrast what 
you see with the picture on the banks of the 
Tigris. See a train on the Southern Pacific 
Road bearing five hundred tons of produce 
from Texas, pulled upon a great ferry with- 
out even uncoupling the engine. See it in 
fifteen minutes on the other side ready to dis- 
tribute its huge load of food stuffs raised with 
the aid of automatic planters, tractor-plows 
and steam threshers on the broad plains of the 
west, to the millions of inhabitants in the 
eastern half of our country. Or, again, fly 
over the biggest copper mine in the world 
which is near Salt Lake City and look at a 
mountain of two per cent. copper being shov- 
eled away by great steam shovels with com- 
paratively little human labor. See forty 
thousand tons a day of ore pulled in huge 
hundred-ton cars a few miles to the mill. Then 
see one of those huge cars elevated, wheels 
and all with no apparent human assistance, 
sixty feet high, turned slowly over and made 
to dump its load of ore into the mighty mill 
where a great, senseless, iron Cyclops grinds 
it into powder. Then watch the unseen nat- 
ural forces of cohesion and adhesion in the 
flotation process pick out the ore from the 
gangue, without human aid, though controlled 
by human brains, and thus produce from 
sources altogether unusable fifteen years ago, 
the cheapest copper which the world has ever 
seen, the copper with which you are now 
harnessing new water power and building new 
electric railroads across the continent, with 
which famine is made an impossibility in any 
part of these United States. 

Now, what is the most essential and most 
significant element of difference betweeen the 
two pictures which you have seen, the one here, 
the other half way around the earth? In this 
country, where the giant forces of nature have 
been set at work, the cheapest paid laborer 
on a building or in a steel plant, or on a 
farm, got before the war for eight or nine 
hours of labor, and he gets now, more than 
twenty times as much, not merely in money 
but in actual goods to be purchased with his 


8 SCIENCE 


money, as does that man in India or in 
China. In other words, the common, unskilled 
laboring man in America has more than twenty 
slaves, but they are. senseless, iron slaves, each 
of the same effectiveness as a common Indian 
laborer, who are doing his work for him. 
Why? Because Galileo and a few men like 
him a few hundred years ago got the idea that 
it was important to study out how nature 
worked. It is that study which has resulted 
in this modern scientific and industrial age. 
And it is only in the regions of the earth 
where that idea has got started, namely, in 
Western Europe and in this country, where 
the conditions under which the average man 
lives and works have been thus alleviated. 
Note that I say “ have been” not “ are to be.” 
True, they may be immensely more improved 
than they are now. I can see little, immediate, 
practical needs as well as you. But let us not 
yet alight from our airplane. When you 
lok at what has already be done by the ad- 
vance of modern science—by getting an idea 
into a few men’s minds—you begin to see 
that, after all, the important thing in this 
world is not the immediately practicable; the 
important thing is the growth of the human 
mind, the development of a few big ideas. 
Other things come from that, and therein 
lies the far-reaching significance of the ex- 
periments with radium; they have opened our 
eyes to new possibilities; they have given us 
a new conception of the growth and decay of 
the elements, and of the possibility of the hu- 
man control of these processes; they have re- 
vealed the existence of new sources of energy 
which some time we may hope to be able to 
tap, and with the aid of which we may per- 
haps enrich human life in as yet undreamed 
of measure. 


The first step is to see whether it is pos- 
sible by any means at our control, to disinte- 
grate atoms. And we have already found that 
we can do it, and radium has helped us to 
make that discovery. But we have only begun 
on this type of work. Its possibilities are 
untold. 


From my point of view there are two things 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1383 


of immense importance in this world, two 
ideas or beliefs upon which, in the last anal- 
ysis, the weal or woe of the race depends, and 
I am not going to say that belief in the pos- 
sibilities of scientific progress is the most im- 
portant. The most important thing in the 
world is a belief in the reality of moral and 
spiritual values. It was because we lost that 
belief that the world war came, and if we do 
not now find a way to regain and to strengthen 
that belief, then science is of no value. But, 
on the other hand, it is also true that even 
with that belief there is little hope of prog- 
ress except through its twin sister, only sec- 
ond in importance, namely, belief in the spirit 
and the method of Galileo, of Newton, of 
Faraday, and of the other great builders of 
this modern scientific age—this age of the 
understanding and the control of nature, upon 
which let us hope we are just entering. For 
while a starving man may indeed be supremely 
happy, it is certain that he can not be happy 
very long. So long as man is a physical be- 
ing, his spiritual and his physical well-being 
can not be disentangled. No efforts toward 
social readjustments or toward the redistribu- 
tion of wealth have one thousandth as large 
a chance of contributing to human well-being 
as have the efforts of the physicist, the chem- 
ist, and the biologist toward the better under- 
standing and the better control of nature. 

Finally, the most significant thing about 
this evening is the way in which this con- 
tribution to further progress has been made: 
Not through a public grant—that is not the 
method through which the genius of Anglo- 
Saxon civilization has ever expressed itself, 
but rather through private initiative. A large 
group of public-spirited people have, of their 
own free will, decided that they wished to have 
a part in the development of a new chain of 
scientific discovery. It is that spirit and that 
method which has made America what it is, 
and it is in the spread of that sort of intelli- 
gence among one hundred million people that 
our future lies. 


R. A. Minuikan 
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 


JULY 1, 1921] 


LINCOLN WARE RIDDLE 

Tue following minute on the life and ser- 
vices of Professor Riddle was placed upon the 
records of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences 
of Harvard University at the meeting of June 
7, 1921: 

Lineoln Ware Riddle was born in Jamaica Plain, 
Mass., October 17, 1880. He graduated from Har- 
vard in 1902, received the degree of A.M. in 1905, 
and of Ph.D, in 1906, In the same year he be- 
came instructor in botany at Wellesley College. 
He was appointed professor of botany there in 
1917 and held this position for two years, when he 
came to Harvard as assistant professor of erypto- 
gamic botany and associate curator of the erypto- 
gamic herbarium. At the close of his first year 
of service upon our faculty he was attacked by 
the prolonged illness which terminated fatally on 
the 16th of last January. 


The rare enthusiasm and singular devotion which 
he brought to his work were early made manifest. 
As a boy of twelve, at the Roxbury Latin School, 
he declared his purpose to devote his life to botany, 
and henceforth gave himself unreservedly to its 
pursuit. 

At Wellesley he became deeply interested in 
lichens, and devoted himself more and more to the 
study of these plants. He made good use of the 
important lichen herbarium at Wellesley, and of 
the unique collection at Harvard, and in 1913, 
during a year’s leave of absence in Europe, stud- 
ied the collections in Upsala, Helsingfors, Geneva, 
London and Paris, His publications soon made 
him a leading authority on the subject. 

He was constantly handicapped by a frail 
physique, but this did not prevent him from ac- 
complishing important scientific work or from 
taking an active part in the affairs of the com- 
munity. In his relations with his fellows he was 
the soul of honor and loyalty, with a personality 
that drew all men to him. In the elass-room his 
sympathy and friendliness, as well as his clarity 
of style, made his teaching attractive. His de- 
votion to his students was noteworthy and his 
influence great and lasting. 


In the cirele which mourns him his eareful schol- 
arship was widely esteemed by his professional as- 
sociates; he was honored by all for his inspiring 
ideals, and, beyond the lot of most men, he was 
sincerely beloved. 

Winturop J. V. OSTERHOUT, 
ROLAND THAXTER, 
Merrit? L, FERNALD, 


Committee 


SCIENCE 9 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 
THE PRINTERS’ STRIKE AND SCIENCE 

Ir is perhaps desirable to state that, owing 
to the strike of compositors for a forty-four 
hour week, the printers of Science continue 
to bring out the journal under serious diffi- 
culties. They have, for example, been unable 
to page the number of The American Natural- 
ist, which should have appeared on May 1 and 
was in type at that time. Owing to the 
weekly publication of Scmncg, it has been 
given precedence, the composition and make- 
up of the number having been largely done 
by the heads of departments. It has, how- 


‘ever, been necessary to reduce the size of the 


numbers and to limit the amount of composi- 
tion as closely as possible. Nearly all adver- 
tisers have cooperated with the publication 
department in using copy already in type and 
limiting as far as possible new composition. 
It may again be noted that the strike is 
nation-wide, affecting, in the east at least, the 
printing of most scientific journals. 


GRANT FOR THE STUDY OF STELLAR 
PARALLAXES1 


Tue Advisory Council for Scientific and 
Industrial Research has quite recently granted 
an application made to it to assist in carry- 
ing out a piece of research work relating to 
the determination of the parallaxes of stars 
having a certain type of spectrum. The grant 
has been made to Mr. W. B. Rimmer, who up 
to the present has been employed in spectro- 
scopic researches at the Imperial College of 
Science and Technology under the direction 
of Professor A. Fowler, but will now carry 
out this research at the Norman Bockyer 
Observatory at Salcombe Hill, Sidmouth. 
This observatory was founded by the late Sir 
Norman Lockyer in 1912, and the programme 
of work has been confined strictly to the pho- 
tography of the spectra of stars and their sub- 
sequent classification according to his scheme 
of increasing and decreasing temperatures, 
which has been confirmed in its general fea- 
tures by the more recent work of Russell and 
Hertzsprung on giant and dwarf stars. The 


researches of Professor W. S. Adams have now 
1 From Nature. 


10 SCIENCE 


rendered it possible to differentiate almost at 
a glance between a giant and a dwarf star. 
As a large amount of spectroscopic material 
was available at the Norman Lockyer Ob- 
servatory for the application of Adams’s 
method a trial research was begun. The 
method is based on a connection found by 
Adams to exist between the true brightness of 
a star and the intensity of certain lines in its 
spectrum. These line-intensities were de- 
termined by him by estimation, the plates 
being examined under a spectro-comparator. 
At the Norman Lockyer Observatory the 
method employed is to cover the lines gradu- 
ally with a dark wedge, the position of which 
when a line is obliterated indicates the in- 
tensity of the line. The results of this trial re- 
search have proved very satisfactory, and 
were commented upon very favorably by 
Professor H. N. Russell on the occasion of 
a visit to the observatory. The above grant 
has been awarded to aid the extension of this 
research to all stars of suitable type down 
to declination —10° and of magnitude 6.5 
and brighter. It is very opportune, for the 
staff of the observatory is small, and the work 
could not have been undertaken without such 
additional help. 


HONORARY DEGREES CONFERRED BY YALE 
UNIVERSITY 


Ar the commencement exercises on June 
22 honorary degrees were conferred on several 
men of science. In presenting them Professor 
Phelps spoke as follows: 


Master of Arts 


IsataH BowMAN: formerly assistant professor 
of geography at Yale. Director of the American 
Geographical Society and editor of its Bulletin. 
He has led geological and geographical expeditions 
in South America. In 1917 he received the Gold 
Medal of the Geographical Society in Paris. He 
was the executive head of the house inquiry, being 
chosen for proved fitness. He did valuable work 
on boundaries for the Peace Commission in Paris. 
He is one more illustration of a college professor 
becoming so generally useful that the college is 
unable to keep him, 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1383 


Doctors of Science 


Hmryo Nocucui: distinguished Japanese 
scholar, M.D., Tokyo, 1897. He has made im- 
portant discoveries in the treatment and preven- 
tion of smallpox and yellow fever. He is an hon- 
orary professor of three universities in South 
America; he has been given the Order of Merit 
by the Emperor of Japan. He is a striking ful- 
fillment of the Scripture propheey—‘‘Seest thou 
aman diligent in business? He shall stand before 
kings.’’? Dr. Noguchi has received the order 
of knighthood from three Kings—the Kings of 
Spain, Denmark and Sweden. Perhaps he ap- 
preciates even more than royal honors the ad- 
miration and gratitude of the people. 

MapamMeE Marie Curre: Marie Sklodowska was 
born in Warsaw and has always been a scientist; 
her father was a distinguished professor and her 
husband, Pierre Curie, will never be forgotten. 
She was educated at Warsaw and at Paris, and has 
been professor of radiology at Paris. It is super- 
fluous to mention her discoveries in science, and 
now she has discovered America. She has often 
encountered dangers in scientific experiments, but 
nothing so dangerous as American hospitality; it 
is to be hoped she will not be a woman killed 
with kindness. She is unique. There is only 
one thing rarer than genius, and that is radium. 
She illustrates the combination of both. 


Doctor of Laws 


Sir Rosert JONES: the leading British ortho- 
pedist. One of the many distinguished men con- 
tributed to the world by Wales. Lecturer on 
orthopedic surgery at the University of Liverpool; 
member of many learned societies, author of many 
books, recipient of many degrees to which num- 
ber Yale is proud to add one more. Enormously 
useful during the war. He had charge of the or- 
thopedie work of the British government 1914— 
1918. It is largely owing to him that England 
maintained during the war a position so charac- 
teristically upright. 

JAMES RowLaNpD ANGELL: president-elect of 
Yale. Born in Vermont, a graduate of the Uni- 
versity of Michigan. Professor and acting presi- 
dent of the University of Chicago. Exchange pro- 
fessor at the Sorbonne. At home anywhere and 
everywhere. Son of a great college president and 
ideally prepared to be one himself. Trained in 
scholarly research and in executive duties. A 
teacher of exceptional power. He has a thorough 
understanding of America’s needs in higher edu- 


Juuy 1, 1921] 


cation and profound sympathy with Yale senti- 
ment. A believer in physical and mental develop- 
ment; a scholar and a man. In choosing Dr. 
Angell as president, Yale has gone back to her 
earliest traditions, and, as was the case with her 
first five presidents, has taken a graduate of another 
institution. It was not until 1766 that a Yale 
graduate became president. Instead of having 
been a Yale man, he has spent his life preparing 
to be one. 


HONORARY DEGREES AT HARVARD UNIVER- 
SITY 


Honorary degrees were conferred at the 
commencement of Harvard University on 
June 23 on the men of science given below. 
In conferring these degrees President Lowell 
spoke as follows: 


Master of Science 
CARLOS CHAGAS, of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ‘‘Di- 
rector of the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, preeminent 
in the knowledge of tropical medicine in Brazil, 
discoverer of the nature and cause of the disease 
that bears his name.’’ 


Doctor of Science 

Sm Ropert Jones, of London, England. ‘‘The 
orthopedie surgeon who patiently and silently 
showed the way to restore to usefulness and com- 
fort the cripples of the war.’’ 

GEORGE ELLERY Haug, director of Mt. Wilson 
Observatory at Pasadena, California, ‘‘ Astron- 
omer famous in two worlds, whose spectrohelio- 
graph has recorded light of the sun too strong 
and of the stars too faint for human sight.’’ 

HERBERT CHARLES Morrirr, professor of med- 
icine at the University of California. ‘‘The 
physician who built up for the University of Cali- 
fornia the great medical school of the Pacific 
Coast.’’ 

Doctor of Laws 

James RowLanp ANGELL, new president of Yale 
University, Harvard A.M., 792. ‘‘A man tried in 
many posts, whose reputation has grown with every 
trial; worthy head of a university national in 
its scope, great in its history, great in its ser- 
vices to the nation, and greater still in its destiny.’’ 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 
Princeton Universiry, as well as Yale, Har- 
vard and Columbia, has conferred the doc- 
torate of laws on Dr. James Rowland Angell, 
president of Yale University. 


SCIENCE 11 


Tue degree of doctor of science has been 
conferred by Williams College on Dr. Henry 
Baldwin Ward, head of the department of zo- 
ology in the University of Illinois. 


DarrmMoutH CouLece conferred at its recent 
commencement its doctorate of science on Dr. 
H. P. Talbot, professor of analytical chem- 
istry at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 
nology. 


At the commencement exercises of the New 
York State College for Teachers, Albany, on 
June 20, the honorary degree of doctor of 
pedagogy was conferred on Dr. C. Stuart 
Gager, director of the Brooklyn Botanic 
Garden. Dr. Gager delivered the address on 
June 18 at the unveiling of the bronze tablet 
in memory of students of the State College 
who lost their lives in the war. 


Tue degree of doctor of laws was conferred 
upon Dr. C. H. Mayo at the commencement ex- 
ercises of Northwestern University on June 
15. 


Dr. W. J. Mayo delivered the Henry Jacob 
Bigelow Medalist Address before the Boston 
Surgical Society on June 6, at which time 
he was awarded the Bigelow Gold Medal. The 
Henry Jacob Bigelow trust fund was estab- 
lished in 1916 by Dr. William Sturgis Bige- 
low, of Boston, in memory of his father, the 
income to be used by the Boston Surgical So- 
ciety to award medals for valuable contribu- 
tions to the advancement of surgery in this 
country or in other countries. Dr. Mayo is 
the first recipient of the medal. 


Dean Tuomas F. Honeare, of Northwestern 
University, has been invited by the University 
of Nanking, China, to spend his sabbatical 
year at that institution, lecturing on mathe- 
matical subjects and assisting in the general 
organization of the university. He sails for 
China on August 18 on the Empress of Asia. 


Dr. Marx F. Boyp, professor of bacteriology 
and preventive medicine in the Medical De- 
partment of the University of Texas since 
1917, has resigned to enter the service of the 
International Health Board of the Rockefeller 
Foundation. 


12 SCIENCE 


Dr. Juan Gurreras, formerly director of 
public health of Cuba, has been appointed sec- 
retary of public health and charities. 


Dr. Epwarp B. KruMBHAar, assistant pro- 
fessor of research medicine in the University 
of Pennsylvania, has resigned to become di- 
rector of the pathological laboratory of the 
Philadelphia Hospital. 


Dr. J. F. DiwuinewortH, who, for the past 
four years, has been under engagement with the 
Queensland government, investigating pests 
of sugar cane, is returning with his family to 
their home in Hawaii. For the present his 
address will be University of Hawaii, Hono- 
lulu, T. H. 


THE commencement address at Clark Uni- 
versity was given on June 13 by Dr. John M. 
Clarke. The occasion was the first commence- 
ment under the presidency of Dr. Wallace W. 
Atwood. 


At a public meeting of the British National 
Union of Scientific Workers on May 25, Pro- 
fessor L. Bairstow gave an address on “ The 
administration of scientific work.” 


At the meeting of the Physical Society of 
London on June 10, Sir Ernest Rutherford 
delivered a lecture entitled “ The stability of 
atoms.” 


Sir Napier SHaw gave the Rede lecture of 
the University of Cambridge on June 9 on 
the subject of “ The air and its ways.” 


CoLonEL JoHN HersHeL, F.R.S., formerly 
of the Indian Trigonometrical Survey, died on 
May 31 at the age of eighty-three years. 


Tue death is recorded in Nature of Miss 
Czaplicka, who went from Poland to Oxford 
in 1910 with a scholarship in Summerville Col- 
lege. She has since conducted explorations 
in Siberia and has been lecturer on ethnology 
at Oxford and Bristol. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 


Girts and bequests to Yale University in 
the past year aggregating $1,859,154 were an- 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1383 


nounced at the alumni luncheon by President 
Hadley. Of this amount, $545,729 was from 
the alumni fund, the report of which showed 
more than eight thousand contributors during 
the year. 


Tue California Legislature has appropriated 
$500,000 for building and equipping a new 
physies building for the University of Cali- 
fornia. Work has begun on the plans, and it 
is hoped that the building will be ready for oc- 
cupancy by December, 1922. Liberal provision 
will be made for research, both in space and 
equipment, and ample laboratory aceommoda- 
tions will be provided for the undergraduate 
students, who have more than doubled in num- 
ber during the past two years. 


Mr. Samus, Maruer has given to Western 
Reserve University $500,000 to be used in the 
construction of a building for the medical 
college. 


Mrs. Ransonorr, widow of Dr. Joseph 
Ransohoff, former professor of surgery at the 
Medical College of the University of Cin- 
cinnati, has given $25,000 to this institution 
(not Cornell) toward the endowment fund 
for the establishment of ‘“ The Joseph Ranso- 
hoff Professorship of Surgical Anatomy,” or 
if such is not feasible “to endow the Joseph 
Ransohoff Fellowship of Surgery.” Effort is 
under way at the present time to secure the 
added $125,000 for the total endowment above 
mentioned. 


THE resignation of Dr. Russell H. Chitten- 
den, director of the Sheffield Scientific School 
of Yale University, to take effect at the end of 
the college year has not been accepted by the 
trustees, and has been postponed to July, 1922. 


Proressor Dan T. Gray, of the North Caro- 
lina Experiment Station and Extension Ser- 
vice, has been elected dean of the Agricultural 
College and director of the Experiment Sta- 
tion of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute. 


REcENT appointments in Colorado College 
include A. W. Bray, as assistant professor of 
biology, and James H. C. Smith, as assistant 
professor of chemistry. 


Juny 1, 1921] 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
USE OF THE TERMS “EROSION,” “ DENUDA- 
TION,” ‘“CORRASION ”” AND “ CORROSION ” 
TI am interested in Mr. Bissell’s plea for a 
more precise term, in geological literature, of 
the terms, “ erosion,” “ denudation,” “ corro- 
sion ” and “ corrasion.”” Without entering in- 
to a discussion of the merits of various past 
definitions of these words, may I presume to 

express my own views on this subject? 

“ Erosion” means “ gnawing away,” and is 
properly used to include all natural processes 
which have their origin at the earth’s surface 
and which involve the destruction of rocks at 
or near the earth’s surface. This is the broadest 
term referring to surficial rock destruction. It 
embraces work performed by passive or motion- 
less agents (weathering) and work performed 
by moving agents, such as running water, 
glacial ice, waves, and wind. It may be used 
correctly for rock destruction on the land or 
on the sea floor. Thus, we may speak of ero- 
sion of the sea floor by waves or by submarine 
currents, and of the erosion of rocks, exposed 
on land, by moving ice or by alternate contrac- 
tion and expansion due to heating and cooling, 
ete., ete. While it must connote transporta- 
tion and may connote deposition, it should not 
be used to include these dependent processes. 

“Denudation,” by derivation, refers specifi- 
cally to stripping or laying bare. It is often 
used in the sense of natural removal of soil or 
mantle rock from underlying solid rock, or re- 
moval of one rock formation from one lying 
below. It refers to erosional processes which 
are destructional, and like erosion should not 
be used to denote transportation or deposition. 
Almost, if not quite, without exception, “ de- 
nudation” refers to stripping (erosion) only 
on land, whether it is on a small scale or on 
a large scale. 

“ Corrasion”” is mechanical erosion per- 
formed by moving agents such as wear by gla- 
cial ice, by wind, by running water, ete. 

“Corrosion” is most commonly used for 
ehemical erosion, whether accomplished by 
motionless or moving agents. 

I have suggested the foregoing definitions 
always having in mind that the “ rock” eroded 


SCIENCE 13 


may be consolidated or unconsolidated and 
that corrasion is accomplished largely by vir- 
tue of sand, silt, or other rock debris carried 
by the moving agent of erosion. 


Frepertc H. Laure 


DALLAS, TEXAS, 
May 11, 1921 


THE BREEDING HABITS OF AMBYSTOMA 


TIGRINUM 
THE eggs of Ambystoma tigrinum are 
usually described as occurring in small 


clumps. This is typical of the species in the 
eastern part of its range. While collecting in 
Colorado at an altitude between 6,000 and 
7,000 feet, I found eggs of tigrinum laid 
singly. When first laid the egg resembles 
that of Diemictylus. As development con- 
tinues the outer envelope becomes swollen 
until at the time of hatching its diameter is 
one half to three quarters of an inch. The 
eggs are attached to vegetation or debris. 
The depth varies from a few inches to two 
feet. On one occasion adults brought into 
the laboratory laid freely. 


Raupyu J. GinMorE 


CoLoraDOo COLLEGE, 
CoLoraDo SprInes, CoLo. 


A PHENOMENAL SHOOT 


AN extraordinary water-shoot, discovered by 
Mrs. B. W. Wells, near the city of Raleigh, 
N. C., on March 21, 1920, is of such unusual 
size as to deserve recording. The shoot 
sprang from the side of the trunk of a be- 
headed tree of Paulawnia tomentosa (Thunb.) 
Steud. and grew in one season (1919) to the 
length of 19 feet, 5 inches. Twenty inter- 
nodes were formed, the longest of which, 
located a little below the middle of the shoot, 
measures 19 inches in length. The base of 
the shoot is 7.75 inches in circumference and 
9.5 inches in diameter. Braunton in Bailey’s 
Encyclopedia of Horticulture gives 14 feet as 
a maximum length of Paulownia shoots grow- 
ing from the root after winter killing. The 
shoot recently discovered, exceeding this by 
5 feet, 5 inches, is believed to be a record for 


14 SCIENCE 


the tree type of woody plant in the temperate 
zone. B. W. WELLS 


NortH CaroLInA STATE COLLEGE 


THE AURORA OF MAY 14, 10921 


To tHE Epiror or Scrmnce: A very fine 
display of northern lights was observed here on 
Saturday night May 14th to daylight Sunday 
morning. It was first observed at 8:30 P.M. 
and was most conspicuous in extremely bright 
patches here and there in the sky, lasting usu- 
ally not over a minute, with long ares cross- 
ing the northern horizon. It was | slightly 
cloudy, especially overhead and toward the 
northeast, but bright patches of aurora could 
be seen through the clouds. The sky was 
clear in the west and here and there groups of 
fine lines were visible, having always a slant 
of 60 degrees from the horizontal, correspond- 
ing to the dip of the compass at Tucson. 

The colors were a dull white changing to a 
greenish tint in the northerly glows, a bril- 
liant pearly luster in the patches and an oc- 
casional strong red color over large indefinite 
areas. 

The display appeared to become somewhat 
less intense at 10:30 but shortly afterward 
showed renewed activity especially in long 
lines extending over large parts of the sky, 
which was now nearly clear, and all pointing 
toward a vanishing point of perspective situ- 
ated about 30 degrees south of the zenith and 
a little to the west of the meridian, which is 
the direction of our lines of magnetic force 
extending toward the south pole. This van- 
ishing point was very beautiful and was ob- 
served by many people. By one o’clock the 
display had somewhat diminished, but a later 
view at 3:30 showed a perfectly clear sky 
and the ordinary ares crossing the northerly 
horizon with occasional nearly vertical stream- 
ers extending upward. 

This was observed in many other parts of 
Arizona and far exceeds the recollection of 
anything of the sort seen here in forty years. 
I have notes upon four previous occurrences. 
One was seen from Flagstaff, Arizona, in the 
winter of 1894 and 1895. One was reported to 
me on November 5, 1916, and faint displays 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1383 


were seen here on October 9 and December 13, 
1920. This was the first display of northern 
lights for most of the people of this part of the 
country. 

A. E. Dovcnass 


STEWARD OBSERVATORY, 
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 


THE AURORA SEEN FROM SINALOA, MEXICO 
IN LATITUDE 27° N. 

Tue Northern Light display of May 14 was 
very plainly visible from the mesa here—only 
a few miles from the tropics. The Indians 
have been firing the forests to hasten the ad- 
vent of the summer rains, and, when I first 
observed the glow along the sky-line formed 
by the Sierra Madre I thought they were in- 
dulging in their propitiation of the gods on a 
rather larger scale than usual. The glow be- 
gan about eight o’clock and the rays were first 
visible about fifteen minutes later. They were 
white to pale yellow in color, ever changing in 
form, location, and brightness. Many of them 
appeared to reach an east-and-west great circle 
through the zenith, those low down in the 
eastern sky appearing longer. The apparent 
focus was several degrees east of north. 

I had never before witnessed such a display 
and never expected that my first observation 
of the aurora would be from the semi-tropics. 

J. Gary LinpLey 


QUOTATIONS 
THE MOUNT EVEREST EXPEDITION 

THE organization of the expedition is now 
complete, and all the members proceeding 
from England have left for India. The leader 
of the mountain party, Mr. Harold Raeburn, 
sailed from Birkenhead direct for Caleutta 
on March 18. Colonel Howard Bury, chief 
of the expedition, left Marseilles for Bombay 
on April 9, and Mr. G. H. Leigh Mallory, one 
of the young climbers, sailed from London 
direct for Calcutta on the preceding day. Mr. 
A. F. R. Wollaston, surgeon and naturalist, 
left Marseilles for Bombay on April 16, and 
by the same boat Mr. G. H. Bullock, who had 
been selected at the last moment to replace 
Mr. George Finch, who was unfortunately, ow- 
ing to ill-health, unable to take part in the ex- 


Juuy 1, 1921] 


pedition this year. These gentlemen, with 
Dr. Kellas, who is already in India, complete 
the party of six from this country who will 
_ make the reconnaissance, and will, if condi- 
tions are favorable and the reconnaissance has 
clearly revealed the best route, make an at- 
tempt this year to reach a considerable height 
on the mountain. The survey operations will 
be entirely in the hands of the Survey of 
India, and we learn from the surveyor-general 
that Major Morshead and Captain Wheeler 
were under orders to leave Darjeeling about 
April 1 to carry forward a good triangulation 
on to the plateau of Tibet with a view to the 
ultimate determination of the deviations of 
gravity north of the Himalaya, the question 
of the first importance to Indian geodesy. At 
the request of the government of India an 
officer of the Indian Geological Survey will 
also accompany the expedition. The comman- 
der-in-chief in India, Lord Rawlinson, has re- 
sponded very kindly to the request that he 
should assist the expedition by the loan of 
transport, and a letter has been received re- 
cently from the quartermaster-general detail- 
ing orders which have been issued for the selec- 
tion of trained mules and their accompanying 
personnel. The transport train was to have 
assembled at Darjeeling on May 12, and the 
value of this assistance can hardly be over- 
estimated. 

At a recent party at Buckingham Palace 
the president was summoned both by the King 
and Queen to give them the latest news of 
the organization and plans of the expedition, 
and His Majesty has graciously shown his 
kind interest in the project by contributing 
the sum of £100 from the Privy Purse to the 
expedition’s funds. The chief of the expedi- 
tion, Colonel Howard Bury, was received be- 
fore his departure by H.R.H. the Prince of 
Wales, Vice-Patron of the society, who, with 
the Duke of York, spent an hour examining 
the plans of the expedition, and expressed 
his keen interest and good wishes for its suc- 
cess; an expression that was followed almost 
immediately by a generous contribution of 
£50 to the funds of the expedition. 

As a result of the appeals made by the presi- 


SCIENCE 15 


dent of this society and the Alpine Club a sum 
has been collected which is approximately sufli- 
cient for the work of the first season, but leaves 
little reserve. It is, therefore, greatly to be 
desired that all fellows of the society who are 
jealous for the success of the first important 
enterprise undertaken since the war, should, 
if they have not already done so, send sub- 
scriptions according to their means to the 
funds of the expedition—The Geographical 
Journal. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
AN OUTLINE FOR VASCULAR PLANTS? 


Ir an attempt is made to prepare a numbered 
list of the orders and families of flowering 
plants, there should first be some agreement 
on the sequence of the major groups. For ex- 
ample, should the monocots precede or follow 
the dicots? Should gymnosperms and ferns 
be included in the enumeration, as they are 
included in our manuals? Unless these points 
are agreed upon, the enumeration will be pre- 
mature. 

It will first be necessary to bring together 
the work of anatomists, morphologists and 
systematists. A list prepared in this way 
should command the respect of all botanical 
workers, and all might be expected to follow 
the list. If this synthetic view is taken, we 
find the ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms 
forming coordinate groups. And this series 
stands in coordinate relation with the lycopods 
and horse-tails taken together. It remains for 
some authority on taxonomy to embody these 
conclusions in the system. With a view to 
bringing such a system under criticism, we 
offer below a tentative arrangement of the 
larger groups of plants. If some such system 
is adopted—as must ultimately be—we could 
best number the orders and families of each 
class separately. Thus ferns and gymno- 
sperms would have separate numerals from 
those allotted to angiosperms. It is to be 
hoped also that the dicots will’ be given a 
permanent place at the beginning of the 
angiospermic series. The entire series of 
vascular plants would appear thus: 


1Cf. Plant World, 22: 59-70. March, 1919. 


16 SCIENCE 


Lycopsida 
Order 1. Lycopodiales 
2. Equisetales 
Pteropsida 
Class 1. Asperme (Ferns) 
2. Gymnosperme 
3. Angiosperme 
Subclass 1. Dicotyledoner 
Division 1. Archichlamydee 
Order 1. Casuarinales 
Family 1. Casuarinacess 
Division 2. Metachlamyde 
Subclass 2. Monocotyledones 
Order 41. Pandanales 


51. Orchidales 
Family 284. Orehidacee 
Henry 8. Conarp 
GRINNELL, Iowa, 
May 16, 1919 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 
(Continued) 


Studies in fluoride equilibria: I. Calcium boro- 
fluoride: A. F. O. GERMANN and GILBERTA Tor- 
REY. Moissan, in his work with boron trifluoride, 
passed the gas through a tube containing heated 
ealeium fluoride, presumably to free the gas from 
any hydrogen fluoride that might contaminate it. 
Caleium borofluoride, Ca(BF,), is described in the 
literature, and it seemed reasonable to expect the 
formation of a similar compound under the con- 
ditions of Moissan’s work. To determine this, 
weighed samples of calcium fluoride were heated 
for several days at a temperature of 200° C. in 
an atmosphere of pure boron trifluoride under a 
pressure of 430 mm. Absorption took place slowly, 
and until one half molecule of the gas was 
absorbed. Blanks were run to determine the 
amount of absorption by the glass, ete., of the 
reaction tube; this absorption was found to be 
slight. The compound, 2CaF,.BF,, forms by di- 
rect union of the constituent molecules under the 
conditions outlined. 


Chromatic emulsions: Harry N, Houmes and 
Donatp H. Cameron. A ‘‘solution’’ of ordinary 
cellulose nitrate (11 per cent. nitrogen) may be 
somewhat diluted with benzene and then emulsi- 
fied with glycerol. A creamy white emulsion of 
drops of glycerol in the other liquid results. With 
addition.of enough benzene the indices of refrac- 
tion of the two liquids may be made equal, thus 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1383 


securing a transparent emulsion. With the right 
amount of benzene a very beautiful yellow emul- 
sion which is a soft blue by transmitted light is 
produced. The next step up in the ‘‘color chro- 
matie scale’’ is a pink emulsion which transmits 
green light. Next a lavendar emulsion is made 
transmitting yellow light. With still more ben- 
zene a blue-green emulsion is secured with a sun- 
set red glow by transmitted light. The colors are 
explained by the great difference in dispersive 
power of the two liquid phases, transparency 
being fundamentally necessary to let the light 
through. 


Cellulose nitrate as an emulsifying agent: 
Harry N. Houmes and Don H. Cameron. By the 
use of cellulose nitrate. as an emulsifying agent 
emulsions of the ‘‘water-in-oil’’ type may be pre- 
pared. Cellulose esters containing about 11 per 
cent. nitrogen are most suitable. ‘‘ Water-in-oil’’ 
emulsions are far less stable than the more usual 
“oil-in-water’’ type. To prepare the former such 
emulsifying agents as calcium and magnesium 
soaps, lanolin, carbon and rosin have been used. 
However, cellulose nitrate is far superior to these 
agents in the stability of the emulsions produced 
by its aid. For example, if water be shaken with 
a suspension of cellulose nitrate in amyl acetate 
(2 per cent. is suitable) a good white emulsion of 
drops of water dispersed in amyl acetate is ob- 
tained. Instead of amyl acetate any liquid that 
peptizes (‘‘dissolves’’) the cellulose ester may 
be used provided also the two liquids are im- 
miscible. One of the important factors in the 
formation of this emulsion is the formation of a 
tangible film around each drop. With a very 
large drop the film may be observed under suitable 
conditions. It is probably formed by great ad- 
sorption, to the point of coagulation of the cel- 
lulose nitrate at the liquid interface. 


A theory of the photographic latent image: 
Harris D. HINELINE. The suggested theory con- 
cerns itself with the latent image as distinct from 
the photo-electric effect on the silver halide, and 
as distinet from the print out image. A reaction 
between the dissociation products of the silver 
halide and gelatine which will yield energy enough 
to account for the energy discrepancy pointed out 
by other workers, is suggested. In terms of this 
theory the latent image then consists of a combina- 
tion between the bromine and substituted am- 
monia of the gelatine and the silver and amido 
acid, the amido acid compound being much more 
easily reducible than the bromine compound of 


JULY 1, 1921] 


silver. This theory can account for the failure of 
the reciprocity law, for the shape of the H and D 
curve, for the phenomenon of reversal, and states 
the distinction between the latent image and the 
print-out image. The energy relationships are such 
as to indicate the formation of a considerable pro- 
portion of silver amido acid compound, which 
then becomes the material affected by the de- 
veloper. 


The interaction of platinum hydrogen acid and 
hydrogen peroxide: S. A. Braury and O, V. 
SHarrer, Following the work of Rudnick in 1917 
a study of the preparation of H.PtCl, was made. 
It was found that commercial 3 per cent. H.O, 
acted only very slowly on ignited platinum black, 
and on platinum sponge did not give H.PtCl, suit- 
able for accurate analytical work. By concen- 
trating to about 30 per cent, and redistilling from 
quartz to quartz H,O, was prepared which would 
give acid with a KCl factor of .3045 and suitable 
for accurate KCl determinations. 


Is there a sharp transition point between the 
gel and sol? EuGrene C. BincHaM. The viscom- 
eter gives a satisfactory method for distinguish- 
ing sharply between a liquid and a solid. Under 
the influence of a small shearing stress a liquid 
is continuously deformed, whereas a solid is not. 
The fluidities of a 10 per cent. gelatine so] in 
glycerol-water mixture of 1.175 sp. gr. caleulated 
from the data of Arisz follow the equation 


¢ = 0.000227 (t — 45.2) 


very closely. This indicates that the fluidity would 
reach the zero value when the temperature becomes 
45.2° C. At this point the substance would be- 
come a solid and there would appear to be a sharp 
transition point between the two states. 

The validity of the additive fluidity formula: 
EUGENE C. BINGHAM and DELBERT F. Brown. It 
is shown that in many mixtures of inert liquids 
there is a contraction of liquid in mixing. If this 
contraction is multiplied by a constant, which is 
usually about 2,000, one obtains the amount by 
which the observed fluidity differs from the value 
ealeulated on the additive formula. It is evident 
from the above that even in the case of so-called 
inert liquids there is an adjustment of the free 
volume, for which several equations have been pro- 
posed. These give as good agreement as can be 
expected with the data available. 

The emulsion colloids as plastic substances: 
EvuGENE C. BINGHAM and WILLIAM L, Hypen. 
The fluidity-volume concentration curves of sus- 


SCIENCE 17 


pension colloids were found to be linear by Bing- 
ham and Durham, and the zero of fluidity served 
to demarcate between the viscous liquid and plasti¢ 
solid. Nitrocellulose solutions in acetone present 
a new case, differing from all others studied up to 
the present. The fluidity of even very dilute solu- 
tions is not a constant but a function of the 
pressure, The solutions, therefore, act as plastic 
solids even in very dilute solutions. It is found 
to be convenient to measure the plasticity of such 
solutions in the viscometer. This has heretofore 
always been done on the plastometer. 


The properties of cutting fluids: EUGENE C. 
BINGHAM. In cutting metals, fluids are often 
used, sometimes to lower the temperature, often 
to lubricate the surfaces between the tool and the 
chip. But whereas lubrication under the best 
conditions is merely a matter of viscosity, two 
oils of the same viscosity may have the most ex- 
traordinary difference in efficiency. The cutting 
oil par excellence is lard oil and it derives its 
superiority from its high adhesion. Mineral oils 
may have their lubricating efficiency raised by 
the addition of substances having high adhesion. 

The diffusion of hydrogen through silica glass: 
JouHN B. Frercuson and G. A. WILLIAMS. The 
results of a redetermination of the rates at which 
hydrogen will pass through silica glass at tempera- 
tures between 440° and 727° C., and at pressures 
between 0.5 and 1 atmosphere are herein presented. 
The fact that helium will pass through silica glass 
at a much faster rate than does hydrogen has been 
confirmed. 


The atomic weight of nitrogen by the thermal 
decomposition of silver trinitride: Haroup §. 
Booru. In this determination silver trinitride was 
slowly decomposed by heat in a suitable all-glass 
apparatus into silver and nitrogen, the evolved 
nitrogen passed through phosphorus pentoxide to 
absorb the traces of moisture retained in the 
interstices of the silver trinitride, and the nitro- 
gen adsorbed in a charcoal tube immersed in 
liquid air. The method as planned involved no 
corrections except for errors in the weights. Every 
precaution was taken to insure the purity of the 
materials and the accuracy of the method. The 
average of fourteen determinations of the ratio 
3N:Ag gave 14.007 for the atomic weight of 
nitrogen. 


Studies in adsorption from solution: W. A. 
Patrick and D. C. Jones. <A study of adsorption 
in the capillaries of silica gelatine of a large num- 
ber of two component systems has been partially 


18 SCIENCE 


completed. A range of liquids from water up to 
the high petroleums has been investigated. The 
results have been examined in the light of exist- 
ing theories. Qualitatively they appear in agree- 
ment with the Gibbs relation, those substances be- 
ing adsorbed that lower the interfacial tension. 
Qualitatively they can not be represented at all 
by the Freundlich equation. A theory is advanced 
that solubility and the effects of the enormous 
curved surfaces present in the capillary pores are 
the determining factor. 


Summary of study of system ammonia-water: 
W. A. Patrick and B. S. NEuHAuSEN. (1) A 
statie method has been developed for measuring 
the partial pressure of a component which is rela- 
tively very small compared to the partial pressure 
of the second component. (2) This method has 
been used to determine the partial pressures of 
water and ammonia of concentrated ammonia solu- 
tions at 0° C., 20° C., and 40° C., at partial 
pressures of ammonia varying from 1,000 to 4,000 
mm. The partial pressures of the ammonia were 
measured to within 4 to 2 millimeters; and those 
of the water to 0.08 millimeter. (3) The solu- 
bility of ammonia in water was determined at 0° 
C., 20° C., and 40° C., at pressures from 750 to 
3,600 mm. The densities of these solutions were 
also determined. (4) A theory of the nature of 
solution of gases in liquids first advanced by 
Graham has been amplified, and solutions of va- 
rious gases in liquids classified on the basis of some 
of the physical and chemical properties of the 
gas. (5) The formula 

P6\1 
Lig (—) — 
Po/n 


has been found to represent well the solubility 
of ammonia in water at varied temperatures and 
pressures, In this formula V is the volume occu- 
pied by the liquefied gas dissolved per gram of 
water; p is the vapor tension and 6 the surface 
tension of the liquefied gas at the temperature 
while p is the equilibrium gas pressure. The con- 
stant k for ammonia has the value 0.49: and 1/n 
has the value 0.69. 


Heat of wetting of silica gelatine: W. A. Pat- 
RICK and R. C. GRIMM. The amount of heat liber- 
ated when silica gelatine is wetted by a number 
of liquids has been accurately measured in an 
adiabatic calorimeter. The results have been ex- 
amined from the standpoint of the surface ener- 
gies involved. On the assumption that silica gela- 
tine presents a surface that is essentially water, 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1383 


all of the experimental results were capable of 
being brought into agreement with the idea that 
the heat of wetting is essentially a manifestation 
of changes of surface energy. The heat of wetting 
of water between 0° and 4° was found to be 
positive and greater than that at 20°. 


Adsorption by precipitates. IV. Acclimatiza- 
tion: Harry B. WEISER. The amount of electro- 
lyte required to coagulate a colloid is influenced 
by the rate of addition. Since the quantity of 
electrolyte that will cause complete coagulation 
when the addition is rapid will not cause complete 
coagulation when the addition is slow, the colloid 
is said to become acclimatized and the phenom- 
enon is called ‘‘acclimatization.’’ This term is 
amisnomer. The dropwise addition of an electro- 
lyte throughout a prolonged period is accompanied 
by fractional precipitation of the colloid. The ex-. 
cess electrolyte required to precipitate a colloid 
by the slow process is due to removal of precipi- 
tating ions by adsorption of the neutral particles 
during fractional precipitation. The factors which 
determine the excess electrolyte required for a 
given slow rate of addition are: (1) the extent 
to which the colloid undergoes fractional precipi- 
tation; (2) the adsorbing power of the precipi- 
tated colloid; and (3) the adsorbability of the 
precipitating ion. 

The oxidation and luminescence of phosphorus. 
III. The catalytic action of vapors: Harry B. 
WEISER and ALLEN GARRISON. Phosphorus tri- 
oxide is an intermediate product in the complete 
oxidation of phosphorus. The luminescence of 
phosphorus is due to the oxidation of this lower 
oxide. Certain vapors inhibit the oxidation of 
phosphorus and others accelerate the oxidation. 
Such substances are designated as catalysts, but 
they are not catalysts in the ordinary sense in 
which this term is used. The vapors are condensed 
or adsorbed on the charged or uncharged oxidation 
products of phosphorus (R,O, and P.O;). If the 
vapors react with phosphorus trioxide they increase 
the rate of oxidation. If they are inert, they 
prevent further oxidation of phosphorus trioxide 
and also form a cloud near the surface of the 
phosphorus. This cloud approaches nearer and 
nearer the surface as the oxidation becomes less 
energetic and in certain cases may form a pro- 
tecting film that stops the oxidation entirely. 

Critical solution temperatures as criteria of liquid 
purity: D. C. Jonrs. (By title.) 

CuarLes L. Parsons, 
Secretary 


Ao xnsonlan Inor 
LOW Wh 


NEw SERIES SINGLE Copiss, 15 Cts. 
Vou. LIV, No. 1384 Fripay, JULY 8, 1921 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, $6.00 


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MASIUS’ TRANSLATIO 


ROUGIER 
Philosophy And The Ne 


Discussion of The Relativity Theory and The The 


By Louis RouatieEr, Professeur Agrégé De Philosophie, Doctei settres. Au- 
thorized Translation from the Author’s Corrected Tést. By Morton 
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Translator of M. Planck’s ‘‘ Theory of Radiation.” 12mo, xv + 159 Pages. 
Cloth, $1.75 Postpaid. 


The recent remarkable developments of physical theories, especially those 
concerned with relativity and quanta of energy, cannot fail to have far-reaching 
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the new advances in physics in a way which should prove of great interest to 
both philosopher and physicist. The book marks a measurable advance toward 
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Mass. Agricultural College. 8vo. XLII + 959 Pages. Cloth, $4.00 Post- 
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SCIENCE 


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The University and Research: Dr. VERNON 


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The Metric System in Japan: Howarp Ricu- 


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Scientific Events :— 


The Paris Academy of Sciences; The Iowa 
Lake Side Laboratory; The Jennings Anni- 


wversary Celebration ........0. cece eee 24 
Scientific Notes ANGMNEWSiaiia creat ches oe 26 
University and Educational News.......... 27 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
The Cannonball Lance Formation: Dr. W. 
D. MarrHEew. Newcomb on Extra-mundane 


Life: Dr, Grorae C. Comstock.......... 27 


Quotations :— 
Cooperative Indexing of Scientific Litera- 


CULT CMmey en NeR eRe Pare sicGe note ah cVoL ear TN Se foteeere claves lace 30 


Special Articles :— 
The Motions of the Planets and the Rela- 
tivity Theory: Proressor CHARLES LANE 


eu hotepaivelishcVehed elise stot cue ntctcstsceala rca ei ciere rs 30 


The American Chemical Society: Dr. CHARLES 


L. Parsons 


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Hudson, N. Y. 


THE UNIVERSITY AND RESEARCH? 

THE main sources of research in America 
have been, and must continue to be, the uni- 
versities. We have a few first class special 
research institutes; and we have a good many 
laboratories of industrial research and devel- 
opment. There are more of these than is 
popularly known; five hundred, perhaps, count- 
ing many small ones. But their work is di- 
rected more towards the attack of specific prob- 
lems of development in the special industries 
which support them, and less towards the fun- 
damental science that underlies these indus- 
tries. In some of the larger of these industrial 
research laboratories, however, able investi- 
gators are at work and fundamental research 
of a high quality is carried on. But in all 
of the few special institutes and the many 
industrial laboratories taken together the re- 
search output is much less than that which 
comes from the universities. In addition, of 
one thing very important to the maintenance 
of research in the country these special insti- 
tutes and industrial laboratories do almost 
nothing at all. That is the development and 
training of new research workers. This is 
done almost exclusively in the universities 
and colleges. Anything, therefore, which les- 
sens the interest and activities of the uni- 
versities in research, and hence reduces their 
actual output of research and research work- 
ers, is a menace to our national strength and 
well-being. For this strength and well-being 
depend, in a very large measure, on scientific 
research and discovery. 

The conspicuous role played by science in 
the war from its very beginning, and the press- 
ing necessity for solving serious war problems 
involving scientific investigation, brought very 

1A paper read at the educational conference, 
May 13, 1921, held at the University of Minnesota, 
in connection with the inauguration of President 
L, H. Coffman. 


20 SCIENCE 


vividly to the attention of the world the ad- 
vantage to a nation of large scientific re- 
sources, both in equipment and personnel, and 
of being able to mobilize quickly and effectively 
these resources to aid in meeting the great 
emergencies created by war conditions. 

At the beginning of the war Germany re- 
vealed herself far better prepared than any 
other country to take swift advantage of her 
scientific resources. In my interesting con- 
versations in 1915 and 1916 with officers of the 
German General Staff at their great head- 
quarters in occupied France, where I had to 
reside for some months as chief representative 
for occupied France of Mr. Hoover’s relief 
organization, I was much impressed by the re- 
liance placed by these officers on the help 
they were receiving and could always expect 
to receive from Germany’s scientific men. 
When things were going badly on the West 
Front they would say: “ Well, just wait; our 
scientific men will give us something new. 
They are all organized; they are all working; 
they will have something new soon to make 
your eyes stick out.” 

It is familiar history now that Germany’s 
science, brought to the aid of her armies and 
navy, did repeatedly make our eyes stick out, 
and it was necessary before the war could be 
won to meet German’s science with English 
and French and Italian and American sci- 
ence. We and the Allies had to organize sci- 
ence, too, and, with a haste made desperate 
by necessity, it was done. 

Out of the revelations and experiences of 
the war came a great recognition and stimulus 
to the development of science which has re- 
sulted in the setting up by America, and 
several other nations, of new scientific organi- 
zations for the encouragement and support of 
scientific research and its applications by 
methods giving special attention to coopera- 
tive and coordinated work. Such methods in- 
volve an attempt to introduce a certain de- 
gree of organization into scientific investiga- 
tion beyond that heretofore usually attempted. 

The phrase, “ organization of science,” pro- 
duces an unfavorable reaction from some sci- 
entific—and some non-scientific—men. It 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1384 


seems to suggest to them attempts to control 
scientific genius, to dominate scientific en- 
deavor. They say that genius can not be or- 
ganized, that scientific research must, like 
creative art, be left absolutely free from re- 
straint. They ask if Galileo and Darwin and 
Einstein could have done greater things, or 
even the great things they have done, if they 
had been “organized.” The implied answer 
is an emphatic No. And it may be accepted 
as the correct answer. But the question im- 
plies something that is not necessarily implied 
in the phrase “organization of science.” 

I know of no one in the National Research 
Council, nor do I believe there is any one in 
the new Department of Scientific and Indus- 
trial Research in England, or in the Bureau 
des Recherches in Paris, or in the National 
Research Council of Japan, who dreams of 
suggesting the advisability of organizing, or 
in any way interfering with, the individual- 
istic work of scientific genius. What is sug- 
gested as advisable, because it was proved to 
be possible and highly effective in our war- 
time efforts, is to arrange for planned con- 
certed attack on large scientific problems, es- 
pecially such problems as require numerous 
cooperating workers and laboratories repre- 
senting, often, not alone one special field nor 
even one major field or realm of science, but 
several such fields, as chemistry and physics, 
or chemistry and biology, or chemistry and 
physics and biology, or biology, geology and 
engineering, any one of which, and other, com- 
binations, may be involved in the solution of 
large scientific problems affecting the national 
strength and welfare. 

But even the isolated, individual workers 
may profit by the attention and encouragement 
and material support that may be given them 
by a coherent body of scientific men bringing 
to bear their collective influence to ameliorate 
the too often difficult conditions under which 
the isolated scientific investigator has to work, 
and to develop a wider appreciation, and hence 
public recognition and support, of scientific 
research. 

What is the significance to the universities 
of this increased attention and new impetus 


Juty 8, 1921] 


to research? And what is its significance to 
education and its methods? I suggest that 
this matter is so important that it requires a 
new and particular examination of the univer- 
sity and general educational situation as re- 
gards research and training for research. 

The National Research Council has tried to 
become acquainted in some more exact degree 
than could be achieved by a perusal of college 
catalogues, or even an extended question and 
answer correspondence, with the present re- 
search situation in the colleges and universi- 
ties of the country by means of a protracted 
series of personal visits by representatives of 
the council to some of these institutions. Up 
to the present one hundred and forty colleges 
and universities have been thus visited. This 
number includes enough institutions and in- 
stitutions of enough variety to give us a fairly 
clear idea of the status of research and train- 
ing for research in the colleges and universi- 
ties of the land. Some day we may be inclined 
to publish a report or discussion of this situa- 
tion as based on the information derived from 
these friendly visits. 

But, for the moment, we may assume that 
we are all sufficiently informed in general of 
the state of our institutions of higher learn- 
ing and the state of American higher educa- 
tion to warrant me in expressing certain opin- 
ions about the matter of research in the uni- 
versities which your own knowledge will en- 
able you to reject or confirm. 

In the first place university research con- 
fronts a serious difficulty inherent in the very 
make-up and method of the peculiar American 
institution we call university. This institu- 
tion zs a university because it does university 
work. It isn’t a university because it does 
much work that is not university work. To 
house under the same roofs, mix in the same 
laboratories, lecture- and class-rooms, and 
have sitting at the feet of the same instruc- 
tors both preparatory and university students, 
is to produce an educational situation unique 
and very difficult—I should call it impossible 
—of successful carrying on. It is carried on, 
but not too successfully. 

In the second place to give most of the at- 


SCIENCE 21 


tention, energy and money available to this __ 
curious institution to the preparatory. stun, ii} 
dents in it, because there are moré.of them 
than of the advanced students, is ‘to place in 
secondary position the real university 1 tdtest | ea 
and members of this institution. ‘ 

In the third place to give more tention 
and effort, as we really do, to the less capablés I 
the uninterested, the non-attaining students 
than to the more capable, the interested and 
the attaining students, both in preparatory 
and university groups, is a menace to the 
highest usefulness of the institution if it is to 
exercise its true university function, which is 
the development of thinkers and leaders for 
the country. We may all be equal in our right 
to receive a common measure of service from 
the state but we are not all equal in our ca- 
pacity to give service. The state, which is 
simply all of us, needs the benefit of the best 
use of our best brains, and to get it we must 
see that these best brains have the best of 
training. 

In the fourth place to encourage the non- 
intellectual activities of the institution, such 
as its mere expansion in size, its display, its 
prowess in athletics, at the expense of its 
truly intellectual activities and achievements, 
is not grateful to the eyes of believers in the 
great need and importance to the nation of a 
university system of highest standard. 

All these conditions, characteristic of the 
present American university, as I believe all 
you who know our universities intimately will 
admit, are serious difficulties in the way of 
the successful prosecution of research and 
training for research in these institutions. 
And this is true even when we construe re- 
search not in the narrow sense to which a 
growing technical and reverential use of the 
word tends to limit it, but in the most gener- 
ous way in which it is entitled to be used, 
namely, simply as a going on in the quest for 
knowledge from that which is now known to 
that which is now unknown. 

These conditions to which I have just re- 
ferred are not only difficulties in the way of 
the development and achievement of research, 
and specific training for research, as such, but 


22 SCIENCE 


they are difficulties in the way of the highest 
development of the whole intellectual at- 
mosphere and achievement of America. The 
“Failure of the College” about which Profes- 
sor Chapman, of Yale, writes so vigorously in 
a recent number of School and Society, is 
not simply the idle or sensational phrase of a 
sick pessimist but it is a phrase that well ex- 
presses the thoughts of almost all of us and 
that makes almost all of us feel sick as we 
face the facts. Yet we all go on; the colleges 
and universities all go on the usual way, as if 
the whole situation were out of our hands and 
on the lap of the gods for outcome. We act 
as if we were helpless; but that we should 
really admit that we are helpless is incredible. 
It is not American. It is not what we did 
when we faced the enormous problems of war. 
Do we have to have war to be capable? I am 
every day growing more impressed with the 
simplicity of war. War, which is supposed to 
bring complexity, brought us to simplicity and 
directness of thought and action; while peace, 
which should bring simplicity, has brought us 
to a perfect maze of complexity. No thing 
was too bold for us to attempt and achieve 
when we were at war. No thing seems capable 
of direct attack and solution now that we are 
at peace. But that is the sick pessimist again. 
And sick pessimism must not rule us. I am 
sure it will not. It is incredible that in this 
all-important matter of getting our higher ed- 
ucation straightened out right we shall go on 
indefinitely acting as if we were helpless. 
Let the college or university that wishes to 
do the greatest thing just now to be done for 
higher education and true learning in America 
step forward and boldly do the unusual thing. 
Let it devote the most of its energies to the 
most important part of its work. It will soon 
not be alone in its doing. It will become a 
prophet with honor in its own land. 

The National Research Council has recently 
interested itself in an inquiry as to what is 
being done to discover and encourage the stu- 
dents of superior capacity and attainment in 
the colleges and universities. One of its 
representatives has visited, since the first of 
February, about fifty institutions on this 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1384 


quest and for the purpose of friendly sugges- 
tion. He finds a lively appreciation of the 
importance of the matter, but a rather faint 
heart about doing anything about it. 

In an interesting report recently made by 
this visiting representative, Professor George 
W. Stewart, of the University of Iowa, to the 
Council’s Division of Educational Relations, 
certain impressions gained from his visits 
were expressed as follows: 


Although each ambitious teacher is anxious to de- 
velop leadership, yet, on the whole, when judged by 
distribution of time his emphasis in fact is laid on 
helping the mediocre in ability and the deficient 
in attainment. At first consideration, a teacher is 
inelined to deny the accuracy of this statement, 
but the visitor has found that after a brief dis- 
cussion there results a fairly unanimous assent to 
its truth. The individual encouragement of the 
student of ability is one of the delights of the 
professor, but his class-room efforts are of neges- 
sity gauged for the average and the presence of 
the passing mark attracts his attention auto- 
matically and constantly to those of low standing. 
In other words, the routine demands a constant 
interest in others than the most able. 

None of the colleges visited is approximating 
its maximum service in the encouragement of su- 
perior attainment and in the detection and de- 
velopment of superior ability. The methods used by 
any institution have been adopted fortuitously 
rather than as a consequence of a definite sus- 
tained study of the problem. This is to be ex- 
pected since the problem is really every one’s 
business and eoncerted study and action is only 
given spasmodically when some one member has 
a single proposal that can be presented to the 
faculty in a form for action. This is not to be 
regarded as indicating a criticism of the professor 
but rather a weakness in our system. 

Numerous colleges are utilizing mental tests in 
one way and another, but, because of the time 
and hence money required, such an activity is not 
ag widespread as it should be. Obviously such 
tests would be helpful in detecting superior ability. 
The inactivity of other colleges in this matter can 
be accounted for by the fact that no. individual 
has the time to devote to it and the administration 
or the faculty is not adequately informed con- 
cerning mental tests. 


This matter of the utilization of mental 
tests in helping to discover the students of 


JULY 8, 1921] 


superior capacity and hence possibility of 
superior attainment, involves a wider recog- 
nition than now exists of the positive 
use which modern psychologists are more 
and more making, in their development 
of the applications of psychological science, 
of the fact that not only are there such marked 
differences in native intellectual capacity or 
ability among persons as to permit the setting 
up, on a basis of intelligence tests, of such 
categories as idiot, feebleminded, sub-normal, 
average normal, superior and genius, but that 
within the group of so-called mentally normal 
human beings, which includes most college 
students, there still exist rather large differ- 
ences in intellectual capacity. We all know 
this to be a fact, but few of us give it suffi- 
cient attention; few of us give it sufficient im- 
portance as an aid in guiding our practical 
activities. Now the value of the university’s 
product is, as Terman well says, determined 
as much by the original quality of the raw 
material with which it works as it is by salary 
budget, instructional methods or curriculum. 
In an abundantly documented recent paper, 
this active exponent of modern psychology 
reveals the high significance which an analysis 
of the intellectual status of the student body 
of a university might have as a basis for posi- 
tive action by any university determined to 
make the best use of its available resources 
for the advancement of American learning. 
He shows the positive economy in money, 
time and mental energy that could be effected 
by certain radical changes in university ad- 
ministration, and the highly desirable results 
which would come from these changes in the 
way of enabling the university to fulfil its 
highest function in the advancement of learn- 
ing both through teaching and research. And 
only by such fulfilment can the nation make 
the most of its potential mental capacity. 

I seem to have wandered somewhat from the 
particular subject which the title of my paper 
indicates to be especially mine this afternoon. 
But all of the things I have talked about 
have their definite relation to research in the 
universities. Yet one important phase of this 
subject I have alluded to by no more than a 


SCIENCE 23 


fortuitous juxtaposition of words. The rela- 
tion between research and teaching is a sub- 
ject which alone calls for another and longer 
paper than all of this present one, which 
ought to be inflicted on you some time by 
somebody. This is not the time nor am I the 
brutal body to do it. But I can not refrain 
from calling your attention, in my last mo- 
ment with you, to the additional evidence of 
the curious and abnormal character of the in- 
stitution we call university in America, which 
is afforded by the strange and highly injurious 
artificial opposition that has been created be- 
tween research and teaching by the customs 
and methods of American higher education. 
Research and teaching are inseparable from, 
and indispensable to, each other in a real uni- 
versity. An institution which does radically 
separate or oppose them is not a university, 
however good and useful some other thing it 
may be. The University of Minnesota is a 
university because it is an institution which 
recognizes the intimate relationship and co- 
incidence of teaching and research. And we 
may feel assured that under its new president 
it will continue, and with ever-increasing effec- 
tiveness, to fulfil its genuinely university 
function. 


VERNON KELLOGG 
Tur NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 


THE METRIC SYSTEM IN JAPAN 


Tre American Metric Association has re- 
ceived from the Decimal Association of Lon- 
don a brief statement by Dr. C. E. Guillaume, 
director of the International Bureau of 
Weights and Measures, relating to the prog- 
ress of the metric system in the Far East. 
This was written on May 23, 1921, and we 
have had it translated for the information of 
the readers of Scrence. We have received 
from official Japanese sources additional in- 
formation in regard to the Japanese metrio 
law, passed on April 11, 1921, and the pro- 
gram for rendering it effective. 

Practically all readers, of Science will be 
glad to know that the Britten bill, now known 
as H. R. 10, is being endorsed by national 
organizations and has a fair chance of pass- 


24 SCIENCE 


ing. Metric reports are being prepared by the 
United States Chamber of Commerce and the 
National Industrial Conference Board. The 
metric campaign is on in earnest and there 
should and will be no let up until success is 
won for North America. 

The annual meeting of the American 
Metrie Association for 1921 will be held in 
Toronto on December 29. In view of the in- 
portance of the movement in America, we 
hope that a large number of the members of 
the A. A. A. S. will reserve December 29 for 
the program of the American Metrie Associa- 
tion. 

Howarp Ricwarps, JR., 

Secretary, American Metric Association 


The Obligatory Adoption of the Metric System 
by the Empire of Japan 


A telegram from Mr, Shirio Kikkawa, Director 
of the Bureau of Weights and Measures in Tokio, 
brings the news of the passage by the Japanese 
Parliament of the law rendering the employment 
of the metric system obligatory. The importance 
of this event, significant in itself, becomes greater 
in view of the fact that this settles the supremacy 
of the metric system in the Far East and also 
practically in the whole world. In Asia, legisla- 
tive acts have, during the past few years, paved 
the way for a greater use of metric units and the 
governments are now making these acts effective. 
The work is pushed systematically in such a way 
as to assure gradual expausion, thus avoiding mis- 
takes and inconveniences, 

In Japan the metric system became legal on 
January 1, 1893, and at the same time the value 
of the old Japanese units, the shaku and the 
kwan, were fixed respectively at 10/33 of the 
meter and at 15/4 of the kilogram. The divisions 
of these Japanese units were also decimal. Subse- 
quently a series of modifications of this law, and 
the promulgation of regulations, assured the in- 
ereased use of the metric measures leading up to 
the time when their use should become obligatory. 

In China the law of August 29, 1908, has given 
definite values to units which until then were 
variable according to the localities and the trades. 
The ch’ih and the liang have been fixed respec- 
tively as 32 centimeters and 37.301 grams.. The 
metric equivalents are inscribed in the law; and 
the subdivisions of these Chinese units are also 
entirely decimal. 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1384 


The law approved in 1913 by the Parliament of 
Pekin prepares for the complete and obligatory 
adoption of the metric system; a program of 
preparation and partial adoption is annexed to 
this law and leads, after ten years, to the obliga- 
tory use of the metric system. 

Finally, in Siam, a law of 1912 prescribes the 
obligatory use of the metric system with gradual 
expansion from one province to another depending 
on the time required to secure a sufficient number 
of measuring devices and metric standards. 

As can be seen from the preceding paragraphs, 
in all the Far East, the definite adoption of the 
metric system is decided in principle; delays in 
securing the general use of the metric system in 
the Far East can now only postpone it for a few 
years. 

On the other hand, the House of Representatives 
of the United States has before it a bill dated 
April 11, 1921, introduced by Congressman Britten, 
which will render the use of the metric system 
obligatory for commercial transactions 10 years 
after its passage. It is well to note that the ad- 
versaries of the reform have heretofore considered 
it a good argument that the Anglo-Saxon measures 
were Teceived in China, Japan, and Siam, having 
almost the same standing as the local measures. 
The promulgation of the new Japanese law re- 
verses the sense of that argument. 


C. E. Gumiaume 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 
THE PARIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 


Tue Annuaire of the Académie des Sciences 
for 1921 gives as usual a complete list of the 
members, as well as of the foreign associate 
members, the correspondents and the “ aca- 
démiciens libres.”” The annual also gives, as 
it always does, the names and dates of the suc- 
cessive presidents from the foundation of the 
Académie des Sciences, as the First Class of 
the newly organized Institut, on December 27, 
1795, to the present time. At the close is an 
alphabetical “ Index Biographique” of all the 
members and correspondents from 1795 until 
1921. This covers nearly 200 pages (pp. 117- 
314). It mentions a complete list of all the 
prizes founded by or for the Académie. 

The necrology of the Académie for 1920, in- 


cludes the following members: 
M. Armand Gautier, of the Section of Chemis- 


Jury 8, 1921] 


try, died at Cannes, July 27, 1920, in his eighty- 
third year. 

M. Jean Jacques Théophile Schloesing, of the 
Section of Rural Economy, died at Paris, Febru- 
‘ary 8, 1919, in his ninety-fifth year. 

M. Yves Delage, of the Section of Anatomy and 
Zoology, died at Sceaux (dept. Seine) October 7, 
1920, at the age of sixty-six years, 

M. Adolphe Carnot, Académicien Libre, died 
June 21, 1920, in his eighty-first year. It is after 
him that the great radium source, carnotite, has 
been named. 

Of the Foreign Associate Members, the death 
is announced, in Berlin, of 

Simon Schwendener, of Buchs, canton of St. 
Gall, Switzerland. He was born February 10, 
1829, and at the time of his death, May 27, 1920, 
he was in his ninety-first year. 


The following new members were chosen in 
1920: 


Augustin Mesnager, Section of Mechanies, elected 
March 1, 1920, Born in Paris June 11, 1862. 

Léon Lindet, Rural Economy, chosen March 
15, 1920. Born in Paris April 10, 1857, 

Maxime Laubeuf, Section of Industry, elected 
March 22, 1920. Born at Poissy (dept. Seine-et- 
Oise) November 23, 1864. 

Jules Louis Breton, Académicien Libre, elected 
November 29, 1920. Born at Courriéres (dept. 
Pas-de-Calais) April 1, 1872. 

Gans Ke 


THE IOWA LAKE SIDE LABORATORY 


Trustees for the Iowa Lake Side Labora- 
tory at Lake Okoboji are to acquire a majority 
interest in the holdings of the stock company 
which now owns the property. A reorganiza- 
tion of the business control is to be effected, 
and owners of stock will be solicited to sur- 
render their shares to the trustees in order 
that the work of the laboratory may be car- 
ried on in the best manner possible. 

A committee from the University of Iowa 
Association has been authorized to secure 
funds for the repairing and general upkeep of 
the laboratory premises, and an endowment 
fund of $10,000 will be sought for this pur- 
pose. Mrs. F. A. Stromsten, of Iowa City, 
is chairman of the committee, the other mem- 
bers being A. J. Cox and Mrs. Preston C. 


SCIENCE 


25 


Coast, of Iowa City; Dr. F. J. Smith, of Mil- 
ford; and Fred Pownall, of Des Moines. 

President Emeritus Thomas H. Macbride, 
who has been most active in the interests of 
the laboratory ever since it was established, 
has resigned his position on the board of 
trustees. Dr. Macbride has carried practically 
the entire burden of responsibility for the 
financial support of the institution, which has 
attained enviable distinction in recent years 
through the quality of work done there and 
the facilities and resource of material which 
it affords. His place on the board will be 
taken by Walter M. Davis, of Iowa City, who 
becomes custodian of property. Mrs. F. A. 
Stromsten, of Iowa City, was elected to suc- 
ceed Euclid Sanders, of Iowa City, who hag 
been in Europe for some time. W. O. Fink- 
bine, of Des Moines, remains as chairman of 
the board, the other two members being C. F. 
Kuehnle, of Denison, and J. J. McConnell, of 
Cedar Rapids. 


JENNINGS ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION 


At the Harvard Commencement of 1896 
Herbert Spencer Jennings, now Henry Wal- 
ters Professor of Zoology in the Johns Hop- 
kins University, received the Ph.D. in zool- 
ogy. During the present year his students, 
teachers, colleagues, and friends have joined 
in a recognition of the twenty-fifth anniver- 
sary of his doctorate. A committee consisting 
of S. O. Mast, chairman, R. W. Hegner, Ray- 
mond Pearl, and Ruth Stocking Lynch, secre- 
tary, had charge of the arrangements. 

The number of contributors was 135, geo- 
graphically distributed as follows: Baltimore 
31, Washington 9, Philadelphia 9, Northeast 
25, South 8, Middle West 14, Far West 27, 
Canada 1, Germany 5, Holland 1, Switzerland 
1, Japan 1, Philippines 2, Hawaii 1. 

A sufficient sum of money was subscribed 
to carry through the following projects: 

1. A portrait of Professor Jennings, paint- 
ed by the well-known Philadelphia artist, Mr. 
Frank B. A. Linton. This portrait was 
presented to the trustees of the Johns Hopkins 
University by Professor A. O. Lovejoy at the 
Commencement exercises this year, and hung 


26 SCIENCE 


in Gilman Hall, as a permanent memorial of 
the occasion. 

9. An anniversary volume, made up of 
congratulatory letters to Professor Jennings, 
together with photographs of the writers, to 
the end that he personally may have a per- 
manent reminder of the affection and esteem 
in which he is held by his old students and 
colleagues. This volume in quarto format is 
bound in full crushed levant morocco, and 
contains a large number of letters from all 
parts of the world. 

3. A large silver platter presented to Mrs. 
Jennings, as a token of the part she has 
played in her husband’s scientific career, and 
in the lives of his students during their uni- 
versity days. 

4. Photographic copies of the portrait, one 
of which is to be sent to each contributor to 
the celebration. 

On May 28 a subscription dinner was given 
in Professor Jennings’s honor at the Chateau 
in Baltimore. Some 44 persons were in at- 
tendance. Dr. OC. B. Davenport presented a 
remarkably impressive review of Jennings’s 
scientific career and contributions to biology. 
The anniversary volume was presented. In 
replying Professor Jennings gave an analysis, 
at once penetrating and humorous, of the 
manifold advantages of maturity over youth. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Dr. Atexis CarreL, member of the Rocke- 
feller Institute for Medical Research, has been 
elected a national associate of the Paris Acad- 
emy of Medicine. Under the rules of the 
academy there may be only twenty national 
associates, all of whom have heretofore been 
residents of France. 


Dr. Hmeryvo Nocucut, of the Rockefeller In- 
stitute for Medical Research, has received the 
honorary degree of doctor of science from 
Brown University, as well as from Yale Uni- 
versity. Dr. Oswald T. Avery, of the institute, 
received the honorary degree of doctor of sci- 
ence from Colgate University. 


Tuer University of Pennsylvania has con- 
ferred the degree of Doctor of Laws on Dr. 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1384 


Hobart Amory Hare, professor of materia 
medica in Jefferson Medical College. 


Bowporn CoLitece has conferred the degree 
of Doctor of Science on Dr. Preston Kyes, 
professor of preventive medicine in the Uni- 
versity of Chicago. 


Tuer degree of Doctor of Science has been 
conferred by Tufts College on Frank William 
Durkee, professor of chemistry at the college, 
and on William Henry Nichols, chairman of 
the Allied Chemical and Dye Corporation. 


Honorary degrees of Doctor of Science 
were conferred on June 15 by Colorado Col- 
lege on Professor S. L. Goodale, professor of 
metallurgy at the University of Pittsburgh, 
and on Dr. C. A. Hedblom, of the Mayo Foun- 
dation. Both are alumni of the Colorado 
College. 


Dr. Joun A. Koumer, professor of path- 
ology and bacteriology in the graduate school 
of medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, 
and director of the pathologie laboratories of 
the Dermatological Research Institute, re- 
ceived the honorary degree of Doctor of Sci- 
ence at Villanova College. 


Tue University of Manchester has con- 
ferred the degree of D.Sc. on Dr. C. S. Sher- 
rington, professor of physiology, Oxford, and 
president of the Royal Society; on Dr. Horace 
Lamb, formerly Beyer professor of mathe- 
matics in the university; and on Sir Ernest 
Rutherford, formerly professor of physics. 
The degree of Litt.D. has been conferred on 
Dr. G. Elliot Smith, formerly professor of 
anatomy. 


- Accorpine to Nature the list of honors con- 
ferred on the occasion of the King’s birthday 
includes the following names of men known 
to the world of science: Knights: Professor 
Arthur Keith, Hunterian professor and con- 
servator of the Royal College of Surgeons; Dr. 
T. Lewis, hon. consulting physician since 
April, 1918, to the Ministry of Pensions; Dr. 
S. Russell-Wells, vice-chancellor of the Uni- 
yersity of London; Dr. F. Conway Dwyer, ex- 
president of the College of Surgeons, Ire- 
land; Mr. J. B. Harrison, director and govern- 


JuLy 8, 1921] 


ment analyst, Department of Science and Ag- 
riculture, British Guiana; and Brig.-Gen. D. 
J. McGavin, director-general of Medical Ser- 
vices in New Zealand. C.B.: Mr. Ll. S. Lloyd, 
agsistant secretary to the Department of Sci- 
entific and Industrial Research. K.C.I.H.: 
Col. W. H. Willcox, late medical adviser to 
the Civil Administration in Mesopotamia. 
C.I.E.: Dr. M. N. Banerjee, principal of Car- 
michael Medical College, Belgatchia, Bengal. 
Companion Imperial Service Order: Mr. G. 
J. Williams, senior inspector of mines, Mines 
Department. 

Proressor G. F. Ferris, of Leland Stanford 
University, California, is spending the sum- 
mer collecting and studying scale insects in 
Texas, in cooperation with the Division of 
Entomology of the Texas Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station. 

Tue British government will devote the 
sum of 1,000,0001. to fostering cotton-growing 
in the Empire. The money will be placed at 
the disposal of the British Empire Cotton 
Growing Corporation, and will be in place of 
the government’s former promise of 50,0001. a 
year for five years to the corporation. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 


Dr. Livincston Farranp, chairman of the 
executive committee of the Red Cross, for- 
merly adjunct professor of psychology and 
professor of anthropology at Columbia Uni- 
versity and president of the University of 
Colorado, has been elected president of Cor- 
nell University. 

Dr. FRANK Pierrepont Graves, dean of the 
school of education of the University of Penn- 
sylvania, has been appointed commissioner of 
education of the state of New York and presi- 
dent of the University of the State of New 
York. 

Dr. P. J. Hanzuik, of the medical school of 
Western Reserve University, has been ap- 
pointed professor of pharmacology in the 
Stanford University Medical School to succeed 
Professor A. C. Crawford, who died recently. 

Dr. W. H. Ropresusu, who has been for the 


SCIENCE 27 


past year a research fellow of the National Re- 
search Council at the University of California, 
has been appointed associate professor of phys- 
ical chemistry at the University of Illinois. 


Grorce M. WHEELER, Pu.D. (1921), Bussey 
Institution, has been appointed instructor in 
entomology, and William E. Greenleaf, in- 
structor in zoology, in the zoology department 
of Syracuse University. 


Dr. R. R. Gates has been appointed to the 
university chair of botany tenable at King’s 
College, University of London, in succession 
to Professor W. B. Bottomley. He was ap- 
pointed university reader in botany at that 
college in 1919, and has since that date been 
in charge of the department in the absence 
of Professor Bottomley. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
THE CANNONBALL LANCE FORMATION 

To THE Epitor or Scimnce: In reviewing 
Stanton’s memoir on the Cannonball Lance 
formation, Dr. Schuchert has advocated draw- 
ing the line between Cretaceous and Tertiary 
at the base of the Wasatch. He has referred 
to the vertebrate evidence as supporting this 
view, and as recent researches have consider- 
ably clarified and extended this evidence, a 
brief summary of its presentsstatus may be of 
some aid toward harmonizing the existing con- 
flict of opinion. 

The position of these border-line formations 
has been in dispute not merely for a number 
of years, as Dr. Knowlton remarks, but ever 
since they were first discovered. A Cretaceous 
vertebrate fauna was found associated with 
a Tertiary flora. Vertebrate paleontologists 
and paleobotanists took opposite sides; the 
stratigraphic geologists were divided, and the 
relations with the marine succession, Euro- 
pean standard, theories of diastrophism, etc., 
have been invoked by both sides for a de- 
cision. This discrepancy has been maintained 
and confirmed by all subsequent work. It 
should be recognized as the fundamental diffi- 
culty. It does not help matters to misrepre- 
sent or ignore any part of the evidence, and if 
Dr. Cross’s references to the vertebrate evi- 
dence fairly reflect the way in which the U. 


28 SCIENCE 


S. Geological Survey “considered all avail- 
able evidence” it is clear that its weight and 
tenor was not correctly understood. 

When the subject was discussed by the 
Paleontological Society in 1913 I presented 
a paper outlining the vertebrate evidence, es- 
pecially with regard to the Paleocene faunas.? 
Subsequent researches by Brown, Lambe, Os- 
born and Parks on the Alberta dinosaurs, by 
Gilmore on the New Mexican reptiles, by 
Granger and myself on Paleocene and Eocene 
mammals, by Stehlin, Teilhard and Schlosser 
on the Eocene and Paleocene mammals of 
Europe, by Smith Woodward and myself on 
the Cretaceous mammals of Alberta, confirm 
the correlations and conclusions presented in 
that paper, but strengthen certain views which 
were then rather suggested than advocated. 

1. The Lance fauna is wholly Cretaceous 
jn character. It is entirely a continuation and 
specialization of the Judith (late Cretaceous) 
without any new elements, but the amount of 
evolutionary change in the many phyla that 
have now been traced through Judith, Edmon- 
ton and Lance shows that it is considerably 
later in time. 

2. The earliest placental mammals appear in 

the Puerco “ Lower Paleocene” which may be 
as old as the Lance or older, although usually 
regarded as later. The Torrejon and Fort 
Union faunas, Upper Paleocene, are not much 
later than the Lance, and the phyletic evolu- 
tion indicates that they are considerably later 
than the Puerco. The Tiffany and Cernaysian 
faunas show a still later stage of the Paleocene 
faunas. 1 Rg 

3. The Paleocene placentals are of primitive 
and archaic aspect. Although some of their 
phyla survive into the Eocene, they are as a 
whole not nearly related to the characteristic 
and dominant Tertiary Mammalia, and much 
more primitive. The metatherian mammals 
(multituberculates and marsupials), a minor 
but considerable element in the Paleocene 
faunas, are of distinctly Mesozoic aspect and 
closely related to those of the Judith and 
Lance. The reptiles are all Cretaceous fam- 
jlies continued from the Judith. 


1 Bull. Geol, Soc, Am., XXV., pp. 381-402 Sept. 
15, 1914, 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1384 


4, The true Tertiary mammal fauna appears 
suddenly at or near the base of the Wasatch, 
and in the Sparnacian of Europe (London 
Clay, ete.). It is a new fauna, identical in 
these two far distant regions, and consists in 
the main of the modern orders of mammals, 
which now appear for the first time and evolve 
through the course of the Tertiary into their 
present diversity and specialization. The two 
most important families of Tertiary and mod- 
ern chelonians (terrapins and tortoises) ap- 
pear at the same time. 

5. The great faunal break lies at the end of 
the Paleocene, with the incoming of the Ceno- 
zoic vertebrates at or near the base of the 
Wasatch. The European standard has 
drawn the line above the great chalk forma- 
tions and below the Thanetian (Cernaysian). 
The Judith corresponds to the Upper Senonian 
of Europe, but is older than the Maestrichtian 
and Danian divisions of the chalk, unquestion- 
ably Cretaceous, aside from certain formations 
of disputed age grouped as Montien. The end 
of the unquestioned Cretaceous in Western Eu- 
rope is then considerably later than the Ju- 
dith, perhaps as late as the Lance or later. 
Its precise correlation can best be made. 
through comparisons of the marine Cannon- 
ball phase of the Lance formation with the 
Danian, etc. On the other hand the Tertiary 
as generally recognized in Western Europe 
begins at least with the Thanetian, containing 
the Cernaysian fauna, uppermost Paleocene, 
equivalent to the Tiffany zone at the base of 
the Wasatch in the San Juan basin. It is 
therefore a little below the great migrational 
break indicated by the vertebrate faunas. 

There are two criteria generally used in 
faunal classifications, the extinction of ancient 
types and the first appearance of new groups. 
The latter appears to me the more logical and 
practical. By this standard the Wasatch Spar- 
nacian fauna of the London Clay, ete., is the 
introduction of the distinctively modern or 
Cenozoic life, the preceding faunas, even in- 
cluding the Paleocene placentals, being essen- 
tially the last stages of Mesozoic life. 

This division is not supported by the paleo- 
botanists. Their Cenophytic era, it is well 
recognized, begins with the upper Cretaceous 


JuLy 8, 1921] 


(Dakota, ete.); they find a sharp floral break 
between Judith and Lance at a point where 
no break occurs in the vertebrate fauna; and 
_so far as I understand no serious break be- 
tween Paleocene and Eocene. I ean hardly 
venture an opinion as to where the majority 
of invertebrate paleontologists would draw 
the line, if based wholly on invertebrate data; 
in practise most of them draw it at the sum- 
mit of the chalk succession of western Europe. 

The great stratigraphic break asserted by 
some stratigraphers to exist everywhere at the 
base of the Tertiary is denied by others of no 
less ability and experience, and its universality 
and importance seem to have been much exag- 
gerated. 

Ts it not possible, where the evidence is thus 
conflicting, to adopt a compromise by mutual 
concession? It appears to me that the com- 
promise indicated by Schuchert has the best 
elements for universal acceptance. It is in 
accord with the historic and universal Euro- 
pean usage, including the Thanetian in the 
Tertiary, but none of the chalk succession. 
It conforms to the insistence of the palzo- 
botanists that the Lance and Fort Union 
should be kept together. It gives a satisfactory 
practical base for the stratigrapher in the 
widespread and characteristic Wasatch for- 
mations. It places all the dinosaur forma- 
tions and the bulk of the “ Paleocene” faunas 
in the Cretaceous where the former certainly 
and the latter in my opinion properly belong; 
but the uppermost Paleocene faunas are placed 
in the Tertiary. The replacement of the Cre- 
taceous by the Tertiary vertebrate fauna 
would thus be a little later, of the Upper Cre- 
taceous by the Tertiary flora a little earlier 
than the line agreed upon. 

W. D. MarrHew 


NEWCOMB ON EXTRA-MUNDANE LIFE 


To tHE Epitor or Scrmnce: As one long 
interested in the subject matter covered by the 
inquiry of Professor Clark, published in Scr- 
ENCE of May 18, I have read with some care 
Newcomb’s' essay to which Professor Camp- 
bell refers, in the same issue of ScrEncr. 
While this essay may be presumed to repre- 


SCIENCE 29 


sent an opinion at some time entertained by 
its distinguished author, an opinion that mer- 
its respect, it seems wholly unresponsive to the 
request for evidence upon which such an 
opinion may be based. The author expressly 
admits that “scientifically we have no light 
upon the question and therefore no positive 
grounds for reaching a conclusion.” In an- 
other place, Popular Astronomy, ed. 1890, p. 
528, he amplifies as follows: 

The spirit of modern science is wholly adverse 
to speculation on questions for the solution of 
which no scientific evidence is attainable, and the 
common answer of astronomers to all questions 
respecting life in other worlds would be that they 
knew no more on the subject than any one else 
and having no data to reason from, had not even 
an opinion to express. 


It is probable that few astronomers will dis- 
sent from either of these statements. Most of 
them, Newcomb included, will concur in the 
statement that of the hundred or more mil- 
lions of celestial bodies known to exist it may 
be shown with a high degree of probability 
that, barring our two neighbors, Mars and 
Venus, no one of them is suited to be the abode 
of animate beings. As to the numerous worlds 
alleged to be the abode of life, Newcomb in 
his essay raises the question: “But where 
are we to look for these worlds?” and replies 
to it: “ This no man can tell.” Nevertheless, 
as quoted by Professor Campbell, he goes on 
to say: 

It is perfectly reasonable to suppose that beings 
not only animated but endowed with reason in- 
habit countless worlds in space. 


A major premise upon which this conclusion 
might rest would seem to be: We may rea- 
sonably suppose anything that does not admit 
of disproof. In the bald form here stated 
this premise would doubtless be rejected by 
those who believe in the plurality of abodes 
for animate intelligence, but without some ap- 
propriate equivalent for it there seems to be 
a hiatus between the conclusion above set 
forth and the facts that constitute its minor 
premise. Possibly Newcomb’s own words 
anent this subject matter, loc. cit., p. 5381, may 
be a less objectionable formula: 


30 SCIENCE 


Here we may give free rein to our imagination 
with the moral certainty that science will supply 
nothing tending either to prove or to disprove any 
of its fancies, 

In this connection one is reminded of a famous 
apothegm, 

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the 
evidence of things not seen. 

Grorcs C. Comstock 


QUOTATIONS 
COOPERATIVE INDEXING OF SCIENTIFIC LIT- 
ERATURE 

We have shown that the core or umbra 
of a subject is comprised in a body of homo- 
geneous literature which unquestionably can 
best be dealt with by its representative profes- 
sional society, but that outside this core there 
exists a penumbra of relevant matter dispersed 
through a literature of gradually increasing 
irrelevance, with the result that the recovery 
of the relevant matter can be effected eco- 
nomically only by cooperative effort. The so- 
lution, therefore, would appear to be to bring 
into existence a central bureau which should 
deal solely with the indexing of periodicals 
of the non-homogeneous character—and in the 
first stages of its work, with a restricted list 
of periodicals assigned to it by the contribu- 
tory bodies. These bodies would receive from 


the central bureau entries from the periodicals . 


examined corresponding to their specified re- 
quirements. But as the professional abstracts 
became more fully representative of progress 
in their respective fields the need for the pub- 
lication of the corresponding indexes would 
tend to disappear. The institution, therefore, 
of a central bureau would ultimately make 
for economy in all branches of science in 
which the publication of abstracts is admit- 
tedly indispensable. 

So far as science is concerned, it will prob- 
ably be found that the simplest and most 
effective method for obtaining the necessary 
index slips would be to invite the Central Bu- 
reau of the “International Catalogue of Sci- 
entific Literature”? to provide them. Indeed, 
the possibility of cooperation between the 
“Tnternational Catalogue” and the abstract- 
ing journals was one of the subjects consid- 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1384 


ered at the conference held last September. 
Any such arrangement would probably begin 
with the year 1921, and, as a preliminary, the 
“ International Catalogue” should be brought 
up to date by the publication of volumes for 
1915-20.— Nature. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
THE MOTIONS OF THE PLANETS AND THE 
RELATIVITY THEORY 

Constant reference is made to the motion 
of Mercury about the sun and to the sup- 
posed fact that this motion can not be ex- 
plained by the Newtonian law of gravita- 
tion. This current idea is far from correct: 
the motion of Mercury can be accounted for 
fully as well, if not far better, by the New- 
tonian law than by the Einstein law. The 
difficulty, which has faced mathematical as- 
tronomers for many years, is not how to ac- 
count for the motion of Mercury, but how to 
account for that motion without introducing 
complications in the motions of the other 
planets. 

In 1895 Newcomb! showed clearly that the 
motion of Mercury can be fully accounted for, 
under the Newtonian law, by one of several 
possible distributions of matter in the im- 
mediate vicinity of the sun and the inner 
planets. He, however, discarded each such 
possible explanation of the motion of Mer- 
cury because of the difficulties encountered 
in explaining, at the same time, the motions 
of the other planets. Each possible explana- 
tion of the motion of Mercury introduced a 
new complication somewhere else. in the 
system. 

Now identically the same difficulty is en- 
countered by Einstein. His formulas account 
for the motion of Mercury, but fail to account 
for the motion of Mars, and introduce a fur- 
ther complication in the motion of Venus. 
The supposed explanation of the motion of 
Mercury by the Einstein formulas has been 
stressed, but the attendant difficulties in the 
motions of the other planets have been glossed 

1‘ The elements of the four inner planets and 
the fundamental constants of astronomy,’’ by 
Simon Neweomb. 


JuLy 8, 1921] 


SCIENCE 31 


TABLB I 
Secular Motions of the Elements of the Four Inner Planets 


Observed 

PERIHELIA: 

IMOrcurysaicciecrsm roe iets + 579.2’ 

VENUS! IS). sslskxer asinine + 42.4 

arth hese eos arts +1161.5 

WET eeiglaaeoocoaboooees +1605.9 
INCLINATIONS: 

Miercurystysicyccint cvottottate« + 7.14” 

Wenusy-isia.oicicthcvsisieissucietes + 3.87 

Mars} sicnsitencot unsrccarseucvansiers — 2.26 
Noves: 

Miercunyeénciecitiaicieicteer — 753.0” 

JVODUS fis eesressieieis es ciels spare —1780.7 

Miareiseyieichncrss fosters —2248.9 


over by those who accept the relativity theory 
as proved. 

In order to understand fully this question 
of the motion of Mercury and the difficulties 
of finding a satisfactory explanation, refer- 
ence should be had to the secular motions of 
the elements of the planets, as determined by 
Newcomb. These motions are given in 
Table I. 

The first column in the above table gives 
the actual motions in one century as deter- 
mined from observations of the actual planets; 
the second column gives the corresponding 
motions as calculated by the formulas of ce- 
lestial mechanics, deduced from the Newtonian 
law of gravitation. It is, however, well known 
to every mathematical astronomer that these 
calculations are not complete; that they do not 
take fully and completely into account all of 
the bodies of the solar system. In the theories 
and formulas upon which these calculations 
depend, the sun has been considered as a per- 
fect sphere and all space between the sun 
and the various planets as free from all gravi- 
tational matter. These are necessary mathe- 
matical simplifications; without them the 
equations of motion would be impossible of 
solution. These simplifications approximate 
very closely to the truth and the results ob- 
tained by their use very closely represent the 
motions of the planets, but they are approzi- 
mations and it, therefore, necessarily follows 
that the results do not accurately represent 
the actual motions. 


Computed Difference Per Cent. 
+ 537.6” +41.6” + 1.4” + 7.2% 
49.7 — 7.3 +22.3 —17.2 
+1155.6 +59 + 5.6 + 0.5 
+1597.8 +81 + 2.6 + 0.5 

6.76” + 0.3874 0.54” + 5.3% 

3.49 + 0.38 + 0.22 + 9.8 

2.25 — 0.01 + 0.14 — 04 
— 758.1” + 5.1” + 2.8” + 6.8% 
—1790.9 +10.2 + 2.0 + 0.6 
—2249.8 +09 + 4.6 + 0.0 


The column of differences contains the un- 
explained portions of the motions of the 
planets, together with the “probable error” 
as determined by Newcomb. That is, in one 
century the perihelion of Mercury moves 
41.6” of are more than the approximate cal- 
culations indicate it should; whilst that of 
Venus does not move quite as swiftly as these 
computations would lead one to expect. These 
unexplained portions of the motions are the 
so-called “ discordances” or “ discrepancies.” 
That of the perihelion of Mercury is espe- 
cially well known and has figured prominently 
in all attempts to prove false the law of New- 
ton. The perihelia of Venus and Mars show 
large discrepancies, as do also the nodes of 
both Mercury and Venus. 

The probable errors give some idea as to 
the relative accuracy of the various determina- 
tions, but it must be remembered that the as- 
signment of these probable errors is very 
largely a matter of judgment, and that these 
values may have been over- or underestimated. 
In every step of the long and complicated 
computations an estimate, rather than an exact 
calculation, has to be made as to the value of 
the probable error, and the final value, as 
given in the table, thus depends upon many 
separate estimations or judgments. 

It is known to every astronomer that the 
assumptions, upon which are based the simpli- 
fications used in the calculations, are not true. 
Neither the sun nor any one of the planets 
is'a perfect sphere. The sun-spots, which 


32 SCIENCE 


can be seen with an ordinary small telescope, 
show that the sun is not of uniform shape 
and density. While exact measurements of 
the shape of the sun are extremely difficult to 
make, yet every series of measures, heretofore 
made, show distinct departure from a true 
spherical form. The sun is not a sphere. 
Passing outward from the sun itself one 
finds the corona. At times of eclipse this halo, 
or brilliant crown, about the sun can be seen 
by the unaided eye. It has been sketched 
many times; it has been photographed times 
without number. Its presence proves the sun 
to be surrounded by an envelope of matter 
of irregular shape and of vast size. This en- 
velope is in general lens-shaped and it ex- 
tends far out beyound the orbit of the earth. 
On clear dark nights the extreme outer por- 


tions of it can be seen after sunset as a faint 


glow in the western sky,—a glow that is well 
known under the name of the zodiacal light. 

While matter is thus known to exist in the 
vicinity of the sun and the inner planets, 
yet its effect upon the motions of these planets 
cannot be accurately calculated. Until its 
distribution is fully known, its effect can not 
be reduced to figures. It is perfectly clear 
that the figure, 537.6’ per century, does not 
accurately represent the motion of Mercury’s 
perihelion under the Newtonian law; but, in 
the present state of our knowledge as to the 
solar envelope, it is impossible to correct defi- 
nitely this figure and to state finally what the 
true figure should be. 

The whole question of the effect of this 
matter upon the motions of the planets has 
been made the subject of several recent in- 
vestigations, notably by Jeffreys and Seeliger.? 
As the actual distribution of this matter is 
unknown, the problem is attacked in reverse: 
that is, from the discordances is found a 
general distribution of matter, which will ac- 
count for the motions, and this calculated dis- 


2¢¢The secular perturbations of the four inner 
planets,’’? by Harold Jeffreys, Month. Notices, R. 
A, S., Vol. LXXVIL,, p. 112. 

“‘Das Zodiakallicht und die emperischen glieder 
jn der bewegung der planaten,’’ by Seeliger. 

De sitter, Observatory, Vol. XXXVI., 1913. 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1384 


tribution is then compared with the known 
facts. This procedure is analogous to the 
method by which the planet Neptune was 
discovered. 

The matter in the immediate vicinity of 
the sun would tend to group itself about a 
plane somewhere near that of the solar 
equator, or that of the orbit of Mercury; 
whilst matter at a considerable distance from 
the sun would tend more towards the in- 
variable plane of the planetary system, which 
is nearly the same as that of the orbit of 
Jupiter. Further the density of the matter 
will decrease as the distance from the sun in- 
creases. This general distribution can be ap- 
proximated to by assuming the whole mass to 
be made up of ellipsoids of revolution, each 
ellipsoid to be of uniform density, but the 
larger ones to be of much less density than 
the inner ones. 

An ellipsoid, or ring, of matter wholly 
within the orbit of a planet will give a direct 
motion to the perihelion. But if the orbit 
actually lies in the matter composing such 
ellipsoid, then the effect is the opposite and 
the motion of the perihelion will be retro- 
grade. This, of course, upon the assumption 
that the density is uniform throughout; if 
the density is much greater in the central por- 
tions of the ellipsoid, then the retrograde effect 
of the outer portion may be overcome and the 
total effect upon the perihelion may be di- 
rect, but the motion will be less than that due 
to the central portion alone. By adjusting 
the rate at which the density is assumed to 
decrease, any motion of the perihelion, direct 
or retrograde, within limits can be obtained. 
To changes in the density of the envelope sur- 
rounding the sun may thus be attributed the 
discordant motions of the perihelia of the 
four inner planets, and especially the retro- 
grade discrepancy in the motion of Venus. 

The entire mass of matter, which is known 
to exist, may for the purposes of computation 
be considered as made up of three ellipsoids, 
or as showing two abrupt changes in density. 
The small central dense portion lies wholly 
within the orbit of Mercury, the intermediate 
portion wholly within the orbit of the earth, 


Juny 8, 1921] SCIENCE 33 
TABLE II 
Final Discordances in the Secular Motions of the Elements of the Four Inner Planets 
Amounts Accounted for by Final Discordances 
Amounts to 
Account for 
Newcomb Einstein Seeliger Poor Einstein Poor 
PERIHELIA: 
Mercuryy.yarniceetacicince +41.6” +42.9” +41.7” +41.6” — 1.3” +0.9”” 
Wenus iii Ogee timanenaete — 7.3 + 8.6 deo © — 7.5 —15.9 +0.2 
IMarthens serie east: + 5.9 + 3.8 + 4.1 + 5.9 + 2.1 + 0 
Miarsig a chy nose aias + 8.1 + 1.3 + 6.4 + 6.9 + 6.8 +1.2 
INCLINATIONS: 
Mercury eee cee. + 0.38” 0 0 + 0.37” + 0.38” +0.01” 
Vents ern cok + 0.38 0 0 + 0.45 + 0.38 —0.07 
Mars if iaryes Mae Na — 0.01 0 0 + 0.12 — 0.01 —0.13 
Nopzs: 
Miercurysan nisi cee ae + 5.1” 0 + 5.4’ + 4.9” + 5.1” +0.2”” 
Menus2 ties yak +10.2 0 +10.0 + 9.1 +10.2 +1.1 
IMiarsigs inc ders vate ekiee + 0.9 0 + 7.2 + 4.3 + 0.9 —3.4 


and the outer, or less dense, portion extends 
beyond the orbit of the earth nearly to that of 
Mars. The effect of each ellipsoid upon the 
perihelia, the nodes, and the inclinations of 
the planets can be found by simple formulas 
of celestial mechanics, and the positions and 
densities of those ellipsoids, which will best 
account for all the motions, can be deter- 
mined. No distribution can be found that 
will rigorously satisfy all the motions, but 
the positions and densities of three ellipsoids 
can be found which will approximately satisfy 
all the equations and practically account for 
all the discordances in the motions of the 
planets. 

The table given above shows with what a 
high degree of accuracy the motions of the 
planets can be accounted for under the action 
of this widely scattered matter. For purposes 
of comparison the Einstein motion is also 
given. 

The relative probabilities of two theories, or 
two solutions of a problem, are usually de- 
termined from the final differences, or re- 
siduals, as these differences are called. That 
solution is deemed the more probable which 
makes the sum of the squares of the residuals 
the smaller. If this test be applied to the 
residuals as given in the above table, the re- 
sults are: 


Mimsteiny theory; 437.0.) pees veaicwaie © 436 
Solar envelope, Seeliger............ 259 
Solar envelope, Poor..............- 14 


And these clearly indicate how very much 
more probable is the explanation of the mo- 
tions of the planets as due to the presence of 
matter in space, than as due to the hypotheses 
of Einstein. 

Einstein and his followers have cited the 
motions of the planets as proof of the truth 
of his hypotheses. The evidence does not sus- 
tain this—his hypotheses and formulas are 
neither sufficient nor necessary to explain the 
discordances in these motions. They are not 
sufficient, for they account for only one among 
the numerous discordances—that of the peri- 
helion’ of Mercury; they are not necessary 
for all the discordances, including that of 
Mercury, can readily be accounted for by the 
action, under the Newtonian law, of matter 
known to be in the immediate vicinity of the 
sun and the planets. 

It is, however, possible that the Einstein 
hypotheses be true, and that the discordant 
motions of the planets result from a combina- 
tion of the Einstein motions and the effect of 
the widely distributed matter in space. Just 
as a definite distribution of matter can be 
found which will explain the discordances 
given by Newcomb, so also another and differ- 
ent distribution can be found that will more 
or less fully account for the diseordances re- 
maining after applying the Einstein effects. 
But it is clear that the relativity theory alone 
is not sufficient to explain the motions of the 
planets. 


34 SCIENCE 


Thus the motions of the planets do not 
prove the truth of the Einstein theory, nor, 
on the other hand, do they prove its falsity. 
While these motions can be accounted for by 
a certain distribution of matter in the solar 
envelope, it has not yet been established by 
observation that the matter is actually distrib- 
uted through space in the required way. The 
presence of the matter is unquestioned; its 
distribution is still a problem of observational 
astronomy. In the present state of our knowl- 
edge regarding the distribution of this matter 
throughout space, the motions of the planets 
do not and ean not furnish a definite answer 
to the question as to the validity of the Ein- 
stein hypotheses of relativity. 

_ Cuartes Lanz Poor 

CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, 

April, 1921 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 
(Continued) 
DIVISION OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 
Rodger Adams, chairman 
H. T. Clarke, secretary 

Arsenated benzophenone and its derivatives: 
W. Lee Lewis and H. C. CHEETHAM. Benzarsonic 
acid is best prepared by reduction of p-nitro- 
benzoic and arsenation by means of Bart’s reac- 
tion. With phosphorus trichloride and pentachlo- 
ride, dichloro-p-arsinobenzoyl-chloride results. By 
means of the Friedel and Crafts reaction, benzo- 
phenone-p-arsenious oxide, arsenious acid, and ar- 
sonic acid are formed. Tho similar derivatives of 
4-methyl ‘benzophenone-p-arsenious oxide, 4-me- 
thoxy benzophenone-p-arsenious oxide, and 4-phen- 
oxybenzophenone-p-arsenious oxide have been pre- 
pared. Their nitro compounds, oximes, and iso- 
mers are being studied. With arsanilic acid, di- 
chloro-p-arsinobenzoylehloride gives the di-arsen- 
ated benzanilide. The further reactions of di- 
chloro-p-arsinobenzoylehloride with hydrocarbons, 
ethers, phenols, and various amino- and hydroxy- 
compounds are being studied. 

6 chlorophenalphanapthazarsine and some of its 
derivatives: W. LEE Lewis and C, 8. HAMILTON. 
6 chlorophenalphanapthazarsine is prepared by 
heating phenyl alpha naphthylamine with arsenic 
trichloride. 6 cholorophenalphanapthazarsine with 
hydrogen peroxide gives phenalphanapthazarsinic 
acid. ‘The sodium salt of this acid has been pre- 
pared. A series of compounds, 6 methoxyphenal- 
phanapthazarsine, 6 ethoxyphenalphanapthazarsine, 


[N. 8. Vor. LIV. No. 1384 


6 propoxyphenalphanapthazarsine, 6 butoxyphen- 
alphanapthazarsine, 6 phenoxyphenalphanaptha- 
zarsine are prepared by treating 6 chlorophenal- 
phanapthazarsine dissolved in xylene with the cor- 
responding sodium alcoholate. 6 ‘bromophenal- 
phanapthazarsine is prepared by refluxing 6 
phenalphanapthazarsine oxide or 6 phenoxyphenal-. 
phanapthazarsine with hydrobromic acid. 6 
phenalphanapthazarsine oxide is prepared from 
6 chlorophenalphanapthazarsine by heating with 
silver oxide. 


Condensation reactions with benzyl cyanide: 
Frep W, Upson and T. J. THompson. Several 
phenyl alkyl succinie nitrils have been made by 
condensing benzyl cyanide either (1) with the 
eyanhydrine of the aliphatic aldehyde in the 
presence of sodium methylate, or (2) with the a 
brom ester of the fatty acid in the presence of 
sod-amide in ether suspension. Saponification of 
the resulting condensation products has given sub- 
stituted suecinie acids. The following have been 
made by method No. 2: methyl phenyl succinic 
acid, m.p. 185°; ethyl phenyl succinic acid, m.p. 
194°; N. propyl phenyl succinie acid, m.p. 214°; 
and the following have been made by both meth- 
ods: Iso-propyl phenyl succinic acid, m.p. 178°; 
iso-butyl phenyl succinic acid, m.p. 186°. The 
nitrils of the higher members can be saponified 
only under pressure. Some evidence has been © 


H 
obtained for the formula C;H;,—C—C—N—Na for 
the sodium salt of benzyl cyanide. 


Derivatives of trihalogen tertiary-butyl alcohols. 
IV. The benzoic acid ester of tribromo-tertiary 
butyl alcohol or brometone benzoic acid ester: T. 
B. AupricH. The benzoyl ester of tribromo ter- 
tiary-butyl alechol, C,H,CO.OC—C;H,Brs, is pre- 
pared most conveniently by mixing molecular quan- 
tities of benzoyl chloride and preferably anhydrous 
tri-bromo tertiary butyl alcohol and heating on 
the steam bath until hydrogen bromide ceases to 
be given off. The ester is purified by heating on 
the steam bath with 5-10 per cent. caustic soda 
solution, washing with water, and finally recrys- 
tallizing from alcohol. It crystallizes in the mono- 
clinic system and melts at 89-90°. It is readily 
soluble in the organic solvents, but insoluble in 
water. It is not so readily saponified as the ali- 
phatie esters of either chloretone or bromotone. It 
is practically non-volatile at either incubator or 
room temperature, and is not volatile with steam 
to any extent. In general its properties are the 
same as the corresponding ester of trichloro- 


Juty 8, 1921] 


tertiary butyl alcohol. Analytical data show its 
composition to be C,,H,,0,Br;. 

Trihalogen-methyl reactions. IV. Tetrachloro- 
succinic acid: Howarp Warrers DoucutTy and 
BENJAMIN FREEMAN, Tetrachlorosuccinie acid is 
formed by the action of trichloroacetic acid on 
copper dust in benzene solution. It is a hygro- 
scopic solid which is not very stable, being easily 
hydrolyzed. The aniline salt (m. p. 149°) and 
ethyl ester (b. p. 156°/13 mm.) are described. 
Ammonium trichloroacetate reacts vigorously with 
copper in aqueous ammonia, losing two atoms of 
chlorine per molecule. This action also takes 
place still more vigorously with cadmium and 
zine, but not with silver. 

Spiro-pyrimidines. II. Cyclohexane-1, 5-spiro- 
pyrimidines: ARTHUR W. Dox and LESTER YODER. 


Cyclohexane-1, 1-dicarboxylic ester, prepared by . 


condensation of 1, 5-dibromopentane with ethyl 
malonate, condenses with urea and with guanidine 
to form eyclohexane-1, 5-spiro-pyrimidines. These 
products are very similar in their properties to the 
corresponding eyclobutane-1, 5-spiro-pyrimidines 
previously described by the writers, In certain 
respects they resemble also the dialkylbarbituric 
acids, but differ from the latter in having a car- 
bon atom common to two rings. 

Spiro-pyrimidines. III. Cyclopropane-1, 5-spiro- 
pyrimidines: ARTHUR W. Dox and LESTER YODER. 
Cyclopropane-1, 1-dicarboxylie ester, prepared by 
condensation of ethylene bromide and ethyl malo- 
nate, might be expected to condense with urea 
and substituted ureas and yield spiro-pyrimidines 
analogous to those obtained from cyclobutane- 
and eyclohexane-1, 1-dicarboxylic esters. Condensa- 
tions with urea and with guanidine were readily 
effected, but the products were invariably amor- 
phous, insoluble substances of great stability. 
Analyses showed the same percentages of nitrogen 
as those calculated for the simple spiro-derivatives, 
It is probable that the cyclopropane ring opens 
and two or three molecules unite to form a 
eyclobutane or cyclohexane nucleus with two or 
three barbituric acid groups attached. The poly- 
mer obtained from urea could not be hydrolyzed 
by long boiling with concentrated hydrochloric 
acid. Hydrolysis by means of sodium hydroxide 
gave an acid which lost carbon dioxide on heating, 
with formation of a crystalline acid, of melting 
point 151° and neutralization equivalent 86, 

Pyrimidines from dialkylmalonic esters and ben- 
zamidine: ARTHUR W. Dox and LEsTER YODER. 
In the presence of sodium ethylate at 70-75°, di- 


SCIENCE 35 


alkylmalonic esters condense with benzamidine to 
form derivatives of tetrahydropyrimidine. The 
dialkyl-malonic esters used were the dimethyl, di- 
ethyl, dibutyl, diisoamyl, and dibenzyl. These all 
gave white products. The corresponding mono- 
alkyl derivatives were bright yellow. The latter 
may therefore be regarded as possessing the tauto- 
meric enol structure. 


An electrochemical study of certain reversible 
reductions: J. B. Conant and H. M, Kaun. 

The reactivity of the chlorine atom in the nitro- 
benzyl chlorides: J. B. Conant and S. S. Necus. 

The 1.4-addition of phosphenyl chloride: J. B. 
Conant and 8S. M. PoLuack. 

A comparative study of ring stability: 
Uyer and OLIveR KamM. 


Nao 


Investigation of isomerism in the diphenyl series: 
J. H. Wautpo, C. S. Patmer and O. Kamm. Fix- 
ation of the benzene nuclei in diphenyl derivatives 
according to the Kaufler-Cain theory leads to the 
possibility of optical isomerism in the ease of cer- 
tain diphenyl derivatives. Salts of diphenyl-O- 
earbexylie acid with optically active bases were 
subjected to erystallization but there was found 
no conclusive evidence of this type of isomerism. 
The investigation has been extended also to ben- 
zidine derivatives, particularly to benzidine di- 
sulfonie acid. The negative results obtained fail 
to support the recently proposed theories con- 
cerning the structure of the diphenyl derivatives. 

The action of hydrogen sulphide upon tri-nitro- 
toluene: F. J. Moorz and E. H. Huntress. In 
this reaction Cohen and Dakin observed the for- 
mation 2-6-di-nitro 4- tolyl hydroxylamine which 
when boiled with hydrochloric acid yielded a color- 
less solid which they assumed to be the amine, 
but later denied this without further characterizing 
it. They subsequently obtained the true amine 
by the addition of hydriodice acid. The observa- 
tion that the above hydroxylamine yields this 
same compound when treated with silver nitrate 
raised the suspicion that it might be the azoxy 
eompound. This accounts for the oxygen which 
ought to have been evolved in the original equation 
of Cohen and Dakin, for we have shown that 2-6 
dinitro-4-tolyamine is formed at the same time. 


The constitution of the secondary product in the 
sulphonation of cinnamic acid: F, J. Moorr and 
Ruta M, Tuomas. The principal product of the 
reaction is para-sulpho-cinnamie acid. With this 
is formed an isomer whose barium salt is much 
more soluble. This has hitherto been variously de- 


36 SCIENCE 


seribed as an ortho and a meta compound. It has 
been supposed to be different from the meta com- 
pound prepared by Kaffka from m-sulpho benzal- 
dehyde by the Perkin synthesis, We have shown 
that it is identical, and also that on oxidation with 
permanganate it yields meta sulpho benzoic acid. 
It can be easily characterized by the melting points 
of its aniline and toluidine salts, 


Separation of aromatic primary and secondary 
amines: I, N. HuttmMAN and H. T. CuarKe. The 
separation of primary and secondary amines can in 
most cases be carried out satisfactorily by taking 
advantage of the solubility in alkali of the ben- 
zenesulfonyl or toluenesulfonyl derivatives of the 
primary amines, The recovery of the base from 
such derivatives is however apt to be troublesome, 
and in certain instances difficulties are met with 
in the alkali treatment owing to the ease with 
which the sodium salts are hydrolyzed. Thus they 
ean be extracted from their solution in alkali 
merely by shaking with ether; and in cases where 
only a small quantity of primary base is present, 
the sulfonyl derivative of the secondary amine 
acts in the same way as an extracting solvent. 
This was found to be the case particularly with 
p-toluidine and its monomethyl derivative. This 
mixture moreover can not be separated by treat- 
ment with zine chloride solution, as is possible in 
the case of aniline and methylaniline, since methyl- 
p-toluidine appears to form an insoluble zinci- 
chloride. Advantage can therefore be taken of 
the observation that primary aromatic amines, 
on heating to 160-180° with urea are converted 
into symmetrical diarylureas, while secondary 
bases, typified by methylaniline, do not react at 
all with urea. It is thus merely necessary to heat 
the mixed bases with urea in slight excess over the 
ealeulated amount, and treat the product with 
dilute acid, 


Potassium derivatives of the alkyl amines: Ep- 
WARD C. FRANKLIN. By the action of metallic 
potassium on methyl amine, ethyl amine and di- 
methyl amine in the presence of platinum black, 
the compounds represented by the formulas 
CH,;NHK, C,H;,NK and (CH;),.NK have been 
prepared. 


The existence and reactions of positive halo- 
gens attached to carbon in aromatic compounds: 
Bren H. Nicover. W. A. Noyes, J. Stieglitz, L. 
W. Jones and others have interpreted and con- 
tributed a large amount of data on the positive 
nature of halogen attached to nitrogen. Howell 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1384 


and Noyes have shown the I of C.I, to be positive. 
It is now shown that a number of compounds, 
most typically p-iodoaniline and 3-iodo 4-toluidine, 
ean be hydrolyzed with acids in such a way that 
the halogen is replaced by hydrogen, and that the 
halogen resubstitutes to give di-halogenated prod- 
ucts—two proofs of positivity. Such halogens ap- 
pear to be readily removed (replaced by hydro- 
gen) by heating with SnCl, and HCl. 


Diphenyl-B-naphthylemethyl: M. GomBrre and 
F, W. Suuuivan, Jr. Diphenyl-6-naphthylmethyl 
was prepared and found to exhibit the character- 
istie chemical reactions and physical properties of 
free radicals. Determinations by the eryoscopic 
method showed that dissociation increased with 
rising temperature and with dilution. Contrary 
to the theory that the color of free radical solu- 
tions is due to dissociation of the dimolecular to 
the monomolecular form, investigation by colori- 
metric methods showed that the increase in color 
intensity was quite independent of changes in dis- 
sociation. It was also found that not more than 
one third of the monomolecular free radical was 
in the colored form. From these facts we believe 
that the color of solutions of free radicals is best 
explained on the assumption that the dimolecular 
form dissociates to the mono-molecular form in 
which equilibrium exists betweeen the colorless 
benzenoid and the colored quinonoid tautometer. 


Contribution to the structure of benzidine: For- 
mation of rings through the m and p positions of 
benzene: Rocrr ApamMs and W. C. WILSON. 
Benzidine condenses readily with aromatic di- 
aldehydes or ketones of the type represented by 
terephthalaldehyde and resodiacetophenone, to 
give condensation products which analyze for one 
molecule of benzidine plus one molecule of dialde- 
hyde with the elimination of two molecules of 
water. It is barely possible that these substances 
consist of two molecules of benzidine with two 
molecules of dialdehyde, with the elimination of 
four molecules of water. The substances are too 
insoluble to allow the molecular weight to be 
obtained. If these substances are of the simpler 
type, it is difficult to see how Kaufler’s formula 
for benzidine can be accepted, since his structure 
assumes that the amine groups are as close to- 
gether as the amine groups in ophenylenediamine. 
Benzidine also condenses with the monazine of 
terephthalaldehyde to produce a product which 
analyzes for one molecule of each with the elimi- 
nation of two molecules of water. It is apparent 


JuLy 8, 1921] 


that ring structures containing a very large num- 
ber of atoms and connecting the meta and para 
positions in the benzene nucleus are readily pre- 
pared. 

The preparation of dihydrobenzene and some of 
its derivatives: E. C, KENDALL and A, E, OstTEr- 
BERG. The use of certain sulfonic acids for the 
dihydration of quinite or of tetrahydrophenol. 
The yield of dihydrobenzene from quinite by cata- 
lytic action of phenolsulfonic acid is practically 
quantitative. Dihydrobenzene A 1: 4 adds hydro- 
chlorous acid and halogens. 

Stability of the C-Hg linkage in mercury deriva- 
tives of anisole and phenetole: EDMUND B. MIDDLE- 
TON and F.C. WHITMORE. The stability of this link- 
age resembles that of the corresponding linkage 
in acetylated mercury derivatives of phenol. 
While the C-Hg linkage in mereury compounds 
containing a phenolic hydroxyl is broken quan- 
titatively by inorganic iodides and similar reagents 
the C-Hg linkage in the anisole and phenetole 
compounds is stable to these reagents. The ortho 
anisyl and phenetyl mercuric halides give the cor- 
responding R,Hg compounds. The para com- 
pounds form the iodides which remain unchanged. 
Potassium sulfocyanate gives the same results as 
the iodides with mercurated phenols, their acetyl 
derivatives, and mercurated anisoles and phene- 
toles, 

Preparation of mercury ditolyl from tolymer- 
curic chloride: LL, FRANCES Hower and F. C. 
WHITMORE. Tolylmercurie chloride prepared from 
toluene sulfinie acid obtained from p-toluene sul- 
fone chloride was treated with the reagents usu- 
ally used for changing compounds of the type 
RHgX to those of the type R.Hg. Metallic 
copper in alcohol and sodium stannite in water 
gave very poor yields. Sodium in xylene, aque- 
ous sodium sulfide, and aqueous sodium thiosulfate 
gave fair yields. Potassium iodide gave an almost 
quantitative yield. A new reagent for this pur- 
pose, potassium sulfocyanate, gave almost as good 
a yield. Using the sulfone chloride obtained from 
saccharine manufacture this method is the most 
convenient for making a mercury diaryl. 

Organic compounds prepared from ortho-chloro- 
mercuribenzoyl chloride: F,. C. WHitMorE and 
EpMuUND B. MIDDLETON. Preliminary paper. The 
acid chloride obtained by the action of thionyl 
chloride on the anhydride of ortho-hydroxymer- 
euribenzoic acid reacts with alcohols and amino 
compounds giving mercurated benzoic esters and 
amides. Compounds have been prepared from 


SCIENCE 37 


methyl alcohol, ammonia, aniline, and p-amino- 
benzoic acid. These compounds are too insoluble 
for therapeutic use. The action of more complex 
aleohols and amino compounds is being studied. 
Mercury compounds of mnormal-butyl: Ruta 
WALKER and F. C. WHITMORE. n-butyl bromide 
reacts with dilute sodium amalgam giving a poor 
yield of mercury dibutyl. Mercurie chloride re- 
acts with butyl magnesium bromide in excess, 
forming butyl mercurie bromide, calomel, and a 
small amount of mereury dibutyl. Using an ex- 
cess of mercuric chloride gives a good yield of 
butyl mercuric bromide. Heating this substance 
with an excess of butyl magnesium bromide gives 
a fair yield of mercury dibutyl, a liquid boiling 
at 215°. The halide reacts with silver oxide and 
water giving a water solution of butyl mercuric 
hydroxide, a strong base. Treatment of this 
water solution with solutions of sodium halides 
gives precipitates of the butyl mercuric halides. 
The mercury butyl compounds are extremely toxic. 


Mercury derwatives of meta-nitrobenzoic acid. 
Preliminary paper: F. C. Wuirmore and V. E. 
MeuarG. Nitrobenzoic acid fused with mercuric 
acetate gives a mixture of organic mercury com- 
pounds which are stable to sulfides. One of the 
compounds is 4-Hydroxymercuri-3-nitrobenzoic 
acid. The position of the mercury is proved by 
conversion into 4-bromo-3-nitrobenzoic acid. The 
mercury compounds are soluble in sodium hydrox- 
ide and in sodium carbonate. The solution in 
alkali causes a partial breaking of the OC-Hg 
linkage. The mercury compounds and their reac- 
tions are being studied further. 


The quantitative determination of paraformalde- 
hyde: Parry BorestromM and W. GRENVILLE 
HorscH. Paraformaldehyde was analyzed by four 
methods and gave by (1) ‘‘neutral sulfite’’ 96.7 ' 
per cent., (2) iodimetric 96.7 per cent., (3) oxida- 
tion by dichromate, titration of excess 96.3 per 
eent., (4) oxidation by permanganate (or dichro- 
mate) with absorpton of CO, 96.9 per cent. for- 
maldehyde. For the ‘‘neutral sulfite’’ use 0.5 N 
to 1.0 N sulfurie or hydrochloric acid, rosolie acid 
as indicator and 4 N freshly prepared sodium 
sulfite. In the ‘‘iodimetric’’ method, the base is 
first added to the paraformaldehyde, then the io- 
dine solution (0.2 N) within one minute time 
interval. Increasing this time or changing the 
order in which the reagents are added lowers the 
apparent formaldehyde content considerably. The 
remainder of the analysis is as usual. With other 
methods, ordinary precautions should be observed. 


38 SCIENCE 


Rearrangements of some new hydrozamic acids 
related to heterocyclic acids and to diphenyl and 
triphenylacetic acid: LaupER W. JONES and 
CuarLtes D, Hurp. Hydroxamic acids of thio- 
phene and furane alpha carboxylic acids yield 
silver salts of their acyl derivatives which are 
less readily rearranged than the corresponding de- 
rivatives of benzhydroxamie acid. Diphenyl- and 
triphenylacethydroxamie acids were also examined, 
and it was found that an increase in the number 
of phenyl groups occasions greater readiness to 
rearrange. Diphenylacethydroxamie acid is formed 
by the aetion of diphenylketene upon hydroxyla- 
mine—a new type of reaction. Triphenylacethy- 
droxamie acid is not produced by the interaction 
of ethyl triphenylacetate with hydroxylamine, but 
is quantitatively formed from the acid chloride. 


The hydroxamic acid of cyclopropane carboxylic 
acid and its derivatives: LAUDER W. JONES and 
AurreD W. Scotr. The monohydroxamie acid 


TsO) 4 80 
Nw 
/C—CO.NHOH 


2 


was prepared in order to determine what effect 
the trimethylene ring would have upon the Beeck- 
mann rearrangement of this compound and some 
of its derivatives. The hydroxamie acid is a 
colorless solid which melts at 123°. The benzoyl 
ester (A) C;H;—CO.NHO.CO.C.H,; (m. p. 149°) 
and the acetyl ester (B) C;H;—CO.NHO.CO.CH; 
(m, p. 106°), as well as the potassium, sodium and 
silver salts of these esters were studied. When the 
salts of (A) were heated gently, they decomposed 
to give cyclopropane isocyanate and the corre- 
sponding benzoates. Their relative stabilities in- 
creased in the order given above. When the 
salts of the alkali metals were heated with 
water, they showed a pronounced tendency to hy- 
drolyze, which made it difficult to control the re- 
action so that the usual product of rearrangement, 
a sym-disubstituted urea, could be obtained. Un- 
expected stability was encountered in the case 
of the potassium salt of the acetyl ester (B) 
which is but little decomposed at 190°. The sil- 
ver salt of this ester, unlike silver salts, was 
readily soluble in a mixture of aleohol and water, 
or in water alone. 


The preparation of phenyl acetylene: JOHN C. 
Hesster. Nef’s method of preparing phenyl 
acetylene was to heat w-bromstyrene in a sealed 
tube with aleoholiec potassimu hydroxide. He used 
only a small quantity of aleohol in order to mini- 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1384 


mize the yield of the by-product, phenyl-vinyl ethyl 
ether. The writer’s method is to allow the brom- 
styrene to flow, drop by drop, upon molten caustic 
potash contained in a flask heated in an oil bath 
at 200 to 220°. The phenyl acetylene distills 
over as it is formed, carrying with it only traces 
of unchanged bromstyrene. Yield: 80 per cent. 
of the theory of purified product. 

On a quantitative study of the Grignard reagent: 
H. Giuman, P. D. WILKINSON and W. P. FISHEL. 
In connection with some work on the addition of 
the Grignard reagent to ethylenic hydrocarbons, a 
method for the quantitative estimation of this 
reagent was found desirable. For this purpose 
a number of methods are being investigated, among 
them, (1) titration with iodine, (2) an indirect 
analysis involving the determination of the mag- 
nesium and alkyl halide actually used, and (3) 
an extension of the Zerewitinoff method involving 
the measurement of hydrocarbons given off when 
the Grignard reagent is treated with a compound 
containing ‘‘active’’ hydrogen. The first of these 
methods, that of titration with iodine, has been 
found unsuitable. In this connection the op- 
timum conditions for the formation of the Grig- 
nard reagent are being studied. 

A simple type of glass pressure bottle: R. RB. 
READ, The apparatus consists of a simple adap- 
tation of the common soda siphon to the pur- 
pose of a glass pressure flask. 


An indirect method of mercurization of organic 
compounds and a method of carbon linking: Mor- 
Ris S. KuarascH, The method consists of heat- 
ing the mereury salts of carboxylic acids, which 
lose carbon dioxide readily, the mercury then tak- 
ing the position originally occupied by the ear- 
boxyl groups. Also, since the mereury can be 
readily replaced by a halogen, the method enables 
one to substitute a carboxyl group by a halogen. 
It was also found that the mercury compounds 
thus formed, especially those of the aliphatic 
series, can be made to split off mercury, thus 
linking the two carbon atoms. In the aromatic 
series, in the case of carboxylic acids which do not 
lose carbon dioxide readily, the mereury usually 
orients ortho to the carboxyl group. However, 
if a negative group is present in the molecule, 
the mereury orients itself ortho to that group, ir- 
respective of the position of the negative group. 
In this respect, a number of substituted benzoic 
acids have been investigated. 

Cuartes L. Parsons, 
Secretary 


SCIEN 


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SCIENCE 


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CONTENTS 


The Responsibility of the Biologist in the Mat- 
ter of Preserving Natural Conditions: Dr. 
19), 18}, SUMNER, Sho bcibbonboouscgboouso0uKn 39 


The National Geographic Society completes 
KS CLUS. OF TG) IRAs ons soedodvosooouND 43 


Meeting of the Executive Committee of Sigma 
Xi: Proressor Henry B. WarD......... 45 


The Berkeley Meeting of the Pacific Division 
of the American Association for the Ad- 


VANCEMENGEO [PIS CLENCCU Np aereleevefegetone sre <i. 45 


Scientific Events :— 
John Harper Long; The School of Engineer- 
ing of Princeton University; The Rockefel- 
ler Institute for Medical Research........ 48 


Scientific Notes and News ......: Bdobelar saat Ail s 50 


University and Educational News........... 52 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 

~ An Analogy between the Theories of Natural 
Selection and Electrolysis: PROFESSOR CARL 
Barus. National Temperament in Scien- 

tific Investigations: Dr, J. W. CLawson, 


Proressor R. D. CARMICHAEL............ 53 
Special Articles :— 
The Prediction of the Physiological Action 


of Alcohols: Dr. OuIvER KAMM.......... 55 


The American Chemical Society: Dr. CHARLES 
L. Parsons 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc.,intended for 
review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. 


=—_! 
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE BIOLO- 
GIST IN THE MATTER OF PRE- 
SERVING NATURAL CON- 
DITIONS 


THE writer has accepted a joint chairman- 
ship of the Committee on the Preservation of 
Natural Conditions of the Ecological Society 
of America. The special task undertaken by 
him is to interest some of our leading scien- 
tific organizations and institutions in a pro- 
posed affiliation for the purpose of making “a 
more serious effort to rescue a few fragments 
of vanishing nature.” 

I am only too painfully aware of the fact 
that this task might have been undertaken 
by others with much more promise of success. 
There are many in the ranks of American 
biologists whose scientific prestige and admin- 
istrative ability would carry far greater weight 
than mine. There are many who could—if 
they would—undertake this plain duty with- 
out risk to their health and without serious 
curtailment of their output in the field of 
research. It is my hope that more of our 
leaders in science will be aroused to the 
necessity of becoming also leaders in the con- 
servation movement. I for one will welcome 
the day when this leadership will pass into 
their hands. In the meantime, I shall be 
glad, if only in a slight degree, to play the 
role of an enzyme or catalyzer, which may 
provoke effective energy transformations in 
others. 

That both our native fauna and flora and 
our natural scenery are disappearing at an 
appalling rate is obvious to all, except those 
whose interests and outlook are bounded by 
the walls of their laboratories. Despite the 
indignant denials of some, I am afraid that 
this last type of individual is not wholly 
mythical. But the great bulk of the apathy 
with which we have to contend is doubtless 
due to another cause. This is a spirit of 


40 SCIENCE 


fatalism—the sullen acceptance of a situation 
which is regarded as inevitable. What can a 
few dreamers do to stem the tide of such 
powerful biological and social forces as the 
prevailing spirit of commercialism, the con- 
centration of present-day mankind in cities, 
with a resulting dominance of the urban view- 
point, and particularly the resistless pressure 
of increasing population everywhere ? 

Whether in the future these calamitous 
tendencies will be voluntarily checked by the 
intelligent concerted action of mankind, or 
whether they will be checked automatically by 
some world-wide catastrophe, need not concern 
us here. Ultimately some endurable balance 
will be struck between the human population 
of our globe and the available amount of food, 
space:-and other conditions essential to life. 
For all we know, this unbridled growth of 
population may be halted before the world is 
utterly congested, and while there are still 
large areas in a more or less primitive condi- 
tion. Does not this last supposition contain 
enough of probability to warrant its accept- 
ance as a guiding principle of action? Is it 
not worth while to reserve from settlement 
and exploitation extensive tracts of the earth’s 
surface, representing at least the most inter- 
esting types of fauna and flora and physiog- 
raphy ? 

We have made a brave beginning in this 
direction, with our national and state parks, 
our national forests, national monuments, 
game refuges and the like, though it must be 
confessed that these reservations are still con- 
tinually threatened by predaceous interests 
and that their permanence is not in the least 
assured.t But we should carry these efforts 
vastly further. The areas chosen should be 
more numerous and more diversified. A 
greater variety of motives should be given 
scope in achieving these ends. Economic con- 
siderations, such as the conservation of lum- 
ber and water-power, should still be recognized 
as immensely important, as should also the 
need for public recreation grounds. But 

1 Witness the present federal water-power act 


(now happily amended), and the recent attempts 
to raid the Yellowstone. 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1385 


purely scientific considerations should like- 
wise be accepted as legitimate reasons for 
reserving tracts from settlement or molesta- 
tion. 

Work of fundamental importance regarding 
the phenomena of heredity has been done in 
our laboratories, experimental gardens and 
breeding-pens, and much of this work bears 
more or less directly upon the problems of 
organic evolution. But there are many of us 
who feel that these problems can not be solved 
without a very intensive study of the products 
of evolution in nature. To try to arrive at 
an explanation of the “origin of species” 
without an adequate’ analysis of the phe- 
nomena of geographic variation, and the inter- 
relationships of our species and subspecies in 
the wild, seems to some of us utterly bizarre. 

So far, so good, but what can we do about 
it? This is naturally the hardest question of 
all to answer. To seek advice on this sub- 
ject is my main excuse for writing this 
article. Let me say before going further that 
I do not make the absurd claim that I or my 
colleagues on this committee are solitary 
voices erying in the wilderness. Many and 
powerful are the influences already enlisted 
in support of one or another movement toward 
the protection of wild life and of natural 
scenery. And the concrete results, in terms 
of actual achievement, would require scores of 
pages even to outline. Many of these results 
have become incorporated into our laws and 
our machinery of government. 

It is my purpose here to point out two fun- 
damental needs: (1) the need of some one or 
more national organizations whose duty it 
shall be to coordinate all these activities and 
impulses, and (2) the need that our scientific 
men, and particularly our biologists, shall play 
a far greater part in this movement than they 
have ever done in the past. I shall speak of 
this second point first. 

Biologists, above all others, should be in a 
position to appreciate the loss to science which 
results from the destruction either of single 
natural species or of natural associations of 
species. They are in a unique position to 
give advice as to what particular species and 


Juuy 15, 1921] 


associations are of greatest importance to 
science, and as to which ones are in most 
urgent need of protection. It-is likely, too, 
that many of our number are in a position 
to suggest the most promising methods of 
protection. At least, no others are pecpebly 
go well qualified to do so. 

Most of all, perhaps, the influence of rn 
biologist is needed in counteracting the 
dominant utilitarian or materialistic trend of 
the day. He should be on hand to register his 
insistence upon the recognition of claims that 
are not expressible directly or remotely, in 
dollars and cents, or in the merely quantita- 
tive expansion of our civilization. If he 
camouflages his true feelings by talking in 
the current language of the market-place, he 
is, to that extent, a traitor to our cause. The 
conservation of our material resources can be 
depended upon to take care of itself—in the 
future, if not in the past. Some of the great 
commercial interests themselves are beginning 
to insist that a sane policy be adopted in these 
matters. But the cause of science—genuine 
science—in the public mind, is still very weak, 
and needs every ounce of energy which can be 
thrown into its support. How, let us again 
ask, can this energy be most effectively brought 
to bear at the present time? This is, in a 
large degree, a question which I am asking my 
readers, rather than attempting to answer 
here. 

Unlike, as I believe, the case of researches 
which are directed toward the discovery of 
general principles, a practical project like the 
one in hand can only be accomplished by the 
aid of a high degree of organization. What 
form this organization will ultimately take, 
in the present instance, is hard to forecast. 
It is my belief that sooner or later its ad- 
ministration must be in the hands of men 
who are willing and able to make this their 
life work. Such men will probably be hard to 
find. The university biologist, however gifted 
otherwise, is commonly neither willing nor 
able to achieve success along these lines. On 
the other hand, a mere high-grade clerk, the 
counterpart of some of our bureau or division 
chiefs in the government service, would prob- 


SCIENCE Al 


ably make an even more lamentable failure. 
A broadly trained field naturalist, witha more 
than usual endowment of public spirit and 
administrative talent, would doubtless fill the 
bill. His salary should be commensurate with 
his great responsibilities. He should have a 
staff of expert assistants, giving much of their 
time to first-hand observations of the unequal 
struggle between man and nature, and to 
actual surveys of proposed reservations. Fur- 
thermore, this important official should have 
an adequate office force. These are minimum 
requirements. 

Who would foot the bill? I don’t know. I 
have never had anything to do with raising 
funds for major enterprises. In reply, how- 
ever, I will ask another question: Is not the 
preservation of large fractions of our fauna 
and flora and landscape, in their natural con- 
dition, a project calculated to stir the imagi- 
nation of money-givers of the sort that have 
endowed various other enterprises for the 
welfare of mankind? 

The actual administration of any tracts of 
land, set aside as natural preserves, would 
doubtless devolve upon the national or the 
state governments. The cost of purchasing 
this land might be met either by private 
donations or by government or state appro- 
priations. But the cost of conducting such 
preliminary surveys as I have suggested, to- 
gether with the necessary nation-wide educa- 
tional campaign, would doubtless have to be 
defrayed out of funds from purely private 
sources. And these funds would need to be 
large. 

I have deferred to the last the specific pro- 
posals which I have to make. The type of 
organization which I have outlined above is 
not yet in existence. So far as I know, 
neither the men nor the funds are in sight 
at present. Furthermore, should any such 
central bureau or clearing-house for conserva- 
ation activities be established, it would have 
to work, in a large degree, through the 
various existing organizations. Prominent 
among these, at the present time, is the Eco- 
logical Society of America, which has devoted 
much effective labor toward interesting Amer- 


42 SCIENCE 


ican biologists in the preservation of natural 
conditions. This society, with its special 
committee, would doubtless expect to continue 
actively in the field, even if the administrative 
and coordinating functions should be largely 
handed over to another body. The actual 
relations betwen the two must be left to the 
future to decide. It is entirely probable that 
an amicable and satisfactory solution will be 
reached when the problem presents itself. 

In the meantime, this committee proposes 
to seek the support of various other organi- 
zations which may be interested in achieving 
the same ends. The present writer has under- 
taken to solicit the cooperation of some of 
our principal scientific societies, museums, uni- 
versities and research institutions. Individual 
letters will doubtless be sent to the officers of 
many of these organizations in due time. Mat- 
ters will be greatly expedited, however, if such 
officers will take the initiative into their own 
hands and will communicate with the commit- 
tee as to what assistance they personally, or 
the organizations which they represent, are 
prepared to render. 

The assistance might be of various sorts. 
(1) It might take the form of a mere endorse- 
ment or pledge of moral support to the Eco- 
logical Society’s conservation activities. Such 
an endorsement, particularly if published in 
one of the scientific journals, would give to 
these activities a certain degree of publicity, 
as well as an added importance in the eyes of 
many persons. Some recent resolutions of the 
American Association for the Advancement of 
Science, the American Society of Zoologists 
and the Botanical Society of America are 
cases in point.2. Unfortunately, however, most 
of our national scientific societies have thus 
far shown no interest in the conservation of 
nature. The officers of one leading biological 
society decided a year ago that the subject 
was not germane to the purposes of their or- 
ganization, and a resolution which had been 
drafted by one of its members was nct even 
brought to a vote. 

(2) Some of these societies might well be 
expected to go much further than voting a 


2 ScreNCE, January 7 and January 28, 1921. 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1385 


mere cut-and-dried endorsement of conserva- 
tion activities. Why should not occasional 


_ papers, lectures or even symposia in this field 


be regarded as appropriate material for their 
programs? Many of the data which are made 
use of in the campaign for the preservation of 
natural conditions are likewise of high scien- 
tific interest. Various results of disturbing 
the balance of nature might be mentioned in 
this connection. 

(3) Advice would be welcomed as to lines 
of activity which the committee might profit- 
ably undertake. Suggestions as to possible 
methods of “organizing” the various scien- 
tific interests are to be included here. 

(4) Financial assistance is needed, even for 
this committee’s present limited activities. 
The suggestion has been made that some of 
the scientific societies might be willing to 
contribute a certain fraction of their annual 
dues to the Ecological Society for the purpose 
of supporting its conservation activities. An 
appeal has already been made to the National 
Research Council for a grant for this purpose. 

As an aid in the promotion of these ends 
it has been proposed that the various scien- 
tifie and research organizations so disposed. 
should form some sort of a loose federation or 
association of “societies interested in the 
preservation of natural conditions.” This 
would be likely to promote the interchange of 
ideas, and effectiveness of action, where action 
seemed called for. The constituent societies 
would presumably appoint delegates to the 
meetings of this federation; these delegates be- 
ing such of their members as have shown the 
most active interest in conservation matters. 
Such a federation would naturally have some 
organic relation to the Ecological Society’s 
committee. Its efforts, at present, might be 
effective in several directions: publicity and 
education, endorsement of or opposition to 
proposed legislation, actual investigations of 
specific cases in which emergency measures 
seem to be necessary, and perhaps some others. 

The writer would welcome opinions from 
the officers of these societies as to the desir- 
ability of forming such a federation. He 
would also greatly appreciate any suggestions 


Juuy 15, 1921] 


or advice regarding the matters covered by 
the foregoing article, even if these take the 
form of destructive criticism. It seems to me 
that here, as in so many other cases, no far- 
reaching plans should be adopted until we 
have had a free discusion in which all angles 
of the subject have been considered. I am 
therefore hopeful that this communication 
may call forth replies, either addressed to me 
personally or published in the columns of 
ScrEnce.? 
F. B. SumMNeEr 
Scripps INSTITUTION FOR 
BroLocicaL RESEARCH, 
La JOLLA, CALIFORNIA 


THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY 
COMPLETES ITS GIFTS OF 
BIG TREES 


Tue trustees and officers of the National 
Geographic Society are deeply gratified to 
announce to members that the society has been 
continuing its effort, begun in 1916, to pre- 
serve the Big Trees of Sequoia National Park. 

By a final purchase in April, 1921, of 640 
acres of land in Sequoia National Park, these 
famous trees, oldest and most massive among 
all living things, the only ones of their kind 
in the world, have been saved; they will not 
be cut down and converted into lumber. 

Were a monument of human erection to be 
destroyed, it might be replaced; but had these 
aborigines of American forests been felled, 
they would have disappeared forever. The 
Big Trees could no more be restored than 
could those other survivals of indigenous 

3 Those who are desirous of reading fuller dis- 
cussions of wild life conservation and the preserva- 
tion of natural conditions are referred to articles 
by Harper (‘‘ Natural History,’’ Vol. XIX., 1919), 
Van Name (Science, July 25, 1919), and Sumner 
(Scientific Monthly, March, 1920). Two books by 
Hornaday are also to be recommended: ‘‘Our 
Vanishing Wild Life’’ (N. Y., Scribner’s, 1913), 
and ‘‘Wild Life Conservation in Theory and 
Practise’’ (Yale University Press, 1914). The 
Ecological Society of America is likewise about 
to publish a brief: résumé of the ‘‘Reasons for 
Preserving Natural Areas,’’ which will doubtless 
be rather widely distributed. 


SCIENCE 43 


American life, the red man and the buffalo, 
should they become extinct. 

Members of the National Geographic So- 
ciety will recall that, in 1916, Congress had 
appropriated $50,000 for the purchase of cer- 
tain private holdings in Sequoia National 
Park, but the owners declined to sell for less 
than $70,000. In that emergency the Na- 
tional Geographic Society took the first step 
toward saving the Big Trees by subscribing 
the remaining $20,000. Thus 667 acres were 
purchased. The society’s equity in them was 
conveyed to the government, and this tract 
became the property, for all time, of the Ameri- 
can people. 

In 1920, inspired by the first benefaction, 
three members of the society gave the society 
sums equivalent to the purchase price of 
$21,330 necessary to acquire three more tracts, 
aggregating 609 acres. Thus the original area 
of Sequoias saved from destruction was almost 
doubled. 

At the request of the donors, this area was 
presented to the government. by the National 
Geographic Society in June, 1920. This gift 
was made possible by the generosity of Ste- 
phen T. Mather, director of national park 
service, who personally contributed $13,180; 
by D. E. Skinner, of Seattle, who contributed 
$5,000; and by Louis Titus, of Washington, 
D. C., who contributed $3,200. 

There still remained one other important 
private holding in Sequoia National Park 
amounting to 640 acres. Through this tract, 
which is covered by a splendid stand of giant 
sugar-pine and fir, runs the road to Giant 
Forest. : 

To acquire this approach to the unique for- 
est and to eliminate the last of the private 
holdings in this natural temple, the National 
Geographic Society and friends of the society, 
in 1921, contributed $55,000, with which the 
tract was purchased. On April 20, 1921, it 
was formally tendered in the name of the 
society, through Secretary of the Interior Al- 
bert B. Fall, to the American people. 

This sum of $55,000 includes $10,000 from 
the tax fund of Tulare County, California, 
within which the Sequoia National Park is 


44 SCIENCE 


situated, a practical evidence that the people 
closest to the park are alive to the importance 
of our government owning the land. 

The contributors and the amounts contrib- 
uted were: 


Research Fund of the National Geographic 
Society 
W. F. Chandler, Fresno, California....... 6,000 
George F. Eastman, Rochester, New York.. 15,000 
William Kent, Kentfield, California...... 250 
Stephen T. Mather, Director National Park 


SErvicersiasaeecirrenaeysotaieberer esa aea onyab 14,000 
Charles W. Merrill, Berkeley, California. . 250 
James K. Moffit, San Francisco.......... 500 
John Barton Payne, former Secretary of 

IMAI? Socbaddaddcoudsboodndabnopsauo 2,000 
Julius Rosenwald, Chicago, Illinois........ 1,000 
Rudolph Spreckels, San Francisco........ 1,000 
Special Tax Levy of Tulare County, Cali- 

LOLNIA OR rena yi rater en ey sie 10,000 

$55,000 


Thus the National Geographic Society has 

conveyed to the United States government a 
_ total acreage in Sequoia National Park of 

1,916 acres, purchased at a total cost of 
$96,330. 

It should be noted that the gifts were not 
solicited by the society. The National Geo- 
graphic Society asks its membership for no 
contributions of any sort. Its publications 
and its scientific and educational activities 
are entirely supported by their dues. 

Every member of the society may feel that 
he had a part in this enduring gift to his 
country and to posterity, for the funds appro- 
priated directly by the society for the pur- 
chase of the Sequoias came from the fraction 
of the dues of members set aside for such 
benefactions. 

The tender was made in the name of the 
National Geographic Society because, as the 
director of the National Park Service, Mr. 
Mather, put it: 


It is only proper that this gift should come to 
the government through the National Geographic 
Society, in view of the keen interest which the 
society has taken in the purchase of the other 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1385 


private holdings in this park. It was through di- 
tect gifts by your society that we were able to 
save the Giant Forest, which contains the finest 
stand of Sequoia Washingtoniana in the Sierra. 

Following the presentation, Albert B. Fall, 
Secretary of the Interior, wrote to Gilbert 
Grosvenor, president of the National Geo- 
graphic Society: 


Dear Mr. Grosvenor: It was a very pleasant 
surprise when you called on me on April 20 and, 
on behalf of the National Geographic Society, pre- 
sented the title deeds and other pertinent papers 
conveying to the United States the so-called Mar- 
tin tract of 640 acres in the Sequoia National 
Park, recently purchased. at a cost of $55,000 by 
your Society, through the generosity of its mem- 
bers, in order that this area with its fine stand 
of trees might be preserved for the American 
people, 

I have already personally expressed to you my 
sincere thanks and my acceptance of the proffered 
gift. Your society on several preceding occasions 
has stepped in at a critical moment and acquired 
several similar areas in this same park, thereby 
saving from extermination other wonderful trees 
that would otherwise have fallen under the axe. 

Your society is to be highly commended on its 
substantial expression of a high public spirit, and 
on behalf of the United States I again want to 
express to you, and through you to the contribu- 
tors, my deepest appreciation of your generous 
and considerate action. 

Respectfully, 
ALBERT B, FAauu 

Mr. Gilbert Grosvenor, ; 

President, National Geographic Society, 
Washington, D. C. 


To mankind, throughout the ages, trees 
have been the most human-like, the most 
companionable, of all inanimate things. Aris- 
totle thought they must have perceptions and 
passions. An infinitely more scientific genera- 
tion still is sensible to their mystical power. 

More and more will Americans visit Sequoia 
National Park to gaze upon the majesty of 
“Nature’s forest masterpieces” in their last 
stand. National Geographic Society members 
may well be proud that they had a part in 
preserving for all time these mementos of a 
past far beyond the records of written history. 


Juny 15, 1921] 


MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COM- 
MITTEE OF SIGMA XI 

THE executive committee of the Sigma XI 
Society held its annual spring meeting in 
New York on May 21. 

Careful consideration was given to requests 
for chapters from a considerable number of 
institutions and arrangements made in indi- 
vidual cases to recommend the granting of 
certain charters by the Convention to be held 
next winter. In other cases petitions were 
laid over without prejudice for further infor- 
mation and future action. 

It was reported that the National Research 
Council had voted to recognize Sigma Xi by 
appointing the president as an ex-officio mem- 
ber of the executive board. 

The invitation from the Royal Canadian In- 
stitute to hold the mid-winter convention in 
Toronto was accepted and the date fixed for 
Wednesday, December 28, The convention 
will be held in the afternoon and the dinner 
in the evening of that day. 

The report of the fellowship committee 
showed sufficient funds already at hand to 
assure the success of the plan and it was voted 
to establish one or more Sigma XI fellow- 
ships for the year beginning September, 1921. 
The Ph.D. degree or its equivalent was de- 
cided upon as a prerequisite for appointment, 
and a sub-committee consisting of Professor 
Edward Ellery (Union College) and Professor 
F. K. Richtmyer (Cornell University) was 
appointed with authority to fix the stipend 
and to recommend appointments as’ well as 
the precise terms under which the fellowships 
will be maintained. In view of the fact that 
provisions had already been made under di- 
rection of the National Research Council for 
fellowships in physics and chemistry during 
the next five years it was voted that, at least 
for next year, Sigma XI will give preference 
to other sciences in making the awards of its 
fellowships. 

The membership committee recommended 
certain changes in order to make possible a 
wider enlistment of the membership in the 
work of the society. The preliminary plan 
includes the division of the organization into 


SCIENCE 45 


members and associates, with the recognition 
of two groups distinguished on a functional 
basis, viz: chapter members and _ associates 
and general members and associates. The 
chapter functions will remain unchanged, 
whereas the members and associates in the 
general group will participate in the advance- 
ment of research through the national con- 
vention, the fellowship movement, confer- 
ences at scientific meetings, Sigma Xi clubs 
and such other activities as do not infringe 
on the rights and privileges of the active 
chapters. It seemed advisable that the general 
group should have at least one representative 
on the executive committee, the representation 
from the active chapters being then four elec- 
tive members on that committee. This sub- 
ject will be more definitely formulated for 
discussion at the coming convention. 

Several minor constitutional amendments 
were discussed and formulated for presen- 
tation through the chapters in the customary 
manner. 

Henry B. Warp, 
Secretary 


BERKELEY MEETING OF THE PACIFIC 
DIVISION OF THE AMERICAN AS- 
SOCIATION FOR THE AD- 
ADVANCEMENT OF 
SCIENCE 

Tue fifth annual meeting of the Pacific Di- 
vision of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science will be held from Au- 
gust 4 to 6 at Berkeley, California, in quar- 
ters provided by the University of California. 
Previous meetings in the order named have 
been held at San Diego, Stanford University, 
Pasadena and Seattle. The location at Ber- 
keley will insure a large attendance, as many 
members of the Pacific Division are resident 
in the San Francisco Bay region. 

Fourteen affiliated societies whose announce- 
ments follow will participate in the Berkeley 
meeting. 

GENERAL SESSIONS 

Features of the general sessions in which 
the membership of the Pacific Division and 
affiliated societies will unite are set forth in 


46 SCIENCE 


the preliminary announcement of the executive 
committee as follows: 

The Research Board of the University of 
California is arranging a research conference 
to be held at the luncheon hour on Thursday, 
August 4. The special topic for discussion 
will be “ A Survey of Research Conditions in 
Pacific Coast Institutions.” The meeting will 
be open to members of the Pacific Division 
and of affiliated societies who are particularly 
interested in the development of research in 
Pacific coast colleges and universities. 


THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2:00 P.M., IN WHEELER 
HALL 


Science and the Public Health 


Following the plan so successfully intro- 
duced at the Pasadena meeting in 1919, and 
successfully continued at the Seattle meeting 
in 1920, of attempting some constructive ap- 
plication of scientific knowledge to important 
problems of the day, there has been arranged 
for this meeting a symposium on the after- 
noon of August 4. The subject is that of the 
relation of science to public health—a subject 
with which every one is vitally concerned. 
An analysis of the vote on each of the four 
so-called “health amendments” upon which 
the electorate of California was permitted to 
express its views at the general election last 
November, is all that is required to enable 
one to realize the seriousness of the situation 
and the necessity for a campaign of education. 
The public should be fully informed as to what 
the adoption of those amendments would really 
mean. To assist the public to a realization of 
the seriousness of this menace to scientific 
investigation and to the public health, a sym- 
posium has been arranged in which the ques- 
tion will be presented from different view- 
points, as follows: 

Public health and human welfare: Dr. Ray LyMan 
Wiuevr, president, Leland Stanford Jr. Univer- 
sity. 

DR whee: 

University of 


Whose business is the public health? 
Gay, professor of pathology, 
California. 


Education in relation to public health and medi- 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1385 


cal practise: Dr. S. J. Houmes, professor of 
zoology, University of California. 

Physical health and mental health: Dr. PHILIP 
Kine Brown, president of the California Tu- 
berculosis Association, San Francisco. 

Rural and Industrial Sanitation: Dr. C. A. Ko- 
FO, professor of zoology at the University of 
California. 

Public health and experimental biology: Dr. H. 
B. Torrey, professor of zoology, University of 
Oregon. 


Immediately following the close of the sym- 
posium, a general session of the Pacifie Di- 
vision will be held for the purpose of electing 
four members of the executive committee. 


' 
THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 8:00 P.M., IN WHEELER 
HALL 


On the evening of August 4, President David 
P. Barrows, of the University of California, 
will give an address of welcome to which re- 
sponse will be made by Dr. Barton Warren 
Evermann, chairman of the executive com- 
mittee. This will be followed by the address 
of the retiring president of the Pacific Di- 
vision, Dr. William E. Ritter, who will speak 
on “Scientific Idealism.” After the address 
of the president a reception will be held. The 
public is cordially invited to attend this and 
all meetings and lectures of the Pacific Di- 
vision and of the affiliated societies. 

A public address will be given on the after- 
noon of August 5 by Professor Henry Norris 
Russell, professor of astronomy, Princeton 
University, on “ The properties of matter as 
illustrated by the stars.” 

A banquet will be arranged for the evening 
of August 5 for all members of the Pacific 
Division and affiliated societies. The cost 
per plate will not exceed $2.00. 


Astronomical Society of the Pacific 

CuHartes S§. CUSHING, president, First National 

Bank Building, San Francisco. 
D. S, RicHARDSON, secretary-treasurer, 22 Battery 

St., San Francisco. 

Meetings of the Astronomical Society of the 
Pacifie will be held in Room 1, Students’ Ob- 
servatory, University of California, Berkeley, 


JuLy 15, 1921] 


at 9 o’clock, on Friday morning and 2 o’clock 
on Friday afternoon, August 5. An excursion 

_to Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton, is 
planned for the afternoon and evening of Sat- 
urday, August 6. All members of the Ameri- 
can Association for the Advancement of Sci- 
ence desiring to make this trip should com- 
municate with Mr. W. F. Meyer, Students’ Ob- 
servatory, University of California. 


The American Physical Society 


THEODORE LYMAN; president, Harvard University. 

D. C. Miuurr, secretary, Case School of Applied 
Science. 

E. P. Lewis, local secretary for the Pacifie Coast, 
University of California. 


The American Physical Society will hold a 
meeting on August 4, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00. 


American Phytopathological Society, Pacific Di- 
vision 
H. S. Reep, president, Citrus Experiment Station, 
Riverside. 
S. M. ZeuuER, secretary-treasurer, Oregon Experi- 
ment Station. 


The American Phytopathological Society, 
Pacific Division, will hold four sessions for the 
discussion of diseases of the deciduous fruits, 
semi-tropical fruits, cereals and potato, Au- 
gust 4 to 6. 


California Section, American Chemical Society 


Wituram C. Bray, chairman, University of Cali- 
fornia, Berkeley. . 

Lioyp W. CHAPMAN, secretary-treasurer, 531 Rialto 
Building, San Francisco. ° 


The affiliated sections of the American 
Chemical Society will hold a joint meeting on 
August 5, at 9:00 o’clock. 


California Section, The Society of American 
Foresters 
DonaLD Bruce, chairman, University of Califor- 
nia, Berkeley. 
WILLIAM C. Hopes, secretary-treasurer, 425 Call 
Building, San Francisco. 


The various sections of The Society of 
American Foresters will hold a joint meeting 


SCIENCE 47 


with the Western Society of Naturalists and 
The Ecological Society of America. 


Cooper Ornithological Club 
Northern Division 
Curtis WRIGHT, JR., president, 6436 Benvenue 

Ave., Oakland, Calif. 

Mrs. JAMES T, ALLEN, secretary, 37 Mosswood 

Road, Berkeley. 

Southern Division 
Love Houtmzs Miter, president, State Normal 

School, Los Angeles. 

L. E. Wyman, secretary, Museum of History, Sci- 
ence and Art, Los Angeles. 

The Cooper Ornithological Club will hold 
a meeting on the evening of August 3 at 8 
o’clock in Room 9, Museum of Vertebrate 
Zoology, University of California. 


The Ecological Society of America 
STEPHEN A, Forbes, president, University of II- 
linois, Urbana, Illinois. 
A, O. WEESE, secretary-treasurer, Vivarium Build- 
ing, Champaign, Illinois. 

The Ecological Society will hold joint meet- 
ings on August 4 and 5 with the Western So- 
ciety of Naturalists, the Pacific Fisheries So- 
ciety and The Society of American Foresters. 


Pacific Coast Entomological Society 
EpwIn C, VAN Dykz, president, University of Cal- 
ifornia, Berkeley. 
FRANK E. BLAISDELL, SR., seeretary-treasurer, 1520 
Lake St., San Francisco. 


A program has been arranged for August 
6. There will be a dinner on August 4 and 
a field excursion on August 7. 


Pacific Fisheries Society 
Joun N, Coss, president, University of Washing- 
ton, 
GrorGE F, Sykes, secretary, Oregon Agricultural 
College. 


The Pacific Fisheries Society will hold two 
sessions during the forenoons of August 4 and 
5. Papers will be presented dealing with the 
artificial propagation of fishes, and other 
subjects pertaining to the conservation of 
the fisheries. 


48 SCIENCE 


Pacific Slope Branch, American Association of 
Economic Entomologists 
E. O. Essic, chairman, University of California, 
Berkeley, Calif. 
A, L. Lovert, secretary-treasurer, Oregon Agri- 
cultural College, Corvallis, Oregon. 


There will be scientific programs on August 
4 and 5 and excursions on August 6 and 7. 
An entomological dinner has been arranged for 
August 4. 


San Francisco Society, Archeological Institute of 
America 
Davw P. Barrows, president, University of Cali- 
fornia. 
H. R. Famrcuovey, secretary, Stanford University. 


A meeting of the San Francisco Society, 
Archeological Institute of America, will be 
held Thursday morning, August 4, at which 
papers will be read by members and others 
interested. 


Seismological Society of America 


Orro Kuorz, president, Dominion Astronomical 
Observatory, Ottawa, Canada. 

S. D. Towntevy, secretary-treasurer, Stanford Uni- 
versity, California. 


A meeting of the Seismological Society of 
America will be held, the details of which will 
be given in the final program. 


Southern California Section, American Chemical 
Society 
Stuart J. Batss, president, California Institute of 

Technology. 

H. L. Payns, secretary, 223 West First St., Los 

Angeles, Calif. 

The Southern California Section of the 
American Chemical Society will join with the 
other sections of the American Chemical So- 
ciety in a meeting to be held on Friday morn- 
ing, August 5. 

Western Society of Naturalists 
J. Frank DanieL, president, University of Cali- 
fornia. 
CHESTER STOCK, secretary-treasurer, University of 
California. 


The Western Society of Naturalists will 
meet at the University of California in con- 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1385 


junction with the meetings of the Pacific Di- 
vision. Sessions for presentation of miscel- 
laneous scientific papers on biology will be 
held on the mornings of August 4 and 5 and 
at other times during the progress of the 
general meetings should there be additional 
papers to be presented. 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 
JOHN HARPER LONG 


THE many friends of the late Professor John 
Harper Long, for thirty-seven years professor 
of chemistry in Northwestern University, will 
appreciate the portrayal of the man as a 
teacher, investigator, public servant and 
friend, contained in the small volume entitled 
“John Harper Long,—A Tribute from his 
Colleagues.” It is edited by Dr. Robert H. 
Gault of Northwestern University,. contains a 
chapter by F. B. Dains, entitled “ Student, 
Teacher and Chemist,” one by F. Robert Zeit, 
“ A Colleague at the Medical School,” another 
by Ira Remsen on “ Dr. Long as a Member of 
the Referee Board,” and an appreciation of 
the last ten years of Dr. Long’s scientific work 
by Julius Stieglitz and Paul Nicholas 
Leech. Dr. Frank Wright reviews Dr. 
Long’s activities in connection with Chi- 
cago’s gigantic drainage problems and the vol- 
ume concludes with a comprehensive bibliog- 
raphy of Dr. Long’s publications, comprising 
one hundred and eighteen contributions. 

There is thus compassed in seventy pages, 
tastily arranged, a fitting tribute to a man 
who did so much for chemistry and educa- 
tion. One outstanding feature of Dr. Long’s 
professional life comes back vividly to the 
reviewer, a characteristic which indexed well 
his deep, unselfish interest in his profession, 
namely, his constant attendance and active, 
helpful participation in the national and sec- 
tional meetings of the American Chemical 
Society. Even long after his health should 
have demanded more consideration of self, 
he gave unstintingly of his time, his counsel 
and his uplifting ideals, to the organization 
which had given him its highest honor. 

The edition is limited to a thousand and 
copies may be obtained through Professor 


JULY 15, 1921] 


Robert H. Gault, Northwestern University, 
Evanston, Illinois, 
j W. Lee Lewis 


THE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING OF PRINCE- 
TON UNIVERSITY 


THE trustees of Princeton University have 
planned to enlarge its school of engineering, 
giving courses in civil engineering, electrical 
engineering, mechanical engineering, chem- 
ical engineering and mining engineering. 
These courses will extend over four years, at 
the end of which time the bachelor’s degree 
will be given. A fifth year will be required 
for an engineering degree. The plan of the 
school is one which will not compete with those 
of engineering schools giving a four-year 
course, the intention being to make each of 
the courses mentioned such that the student 
will secure sufficient engineering training in 
four years to become an assistant to an engi- 
neer, and so be self-supporting, and in addi- 
tion receive a thorough grounding in physics, 
chemistry, mathematics, languages, literature, 
philosophy, economics and sociology to give 
him a broad outlook on everyday problems. 
The endeavor will be to make an engineer 
rather than a specialist. The fifth year is to 
be devoted primarily to engineering subjects, 
including certain courses in engineering eco- 
nomics and possibly a limited amount of re- 
search. Professor Arthur M. Greene, Jr., 
of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has 
been called to become the dean of the new 
school and professor of mechanical engineer- 
ing; he will take up his duties in the fall of 
1922. Professor Greene has served as manager 
and vice-president of the American Society of 
Mechanical Engineers and at present is chair- 
man of the research committee of the society, 
a member of the Boiler Code Committee and 
chairman of its Special Committee on Steam 
Piping. He is one of the society’s representa- 
tives on the Engineering Division of the Na- 
tional Research Council and on the Executive 
Board of the Federated American Engineer- 
ing Societies. 


SCIENCE 49 


THE ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL 
RESEARCH 


Tue Board of Scientifie Directors of the 
Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research an- 
nounces the following promotions and appoint- 
ments: 


Dr. Frederick L. Gates, hitherto an associate in 
pathology and bacteriology, has been made an as- 
sociate member. 

Dr. Frederic S. Jones, hitherto an associate in 
the department of animal pathology, has been 
made an associate member. 

Dr. Goronwy O. Broun, hitherto a fellow in 
pathology and bacteriology, has been made an 
assistant. 

The following new appointments are an- 
nounced: 

Dr. HE. V. Cowdry, associate member in pathology 
and bacteriology. 

Dr, Albert Fischer, assistant in experimental sur- 
gery. 

Dr. William A. Hagan, assistant in the depart- 
ment of animal pathology. 

Dr. Albert B. Hastings, assistant in chemistry. 

Dr. Hugh J. Morgan, assistant in medicine. 

Mr. David I. Hitcheock, fellow in general physi- 


ology. 
Mr. James M. Neill, fellow in medicine. 


Dr. John Auer, hitherto an associate mem- 
ber in physiology and pharmacology, has ac- 
cepted a position as professor of pharmacology 
at St. Louis University. 

Dr. Francis G. Blake, hitherto an associate 
member in medicine, has accepted a position 
ag professor of medicine in Yale University 
School of Medicine. 

Dr. J. Harold Austin, hitherto an associate 
in medicine, has accepted a position as profes- 
sor of research medicine at the University of 
Pennsylvania. 

Dr. Glenn E. Cullen, hitherto an associate 
in chemistry, has accepted a position as asso- 
ciate professor of research medicine at the 
University of Pennsylvania. 

Dr. William C. Stadie, hitherto an associate 
in medicine, has accepted a position as as- 
sistant professor in medicine at Yale Univer- 
sity School of Medicine. 

Dr. Martha Wollstein, hitherto an asso- 
ciate in pathology and bacteriology, has ac- 


50 SCIENCE 


cepted a position as pathologist at the Babies 
Hospital, New York City. 

Dr. Israel J. Kligler, hitherto an associate 
in bacteriology, has accepted an appointment 
with the Zionist Medical Unit in Palestine. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Dr. F. H. Kyowtrton, of the U. S. Geo- 
logical Survey, received the honorary degree 
of doctor of science from Middlebury College, 
at its recent commencement. 


Proressor LAWRENCE J. HeEnpERSON, of 
Harvard University, has been elected a foreign 
correspondent of the Paris Academy of Med- 
jeine. 

Dr. H. S. Wasurneton, of the Geophysical 
Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Wash- 
ington, has been elected a foreign honorary 
member of the Norwegian Academy of Sci- 
ences. 


Proressor Fiorian Casort, of the University 
of California, has been elected fellow of the 
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 


Dr. A. SmirH Woopwarp, keeper of geology 
in the British Museum of Natural History, 
has been elected president of the Linnean So- 
ciety of London. 


Dr. George M. Pierson, who has been pro- 
fessor of anatomy in the University of Penn- 
sylvania for thirty years, is retiring from ac- 
tive service. 


Dr. Micuarn E. GarpNer has been appointed 
chief of the bureau of preventable diseases and 
director of the bacteriologic laboratory of the 
United States Public Health Service. 


Tue Albert medal of the Royal Society 
of Arts for 1921 has been awarded to Profes- 
sor J. A. Fleming in recognition of his con- 
tributions to electrical science and its appli- 
cations. 


Cuar.es F. Ranp, chairman of the executive 
board of Engineering Foundation, has been 
elected an honorary member of the Iron and 
Steel Institute of Great Britain. Mr. Rand is 
honorary secretary of the John Fritz Medal 
Board of Award in London which recently be- 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1385 


stowed the John Fritz Medal for achievement 
in applied science on Sir Robert Hadfield. 
On July 8 the mission went to Paris to confer 
the John Fritz Medal for 1922 upon Eugene 
Schneider, head of the Creusot Works. 


Grorce Oris Smiru, director of the United 
States Geological Survey, sailed for England 
on July 9 on the Cedric to attend the meeting 
of the organization committee of the Inter- 
national Geological Congress in London on 
July 20. Professor R. W. Brock, of the Uni- 
versity of British Columbia, the chairman of 
this international committee, is the other rep- 
resentative of the Western Hemisphere. The 
last meeting of this congress was held in Can- 
ada in 19138, when Belgium invited the con- 
gress to meet in Brussels in 1916. This invi- 
tation has been renewed for 1922. 


Dr. Wintiam H. Wetcu, director of the 
school of hygiene and public health, Johns 
Hopkins University, is among those who will 
attend the dedication of the new buildings of 
the Peking Union Medical College, at Peking, 
China, in September. 


Proressor THomas Hunt Moraan, of Co- 
lumbia University, is spending the last few 
months of his sabbatical leave at the Univer- 
sity of California, where he and his group of 
assistants are continuing their genetic investi- 
gations of Drosophila. The other members of 
the party are Dr. A. H. Sturtevant, Dr. C. B. 
Bridges, Dr. D. E. Lancefield, Mrs. D. E. 
Lancefield and Miss Phoebe Reed, cytologists, 
and Miss Edith Wallace, artist. The party 
will remain at the university until the open- 
ing of Columbia University about Sept. 15. 


Tuomas ForsytH Hunt, dean of the college 
of agriculture at the University of California, 
has returned to the university after a year’s 
travel and study in Italy, Sicily, Egypt, Eng- 
land and Scotland. The main purpose of his 
trip was to make a survey of European methods 
of agriculture with special reference to fruit 
production and its effect upon the progressive 
development of various nations. 


Dr. O. G. F. Lunn, of Larawok, Borneo, re- 
cently arrived at the University of California 


Juuy 15, 1921] 


Farm at Davis to spend some time in the 
study of cereal crops and cultural methods in 
behalf of the British government. Dr. Luhn 
expects to introduce California methods of 
culture and of cropping into Borneo when he 
returns. 


Capratn Roatp AMUNDSEN arrived at Seattle 
on July 4 from Nome, Alaska, where he ap- 
peared the middle of June after leaving his 
schooner, the Maude, at Cape Serge disabled 
by a broken propeller. Captain Amundsen 
said he still considered entirely feasible his 
project to drift across the North Pole with the 
current. He expects to remain in this country 
a year before proceeding with his voyage. 


Tue Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences 
held a radium exhibit at its new museum on 
June 17 in honor of the visit to Buffalo of 
Mme. Curie, who was presented with hon- 
orary membership in the society. The address 
on radium was delivered by Dr. Edward J. 
Moore, professor of physics at the University 
of Buffalo. 


Tue Adamson lecture was delivered at the 
University of Manchester on June 9 by Pro- 
fessor Einstein, who had been invited by the 
council in accordance with a senate recom- 
mendation passed on February 3. At the 
opening of the proceedings the honorary de- 
gree of D.Sc. was conferred on him. Profes- 
sor Einstein lectured on June 13 at King’s 
College, London, on “ The development and 
present position of the theory of relativity.” 
After the public lecture Professor Einstein 
was the guest of the principal of King’s Col- 
lege at a dinner given in the college. 


A BRONZE statue of Joseph Leidy was un- 
veiled in the medical laboratories of the 
University of Pennsylvania on June 19, 1921. 
Samuel Murray was the sculptor. 


Dr. MarsHmMan Epwarp WapswortH, dean 
emeritus of the school of mines of the Uni- 
versity of Pittsburgh, has died at the age of 
seventy-four years. 


Tue South African Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science is meeting at Durban 
July 11-16, under the presidency of Professor 


SCIENCE ol 


\ 

J. E. Duerden, of Rhodes University College, 
Graham’s Town. The sections and presidents 
are as follows: Astronomy, Mathematics, 
Physics, Engineering, Dr. J. Lunt, of the 
Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope; 
Chemistry, Geology, Geography, Dr. J. Moir, 
chemist to the Mines Department, Johannes- 
burg; Botany, Forestry, Agriculture, Profes- 
sor J. W. Bews, of Natal University College, 
Maritzburg; Zoology, Physiology, Hygiene, 
Professor H. B. Fantham, of University Col- 
lege, Johannesburg; Anthropology, Philology, 
Dr. C. T. Loram, of the Natal Education De- 
partment; Education, Sociology, History, Pro- 
fessor, W. A. Macfadyen, of Transvaal Uni- 
versity College, Pretoria. 


A STANDING committee has been appointed 
within the Department of Agriculture by Sec- 
retary Wallace to study the present economic 
situation of agriculture and make recommen- 
dations with respect to any action which might 
be taken by the department to improve condi- 
tions. The committee consists of Assistant 
Secretary Ball, chairman; Dr. H. C. Taylor, 
chief of the Office of Farm Management and 
Farm Economics; Dr. W. A. Taylor, chief of 
the Bureau of Plant Industry; Dr. John R. 
Mohler, chief of the Bureau of Animal In- 
dustry ; and Leon M. Estabrook, associate chief 
of the Bureau of Markets. The members are 
gathering data from sources in the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, and agricultural leaders 
and economists in various parts of the country 
will be consulted. They are also making a 
careful survey of the activities of the depart- 
ment in the field of economics with the pur- 
pose of coordinating and strengthening this 
work. 


We learn from Nature that at a general 
meeting of members of the Royal Institution 
held on June 6 special thanks were given to 
Sir Humphry Davy Rolleston for his present 
of a safety-lamp which was in the possession 
of Dr. John Davy, brother of Sir Humphry 
Davy, and to Sir David L. Salomons for his 
present of a privately printed Life and Study 
of the Works of Breguet, the famous watch- 
maker, Argo’s watch, and two others of spe- 


52 SCIENCE 


cial interest, the first working aneroid made 
by Vidi in 1857, and a series of models illus- 
trating the development of the chick. 


Baron Epmonp pe Rotuscump, adminis- 
trator of the Eastern Railway Company of 
France, has given 10,000,000 frances to found a 
scientific institute to encourage students to 
devote their lives to the work of research. The 
institute will aim to develop science in in- 
dustry and agriculture. The institute is to be 
managed by a council, members of which are 
to be elected by the Academy of Sciences, the 
College of France, the Faculty of Sciences 
and the Paris Museum. 


Tue Journal of the American Medical As- 
sociation reports that a new pathological and 
bacteriological institute has been opened in 
Prague. There are divisions for pathologic 
anatomy, experimental pathology, bacteriology 
and legal medicine. It is popularly called 
Hlava’s Institute, from the name of its chief, 
Professor Jeroslav Hlava. Dr. Hlava is the 
senior professor of the staff of the Czech med- 
ical school, and is a well known authority on 
exanthematic fevers. In addition to being 
president of several medical societies and a 
corresponding member of the French Academy 
of Medicine, he is also the president of the 
Czech Society for Cancer Research. On the 
day the new building for pathology was 
opened, the president of the republic made a 
gift of 100,000 crowns to the Caneer Society 
for continuing and developing its work. 


THE importance of regular meteorological 
reports from Greenland for the forecasting ser- 
vices of Western Europe, and, indeed, for that 
of Canada also, has, says Nature, been recog- 
nized for some years. The question of these 
reports was discussed at the meeting of the 
International Commission for Weather Teleg- 
raphy which was held in London in November 
last, and the commission decided unanimously 
that “the establishment at the earliest possible 
date of a high-power radio-telegraphic station 
in Greenland is of the utmost importance to 
the meteorology of Western Europe, and, fur- 
ther, it is of such importance as to warrant 
the international provision of funds for main- 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1385 


taining it.” It is probable that the provision 
of such a station by the Danish government 
will be made at an early date. When this 
station has been provided it will be possible to 
make a definite use in weather forecasting in 
Kurope of meteorological observations from 
Canada and the United States. Hitherto the 
gap between the European and American ob- 
servations has been so great that meteorologists 
have been unable to justify the expense which 
would be involved in regular cable messages 
from America to England. 


THE medical division of Stanford University 
Medical School has received a grant of $300 
from the Committee on Scientific Research of 
the American Medical Association. This 
money is to be used for the furtherance of an 
investigation into the factors influencing the 
rate of urea excretion. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 


BEQUESTS amounting to $16,624,203 are as- 
sured to the medical schools of Harvard, Co- 
lumbia and Johns Hopkins Universities by the 
action of Miss Alice A. De Lamar in the 
Surrogate’s Court in waiving her rights to pro- 
test the will of her father, Captain Joseph R. 
De Lamar. The will left more than half of his 
estate, valued at $33,327,000, to education and 
charity. The descendant’s estate law of New 
York bars a person from leaving more than 
half of his estate to charity, without appproval 
of the heirs. 


Dr. G. Cansy Rosinson, Baltimore, has ac- 
cepted the post of professor of medicine at the 
Johns Hopkins Medical School and physician- 
in-chief of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, to 
succeed Dr. William S. Thayer. Dr. Robin- 
son is now professor of medicine and dean of 
the medical faculty of Vanderbilt University, 
Nashville, Tenn., and expects to return at the 
end of the year. 


Dr. Paut J. Hanzurk, associate profes- 
sor of pharmacology, school of medicine, 
Western Reserve University, has been ap- 
pointed professor of pharmacology in the 


JuLy 15, 1921] 


school of medicine of Leland Stanford Junior 
University. Upon his resignation from the 
medical faculty at Western Reserve, a dinner 
in honor of Dr. Hanzlik was given at the Uni- 
versity Club of Cleveland. 


At Oberlin College, Mr. F. E. Carr has been 
promoted to an assistant professorship of 
mathematics, and Dr. C. H. Yeaton, of Mil- 
waukee College of Engineering, has been ap- 
pointed assistant professor of mathematics. 


Dr. Paut THomas Youne, of the University 
of Minnesota, has been appointed associate in 
psychology in the University of Illinois. 


Harry F. Lewis, A.B., A.M. (Wesleyan), 
Ph.D. (Illinois), at present with the National 
Aniline and Chemical Company of Buffalo, 
has been elected associate professor of chem- 
istry at Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


AN ANALOGY BETWEEN THE THEORIES OF 
NATURAL SELECTION AND ELECTROLYSIS 


1. In a recent reading of the “Origin of 
Species ” I was struck by a marked similarity 
of the theory, to Clausius’s views of the nature 
of electrolysis. In the latter one begins. with 
ions produced by causes quite outside of the 
electrical forces. Their presence is a phenom- 
enon on a scale of forces totally beyond the 
compass of the relatively feeble electric field. 
They are usually an essentially rare occur- 
rence among molecules. The period of ex- 
istence of each ion, moreover, is relatively 
short; but their virtues are at once retrieved, 
I might say inherited, by the progeny of some 
other molecule, so that the phenomenon is 
practically continuous. The familiar result 
is that the presence of an apparently inade- 
quate field gives us a continuous supply of 
anions and cations at the electrodes. 

2. Now replace ionization by variation, 
also an essentially independent phenomenon. 
Consider the positive ion a favorable variation 
and the negative ion an unfavorable varia- 
tion. Let the electric field be replaced by nat- 
ural selection, which embodies a sort of tend- 
ency or draft of the same nature as a physical 
field of force. At least, reciprocally with the 


SCIENCE 53 


individual, it amounts to that, as is evidenced 
by the term “struggle.” Physical forces, 
moreover, are in a similar way doubly spe- 
cific. Finally, let the cathode be the goal of 
survival and let the anode denote extinction. 
Then the two mechanisms would function in 
the same way. 

38. I have drawn inferences from the model; 
but these are beyond the mark here. It is 
merely my purpose to indicate that a mechan- 
ism which functions so efficiently in the lab- 
oratory, can not under a wider interpretation, 
fail to function in the economy of nature, and 
that you have in electrolysis an ocular and 
approachable demonstration of the result. 
The thing works. Of course the model repre- 
sents only an infinitesimal element (as it 
were) in the continuity of Darwinian evolu- 
tion. Nevertheless given ionization (however 
rare among millions of molecules) or an avail- 
able variation; given also an electrical field 
(however feeble) or natural selection, you can 
not have stagnation; irremediably you will 
have to accept development, appreciable with- 
in a period commensurate with the two 
factors. 

Cart Barus 

Brown UNIVERSITY, 

PROVIDENCE, R. I. 


NATIONAL TEMPERAMENT IN SCIENTIFIC IN- 
VESTIGATIONS 

To tHe Epiror or Scrmnce: In Professor 
Carmichael’s paper on “ National temperament 
in scientific investigations” in Scmnce for 
April 1, 1921, occurs the sentence: 

They (the British) have no university eager to 
nurse and develop new talent, so that the new 
thinker becomes devoted to nature. 


In Merz’s “ European Thought in the Nine- 
teenth Century,” in the first volume, part one, 
“on the growth and the diffusion of the sci- 
entific spirit in the first half of the nineteenth 
century,” we find the statement on page 286: 

The rare genius, gifted with the power of 
original thought, who found no academy ready 
to call him, no schools where he could be trained, 
no university eager to nurse and develop his 
talent, did not retire into the depths of his own 


54 SCIENCE 


consciousness, or surround himself with the arti- 
ficial atmosphere of erudition....In England 
the isolation from society and the solitariness of 
genius threw him into the arms of Nature.... 


Again on page 276: 

But it is a fact that no Academy existed in this 
country which was zealous in collecting and arrang- 
ing all the best labours of scattered philosophers, 


no university which was anxious to attract and 
train promising intellects. ... 


Most of the phrases in Professor Carmi- 
chael’s paragraph on British science and also 
in the paragraph contrasting the temperaments 
of the three European nations will be found 
in this chapter of Merz’s on pages 250, 252, 
279, 281 and 300. : 

I wish to point out that what Merz wrote 
jin 1896 about English science and English 
universities in the first half of the nineteenth 
century does not necessarily apply to British 
science and British universities at the present 
time. As Merz remarks on page 300: 


During the second half of the century a process 
of equalisation has gone on which has taken away 
something of the characteristic peculiarities of 
earlier times. The great problems of science and 
life are now everywhere attacked by similar meth- 
ods. Scientific teaching proceeeds on similar lines, 
and ideas and discoveries are cosmopolitan 


property. 


Whether or not this is a fact, and whether 
or not, if it is a fact, the final paragraphs of 
Professor Carmichael’s paper are sound, I 
do not pretend to judge. But I do protest 
that the statement that the British have no 
university eager to nurse and develop new 
talent is not true to-day, even if it was true 
in 1850. 

It may also be proper to note that Merz’s 
statement definitely applies to English rather 
than to British universities; and on page 271 
the Scottish universities of that day are con- 
trasted with their English sisters. 


J. W. CLawson 


To tHe Eprror or Science: The criticisms 
of my article on “ National temperament in 
scientific investigations,” offered by Mr. J. 


[N. 8S. Von. LIV. No. 1385 


W. Clawson, are essentially the following two: 
It is implied that I have made an improper 
use of Merz’s “European Thought”; it is 
claimed that I have been unjust to the British 
in a certain particular. I appreciate the op- 
portunity to say a word about them. 

With respect to the first of these I prefer 
to leave it to the reader, who makes the com- 
parison between the two paragraphs named by 
Mr. Clawson and the passages in Merz referred 
to by him, to determine whether my practise 
is justifiable, calling his attention to the fact 
that the statements in one of these paragraphs 
were given as what seemed to me to be “the 
impartial verdict of history” rather than as 
an expression of judgment independently 
formed by me. 

With regard to the question of injustice to 
the British I have the following to say: The 
main burden of my paper was to urge upon 
my own countrymen the desirability of re- 
alizing in their own scientific activity the char- 
acteristics of spontaneity and individuality 
which have particularly marked the work of 
the British and which have led (as it was 
pointed out) to a greater fruitage of the 
larger things among them than has fallen to 
the lot of any other people; in the particular 
(and somewhat unfortunate) phrase criticized 
I had no intention to say anything particu- 
larly harmful to the British nor had I sup- 
posed that I had done so; one of my corre- 
spondents has expressed his pleasure in what 
he was pleased to call my just emphasis of the 
value and importance of the British methods 
and results; Mr. Clawson now appears to think 
that I am quite unjust to the British (at least 
in a certain particular); another has already 
belabored me for being unjust to the Ger- 
mans; if stil! another shall accuse me of a 
like injustice to the French, I shall begin to 
think that I have held a fair balance among 
the three nations in my attempt to point out 
certain values realized by them which I wish 
to see attained by the scientists of America 
in fuller measure in the future than in the 
past. 

R. D. CarMIcHAEL 

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


JuLy 15, 1921] 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


THE PREDICTION OF THE PHYSIOLOGICAL 
ACTION OF ALCOHOLS! 


CoMPaRATIVELY few laws are known connect- 
ing the chemistry of various substances with 
their physiological effects; such a condition is 
natural because of the complexity of many 
of the compounds used in therapeutics. In 
seeking for generalizations it is therefore ad- 
visable to direct our attention at first to com- 
pounds possessing rather simple structures. 

In connection with the testing of the 
toxicity of various normal primary alcohols 
upon Paramecia the writer noticed the almost 
quantitative application of a simple numerical 
rule. Methyl alcohol, as was expected from 
its structure, exhibited an abnormality, but 
beginning with ethyl alcohol and expressing 
its action as unity the acute toxicities of 
the successive members subjected themselves 
to numerical expression, particularly when 
the quantity of alcohol used was expressed 
in moles and not in grams. 

In an homologous series of this kind the 
molar toxicity of any given member is three 
times that of the preceding member. The 
rule is expressed numerically by the geomet- 
rical progression: 

UB BR GY GGG BVOIBY 6G 416 

The value of this generalization, originally 
presented by Traube on the basis of surface 
tension experiments, lies in the fact that it 
may be appplied not merely to unicellular or- 
ganisms, but to mammals as well. Its applica- 
tion is shown best by a few examples. 


EXAMPLE I 


The toxie concentration of ethyl alcohol 
for a given strain of paramecia was found by 
experiment to be 4.5 per cent. What concen- 
tration of n-octyl alcohol will prove equally 
toxic to the same strain of organisms ? 

Solution: 1X3 X3xX3 x3 x3 X3 = 729. 
4:5% X 2.8% 2 

729 
The observed value was found to be 0.03 per 
cent. 

1 Article No. 4, Chemical Research Department, 
Parke, Davis & Co, 


= 0.02% = calculated concentration. 


SCIENCE 59 


EXAMPLE II 


If a mouse is killed within a few hours by 
intraperitoneal administration of 12 mg. of 
ethyl aleohol per gram of body weight, what 
will be the corresponding toxic dose of n-amyl 
aleohol ? 


Solution: 1 x3 x3 x3 = 27. 


12 mg. x 1.9* 
27 


The observed value was found to be very close 
to 1.0 mg. per gram of body weight. 


= 0.84 mg. 


EXAMPLE II 


The toxic dose of ethyl aleohol when in- 
jected: into the blood stream of the cat was 
found by Macht® to be 5.0 ec. per kilo. The 
administration time was 50 minutes. Under 
exactly similar experimental conditions what 
will be the toxic dose (a) of n-propyl alcohol, 
(b) of n-amyl alcohol? 


Solution: (2) 1x3 =8. 


* 
5.0 eX 1.3 GG a 
= 2.14 c.c. corrected for sp. gr. 


The experimental value was found by Macht 
to be 2.0 e@.c., although in this case the toxic 
amount of liquid was administered during 20 
minutes. 


Solution: (0) 1X3 x3 x3 = 27. 


5.0 X 1.9* 


7 = 0.35 c.c. (uncorrected for sp. gr.). 


The experimental value was found to be 0.15 
c.¢c., which is a very satisfactory result in 
view of the fact that the toxic material was 
administered during seven minutes. When 
administered over an interval of from 30 to 
50 minutes the observed value would no doubt 
approach the calculated value. 

A more detailed discussion of the present 
work is appearing in a series of reports in the 
J. Am. Pharm. Association. 

Ourver Kamo 

2 The values marked with the asterisk are molecu- 
lar weight ratios which serve to convert the pre- 
dicted values from moles to grams. 

3 J, Pharmacol., 16, 1 (1920), 


56 SCIENCE 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 


DIVISION OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 


(Continued) 


Symmetrical tribromphenylpropiolic acid and 
its reaction with acetic anhydride: Ropert CHAM- 
BERS. Phenylpropiolic acid condenses with acetic 
anhydride to form a phenylnaphthalene dicarbox- 
ylic anhydride. This reaction holds for deriva- 
tives of phenylpropiolic acid where there is a 
free ortho hydrogen. It was desired to investi- 
gate the action of acetic anhydride on a di ortho 
substituted phenyl propiolic acid. The above 
acid was prepared from meta nitro cinnamic acid 
as follows: reduction with zine and hydrochlorie 
acid gave meta amido hydrocinnamie acid. Bro- 
mination and subsequent diazotization in boiling 
ethyl alcohol gave 2.4.6 tribromhydrocinnamic 
acid. Heating to 145° in a sealed tube with 
bromine gave aa dibrom 2.4.6 tribromhydrocin- 
namie acid. The latter with hot alcoholic potash 
gave 2.4.6 tribromphenylpropiolie acid. With 
acetic anhydride the above acid does not condense 
to a phenylnaphthalene derivatives but forms an 
anhydride which may be hydrolyzed to the original 
acid. 


The reactions of alpha anthroquinonesulfonic 
acids with mercaptans: E, Emmet Rem, CoLin 
M. Mackaun and G. E. Miuurr. Sodium anthro- 
quinone-alpha-monosulfonate and the 1.5 or 1.8 
disulfonates react readily with mercaptans in 
water solution to replace the sulfonic acid group 
by —SR to give anthraquinone alkyl thio-ethers 
or dithio-ethers, a-C,,H,0,.SR, 1, 5-C,H,O.(SR), 
and 1.8-C,,H,O.(SR),. The disulfonates may give 
the intermediate alkyl thio-ether sulfonate. 


The polymers of pinene: G. B. and ©. J. 
FRANKFORTER and E. R. Kryerr. 


Contribution to our knowledge of the chemistry 
of calcium carbide: G. B. FRANKFORTER and A. 
E. SToPpPeEt. 


A new lactone from oil of orange: FRANCIS D. 
Dover. Essential oils of citrus species, obtained 
by expression, on standing generally deposit solids 
from which certain lactones derived from coumarin 
have been obtained. In the present eommunica- 
tion is described a new lactone of rather unusual 
properties obtained from the sediment of West 
Indian oil of orange. It forms colorless needles 
(m. p. 88-90°) easily soluble in alcohol and 
ether, slightly so in ligroin. Optical rotation is 
about — 38° in aleohol. On acidifying an alka- 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1385 


line solution it yields a crystalline acid (m. p. 
151°) from which no crystalline salts could be 
obtained. It yields no acetyl derivative, and can 
not ‘be reconverted into the lactone. It is readily 
oxidized by permanganate. The lactone, like 
coumarin, yields a crystalline compound with bi- 
sulfite. Analysis indicates the empirical formula: 
C,5H,,03. 


The bromination of 2-amino-p-cymene: ALVIN 
S. WHEELER and Ira W. SmiruHEy. Pure p-cymene, 
obtained from spruce turpentine, was nitrated and 
the 2-nitro-p-cymene was reduced with Sn and 
HCl. The acetyl derivative of 2-amino-p-cymene 
in CCl, solution was boiled with bromine. Bromo 
derivative, needles, m. 122°; yield 60 per cent. 
Hydrolysis gave free amine, liquid, b. 169°-170° 
at 20 mm., d. 1.3012, np® 1.5781. HCl salt, 
plates, m. 206°-210°. HBr salt, plates, m. 205°. 
Diazobromoaminocymene, canary yellow needles, 
m. 146°-148° (decomp.). Oxidation of bromo- 
acetylaminocymene with neutral permanganate 
gave a toluic acid derivative, m. 213°. Hydrolysis 
with acid gave the bromoamino acid, needles, m. 
151°; HCl salt, plates, m. 190° (decomp.). No 
bromoamino toluie acid of this description could 
be found in the literature. The Br atom appears 
to be in the 3 position. 


New derivatives of 2, 3, 8-tribromo-5-hydrozy-1, 
4-naphthoquinone: ALvIN S. WHEELER and T. M. 
Anprews. Action of NaOH on the tribromo- 
quinone (A) gave the 2, 3-dibromo-5, 8-dihydroxy- 
1, 4-naphthoquinone (B), which, reduced with Zn 
and H,SO,, gave 2, 3-dibromo-1, 4, 5, 8-tetra- 
hydroxynaphthalene, greenish needles, m. 164°— 
166°. Tetracetyl derivative, yellow needles, m. 
149°-150°. Acetyl derivative of B, yellow prisms, 
m. 197°. Methyl ether of A, yellowish red plates, 
m. 209°-210°, Ethyl ether of A, yellow needles, 
m, 134°-136°. Aniline derivative of A (Br No. 
8 replaced), purplish chip-like erystals, m. 235°. 
A is eonverted by Zn and H,SO, into the tri- 
hydroxy derivative, yellowish needles, m. 106°- 
107°; triacetyl derivative, colorless prisms, m. 
220°. Br. No. 8 in A is replaced by Cl with HCl 
and alcohol, golden bronze plates, m, 152°; acetyl 
derivative, yellow prisms, m. 160°. Ketone re- 
agents on A do not give well defined products. 


The bromination of 2-amino-p-cymene: ALVIN 
S. WHEELER and I. W. SmirHry. (By title.) 
The production of furfural by the action of su- 


perheated water on aqueous corn cob extract: F. 
B. LaForce. (By title.) 


Juny 15, 1921] 


DIVISION OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY 


C. E. Coates, chairman. 
T. J. Bryan, secretary. 


Suggestions for more rapid and exact methods 
of analyses for the cheese factory: S. K. RoBInson. 


Some problems of the pure food manufacturer: 
H..A. Noyrs. The preserver of fruit and fruit 
products has two important problems to solve: 
(1) The obtaining of a high quality and uniform 
fruit supply each year, and (2) the processing of 
fruit in such a way that its natural properties are 
retained. The pure food manufacturer’s inability 
to accomplish these two things up to the present 
has allowed the artificial flavor and color manu- 
facturer to develop his products and befuddle the 
taste of the average consumer. The plans and 
organization of one large eoncern, to study the 
production of quality fruits and to apply research 
methods to its business, were given. 


Variations in the Concord grape during ripen- 
ing: H. A. Noyes, H. T. Kine, J. H. Marr- 
SOLF. Variations in the Concord grape during 
ripening that are of interest to the juice and jam 
manufacturer were investigated. Results show a 
gradual increase in sugar content, a deerease in 
total acids and irregularities in tannin and color- 
ing matter, Weather conditions were an impor- 
tant factor affecting sugar content, warm days 
and cool nights seeming to be the optimum con- 
dition for developing sugar. 


The absorption of copper from the soil by 
potato plants: F. C. Coox. Insoluble copper 
compounds present in a Bordeaux spray contain- 
ing an excess of lime and present in Pickering 
spray containing no excess of lime, also a solu- 
tion of sulfate of copper, were added to the soil 
near the roots of potato plants in equal strengths 
and amounts at various intervals during the grow- 
ing season. Samples of vines, tubers and soil 
were taken for analyses at frequent intervals. The 
leaves of the plants grown in the soil receiving the 
insoluble copper, #.e., the sprays, held the largest 
part of the copper, the roots but little and the 
stems an intermediate amount. The tubers con- 
tained but traces of copper. Where the soil 
was treated with the copper sulfate solution the 
roots were injured and the normal metabolism of 
the vines interfered with. The tubers from these 
vines were small and the vines stunted. In these 
plants the roots held more copper than the leaves. 
The soluble copper sulfate added directly to the 
soil caused injury to the plants while the insoluble 


SCIENCE 57 


copper compounds of the sprays did not. The 
extra lime of the Bordeaux spray did not reduce 
the amount of copper absorbed by the plants com- 
pared with the results on the Pickering plants. 
Where the sprays and copper sulfate solution were 
added to the soil directly practically the same 
amounts of copper were recovered from the soil 
samples. Samples of soil from sprayed potato 
fields showed but minute amounts of copper._ 


Pickering Bordeaux sprays: F. C, Coox. 


Analysis of the Jerusalem artichoke: A. T. 
SHoHL. The Jerusalem artichoke, Helianthus tu- 
berosus, gives the analysis: 


Water Nx6.25 Fat Carb. Fiber Ash 
Per cent.. .79.0 aha 2 16.5 8 ial 


The wastage by peeling is 31 per cent., the hy- 
drogen ion concentration (colorimetric) pH 5.0. 
The carbohydrate is inulin, as determined by po- 
lariscope and quantitated after inversion by Bene- 
dict’s solution, Experiments show it is utilized, 
and not excreted by diabetics. The nitrogen is 
largely extracted with boiling water. This non- 
protein fraction represents 71.5 per cent. of total 
nitrogen. Of the water soluble non-protein nitro- 
gen 26 per cent. is free amino acid nitrogen and 
12 per cent. ammonia nitrogen, 

Measuring soil toxicity, acidity and basicity: 
R. H. Carr, 

What puts the ‘‘pop’’ in pop corn? R. H. 
Carr. (Lantern.) 


The rate of oxidation of lime-sulfur: C. A. 
Peters and A. L. Prince. The rate of oxidation 
of lime-sulfur is largely independent of the con- 
centration and also of the temperature up to about 
80°, when the rate is increased in all but the 
very dilute solutions. 


A color test for ‘‘remade’’ milk: 
EVENSON. 


Oscar L. 


Effect of aging on lecithin-phosphoric acid de- 
termination of egg noodles: R, C. HUMMELL. The 
results of these experiments indicate that aging 
does have considerable effect on the lecithin-phos- 
phorie acid determination in egg noodles. By the 
end of six months this value had decreased to less 
than two thirds of the original value and in eigh- 
teen months had decreased to one half or less 
than one half of the original amount. Inasmuch 
as considerable time may elapse from the time 
at which egg noodles are manufactured until they 
reach the consumer, it would seem to be quite in 


58 SCIENCE 


error to judge the egg content by the value ob- 
tained in the aforesaid determination. 


Peanut by-products: J. B. REED. 


Some factors governing the crystallization of 
lactose in ice cream: HARPER F. ZOLLER and 
Owen E. WiuuiamMs. A curve is presented as a 
result of experimental evidence which serves to 
separate those mixes which will produce sandiness 
from. those which will not, and is based upon the 
relationship existing between the protein-serum 
solids concentration and the concentration of lac- 
tose within the mix. It is erroneous to calculate 
the concentration of lactose on the water basis 
since the total water in the mix is not available 
to the lactose because of the competition of the 
other solids. The effect of the proteins within the 
mix is not to repress the erystallization of lactose, 
but they act oppositely in increasing concentration, 
Because of its slow rate of erystallization lactose 
hydrate is subject to much supercooling and over- 
saturation. Protein has very little effeét upon its 
rate of growth. The solubility of lactose hydrate 
according to the best of experimental deductions 
is 11.15 per cent. at 0° C. In an ice cream mix 
containing 10 per cent. fat, 14 per cent. of cane 
sugar and 65 per cent. of water, the above value 
for lactose reduces to about 8.9 per cent. caleu- 
lated on the water basis. 


A rotating thermocouple and cold junction de- 
signed for temperature studies in horizontal power 
ice cream machines: Harper F. Zouuer. A sen- 
sitive and experimental thermocouple is described 
and illustrated which has been designed for the 
purpose of accurately measuring the temperature 
of the ice cream mix within the freezer when the 
latter is rotating at full speed. By maintaining 
an ice-water cold junction affixed to the shaft of 
the freezer along with the thermocouple junctions 
the small temperature differences within the freezer 
can be measured with an accuracy of .02° C, This 
latter is also made possible by the use of a five 
junction copper-constantan thermocouple (of fine 
wire for small temperature lag effect) and a po- 
tentiometrie setup embracing a galvanometer of 
low internal resistance with a potentiometer of 
microvolt capacity. The unique feature of the 
instrument is the method of conducting the small 
em.f, from the rapidly rotating shaft to the po- 
tentiometer without frictional thermoelectric ef- 
fects. The instrument has been in regular service 
for a number of months, has given no trouble, 
and has measured the rapidly fluctuating tempera- 
tures within the mix simply and accurately. 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1385 


Cases of supercooling during the freezing of ice 
cream mixes: HARPER F. ZOLLER and OWEN E. 
WILLIAMS. By the use of the rotating thermo- 
couple we have examined the point of separation 
of ice in a variety of mixes. The measurements 
were made in a commercial ice cream machine of 
the Miller type with a capacity of five gallons. 
The freezing point lowering of the mix was -not 
in harmony with the calculated value, but showed 
a high supercooling in the mix even in the presence 
of the swiftly moving beaters and scrapers. The 
addition of fine particles of substances to promote 
the formation of crystal nuclei prevented the 
supercooling of the mix and consequently the 
freezing was done in a shorter time, and the 
product was smoother. Both fat and gelatin seem 
to reduce supercooling in the average mixes. 
When sand is added to an ice cream mix con- 
taining 10 per cent. fat and 0.5 per cent. of gela- 
tin ice begins to separate at only a slightly higher 
temperature when the brine is at 10° F. during 
the freezing process. If the brine is much lower 
there is a greater difference in the supercooling 
effect when no sand is present in the above mix. 
When mixes are frozen which have been made 
from evaporated milk containing lactose erystal 
nuclei and they have not been destroyed by pas- 
teurization, or other means, no supercooling oc- 
curs. A great deal of importance is attached to 
the degree of supercooling and its influence upon 
the texture of the ice cream as it comes from the 
freezer, 


Black discoioration in canned sweet potatoes: 
Epw. F. KoHMAN. The black discoloration which 
occurs in canned sweet potatoes begins in the 
bottom of the can where there is usually a semi- 
liquid starch paste which affords close contact 
with the can. Eventually it may penetrate the 
entire content of the can. The black formation 
is due to the combination of iron dissolved from 
the can with a tannin-like substance in the po- 
tatoes. This is localized to a considerable extent 
just beneath the peel. But as there is also some 
throughout the potato and especially about the 
center no change in present methods of peeling 
would be of advantage. Tannins do not form 
black compounds with iron unless the latter is in 
its highest state of oxidation. As air is essential 
to bring it into this condition, the necessity of 
tight seams in canned sweet potatoes is emphasized. 


Cuaries L. Parsons, 
Secretary 


™’ 


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ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, $6.00 


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IMPROVED FORM NOW READY 


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The Mac Michael Viscosim © 
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The rate of rotation of the cup can be 
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The motor is universal, so that only the 
voltage need be specified. Heating is 
accomplished through the electric heat- 
ing plate. 

Experiments are being conducted looking 
toward the standardization of the entire 
range of torsion wire used. The operator 
can standardize the lighter wires against 
sugar or other solutions of known 
strength. The dimensions of the cup and 
of the cylindrical plunger conform to the requirements for c.g.s. units. 

Above the dial is a wheel by means of which the dial can be turned back a known 
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In ordering advise voltage of electric current and approximate range of viscosity 
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NEw SERIES ‘ 
Vou. LIV, No. 1386 Fripay, Jury 22, 1921 


PITTSBURGH BRANCH 
2011 Jackson Arcade 


NEW YORK CITY 
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SCIENCE 


Frmay, Jury 22, 1921 


CONTENTS 
Types of Valence: Dr. Invinc LANGMUR..... 59 


Professor H. Bruchmann: PROFESSOR DouGLAS 
HOUGHTON CAMPBELL ........-...+0+0-5. 67 


Scientific Events :— 
Field Work of the Smithsonian Institution ; 
The Medical School of the Unwersity of 
Virginia; The Science Club of the University 
of Texas; The Rochester Meeting of the 
Optical Society of America; American En- 
gineers in Europe 


Scientific Notes and News ....:.........+ 71 


University and Educational News .......... 72 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
The Geographic Distribution of Hybrids: 
Dr. M. L. Fernatp. Albinism in the Black 
Bechhold’s 
“sCapillary Phenomenon’’ in Agriculture: 


Bear: PauLt C. STANDLEY. 


JEROME PPATMX/AN DER eieleiatieraelele sieteveiee «cies 73 


Quotations :— 
Ley PROY AU Tnstibutton's ojo selei)acie< o21c1e << + 2 74 
Scientific Books :— 
Evermann and Clark on Lake Masinkuckee: 
pe SAEVANCIN'S O Nica pevetep sere eustsLateis iecexseie soi 75 
Special Aritcles :— 
An Explanation of Liesegang’s Rings: Dr. 
Iahofens, WG EKoMEVUS, Sooonnoudodandouandonn 78 


The North Carolina Academy of Science: OC. 
S. Brimpry 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc.,intended for 
Teview should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. 


TYPES OF VALENCE 


From the theory proposed by G. N. Lewis in 
1916 and subsequently extended by the writer, 
it is clear! that the term valence has been 
used in the past to cover what we may now 
recognize as three distinct types of valence, 
viz.: 


1. Positive valence: the number of electrons 
an atom can give up. 

2. Negative valence: the number of elec- 
trons an atom can take up. 

3. Covalence: the number of pairs of elec- 
trons an atom can share with its neighbors. 


It was shown that these fundamental con- 
ceptions of valence as well as the actual nu- 
merical values of each type of valence for most 
of the elements could be derived from a few 
postulates regarding the structure of atoms. 
The following method of deriving these rela- 
tionships, however, is not only much simpler 
than that previously given by the writer, but 
throws a new light on the relationships be- 
tween the different types of valence. 

We will take for granted the Rutherford 
type of atom, which consists of a positive nu- 
cleus surrounded by a number of electrons 
equal to the atomic number of the atom. We 
will also assume that Coulomb’s law applies 
to the forces between the charged particles in 
the atom, but at the same time will recognize 
the existence of repulsive forces in atoms which 
prevent the electrons from falling into the 
nucleus. For the present purpose, however, it 
is immaterial whether the repulsive force is a 
dynamic force (centrifugal force) such as 
that assumed by Bohr, or is a static force as 
postulated by G. N. Lewis, J. J. Thomson or 
recently by the writer.? 

We shall need to make only 3 postulates in 

1 Langmuir, Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc., 41, 926 
(1919), and Jour. Ind. Eng. Chem., 12, 386 (1920). 

2 SCIENCE, 53, 290, Mar. 25, 1921. 


60 SCIENCE 


regard to the structure of atoms, and these 
are consistent with those previously pro- 
posed. 

Postulate 1—The electrons in atoms tend 
to surround the nucleus in successive layers 
containing 2, 8, 8, 18, 18 and 82 electrons 
respectively. 

The word atom is used in the broader sense 
which includes charged atoms (ions). If the 
number of electrons in an atom is such that 
they can not all form into complete layers in 
accord with Postulate 1, the extra electrons 
remain in the outside layer as an incomplete 
layer which we may designate as the sheath 
of the atom. Every electrically neutral atom 
must contain a number of electrons equal to 
the atomic number of the nucleus. If the out- 
side layer of such an atom is nearly com- 
plete, the tendency expressed by Postulate 
1 may cause a few additional electrons to be 
taken up in order to complete the layer, thus 
forming a negatively charged atom or ion. 
In such a case we may say that the sheath 
has been completed. 

In the following discussion it is important 
to keep in mind this distinction between sheath 
and outside layer. Every incomplete outside 
layer which occurs normally is a sheath, but 
a complete outside layer may or may not be 
a sheath. The following definition will make 
this clearer. The sheath of any atom (or 
atomic ion) consists of all the electrons in 
the outside layer provided that this layer ws 
incomplete when the atom is electrically neu- 
tral. Thus atoms of the inert gases (neon, 
argon, etc.) and ions such as Nat, Ca**, etc., 
have no sheaths for the outside layers of these 
atoms consist of electrons which already form 
a complete layer in the neutral atom. The 
sodium atom, however, has an incomplete 
sheath containing one electron, while the fluo- 
rine atom has an incomplete sheath of 7 elec- 
trons. The fluorine ion, on the other hand, 
has a complete sheath of 8 electrons. 

The inert gases are the only elements whose 
neutral atoms have no sheaths, or in other 
words have all their electrons arranged in com- 
plete layers in accordance with Postulate 1. 
In all other atoms, the tendency expressed by 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1386 


this postulate can only be satisfied by an inter- 
action between atoms involving a rearrange- 
ment of the electrons. This is to be regarded 
as the fundamental cause of chemical action 
and it is by such interaction that chemical 
compounds are formed. 

When as the result of such rearrangement 
of electrons, the sheath of an atom has become 
complete, we may speak of the atom as a com- 
plete atom. Similarly if the interaction be- 
tween atoms leads to complete satisfaction of 
the tendency of Postulate 1, so that all the 
atoms become complete, we may say that a 
complete compound is formed. We shall see 
that there are some factors which may oppose 
the formation of complete atoms and counter- 
act the tendency of Postulate 1. In such 
cases incomplete atoms and compounds may 
result. 

According to Postulate 1, the first complete 
layer in any atom consists of two electrons 
close to the nucleus. Let us call this stable 
pair of electrons a duplet and let us broaden 
the definition of duplet to include any pair of 
electrons which is rendered stable by its prox- 
imity to one or more positive charges. We 
may now state the second postulate. 

Postulate 2—Two atoms may be coupled to- 
gether by one or more duplets held in common 
by the completed sheaths of the atoms. 

Let us now analyze the conditions that must 
be fulfilled if the interaction between atoms 
is to result in the formation of a complete 
compound. 

A given group of neutral atoms may interact 
to complete their sheaths in two ways: 


1. By transfer of electrons. 

a. Atoms having sheaths containing 
only a few electrons may give up 
these extra electrons to other 
atoms. 

b. Atoms having nearly complete 
sheaths may take up electrons from 
other atoms. 

2. By sharing duplets. 

Atoms may share duplets with other 
atoms (Postulate 2) and thus com- 
plete their sheaths with fewer elec- 


JULY 22, 1921] 


trons than would otherwise be 
necessary. 


Let e be the number of electrons in the 
sheath of any neutral atom and let s be the 
number of electrons in the sheath after the 
atom has interacted with others. For the 
atoms of any complete compound the values 
of s can be only 0, 2, 8, 18 or 32. 

In any group of atoms, the only electrons 
available for the formation of the complete 
sheaths are those which originally form the 
incomplete sheaths. The number of such elec- 
trons, S(e), is found by adding the values of 
e for the individual atoms. In the resulting 
compound, if no duplets are shared by the 
atoms, the total number of electrons in the 
complete sheaths is $(s). Every duplet held 
in common by two atoms, however, decreases 
by two the number of electrons required to 
form the sheaths. If then we let B be the 
total number of duplets shared within the 
given group of atoms, the number of elec- 
trons in the completed sheaths of the atoms 
of the compound is 3(s)—2B. Since this 
must equal the number in the original neutral 
atoms, we have the relation * 


Z(e) = =(s) —2QB. (1) 


This is the condition for the formation of a 
complete compound. We shall now proceed to 
put this equation into a simpler form and 
one which has more significance to the 
chemist. 

The transfer of electrons that may occur 
during the interaction between atoms corre- 
sponds to what has been ealled positive and 
negative valence while the sharing of duplets 
corresponds to covalence. We shall see that 
the positive and negative valence differ from 
one another fundamentally only in algebraic 
sign, so that we shall find it convenient to 
include both positive and negative valence 
under the term electrovalence, which we may 
designate by the symbol v,. We shall then 
adopt the convention that the electrovalence 

3 Equation (1) is a more general statement of 
the relation e—8n—2p which has been used 
previously by the writer in discussing the ‘‘ octet 
theory.’’ 


SCIENCE 61 


of an atom is positive when the atom gives up 
electrons and negative when it takes up elec- 
trons. The electrovalence of an atom in any 
compound may thus be defined as the number 
of electrons which the neutral atom must give 
up in forming that compound. If the neutral 
atom must take up electrons, the electrovalence 
is expressed as a negative number. The elec- 
trovalence of any atom is thus given by the 
expression 

Ve=e— Ss. (2) 


Electropositive atoms in complete com- 
pounds lose all the electrons in their sheaths 
so that s is zero and therefore v, is positive 
and equal to e. For electronegative atoms s 
is always greater than e so that v, is negative. 

Let us define the covalence (v,) of an atom 
as the number of duplets which that atom 
shares with neighboring atoms. Every duplet 
shared by two atoms corresponds to a (co- 
valence) bond between atoms, and we have 
already represented the number of such bonds 
in a given group of atoms by the symbol B. 
If we now form 3(v,) by adding the values of 
v, for all the atoms in the given group, we 
count each bond twice. Hence we may place 


Dv = 2B. (3) 


By substituting (3) and (2) in (1) and re- 
arranging terms we find 


Zve + Zc = 0. (4) 


This simple result may be stated as fol- 
lows: 

The sum of the electrovalences and co- 
valences for all the atoms in any complete 
compound is zero. 

Electrovalence and covalence are thus in 
a sense supplementary to one another. If 
we represent ve-+v, by v, Equation 4 takes 


the form 
zZu=0 (5) 


for any complete compound, and this sug- 
gests that the quantity v may have some 
simple physical significance. 

In accordance with the nomenclature in- 
troduced by Lewis we may define the kernel 
of an atom as that part of an atom which re- 


62 SCIENCE 


mains after the sheath is removed. Since the 
neon atom has no sheath the whole atom con- 
stitutes a kernel with zero charge. The kernel 
of the sodium atom is the sodium ion with 
single positive charge, while the kernel of the 
fluorine atom (or fluorine ion) consists of the 
nucleus and two electrons, the whole having 
4 positive charges. 

Since the sheath of any neutral atom con- 
sists of e electrons, the positive charge on the 
kernel is also e. In any complete atom there 
are s electrons in the sheath. When the atom 
does not share duplets with other atoms (co- 
valence zero) then the total charge of the 
atom is e—s. If, however, any two atoms 
hold a duplet in common the total charge of 
the two atoms is decreased by two units. If 
the two atoms are substantially alike in size 
and structure, we may assume that this de- 
crease in charge is to be divided equally be- 
tween the two atoms. Thus if an atom in a 
compound has s electrons in its sheath and it 
has a covalence v, then the effective charge 
of its sheath is s—v,. The total charge of 
the atom may thus be taken as 


e— (s—v,) =e + Ve=—?. 


Thus v, the sum of the electrovalence and the 
covalence, for any atom in a compound, is 
equal to the residual atomic charge. 

When two atoms which hold a duplet in com- 
mon differ considerably in size, it is no longer 
obvious that the two electrons of the duplet 
should be divided equally between the two 
atoms in determining the residual charge. 
We may, however, arbitrarily so define the 
boundaries of the individual atoms in mole- 
cules that a duplet binding two atoms to- 
gether is to be regarded as belonging equally 
to the two atoms. In this case we may con- 
sider v to be the residual atomic charge even 
when the atoms differ greatly in size. 

It is evident from Coulomb’s law that the 
separation of positive from negative charges 
requires in general the expenditure of work. 
The most stable forms of matter should be 
those in which the positive and negative 
charges are as near together as possible. How- 
ever, we can not rely entirely upon Coulomb’s 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1386 


law for this would indicate that the distance 
between unlike particles should decrease with- 
out limit. The exact distribution of charged 
particles in their most stable arrangement 
thus requires a knowledge of the repulsive 
forces whose existence we have already as- 
sumed. A further discussion of this point will 
be reserved for a future paper. At present 
we may attempt to express this relation by the 
following postulate. 

Postulate 3—The residual charge on each 
atom and on each group of atoms tends to a 
minimum. 

By “residual charge” is meant the total 
charge of an atom or group of atoms regard- 
less of sign. By “group of atoms” is meant 
any aggregate of atoms which are character- 
ized by proximity to one another. It is felt 
by the writer that this postulate is a crude 
expression of a very important and funda- 
mental law. When we understand the re- 
pulsive forces between charged particles better 
we shall be able to state the law in a more 
nearly quantitative form. The law is of 
very wide application. The uniformity of dis- 
tribution of positive and negative ions in a 
salt solution is a familiar example of the 
working of this law. In any small finite ele- 
ment of volume the charges of the positive 
and negative ions tend to be very nearly equal 
or the residual charge tends to a minimum. 

Postulate 8 expresses merely a strong ten- 
dency so that in general the charges of indi- 
vidual atoms are not necessarily zero. When 
the atomic charges depart from zero, however, 
they do so only as the result of a definite force 
or action which opposes the tendency of Postu- 
late 3. We shall see that Postulates 1 and 3 
are often in conflict and in such cases the 
tendency of Postulate 1 may prevail against 
that of Postulate 3. 

We may now classify chemical compounds 
according to the types of valence exhibited by 
their atoms and will consider the application 
of Postulate 3 to each class of compound. 
There are 3 general subdivisions to consider: 

(1) Complete Compounds, (2) Incomplete 
Compounds, and (3) Exceptional Cases. 

1. CompLeTE Compounps.—All electrons are 


JuLY 22, 1921] 


in complete layers of 2, 8, 18 and 32 electrons, 
in accordance with Postulate 1. Since Sv, 
in Equation 4 can never be negative, Sv, 
must always be either zero or negative. There- 
fore atoms having negative valences must 
always be present in a complete compound. 
Thus electropositive elements do not form 
complete compounds with each other. 

. a. Compounds Without Covalence. — 
Sv,=0. Equation 4 becomes 3v,=—0, so 
that the sum of the negative valences in the 
compound must be the same as the sum of the 
positive valences. Since the residual charge v 
for each atom must equal v, + v, it is evident 
that compounds without covalence must con- 
sist of positively and negatively charged ions. 
The charge v on each ion of complete com- 
pounds of this type is uniquely determined 
by the values of e for the elements forming 
the ion. This is a case where Postulates 1 
and 8 are in conflict. The tendency of Postu- 
late 3 by itself would make each atom elec- 
trically neutral, but this would leave the 
sheaths of the atoms incomplete and so fail 
to satisfy the tendency of Postulate 1. The 
result is a kind of compromise by which Postu- 
late 1 may be satisfied by the formation of 
complete compounds provided this can take 
place without the charges on the ions becoming 
too large. 

Although Postulate 3 does not definitely fix 
the charges of the individual atoms in the 
compounds we are considering, yet it does de- 
termine the distribution of these ions in space. 
This is a factor of prime importance in the 
erystal structure, in the electrolytic conduc- 
tivity of substances when in the liquid state, 
and in other properties. It is also the cause 
of an interesting effect observed when the 
number of ions of one sign is much greater 
than that of the other sign, as for example in 
such compounds as AICl,, PCl,, SF,, ete. 
Postulate 3 requires that the negative halo- 
gen atoms in these compounds shall surround 
the most strongly positive atoms. The ions 
thus form groups having strong internal and 
weak external fields of force so that these con- 
stitute molecules of considerable stability and 
inertness towards outside influences. The 


SCIENCE 63 


volatility of these substances and the absence 
of electrolytic conductivity are due to this 
cause. 

Typical examples of complete compounds 
without covalence are: 

Salts—When the atomic charges are small 
as in NaCl, BaBr,, K,S, ete., the salts are 
fairly readily fusible, soluble in liquids of 
high dielectric constant, good electrolytic con- 
ductors when molten or in solution and very 
diffieultly volatile. With larger charges as in 
MgO, BN, AI,O,, ete., the strong forces give 
great infusibility, insolubility, hardness, ete., 
to the substance. Such compounds are ex- 
ceptionally good electric insulators at moder- 
ate temperatures but are electrolytic conduc- 
tors when molten. 

Silicates, glasses, slags, complex sulfides, and 
most minerals, etc., are compounds which usu- 
ally contain several electropositive elements. 
In the molten, and often in the solid condition, 
they are electrolytic conductors and are usu- 
ally soluble in one another. The valence rela- 
tion Sv,—=0 gives us no information in re- 
gard to the structure; for example, we can not 
write structural formulas for such compounds. 
The definite composition of many solid min- 
erals, ete., is largely due to the regularities 
of the space lattices of their crystals. 

Volatile halogen compounds such as AIF,, 
PCl,, SF,, and structurally related complex 
ions such as Sif, in the compound K,SiF,. 
Such high electrovalences as +5 for phos- 
phorus, and +6 for sulfur can occur only 
when the tendency of Postulate 3 is counter- 
acted by a particularly strong opposing ten- 
deney. In the case cited above it is the ex- 
ceptionally great affinity of the halogen atoms 
for electrons that causes the action. The 
halogen atoms have this property in marked 
degree because they have larger charges on 
their kernels than other atoms and therefore 
exert a greater attraction on electrons (Cou- 
lomb’s law). The fluorine atom has a greater 
affinity for electrons than the other halogen 
atoms since the radius of the atom is less and 
the force (by Coulomb’s law) acting on the 
electron is greater. 

b. Compounds 


Without  Electropositive 


64 


Atoms.—In these compounds the electrova- 
lence of every atom must be negative, for if 
the electrovalence of any element is zero (inert 
gases) it can form no compounds. If we let 
v», represent the numerical value of the nega- 
tive valence we obtain from Equation 4 


Dv —= Trp. (6) 


Since v, —=s—e, the value of v, is fixed for 
any particular atom. For any given group of 
atoms, we can find Sv, from (6) but we can 
not find the values of v, for the individual 
atoms, in this way. 

If, however, we place v, =v, for each atom 
it is evident that Equation 6 will be satisfied. 
The residual charge on every atom (being 
—v,-+»,) is then zero. Thus in any group 
of atoms Postulates 1 and 3 are both com- 
pletely satisfied if the covalence of each atom 
is equal to the negative valence of that atom. 
The negative valence of carbon, nitrogen, oxy- 
gen and sulfur are 4, 3, 2 and 2 respectively, 
while that of hydrogen and the halogens is 
one. If therefore we follow the custom of the 
organic chemist and write structural formulas 
using these valences we obtain results in com- 
plete accord with Postulates 1, 2 and 3. 

Thus these 3 postulates lead us to a rational 
derivation of the empirical valence rules which 
constitute the foundation of the science of 
organic chemistry. Moreover we are brought 
to see clearly the limitations of this empirical 
theory. We now realize that it is only nega- 
tive valences that should be used in structural 
formulas (i.e., as covalences) and that even 
these can only legitimately be used in com- 
pounds in which electropositive atoms are en- 
tirely absent, for if some of the atoms have 
a positive residual charge (v= v,) then from 
Eq. 5 it is evident that other atoms must have 
a negative charge, and for these as well as the 
electropositive atoms the covalence is not equal 
to the negative valence. 

From this viewpoint it is incorrect to write 
structural formulas such as Na—Cl, 


H—O O 
\7 


ao) 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1386 


ete., in which the covalence of one atom is 
taken as equal to the positive valence of that 
atom. 

It should be kept in mind that Postulate 3 
does not require that v, should be equal to v,. 
There is merely a tendency for these valences 
to be equal. Among compounds of electro- 
positive elements we saw that there was a con- 
flict between the tendencies of Postulates i 
and 3 so that v was always different from zero. 
With compounds formed exclusively of electro- 
negative atoms, however, there is not neces- 
sarily a conflict and it is for this reason that 
we have such a large class of compounds in 
which v is zero (1.e., ve =v,). There may be 
various causes that make it difficult for v 
to be zero even for some compounds of electro- 
negative elements, so that in individual cases 
v may differ from zero by one or two units. 
It must be remembered that we deduced the 
relation v= minimum from Postulate 3 only 
by assuming the two atoms which share a 
duplet are of substantially the same size, ete. 
From Coulomb’s law we should expect that 
either a large charge on the kernel of an atom 
or a small radius for the kernel should cause 
electrons in the sheath to be held more firmly 
and should make it easier for the atom to 
acquire a negative residual charge. As an ex- 
ample let us consider the electronegative ele- 
ments of the first two periods. 

As we pass from carbon, through nitrogen 
and oxygen, to fluorine, the kernel charge in- 
creases and the size of the kernel presumably 
decreases. The residual atomic charge should 
thus tend to become more negative as we pass 
towards fluorine and more positive in com- 
parison as we pass towards carbon. In other 
words, in compounds of these elements, we 
should expect a tendency for fluorine to have 
a covalence a little less than its negative va- 
lence while for nitrogen the covalence should 
tend to be greater than the negative valence. 
Since there are only eight electrons in the 
sheath of these atoms, the covalence of the 
carbon atom can never exceed four. All these 
conclusions are in perfect accord with experi- 
ence. Thus we find the following covalences:# 


JULY 22, 1921] 


Carbone iynaniepin aie 4 (3) 

UNiiGro sen acres setsiee: 4 Sirs(2)) 

Obaxuan Ghoososcesens (3) eZ de 0) 
INNO) Sagas oodaues Oe 
Siliconteensrvey ver) ere 4 (or electro-positive) 
Phosphorus ......... 4 3 

SULA on oooupdgoogn.S 4 3 2 a 0 
Chlorine meecty citi: Gy, @) OQ) vee 


In this table the numbers in italics give 
the most common valences, while those in pa- 
rentheses are only rarely found. It is clear 
that a large kernel charge favors covalences 
less than the negative valences while a small 
kernel charge has the opposite effect. A com- 
parison of the elements of the second period 
with those of the first, shows a slight tendency 
for larger covalences among the heavier ele- 
ments. This is to be explained as the effect 
of the larger kernel and hence weaker forces. 
There is also much more scattering among the 
valences of the heavier elements. This is an- 
other result of the weaker forces acting on the 
electrons for the covalence of such atoms is 
more dependent upon the electron affinity of 
the other atoms with which they are combined. 

As an example of these relationships, let us 
consider the compounds, CH,, NH,, H,O, 
and HF. In each atom of these compounds 
the covalence is equal to the negative valence 
so that the residual charge is zero and the 
tendencies of Postulates 1 and 3 are satis- 
fied. If we mix the NH, and HF together the 
larger kernel charge of the fluorine as com- 
pared with the nitrogen, gives a tendency for 
the fluorine atom to become negative at the 
expense of the nitrogen. Thus the covalence 
of the fluorine decreases to zero while that of 
the nitrogen increases to four. This leads to 
the formation of the compound NH,F which 
consists of NH,+ ions and F- ions. The total 
number of covalence bonds has not~ been 
changed, they have merely been distributed 
differently. But this causes the atoms to be- 
come charged and makes the compound an 
electrolyte. It should be noted that this theory 
indicates definitely in what direction the 
change of charge occurs. Thus we should not 


4See Langmuir, Jour, Amer. Chem. Soc., 41, 
927 (1919). 


SCIENCE 65 


expect NH, and HF to give a compound con- 
sisting of ions NH,- and H,F* although under 
other conditions these ions might exist. 

Similarly NH, and H,O may react to form 
NH,OH which will consist of ions NH,* and 
OH-. But the tendency to form a compound 
such as this is much less than in the case we 
have just considered, for the charge on the 
kernel of the oxygen atom is less than that 
of the fluorine atom so it has less tendeney to 
become negative. As a result NH, is much 
less active towards H,O than towards HF. 
Examples of this kind can be extended almost 
indefinitely and can even be used to obtain 
quantitative relationships between the heats 
of formation of various substances. 

Since the sheaths of atoms of atomic num- 
ber less than about 25 never contain more than 
8 electrons, the covalence of these atoms can 
not exceed 4. With heavier atoms, however, 
we might expect in some cases larger co- 
valences than 4. Large covalences are improb- 
able in most cases for they imply equally large 
negative valences which means that the num- 
ber of electrons in the sheath must be very 
much larger than the charge of the kernel. 
There are a few compounds, however, which 
suggest that large covalences sometimes exist. 
For example the compounds Fe(CO), and 
Ni(CO), correspond to complete compounds 
in which the central atoms have the covalences 
10 and 8 respectively. Since e for iron is 8 
and for nickel is 10 and the complete sheaths 
for these atoms contain 18 electrons, the nega- 
tive valences of iron and nickel are 10 and 8, 
that is the same as the covalences needed to 
account for the above compounds. Thus these 
compounds are in accord with both Postulates 
1 and 8, and are to be regarded as of a type 
analogous to organic compounds in which the 
covalence of every atom is equal to its nega- 
tive valence. It should be noted that both of 
these compounds are liquids of low boiling 
point (102° and 43°) and their molecular 
weights have been determined. Their proper- 
ties are about those to be expected if they have 
the structure assumed above. Other com- 
pounds of iron with carbon monoxide are 
known, but they have only been obtained in 


66 SCIENCE 


the crystalline state and their molecular 
weights are unknown. 

Molybdenum carbonyl, Mo(CO),,° is a very 
easily volatile crystalline compound. It is 
interesting to note that the negative valence 
of molybdenum (s — ¢e = 18 — 6) is twelve, so 
that with a covalence of 12 for the molyb- 
denum atom in this compound we again ob- 
tain a structure consistent with the valence 
theory discussed above. 

2. IncompLeTE Compounps.—These are com- 
pounds in which some of the electrons are not 
arranged in complete layers or sheaths, so 
that the tendency of Postulate 1 is not com- 
pletely satisfied. This can only occur as a 
result of a conflict between Postulate 1 and 
Coulomb’s law or Postulate 8. We have seen 
that the tendency of Postulate 3 causes the 
residual charge (v) on each atom to be a 
minimum. The tendency of Postulate 1, how- 
ever, is sufficiently strong to force the atoms 
to take up charges of 3, 4, or even under some 
conditions, 5 or 6 units, if this should be 
necessary in order to bring all the electrons 
into complete layers. Since there must be a 
limit to the strength of the tendency of Postu- 
late 1 it is not surprising that residual atomic 
charges greater than 4 or 6 are very rare. Now 
the atoms of the elements near the middles of 
the long periods (of 18 and 32 elements), do 
not become complete even if they do acquire 
residual charges as great as 5 or 6 units, and 
it is therefore natural that the tendency of 
Postulate 8, which must become stronger as 
the charge increases, should prevent the forma- 
tion of complete compounds of these elements. 
There are two types of incomplete compounds 
to consider. 

a. Metallic Substances. lectronegative 
Atoms Absent.—By Coulomb’s law, atoms hay- 
ing only small charges on their kernels, should 
not be able to take up enough electrons to 
complete sheaths of 8 or more electrons. Thus 
if we bring together a number of electroposi- 
tive atoms there is no way in which the elec- 
trons in the incomplete sheaths can rearrange 
themselves to form complete sheaths. The 

5 Mond, Hirtz, Cowap, J. Chem. Soc., 97, 798 
(1910). 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1386 


“free ” electrons which are thus compelled to 
remain in incomplete sheaths are responsible 
for the metallic properties shown by all electro- 
positive elements in the solid or liquid state. 
It is clear, however, notwithstanding the fact 
that hydrogen may sometimes function as an 
electropositive element, that liquid or solid 
hydrogen should have none of these metallic 
properties according to this theory, for the 
sheath to be formed in this ease contains only 
two electrons. The forces acting between the 
free electrons and the kernels of the atoms 
in metallic substances, are of the same order 
of magnitude as in salts, so that metals have 
about the same range of vapor pressures, hard- 
ness, compressibilities, etc., that are shown 
by salts. 

In general, all atoms must be electroposi- 
tive unless they can take up enough electrons 
to complete their sheaths and thus act as elec- 
tronegative atoms. The tendency of Postulate 
3 ordinarily prevents the occurrence of nega- 
tive valences greater than about 4. In the 
fwo short periods eight electrons are needed 
to form a complete sheath so that the elements 
with kernel charges greater than about 3 can 
act as electronegative atoms and therefore do 
not normally show metallic properties. In the 
9 long periods 18 electrons form the complete 
sheath so that about the first 14 of the ele- 
ments in each of these periods can usually act 
only as electropositive elements and they thus 
have metallic properties, when in the element- 
ary form. For similar reasons all the known 
elements of the rare earth period (the last 
two being unknown) have metallic properties. 

b. Compounds Containing Electropositive 
and Electronegative Atoms.—As a result of 
Coulomb’s law or Postulate 3, the positive va- 
lence of an element is usually limited to a 
value of 2 or 3 unless particularly strong 
forces are exerted to draw away electrons, 
and thus raise the positive valence a few units 
higher. Thus in the middle of the long periods 
the charges of the kernels are so great that 
all the electrons in the sheaths of the electro- 
positive atoms can not be given up even when 
other atoms are present that can take up 
electrons. It thus happens that the long pe- 


JULY 22, 1921] 


riods contain series of elements which all have 
3 or 2 and 3 as their principal valences. The 
atoms of these elements are therefore incom- 
plete. The electronegative atoms in such com- 
pounds, however, are always complete. 

It is of interest to note that as long as 
atoms are incomplete there seems to be no 
tendency for them to have an even rather than 
an odd number of electrons. For example, 
the following ions all have odd numbers of 
electrons: Cr*++, Mn++, Fet++, Cot, and Cutt. 
This seems to indicate that the remarkable 
tendency, pointed out by Lewis, for most 
compounds to contain even numbers of elec- 
trons is due merely to the relative abundance 
of complete compounds as compared to incom- 
plete ones. In other words, the even number 
of electrons in most compounds results from 
the tendency of Postulate 1 rather than from 
any more general tendency for electrons to 
form pairs. 

Many of the compounds of this class, such 
as ZnO (zincite), Fe,O,, PbS, CuO, ete., 
show electric conductivity even as_ solids. 
This is undoubtedly caused by the relatively 
large number of electrons in incomplete 
sheaths. Of course we should not expect all 
compounds which contain such electrons to 
show conductivity, for the presence of the 
electronegative atoms might easily prevent the 
mobility of these electrons. We need to know 
much more than we now do about the arrange- 
ment of the atoms and their electrons in 
space before we can predict conductivity in 
particular cases of this kind. 

3. ExceprionaL Cases.—There are some 
substances or compounds whose structure is 
not adequately accounted for by the foregoing 
analysis. A few examples are: N,, CO, CN-, 
NO. The writer believes these have the single 
octet structure which he described in his 
earlier publications. It is probable that acety- 
lene, C,H,, and the carbide ion C,~ (in 
CaC,, etc.) have the same kind of structure. 
Pease has suggested that they may all have a 
triple bond structure.* This question merits 
careful study. 

Another set of compounds that must have 

6 Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc., 43, 991 (1921). 


SCIENCE 67 


a special structure are various compounds of 
boron such as B,H,. 

Most compounds containing molecules of 
H,0, NH,, ete., are readily accounted for by 
Postulate 3 but many of these should be con- 
sidered by methods somewhat different from 
those developed here. 

In double molecules such as H,O, (in ice), 
H,F,, and in compounds such as KHF,, etc., 
it seems that the hydrogen nuclei instead of 
forming duplets with electrons in the same 
atom, form duplets in which the two electrons 
are in different atoms. The hydrogen nucleus 
itself thus acts as a bond in such a ease. 
Latimer and Rodebush? have made a some- 
what similar suggestion in regard to hydrogen 
nuclei acting as bonds. They consider, how- 
ever, that the hydrogen nucleus acts on two 
pairs of electrons: one pair in each of the two 
atoms. It seems to the writer much more 
probable that the hydrogen nucleus is no more 
able to attract four electrons than is the 
nucleus of other atoms. Since the first layer 
of electrons in all atoms contains only 2 elec- 
trons it seems probable that the hydrogen in 
this case also holds only two electrons and 
that these form the definite stable group which 
we have termed the duplet. 

The writer plans to consider the quantitative 
aspects of these valence theories in subsequent 
papers. It is aimed to put Postulates 1 and 
3 into a form that will permit at least rough 
calculations of the relative stabilities of va- 
rious substances as measured, for example, by 
their heats of formation. 

Irving Lanemuir 

RESEARCH LABORATORY, 

GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, 
ScuHENeEcTapDY, N. Y., 
June 29, 1921 


PROFESSOR H. BRUCHMANN 


THE men who gave such distinction to 
botany in Germany during the latter half of 
the nineteenth century, have mostly gone, the 
years since 1914 taking heavy toll of those who 
were left when war broke out. Among the 
last of the veterans was Professor Bruchmann 

7 Jour. Amer. Chem, Soc., 42, 1431 (1920). 


68 SCIENCE 


whose .death occurred on Christmas day, 1920. 

A copy of the Gothaisches Tageblatt re- 
cently received by the writer contains an in- 
teresting sketch of his life, and shows the 
high esteem in which he was held by his 
fellow-townsmen in Gotha, where the greater 
part of his life was spent. 

While Bruchmann is, perhaps, not so well 
known in America as some of his contem- 
poraries, his work was of a very high order, 
and eminently worthy of recognition, and is 
quite indispensable to students of the Pterido- 
phytes, which were his chosen field of study. 

Helmut Bruchmann was born in Pollow, a 
small town of Pomerania, November 13, 1847. 
After his preliminary schooling he studied at 
Jena, where he became associated with Stras- 
burger, who quickly recognized his abilities, 
and would gladly have kept him, as assistant 
in Jena, but financial reasons made it neces- 
sary to seek more remunerative employment. 

In 1877 he accepted a position as teacher in 
the high school of Gotha, where he spent the 
remainder of his life. Later he received the 
title of professor. 

Bruchmann’s name will always be associated 
with his truly. remarkable studies on the life 
history of the European species of Lycopo- 
dium. These familiar plants had hitherto 
baffled all efforts to trace their life history, and 
Bruchmann spent nearly twenty years at work 
before he published his monograph in 1898. 
This is a masterpiece of careful work, and 
its great value was quickly recognized. The 
patience required to complete this work will 
be appreciated when it is realized that in some 
species six to seven years elapsed before the 
first germination stages were evident and 
twelve to fifteen years before the prothallia 
were mature. 

This monograph was followed by further in- 
vestigations in Lycopodium, and also very 
important papers on the gametophyte and em- 
bryo of Botrychium lunaria and Ophioglos- 
sum vulgatum, the first connected account of 
the development of these ferns. These, with 
several notable papers on Selaginella com- 
prise his most important contributions. 

Doucias H. CamMpBELu 

SraNForD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA 


[N. 8S. Vou. LIV. No. 1386 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 


FIELD WORK OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTI- 
TUTION 

Tue Smithsonian Institution has issued its 
annual exploration report describing its scien-- 
tifie field work throughout the world in 1920. 
Twenty-three separate expeditions were in the 
field carrying on researches in geology, pale- 
ontology, zoology, botany, astro-physics, an- 
thropology, archeology, and ethnology, and the 
regions visited included the Canadian Rockies, 
fourteen states of the United States, Haiti, 
Jamaica, four countries of South America, 
Africa from the Cape to Cairo, China, Japan, 
Korea, Manchuria, Mongolia, Australia, and 
the Hawaiian Islands. 

In an outline of the year’s work, the In- 
stitution says that 


Secretary Walcott continued his geological work 
in the Cambrian rocks of the Canadian Rockies in 
the region northeast of Banff, Alberta. The work 
was hindered considerably in July and August by 
forest fires, and by continuous stormy weather in 
September, but the particular questions involved 
in the season’s research were settled satisfactorily 
and some beautiful photographs of this wild and 
rugged region obtained. Other geological field 
work was successfully carried on in various states 
of the United States by members of the staff. 

In astrophysical research the institution was 
unusually active. Through the generosity of Mr. 
John A. Roebling of New Jersey, the Smithsonian 
solar observing station located on the plain near 
Calama, Chile, was moved to a nearby mountain 
peak, where the observations will be unaffected 
by the dust and smoke, and a new station was 
established on the Harqua Hala Mountain, Ari- 
zona, probably the most cloudless region in the 
United States. From daily observations of the 
radiation of the sun at these two widely separated 
stations, it is hoped to establish definitely the 
value of the ‘‘solar constant’’ observations in 
forecasting weather. Dr. C. G. Abbot, director 
of the work, also describes the successful opera- 
tion on Mt. Wilson, California, of a solar cooker 
devised by him. With this apparatus it was pos- 
sible, using only the sun’s heat, to cook bread, 
meat, vegetables, and preserves. 

Mr. H. C. Raven represented the Smithsonian 
on an extensive collecting expedition through 
Africa from south to north. Although many diffi- 
culties were encountered, among others a railway 
wreck in which two members of the expedition 


JULY 22, 1921] 


were killed, Mr. Raven shipped to the Institution 
much interesting zoological material, which was 
greatly needed for purposes of comparison in 
working up the famous Roosevelt and Rainey col- 
lections already in the National Museum. Many 
interesting photographs of the animals, the natives, 
and the country itself are shown in this account 
and in that of Dr. Shantz, who accompanied the 
expedition as a botanical collector. In Australia, 
a Smithsonian naturalist collected, through the 
generosity of Dr. W. L. Abbott, specimens of the 
fast disappearing remarkable fauna of the con- 
tinent, while Dr. Abbott himself secured a great 
number of plants, birds, and other natural history 
material for the National Museum, in various 
regions of Haiti. A number of other zoological 
and botanical expeditions are briefly described and 
illustrated. 


THE MEDICAL SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY 
OF VIRGINIA 

Av a session held in Cabell Hall on June 3, 
the General Alumni Association of the uni- 
versity unanimously adopted resolutions op- 
posing the removal of the medical school to 
Richmond. An address was made by Dr. Al- 
derman appealing for the preservation of the 
integrity of the university. 

The resolutions as adopted are as follows: 


WHEREAS, the commission on medical education 
in Virginia has, by a vote of 5 to 4, recommended 
the consolidation of the Medical College of Vir- 
ginia with the medical department of the Univer- 
sity of Virginia, and that the consolidated institu- 
tion be operated as the medical department of 
the University of Virginia, and located in Rich- 
mond; and, 

WHEREAS, the overwhelming weight of the testi- 
mony of disinterested experts of national reputa- 
tion opposes, as utterly contrary to the best sci- 
entific thought of the day, the separation of the 
medical department of the University of Virginia 
from the other departments of the university and 
favors, with singular unanimity, its retention at 
Charlottesville; ... j 

Resolved, That the General Alumni Association 
of the University of Virginia hereby expresses its 
unqualified opposition to the proposed removal 
to Richmond of the medical department of the uni- 
versity as a step opposed to the interests of the 
state of Virginia, as injurious to the cause of 
medical education, as destructive of the integrity 
of the University of Virginia, and as violative of 


SCIENCE 69 


those principles of higher education which, estab- 
lished by Thomas Jefferson, have received the 
sanction of time and of experience. 

Resolved, further, The president of this asso- 
ciation be and he is hereby instructed and em- 
powered to appoint such committee, make such 
expenditures and do such other acts and things as 
in his judgment will best effectuate the purpose 
of these resolutions and preserve and protect the 
educational fabrie of the state of Virginia. 


THE SCIENCE CLUB OF THE UNIVERSITY OF 
TEXAS 


During the academic year 1920-21, the 
Science Club of the University of Texas, com- 
posed of members of the university science 
faculties, held eight meetings. The following 
papers were presented : 


Oct. 11, 1920. ‘‘Some modern conceptions of the 
atom,’’ by W. T. Mather, Professor of Physics. 

Noy. 1, 1920. ‘‘Habits and instincts of spiders,’’ 
by T. 8. Painter, Adjunct Professor of Zoology. 

Dec. 6, 1920. ‘‘Relative birth-rates of white and 
colored races,’’ by J. E. Pearce, Associate Pro- 
fessor of Anthropology. 

Jan. 3, 1921. ‘‘The occurrence of latex (milk) 
in plants,’’ by F. McAllister, Associate Profes- 
sor of Botany. 

Feb. 7, 1921. ‘‘Luminescence,’’ by H. B. Weiser, 
of Rice Institute, Exchange Lecturer from the 
Houston Philosophical Society. 

March 7, 1921. ‘‘Species of the genus Schwazerina 
and their stratigraphic significance,’’? by J. W. 
Beede, Geologist in’ the Eeonomie Geology Di- 
vision of the Bureau of Economie Geology and 
Technology. 

April 4, 1921. ‘‘Past, present, and future of 
plant pathology,’’? by J. J. Taubenhaus, Chief 
of Division of Plant Pathology, Texas Experi- 
ment Station, Exchange Lecturer from the Sci- 
ence Seminar of the A. and M. College of 
Texas. 

May 2, 1921. ‘‘Possible improvements in petro- 
leum refining,’’ by E. P. Schock, Professor of 
Chemistry. 


The exchange lectureships with Rice Insti- 
tute and Texas A. and M. college have been 
made annual events. 

The officers for the year 1920-21 were 


Dr. H. P. Bigbee—president. 
Dr. H. J. Ettlinger—secretary-treasurer. 


70 SCIENCE 


The officers elected for the year 1921-22 
are 
Dr. H. J. Ettlinger—president. 
Dr, T. S. Painter—secretary-treasurer. 
H. J. Erruincer, 
Secretary 


THE ROCHESTER MEETING OF THE OPTICAL 
SOCIETY OF AMERICA 


THE Optical Society of America will meet 
in Rochester, N. Y., on Monday, Tuesday and 
Wednesday, October 24, 25, and 26, at the 
Hotel Rochester. In order to provide the 
maximum opportunity for social meetings of 
members and guests, arrangements will be 
made for society lunches and dinners. 

The regular sessions for the reading of 
papers will be open to all interested persons. 

Members and others desiring to communi- 
eate results in optical research are invited to 
submit titles of papers for the program to the 
secretary any time before September 25. 
No arbitrary time limit is set for the presenta- 
tion of a paper, but each author is requested 
to estimate carefully the time which will be 
sufficient to present his paper briefly and in- 
telligibly, and to submit this estimate with 
the title. 

Each title must be accompanied by an ab- 
stract (100 to 200 words). Authors are urged 
to make every effort to present the essence of 
their papers as cogently as possible in these 
abstracts. It is expected that they will be 
printed in the program and in the minutes of 
the meeting. No titles will be printed to be 
presented “ by title.” 

Persons having papers ready for publication 
which can not be presented at the meeting are 
invited to submit them to Paul D. Foote, 
editor, Journal Optical Society of America, 
Bureau of Standards, Washington, D. C. 

Because of the optical industries in Roches- 
ter it is expected that this will be a particu- 
larly interesting meeting. The local com- 
mittee is arranging for a visit to the Bausch 
and Lomb Optical Company and the Eastman 
Kodak Company. 

The National Research Council Committee 
on Physiological Optics has asked the society 
to form a section on vision. It is hoped to do 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1386 


this at the coming meeting; and, if a sufi- 
cient number of papers on this subject are 
submitted, one whole session will be devoted to 
vision and physiological optics. 
For further information in regard to the 
society consult Science for April 1, 1921. 
Irwin G. Priest, 
Secretary 


AMERICAN ENGINEERS IN EUROPE 


Wirn the presentation of the John Fritz 
Medal to Eugene Schneider, head of the fa- 
mous Creusot Works, in Paris on July 8, by 
a mission of American engineers, came cable 
advices from London to the national head- 
quarters of the American Society of Me- 
chanical Engineers announcing that more for- 
eign honors had been conferred upon Ameri- 
cans distinguished in the engineering pro- 
fession. 

Ambrose Swasey, of Cleveland, sponsor of 
the Engineering Foundation and past presi- 
dent of the American Society of Mechanical 
Engineers, has been elected to honorary mem- 
bership in the British Institution of Mechani- 
eal Engineers, in the British Institution of 
Mining and Metallurgy and in the British 
Institution of Mining Engineers. Charles F. 
Rand, of New York, has been elected an hon- 
orary member of the Institution of Mining 
and Metallurgy, and of the Institution of 
Mining Engineers. Mr. Rand, who is chair- 
man of the executive board of the Engineer- 
ing Foundation, has also been made an hon- 
orary member of the British Iron and Steel 
Institute. Other elections announced by 
cable were those of Colonel Arthur S. Dwight, 
of New York, and William Kelly, of Vulcan, 
Mich., to honorary membership in the Insti- 
tution of Mining Engineers. 

The ceremonies in Paris, participated in by 
a special deputation of thirteen American en- 
gineers under the general chairmanship of 
Mr. Swasey, followed similar ceremonies in 
London on June 29, when the John Fritz 
Medal for distinction in applied science was 
presented to- Sir Robert Hadfield, known for 
his work in the development of manganese 
steel. The Hadfield award was for 1921 and 


JULY 22, 1921] 


the Schneider award for 1922. M. Schneider 
received the gold medal in person for his 
achievements during the war “in the indus- 
trial and scientific defense of civilization.” 
The John Fritz Medal Board of Award, in 
conferring the honor, lauded M. Schneider’s 
“achievements in the metallurgy of iron and 
steel, in the development of ordnance, espe- 
cially the 75 mm. gun, and in notable patri- 
otic contribution to the winning of the war.” 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Francis Bacon Orocker, electrical engi- 
neer, until 1914 professor in Columbia Uni- 
versity, died on July 9, at the age of sixty 
years. 

GaprieL Lippman, professor of physics in 
the University of Paris, the recipient of a 
Nobel prize in 1908, died on the steamship 
France on his return with the French com- 
mission sent to Canada to express France’s 
appreciation of Canada’s services in the war. 


Tue council of the Society of Chemical 
Industry has nominated Professor R. F. Rut- 
tan, of Montreal, as president for the session 
1921-22. The annual meeting of the society 
will be held in Montreal in August. 


Tue University of Oxford conferred on June 
22 the honorary degree of doctor of science 
on Professor OC. S. Sherrington, president of 
the Royal Society. 


Proressor Henrt Bercson has retired from 
the chair of philosophy at the Collége de 
France. 


During a colonial health conference, the 
British government gave a dinner on June 13, 
at the Carleton Hotel, London, in honor of 
Drs. George E. Vincent, Wickliffe Rose, and 
Vincent G. Heiser, representatives of the Rock- 
efeller Foundation. Mr. Winston Churchill, 
secretary for the colonies, presided. 


Ricuarp T. FisHer, assistant professor of 
lumbering and forestry and director of the 
Harvard Forest, has been elected chairman of 
the New England Section of the Suciety of 
American Foresters. At the recent National 
Conference on Forest Education, he was ap- 


SCIENCE 7] 


pointed chairman of the committee on re- 
search in forest schools; that committee has 
been continued as a standing sub-committee 
of the Society of American Foresters. 


Tue American Society of Mechanical En- 
gineers announces the appointment as man- 
aging editor of C. E. Davies, associate edi- 
tor, to succeed the late L. G. French, who 
was both editor and manager of the society’s 
publication. The June issue of Mechanical 
Engineering contains eulogies of the work of 
Mr. French, including resolutions of appre- 
ciation adopted by the council of the society 
and by the boiler committee. 


Dean W. R. Appiesy, of the School of 
Mines, and Professor: W. H. Emmons, director 
of the State Geological Survey and head of 
the department of geology and mineralogy at 
the University of Minnesota, left about the 
first of June for Northern China, where, in 
conjunction with other scientific men, they 
will make a general survey of the mineral re- 
sources of the region. 


Dr. Douetas Hovucuton CampBety, of 
Stanford University, sailed for Australia on 
July 5. Dr. Campbell expects to spend six 
months in Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti, 
to extend his studies on the Pacific floras, espe- 
cially in relation to the origin of the Hawaiian 
flora. 


Proressor Kart M. Wircanp, of Cornell 
University, and Mrs. Wiegand, with a party 
of students, are making a botanical trip by 
automobile to the Pacific coast. 


Donato B. MacMinuan sailed from Wis- 
casset, Me., on July 16 for Baffin Land on the 
115-ton schooner Bowdoin. The program of 
the scientists of the expedition calls for field 
work in zoology, botany, geology, meteorology 
and terrestrial magnetism. Special observa- 
tions will be taken of the magnetic pole, 
which was located first by James Ross in 1830 
on the further side of the Boothia Peninsula, 
not far from Mr. MacMillan’s proposed win- 
ter camp. 


A 
A company has been formed at Vancouver, 
B. C., with Mr. Vilhjalmur Stefansson as 


72 SCIENCE 


president, to conduct further explorations in 
the Arctic regions to the extreme north of 
Canada. It is said that he expects to investi- 
gate the possibilities of marketing reindeer 
and of developing the fur trade in the Arctic 
circle, as well as to continue his scientific ex- 
plorations. 


Tue Rede lecture at the University of Cam- 
bridge was delivered on June 9 by Sir Napier 
Shaw on “ The air and its ways.” 


Tue lectureship established in London to 
commemorate the work of Moncure Conway 
was held this year by Dr. A. C. Haddon, who 
selected as his subject “ The practical value 
of ethnology.” 


Tue college of agriculture of the Univer- 
sity of Georgia announces the formation of a 
forestry camp in Fannin County, Georgia. 
This camp in the heart of the Cherokee Na- 
tional Forest Reservation is known as the 
Henry McHatton Forestry Camp, being named 
after Dr. Henry McHatton, a physician and 
naturalist of Macon, Georgia. The camp site 
was given to the university by Dr. McHatton’s 
son as a memorial to his father. 


We learn from Nature that the Ottawa 
Field-Naturalists’ Club has decided to open 
a subscription list for a permanent memorial to 
the late Professor John Macoun, naturalist 
of the Geological Survey of Canada, who died 
at Sidney, British Columbia, on July 18, 
1920. Professor Macoun specialized in bot- 
any, and was the founder of the Canadian 
National Herbarium. Other sciences, how- 
ever, especially zoology, were enriched by him. 
The memorial will take the form of a portrait 
to be hung in the Victoria Memorial Museum, 
which will be executed by Mr. Franklin 
Brownell, of Ottawa. Subscriptions, which 
should be forwarded to Mr. Arthur Gibson, 
Dominion Entomologist, Ottawa, are invited. 


THE president and secretary of the Ameri- 
can Chemical Society have authorized another 
meeting of the Cellulose Section in connection 
with the fall meeting of the parent society in 
New York, September 6-10, 1921. Professor 
Harold Hibbert has been reappointed chair- 
man and Gustavus J. Esselen, Jr., secretary. 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1386 


This will be the fourth consecutive session de- 
voted to cellulose and its derivatives, a sym- 
posium on the subject having been held in 
both St. Louis and Chicago, and the first meet- 
ing of the Cellulose Section, as such, at 
Rochester last April. At this last meeting 
great interest was shown and there is no 
doubt that the Cellulose Section has made a 
place for itself in the activities of the Ameri- 
can Chemical Society. It is the plan this 
year to issue the preliminary program much 
earlier than on previous occasions, and ac- 
cordingly those who plan to present papers 
before the Cellulose Section are urged to send 
the titles at once to the secretary of the 
section, G. J. Esselen, Jr., 248 Boylston St., 
Boston, 17, Mass. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 


Louistana Stare Universiry will receive 
$7,500,000 for new buildings and equipment 
as a result of the action of the Constitutional 
Convention which has just adjourned, this sum 
having been set apart for this purpose from 
funds accruing from the newly established sev- 
erance tax on oil and other natural resources. 
Plans are now being made for the erection of 
the new buildings on a 2,000-acre tract near 
Baton Rouge, Olmstead Brothers, of Brook- 
line, Mass., having been secured as landscape 
architects. The new constitution, which has 
just gone into effect, also provides for a half- 
mill tax, which it is estimated will yield an 
annual income of approximately $1,000,000 
for the maintenance of the university. 


Dr. THomas W. Saumon has been appointed 
professor of psychiatry at the Columbia Uni- 
versity College of Physicians and Surgeons, 
and has resigned from the staff of the Rocke- 
feller Foundation. Dr. Salmon will continue 
to serve as medical director of the National 
Committee for Mental Hygiene. 


Dr. Harotp E. Rosertson, formerly direc- 
tor of pathology and bacteriology in the medical 
school of the University of Minnesota, has. 
been transferred to the staff of the Mayo 
Foundation of the university as professor of 


JuLy 22, 1921] 


pathology. Dr. Robertson has also become a 
member of the staff of the Mayo Clinic as 
head of the section on pathologic anatomy. 


Dr. CuHartes A. Suu, now of the Uni- 
versity of Kentucky, has been appointed in 
charge of plant physiology at the University 
of Chicago, to sueceed Dr. Wm. Crocker, who 
has resigned to become the director of the 
Thompson Institute for Plant Research at 
Yonkers, N. Y. 


Dr. R. G. Hoskins, associate in the Johns 
Hopkins University, has accepted the position 
of professor and head of the department of 
physiology in the Ohio State University. 


Ar George Washington University Dr. 
John T. Metcalf, assistant professor of psy- 
chology, has resigned to accept a call from 
the University of Vermont as associate profes- 
sor of psychology, and Mr. F. A. Moss, devel- 
opment specialist at Camp Dix, N. J., has 
been appointed to fill the vacancy. 


Dr. Wituiam H. Coie has been appointed 
to the chair of biology at Lake Forest College, 
to succeed Dr. W. C. Allee. 


Dr. H. M. Danourtan, associate professor 
of physics at Trinity College, is in charge of 
the physics department in the absence of 
Professor H. A. Perkins, who is in Europe on 
a year’s leave of absence. 


Ar the University of Liverpool Dr. McLean 
Thompson, of the University of Glasgow, has 
been appointed to the Holbrook Gaskell chair 
of botany in succession to Professor R. J. 
Harvey-Gibson, who has resigned. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
THE GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF HYBRIDS 


To tHE Eprror or Science: In your issue 
of June 17, 1921, Professor Jeffrey, protesting 
against the assumption “by systematic botan- 
ists in this country that natural hybirds be- 
tween species can only exist within the com- 
mon range of the parent species,” calls to his 
support cases cited by Kerner von Marilaun 
in the Pflanzenleben and elsewhere, saying: 

Perhaps the most interesting example in this 
connection is the hybrid Nuphar intermedium 


SCIENCE 73 


which is a cross between Nuphar luteum and Nu- 
phar pumilium. . . . It is capable of extending its 
latitude northward of the range of both the parent 
species. 


Nuphar intermedium is thus parallel with 
the blackberries which I have discussed else- 
where and, since Kerner is called into the dis- 
cussion, it is well to quote his conclusion re- 
garding Nuphar intermedium. 


At the northern extremity of this large area of 
distribution Nuphar intermedium is more abun- 
dant than the species from which it is derived; 
indeed in many places it occurs in their absence, 
and in fact passes beyond the northern limits of 
their area of distribution. ... Nuphar interme- 
dium subsists independently there, multiplies with- 
out change of form, and has in fact established 
itself as a species. 


On the same page Kerner discusses two 
other cases, Salvia sylvestris and Rhododen- 
dron intermedium. Where it occurs with 
Salvia nemorosa and S. pratensis, S. sylvestris 
is interpreted as a hybrid, but it has extended 
its range beyond either of the two former and 
Kerner tells us that 

Its fruits ripen in as large numbers as in the 
ease of S. nemorosa or S. pratensis, and have been 
found by experiment to be fertile in a proportion 
of more than 60 per cent. Salvia sylvestris has 
therefore scattered itself ...and manifests all 
the characteristics essential to our conception of a 
species. 

Again, Rhododendron intermedium, when 
growing with R. ferrugineum and R. hir- 
sutum, is considered a hybrid between them; 
but Kerner tells us that, in several areas R. 
intermedium dominates the vegetation of the 
mountain sides, 
develops fruits with fertile seeds, and transmits 
its characteristics unaltered to its descendants, 

. This form accords in every particular with 
the requirements demanded of a species, and is 
quite as much a systematic entity as either R, fer- 
rugineum or R. hirsutum, 


The cases of Rubus, which stimulated Pro- 
fessor Jeffrey’s note, are exactly parallel with 
Nuphar intermedium (specially cited by Jef- 


1I quote from Oliver’s translation of ‘‘ Pflan- 
zenleben,’’ Vol, 2, pp. 588-590. 


74 SCIENCE 


frey) and others discussed by Kerner, and 
I greatly appreciate having my attention called 
anew to such an authoritative support of my 
thesis as is given by Kerner. 
M. L. Fernaip 
Gray HERBARIUM, 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 


ALBINISM IN THE BLACK BEAR 


SEVERAL notes on albinism in wild animals 
and birds have been published in SctENncE. 
An interesting reference to albinism in the 
bear is given in a rather rare work upon the 
adventures of John Tanner during his thirty 
years’ residence among the Indians.1_ While 
living on the Assinneboin River he had the fol- 
lowing experience: 

Shortly after this, I killed an old she bear, which 
was perfectly white. She had four cubs, one 
white, with red eyes, and red nails, like herself; 
one red [brown?], and two black. In size, and 
other respects she was the same as the common 
black bear, but she had nothing black about her 
except the skin of the lips. The fur of this 
kind is very fine, but not so highly valued by the 
traders as the red. The old one was very tame, 
and I killed her without difficulty; two of the 
young I shot in the hole, and two escaped into a 
tree. I had but just shot them, when there came 
along three men, attracted, probably, by the 
sound of my gun. As these men were very hungry, 
I took them home with me, fed them, and gave 
each of them a piece of meat to carry home. 

An interesting feature of this case is the 
fact that one of the young also was albinistic. 
Had albinism been a recessive trait, the albin- 
istic mother could hardly have produced albin- 
istic young unless mated to an albinistic in- 
dividual or to another individual carrying 
albinism recessive. This latter supposition 
indicates prior cross and persistence of albin- 
ism in the same locality. 

It is interesting to note the high fertility 
of this albinistic individual. 

Pau C. SranDLEy 

U.S. Nationan MusrumM 

1A narrative of the captivity and adventures of 
John Tanner (U.S. interpreter at the Saut de Ste. 
Marie), during thirty years residence among the 
Indians in the interior of North America, prepared 
for the press by Edwin James, New York, 1830, 
page 131. 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1386 


BECHHOLD’s “ CAPILLARY PHENOMENON ” 
IN AGRICULTURE 

H. Brcuuowp recently observed! the inter- 
esting capillary phenomenon that when a por- 
ous mass (such as a lump of earth or a block 
of plaster of Paris) is soaked in the solution 
of a salt and then dried, the salt collects al- 
most quantitatively at or near the exterior 
surfaces. W. Kraus? has shown that this 
transfer of the salt is dependent upon evapo- 
ration at the exposed surfaces. 

The above observations seem to me to give 
the scientific reason for the well-recognized 
value of cultivation or tilth in agriculture. 

When the surface of the soil is stirred or 


‘broken up by a cultivator, hoe, or rake, be- 


sides killing weeds and “hilling up” the 
plants, a greater total surface is exposed to 
evaporation, and evaporation is therefore fa- 
cilitated. The sub-surface water in rising, 
brings with it towards the roots, soluble sub- 
stances which serve as plant food, though of 
course selective adsorption and differential 
diffusion effect some segregation. This cap- 
illary rise of water also accounts for the 
curious fact well known to farmers, that in 
dry weather cultivation will to a considerable 
extent furnish moisture to the growing crop. 


JEROME ALEXANDER 
RIDGEFIELD, CONN., 
June 21, 1921 


QUOTATIONS 
THE ROYAL INSTITUTION 
In these days of grandiose state expenditure 
and trifling result, the history of the Royal 
Institution seems almost miraculous. It has 
occupied its present quarters in Albemarle- 
street since 1799, when it was founded by a 
few fellows of the Royal Society, of whom the 
American, Count Rumford, also founder of 
the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, 
provided the initial funds. Its purpose was 
severely practical—to “ diffuse knowledge of 
useful mechanical improvements,” to “ teach 
the application of science to the useful pur- 
poses of life.” But its wise governors soon 
found that teaching tends to be barren if it is 
divorced from research, and its laboratories, at 
1 Kolloid Zeitschrift, 27, 229 (1920). 
2 Kolloid Zeitschrift, 28, 161 (1921). 


JULY 22, 1921] 


first intended to furnish the materials for dem- 
onstration, become centers of active investi- 
gation. What a chain of famous names and 
brilliant discoveries is associated with this 
private enterprise! In July, 1801, Thomas 
Young became the first resident professor; he 
was the father of all our knowledge of color 
vision and of the properties of the lens of the 
human eye, the discoverer of “ interference ” 
and the first to define “energy.” Humphry 
Davy joined the institution in 1801, at a sal- 
ary of £100 a year, a room, coal and candles, 
in return for which he gave his patrons lec- 
tures which drew all London, and gave the 
world the anesthetic nitrous oxide, the safety- 
lamp, the process of electrolysis by which 
he discovered potassium and sodium, and 
many of the foundation stones of modern sci- 
entific knowledge. To Davy succeeded Fara- 
day, a name inseparable from the history of 
science, and to him Sir James Dewar, the 
present resident professor, joint inventor of 
cordite, inventor of the thermos flask, the first 
man to liquefy hydrogen, the profoundest stu- 
dent of low temperatures. So far as can be 
traced, the sole support given by the state to 
this brilliant and beneficent accomplishment 
was a Civil List pension of £300 enjoyed by 
Faraday for a few years. Still more wonder- 
ful is the small total cost, amounting for the 
whole of the nineteenth century to only 
£100,620 for the professors, attendants, and 
laboratories with their apparatus and ma- 
terials. Gifts and donations have been few 
and small in amount; the revenue has been 
derived almost wholly from fees paid by the 
audiences who wished to see and hear the 
professors. There is no institution of which 
London should be prouder, none for which the 
world should be more grateful. Fortunately 
it flourishes, and offers no pretext for absorp- 
tion by any state department.—The London 
Times. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Lake Mazxinkuckee, a Physical and Biological 
Survey. By Barton Warren EverMANN, 
Director of the Museum of the California 
Academy of Sciences, and Howard Walton 


SCIENCE 75 


Clark, Scientific Assistant, U. S. Bureau of 
Fisheries Biological Station, Fairport, Iowa. 
Vol. 1, 660 pages; 36 colored plates; 8 half 

tone plates; 24 text figures. Vol. 2, 512 

pages. Publication 7 of the Department of 

Conservation, State of Indiana. 

The work on Lake Maxinkuckee by Dr. 
Evermann and Mr. Clark is the most com- 
prehensive and most symmetrical treatment 
of the organisms and their physical environ- 
ment of one of the numerous small inland 
lakes of America, yet published. The mate- 
rial of the volumes is almost entirely that 
obtained from the investigations in the 
region, there being scant reference to similar 
work done elsewhere. It is contributory 
largely to aquatic biology and ecology, but it 
appeals to a wide range of interests among 
naturalists. There is much for the specialist 
in ichthyology, ornithology, botany, and other 
special fields of natural science. Persons at- 
tracted| by the recreational offerings of such a 
body of water as Lake Maxinkuckee, such as 
anglers, sportsmen, and campers will find 
much of interest in these books. Science 
teachers can use the work advantageously for 
developing in school pupils a wider and deeper 
interest in nature and outdoor life. The clear 
and readable style is favorable for teaching 
purposes as well as for a general use of the 
publication. 

The work on Lake Maxinkuckee is likely to 
promote proper measures for conserving wild 
life since it contains information pertaining 
to the direct and indirect relations of the 
animals and plants of the region to man. 
This value was undoubtedly recognized by 
The Department of Conservation of the State 
of Indiana and determined its assuming the 
responsibility of the publication and distribu- 
tion of the work. 

The field investigations were carried on 
from 1899 to 1914 by the United States 
Bureau of Fisheries. Dr. Evermann, who 
was in charge, and Mr. Clark did most of the 
field work, but with them were associated at 
different times and for varying intervals 
eleven other investigators, who were: Dr. J. 
T. Scovell, Thomas Large, Chancey Juday, 


76 SCIENCE 


T. Bronté Evermann, Harry Warren, S. S. 
Chadwick, Leonard Young, Wm. F. Hill, 
Millard Knowlton, Robert Gillum, and Dr. 
C. B. Wilson. The work was carried on 
mostly in the summer and fall, but something 
was done each month of the year. 

The Bureau of Fisheries undertook the in- 
vestigations at Lake Maxinkuckee through 
realizing the importance to fish culture of 
an exact knowlege of the physical and biolo- 
gical conditions in the different types of lakes 
and streams of the country including the 
small inland lakes of glacial origin like Lake 
Maxinkuckee. With reference to the im- 
portance of these investigations the authors 
say: 

With scarcely an exception these lakes teem 
with food and game fishes of the finest quality, be- 
sides many other species of greater or less im- 
portance. Many of these lakes are inhabited also 
by a large number of species of turtles, batra- 
chians, mollusks and crustaceans, some of which 
are already used for food or otherwise utilized by 
man. They are the home also of many other spe- 
cies of aquatic animals and many species of 
aquatie plants which are known to serve an im- 
portant purpose in the economy of the lakes in 
their relation to food fishes, and of still many 
other species whose status we do not yet know. 
The value of exact knowledge concerning this 
type of lake and the inhabitants thereof is ap- 
preciated by all biologists and fish eculturists and 
can searcely be overestimated. 


Lake Maxinkuckee was chosen for special 
and detailed study principally for the following 
reasons: it was of suitable size, not being too 
large for any of its parts to be reached readily 
from a central station; the tributary waters 
were not of such large size as to “complicate 
the problem”; it was a fairly “homogeneous 
environmental unit”; there are fishing and 
angling interests there; it appeared to be 
“typical of the class of small glacial lakes’’; 
it was easily accessible; and field expenses 
there were especially small. 

The purposes of this work were chiefly 
three: (1) “To gain a fairly good under- 
standing of the physical and biological condi- 
tions obtaining in a typical glacial lake. Ac- 
curate knowledge of one lake of a type enables 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1386 


a study of other lakes of that type to be made 
more readily and easily.” (2) “To study care- 
fully the physical and biological conditions 
under which the more important of the 
species thrive.” (3) “To study carefully and 
fully the habits of as many species of animals 
and plants of the lake as time permitted.” 

The treatment is under two main topics: 
(1) Physical Features and (2) Biology. Un- 
der the first are discussed in some two hundred 
pages the location, size, form, depth, bottom 
topography, soils, lake tributaries, character 
of the surrounding country, and weather con- 
ditions. Under the topic, Biology, are taken 
up, first, a consideration, of the five classes of 
vertebrate animals represented in the region 
with a general introductory discussion of 
each followed by descriptions of the species 
found, and secondly (in Volume 2) similar 
discussions of the invertebrates and plants. 

Fish naturally receive most attention and 
213 pages are given to this group. The ac- 
count is a useful one, not only for zoologists 
but for others likely to read or consult the 
work, since the majority of the 64 species de- 
scribed are very generally distributed in 
such lakes, and at least two dozen of them are> 
well known to most anglers. The discussions 
deal with the species found, and for each are 
given notes on its status in the region and 
structural details of taxonomic interest, and 
for most of them facts on behavior, food, 
enemies, angling, and economic importance 
are included. 

The data on the food of the fish are im- 
portant. Although these are chiefly qualita- 
tive in character, they are of considerable 
ecological value. Determinations of the per- 
centages of the different food materials in the 
digestive tracts may still be made, since it is 
probable that these were preserved. However, 
no reference can be found concerning the 
disposition of the food collections or other 
collections made during the progress of the 
survey of the Maxinkuckee region. There 
is a detailed account with list of species of 
each collection made at each of the many 
numbered stations; and it would have been 
important to have stated where these collec- 


JULY 22, 1921] 


tions are available for future workers in the 
region or by specialists on the different groups 
represented in them. 

Preceding the annotated list there is a 
lengthy general discussion describing collect- 
ing methods, conditions for fish life at the 
lake, migrations and seasonal movements, fish- 
ing, fish protection, and fish planting. <A 
three-page table with the results of dredging 
is of considerable biological interest, and 
there are two other tables, which are especially 
unique and interesting. One of the two 
shows the number of fish taken by a single 
angler during nine months and the other the 
number of boats seen on the lake correlated 
with weather conditions during two summer 
months. A part of this discussion of fishes 
is a fifteen-page contribution by Charles B. 
Wilson on “ Food and Parasites of Fishes.” 

The treatment of the fish of the region is 
followed by that of mammals. Why the mam- 
mals are taken up here is apparently not ex- 
plained. Thirty species are listed with many 
notes. The ones having the most direct rela- 
tion to the life of the lake are muskrats, 
minks, otters, and raccoons. There is a long 
account of the muskrat, which is a very posi- 
tive contribution to its natural history, and 
the data given on the numbers caught there by 
trappers will be useful in estimating the 
value of the small inland lakes as a source of 
muskrat fur. 

The ninety pages of information on the 
birds include an annotated list of 175 species. 
At least fifty of these were found to be very 
directly and closely related ecologically to the 
fish and other organisms of the lake. The 
number of aquatic and shore birds is large 
and the total of their influence upon the life 
of the lake is considered to be great. Some 
food studies of water birds contribute to the 
meager knowledge of the relation of these 
birds to fish. The twelve pages on the coot are 
an important addition to the literature of 
this unique water bird. 

The reptiles are treated in about forty 
pages and they seem to be of little importance 
in the biology of the lake except the turtles, 
which were important as scavengers. De- 


SCIENCE 77 


tailed shell measurements and weights are re- 
corded for 225 examples of four species of 
turtles. 

The water dog (Necturus maculosus) was 
worthy of more consideration than any of the 
other 18 kinds of amphibians found, and it 
is concluded from food studies of the water 
dog that, of all the animals inhabiting the 
lake, it was the worst enemy of fish. 

The material gathered concerning the in- 
vertebrates and plants of the Maxinkuckee 
region composes the second volume. The 
slight attention that could be given to a group 
so abundantly represented and so important 
causes a disappointment. The May-flies and 
dragon-flies were found to be of special im- 
portance to the fish of the lake. A list of 56 
species of dragon-flies with important notes 
is given, and this was formed through the 
help of Mr. E. B. Williamson. Notes on 
life-histories, behavior, and ecology are given 
on many other forms. A notable contribution 
showing the value of chironomid larve as 
fish food comes from the finding of “ almost a 
bucketful” of them in a 75-pound buffalo- 
fish (Ictiobus cyprinella). 

The mollusks follow the insects but precede 
the other arthropods, an arrangement which 
is confusing. Mussels are fully discussed 
with much attention to the fourteen local 
forms, with many data on their food, enemies, 
diseases, and reproduction. The 116 other 
species of mollusks are listed without notes. 

The account of the Crustacea of the lake is 
based largely on the plankton studies made 
there by Professor Juday and the investi- 
gations on the parasitic copepods by Dr. Wil- 
son and of the crawfish by Professor William 
P. Hay. The inference “that plankton spe- 
cies of crustaceans constitute a large part, 
probably nearly all, of the first food of young 
fishes, and much of the food of some fishes 
throughout their entire lives” serves to cor- 
roborate a similar conclusion concerning the 
food of fish derived from the study of Illinois 
fish by Dr. S. A. Forbes. 

The eleven species of leeches, which form 
a “fairly conspicuous part of the lake fauna” 
are discussed by Professor J. Perey Moore, of 


78 SCIENCE 


the University of Pennsylvania. They in- 
fested fish, turtles, mussels, and snails. One 
species (Dina fervida) appears to be a scaven- 
ger only. 

Little attention was given to the worms 
other than the leeches, and these with the 
sponges and protozoans are considered in 
only nine pages. 

About three fifths of the second volume 
treats of the plants of Lake Maxinkuckee and 
vicinity, particularly with the aquatic forms. 
In addition to annotated lists of species there 
are important general discussions of such sub- 
jects as the uses of water plants to the other 
organisms of the lake and of the floral 
regions; the latter were found to be as fol- 
lows: Beach; lake plains; low woodland; up- 
land clay woodland; upland loamy woodland; 
gullies; woodland ponds; peat bogs; and shift- 
ing sand regions. No reference appears to be 
made to fungi, although it is well known that 
some forms like Saprolegnia attack fish. 

Throughout the treatment of the plants of 
the region, there is much on their relation to 
fish and other life of the lake; and it is noted 
that: 

While the division line between the lake flora 
and the land flora is in most eases pretty sharply 
drawn, it is not easy to tell where the boundary 
line lies between plants having some influence upon 
the lake and those which have none, if there be 
such. 


The grouping of species in the lists of 
water plants is puzzling and perplexing till 
one reads the easily overlooked explanation 
on page 135, where we are informed that float- 
ing plants are first disposed of and then those 
of the deeper water, proceeding from thence 
to’ the shallow water. In this arrangement 
species of a genus and sometimes subspecies 
of a species are separated. This is likely to 
be annoying to the taxonomist but not to 
students of ecology or plant distribution. 

Only the first volume of the work has 
illustrations, and nearly all of these are of 
fish, there being a few of frogs, and some gen- 
eral views loaned by the Culver Military 
Academy. The latter are not numbered or 
referred to in the list of illustrations. 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1386 


The well-reproduced colored drawings, mostly 
from Forbes and Richardson’s “Fishes of 
Illinois,” give considerable attractiveness to 
the publication and also add to its scientific 
value since the fish are very accurately shown. 

There is a large folded map in the back of 
the first volume. This has a scale of 400 feet 
to the inch and gives bottom contour lines 
for every difference of ten feet and for the 
depths 85 and 88 feet, 89 feet being the maxi- 
mum depth found. 

The books are well printed in a large, clear 
type on good, heavy paper, and there are very 
few typographical errors. All through the 
work is evidence of much painstaking. The 
binding is in good cloth. Withal they make 
an attractive addition to the naturalist’s 
library as well as a useful publication for 
his reference and study. 


T. L. Hankinson 
THE ROOSEVELT WILD LIFE 
Forrest EXPERIMENT STATION, 
Syracusg, N. Y. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
AN EXPLANATION OF LIESEGANG’S RINGS . 


RapwHae.t Ep. Lizsecane in 18981 published 
results showing that when silver nitrate solu- 
tion is placed on a gelatine gel containing 
potassium bichromate, there develops on stand- 
ing a series of concentric precipitations of 
silver chromate.? These zones are known as 
Liesegang’s rings. Wilhelm Ostwald’ pub- 
lished an explanation of the formation of 
these rings which was accepted until Liese- 
gang,1 Bechold,t and Hatschek® cited ex- 
periments which showed it untenable. Ost- 
wald’s explanation is briefly: Under certain 
conditions supersaturated solutions are 
formed, and when solid erystals or nuclei 

1 Liesegang, Zeit f. Phys. Chemie, 1907, 59, 444. 

2¥For details see Ostwald-Fischer, ‘‘ Theoretical 
and Applied Colloid Chemistry,’’ Wiley and Sons, 
New York, 1918, 

3 Ostwald, ‘‘Lehrbuch der Allg. Chemie’’ (2 
aufl.), II., 778. 

4Bechold, Zeit f. Phys. Chemie, 1905, 52, 185. 

5 Hatschek, E., Kolloid Zeitschrift, 1911, 9, 97; 
1912, 10, 124, 


JULY 22, 1921] 


of precipitation are excluded, this supersatur- 
ated condition may persist for a considerable 
time without the spontaneous development of 
a solid phase. Such solutions he calls meta- 
stable. By the diffusion of the silver salt into 
the chromate gelatine, a solution is formed 
which in relation to the silver salt is super- 
saturated. A precipitate is formed only after 
the metastable limit has been exceeded. This 
precipitate occurs naturally in zones con- 
centric with the drop. On the precipitate 
that is formed the silver supersaturated 


Pod 


The smaller figure (A) shows the sphere of 
influence of the silver nitrate. The larger figure 
(B) shows the effect of the smaller when included 
in the larger. Note that the smaller sphere has 
removed the chromate so that the rings in the 
larger are interrupted. 


chromate in the region lasts until all the sol- 
uble silver is precipitated. Then the silver 
salt wanders out over the ring into the 
chromate gelation until a new supersaturated 
region is formed and the precipitation process 
is repeated. 

The main objection to Ostwald’s explana- 
tion is that a supersaturated condition has 
been shown unnecessary for ring formation; 
also that there are other factors involved in 
the ring formation. Since no explanation 
has been accepted, I wish to present one which 
seems adequate. 

The chromate in the gelatine is relatively 
fixed and diffuses very slowly; when AgNO, 
is added, there is an immediate formation of 
silver chromate not only under the silver so- 


SCIENCE 79 


lution but there is a sphere of influence which 
can be seen with the aid of a hand lens (see A 
figure). The silver attracts the chromate from 
this area and leaves it sharply demarcated. 
This demareation could be due to the with- 
drawal of the chromate or it might be due to 
the influence of the potassium nitrate formed 
in the reaction. However, the amount of po- 
tassium nitrate that could be formed has no 
such influence on the gelatine chromate; and 
an experiment can be devised to show that 
there is no chromate, or very little of it, in 
this zone. The experiment is as follows: Place 
a minute droplet of silver nitrate on a gelatin 
plate until the zone of influence is distinct. 
Then at a short distance from it place a large 
drop of silver nitrate (B) sufficiently large so 
that when the Liesegang rings are formed 
they will include the smaller drop. After a 
time a condition develops as shown in figure 
where the larger circles are interrupted by 
the zone of influence of the smaller particle. 
This shows that there is not enough chromate 
to precipitate; it has all been attracted by 
the first silver nitrate. The explanation of 
Liesegang ring formation then is as follows: 

Silver chromate is formed and a clear zone 
results in the gelatine by the attraction 
of the chromate to the silver. Beyond this 
zone of influence, the chromate is fixed and 
remains so unless an attraction force is ex- 
erted. The silver nitrate now wanders out 
through the ring into the clear zone until it 
approximates the chromate gelatine sufficiently 
close to exert an attraction force which again 
draws the chromate and forms another ring 
and clear zone. At the same time the chro- 
mate exerts a pull on the silver and the ring 
is formed where the forces are balanced. 
Again it may be presumed that to start the 
chromate moving, will require a greater force 
than to keep it moving after the start is made, 
consequently the second ring is separated from 
the first. 

With each succeeding ring the concentration 
of the silver is less and this will also operate 
to remove the succeeding rings farther and 
farther apart. Ring formation by these or 
by other reagents depends on or is modified by 


80 SCIENCE 


other conditions which are however of secon- 
dary importance. As a requisite, the precipi- 
tate formed must be permeable to the liquid 
solution used; in this case the silver nitrate. If 
for example, lead acetate be used instead of 
silver nitrate no ring formation occurs, be- 
cause the lead chromate under these condi- 


tions is impervious to lead acetate. Not only, 


is it impervious to lead acetate but if silver 
nitrate replace the solution of lead acetate 
after the precipitate of lead chromate is 
formed, silver nitrate will not penetrate the 
lead chromate wall, and no ring formation 
will occur. For the same reason if the silver 
nitrate and potassium bichromate solutions 
are reversed, no ring formation will occur. 
Hucw McGuican 


CoLLEGE Or MEDICINE, 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


THE NORTH CAROLINA ACADEMY OF 
SCIENCE 


Tur twentieth annual meeting of the North 
Carolina Academy of Science was held on April 
29 and 30, 1921, at Wake Forest College, Wake 
Forest, N. C., with about 50 members present, 
and the following program was carried out. 

Presidential address. The age of insects, Pro- 
fessor Z. P. Metcalf, State College. 


PAPERS 


The genus Raspaillia and the independent vari- 
ability of diagnostic features: H. V. WILSON. 

Current research in organic chemistry at the 
University of North Carolina: A, S. WHEELER. 

Judgments of length, mass and time: A. H. 
PATTERSON. 

A photometric study of the fluorescence of todine 
vapor: W. E. SPEAS. 

Some fungi new to North America or the 
South: W. C. CoKER. 

Breeding results from overwintering cocoons of 
the Polyphemus moth: C. S. BRIMLEY. 

On the polyembryonic development of the para- 
site, Copidosoma gelechiae Howard: R. W. Lrrpy. 

New North Carolina gall types: B. W. WELLS. 

The Lorentz transformation in Einstein rela- 
tivity: ARCHIBALD HENDERSON. : 

Solid culture media with a wide range of hy- 
drogen and hydroxyl ion concentration: FP. A. 
Wo.r and J. V. SHUNK. 

Notes on the ecology and life history of the. 
Texas horned lizard: J. P. GIVLER. 

Ionizing potentials of gases by negative elec- 
trons: A. A. Dixon. 

An interesting anomaly in the pulmonary veins 
of man: W. C. GEORGE. 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1386 


The inheritance of economic qualities in cotton: 
R, Y. WINTERS. 

Questions arising from the discovery of occa- 
sional vertebrate hermaphrodites, with a demon- 
stration of a case in a pig: Harury N. Gov. 
(Lantern.) 

The artificial incubation of turtle eggs: BrERtT 
CUNNINGHAM. (Lantern.) 

Effects of desiccation on cotton seeds and the 
seed-borne element of cotton anthracnose: S. C. 
LEHMAN. 

The anatomy of Angiopteris: H. L. BLOoMQUIST. 
(Lantern.) 

The electron, its measurements and applications: 
J. B. Drrteux. (Lantern.) 

Further studies on the pure culture of diatoms: 
Bert CUNNINGHAM and J. T. Barnes. (Lan- 
tern.) 

Aphidius, a parasite of the cotton louse: H. 
SPENCER. 

From egg to frog in two months: H. V. WILSON. 

Some considerations in defense of the general 
biology course: J. P. GIVLER. 

Some questions concerning the teaching of 
physics in North Carolina: C. W. Epwarps. 

Notes on the salamanders of the Cayuga Lake 
Basin, N. Y., with reference to eggs and larve: 
JULIA MoESEL HABER, 

A more remarkable shoot: WILLIAM F'. PRouty. 

Relationship of temperature and relative hu- 
midity to the distribution of cockroaches: V. R. 
HABER. 

Recent views on the nutritive properties of ~ 
milk: J. O. HALVERSON. 

Notes on recently discovered Miocene whale: 
WILuiaM FF. Provury. 

A method of differentiating mucous and serous 
cells: Miss E, G, CAMPBELL. 


DEMONSTRATIONS 


Metamorphosed frogs (Chorophilus), reared 
from artificially inseminated eggs in two months: 
H. V. Witson. 

New North Carolina galls: B. W. WELLS. 

Shells of Raleigh turtles: C. S. Brimury. 

Examples of Fulgoride: Z. P. Mrtcaur. 


At the business meeting President Metealf an- 
nounced that affiliation with the American Asso- 
ciation for the Advancement of Science has been 
eompleted except for official notice from the Per- 
manent Secretary of the Association. 

The following officers were elected for the en- 
suing year: president, Jas. L. Lake, professor of 
physies, Wake Forest College; vice-president, Dr. 
J. H. Pratt, state geologist; secretary-treasurer, 
Bert Cunningham, professor of biology, Trinity 
College; additional members of the Executive Com- 
mittee, H. R. Totten, University of North Carolina, 
R. N. Wilson, Trinity College, and F. A. Wolf, 
State College. 

C. S. BrIMLEy, 
Acting Secretary 


New SERIES y ‘ SINGLE CopiEs, 15 Crs. 
Vou, LIV, No. 1387 FRIDAY, JULY 29, 1921 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPSION, $6.00 


Boyd’s Preventive Medicine 


Five groups of diseases are considered whose etiology warrants their classification | \ 
These are diseases resulting from the invasion of micro-organisms; the result of fal 
diet; the result of unhygienic or insanitary conditions of employment; the result of | 
state; and those transmitted from patient to offspring. These diseases are imports 
morbidity. \ 
Octavo of 352 pages, with 135 illustrations. By Mark F. Boyp, M.D., M.S., C.P.H 
of Bacteriology and Preventive Medicine, the Medical Department of the Universit} 
Cloth, $4.00 net. 


Overton and Denno’s The Health Officer 


This book contains the information the average Healtb Officer must have in order to Nie 
his duties. It tells him what to do, how to do it, and why he should do it. It describes the 
various activities in which a Health Officer engages; his relation to boards of health, physicians, 
social agencies, and the public; the scientific principles upon which Dish entive medicine i is founded. 
Octavo of 512 pages, illustrated. By Frank Overton, M.D., D.P.H., Sanitary Supervisor, 
New York State Department of Health; and W1tuarp J. Denno, M.D. ,D. P.H. , Medical Director, 
Standard Oil Company. Cloth, $5.50 net. , 


Ranson’s Anatomy of the Nervous System New Work 


Dr. Ranson presents his subject from the dynamic rather than the static point of view—that is, 
he lays emphasis on the developmental and functional significance of structure. The reader is 
led at the very beginning of his neurologic studies to think of the nervous system in terms of its 
relation to the rest of the living organism. 

Octavo of 395 pages, with 260 illustrations, some in colors. By StrepHmn W. Ranson, M.D., 
Professor of Anatomy, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago. Cloth, $6.50 net. 


Smith’s Bacterial Diseases of Plants New Work 


This book is the result of thirty-five years of reading and diligent laboratory and field investiga- 
tion. More than most books it is the product of experiment. It is largely the product of a 
single laboratory, eight of the organisms here selected for special study having been named by 
the author. It is in a sense, a review of Professor Smith’s work in this field. 

By Erwin F. Sirs, in charge of Laboratory of Plant Pathology, Bureau of Plant Industry, 
Washington, D.C. Octavo of 688 pages, illustrated. Cloth, $10.00 net. 


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SCIENCE—ADVERTISEMENTS 


é 


An Important New Textbook for First Year Chemistry 
To be Published in September 


GENERAL CHEMISTRY 


By HARRY N. HOLMES 
Professor of Chemistry, Oberlin College 


Cloth, octavo, with figures and diagrams, about 650 pages 


HE book has been written from the viewpoint of the student. It is a 

text in the full teaching sense of the term, not a reference book. 

The order of topics adopted has proved satisfactory in actual practice. 
Chlorine and hydrogen chloride are studied as early as Chapter IX because of 
the excellent drill they provide both in the classroom and in the laboratory. 
Treatment of the Periodic System is delayed until two good illustrations of its 
relations (the halogens and the group comprising sulfur, selenium, and tellurium) 
have been discussed. Important theories are introduced in chapters dealing 
with the substances which best illustrate them. 


Chemical symbols, formulas, and equations—‘‘the tools of the trade’”’— 
are introduced early. 


Valence, a rather intangible topic to many students, is given a clear and 
readily comprehensible introduction. 


The treatment of Molecular and Atomic Weights has been simplified in 
order to make it entirely logical and convincing. 


A notable inclusion is the chapter on Colloid Chemistry. The growing 
importance of this subject and its natural relation to the study of solutions 
warrant the prominent place given to it. 


In a course on ‘‘General Chemistry,” it is fitting that adequate consideration 
be given to the elementary facts and principles of organic chemistry. The 
book contains two able chapters treating of the chief components of carbon. 


Frequent reference is made to the applications of chemistry in industry, in 
daily life, and in warfare. ; 


A great many exercises and problems are included. These are interspersed 
through the text, serving to emphasize and illustrate specific points as they arise. 


THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 


NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO 
DALLAS ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO 


SCIENCE 


SS 
Fripay, Jury 29, 1921 


CONTENTS 


‘“ Progressive Education’’ in the Teaching of 
Pathclogy: Prorsssor Howarp T. Kars- 


NBD IpgcpovovadcognooedoavoosgubOoonOOde 81 
A Novel Magneto-optical Effect: Dr. ELinu 

INEOMSON \edatoodacoasadousdosndoasooGD 84 
Scientific Events :— 

Thomas Harriot; The International Insti- 

tute of Agriculture; The Edinburgh Meet- 

ing of the British Association............+ 85 
Scientific Notes and News.............+... 87 
University and Educational News.......... 90 


Discussion and Correspondence :— 
Dr. GEoRGE G. 
An Exception to 


A Living Galvanometer: 

Scott, JOSEPH TULGAN, 

Dollo’s Law of the Irreversibility of Evo- 

lution: Dr. G. C. CRAMPTON............. 90 
Scientific Books :— 

Jonston’s Natural History of Fishes: Dr. 

David STARR JORDAN. .......... ccc eee 92 
Special Articles :— 


On a Method of estimating the Number of 
Genetic Factors concerned in Cases of Blend- 
ing Inheritance: PRroressor W. E. CasTLE. 93 


The Utah Academy of Sciences: C. ARTHUR 


SOMTT ET IN ya uers otercscrsvets alesctsreyoieieratelegcaeieve etait yates 96 
The American Association for the Advancement 

of Science :— 

Section H—Anthropology: Prorgessor HE. 

ANC ATOOTON) Ye yatcrctassverorerversee arene sees 98 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
Teview should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. 


= 
“PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION” IN THE 
TEACHING OF PATHOLOGY 


In an article in the Atlantic Monthly of 
February, 1921, Mr. Stanwood Cobb describes 
“A new movement in education.” The type 
of education which he considers has been given 
the name “ Progressive Education.” Although 
the article deals particularly with education 
in the primary grades, nevertheless, the ques- 
tion arises as to whether or not the principle 
which directs this movement may have appli- 
cation in more advanced technical education. 
A fundamental aim is to have the interest of 
the student aroused before his work is as- 
signed. Although it might be presumed that 
the mere fact of a student’s entrance into a 
school of medicine presupposes that his mterest 
is sufficiently aroused to dictate the most active 
work in the furtherance of his technical train- 
ing, yet all those who have taught in such 
schools know full well that such is not neces- 
sarily the case. The motives underlying the 
student’s selection of a profession sometimes 
are extrinsic in origin; the purpose may have 
originated in the minds of parents or others. 
Again, the aim of the student may be differ- 
ent from the highest ideals of professional 
work. All too often the student regards cer- 
tain of his subjects, particularly those of the 
preclinical years, as of little importance. 
Therefore, it becomes necessary to arouse in- 
terest on the part of a considerable number of 
students in any given class. Fundamentally, 
it might be assumed that were the teachers of 
the preclinical subjects to emphasize continu- 
ously the importanee of these materials in the 
subsequent clinical work of the student that 
would be sufficient, but long experience in 
teaching pathology where this view has been 
particularly emphasized shows that even this 


1From the department of pathology, school of 
medicine of Western Reserve University, Cleve- 
land, Ohio. 


82 SCIENCE 


method is not sufficient to attain the ideal. 
As a corollary to arousing interest on the 
part of children comes the proposition that 
“the best way to get the child to learn a 
thing is to make it want to learn that thing.” 
These fundamentals of the progressive method 
of education in the earlier grades are at- 
tacked along four lines. They include (1) 
competitive games in which there is some op- 
portunity for action, (2) the abandonment of 
the formal recitation, (3) a more flexible pro- 
gram, (4) correlation of book knowledge with 
the daily life of the child. 

It is well understood that not only is pri- 
mary education in an experimental stage but 
judging from the numerous attempts to ele- 
vate the standards of medical education, cer- 
tainly this branch of technical training is also 
passing through a period of experiment. When 
one considers the reports presented before the 
Council on Medical Education in the spring 
of 1920 it becomes apparent that the same is 
true of the various subjects included in the 
medical curriculum. The question naturally 
arises as to how far the fundamental prin- 
ciples of progressive education may be ap- 
plied to the subject of medicine as a whole 
or to any of its individual branches. The 
present communication deals only with the 
application to the course in pathology. 

The principle of competition has been ap- 
plied over years in the assignment of grades 
for work. In the minds of most teachers this 
is insufficient and often leads simply to in- 
tensive narrow work toward the attainment of 
high grades. Many students recognize in 
themselves a certain limitation of intellectual 
power and are not stimulated in any sense by 
the apportionment of grades. They recog- 
nize that all too often the students with high- 
est grades are not necessarily the best prac- 
titioners or investigators. The same applies 
in the posting of excellent drawings or notes. 
Competition in actual practical work in pathol- 
ogy may, however, serve a useful purpose. In 
our own courses this is attempted by com- 
parative efforts in actual work. Students are 
required to demonstrate to their classmates 
the fresh organs from recent autopsies. In 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1387 


certain instances they demonstrate microscop- 
ical preparations and the same principle is 
applied in the reporting of experiments. No 
grades are assigned for these efforts, but in- 
stead the attempt is made to stimulate the 
student’s pride in his own attempts. 

The abandonment of the formal recitation 
has met in our hands with the greatest suc- 
cess. Even with the utmost informality there 
was constantly before the student in ordinary 
recitations the desire to make a good impres- 
sion on his teacher. It must be recognized, 
however, that in technical training there is in 
every subject a considerable content value and 
in the particular subject under consideration 
not only is this true but the aim of the teacher 
must be to stimulate the student to thinking 
logically in terms of medicine. Extremely 
successful in our work has been, under the 
stimulus of Mr. Cobb’s article, the introduc- 
tion of recitations conducted by the students. 
In the subject of special pathology this in- 
cludes review recitations of the embryology, 
morphology, and physiology of organs and sys- 
tems followed by similar recitations in path- 
ologic disturbances. In adapting the method, 
the students elect for each recitation a director 
who is given sufficient time to prepare for 
this task. The students are requested to se- 
lect their directors rather from the point of 
view of organizing ability and clearness and 
rapidity of thought than from the point of 
view merely of high class standing. This has 
resulted in a marked elevation of the stan- 
dards of recitation. The results are shown in 
a greater cooperative spirit on the part of all 
concerned, a greater seriousness of purpose 
and attention and what appears to be a clearer 
understanding of the difficulties which each 
class faces. Naturally, such recitations must 
be closely supervised because of the necessity 
for maintaining accuracy. It might be ob- 
jected that such a method leaves no room for 
the stimulation of the student’s imagination. 
In practise, however, it is found that many 
questions brought up in the course of these 
informal discussions serve admirably in ex- 
citing speculation as to origins, process, re- 
sults and relations of disease. Furthermore, 


Juny 29, 1921] 


the lectures which are given can serve this im- 
portant purpose equally as well as recitations. 
The informal recitation has the further advan- 
tage of permitting a better evaluation of the 
ability of the individual student than is pos- 
sible with the more formal and more auto- 
cratic recitation conducted by the teacher. 
Inherent reticence of the student often pre- 
vents an answer to a teacher’s question and 
yet permits of an adequate answer to the same 
question from one of his colleagues. The pro- 
tection of the community and the maintenance 
of high standards in a school of medicine 
demand that the teacher form a proper esti- 
mate of the students’ ability and this estimate 
can be materially aided by observation in the 
democratic and informal recitation. 

A certain amount of flexibility in program 
is provided for in offering elective courses in 
the various divisions of special pathology. 
Considering the content value of a technical 
subject, it is difficult to adopt the program of 
flexibility to any very wide extent. Neverthe- 
less, the principle can be applied without too 
great a sacrifice. Instead of assigning a 
certain number of slides for each day, a cer- 
tain number of days can be given over to a 
particular subject; the total number of slides 
or other material can be indicated and the 
proportionate division of the work left to the 
student’s personal wishes. Recognizing the 
fact that drawing illustrations of slides or 
other material has considerable value, never- 
theless, flexibility may be adopted here. For 
example, the students of our present class have 
been told that fifty drawings are required in 
the subject of special pathology. Their se- 
lection of the subjects to be illustrated is of 
far more significance than is actual technical 
skill in drawing. No particular forms are 
given for the report of experiments and the 
method of presenting these reports gives the 
student complete freedom and serves as a 
guide to his grasp of the subject. 

’ The correlation of the material acquired in 
pathology to the daily affairs of the stu- 
dent’s and physician’s life is a matter which 
has given the writer ‘considerable concern. 
Fundamentally, this means the interpretation 


SCIENCE 83 


of pathology in terms of clinical medicine. 
The introduction of experiments to illustrate 
in animals these disturbances has been of the 
utmost vlaue. Simply performing the experi- 
ments is insufficient; they must be interpreted 
so as to demonstrate their application to hu- 
man disease. The method adopted in our 
work has been described.1. Even this proves 
insufficient and every opportunity must be 
taken to impress on the student the fact that 
the material he deals with comes from living 
patients. Correlation can also be approached 
by means of the clinical pathological confer- 
ence, as adapted to the needs of students. In 
our courses eight periods of one and one 
half hours each are employed for this purpose. 
It is possible as a rule to cover two or three 
cases in each period. Two students of the 
third year class are required to present the 
history and differential diagnosis of a case 
that has recently come to autopsy. Following 
the discussion of this presentation, the organs 
from this patient are demonstrated by two 
other students either of the same class or of 
the second year class; this is succeeded by an 
attempt at correlation of symptoms and mor- 
phologie disturbance, as well as a discussion 
of the sources of error in clinical diagnosis. 
These exercises have proven to be most suc- 
cessful. In addition to these conferences the 
second year students at the end of the studies 
of the disease of the heart and of the diseases 
of the kidney take part in exercises which were 
first utilized with the cooperation of Dr. F. W. 
Peabody and are now being practised with the 
cooperation of Dr. R. W. Scott. These exer- 
cises have been described in detail? but they 
ean be summarized by an illustration from a 
recent exercise. The students gathered in the 

1 Karsner, H. T., ‘‘The function of the experi- 
mental method in the course in pathology,’’ Boston: 
Med. and Surg. Jour., 167: 511, 1912. Pearce, 
R. M., ‘‘The teaching of experimental pathology. 
and pathological physiology to large classes,’’ 
Bull. Johns Hopkins Hospital, 22: 249, 1911. 
Karsner, H. T., ‘‘Teaching the pathology of fune- 
tion,’? Jour. Am, Med. Assn., 75: 361, 1920. 

2 Karsner, H. T., ‘‘The experimental method as 
utilized in the clinico-pathological conference,’’ 
Boston Med. and Surg. Jour., 170: 723, 1914. 


84 SCIENCE 


amphitheater of City Hospital and demon- 
strated during the first hour the gross morbid 
anatomy of several fairly typical heart lesions. 
Recitation was then conducted by a student 
on the normal physiology of circulation. This 
was followed immediately by students’ demon- 
strations of the effects in dogs of hydroperi- 
cardium, of acute myocardial degeneration, 
of aortic stenosis and of aortic insufficiency. 
In line with the student’s discussion of the 
normal functions of heart muscle Dr. Scott 
presented and discussed a few electrocardio- 
graphic tracings. After a brief rest the stu- 
dents then under Dr. Scott’s direction ex- 
amined three living patients exhibiting mur- 
murs, thrills and cardiac arrhythmia. 

It is hoped that as the experiment in pro- 
gressive education is more widely applied to 
pathology the results will be improved, but 
even with the experience now at hand there is 
little doubt that this method has an applica- 
tion in pathology and that in so far as it has 
been attempted it has been proven to be emi- 
nently successful. Certainly, the idea is prac- 
ticable and its success will depend upon the 
teacher’s interest in the educational side of his 
subject, his willingness to grant as large a 
measure of freedom as possible to the stu- 
dents’ own effort, his keenness in careful su- 
pervision and his confidence in the propriety 
of the idea. 

Howarp T. Karsner 

LAKESIDE HOSPITAL, 

CLEVELAND, OHIO 


A NOVEL MAGNETO-OPTICAL EFFECT 
(Further Investigations) 


In the former account of this novel effect, it 
was pointed out that a microscopic examina- 
tion of the iron are smoke deposited on a glass 
surface gave evidence of the existence of fine 
particles of iron compound arranged in short 
chain sections of bead-like relation. 

It is now thought that this peculiar forma- 
mation may have its origin in the outer en- 
velope of the are flame where the particles 
are formed, and where they are lined up around 
the are stream by the circular magnetism sur- 
rounding the current conducted by the hot 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1387 


vapor stream of the are. The particles, be- 
ing magnetic, would tend to form chains or 
rings surrounding the are. These would not 
be stable, however, but would float away as 
they became shattered by gas currents, and 
remain only as short lengths of particles held 
together. To throw light on this possibility, 
a small vertical, hollow cylinder of plaster of 
Paris open above was arranged with iron 
electrodes (for forming an arc) passing 
through its sides and meeting in its center. 
By passing the current of a storage battery 
giving about 50 volts through them in con- 
tact and separating them, an iron are could 
be produced at will within the plaster cylin- 
der. The dimensions of the cylinder were 
such that a microscope slide 3”’x1” could 
rest across the open upper end of the plaster 
cylinder, only partly closing it, the slide lying 
horizontally above the are electrodes at a 
distance of about 3 em. Such a slide could 
receive a layer of smoke on its under surface 
when the are was formed below it. The micro- 
scope in that case showed only a confused 
deposit. 

When, however, there was placed above the 
slide a strongly excited electromagnet with its 
poles resting on the upper sides of the slide 
or close thereto, such poles being about 3 cm. 
apart, a smoke deposit of a remarkable char- 
acter was produced. Even as examined by the 
unaided eye in diffused light, there was de- 
cided evidence of a structure or striation. 
When, however, the microscope was used, with 
even comparatively low powers of about 300 
to 400 diameters, there was disclosed a decided 
striation seemingly composed of brownish par- 
ticles in strings extending over the slide and 
following the direction of the field. There 
was noted a surprising regularity in the dis- 
tribution or spacing of the strie, as if the 
surface was covered with fibers laid on sys- 
tematically side by side. 

There were, however, curious objects com- 
posed of small spheres (evidently globules of 
iron) strung together in a line of two, three, 
four or more, such spheres having no uniform 
size. Most of these iron globule groups lay, 
of course, in the field direction and were very 


JuLy 29, 1921] 


large relatively to the particles in the stria- 
tion covering the most of the surface of the 
slide. But each of these straight settings of 
globules possessed a singular appendage, gen- 
erally at one end only, but sometimes at both 
ends. It consisted of a brush-like tail com- 
posed of the brown filamentous chains of par- 
ticles like those covering the slide as noted 
above. They gave the appearance of tufts, 
suggesting a growth of beaded fibers from the 
end of the string of globules. By focusing, 
these tufts or tails could be seen as projecting 
outward (upward) in an inclined direction. 
This means that the tufts did not lie on the 
slide surface, but sprang outward from the 
globule which carried it. The globule at the 
other end of the short chain (generally the 
largest in the line) was often to be seen as 
having a convergence upon it of the usually 
parallel striz of the other parts of the slide, 
indicating clearly that the globules strung to- 
gether were acting as small magnets with poles 
at each end, towards and from which poles, 
the convergence and divergence of the mag- 
netic lines was indicated by the fine strice 
of particles taking their direction. 

The polariscope showed that the striated 
smoke layer caught on the slide has the same 
property of scattering or diffusing light (as 
plane polarized light) that the smoke oriented 
in the air by a magnetic field has, but, of 
course, the slide preserves the orientation and 
needs, to produce the results, no magnetic 
field after its formation or deposition. The 
slide covered with the striated smoke film 
is, in fact, a polarizer. 

Examination between crossed Nicol’s prisms 
(dark field) discloses the fact that the tufts 
of fine fibers carried by the rows of globules, 
show as luminous spots on the black field, 
clearly indicating that the groups or tufts 
have a polarizing effect if they are in proper 
relation to the rays passing through. 

As was to be expected, any hollow vessel or 
enclosure capable of retaining the smoke from 
an iron are can be used in demonstrating the 
original luminous phenomenon. A glass flask 
of from -1 to 2 liters is readily sensitized, as it 
were, by holding its mouth over an are for a 


SCIENCE 85 


short time, allowing smoke from the are to 
enter, and then corking the flask. It may 
then be used to show the effects by allowing a 
beam of light to traverse it while held in the 
field of a current-carrying coil. While this 
was being done, it was noticed by Dr. Holl- 
nagel of the laboratory that when the coil 
was traversed by an A.-C. current of twenty 
eycles, the flask, when near the coil, gave the 
usual effect of increased luminosity of the 
smoke in its interior. When, however, the 
flask was removed from the coil a distance 
of several feet, the steady luminosity was re- 
placed by a flickering which kept pace, not 
with the alternations of current in the coil, 
but with the cycles only. The flickering was,. 
as it appeared, at the cyclic rate. This flick- 
ering was noted even at a distance of twelve 
feet from the coil, although the coil was but 
7 inches in diameter and about 2 inches in 
axial direction. The flickering is a curious 
effect, and it is difficult to explain, especially 
the fact that it appears to keep time with the 
eyeles and not the alternations of current. It 
points to some sort of magnetic retention or 
polarization of the iron particles of the 
smoke. They may even rotate or oscillate in 
obedience to the field fluctuations, but there 
is needed much more work of investigation as 
to the cause of the peculiar behavior. The 
experiment clearly shows that a very moderate 
field intensity suffices for lining up the par- 
ticles in the air, and so producing the lu- 
minous effect. Y 

Emphasis is again given to the fact of the 
extremely small amount of iron particles sus- 
pended in the air, capable of giving a decided 
effect. Enigu THomMson 

THOMSON LABORATORY, i 

Lynn, Mass., 
June 17, 1921 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 
THOMAS HARRIOT 1} 
Tue tercentenary of the death of Thomas 
Harriot, the mathematician and astronomer, 


occurred on July 2. Not only was he the most 
celebrated English algebraist of his time, but 


1From Nature. 


86 


he was also one of the first astronomers in 
England to use a telescope, and, like Galileo, 
Fabricius, and Scheiner, was one of the early 
observers of the spots on the sun. Born at 
Oxford in 1560, he was a year older than 
Henry Briggs. He graduated from St. Mary’s 
Hall, and became an ardent student of mathe- 
maties forty years before the inauguration of 
the first university chair of mathematics. At 
the age of twenty-five he entered the service 
of Sir Walter Raleigh, by whom he was em- 
ployed in the survey of: the newly founded 
eolony of Virginia. The greater part of Har- 
tiot’s life, however, was passed in the neigh- 
fborhood of London, where he came under the 
‘patronage of Henry Percy, Earl of Northum- 
‘erland, who gave him a pension and assigned 
thim rooms at Sion House, which stands on 
the banks of the Thames opposite Kew. When 
the earl was confined to the Tower through 
the complicity of some of his family in the 
Gunpowder Plot, Harriot and two other mathe- 
matical worthies, Thomas Hughes and Walter 
Warner, often bore him company. They were 
known as “the three magi.”  Harriot ap- 
pears to have passed an uneventful life, and 
at his death was buried in St. Christopher’s 
Church, on the site of which now stands the 
Bank of England. A monument erected to 
his memory was destroyed in the Great Fire 
of 1666. As an algebraist Harriot is a con- 
necting link between Vieta and Descartes. 
His “Artis Analytics Praxis” was not pub- 
lished until ten years after his death. The 
revival of his fame as an astronomer was 
due to von Zach, who, while on a visit to the 
Earl of Egremont in 1784, discovered some 
of Harriot’s writings beneath a pile of old 
stable accounts at Petworth Castle; while 
the reduction of Harriot’s observations of the 
comet of 1607 formed one of the first tasks of 
Bessel’s astronomical career. Some of Har- 
-riot’s manuscripts are in the British Museum. 


THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF AGRI- 
CULTURE 


Tue president of the International Institute 
of Agriculture at Rome has transmitted to 
the Secretary of Agriculture, through the 
State Department, a copy of resolutions 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1387 


adopted in April, 1921, by the permanent com- 
mittee of the institute, authorizing the con- 
ferring of the title “ Donating Member ? wpon 
any person who makes a gift, donation, or con- 
tribution to the institute amounting in value 
to 10,000 Italian lire, which at normal rates 
of exchange is equivalent to about $2,000. 

The permanent committee wished to demon- 
strate in a tangible manner the gratitude of 
the International Agricultural Institute 
toward all persons whose generous impulse 
prompts them to make gifts to it in money or 
in kind, thereby contributing toward the ful- 
fillment of the mission intrusted to it. 

The permanent committee has already 
named as a donating member Mr. Victor 
Vermorel, member of the National Academy 
of Agriculture of France and former senator, 
thus testifying to him its gratitude for a gen- 
erous gift which he made to it recently. 

The International Institute of Agriculture 
was established as the direct result of the 
efforts of David Lubin, a successful merchant 
of California, with the active support of the 
King of Italy, who foresaw the advantages 
which would accrue to agriculture, commerce, 
and industry from an international clearing- 
house for systematically collecting and dis- 
seminating official information supplied by the 
various governments of the world on agricul- 
tural production, consumption, movements, 
surpluses, deficits, and prices of agricultural 
products, transportation, plant and animal dis- 
eases and insect pests, rural credits and insur- 
ance, standard of living, wages and hours of 
labor on farms, cooperative organizations of 
farmers, legislation affecting agriculture, and 
similar information. The international treaty 
was drafted at Rome on June 7, 1905, and 
has since been ratified by more than 60 gov- 
ernments. 

The institute survived the trying period of 
the World War and is now entering upon a 
period of expansion and increased usefulness. 
Its work benefits all peoples. In accordance 
with the recent action of the permanent com- 
mittee, which is made up of delegates from 
the adhering governments and serves as a 
board of directors of the International In- 


JULY 29, 1921] 


stitute of Agriculture, citizens of the United 
States and other countries who are in sym- 
pathy with the purposes of the institute have 
an opportunity to contribute to its support 
and development and to receive permanent 
recognition therefor as “ donating members ” 
by having their names and nationality and 
the date of their donation inscribed on a mar- 
ble tablet which will be placed in a con- 
spicuous position in the halls or vestibule of 
the marble palace occupied by the institute, 
situated in a beautiful park on an elevation 
overlooking the Eternal City. Such donations 
can be made either through the Secretary of 
Agriculture, the Secretary of State, or the 
American delegate to the International Insti- 
tute of Agriculture, Rome, Italy. 


THE EDINBURGH MEETING OF THE BRITISH 
ASSOCIATION 

As has already been noted here the British 
Association meets at Edinburgh beginning 
on September 7. It last met in that city in 
1892 under the presidency of Sir Archibald 
Geikie. The president, Sir Edward Thorpe, 
will address the association on aspects and 
problems of post-war science, pure and applied. 
An evening discourse will be given by Pro- 
fessor OC. W. Inglis on a comparison of the 
Forth and Quebec Bridges, and there will be 
an opportunity to visit the former. Another 
discourse will be given on Edinburgh and 
oceanography by Professor W. A. Herdman, 
who, as president of the association at Cardiff 
last year, proposed a new exploration of the 
oceans like that of the Challenger. Sir Oliver 
Lodge will give the opening of the three lec- 
tures to the citizens on “Speech through the 
ether, or the scientific principles underlying 
wireless telephony ”; Professor Dendy will lec- 
ture on “ The stream of life”; and Professor 
H. J. Fleure on “ Countries as personalities.” 
A special lecture, arranged in collaboration 
with Section M (Agriculture), for agricul- 
turists will be given by Dr. E. J. Russell on 
“Science and crop production.” Hitherto all 
addresses of the presidents of sections have 
been formally read, and never discussed, but 
in the present program, the following addresses 


SCIENCE 


87 


are announced to initiate debates: Sir W. 
Morley Fletcher, on the boundaries of physiol- 
ogy; Professor Lloyd Morgan, on conscious- 
ness and the unconscious, opening the newly 
established section of psychology; Dr. D. H. 
Scott, on the present position of the theory 
of descent in relation to the early history of 
plants; Sir Henry Hadow, on the place of 
music in a liberal education; and Mr. C. S. 
Orwin, on the study of agricultural economics. 
Other addresses will be given on the problems 
of physies by Professor O. W. Richardson, 
on the laboratory of the living organism by 
Dr. M. O. Forster, by Dr. J. S. Flett on 
experimental geology, by Professor E. S. 
Goodrich on some problems in evolution, by 
Dr. D. G. Hogarth on the application of ge- 
ography, by Mr. W. L. Hichens on principles 
by which wages are determined, and by Pro- 
fessor A. H. Gibson on water power. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Tue South African Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science will meet next year at 
Lorengo Marques under the presidency of Dr. 
A. W. Rogers, director of the Geological 
Survey of the Union of South Africa. 


THE council of the Royal Society of Medi- 
cine made, on July 6, the first award of its 
gold medal to Sir Almroth Wright, F.R.S., 
in recognition of his services to medicine 
during the war. The medal is awarded for 
original discovery in medicine and other allied 
sciences, or for the practical application of the 
results of previous investigations of other 
scientists, or for the most valuable contribu- 
tion in any other way towards the progress 
of the art and science of medicine, preventive 
medicine, or surgery. 


Ir is reported that Professor Edouard 
Branly, of Paris, is to receive this year’s 
Nobel prize for physics. 


We learn from Nature that the French 
Société de Géographie has celebrated its cen- 
tenary. There was a reception for delegates 
at the house of Prince Roland Bonaparte, 
president of the society, and M. Millerand, 


88 SCIENCE 


president of the French Republic, presided at 
the opening meeting, a gathering at which 
explorers and geographers from various parts 
of the world were present. 


Dr. E. J. Russexu, director of the Rotham- 
sted Experimental Station, has been appointed 
a foreign corresponding member of the Reale 
Istituto Lombardo di Scienze e Lettere di 
Milano. 


W. M. Smarr, chief assistant at the Cam- 
bridge Observatory, has been appointed to the 
John Couch Adams Astronomership, recently 
founded in Cambridge University under a be- 
quest from the late Mrs. Adams. 


Tuer board of regents of the University of 
Michigan has adopted congratulatory and 
laudatory resolutions in recognition of the 
services of Professor W. W. Beman, who 
has for fifty consecutive years been a member 
of the literary faculty and for thirty-four 
years head of the department of mathematics. 


Proressor Herpert E. Grecory, of Yale 
University, director of the Bishop Museum 
in Honolulu, has been awarded life member- 
ship in the National Geographic Society for 
his original contributions to geographic 
science. 


Henry E. Arztanson has been appointed 
assistant to the chief of the bureau of plant 
industry, Department of Agriculture. He 
is a graduate of Cornell University, and 
came to the bureau in 1911. 


Proressor ALEXANDER M. Gray, director 
of the school of electrical engineering of Cor- 
nell University, has been granted leave of ab- 
sence for the year 1921-22, because of ill 
health. 


Dr. Water Long WiuraMs, professor of 
obstetrics and research in the diseases of 
breeding animals, has retired from the faculty 
of the New York State Veterinary College at 
Cornell University. Dr. Williams was a mem- 
ber of the original faculty of that college. 
For eighteen years he was professor of vet- 
erinary research and obstetrics and for the 
last seven years has devoted his time to the 
study of the diseases of breeding animals. 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1387 


Dr. Epwarp Puextps Auuis, Jr., has re- 
turned to his biological laboratory at Men- 
tone, France, after some nine months im 
America. 


An expedition on behalf of the State Uni- 
versity of Iowa to the gulf coast of Florida 
was conducted by Professor H. R. Dill in the 
latter part of May. A collection of marine 
fishes was made which will be mounted for the 
museum. 


THE Hugo Miiller lecture of the Chemical 
Society, entitled “ The natural photosynthetic 
processes on land and in sea and air, and 
their relation to the origin and preservation 
of life upon the earth,” will be delivered by 
Professor Benjamin Moore on June 16. 


THE geological library of 4,000 volumes and 
15,000 geological specimens collected by the 
late Professor H. P. Cushing and his father- 
in-law, the late S. G. Williams, have been pre- 
sented to Western Reserve University by Mrs. 
Cushing. 


A MONUMENT in memory of the French 
chemist, Adolphe Wurtz, was unveiled at 
Strasbourg on July 5. 


Tue death is announced at eighty-three 
years of age, of Professor Viktor von Lang, 
formerly professor of physics at Vienna. 


THe Mathematical Association of America 
and the American Mathematical Society will 
hold their summer meetings at Wellesley Col- 
lege, September 6-7 and 7-9, respectively. Two 
joint sessions will be devoted to a symposium 
on “ Relativity.” On the afternoon of the 
seventh, Professor Pierpont, of Yale Uni- 
versity, will give a paper entitled “Some 
mathematical aspects of the theory of rela- 
tivity,” while on the forenoon of the eighth, 
Professor Lunn, of the University of Chicago, 
will speak on “The place of the Einstein 
theory in theoretical physics.” 

The regents of the University of California 
have granted $20,000 from the campus im- 
provement fund to the Lick Observatory for 
the improvement of the grounds and buildings 
at Mount Hamilton. 


Tue American Pharmaceutical Association 


Juty 29, 1921] 


has available a sum amounting to about $360, 
which will be expended after October for the 
encouragement of research. Investigators de- 
siring financial aid in their work should com- 
municate before September 1 with Professor 
H. V. Arny, chairman A. Ph. A. Research 
Committee, 115 West 68th St., New York, 
giving their past record and outlining the 
particular line of work for which the grant is 
desired. 


We learn from the Bulletin of the Bureau 
of Fisheries that the first meeting of the In- 
ternational Committee on Marine Fishing In- 
vestigation was held at Montreal, on June 23, 
at the call of the Canadian representatives. 
The members present were: Representing 
Canada—W. A. Found and A. G@. Huntsman; 
representing Newfoundland—James Davies; 
representing the United States—H. F. Moore, 
R. E. Coker and H. B. Bigelow. The com- 
mittee adopted resolutions recommending the 
coordination of the statistical data collected 
by the several countries represented in respect 
to the offshore fisheries, particularly those for 
cod and haddock; that studies of the cod, in- 
cluding tagging experiments, be undertaken; 
and that the methods of marine research of 
the several countries be standardized. Tenta- 
tive steps were taken toward giving effect to 
these recommendations. The next meeting of 
the committee will be held in Boston, on No- 
vember 4. 


A CONSERVATION conference, called by the 
Secretary of Commerce, met at the United 
States fisheries biological station, Fairport, 
Iowa, from June 8 to 10, 112 delegates having 
registered. The states represented were Illi- 
nois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Loui- 
siana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mis- 
sissippi, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Penn- 
sylvania, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and the 
District of Columbia. The attendance con- 
sisted of fishermen, fish dealers, button manu- 
facturers, engineers, sanitarians, conservation- 
ists, state and national fishery officials, and 
biologists interested in the study and conser- 
vation of the life of fresh waters. A number 
of resolutions were adopted advocating various 


SCIENCE 89 


measures for the conservation of interior 
waters for economic, esthetic, and recreational 
purposes. 


A CORRESPONDENT writes: “The Bureau of 
Economie Geology and Technology of the 
University of Texas faces the probability of 
a total suspension of its activities for the 
next two years, on account of the elimination 
of its appropriation by the university authori- 
ties, as a result of the reduced appropriation 
allotted to the university by the Finance Com- 
mittee of the State Legislature, which is now 
in session. There is still a possibility that 
some money may be assigned to the bureau 
from the contingent fund of the university, 
and this may prevent its entire suspension. 
This bureau has produced in the last few 
years a considerable amount of stratigraphic 
and paleontological work, and is at present the 
most important agency in advancing the 
knowledge of the geology of Texas. During 
1919-1921 it produced 14 bulletins, aggre- 
gating 1,979 pages. The publication of sev- 
eral important works will be indefinitely post- 
poned in case of elimination of the appropria- 
tions. In addition to its purely scientific 
activities, the bureau maintains a department 
for the examination of well samples, a testing 
laboratory for structural and road materials, 
and a chemical laboratory which is carrying 
out an extensive research program on lignite, 
oils and clays.” 


Tue American Journal of Insanity, Johns 
Hopkins Press, Baltimore, will hereafter be 
the official organ of the American Psychiatric 
Association (till now the American Medico- 
Psychological Association) and will be pub- 
lished as the American Journal of Psychiatry. 


TueEreE has been organized at the University 
of Minnesota and the affiliated Mayo Founda- 
tion a branch of the Society for Experimental 
Biology and Medicine which will be known as 
the Minnesota Branch of the society. At the 
present time there are 23 members of this 
society in the University of Minnesota. It is 
planned to arrange regular meetings through- 
out the academic year for the presentation and 
discussion of original papers falling within 


90 SCIENCE 


the general field of experimental biology and 
medicine. Abstracts of the papers presented 
will appear in the Proceedings of the parent 
society. 

Tuer graduate women in the science depart- 
ments at Cornell University have recently or- 
ganized a sorority under the name of Sigma 
Delta Epsilon. The membership is primarily 
limited to women engaged actively in research 
work; honorary membership has been extended 
to several women who have gained recognition 
in the scientific world. The society will have 
a house at which the members may live while 
at Cornell. The organization at present con- 
sists of twenty-five active members and eight 
honorary members. The officers are: Adele 
Lewis Grant, president; Katherine Van 
Winkle, vice-president; Josephine Overton 
Souders, secretary; Hazel Elizabeth Branch, 
treasurer. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 


Axsout $400,000 of the $500,000 appropriated 
for building purposes at the University of 
Iowa by the last general assembly is to be ex- 
pended for the erection of the first units of a 
new chemistry building. When completed the 
building will cost $1,000,000. 


Dr. C. L. Metcatr, for the past seven years 
professor of entomology in the Ohio State Uni- 
versity, has resigned to accept the position of 
professor of entomology and head of the de- 
partment of entomology in the university of 
Illinois. 


Herscuet C. Smiru, formerly deputy state 
highway engineer of Oklahoma, has been ap- 
pointed assistant professor of highway engi- 
neering and highway transport at the Uni- 
versity of Michigan, from which institution 
he graduated in 1913. 


Dr. Atrrep H. W. Povan, assistant profes- 
sor of forest botany and pathology in the New 
York State College of Forestry since 1918, 
has resigned to accept the position of asso- 
ciate professor of plant pathology and asso- 
ciate pathologist in the Alabama Polytechnic 
Institute. 


[N. 8S. Vou. LIV. No. 1387 


Curvetanp P. Hickman, M.A. (Michigan), 
has been appointed instructor in zoology in 
West Virginia University. 


Dr. Joun Howtanp, professor of pediatrics 
at the Johns Hopkins Medical School and 
pediatrician-in-chief of the Johns Hopkins 
Hospital, has declined the offer of the Medical 
School of Harvard University to become pro- 
fessor of children’s diseases at that institution. 
He will remain at Johns Hopkins. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
A LIVING GALVANOMETER 


Tuat differences in electrical potential are 
produced by protoplasmic activity is a well- 
known fact. This is especially true of muscu- 
lar activity. The existence of electrical cur- 
rents in tissues was proved by Schweiger in 
1824 and by Nobili, who discovered the gal- 
vanometer. The string galvanometer was first 
used to detect these currents, although it was 
reasonably believed that such currents were 
present before the galvanometer was discoy- 
ered. Such evidence was correctly given in 
a more rudimentary way by Galvani and. 
Volta. With the introduction of the various 
kinds of galvanometers these electrical cur- 
rents were easily demonstrated. At the pres- 
ent the various modifications of Einthoven’s 
galvanometer are used in detecting electrical 
currents produced by the activity of various 
muscles and especially the heart and in ob- 
taining electrocardiograms. In fact it is a 
very accurate method of obtaining a clinical - 
picture of the condition of the heart in man. 

The discussion and demonstration of the 
production of electrical currents by living or- 
ganisms and especially man, never fail to 
fascinate students, however teachers have 
found themselves handicapped by the lack of 
a suitable galvanometer. In laboratory ex- 
periments of this kind, such as Galvani’s ex- 
periment and the rheoscopic frog experiment 
an outside stimulus is necessary to demonstrate 
this. In the experiment where the sciatic 
nerve of a muscle nerve preparation is laid 
across the beating heart, the results are very 


JULY 29, 1921] 


striking, but the demonstration of electrical 
currents in the human body would be usually 
regarded as impossible without a galvanom- 
eter. These difficulties are solved by the rather 
simple experiments cited below. 

Recently, while making a merve muscle 
preparation, the thigh muscles of the left leg 
of the frog were removed and the nerve on the 
same side isolated but not sectioned. The 
body was well moistened with physiological 
saline and lay on a glass plate which was also 
well moistened. ‘The toes of the left foot 
were held in the left hand, while forceps, held 
in the right hand, were accidentally placed 
upon the body of the frog. Immediately a 
violent contraction of the muscles of the left 
leg occurred. This was so unusual that we 
investigated this further. The same results 
were obtained repeatedly. It must be noted 
here that one metal was used instead of two 
as in Galvani’s experiment, and in place of 
the other metal the human hand was used. 
The current stimulating the nerve might have 
been due to the difference in potential between 
the metal and the hand, and for that reason 
we substituted the right finger for the metal 
previously used and obtained the same results. 
We therefore concluded that the nerve was 
stimulated by the action current of the human 
body, the electrodes being the fingers of the 
right and left hands and the indicator or the 
galvanometer being the contractions of the 
frog’s muscles. 

The same experiment was tried on a number 
of frogs and in every case we obtained the 
same results, although more’ striking in some 
preparations than in others. We found that 
by making contact with any part of the frog’s 
body or even the saline solution on the plate 
the muscles contracted. 

When. a non-conductor was interposed be- 
tween the toes and the hand we found that no 
contraction took place. When a non-con- 
ductor such as wood was used for the right 
electrode no contraction took place. We at 
first thought that the action current involved 
was that produced by the beating human heart, 
but the absence of the rhythmical contractions 
in the muscles of the frog negates this. 


SCIENCE 91 


It has been noted in some cases that the 
contractions were very violent, even tetanic, 
and immediately afterwards hardly noticeable. 
We have no explanation to offer for this 
other than the varying electrical currents in 
the body. 

Grorce G. Scort, 
JOSEPH TULGAN 

Dept. ofr BIoLocy, 

COLLEGE OF THE City oF NEw York 


AN EXCEPTION TO DOLLO’S LAW OF THE IR- 
REVERSIBILITY OF EVOLUTION 

Ir has been claimed that most cases of ap- 
parent reversion to a primitive type in spe- 
cialized organisms—such as the occurrence of 
three toes in the horse that Cesar rode, or a 
reversion to the primitive number of petals in 
flowers, etc.—are to be explained simply as ad- 
ditions of supernumerary parts, comparable to 
polydactylism, or the addition of supernumer- 
ary digits to those normally present in man, 
cats, etc. Since so many cases of an apparent 
reversing of the evolutionary process appar- 
ently have to do with the number of the va- 
rious structural features present, and are 
therefore open to the objection that we may 
be dealing with merely an addition of super- 
numerary parts to those normally present, it 
may be of some interest to cite a clear case 
of reversion to the primitive condition in 
structures in which there can be no possible 
question of the addition of supernumerary 
parts. 

In the fruit fly Drosophila, as is true of 
practically all Diptera, there has been such a 
marked specialization of the metathoracic re- 
gion that the sclerites of this segment of the 
thorax have been profoundly modified and 
reduced, especially in the tergal region; and 
the metathoracic wings have been reduced to 
mere knobbed threads, the halteres, which 
would not be recognized as the vestiges of 
wings, if we did not know that they are 
modified wings from their mode of develop- 
ment, ete. Dr. Morgan, however, has recorded 
a mutant of Drosophila which he describes as 
having a “double thorax,” apparently not re- 
alizing the true nature of the parts in the 


92 SCIENCE 


mutant in question. The metathorax of this 
mutant has apparently reverted to a condition 
approximating that occurring in the ancestors 
of the Diptera, in having a well-developed 
metanotum and other metathoracic sclerites, 
while the wings of this segment of the thorax, 
instead of being mere knobbed threads as in 
practically all Diptera, have become developed 
as comparatively broad wings, with a well- 
defined venation. I am hoping to be able to 
make a careful anatomical study of the tho- 
racie structures of this mutant in the near 
future, and have offered this brief account 
merely as a preliminary note of an investiga- 
tion which will be given more in detail in a 
later publication. 
G. C. CramMpron 
MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, 
AmuHeERST, Mass. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 
JONSTON’S NATURAL HISTORY OF FISHES 


TurouGH the courtesy of Mr. Carl L. Hubbs 
of the University of Michigan, I have been 
able to examine a very rare book, seldom 
recorded in bibliography, the particular edi- 
tion apparently not at all. 

Its author is John Jonston, or as he writes 
it, Johannes Jonstonus, M.D., and its title 
page reads: 

Johann Jonstoni | Historiae Naturalis | de | 

Piscibus | et Cetis | Libri V | tabulis quad- 

raginta septem | ab illo celeberrimo | 

Mathia Meriano | aeri incisis ornata | 

ex scriptoribus tam antiquis | quam recen- 

tioribus | maxima cura collecti | quos | ob 

taritatum denuo | imprimendos suscepit. 

Franciscus Josephus Eckerbrecht | 

Bibliopola Heilbrunnensis | 

MDCCLXVII. 


Following this and bound with it is another 
volume, with the same title except for the 
words “de Exangibus Aquatilis Libri IV., ta- 
bulis viginti.” This treats of invertebrates. 

As this work bears the nominal date of 1767, 
subsequent to the “Systema Nature,” it 
merits consideration in the interests of stable 
nomenclature. 

I find that it is throughout a compilation 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1387 


from earlier authors, the latest of which is 
Piso’s edition of Marcgrave’s “ Historia 
Naturalis Brasilie,” printed at Leyden in 
1648. The sources of information are care- 
fully and apparently accurately given in side- 
headings. There is some evidence of a system 
of classification. Book first, for example, 
treats of marine fishes. Title of those which 
are pelagic, Heading 1, of scaly pelagic fishes, 
and Article 1, “de Asellis ” of various “ cods.” 
Most of the forms mentioned are indicated 
by Latin nouns, the Greek form often added, 
and occasionally a descriptive adjective gives 
a binomial form. I find, however, no trace of 
a binomial system of naming; the word 
species I have not noticed and the word genus, 
occasionally used, has no technical signif- 
icance, meaning merely “ kind.” 

The names used by Jonston could not enter 
scientific nomenclature even if the date of the 
publication were subsequent to 1758, a matter 
which may be open to doubt. 

In Bosgoed’s “ Bibliotheca Ichthyologia et 
Piscatoria,” 1874, page 9, is recorded a trea- 
tise by J. Jonston, with a similar but more 
extended title, said to be in five parts in two 
divisions (“dln.”) with the dates 1650 to 1653, 
issued at Frankfort on the Main. 

Apparently the volume before me is a re- 
print of the second “ dealing” of this general 
work, as it bears a different date and the name 
of a different publisher. Bosgoed speaks of 
a new edition in Amsterdam in 1718, and an 
edition in Dutch in Amsterdam in 1660, 
translated from the Latin by M. Grausius. 
In advance proof sheets of the second edition 
of Dean’s “Bibliography of Fishes,” refer- 
ences are given to about a dozen editions in 
Latin or Dutch. One of these is dated 1677, 
but none 1767. 

It may be questioned whether the date 
“MDCCLXVII” given on Libri IV. and V. 
alike is not a misprint for MDCLXVII. The 
appearance of the book and the absence of 
reference to any author later than 1648, 
would point in this direction. In any event, 
the names merit no consideration from 
systematists as, if really issued in 1767, it is 
merely an unmodified reprint of a pre-Linnzan, 


Juny 29, 1921] 


non-binomial, unsystematic popular compila- 
tion. 

The volume is effusively dedicated to 
“Wilhelmo VI Hessio Landgravio,” whose 
titles and virtues his “devotus cliens” ex- 
pounds at length. 

Davip Starr JorDAN 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


ON A METHOD OF ESTIMATING THE NUMBER 
OF GENETIC FACTORS CONCERNED IN 
CASES OF BLENDING INHERITANCE 

In the early days of rediscovered Men- 
delism Bateson! suggested the idea that what 
was then known as blending inheritance might 
be a variety of Mendelism in which dominance 
was wanting, but in which several or many 
independent factors were involved. This sug- 
gestion was found to be in good agreement 
with much experimental work on quantitative 
characters subsequently carried on by Nilsson- 
Ehle, Tammes, Emerson and East, and others. 
It is now generally accepted as the most prob- 
ably correct explanation of all varieties of 
intermediate or blending inheritance. Ac- 
cepting this as a working hypothesis, have 
we any means of discovering how many fac- 
tors are involved in cases of blending inheri- 
tance? Surely the number must be very dif- 
ferent in different cases. 

Noteworthy features of blending inheri- 
tance are the following: (1) F, is intermediate 
between the pure parental races, but not more 
variable than the more variable parent. (2) 
F, is likewise intermediate in character but 
is more variable than F, or either parent. (3) 
In F, and subsequent generations the varia- 


SCIENCE 93 


bility decreases from the maximum suddenly 
attained in F,. 

In all varieties of inheritance, whether typi- 
cally Mendelian or blending, the maximum 
variability is to be found in the F, generation. 
In ordinary Mendelian inheritance we are 
able to detect the number of genetic factors 
concerned by the number of phenotypes which 
are distinguishable in F, and by their numeri- 
cal proportions. The F, generation is in 
strong contrast with the F, generation to 
which it gives rise, for F, is of a single type, 
if the parent races were pure. 

In blending inheritance also, it is the F, 
generation which affords a clue to how many 
genetic factors are involved, not by the forma- 
tion of clearly distinguishable types (for there 
is but one), but by the amount of the varia- 
bility of that single type in F', as compared 
with F,. 

To make this clear, let us consider the nu- 
merical series commonly employed, by ex- 
positors of the multiple factor hypothesis, for 
explaining the increased variability of F, in 
blending inheritance. If two pure races differ 
from each other by a single genetic factor 
(which does not show the phenomenon of domi- 
nance), and if these two pure races are 
crossed, F, will be intermediate. F, will also 
be intermediate in part, but the parental 
classes will also reappear, and there will thus 
be three distinguishable classes in F,, which 
correspond with the two parental types and 
the F, type respectively. The classes will be 
numerically as 1: 2:1, as in the familiar 
case of the blue Andalusian fowl. 

Now suppose that the pure parent races dif- 


TABLE I 


F, Distributions in Sige Classes, when Inheritance is Blending and Involves from One to Siz 
Independent and Equivalent Factors 


Class Magnitudes (Top Row) and Frequencies (Below) 
Factors 
Standard 

TR ON BG 7 8 CAPS AOA SN Sipe ANB ES 3 WecsarcsaeNe 
1 1 2 | 1 V18 
2 1 4 6 4 1 V9. 
3 1 6 15 20 15 6 1 V6. 
6 1 12 66 | 220 495 | 792 924 792 495 220 66 12 1 V3 
1 Report I. to the Evolution Committee of the Royal Society, London, 1902, 


94 


fer by two independent but equally powerful 
factors, neither of which shows dominance. 
F, will again be intermediate but of a single 
type and not more variable than either pure 
parent race. But F,, by recombination of 
the two differential factors, will now consist 
of five graded types, two of which correspond 
with the parental types, while the remaining 
three are found in the intervening region at 
equally spaced intervals. If the several 
graded types are readily distinguishable one 
from another, they will be found to occur in 
the proportions 1: 4: 6:4: 1. But if the 
types are so close together in appearance as 
not readily to be distinguishable, the distribu- 
tion will resemble a probability curve. 

Further, if three independent but equivalent 
factors are involved in a cross where domi- 
nance is wanting, the F, classes will number 
seven and their frequencies will be as 
D6 s 158 20% 15) 296): Ae 

Now, suppose that in these several hypothet- 
ical cases, the character under investigation 
is size, and that the amount of difference in 
size between the parents is in every case the 
same; let us say for convenience, 12 units 
(inches, pounds, or whatever the case may be). 
Then the several classes of individuals of 
which F,, is composed will have the class mag- 
nitudes and frequencies shown in Table I. 

For distributions, such as those shown in 
Table I., we can readily calculate standard de- 
viations, which measure the variability of each 
array. See the last column of Table I. It 
will be observed that the standard deviation 
falls off rapidly as the number of factors in- 
volved increases. Inspection of the column 
headed “ standard deviation ” in Table I. will 
allow one to arrive at the law of decrease of 
the standard deviation with corresponding in- 
crease of factors. It is evident that as the 
number of factors is doubled, the standard de- 
viation is halved under the radical sign. In 
other words, to reduce the standard deviation 
by one half, the. number of factors must be 
increased four fold. With this point in mind 
one can extend as far as is desired the col- 
umns in Table I. headed “ factors” and “ stan- 
dard deviation.” 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1387 


In Table I. the difference between the pa- 
rents is assumed to be 12 units and the stan- 
dard deviation is expressed in terms of those 
units. To give the table a general form, we 
might suppose the difference between the pa- 
rents to be one unit. The standard deviation 
would then be only one twelfth as great. It 
is so given in Table II., wherein only the 
columns “ factors” and “standard deviation ” 
are entered from Table I. 


TABLE II 


Standard Deviation of F, Expressed in Per Cent. 
of the Difference between the Parent Races 


| | 

Stand- Stand-) Stand- Stand- 
Fac-| ard | Fac-| ard | Fac-| ard | Fac-| ard 

tors |Devia-| tors |Devia-| tors |Devia-) tors |Devia- 
i tion tion tion tion 
TV eS5.85)|) 139275 44 | 5.82 | 144 | 2.94 
2 | 25.00} 14 | 9.50 48 | 5.10 | 160 | 2.79 
38 | 20.41) 15 | 9.12 52 | 4.87 | 176 | 2.66 
4 | 17.67) 16 | 8.81 56 | 4.75 | 192 | 2.55 
5 | 15.81 | 17 | 8.53 60 | 4.56 | 208 | 2.43 
6 | 14.43 |) 18 8.33 64 | 4.40 | 224 PASH/ 
7 | 13.83 | 20 | 7.90 68 | 4.26 | 240 | 2.28 
8 | 12.50 | 24 7.21 72 | 4.16 | 256 2.20 
9 | 11.78} 28 | 6.66 80 | 3.95 | 272 | 2.13 
10 | 11.18 | 32 | 6.25 90 | 3.60 | 288 | 2.08 
11 | 10.64} 36 | 5.89 | 112 | 3.33 | 320 | 1.97 
12 | 10.20] 40 | 5.59 | 128 | 3.12 | 384 | 1.80 


In the foregoing discussion, it has been as- 
sumed that the parent races were completely 
homozygous and so deviod of genetic varia- 
bility. If this were true of the parents, it 
would also be true of F,. In that case what- 
ever variability was exhibited by the parents 
or F, would be non-genetic. Under like en- 
vironment F, would be expected to show a 
like amount of non-genetic variability. Hence 
in estimating the genetic variability of F, 
one would have to deduct from the total ob- 
served variability of F, an amount equal to 
the observed (non-genetic) variability of F,. 

In practise one would proceed as follows. 
First find the difference between the standard 
deviations of F, and F,. Divide this by the 
difference between the parental means (the 
respective means of the two pure parent races). 
Multiply the quotient by 100. Now look in 
Table II. for the nearest corresponding num- 
ber in the column “ standard deviation.” Op- 


Juty 29, 1921] 


posite this will be found the number of fac- 
tors indicated. 

Let us take a specific example. Emerson 
and Hast? (1918, p. 59) studied (among other 
quantitative characters) the inheritance of 
weight of seed in crosses of two varieties of 
maize. The mean weight of a seed in one 
parent variety was 2.7 grams; in the other 
variety, it was 8.8 grams, a-difference of 5.6 
grams. The seeds of F, plants had a mean 
weight of 4.6 grams and a standard deviation 
in weight of .689 grams. The mean seed 
weight of F, plants was 6.0 grams and the 
standard deviation for F, was 1.17 grams. 
The difference between the standard deviations 
of F, and F, is 117—.639—.531 grams. 
This is to be divided by the difference between 
the parental means, which was 5.6 grams. 
Now .531/5.6 = .0948, which multiplied by 100 
gives 9.48 per cent. Looking in the column 
“standard deviation” in Table II., we find 
the indicated number of factors to be 14. 

Emerson and East made two other crosses 
between these same varieties of maize, but 
used different individuals as the parents in 
‘each cross. 
crosses may be compared with the case just 
discussed to test the reliability of the method. 
In one case, the standard deviation of F, was 
1.089, making the difference between F, and 
F, .45. Now (.45/5.6) & 100 = 8.03 per cent., 
which corresponds with the result expected 
from about 19 factors. In the other case the 
standard deviation of F, was 1.23, making the 
difference between F, and F, .591. But 

2‘¢The inheritance of quantitative characters in 
maize,’’ Res. Bull., 2, Agr. Exp. Station, Nebraska. 


The results for the other two . 


SCIENCE 95 


(.591/5.6) &K 100 = 10.55 per cent., indicating 
11 factors. The three different lots of F, 
individuals thus indicate the factorial differ- 
ences between the parents crossed to have been 
in one case, 11 factors; in a second case, 14 
factors; and in a third case, 19 factors. It 
is rather probable that the parent races were 
not homozygous, maize rarely is. But the 
indicated mean difference between the parent 
races would be about 15 factors. 

It is evident that the method has some seri- 
ous limitations in its applicability. It ap- 
plies perfectly only to cases in which the 
parents are genetically pure, that is, are homo- 
zygous for all factors affecting the character 
under investigation. Such material is rarely 
met with even in self fertilizing plants. If 
either of the parent races is in any degree 
variable genetically (heterozygous), F, will 
be variable in like degree. This will tend to 
decrease the difference in variability between 
F, and F, and so to increase the indicated 
number of factorial differences between the 
parents. This difficulty can be offset in part 
by raising an F,, generation derived from all 
classes of F, in the proportion of their oc- 
eurrence. It is obvious that when a variable 
F, is obtained, various classes of F, indi- 
viduals should be tested as to their genetic 
character, and if they are found to be gen- 
etically diverse, each should have proportion- 
ate representation in the F, population. 

The theory of multiple factors in blending 
inheritance assumes that each factor is equal 
to every other factor in its influence on the 
character affected. It is improbable that this 
is strictly true, but no other assumption will 


TABLE III 


Hstimation of the Number of Genetic Factors Influencing Weight Involved in Crosses of Cer- 
tain Races of Rabbits 


Standard 

Cross Deviation 
F2 
iPolisht<himalavantse wcities a0 
Himalayan X Flemish................ 230 
Rolishipy<qihlemishigpwniscleiciecies cia se 257 


Difference 
Standard Difference between 
Deviation between Means of Factors 
F, F. and F; Parent Indicated 
Races 
212 21 471 56 
162 68 1,725 80 
198 59 2,196 176 


96 SCIENCE 


permit of a general treatment of blending in- 
heritance. If one attempts to apply to each 
case a scheme of specially weighted factors, 
as Punnett has done for size inheritance in 
fowls and rabbits, he proves nothing except the 
fact that a factorial explanation of his results 
is possible, for by properly weighting factors 
and assuming that some inhibit the action 
of others, one can fit to his observations a 
scheme involving either few or many factors. 
Tf one factor really has an influence greatly 
superior to that of other factors in a case of 
blending inheritance, this will be seen in the 
production of asymmetrical or multimodal 
variation polygons in F, and F,. If, when 
adequate numbers are produced, the variation 
eurves of F, and F, are both smooth, it is 
certain that no genetic factor of predominant 
influence is involved in the case, but that 
several or many factors substantially equal 
in influence are concerned. Whether many 
or few. can perhaps be ascertained by the 
method suggested in this paper. 

I have recently applied it in the study of 
weight inheritance in crosses between races 
of rabbits differing in size, with the following 
results, Three races of rabbits were crossed 
in all possible ways. The average size of the 
smallest race, Polish, was 1,404 grams; of 
the second race, Himalayan, it was 1,875 
grams; of the third race, Flemish, it was 3,600 
grams. The number of factors indicated as 
differentiating the races in weight is in the 
order of magnitude of the differences between 
the races. See Table III. But the number 
of factors indicated as differentiating the 
smallest race from the largest (Polish from 
Flemish) is apparently too great, since it ex- 
ceeds the sum of the differences in number of 
factors indicated as existing in the other two 
crosses. It is perhaps not to be expected that. 
results more than approximately correct would 
be given by this method, unless fairly large 
numbers of both F, and F, individuals have 
been studied. In the rabbit crosses, the num- 
bers of F, individuals studied were 16, 25, and 
27, respectively. The F, numbers were 50, 62, 
and 112. The results obtained are sufficient 
to indicate the probability that in the Polish 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1387 


< Himalayan cross, 50 or more factors are 
involved, and that the crosses with the largest 
race, Flemish, involve two or three times as 
many factorial differences. A fuller discus- 
sion of this case will be published later. 
W. E. Castie 
Bussey INSTITUTION, 
May 27, 1921 


THE UTAH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 

THE fourteenth annual convention of the Utah 
Academy of Sciences met in the physics lecture 
room of the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, 
on Friday evening, April 1, 1921, and continued 
for three sessions, closing Saturday afternoon with 
a business session at which the following officers 
were elected for the ensuing year. 


President, Dr, Frank L. West, Utah Agricultural 
College, Logan, Utah. 

First Vice-president, Professor Hyrum Schnei- 
der, University of Utah, Salt Lake City. 

Second Vice-president, Professor Carl F. Eyring, 
Brigham Young University, Provo. 

Secretary, A. O. Garrett, East High School, Salt 
Lake City. 

Corresponding Secretary, C. Arthur Smith, East 
High School, Salt Lake City. 

Councillors, Professor Harold R. Hage, Univer- 
sity of Utah; Dr. M. C. Merrill, Utah Agricul- 
tural College, Logan; R. A. Hart, U. S. Reclama- 


~ tion Service, Salt Lake City. 


Twenty-seven new members were added to the 
academy’s roll of membership, making the largest 
inerease in any one year in the history of the 
academy. 

The academy voted unanimously to support the 
following resolutions: 


WHEREAS: There is a greatly increased appre- 
ciation and use of the recreation and scenic re- 
sources of Utah to which an abundant supply of 
wild life is of great importance in furnishing an 
opportunity for nature study, fishing and hunting; 

WHEREAS: The maintenance of proper forest 
conditions is necessary for the preservation and 
production of fish and game; 

WHEREAS: Proper measures to insure a con- 
tinued supply of fish and game must be based on 
a scientific knowledge of biological factors in- 
volved ; 

Therefore, be it resolved, That the Utah Acad- 
emy of Sciences: 

1. Emphasize the close relationship between our 
forests and fish and game conservation. 

2. Endorse the recognition by the Forest Ser- 
vice that the fish, game and wild life on the 
National Forests are valuable resources to be 
preserved and maintained. 

3. Cooperate with the sportsmen, the State Game 
Department, and Federal departments in order 
that proper measures to perpetuate the fish and 


JuLY 29, 1921] 


game be undertaken and that the general public, 
especially the youths, be informed regarding our 
wild life and the necessity for its protection. 


WHEREAS: The rapid increase in population of 
the United States and Canada with its consequent 
use of agricultural and forest land is threatening 
the extinction of many native species of plants 
and animals, and : 

Wuereas: The preservation of such native 
species is greatly to be desired, be it 

Resolved: That the Utah Academy of Sciences 
endorse the work of the Ecological Society of 
America in the movement for the preservation of 
natural conditions in the United States and 
Canada. 

Resolved: That it is particularly important that 
areas with typical plant and animal communities 
in different states of the union and the provinces 
of Canada be preserved and allowed to go on with 
their natural successional changes for the benefit 
not only of students who are interested in these 
subjects at the present time, but also and more 
particularly for future generations. 

Resolved: That this Academy hereby requests 
the National Research Council to take cognizance 
of this important subject and requests said Na- 
tional Research Council to aid in whatever man- 
ner may be possible the work of the Eeological 
Society of America in securing vegetation and 
animal preserves and sanctuaries for the further- 
ance of scientific study. 

Resolved: That a copy of these resolutions be 
forwarded by the corresponding secretary to Dr. 
C. E. McClung, chairman of the Division of Bi- 
ology and Agriculture of the National Research 
Council, 


WHEREAS: It is recognized that the timber sup- 
ply of the nation is rapidly becoming depleted; 

WHEREAS: The forest resources are of the 
greatest importance in the economic and indus- 
trial development of Utah and of the entire nation; 

WHEREAS: The maintenance of proper forest 
conditions on important watersheds is conducive 
to a regular and continued stream flow and an 
adequate supply of pure water so essential for do- 
mestic, hydro-electric and irrigation use; 

Be it resolved: That the Utah Academy of Sci- 
ences strongly endorses the conservation of for- 
ests to the extent of maintaining all potential 
forest land in a highly productive condition. 
With this purpose in view, we therefore, strongly 
urge the adoption of a national forest policy 
for the entire nation similar to that proposed 
in H, R. 15,327, introduced in the 3d Session 
of the 66th Congress, commonly known as the 
“¢Snell Bill. ?? 

Therefore, be it further resolved: That the 
Corresponding Secretary be instructed to transmit 
copies of this resolution to the members of Con- 
gress from Utah. 


The following papers were read at the three 
sessions of the convention. 


FRIDAY EVENING, APRIL 1 
Symposium of Forests Conservation in Utah 


SCIENCE 97 


Making the forest of Utah a permanent resource, 
C. F, Corstran, U. 8S. Forest Service, Ogden, 
President of the Academy. 

Fungus forest tree diseases of Utah, A. O. Gar- 
RETT, East High School, Salt Lake City. 

Forest and fish and game conservation, S. B. 
Locks, U. S. Forest Service, Ogden. 

Forests in relation to climate and water supply of 
Utah, J. Cech ALTER, U. S. Weather Bureau, 
Salt Lake City. 

SATURDAY A.M. 

Analytical distillation of shale oil, M. J. GAvIN, 
U.S. Bureau of Mines, Salt Lake City. 

The use of the microscope in ore dressing, R. E. 
Heap, U. S. Bureau of Mines. 

Destructive distillation of oil shale, L. C. Kar- 
Rick, U. S. Bureau of Mines. 

Chemistry of the volatilization process, THOMAS 
VaRLEY and C. M. Bouron, U. S. Bureau of 
Mines. 

Metallurgy of the volatilization process, C. C. 
StEevENS, University of Utah. 

Function of steam in retorting otl shales, M. J. 
Gavin, U. S. Bureau of Mines, and J. J. Ja- 
KOWSKy, University of Utah. 


Reduction of copper from chloride fumes, R. H. 
BraprorD, University of Utah. 


SATURDAY P.M. 


Decomposition of green manure at different stages 
of growth, THomas L, Martin, Millard Acad- 
emy. 

The normal temperature as a function of the 
time, elevation above sea level and the latitude, 
FraNK L. West, Utah Agricultural College. 


Vitamines in relation to nutrition, W. E, CARROLL, 
Utah Agricultural College, Logan, 


Relation of precipitation to height growth of 
forest tree saplings, CLARENCE F. KorsTIAN, 
U.S. Forest Service. 


A twelve o’clock luncheon was given to the 
members of the academy and their friends at 
the university dining hall under the efficient direc- 
tion of Miss Lucy Van Cott, dean of women, Uni- 
versity of Utah. Dr. Frank L. Harris, of the 
Agricultural College, spoke at the luncheon on the 
general topic of scientific research, emphasizing 
the importance of stimulating an appreciation of 
its results in the public mind. 

C. ARTHUR SMITH, 
Corresponding Secretary 


98 SCIENCE 


THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR 
THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 


SECTION H—ANTHROPOLOGY 


Av the Chicago meeting of Section H—Anthro- 
pology—the following officers were nominated: 

Vice-president (1921), A. E. Jenks, Minneapolis, 
Minn. 

Secretary (Jan., 1921—Dec., 1924), E. A. Hooton, 
Cambridge, Mass. 


The following members of the Sectional Com- 
mittee were elected: B. Laufer (Jan., 1921—Dec., 
1924), Chicago, Ill.; F.C. Cole (Jan., 1921—Dec., 
1922), Chicago, Ill. 


The Sectional Committee is constituted as follows: 
A. E. Jenks, chairman, Minneapolis, Minn.; E. A. 
Hooton (Jan., 1921—Dec., 1924), Cambridge, 
Mass.; AleS Hrdlicka (Jan., 1920-Dec., 1923), 
Washington, D. C.; Berthold Laufer (Jan., 1921- 
Dee., 1924), Chicago, Ill.; R. J. Terry (Jan., 1920- 
Dec., 1921), St. Louis, Mo.; F. C. Cole (Jan., 
1921—Dec., 1922), Chicago, Ill.; Clark Wissler 
(1921), from the American Anthropological Asso- 
ciation, Washington, D. C.; J. Walter Fewkes 
(1921), from the American Anthropological Asso- 
ciation, Washington, D. C. 
The following papers were read and discussed: 


The practical value of anthropology to our nation: 
A. E. JENKS, University of Minnesota. 

The grouping of Piman languages upon a phonetic 
basis: J, A. Mason, Field Museum of Natural 
History. 

A project for the study of race mixture in the 
United States: E, A. Hooron, Harvard Uni- 
versity. 

The peopling of Asia: A, HrpuicKa, U. §. Na- 
tional Museum, 

The influence of sex and stock upon the pubic 
bones: T, WINGATE Topp, Western Reserve Uni- 
versity. 

Variations in the weight of new-born children with 
particular reference to racial differences; com- 
parative growth of premature and normal chil- 
dren: E, E. Scammon, University of Minne- 
sota. 


A bird’s-eye view of American languages north of 
Mesxico: E. Sapir, Geological Survey, Canada. 

The scaphoid type of scapula: W. W. GRAVES, 
St. Louis, Mo. 

The native culture of the Czecho-Slovak people and 
its relation to other European cultures: K. 
CHOTEK, Ethnographical Museum, Prague. 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1387 


The present state of anthropological research in the 
Philippines: F.C, Coun, Field Museum of Nat- 
ural History. 

The relative dating of Aztec and Pueblo Bonito 
ruins, by growth rings on the timbers: A. EH. 
Doveuass, University of Arizona. 

Aztalan: §S. A. Barrett, Milwaukee Public Mu- 
seum. 

Anthropology at the Pan-Pacific Congress: CLARK 
WISSLER, National Research Council. 

The American plant migration: BERTHOLD LaAv- 
FER, Field Museum of Natural History. 

The criteria for a general, ancient Algonkin cul- 
ture: ALANSON SKINNER, Milwaukee Public 
Museum. i 

The Ridatsa Indian: Care and training of the 
dog and horse: GILBERT L. WILSON, Macalester 
College. 

The preservation of Indian remains in Wisconsin: 
Cuas. E, Brown, See., Wisconsin Archeological 
Society. 


The following papers were read by title: 


Geographical influences upon human culture with 
“special reference to the Great Plains: MELVIN 
R. Ginmorz, State Historical Society of North 
Dakota. 

The technique of paleopathology as applied to hu-° 
man remains: Roy L. Moopir, University of 
Illinois, College of Medicine, 

Aboriginal population in California: A. L. KRoE- 
BER, University of California. 

Some vital aspects of the American Indian: FRED- 
ERICK L. HorrmMaNn, Prudential Life Insurance 
Company. 

Waning stone age industries among the Wisconsin 
Indians: ALANSON SKINNER, Milwaukee Public 
Museum. 

Current illogical extravagant estimates concerning 
the antiquity of man: G. FREDERIC WRIGHT, 
Oberlin College. 


The afternoon session of December 29 was de- 
voted to a conference on State Archeological Sur- 
veys. 

On the afternoon of December 30, the section 
visited the Field Museum of Natural History to 
inspect the anthropological exhibits and after- 
wards visited the Newberry Library for an ex- 
amination of the Ayer collection of Americana. 

EH. A. Hooton, 


Secretary, Section H 


NeEw SERIES 
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SCIENCE 


Frmway, Aucust 5, 1921 


CONTENTS 


Parasitism as a Factor in Disease: Dr. THEO- 


BALDY OMIT peleisvseiaicisleveceve cnsieisielaisieieis evel als 99 


The First Appearance of the True Mastodon 


in America: Dr. HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN. 108 


Scientific Events: 
The Science Club of: the University of Mis- 
sissippi; The Work of the Rockefeller Foun- 
dation; The Exposition of Chemical Indus- 


tries ; The Chemical Meeting in New York 


(OO Abe aOR cua ne ee dod cra eaten oOo Cnn 108 
Scientific’ Notes and News. ..2.:-....-..---- 111 
University and Educational News......... 113 


Discussion and Correspondence: 
A Defense of Professor Newcomb’s Logic: 
Dr. W. W. CAMPBELL. Biological Control of 
Destructive Insects: Dr, PAuL PorENnor. 


A Longlived Woodborer: H. E. Jaquss. 113 


Quotations: 
The Cost of Printing Scientific Works in 
SHOPS GooGans SaadooooodHouAoUaeyn Gano’ 114 


Special Articles : 


A Bacterial Disease of Gladiolus: Lucta 


MCCULLOCH TS tri iant eelhet aN es 8 115 
The American Chemical Society: Dr. CHARLES 
Was TARSONS 3 ees crnctstoretel oe neler ve aie, ccare 116 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc.,intended for 
review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. 


——— 
PARASITISM AS A FACTOR IN 
DISEASE 1 


Tue study of etiology or causation is a 
study of the entire field of medicine from a 
certain point of view. Every phenomenon as- 
sumes an etiological aspect whenever we study 
it not as an effect to be simply contemplated 
and described, but as a cause or necessary con- 
dition of something that is going to happen. 
Provided with the informatien that for cer- 
tain events to take place certain necessary con- 
ditions must precede, we can take steps by con- 
trolling the necessary conditions to allow the 
event to occur or not. Modern medicine has 
made the concept of causation its own. On it 
is founded all rational progress in prophylaxis 
and therapy. First to comprehend the cause, 
then to intercept and suppress it and thereby 
to prevent the next step is the kernel of med- 
ical science and practise. We project our- 
selves into the immediate future. The present 
is only the boundary between what has oc- 
curred and what is to happen. To control 
events we must know how to distinguish those 
conditions which are necessary from those 
which are merely associated and coincident. 

The history of medical science, notably dur- 
ing the past half century, has clearly shown 
that observation, of disease as it occurs in 
everyday life must be associated with the ex- 
periment. By observation J mean a survey or 
study of the phenomenon as a whole; by ex- 
periment, the observation of isolated parts of 
the entire phenomenon, the other parts being 
meanwhile eliminated or controlled by special 
devices. Observation and experiment, alter- 
nating, cooperating, and reacting on each 
other, are the only sure guides to a rational 
interpretation of disease. Nature is continu- 

1Paper read at the annual meeting of the 
Association of American Physicians, May 10, 1921, 
as part of a symposium on etiology or causation 
of infectious diseases, 


100 


ally experimenting and observation is simply 
taking notes in this great life experiment. 
Without it the laboratory experiment would 
lack reality, for it is simply a page torn out 
of the book of nature with the unknown fac- 
tors controlled or eliminated. To get at the 
facts of disease it has been found necessary 
to bring experiments as close as possible to 
the natural phenomena without losing control 
of the details. 

The necessary association of observation and 
experiment in interpreting the conditions de- 
termining disease may be illustrated by the 
familiar one of the noise and the flash of gun- 
fire. At a distance we see the flash and then 
hear the explosion. We might infer that the 
flash was a cause of the explosion, since it 
always precedes it. As we approach the scene 
of operations the noise follows the flash more 
and more quickly and close by the two reach 
our senses almost simultaneously. We then 
are in doubt whether the flash is a cause or 
merely an accompanying phenomenon. Our 
static observation at a distance fails to inform 
us correctly. The experiment of approaching 
the firing compels us to revise our original no- 
tion of causation and to make a further study 
of the entire phenomenon. The gist of the 
etiological problem is thus to determine what 
are necessary conditions and what merely sec- 
ondary phenomena. The experimental method 
has been of immense service in laying bare 
the dynamic or causal relation, in other words, 
the true sequence of events. On the other 
hand, experiment too far removed from the 
actualities has frequently led astray when its 
results were too literally accepted and not con- 
trolled by observation of the entire phenom- 
enon. 

In the environment of man and within the 
human mechanism itself there are many con- 
ditions operative towards disease. This entire 
group or sequence of conditions, rather than 
any single factor in the group or sequence, 
may be regarded as the cause. If any one of 
these conditions is neutralized or controlled, 
the disease may not occur or if in progress 
it may take another course. Naturally these 
conditions have different values. They may 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. LIV. No. 1388 


be judged from their accessibility to control, 
i.e., from a practical standpoint, or from the — 
point of view of the physicist weighing them 
according to their energy values. We have 
hardly reached the stage, however, when the 
conditions favoring disease can be accurately 
measured. We must still deal with them as 
entities. Their qualities must engross our at- 
tention and their quantitative relations remain 
for a future, more exact medical science to 
weigh and measure. 

The forces and conditions controlling disease 
are a mixture of heredity, environment, and 
parasitism. How can these factors be taken 
from their natural relations and studied indi- 
vidually without upsetting the delicate bal- 
ances of causation? Where can we begin to 
test experimentally the observations we make 
about natural occurrences? Obviously some 
very careful surgical operation is necessary in 
carving out our field of work. In so doing we 
must realize that we become piece workers 
tinkering with only a part of nature’s mech- 
anism. Our finished product must be skillfully 
fitted into the larger mechanism. In attempt- 
ing to limit our discussion to parasitism as an 
etiological factor in disease, I realize the diffi- 
culties mentioned. We have not only the dif- 
ferent categories of environment, heredity 
and parasitism acting on one another, but 
within each category we have the animal body 
reacting with the factors like a chemical proc- 
ess swinging back and forth towards a state 
of equilibrium. Finally, we have in parasitism 
two living variable organisms capable of ad- 
justing themselves towards each other in a 
remarkable degree. 

When, about forty years ago, methods were 
devised by Robert Koch to make a beginning 
in the accurate study of bacteria as living 
agents of disease the contemporary scientific 
world realized that here were, to all appear- 
ances, agencies that could be separated from 
their environment, their life history and ac- 
tivities subjected to rigid investigation, and 
their relation to disease opened to demonstra- 
tion. It is not surprising, therefore, that the 
bacteriologists of somewhat more than a gen- 
eration ago, started on their way by these 


Aueust 5, 1921] 


methods, were inclined to regard the discovery 
of the pathogenic agent of some well-known 
disease as the beginning of the end of its 
prevalence. To have isolated, recognized, and 
cultivated a bacterium and produced some sort 
of pathological changes in an inoculated ani- 
mal was considered equivalent to half or more 
of the battle won over the depredations of such 
organism. For many years these living 
agents, but more particularly the unicellular 
organisms among them, overshadowed all else 
and they became synonymous with the causes 
of disease. To-day we know that to have iden- 
tified the microbic agent of any pathological 
process is but the beginning of the solution of 
the immediate problem and that it answers but 
one of a long series of questions. In spite 
of this somewhat discouraging fact, a very re- 
markable series of discoveries in the biology 
of disease have originated in this study of 
microorganisms. I need mention only the 
bringing to light of bacterial toxins, the dis- 
covery of their anti-toxins, hypersensitiveness 
or anaphylaxis, the phenomenon of acquired 
immunity and the collateral phenomena asso- 
ciated with it, such as the production of ag- 
glutinins, precipitins, complement-fixing bod- 
ies, and above all the specificity associated with 
the action of disease agents and the reaction 
of the host. Every one of these fundamental 
discoveries has had a far-reaching influence 
on the immediate development of the medical 
sciences. Every one in its way has dominated 
the thoughts and activities of large groups of 
investigators and there has resulted a very 
unequal, even chaotic, development of our 
knowledge of the conditions governing dis- 
ease processes. Throughout this period domi- 
nated in turn by disinfectants, toxins, anti- 
toxins, agglutinins, opsonins, complement fix- 
ation, and hypersensitiveness, there is evident 
some system, some purpose, and that is to 
find the exact place of living agents in the 
phenomenon of disease. From the more or 
less exaggerated point of view held at the 
start of their dynamic energy in the process 
there has been a more accurate, more scientific 
conception of their place as necessary condi- 
tions of disease making headway. 


SCIENCE 


101 


It is now evident that the relation of living 
agents, from the ultramicroscopic forms up 
to the higher parasites, is different for every 
agent or at least for every group of biologi- 
eally related agents. We know now that the 
depth and extent of their etiological signifi- 
cance varies from an almost exclusive causa- 
tion to one of relatively insignificant propor- 
tions. For the latter group the environmental 
and hereditary conditions completely dominate 
the situation and the particular germ found 
in one place may be replaced by others in an- 
other place. In most disease processes, there- 
fore, the living agents are more or less goy- 
erned by other factors. This is indicated by 
the great variation in the intensity of specific 
infectious diseases, by their seasonal appear- 
ance, by the sudden appearance and disap- 
pearance of outbreaks, and the difficulty of 
maintaining an epizootic among animals ex- 
perimentally. Again, it is indicated by the 
difficulty of inducing disease with pure cul- 
tures in species of animals in which the dis- 
ease occurs spontaneously and in the decline 
of virulence in artificial cultures. 

Now it may be answered that when we fail 
to induce disease we do not know how to in- 
troduce the agent and where to deposit it. But 
the how and where are in themselves limita- 
tions of the activities of the specific agent. It 
may also be answered that the microbe with 
which we try to induce the disease has been 
attenuated by culture. True, the microbe 
needs the host to maintain its virulence. This 
is a significant limitation. Any one who has 
been confronted with a disease of unknown 
etiology and has in due time found the living 
agent knows how little or how much this means 
when he tries to construct the mechanism of 
the disease with its aid. In many cases the 
mystery remains as deep as ever until other 
necessary conditions have been isolated from 
the complex of causation. 

Perhaps one of the most promising move- 
ments to bring into correlation with parasitism 
the other necessary conditions of disease is 
the study of epidemiology not from a sta- 
tistical but from a biological viewpoint. To 
observe that of a given number of exposed 


102 


animals only a certain per cent. contract the 
disease and only under certain conditions in- 
evitably leads to an inquiry into the causes 
other than the mere presence of infectious 
agents. 

At this point it might be well to call atten- 
tion to the necessity for including all invasive 
living agents however diverse in a study of the 
factors leading to disease and recovery. In 
pathology it has been customary to distinguish 
between parasitic invasion and bacterial infec- 
tion, the former producing relatively slight 
disturbances in the host, the latter the acute, 
often highly fatal epidemic and epizootic dis- 
eases. The distinction is useful but it can 
be made to apply only to extremes.. Grada- 
tions of all shades occur. For the sake of a 
more exact terminology, the distinction be- 
tween invasion and infection might be made to 
hinge upon the capacity of parasites to mul- 
tiply in the host. Thus the number of nema- 
todes and related worms in the host is not 
larger then the number of fertile eggs intro- 
duced or cf those individuals which actively 
penetrate as larve.2 The formidable power of 
the infectious agents is due to their capacity 
for indefinite multiplication in the host. Sex- 
ual reproductive stages are not known. Cer- 
tain protozoa such as sporozoa not only pass 
through sexual stages, but they may also mul- 
tiply asexually and more or less indefinitely 
in the host tissues. They may be considered 
both invasive and infective. It is thus best 
to class all living invasive organisms as para- 
sites, subject more or less to the same host 
mechanisms of repression and destruction. At 
one end of the scale are the highly specialized 
forms, adapted to one host species or even 
one race. At the other end are types emerg- 
ing from the predatory or saprophytic stage 
and acguiring parasitic habits. 

Another concept which we as medical men 
should have clearly before us is that the phe- 
nomena which medical science is chiefly in- 
terested in, namely, those of disease, are merely 


2 We must except from this broad statement the 
nematodes of the genera filaria and trichinella 
since their progeny develops within the same host 
to the larval stage and stops there. 


SCIENCE 


[N..S. Vou. LIV. No. 1388 


epiphenomena in an evolving parasitism, by- 
products which tend to lessen and disappear 
as the parasitism approaches a biological bal- 
ance or equilibrium. How rapidly this evo- 
lution may progress we have no means of 
knowing. We do know that among animals 
epizootics tend towards a lower level of morx- 
tality and morbidity. If we are actually 
studying by-products, it is obvious that to 
understand them we must first understand 
the main processes that give rise to the by- 
products and that disease is studied most 
successfully by studying the necessary con- 
ditions that give rise to it. If the by-products 
are in themselves necessary antecedents of 
other pathological conditions, they would of 
necessity be included in any study of causa- 
tion. 

A sufficient number of living agents of dis- 
ease and of parasites has now been studied to 
permit a tentative classification into highly 
specialized parasites adapted to and dependent 
on a given host and those that are more or less 
predatory, awaiting adaptation provided their 
organization should permit it. The highly 
adapted microorganism which depends upon 
one host for its existence, as, for example, 
the still unknown smallpox organism, has 
through natural selection established between 
itself and its host a certain balance or equi- 
librium. This can be defined as a condition 
of both host and parasite which permits the 
latter to enter the body, multiply enough and 
escape so that the arrival of its progeny in 
another host is assured. On the basis of this 
relationship we may define four critical phases 
in the life cycle of the microbe: first, its 
entry into the body and through protecting 
tissues; second, its transportation to and mul- 
tiplication in certain tissues; third, its escape 
from those tissues and from the host as a 
whole; and fourth, its transfer to another host. 
Each one of these phases is capable of sub- 
division into a larger or smaller number of 
sequences according to the special living agent 
involved. In the insect-borne diseases the 
insect acts as transfer agent and as introducer 
into the blood. The fourth and the first stage 
merge. In general the fourth stage, or stage 


Avueust 5, 1921] 


of transfer from one host to another, has been 
greatly modified by civilization. It is there- 
fore necessary in any attempt to formulate the 
problems of etiology to take into consideration 
the primitive conditions under which the in- 
fectious diseases originally flourished and from 
which they have come down to us. We do 
not know whether they originated with man or 
earlier among his progenitors. But it is safe 
to take the ground that infectious diseases 
flourished among the earliest races and that 
they flourish to-day among savage and semi- 
civilized peoples as they do among domesti- 
cated animals in our midst. That is to say 
the infectious agents developed in an environ- 
ment in which transfer from host was direct, 
immediate, and easily brought about. Fur- 
thermore, the infusion of susceptible subjects, 
except during wars and migrations, was slight. 
These two conditions tended to counteract 
one another and to bring to an approximate 
perfection the parasitic habit of the invading 
organism. 4 

It is this fourth stage of transfer that en- 
gaged the entire attention of the early bac- 
teriologists. They created the era of isolation 
and disinfection by improving diagnostic meth- 
ods and studying the modes of exit of infec- 
tious agents and their resistance in transit. 
It was tacitly hoped and expected in this 
great work that infectious diseases could be 
easily controlled and suppressed by destroy- 
ing the agents in the environment of the sick. 
The science of one generation becomes the 
practise of the next. Disinfection, isolation 
and the widening of the danger space between 
the sick or infected and the well is the chief 
occupation of modern sanitation. The actual 
significance of this practise needs to be evalu- 
ated from time to time if only in the interests 
of economy of effort. While it is generally 
conceded that the movement of the agents of 
disease should be restrained as much as pos- 
sible and while heroie efforts are being made 
to this effect by health officials, economic forces 
are driving people together and condensing 
populations and thereby largely neutralizing 
the efforts of sanitarians. If any value can be 
put on this work at present, it might be to the 


SCIENCE 


103 


effect that it tends to keep individuals from 
getting an overdose of infection. 

When we come to the first phase in the 
cycle, the entrance of the virus into the body 
and its penetration through the skin and mu- 
cous membranes, our knowledge is on the 
whole neither accurate nor abundant. While 
the fourth stage has been pretty thoroughly ex- 
ploited, the first is hardly at all known in its 
details. Each well established infectious agent 
will have its own story to tell of this phase. 
In extenuation of the deficiencies of our exact 
knowledge it should be stated that the problem 
is a very difficult one. Microorganisms leave 
the body in armies, having multiplied to sup- 
ply a progeny ample to cover losses in transit. 
On entering only single individuals or small 
groups are involved and unless their mor- 
phology is characteristic, like that of the 
sporozoa and the metazoan parasites, the entry 
is well beyond the ken of the observer. It can 
only be got at indirectly. The difficulties of 
this stage are well illustrated by the prolonged 
discussions concerning the entry of tubercle 
bacilli. Much has been done and written in 
the attempt to clarify this problem. The doc- 
trine of the inhalation of dried bacilli in 
dust, the droplet infection of fresh sputum, 
and the theory of the alimentary origin of in- 
fection have had their day in court. Simi- 
larly the portal of entry of the virus of the 
eruptive diseases has been the subject of much 
study and discussion. 

The penetration of living agents through 
the skin and mucous membranes is full of un- 
answered questions. The resistance of the 
normal mucous coverings has probably been 
greatly underestimated. The effect of injuries 
in removing this barrier has been similarly 
underestimated. From a practical standpoint 
this problem may seem academic since the mu- 
cous coverings for example may rarely be 
free from minor lesions and such lesions may 
remain, at best, undetected. But the object 
of genuine medical science is to get away from 
the benumbing influence of such considera- 
tion. Do typhoid bacilli, for instance, pene- 
trate the normal mucosa, or are they dependent 
on slight lesions? Do protozoa assist them 


104 


at certain seasons? Do phagocytes ever mi- 
grate out under normal conditions and carry 
bacilli back into the tissues? Might this take 
place when inflammatory processes are active? 
Is the entry of certain viruses prepared by 
other viruses acting only on the epithelium 
and destroying it or in some other way making 
the tissues involved more vulnerable? Epi- 
thelium-destroying parasites are well known 
among the sporozoa. It is not improbable that 
other types of microorganisms, especially 
those not within the range of the microscope, 
are specifically adapted as genuine parasites 
to invade these cells and so prepare the way 
for the saprophytic, predatory types which 
are readily recognized because easily cultured 
and therefore regarded as summing up the 
entire etiology. 

After the living agencies have entered the 
tissues they must run the gauntlet of the 
blood, lymph, and the phagocytic cellular ele- 
ments to reach those tissues where they mul- 
tiply. Multiplication is essential, for a large 
progeny is necessary to cover the losses in 
transit. This stage of multiplication involves 
the problem of specific resistance or immunity 
and susceptibility, and also the practical prob- 
lem of treatment by therapeutic agents, ser- 
ums, vaccines, and the like. The biological 
requisite to be fulfilled by the parasite in this 
second stage, or stage of multiplication and 
sexual development within the host, if such a 
stage exists, is that multiplication must take 
place in such a way that escape in large num- 
bers from the host after the parasites have as- 
sumed a more or less resistant form becomes 
possible. This is best accomplished when they 
settle down and multiply near some portal of 
exit, first the skin or subcutis, second the respi- 
ratory tract, third the digestive, and fourth 
the genital tract. A brief consideration of 
the localization of the different groups of 
parasitic agents will show that these various 
superficially located tissues are the chief seats 
of multiplication. Localization in other tissues 
or organs is rare and so far as the parasite is 
concerned abnormal. If it should happen that 
a race of Treponema pallidum arose which 
promptly and exclusively localized in the cen- 


‘SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1388 


tral nervous system, it would die out for want 
of an exit to another host. The tendency to 
locate and multiply in tissues of lower vital 
dignity, z.e., near the surface of the body or the 
mucous membranes, safeguards the host as 
well as the parasite. 

Among the parasitic invaders of man and 
the higher animals the metazoan and protozoan 
parasites have developed relatively perfect, in 
some cases complicated cycles. The same is 
probably true of those highly specialized micro- 
organisms which produce the eruptive diseases 
and of some of the so-called filterable viruses. 
In fact, all diseases or parasitic states which 
maintain themselves indefinitely in a host spe- 
cies and are manifestly transmitted from case 
to case have complete, even though not neces- 
sarily elaborate cycles. 

The tubercle bacillus is frequently referred 
to as a highly adapted parasite, but its para- 
sitism is crude compared with that of the 
smallpox organism.’ It has no well-defined 
eycle except in phthisis, in which it is inhala- 
tion and expectoration. If for the sake of 
illustration we conceive the primary lesion as 
leading in every case to a secondary miliary 
tuberculosis in which there is extensive in- 
vasion of the skin with subsequent ulceration, 
the tubercle bacillus would then be inhaled 
and after multiplication shed from the skin, 
in so far approaching the smallpox organism 
in its cycle. But there is no indication that 
such a complete cycle ever will be established. 
On the other hand, the leprosy bacillus ap- 
pears to have in a bungling way reached this 
stage, for the shedding of leprosy bacilli takes 
place from skin and mucous membranes, no- 
tably, of the nasal passages. 

In certain cases the cycle is limited to a 
mucous membrane parasitism and the disease 
is the result of a diversion of the organism 
into the tissues of the body. The cycle of the 
typhoid bacillus may be some locus of the 
digestive tract with incursions into the blood. 
Whether the invaders perpetuate themsélves, 
4.e., escape again, depends upon ulceration of 
the lymphoid tissue of the intestines. The 
meningococcus resides in the upper respira- 
tory tract. We do not know whether the cocci 


Aveust 5, 1921] 


which enter the central nervous system escape 
or not. This is an important question for it 
is probable that the degree of virulence of the 
microbe depends upon some contact with the 
host tissues more intimate than that of a mere 
saprophytie existence in recesses of the mu- 
cous membranes. If such an organism could 
associate itself with some living or dead fac- 
tor which assisted its entrance and exit, a 
definite disease might thereby become estab- 
lished, and we might expect the disease to rise 
and fall in epidemic style according as the 
helping factor is active or not. Contact with 
and multiplication in living tissues, either 
cellular or humoral, appears furthermore to 
stabilize the microorganism. If we look over 
the immunological and serological data which 
have accumulated about the various groups 
of parasitic agents we find the relationships 
established by these reactions much more uni- 
form among strictly invasive than among the 
secondary organisms which depend upon for- 
midable factors to open the way into the sys- 
tem for them. Or to put it another way, 
there is a much larger number of serological 
types among the hangers-on than among those 
capable of direct invasion. 

If the picture I have drawn of the para- 
sitic cycle is fairly accurate, it follows that 
the localization of disease agents or parasites 
in all tissues and organs except those from 
which ready escape to the exterior is pos- 
sible is abnormal and unnecessary for the con- 
tinued existence of the parasite. Hence, typi- 
eal, characteristic, recurring infectious or 
parasitic diseases affecting the central nervous 
system, the ductless glands, the liver and kid- 
neys, the muscular system and the joints do 
not occur excepting as secondary localizations 
of diseases involving the more external tissues. 
If such localization should occur regularly 
without some superficial localization as well, 
we must look for some source of infection be- 
longing to another species in which the cycle 
is normal and from which a constant supply 
of parasites is available even though they fail 
to escape from the new host. The invasion 
of the human body by the bovine tubercle ba- 
cillus is a familiar case in point. In some 


SCIENCE 


105 


infectious diseases several invasions of the 
same host may be necessary to bring the para- 
sitie cycle to completion or, viewed from @ 
medical standpoint, to bring the disease to the 
clinical level. In bovine tuberculosis, which 
ean be studied anatomically and topograph- 
ically by killing animals in early stages, the 
first tubercle bacilli to enter the system usu- 
ally land directly in regional lymph ‘nodes. 
To complete the cycle the virus must enter 
the blood and establish secondary foci in lungs: 
or other tissues from which the bacilli may es- 
cape to another host. The cycle is, however, 
more easily explained by reinfection. The in- 
haled bacilli lodge now in the lung tissue due 
to a changed reaction of the host tissues at 
the point of entry and the cycle—inhalation 
and expectoration, assisted by discharge in the 
feees through swallowing the sputum—is es- 
tablished. 

There are two factors that may modify the 
normal cycles more or less. One is a relative 
immunity, which may be either natural or ac- 
quired. Through immunity cycles may be 
cut short chiefly in the stage of multiplication 
and the parasite fail to escape at all or in 
sufficient numbers to maintain further exis- 
tence. If for any reason the normal resistance 
of the host is reduced, the parasite may multi- 
ply unduly or invade more territory and cause 
death of the host before the cycle is com- 
pleted. This condition may be explained by 
regarding parasitism not as a condition of 
peace but of armed truce. As soon as one 
of the two organisms falls below a certain 
level, the other takes the advantage. In case 
the microorganism gets the advantage, it may 
be fatal for both host and parasite. This 
latter condition of reduced natural resistance 
is supplied by civilization either by bringing 
into the original disease other parasites and 
greatly complicating what might have been a 
simple situation, or else by conditions arising 
from inherited defects, over-exertion, abnormal 
diet, exposures to heat, cold, which are sup- 
posed to favor the parasite in its entry and 
multiplication. These conditions furnish the 
many modifications of disease types which may 
be as varied as the number of individuals at- 


106 


tacked. It is this increasing complexity of 
affairs which supports from the scientific side 
the dictum that the physician is to treat the 
patient rather than the disease for there is no 


longer a type disease to be recognized regu- 


larly. 

This brings us back to the original subject 
of etiology. A careful biological study of 
the many parasitisms of man and the higher 
animals brings out the fact that the highly 
specialized parasites have no obstacles to their 
activity, except one and that is immunity, 
either acquired or natural. As a result all 
host individuals pass through the disease early 
jn life provided opportunity for invasion is 
given. The highly specialized diseases tend to 
become, in endemic localities, children’s dis- 
eases. 

In the case of many other diseases certain 
non-parasitic factors are necessary to start the 
disease or to check it, as the case may be. 
They are part of the mechanism of causation 
and represent necessary conditions. These 
necessary conditions may far outweigh the 
living agents in etiological significance. The 
relative importance of the living factors may 
be so low that their place may be taken by 
other living agents or even non-parasitic fac- 
tors in the sequence leading to or continuing 
existing disease processes. This is probably 
true of certain diseases of intestinal origin. 
Such diseases are frequently described as due 
to different microbie agents in different locali- 
ties because the endemic flora happens to be 
different. 

The relation between the factors of para- 
sitism on the one hand and those of heredity, 
environment and the like on the other may be 
briefly summarized as follows: 

In the saprophytic or predatory type repre- 
senting the so-called septic infections the other 
parasitic and non-parasitiec factors are of 
great, even predominating importance in the 
production of disease. 

In the highly parasitic type they are of 
little, if amy, importance unless it be heredi- 
tary characters brought out by the selective 
action of the parasites themselves upon the 
host species through many generations. Many 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1388 


gradations exist between these extremes and 
the relation of parasitic to extra-parasitic fac- 
tors is different for the different grades. 

Moving parallel with the degree of adapta- 
tion and specialization and the development 
of more nearly perfect cycles by the parasites 
the mortality drops and the morbidity at first 
spreads and finally tends to decline in certain 
types of parasitism, provided always that other 
types of parasitism do not accidentally enter 
to modify and complicate the normal course. 

In tracing the various living agents through 
the body of the host we find that we do not 
mow the details of any parasitism to our 
satisfaction. These details, of course, include 
also the non-parasitic factors or conditions es- 
sentially favoring or hindering the parasite 
in its sojourn in and its journey through the 
host tissues. It is perhaps needless to refer 
at length to the conditions which control the 
acquisition of such knowledge. The hope of 
finding some preventive or cure dictates the 
course of many workers. When’something ap- 
proaching this has been found the etiological 
significance of all the other factors bearing 
on the disease falls below the horizon for the 
time being. The importance of continuing the 
study of the disease persists however even for 
practical reasons, for the remedy or pre- 
ventive may not prove to have the success an- 
ticipated. To induce men to fill the gaps of 
our knowledge seems quite as important as the 
pioneering for entirely new vistas or outlooks. 
Great discoveries are, as a rule, half-truths 
that must be brought into line by patient after- 
research. The filling of gaps may be neces- 
sary to stage the next great discovery. 

There is beyond the mere knowledge that 
gaps exist the difficulties of the problems in- 
volved to be considered. Are we prepared to 
solve them directly or must we rely on indirect 
approaches and on the solution of analogous 
problems to satisfy our etiological sense? 
Added to these difficulties inherent in some 
phases of the parasitic cycle, notably that 
phase which takes place within the host, is 
the fact that the various disease agents attack- 
ing the same species, man for instance, are so 
different from one another that we may safely 


Avueust 5, 1921] 


consider them surviving types. It would seem 
that where two or more parasites follow the 
same route and multiply in the same tissues a 
certain competition tends to eliminate one or 
the other. If two closely related types exist 
they rarely multiply in the same host at the 
same time. Such competitive elimination 
would leave a divergent assortment of para- 
sitic organisms and resulting diseases, none 
of which would be an exact copy of the other. 
In this case the working out of one cycle does 
not necessarily enable us to predict what an- 
other would be. They must each and all be 
studied individually. 

In this dilemma we may gain assistance 
from a study of parasitisms in those remote 
and isolated regions which have not yet been 
seeded by the white man’s diseases, where the 
prevailing maladies may still be “ pure lines,” 
rather than mixtures and combinations. An- 
other source of material are the many charac- 
teristic parasitisms of animal life, notably 
of the mammals and birds. Comparative pa- 
thology may furnish us with that information 
which experimental pathology finds it impos- 
sible to produce. Taking all the diseased and 
abnormal states due to living agents in man 
and the higher animals together, a series may 
be established which fills in many gaps and 
which may furnish the suggestions and clues 
needed to bring about a better insight into the 
dynamic relations between host and parasite. 
Only through the cooperation of comparative 
and experimental methods may we hope to 
gain enough general underlying concepts to 
explore with some show of rationality new dis- 
eases successfully. Since science is valued 
in proportion to its capacity to predict suc- 
cessfully certain events, medical science will 
be judged by the way it takes hold of a new 
phenomenon to determine its etiological ante- 
cedence. If, in the course of its development, 
it has failed to take cognizance of factors 
necessary to build the science into a consistent 
whole, it should retrace its steps and make up 
the deficiency. 

Parallel with the continued analysis of phe- 
nomena there should be another process go- 
ing on to simplfy the complexity resulting 


SCIENCE 


107 


from the former and to bring the results of 
scientific inquiry more or less within the 
reach of everyday life. What is needed is a 
synthesis of the many data resulting from 
analytic study of phenomena. Perhaps I can 
make myself clearer by using as an illustra- 
tion some recent investigations. If we ex- 
amine the various diseases in which the virus 
is conveyed by insects and arachnids, we shall 
find that many of the data pertaining to the 
dissemination of the virus had been accurately 
worked out before the mode of transmission 
was discovered. There was lacking, however, 
a something to harmonize and coordinate 
them. When the insect carrier was defined 
these various discrete, apparently unrelated 
data fell into line. Here was a synthesis 
which not only substantiated older observa- 
tions but it enabled the scientist to use the 
deductive method to develop new inquiries and 
thereby lift the subject up to a higher level 
for further analysis. For some years we had 
known that a certain disease of young turkeys, 
due to the invasion of the tissues through the 
intestinal tract by a protozoan parasite, could 
be prevented by raising these birds away from 
older turkeys and common poultry and on soil 
uncontaminated by them. The explanation 
came through the discovery that a common 
worm of these species was needed to injure 
the mucous membrane and thereby open the 
way for the protozoan parasite. The nematode 
also accounted for certain disturbances in the 
application of the above rules in the rearing 
of these birds. It synthesized, in other 
words, the accumulated data. 

With the aid of these illustrations it is pos- 
sible to understand, at least in part, what must 
have been the effect of the rapid discovery of 
various living agents in the eighties of the 
last century on the medical mind of the 
period. Many apparently unrelated data sud- 
denly moved into line and assumed definite 
relations to one another. The discoveries per- 
taining to acquired resistance to disease in- 
volving the action of antitoxins, agglutinins, 
precipitins and the like have not had as yet 
the desired effect of synthesizing the concep- 
tion of immunity, because they may be ac- 


108 


cessories rather than essential factors, all 
grouped around some more fundamental, uni- 
fying, still undefined phenomenon. 


THEOBALD SMITH 
DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL PATHOLOGY 
OF THE ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE 
FoR MEDICAL RESEARCH, 
PRINCETON, N, J. 


THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE 
TRUE MASTODON IN AMERICA 


I wave recently published a paper! under 
this title, naming one species Mastodon 
matthewi from the Lower Pliocene of Snake 
Creek, Nebraska, and another species Masto- 
don merriami from what I supposed to be the 
Middle Pliocene of Nevada, in honor of Dr. 
William D. Matthew and Dr. John C. Mer- 
rlam, respectively. 

I have just learned from Dr. Merriam that 
Mastodon merriami is not, as I supposed, of 
Pliocene but of Middle Miocene age, which 
makes this species all the more important and 
interesting as the first to reach America. Dr. 
Merriam writes, June 24, 1921: 


The locality described by Mr, Hills, namely, that 
at which G. D. Matheson secured his material, is, 
however, in the Virgin Valley formation, which 
is of approximately middle Miocene age, not far 
from the zone of the Mascall of the John Day 
region. The opal mines are in the Virgin Valley 
formation and lie between the two main forks 
which unite to form Thousand Creek. These 
streams are Virgin Creek and Beek Creek. They 
unite on the west side of the great Rhyolite mass 
which separates the lower part of the Virgin 
Valley beds from the areas of the Thousand 
Creek formation lying to the east. The change 
in the age of Mastodon merriami suggested by the 
data given above will, I am sure, interest you 
greatly as this evidently brings the appearance 
of these Mastodons back to near middle Miocenv. 

I am greatly surprised and interested by the 
Middle Miocene appearance of the true masto- 
dons in America, if the above report by Dr. 
Merriam is correct, as I have no doubt it is. 
Middle Miocene age is, in fact, quite consistent 
with the structure of the superior canine 
tusks, which bear a broad enamel band on a 


1 Amer. Mus. Novitates, No, 10, June 15, 1921. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1388 


concave outer side, a fact that puzzled me 
greatly because Dr. Schlesinger describes the 
Lower Pliocene mastodons of Hungary as 
bearing an enamel band on a convex outer 
surface. We should expect the earlier masto- 
dons to show just the difference in the curva- 
ture of their tusks which these two observa- 
tions would indicate. 

It now seems that the true mastodons may 
be traced back to the species Paleomastodon 
beadnellt Andrews, living along an ancient 
river corresponding to the Nile, in company 
with a primitive long-jawed proboscidean to 
which Andrews and Beadnell gave the name 
Phiomia serridens in 1902. This was in Up- 
per Eocene or Lower Oligocene times. In 
Lower Miocene times the true mastodons ap- 
pear in North Africa and reappear in the 
Middle Miocene of France, although far less 
abundant than the contemporary species of 
long-jawed animals named Mastodon angusti- 
dens by Cuvier, which are descended from 
Phiomia. The rarity of the true mastodons is 
attributable to their strictly forest-living hab- 
its. They occur rarely in the Miocene and 
Lower Pliocene of France and Switzerland, 
also in Austria as recently described by Schles- 
inger of Vienna. 

If the Mastodon merriami of Nevada proves 
to be of Middle Miocene age, it will demon- 
strate that these true mastodons came to this 
country much earlier than we have been led 
to suppose. The earliest arrivals hitherto re- 
corded in this country are the Mastodon brevi- 
dens and M. proavus of Cope, which hailed 
respectively from the Middle Miocene of Ore- 
gon and of Colorado. It is not yet positively 
known whether these two species are true 
mastodons or representatives of one of the 
other phyla. 

Henry FairFIELD OsBoRN 


AMERICAN MUSEUM oF NaTurRAL HISToRY, 
June 29, 1921 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 


THE SCIENCE CLUB OF THE UNIVERSITY OF 
MISSISSIPPI 


Durine the academic year 1920-21, the Sci- 
ence Club of the University of Mississippi, 


Avaust 5, 1921] 


composed. of members of the science faculties, 
held seven meetings. The following papers 
were presented: 


Oct. 1920. Tabulated results of questionnaire 
circulated among students the previous year to 
ascertain student attitude toward marriage, by 
H. R. Hunt, Ph.D. 

Noy. 1920. Some phases of American archeology 
(lantern demonstration), by Calvin S. Brown, 
Se.D. 

Dee. 1920. Intestinal intoxication as a bacteri- 
ological problem, by Paul R, Cannon, Ph.D. 

Jan, 1921. Tabulated results of physical exami- 
nation of students, with discussion, by Byron 
L. Robinson, M.D. 

Feb. 1921. Petroleum, with particular reference 
to its presence in Mississippi (specimens demon- 
strated), by J. N. Swan, Ph.D. 

Mar. 1921. Influenza, case citations and brief 
review of literature, by Whitman Rowland, M.D. 

April 1921. Malaria, its incidence and control, 
by W. 8. Leathers, M.D. 


Throughout the past year the club has ex- 
tended the privilege of its meetings to ad- 
vanced students, and with very gratifying 
results. 

C. F. DE Garis, 
Secretary 


THE WORK OF THE ROCKEFELLER FOUN- 
DATION 


A REVIEW of the work of the Rockefeller 
Foundation, issued by the president, Dr. 
George E. Vincent, summarizes as follows the 
activities of the Rockefeller Foundation, the 
International Health Board, the China Med- 
ical Board and the Division of Medical Edu- 
cation: 


Aided six medical schools in Canada, 

Gave a large sum to a medical training center 
in London. 

Appropriated 1,000,000 franes for the Queen 
Elisabeth Foundation for Medical Research in 
Belgium. 

Agreed to contribute toward the complete re- 
building of the medical school of the University 
of Brussels. 

Provided American medical journals and labora- 
tory supplies for ten medical schools and medical 
libraries in five European countries. 

Continued to construct and maintain in Peking, 


SCIENCE 


109 


China, a modern medical school with a pre-medical 
department. 

Aided thirty-one hospitals in China to increase 
their efficiency in the care of patients and in the 
further training of doctors and nurses, 

Supported the School of Hygiene and Public 
Health of the Johns Hopkins University. 

Contributed to the teaching of hygiene in the 
medical school at Sao Paulo, Brazil. 

Provided fellowships in public health and medi- 
eal education for ninety-three individuals who rep- 
resented thirteen different countries. 

Brought to the United States commissions of 
medical teachers and hygienists from England, 
Belgium and Czechoslovakia. 

_ Continued to support a campaign against yellow 
fever in South and Central America and in West 
Africa. 

Aided Government agencies in the control of 
malaria in ten states of the South. 

Prosecuted hookworm work in ten southern 
states and in eighteen foreign countries, 

Helped to expand anti-hookworm campaigns 
into more general health organizations in coun- 
tries, states and nations. 

Brought a wartime anti-tuberculosis work in 
France to the point where it could soon be left 
entirely in French hands. 

Assisted the Government of Czechoslovakia to 
reorganize its public health laboratory system. 

Rendered various services in organizing com- 
mittees to study the training of nurses and of hos- 
pital superintendents, lent experts for conference 
and counsel, sent officers abroad to study condi- 
tions, ete. 

Brought to a close its participation in wartime 
emergency relief by giving $1,000,000 to the fund 
for European children. 


THE EXPOSITION OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES 

As has already been noted in Scrence, the 
Seventh National Exposition of Chemical In- 
dustries will be held at the Eighth Coast Ar- 
tillery Armory, New York City, during the 
week of September 12. According to an an- 
nouncement issued by the directors, the growth 
of the Chemical Exposition during the last 
seven years has been a barometer of the trend 
of public thought and interest in America’s 
scientific achievements. Manufacturers, en- 
gineers, scientific men and students are drawn 
toward these remarkable displays from all 
corners of the country. It has therefore be- 


110 


come necessary to stage the 400 exhibits of 
this year’s event in an exposition building of 
immense proportions, covering an area of five 
city blocks. As much of the program is car- 
ried out in speeches, lectures, and papers of 
value to the investigator along these lines, a 
special auditorium arranged according to the 
plan of a theater, and having a seating ca- 
pacity equal to many such houses, will meet 
the needs of a quiet and comfortable lecture 
hall. It will offer an ideal place for the many 
symposiums that will be held during the week. 

These will take the nature of scientific dis- 
cussions, practical talks, exchange of ideas, 
“et together ” meetings, and motion pictures 
covering every industry, lent through the 
courtesy of the government, numerous com- 
panies and plants where these industrial reels 
have been filmed. 

Dr. Charles H. Herty, editor of the Journal 
of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, is 
chairman of the advisory committee. Others 
on this board include Raymond F. Bacon, di- 
rector, Mellon Institute; L. H. Baekeland, 
hon. professor chemical engineering, Columbia 
University; Henry B. Faber, consulting chem- 
ist; John F. Teeple, president, the Chemists 
Club; Bernard C. Hesse, chemist, General 
Chemical Co.; Acheson Smith, president, 
American Electrochemical Society; A. D. 
Little, president, Arthur D. Little, Inc.; Wil- 
liam H. Nichols, chairman of the board, Gen- 
eral Chemical Co.; H. C. Parmelee, editor, 
Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering; 
Fred W. Payne, co-manager of the exposition ; 
R. P. Perry, vice-president, The Barrett Co.; 
Charles F. Roth, co-manager of the exposi- 
tion; Edgar F. Smith, president, American 
Chemical Society; T. B. Wagner, vice-presi- 
dent, U. S. Food Products Corporation; Da- 
vid Wesson, president, American Institute of 
Chemical Engineers; and M. C. Whitaker, 
president, United States Industrial Chemical 
Company. The headquarters of the exposition 
are now located at 342 Madison Avenue, New 
York City. 

THE CHEMICAL MEETING IN NEW YORK CITY 

Governor Minter will go on Labor Day to 
Niagara Falls to welcome officially the dele- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1388 


gates of the British Society of Chemical In- 
dustry, who will visit the United States to 
hold a joint meeting with the American Chem- 
ical Society. At the head of the overseas dele- 
gation will be Sir William J. Pope, president 
of the Society of Chemical Industry. Among 
other prominent members will be Dr. Louis 
A. Jordan, who was sent to aid the Italian 
government in the making of explosives; Dr. 
Frederick William Atack, whose principal 
work has been the chemistry of dyes; Dr. An- 
drew McWilliams, one of the best known steel 
metallurgists in Great Britain; and Dr. An- 
drew Smith, an explosives’ engineer of inter- 
national reputation. Some of the eminent 
Canadian chemists will be: Dr. R. F. Ruttan, 
past president of the Canadian Section of the 
society; Dr. Milton L. Hersey, one of the 
founders and past chairman of the Canadian 
Section; and Dr. C. R. Hazen, chairman of the 
Montreal Section. 

According to the preliminary program of the 
American Chemical Society, made public to- 
day, registration begins at the Chemists Club, 
52 East 41st Street, on Tuesday, September 
6. The dinner of the Council will also be held 
at the club. The general meeting will con- 
vene at 10 o’clock on the following day at Co- 
lumbia University, and at half past twelve 
o’clock the Society of Chemical Industry’s 
luncheon to British and Canadian visitors will 
take place. There will be a reception and 
lawn party for the members of all societies 
concerned, to be held on the Campus of Co- 
lumbia University, and in the evening a 
smoker will be held in the Waldorf-Astoria. 

A joint meeting of the American Chemical 
Society and of the Society of Chemical In- 
dustry of Great Britain has been arranged for 
four o’clock on Thursday afternoon and in 
the evening will be held a banquet at the Wal- 
dorf-Astoria. The various divisional and sec- 
tional meetings are scheduled at Columbia 
University. The sessions will conclude with a 
public meeting, at which the president, Dr. 
Edgar F. Smith, will deliver the annual ad- 
dress. The last day will be given to excur- 
sions to various chemical plants and other 
points of interest in the city. 


Aveust 5, 1921] 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Sir JosepH THomson has been elected honor- 
ary professor of natural philosophy and Sir 
Ernest Rutherford professor of natural phi- 
losophy at the Royal Institution. 


Tue Osiris prize of 100,000 francs has been 
awarded by the Academies of the Institute of 
France to General Ferrié, director-general of 
French military telegraphs, in recognition of 
his work in the development of wireless teleg- 
raphy for war purposes. 


WE learn from Nature that at the annual 
visit to the National Physical Laboratory of 
the members of the General Board on June 
28 a bas-relief in bronze of the former director, 
Sir Richard Glazebrook, was presented to the 
laboratory. The presentation was made by Sir 
Joseph Thomson and received on behalf of the 
laboratory by Professor Sherrington, president 
of the Royal Society. 

Dr. Micuarn E. Garpner has been appointed 
chief of the bureau of preventable diseases and 
director of the bacteriologic laboratory of the 
United States Public Health Service. 

Dr. J. H. Surapver, formerly of the United 
States Department of Agriculture, has been 
appointed director of the Bureau of Chemis- 
try and Food, Health Department, Baltimore, 
Md. 

Cuartes Y. Crayton, professor of metal- 
lurgy at the Missouri School of Mines, is 
working at the laboratory of Dr. H. M. Howe 
at Bedford Hills, N. Y., during the summer. 

Ouar P. Jenkins, associate professor of eco- 
nomie geology at the State College of Wash- 


ington, is in charge of the field work for the: 


Washington Geological Survey and is investi- 
gating certain road materials, the Grand 
Coulee as a reservoir site, and the iron ores of 
Washington in relation to the possible manu- 
facture of iron and steel. 

Hartan I. Soiru, of the Victoria Memorial 
Museum, Ottawa, Canada, is now in the field 
carrying on the investigations of the ethnology 
of the Bellacoola Indians of British Columbia 
which were begun by him in 1920 under the 
auspices of the Geological Survey of Canada. 

Tuer annual meeting of the French Associa- 


SCIENCE 


tet 


tion for the Advancement of Science is being 
held this year at Rouen from August 1 to 6. 


Tue Municipal Observatory at Des Moines, 
Iowa, which is said to be the only municipal 
observatory in the world, was opened on 
August 1. The observatory building is to be 
equipped by Drake University with an 8-inch 
equatorial telescope. It is to be under the con- 
trol of the university and open to the public at 
least three times a week, and at any other 
time when occasion may warrant. 


A new forest experiment station, the first 
in the Eastern States, has been established 
at Asheville, N. C., by the Forest Service of 
the United States Department of Agriculture. 
Steady depletion of the Southern Appalachian 
timber supply has been responsible for the 
location of this station in the East, and the 
object of the work to be conducted will be to 
secure the information needed by foresters to 
determine the best methods of handling for- 
est lands in the southern mountains. 


Tue Swedish Academy of Sciences has asked 
the government to set aside a million and a 
half kroner from the private funds of the 
Nobel Foundation and apply the interest to 
the Nobel prizes as owing to the depreciation 
of the Swedish krona the recipients of the 
prize do not receive the former value. 


Tue French Academy of Medicine has re- 
ceived a donation from the widow of the 
Marquis Visconti to found a triennial prize 
of 3,000 frances in memory of Infroit, the 
radiologist. 


Tue school of mines of the College of En- 
gineering of the University of Alabama offers 
five fellowships of the value of $540 in mining 
and metallurgical research in cooperative work 
with the U. S. Bureau of Mines. They have 
been established for the purpose of undertak- 
ing the solution of problems being studied by 
the U. S. Bureau of Mines that are of especial 
importance to the State of Alabama and the 
Southern States. 

THE members of the American Chemical 
Society were informed of the printers’ strike 
and the action of the council regarding it in 
the May issue of the Journal of Industrial and 


112 


Engineering Chemistry. The secretary writes: 
“The May Journal, the May and June Indus- 
trial Journal, and the May 10 Abstracts have 
been mailed to members. The June Journal 
and May 20 Abstracts are about to be mailed. 
The July Industrial Journal will follow soon. 
Our publishers report that they now have a 
full corps of men, although. somewhat inex- 
perienced in chemical printing. They state 
that as far as they are concerned the strike is 
over, and there will be no increased printing 
costs to the society, but that it will take them 
a few months to get back on the very prompt 
schedule that they have given us for many 
years past. Members are asked to be patient 
regarding the receipt of their journals with the 
assurance that in a few months everything will 
be normal again.” 


WE learn from the British Medical Journal 
that the expedition sent to British Guiana by 
the London School of Tropical Medicine to 
investigate filaria has been at work since the 
middle of April. It was dispatched at the re- 
quest of the then Secretary for the Colonies, 
Lord Milner, who considered that further in- 
formation was required as to the best method 
of controlling filariasis. The leader of the 
expedition is Professor R. T. Leiper, director 
of the helminthology department of the Lon- 
don School of Tropical Medicine; he was ac- 
companied by Dr. John Anderson, Dr. Chung 
Un Lee, and Dr. Mahomed Khalil of the 
Egyptian Medical Service; Dr. G. M. Vevers, 
demonstrator of helminthology in the London 
School of Tropical Medicine, will leave Eng- 
land to join the expedition very shortly. It 
was originally arranged that the expedition 
should last for six months, and at the sugges- 
tion of Sir Patrick Manson it is proposed that 
visits shall be paid to certain West Indian 
islands, choosing one, such as Barbados, where 
the rate of attack is high, and another, such as 
Grenada, where it is low. It is hoped that by 
comparing and contrasting the circumstances 
of two such islands light may be thrown on 
the conditions which favor the filaria. 

Tue New York State Association of Con- 
sulting Psychologists has been established. 
The purposes of the organization are: “The 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1388 


promotion of high:standards of professional 
qualifications for consulting psychologists ” 
and “Stimulating research work in the field 
of psychological analysis and evaluation.” 
Membership is limited to those who have the 
minimum requirements of two years graduate 
work in psychology. The Executive Commit- 
tee for the current year are: David Mitchell, 
President; Louis A. Pechstein, vice-president; 
Elizabeth A. Walsh, secretary-treasurer ; Eliza- 
beth E. Farrell, Samuel B. Heckman; Leta 
S. Hollingworth; Robert S. Woodworth. The 
association has already begun active work and 
is making psychological examinations of chil- 
dren, and the Department of Education plans 
to organize classes on the basis of the results 
secured through the psychological examina- 
tions. 


THE committee appointed to judge the sci- 
entific exhibit at the Boston meeting of the 
American Medical Association, which con- 
sisted of Dr. W. B. Cannon and Dr. G. W. 
McCoy, has awarded a gold medal to Dr. 
Kenneth M. Lynch of the department of path- 
ology of the Medical College of the State of 
South Carolina, for his exhibit of photographs 
and microscopic preparations illustrating in- 
vestigation of ulcerative granulomata. Cer- 
tificates of merit are awarded to Dr. V. H. 
Kazanjian of the Harvard Dental School for 
his exhibit of plaster masks, casts and photo- 
graphs of war injuries to the face and jaws, 
and Drs. Mendel, Osborne and Bailey of the 
Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station 
for their exhibit illustrating the effect of dif- 
ferent qualities of protein upon growth. 


Dr. Lynps Jones, of the department of 
ecology of Oberlin College, is in charge of a 
scientific expedition into the northwestern part 
of the United States. Five men and eleven 
women research students will make a tour in 
specially prepared Ford cars, with complete 
camping outfit. Starting at Grinnell, Iowa, the 
party will visit Lake Okoboji, and will then go 
through Minnesota along the old Yellowstone 
Trail. Special stops will be made at Aber- 
deen, South Dakota, and Billings, Montana. 
After visiting the Glacier National Park a 
sixteen day trip will be made into Alaska. 


Auaust 5, 1921] 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 


Dr. K. G. Marueson, president of the 
Georgia School of Technology, announces that 
the sum of $1,222,857 has been contributed 
toward the fund of $5,000,000 which the insti- 
tution has undertaken to raise for permanent 
buildings and equipment. 


Dr. Wave H. Frost, former surgeon in the 
United States Public Health Service, has been 
appointed head of the department of epidemi- 
ology and public health administration in the 
School of Hygiene and Public Health of the 
Johns Hopkins University. 


LIEUTENANT-CoLONEL HarDEE CHAMBLISS, 
since 1919 commanding officer of the U. S. 
nitrate plant at Sheffield, Ala., has been ap- 
pointed to take charge of the work of the de- 
partment of chemistry at the Catholic Uni- 
versity owing to the prolonged illness of the 
Reverend Dr. John J. Griffin, who has been 
in charge of the department since its opening 
in 1895. ; 


Dr. Rosert H. Lowrie is leaving the Ameri- 
can Museum of Natural History, where he has 
been associate curator in the department of 
anthropology, to accept the position of associ- 
ate professor of anthropology at the University 
of California. 


Dr. Bertram G. Suirn, of the Michigan 
State Normal College, has been appointed as- 
sociate professor of anatomy, in charge of em- 
bryology and histology, in the New York 
University and Bellevue Hospital Medical 
College. 


Dr. Cuester A. Matuewson, for seven years 
head of the department of science in the Max- 
well Training School for Teachers, Brooklyn, 
N. Y., has been appointed head of the depart- 
ment of biology in the School of Education 
at Cleveland, Ohio. 


In the Oregon Agricultural College, H. H. 
Gibson, professor of vocational agriculture in 
the University of Arizona, has accepted the 
headship of the department of agricultural ed- 
ueation. He was formerly director of agri- 
cultural education in the University of Ver- 


SCIENCE 


113 


mont. John R. Du Priest, professor of steam 
and gas engineering and design in the Rens- 
selaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N. Y., has 
been appointed assistant professor of mechan- 
ical engineering. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


A DEFENSE OF PROFESSOR NEWCOMB’S 
LOGIC 


To tHE Eprror or Science: To those ac- 
quainted with Professor Simon Newcomb’s 
mental habits and with Professor Comstock’s 
usual preciseness of language, the latter’s 
criticism of Newcomb’s statement concerning 
ultra-mundane life is puzzling (Science, July 
8, 1921). After several readings I venture the 
opinion that he appears to impugn the logic 
which he seems to think Newcomb might have 
used in coming to the conclusion that “to 
suppose ” countless worlds are inhabited “is 
perfectly reasonable.” Is there a chance that 
Professor Comstock may be the victim of his 
own false premise, contained in the sentence 
with which he starts upon this phase of the 
subject: “ As to the numerous worlds alleged 
(sic) to be the abode of life, Newcomb in 
his essay ... ” says so and so. If we may 
trust the dictionaries, to allege is to make a 
positive assertion, or a statement which the 
alleger is under obligations to prove; whereas 
to suppose is to “conceive a state of things 
..., but not free from doubt ” (Century Dic- 
tionary). So far as my search has gone, New- 
comb has not at any time alleged or asserted 
the existence of animal life in other worlds; 
he has merely supposed, and said that such 
supposition “is perfectly reasonable.” <A 
reading of his admirable essay on the subject 
(“Life in the universe,” in ‘“ Side-Lights on 
Astronomy,” 1906) should, in my opinion, con- 
vince of the reasonableness. 


W. W. CAMPBELL 


Mount HAMILTON, CALIFORNIA, 
July 16, 1921 


BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF DESTRUCTIVE 
: INSECTS 


To THE Epitor oF Science: Control of de- 
structive insects by the introduction of their 


114 


natural enemies has become an important 
technique during the last generation. But if 
competent observers are to be trusted, the 
southern Arabs employed the same method 
more than 150 years ago, in the culture of the 
date-palm. 

In his “Relation dun Voyage dans 
VYYemen” (Paris, 1880, p. 155), P.-E. Botta 
says: 


I was able to verify the singlar fact previously 
observed by Forskal, that the date-palms in 
Yemen are attacked by a species of ant which 
would cause them to perish, if each year the 
growers did not bring from the mountains and 
fasten in the tops of the palms branches of a tree 
that I did not recognize, which contain the nests 
of another species of ant which destroys that of 
the date-palm. 


P. Forskal was the naturalist of C. Nie- 
buhr’s expedition; his work was published 
posthumously in 1775. I have not seen his ac- 
count to which Botta refers. 

It would be interesting to know whether 
the history of economic entomology furnishes 
any earlier record of the “ biological method” 
of pest control. 

PauLt PoPEeNnoE 

THERMAL, CALIF., 

April 24, 1921 


A LONGLIVED WOODBORER 


From its burrow ip the top piece of an old 
birch book-case at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, a soft 
white wood-boring grub was shaken recently, 
when the owner discovered the newly made 
opening and conical pile of wood chewings 
that had been thrust out. There is nothing 
unusual about finding grubs in wood, but this 
particular wood-boring larva has a strange 
history. 

The matured larva was given to the writer 
and placed in a box to complete its develop- 
ment. It pupated in about two weeks and in 
a few days the adult beetle emerged. It was 
Eburia quadrigeminate Say, a longicorn com- 
monly known as the honey-locust borer, and is 
recorded as developing in hickory, ash and 
honey locust. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1388 


Mrs. Doe, who owns the book-ease, is certain 
that the board in which the grub fed and 
grew from egg to a matured larva is no less 
than forty years old, as the book-case has been 
in the possession of the Does for at least that 
many years. 

Just how and why this creature should have 
spent so many years in this humdrum life 
between the narrow walls of a thoroughly 
seasoned birch board only five eighths of an 
inch thick, and never once coming out for 
air or water seems remarkable indeed. 

Mr. J. McNeil, writing in the American 


’ Naturalist tells of two longicorns of this 


same species emerging from an ash door-sill 
that had been in place nineteen years. In 
that case the relation of the tunnels to the 
solid brick wall on which the door-sill rested 
seems to have made it certain that the eggs 
were laid in the wood before the house was 
built. This case seems to outstrip any known 
insect record in point of longevity. 


H. E. Jaques 
IowA WESLEYAN COLLEGE, 
MrT. PLEASANT, Iowa 
QUOTATIONS 


THE COST OF PRINTING SCIENTIFIC WORKS 
IN ENGLAND 

Orricers of learned societies and libra- 
rians have made public a memorandum 
planned to impress on the printing and pub- 
lishing firms of the United Kingdom the 
danger which they are incurring by enforcing 
the recent enormous increase in the price of 
books, more especially books of the more se- 
rious and specialized sort. They say: 


It is not only to the public detriment, but clearly 
also to the detriment of the printing and pub- 
lishing trades, that learned societies should be 
forced to eut down or suspend altogether their 
output of proceedings and monographs, and that 
libraries should have to reduce to a minimum the 
number of books which they purchase. It is ob- 
vious that if books are bought in ever-decreasing 
numbers, publishers will find it useless to print 
anything, however valuable, which does not ap- 
peal to the unlearned public. And if societies are 


1 Vol. XX., p. 1055. 


August 5, 1921] 


unable to continue their series of publications 
there will be less work for printers. More money 
can not be raised either by societies, whose mem- 
bers mainly come from those professional classes 
which the war has hit most hardly, or by libraries 
which depend on private funds drawn from those 
same classes. 

We are aware that material costs more, and that 
printers’ labor is now remunerated on a scale 
which has forced publishers to raise all prices. 
But the general economic conditions which led to 
these phenomena are beginning to change. The 
existing scale of book prices means the cessation of 
book-buying. Unless novels and school books are 
to be the only output of the future, the present 
state of things must come to an end. The remedy 
lies with the trade; the buying public has come 
to the end of its resources, and refuses to be ex- 
ploited any longer. 


To this statement Mr. Geoffrey S. Williams, 
president of the Publishers’ Association of 
Great Britain and Ireland, makes reply in the 
Times, saying: 

It is unfortunate that the signatories of the 
manifesto about the cost of printing should have 
ineluded publishers in their indictment, for pub- 
lishers are fellow-sufferers with the signatories. 
They are dependent on the printing, binding, and 
paper-making trades, and until the charges made 
by these trades are materially reduced it is quite 
impossible for publishers to issue books at lower 
prices. On the whole, prices of books have not 
advanced to anything like the extent that would 
have been justified by the increases in the costs 
of production. 

It is not easy to quote figures, for books, like 
human beings, have distinct individualities, espe- 
cially from the publisher’s point of view; hardly 
any two of them are exactly alike, though they 
wear the same clothes; but from calculations that 
have recently been before me, and give, I believe, 
a very fair comparison of the prices ruling in 
1914 and now, it appears that the cost of printing 
is approximately two and three-quarter times what 
it was in 1914, paper (of an inferior quality) 
costs over double what it did in 1914, binding 
(also of an inferior quality) costs rather more 
than three times what it did in 1914, while the 
total cost of a large edition of a small book works 
out at about 180 per cent. above the 1914 figure, 
and publishers’ establishment charges and the 
cost of advertising have kept pace with other 
items in their upward course. 


SCIENCE 


115 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
A BACTERIAL DISEASE OF GLADIOLUS 


An undescribed bacterial disease of Gladi- 
olus has been under observation in this labora- 
tory for a number of years, and recently a more 
intensive study has been undertaken. The 
following brief description is offered as pre- 
liminary to the publication of the complete 
study. : 

The organism has been isolated repeatedly 
and its pathogenicity proved by inoculation of 
healthy plants. The parasite is briefly charac- 
terized as follows: 


Bacterium marginatum n. sp. 


A cylindrical rod varying considerably in 
length, 1-3.5 x 0.5-0.8 », frequently in pairs 
and forming chains in beef bouillon; motile 
by means of 1-2 polar flagella; aerobic, no 
spores, capsules present. 

Superficial colonies in peptone-beef agar 
plates are very characteristic; circular, smooth, 
slightly elevated centers surrounded by a wide 
thin border more or less irregular at the mar- 
gin. Width and character of the border vary 
slightly under different conditions. Growth 
is white and extremely viscid. 

Liquefies gelatin; liquefies blood serum; does 
not reduce nitrates; produces slight acidity in 
milk; digests casein; produces acid in cultures 
with various sugars. Grows well in Cohn, 
Fermi and Uschinsky’s solutions. Produces 
moderate amounts of indol and ammonia. No 
gas is formed. 

Temperatures for growth, maximum 40° C., 
minimum 8-9° C., optimum 28-30° C. Ther- 
mal death point about 52° C. Does not grow 
at temperatures below 8° C., but remains alive 
for at least 8 weeks at 1-2° C. 

Gram negative. Group number: 211.2222022. 

Pathogenic in leaves of gladiolus forming 
circular to elliptical lesions rusty red in color 
becoming dull brown or purplish. These spots 
may occur on all parts of the foliage but are 
often confined to the lower leaves. Observa- 
tion and experiment indicate that the disease 
makes rapid and dangerous progress only in 
warm and moist weather when the rot spreads 


116 


widely and deeply into the tissues, causing the 
collapse of the aerial part of the plant. 

The disease caused by these bacteria is very 
prevalent in and about the District of Colum- 
bia. In the fields examined, 80-90 per cent. 
of the plants were affected but in the majority 
of these cases not so severely as to noticeably 
arrest the development and bloom of the plant. 

Plants with the same disease have been 
received from Illinois with the information 
that it has caused loss to the growers. Some 
Gladioli from California apparently had the 
same disease but the case was not completely 
proved. 

Lucia McCuttocx, 

BurEAvU OF PLANT INDUSTRY, 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 
(Continued) 
SECTION OF SUGAR CHEMISTRY AND TECHNOLOGY 


C. A. Browne, chairman 
Frederick Bates, secretary 


A rotary digester for use in bagasse analysis: 
G. L. Spencer. A rotary digester is described for 
the digestion and extraction of bagasse for pur- 
poses of analysis. 100 grams of chopped bagasse 
are weighed in a tared cylinder: 1 liter of hot 
water is added. If ammonia is used for preserving 
the bagasse, no alkali is added to the digestion 
water, otherwise sodium carbonate is added. The 
cylinders are closed and revolved in the digester 
for an hour while steam is turned into the casing. 
The steam is then shut off, cold water is admitted 
to the casing and the revolution continued until 
the sample is cooled. The cylinders are then re- 
moved, dried and weighed, the rest of the proce- 
dure being the same as in the customary methods 
of analysis. 


Determination of reducing sugars in lead pre- 
served eane juices: J. B. Harris. Samples of 
Taw cane juices for purposes of factory control 
are composited and preserved with dry lead sub- 
acetate. In the determination of reducing sugars, 
the preserved juice gives results about 10 per cent. 
too low where sodium oxalate or other normal 
salts are used to delead. Experiments with various 
deleading agents show it to be necessary to change 
reaction of preserved juice to acid in order to re- 
eover the reducing sugars combined with the 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. LIV. No, 1388 


lead. Best results are obtained with oxalie acid 
as a deleading agent, as it always gives the same 
results on the preserved juice as are obtained on 
the same juice without the use of lead or any de- 
leading agent, 


Dry substances in molasses, syrups and juices 
by the Spencer electric oven: GEORGE P. MEADE. 
The Spencer electric oven is an apparatus originally 
devised for rapidly drying granular and fibrous 
substances, such as sugar, bagasse, ete., by draw- 
ing a large amount of heated air through the ma- 
terial to be dried. On suggestion of the inventor, 
Dr. G. L. Spencer, a method has been worked out 
for liquid sugar products by absorbing the liquid 
on asbestos as in the Babcock method for drying 
milk. With a ten minute heating period, known 
solutions of sugar, and of invert sugar and salt, 
are dried quantitatively to one part in 300 or 
better. Thick solutions, such as molasses and 
honey, must be diluted with water, one to one by 
weight. Duplicate tests on many different kinds 
of molasses, and on honey and cane juice, show 
close agreement. 


Two simple tests for the control of the crystal- 
lizer and centrifugal machine work: M, J. PRorF- 
FITT, 


A comparison of the results in the process of 
desugarization with the Steffen lime process, the — 
barium process and the strontium process: M. 
PotvuieT. The desugarization appears to be in 
favor of the barium process. The real purity of 
the juices after deduction for raffinose is highest in 
the barium process. No raffinose is eliminated either 
in the Steffen lime process or in the strontium proc- 
ess, whereas in the barium process approximately 
50 per cent. of the raffinose is removed into the 
waste water. The removal of the raftinose is im- 
portant in view of the discarding of molasses. Of 
the 48.5 per cent. real sugar in the worked mo- 
lasses, there was obtained: in the lime process 
35.45 per cent. as granulated, 8.05 per cent, in 
molasses and 5.00 per cent. in waste water; in 
the barium process 43.97 per cent. as granulated, 
2.91 per cent. in molasses and 1.62 per cent. in 
waste water; in the strontium process 43.18 per 
eent. as granulated, 4.32 per cent. in molasses and 
1.00 per cent. in waste water. The rather heavy 
waste water of the barium and strontium processes 
ean easily be concentrated to 42° Bé, whereas 
the very diluted Steffen waste water with large 
amounts of soluble lime compounds causes many 
difficulties. Waste water with 42° Bé contains 
about 12 per cent. K,O and 4 per cent. N. 


Aveust 5, 1921] 


The effect of varying hydrogen-ion concentra- 
tion upon the decolorization of cane juice with 
carbon: J. F. BREwster and W. G. RAINES. 


The effect of some decolorizing carbons on the 
color and colloids of cane juice: J. FE, BREWSTER 
and W. G. RaINgEs. 


The determination of color and decolorization in 
sugar products: H, H. Peters and F. P. PHELPS. 
The degree of color introduced and decolorization 
obtained for sugar solutions was determined with 
a spectrophotometer. The difficulties encountered 
to create filtrates ‘‘optically void’’ out of impure 
sugar solutions led to the adoption of an analytical 
procedure. It is shown that the commonly prac- 
tised mode of analytical preparation for colori- 
metric analyses leads to erroneous conclusions in 
regard to color introduced and removed; that 
consistent results can not be attained as the pres- 
ent criterion for ‘‘brilliant filtrates’’ is far from 
being synonymous with ‘‘filtrates optically void.’’ 
Inert material employed in the analytical prepara- 
tion, such as Kieselguhr, must not be used. It 
leads to selective action on different wave lengths; 
neither is its most brilliant filter-paper-filtrate 
‘¢optically void.’’ The final ealeulation of color 
in sugar products to a unit basis of ‘‘100 Brix, 
1 em.’’ is proposed. The laws governing the ap- 
plication of the spectrophotometer and tint pho- 
tometer are discussed and directions are given 
how to express color degrees obtained by other 
colorimeters on this unit basis. Graphs of trans- 
mission and absorption spectra are presented. 


A discussion of the refractometer scale for the 
evaluation of syrups: F.C. AtKinson. A discus- 
sion of the relative merits of both methods for 
the grading of glucose and other viscous syrups, 
being an argument for the adoption of the refrac- 
tometer reading as the official standard for the 
commercial valuation of such syrups. This argu- 
ment is based on the higher degree of accuracy, 
convenience and saving of time over the method 
now in vogue. 


Preparation of mannose from ivory nut shav- 
ings: Pau M. Horton, In making mannose from 
ivory nut shavings, the syrup is usually gummy 
and difficult to crystallize. If, however, the shay- 
ings are extracted with sodium hydroxide before 
being hydrolyzed with sulphuric acid, the final 
syrup crystallizes from glacial acetie acid without 
difficulty. If crystallization is slow, it can fre- 
quently be hastened by freezing the solution under 
agitation and thawing slowly. Details as to con- 
centration and temperature are also given. 


SCIENCE 


117 


Flask calibrating and marking device: G. L. 


SPENCER, 


The preparation of a decolorizing char from 
sugar cane bagasse: C. E. CoatEs. 


A revision of the optical method for analyzing 
mixtures of raffinose and sucrose: C. A. BROWNE 
and C, A. GAMBLE. Recent corrections by Steuer- 
wald and by Schrefeld of the Clerget formula for 
the Herzfeld method of determining sucrose neces- 
sitate also a revision of the Creydt formulas for 
analyzing mixtures of raffinose and sucrose, In 
making this revision, the authors have redetermined 
the value of the constant for the invert polariza- 
tion of raffinose and have also determined the 
values for the influence of temperature upon the 
polarizations of raffinose before and after inver- 
sion. Applications are given of the Creydt for- 
mulas as thus revised to the analysis of mixtures 
containing known amounts of sucrose and raffinose. 


Preliminary note on the causes of caking in 
sugar: M. J. PRorrirr. 


Investigation of conditions affecting the quanti- 
tative determination of reducing sugars by Fehling 
solution. Elimination of certain errors involved in 
current methods: F, A, QuISUMBING and A. W. 
THOMAS, 


The standardization of rare sugars: H. T. 


GRABER. 


The determination of ash in Cuban raw sugar: 
UrL S. JAMISON and JAMES R. WitHRow. Diffi- 
culty from foamover in ash determination can be 
eliminated by preliminary heating on electric hot 
plate before ashing in the usual muffle. A drop or 
two of vaseline oil also prevents foamover. The 
sulfate method of ashing used by the Bureau of 
Standards is found on Cuban raw sugar to give 
38 per cent. higher results even with the usual 10 
per cent. modification than its direct incineration. 
The various other ashing methods in the literature 
have been compared and a modification of the 
sulfate method suggested. 


The quantities and properties of lead precipitates 
from different raw cane sugars: C. A. BROWNE 
and H. M. Winey. A comparison is given of the 
specifie gravities and PbO content of the dried 
sugar-free lead subacetate precipitates obtained 
from 3 Cuban centrifugal sugars and 4 Philippine 
concrete sugars. The lead precipitates from the 
Cuban sugars had an average sp. gr. of 2.47 and 
a PbO content of 46.85 per cent., and from the 
Philippine sugars an average sp. gr. of 2.74 and 
a PbO content of 49.56 per cent. For a normal 


118 


weight of 26 grams of sugar in 100 e.c. the vol- 
umes of the lead precipitates in the case of the 
Cuban sugars of polarization 90.95-96.00 varied 
from 0.10 to 0.12 ¢.c. and in ease of the Philip- 
pine sugar of polarization 78.30-87.80 from 0.32 
to 0.48 ¢.c. The volume of the lead precipitates 
was not found to increase during deterioration of 
the sugar. 

1. The saccharimetric graduation of polarime- 
ters with a graduated circle which employ yellow 
sodium light. 2. The graduation of saccharime- 
ters with a quartz compensation: A. JoBIN. The 
author employs as a basis for the saccharimetric 
graduation of his instruments the following fun- 
damental values: +. 66.5 for the specifie rotation 
of sucrose for the D ray; -+ 21.7182 for the 
rotation of the standard 1 mm, plate of quartz for 
the D ray. The variations in these fundamental 
values with concentration of sugar solution, with 
temperature and with source of light are con- 
sidered, and a mathematical discussion is given of 
the various corrections which need to be applied 
in the saccharimetric graduation of polarimeters 
and of quartz wedge saccharimeters. Light filters 
should serve not for unifying, but for purifying 
the source of illumination. ‘The official rules re- 
lating to the bichromate filter should be revised. 


Examination of sugar crystals by projection: 
Georce P. Mreape. Samples of raw sugar from 
several factories are classified daily as to size 
and regularity of crystal. A ‘‘balopticon,’’ with 
vertical attachment, throws an image of a small 
portion of the sample on a screen, magnifying ten 
diameters. Squares drawn on the screen corre- 
spond in size to an arbitrary scale of ten, and the 
observer compares the image of the crystals with 
the squares, determining the size to the nearest 
whole number of the scale. The projection also 
shows the regularity and form of the crystals, 
and abnormalities are noted. 


The rare sugars, their purity and tests: R. B. 
BLACK. 

A study of beet gum. (1) Separation from 
final molasses: H. S. Patne and C. F. WaAuton. 


Solubility of dextrose in water: R. F. JACKSON 
and C. L. GILuis. 

Some observations from the beet sugar industry: 
H. E. ZirKowsk1. 

Sugar filtration in factories and refineries: H. 
J. RUNYON, JR. 

Colloids in beet sugar house liquors and products : 
H. S. Pane, C. G. Courcu and F. W. REYNo.ps. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1388 


Experiments with sugar cane seedlings in St. 
Croiz: LONGFIELD SmiTH. Experiments con- 
ducted during 1920 upon the St. Croix seedling 
canes—S. C. 12/37, S, C. 12/4, S. C. 14/93, and 
8. C. 13/13—gave in comparison with the stan- 
dard ribbon cane grown for comparison alongside 
the following yields of cane and of sucrose per 
acre, as obtained by a small 3 roller mill driven 
by a 5 h.p. gasoline engine. 


Tons Cane Pounds Sucrose 


per Acre per Acre 
(Sb Cb) AREY lials > oeco's'oc 35.7 7460 
Ribbon alongside .... 27.3 5157 
ish) OE SYA eo ee eoboos 31.5 6970 
Ribbon alongside .... 28.4 5771 
ish Ob TY occcoscee: 36.9 6671 
Ribbon alongside .... 31.5 5306 
Sb) 06 MBAS eo dadsose 38.3 6455 
Ribbon alongside .... 32.1 6248 


With a stronger mill such as used in a modern 
sugar factory the above yields of sucrose per acre 
would be at least 50 per-cent. higher. The new 
St. Croix seedlings are excellently adapted to local 
conditions and are rapidly finding favor not only 
in St. Croix but in Porto Rico and other West 
Indian islands. The 8S. C. 12/4, when ripe, yields 
a juice containing 20 per cent. sucrose. The 
juice of ripe ratoons has been known to yield 
24 per cent. of sucrose. 


A precipitate obtained from cane juice after 
clarification with Kieselguhr and decolorizing car- 
bon: V. BIRCKNER. 


Experiments with Schoorl’s volumetric method 
for determining reducing sugars: C. A. BROWNE 
and G. H. Harden. In Schoorl’s volumetric 
method for determining reducing sugars, the un- 
reduced copper of the Fehling solution is deter- 
mined in presence of the reduced Cu,O by means 
of n/10 thiosulphate solution after acidifying with 
sulphurie acid and adding potassium iodide. The 
difference between the total copper originally pres- 
ent and the unreduced copper gives the copper 
reduced by the sugar. Applications of this 
method to the analysis of solutions of dextrose, 
maltose, lactose and sucrose are given, with com- 
parisons of the results obtained by direct weigh- 
ing of the reduced copper. 

The continuous sampling of sugar liquors: W. 
L. JORDAN. 

Preparation of galactose: E. P. CiLarx. 

The manufacturing of high purity crystalline 
anhydrous dextrose: C. E. G. Poyst. 

CHARLES L, Parsons, 
Secretary 


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By H. Copaux, Professor of Mineral Chemistry, School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry, 
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An exposition of the principles of modern chemistry. 


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SCIENCE 


Frmay, Aucust 12, 1921 


The California Institute of Technology..... 119 


The Course in General Zoology—Methods of 


Teaching: Proressor D. H. WENRICH.... 120 
Louis Albert Fischer: Dr. C. W. WAIDNER... 123 
Scientific Events: 

The British National Physical Laboratory ; 

Resolutions of the Medical Board of the 

Johns Hopkins Hospital; The Hunan-Yale 

College of Medicine; A New Museum at 

Castine wMicinel manic ieliiels ce 125 
Scientific Notes and News..............05., 127 
University and Educational Notes.......... 129 
Discussion and Correspondence:...........-. 

““Denudation,’’ ‘‘Erosion,’’ ‘Corrosion’? 

and ‘‘Corrasion’’: Dr. WinBuR G. Foye. 

A Possible Factor in the Increasing Inci- 

dence of Goiter: Dr. E.R. HAyHurstT. The 

Social Aspects of Country Planning: -C. J. 

GTEPIN GURL PRAT NIN) Ghat Moher steeete ones pore eee od 130 
Quotations: 

Customs Legislation in England........ Mets? 
Special Articles: 

The Practical Significance of the Revolution 

of the Embryo in Aphid Eggs: Dr. A. C. 

IBAIKINR | Jorietctsy Voie otaeneeteheera chee ee ei aes 133 
The American Chemical Society: Dr. CHARLES 

TE IPAR SONS ile) suerce ate selevays ron LU anne rary id: 135 


MSS. intended for ‘publication and books, etc.,intended for 
review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. 


THE CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF 
TECHNOLOGY 


Ropert A. MinurKan, professor of physics at 
the University of Chicago, has been ap- 
pointed director of the Norman Bridge 
Laboratory of Physics at the California 
Institute of Technology and chairman of the 
executive council of the institute. Dr. Muil- 
likan has for a number of years spent the 
winter term at the institute, but he will now 
give his whole time to it, beginning in 
October, when the new physical laboratory 
will be ready for occupancy. 

Dr. Millikan will devote himself mainly 
to the development at the institute of a large 
and effective research laboratory of physics. 
The trustees, though prepared to appoint him 
president, were appreciative of his desire not 
to be burdened with the administrative duties 
which are usually attached to that office, and 
have created a new administrative board, to be 
ealled the executive council, which will com- 
bine the usual functions of the president and 
the executive committee of the board of trus- 
tees. This executive council will consist of six 
members, three from the board of trustees and 
three from the faculty, as follows: Robert A. 
Millikan, chairman; from the trustees, Arthur 
H. Fleming, president of the board; Henry 
M. Robinson, first vice-president of the board, 
president of the First National Bank of Los 
Angeles; and George E. Hale, director of 
the Mt. Wilson Observatory; from the faculty, 
in addition to Dr. Millikan, Arthur A. Noyes, 
director of the Gates Chemical Laboratory, 
and Edward C. Barrett, secretary of the 
institute. 

Liberal provision, made possible by large 
gifts to the institute, has been made for the 
physical laboratory, for which an annual 
appropriation of $95,000 has been guaranteed. 
These funds will enable a large staff of able 
investigators and teachers and an unusually 


120 


complete equipment to be secured. In addition 
to this provision for annual support, the insti- 
tute has recently received from Dr. Norman 
Bridge the promise of $200,000 for an ex- 
tension of the physics laboratory and of $50,- 
000 for its library. 

It is also announced that the Southern 
California Edison Company will immediately 
erect at a cost of $75,000 on the campus of the 
California institute a high-tension laboratory 
where an extensive investigation on the trans- 
mission of power at high voltages will be 
made by the staffs of the company and of the 
physics and electrical engineering departments 
of the institute under the direction of Pro- 
fesor R. A. Millikan and R. W. Sorensen, 
and where other scientific researches will be 
carried on by the professors of the institute 
in cooperation with the Mt. Wilson Observa- 
tory. 

A large project of research work will be at 
once undertaken, involving the close cooper- 
ation of the Mt. Wilson Observatory, the 
Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics, and 
the Gates Chemical Laboratory of the insti- 
tute. This research project will consist in 
a systematic attack on the most fundamental 
problem of physical science to-day—that of 
the constitution of matter and its relation 
to the phenomena of radiation. Further 
advance in these fields is to be expected, on 
the one hand, largely through the utilization 
of the most powerful agencies, such as 
enormously high temperatures and pressures, 
high-voltage discharges and intense magnetic 
fields; and, on the other hand, through the 
active cooperation of physicists, astrophy- 
sicists, mathematicians and chemists, whose 
combined viewpoints, knowledge, and experi- 
mental skill will contribute. These con- 
ditions already exist in large measure at 
Pasadena, but the scientific staff and the 
experimental facilities are to be so extended 
that the opportunities for the investigation 
of this fundamental problem will be ex- 
ceptional. 

It is also announced that, in order to sup- 
plement the work in mathematical physics now 
earried on by Professor Harry Bateman, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1389 


Profesor H. A. Lorentz, of the University 
of Leiden, will be in residence as lecturer 
and research associate of the institute during 
two months of the winter term, and that 
Dr. C. G. Darwin, of the Univerity of Cam- 
bridge, has been appointed professor of mathe- 
matical physics at the institute for the college 
year of 1922-93. 


THE COURSE IN GENERAL ZOOLOGY: 
METHODS OF TEACHING 


Proressor Suutt has done a signal service 
to the teaching of general zoology by calling 
attention to the defects of the one-time prev- 
alent “type course” and to certain advan- 
tages to be gained by basing the course on 
general principles. The kind of course deemed 
best by Professor Shull is indicated in his 
papers in Science’? and his recent “ Prin- 
ciples of Animal Biology ”? and “ Laboratory 
Directions.” Professor Nichols‘ has dis- 
cussed the relative merits of a course in 
general biology as compared with separate 
courses in botany and zoology, and Professor 
Henderson® has made a plea for the substitu- 
tion of the study of human physiology for the 
study of animals and plants. Professor Col- 
ton® has discussed aim and incentive from the 
standpoint of the attitude of the student 
toward the subject. In none of these papers, 
however, has much been said as to funda- 
mental purpose or method. Professor Mce- 
Clung’ in his appeal for a discussion of the 
general course in zoology indicated that these 
subjects should receive predominant attention 
in any effort to arrive at a satisfactory con- 
clusion as to how the course should be given. 
It is to the subjects of purpose and method, 
and especially the latter that the writer 
desires to invite attention. 

It would seem to be self-evident that mat- 
ters of content, arrangement and method 
should be determined by the aim or purpose 

1SciENcE, December 27, 1918. 

2 ScIENCE, March 26, 1920. 

8 New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co. 

4 Science, December 5, 1919. 

5 ScIENCcE, January 16, 1920. 

6 ScreNcE, April 16, 1920. 

7 ScreNcE, April 11, 1919, 


Ave@ust 12, 1921] 


for which the course is given. To a certain 
degree, also, the purpose should be influenced 
by the character and prospective careers of 
the students taking the course. 

With regard to the latter consideration it 
may be assumed, that in a majority of college 
classes in general zoology there are roughly 
two groups, one composed of those who will 
take no other courses in the subject but who 
are destined to enter upon a great variety of 
walks of life, and the other composed of those 
who will pursue the subject further, to pre- 
pare themselves to become physicians; teach- 
ers in high schools, colleges and universities; 
investigators or other kind of professional 
workers. 

It may properly be asked whether it is 
possible to give a single course which will 
satisfy the needs of these different groups of 
students. The writer believes that an affirm- 
ative answer can be given. The general pur- 
poses in teaching zoology are necessarily 
identical with the aims of all education, 
namely, to make life more worth while for 
those who attend the schools by developing 
and training their mental faculties and by ex- 
tending their knowledge of themselves and 
the world in which they live. The purposes 
thus include giving information of a valuable 
nature, and giving training. Nearly all of 
the scientific work being done in the world 
to-day is accomplished by persons trained in 
scientific methods; and it is the trained mind 
and hand that employers everywhere are de- 
manding. Consequently training of the right 
kind should be of value to all classes of stu- 
dents while information or content may be 
varied to meet the more special needs of each 
class. 

As to the nature of the training that should 
be given Professor Nichols has given an 
admirable statement :4 

The value to the student of biology or zoology 
as a cultural study lies quite as much in methods 
acquired and in facts observed as it does in infor- 
mation received. First and foremost the student 
should be taught to be careful in his technique, to 
be precise in his observation, to be thorough in his 
attention to details, to be keen in finding things 
for himself, to be accurate in his conclusions, 


SCIENCE 


121 


To these may be added—to make effective use 
of the English language. Surely no student, 
no matter how he may be planning his future, 
could fail to profit by a course which gave 
training in the qualities enumerated. 

Is it not therefore necessary to select with 
care the method of teaching which will give 
the best results in accomplishing the kind of 
training indicated? The too-prevalent method 
of confirmation or verification, when used ex- 
clusively or combined with purely informative 
methods, can scarcely give the desired results. 
The so-called scientific method, involving so 
far as is practicable the method of discovery, 
must be employed if training for individual 
initiative or independence of thought is to be 
acquired. And unless the student does learn 
to think independently he can never take the 
leadership in the community for which his 
education should be his preparation. 

The scientific method has been called the 
method of common sense extended and sys- 
tematized. It involves the inductive process 
of drawing conclusions from observed facts. 
It is not only the basic method for all scien- 
tific work but it is applicable to almost every 
field of human activity requiring thought and 
judgment. In applying it there is assumed a 
purpose or goal to be reached or problem to be 
solved which is stated or described as clearly 
as possible. Then observations are made 
which may or may not be based on experi- 
ment. The observations are made with great 
care and as extensive as time and material 
will permit. The observations are recorded in 
some permanent and convenient form by the 
use of notes, drawings, models, charts, graphs, 
maps, or photographs, depending upon the na- 
ture of the material. The data thus secured 
are correlated and coordinated (synthesized) 
so that a conclusion may be drawn. Should 
not every course in a science give training in 
the scientific method ? 

As a further amplification of the views of 
the writer with regard to the use of this 
method in the course in general zoology, ex- 
tensive references will be made to the course 
given at the University of Pennsylvania since 
the plans for this illustrate in a concrete way 


122 


the ideas that the writer desires to convey. 
With reference to this course it should be 
said that it was established upon the basis of 
“general principles” about twenty years ago 
when Professor Conklin was head of the de- 
partment. The instructors concerned are there- 
fore in hearty accord with Professor Shull’s 
efforts to extend the employment of such a 
plan. For the past few years also a serious 
effort has been made to apply the scientific 
method throughout the part of the course de- 
voted to laboratory studies and the results 
have more than justified the efforts in this 
direction. The laboratory work, occupying 
more than two thirds of the time devoted 
to the course is, consequently, presented 
to the student in the form of a series of prob- 
lems framed as far as is practicable upon the 
method outlined above. 

In deciding how the course should begin a 
number of purposes have been kept in mind. 
An effort has been made to lessen as much as 
possible the difficulties that students have in 
getting started on a new subject under 
entirely novel conditions. Contrary to the 
rather widespread practise of beginning with 
the cell or a protozoon, an animal is used 
at the start which is large enough to be seen 
without special equipment, since to get ac- 
quainted with the compound microscope con- 
stitutes no small task in itself. Another 
reason for taking a larger animal is that it 
is much more likely to fall within the range 
of the student’s experience, and, further, since 
the student is accustomed to look at animals 
as individual entities, it is more desirable to 
present an entire animal than any part of it 
such as a cell or tissue. It is an open ques- 
tion whether it is better pedagogy to begin 
with the simple (cell—protozoa) and proceed 
to the complex (entire animal—metazoa) or to 
proceed from the more familiar (entire ani- 
mal) to the less familiar (tissues and cells). 
As a result of their teaching experience the 
instructors giving this course have adopted 
the latter alternative. They are furthermore 
in agreement with Professor Nichols when he 
says :* 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1389 


Let the student learn to be analytic before he 
attempts synthesis. 

In choosing the first animal it has also 
seemed desirable to select one which is defi- 
nite in its morphological characters and com- 
plex enough to afford a good test of the stu- 
dent’s powers of observation. 

With the foregoing considerations in mind 
an Arthropod, such as a grasshopper or cray- 
fish, has frequently been chosen and used with 
much success. At the beginning the student 
is asked to study carefully a specimen of the 
chosen animal and to make two pictures of it; 
a word picture, thus permitting him to use 
his most familiar tool of expression, his lan- 
guage; second, a picture in the form of a 
drawing. He is asked to organize his descrip- 
tion carefully, make an outline of it and then 
write it out, using the best English at his 
command. He is asked to compare his two 
pictures and decide which is the more ac- 
curate: this is the problem set for him to 
solve. Almost without exception the student 
perceives that the drawing furnishes a much 
more accurate picture of the animal than does 
his description and thus some of the objec- 
tions that students are accustomed to make 
to the requirement of drawings are met and 
disarmed at the very outset. 

Then through a series of problems the stu- 
dent is asked to determine in an analytical 
way the external anatomy of the animal, re- 
cording his observations in the form of fully 
labelled drawings. At the end he is asked to 
integrate his information into an essay upon 
the specimen as a whole animal. 

This study is followed by an exercise on 
classification most of the material for which 
the student collects for himself. Next a ver- 
tebrate, such as a frog, is introduced to give a 
better basis for the subject of general physi- 
ology, which is presented primarily from the 
standpoint of human physiology, but also with 
reference to the animal which is being dis- 
sected. The student is thus introduced to the 
more general morphological and physiological 
characteristics of living things, is brought to 
see the application of these principles to his 
own body and mind, and perceives the funda- 


Avaust 12, 1921] 


mental similarities between himself and the 
lower organisms, the latter represented by his 
laboratory specimens. 

Next the student is given an “ unknown” 
vertebrate to study. For the most part the 
student is placed on his own responsibility 
and judgment in handling the new specimen, 
his problem being to determine and record 
facts in the best possible manner, and to 
make intelligible to any one unfamiliar with 
it, the appearance and organization of the new 
animal. Having been given a method with 
the earlier specimen he is expected to apply it 
to the second. A large majority of the stu- 
dents give a ready response to this appeal to 
their individual initiative and to the oppor- 
tunity for making discoveries for themselves. 
In some cases an interest which may have 
been lagging is stimulated into renewed and 
sustained activity. 

The compound microscope is next intro- 
duced by a special problem on the use of the 
microscope, and this is followed by the 
study of cells and tissues. Then follow in 
succession studies on embryology, cell divi- 
sion, maturation and fertilization, with espe- 
cial attention to the behavior of the chromo- 
somes. But since the complex behavior of 
the chromosomes in mitosis, maturation, and 
fertilization is most satisfactorily explained 
as the mechanism for the behavior of men- 
delian factors, the subject of heredity, and 
especially mendelism, is considered along with 
these morphological studies. A book on 
heredity, such as that of Conklin® or that of 
Guyer® is read by the student and he also 
carries out a breeding experiment with 
Drosophila. 

Next an evolutionary series is presented 
consisting of representatives of the protozoa, 
ccelenterates, flat worms and annelids, fol- 
lowed by other studies illustrating evolution. 
In addition to furnishing evidences for organic 
evolution, the series is made to illustrate a 
variety of biological principles, further de- 


(73 


8 ‘Heredity and Environment,’’ 
Princeton University Press. 

9 ‘Being Well Born,’’ Indianapolis, Bobbs-Mer- 
rill Co, 


Princeton, 


SCIENCE 


123 


tails about which will, for the sake of brevity, 
be omitted here. 

These objective studies are handled in the 
form of problems based upon the scientific 
method previously outlined. As the course 
develops and the student gains in experience 
he is placed more and more on his own re- 
sponsibility as to methods of procedure and 
record, thus permitting him to apply the 
lessons in method that have been learned. In 
addition to training in method, the student 
gains through these studies much of the in- 
formation that he is supposed to acquire, and 
gains it in a way that will make it of the 
most value and permanency for him. Addi- 
tional information is conveyed through lec- 
tures, quizzes, and assigned readings, so 
selected and arranged as to emphasize general 
principles and to contribute to the “unity 
and balance” of the course. 

Since the scientific method is more time- 
consuming than other methods, its use im- 
poses rather definite limitations upon the 
amount of ground which may be covered in 
any given time. But the results have been 
so much more satisfactory than those secured 
by other methods that the instructors giving 
the course feel that its use is thoroughly 
justified. 

D. H. Wenricn 

ZOOLOGICAL LABORATORY, 

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 


LOUIS ALBERT FISCHER 


Louis Anpert Fiscuer, physicist and chief 
of the Division of Weights and Measures of 
the United States Bureau of Standards, died 
at his home in Washington on July 25, aged 
fifty-seven years. Early in life he joined the 
old weights and measures office of the U. S. 
Coast and Geodetic Survey. During this pe- 
riod he compared the standards of length in 
the custody of the national government with 
the standards submitted for test by manufac- 
turers, educational institutions, and the va- 
rious state weights and measures bureaus. 
The duties of this position also included the 
standardization of weights, the ordinary 
weights of commerce as well as the weights 


124 


used in the most precise work of the analytical 
chemist, and the standardization of thermom- 
’ eters and of surveyors’ tapes used in precise 
geodetic measurements. This early work laid 
the foundation for the establishment of the 
National Bureau of Standards in 1901, in 
the creation of which he took a conspicuous 
part. At the organization of that Bureau, he 
was chosen as chief of the Division of Weights 
and Measures, a position which he has since 
filled with distinguished honor. 
crowded with important administrative re- 
sponsibilities, he had, nevertheless, found op- 
portunity to carry on scientific researches 
which have won for him recognition as one 
of the leading American metrologists. He 
built up in the Bureau of Standards a strong 
division of weights and measures, from which 
have come many valuable scientific and tech- 
nical contributions. Owing to the limitation 
of space, I can only refer to a few of these 
here, but many will recall the investigations 
and papers relating to the densities of aqueous 
alcoholic solutions, the standardization of 
chemical glassware, the thermal expansivities 
of metals, alloys, and dental amalgams, the 
testing of clinical thermometers, the compari- 
son of the national prototype meter with the 
international meter, the testing of watches, 
model laws for state weights and measures 
services, specifications for railroad track scales, 
the standardization of screw threads, gauges, 
etc. In many of these papers he shared the 
honors of authorship and all of them bear the 
impress of his inspiring and forceful leader- 
ship. 

In 1905 Fischer organized the Annual Con- 
ference of Weights and Measures of the 
United States and he has since been the secre- 
tary of that organization which includes na- 
tional, state, and municipal officials and others 
interested in the promotion of wise and uni- 
form legislation and regulations relating to 
weights and measures. His advice and opin- 
ions have been sought by officials dealing with 
these matters in every state in the Union and 
probably no man in this country has had so 
profound and far reaching an influence in all 
matters appertaining to weights and measures 


SCIENCE 


In a life, 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1389 


in the past decade. He has for many years 
been annually designated by the president to 
serve on the commission entrusted with the 
responsibility of testing the “ fineness” of the 
coinage, and he has, on numerous occasions, 
been invited to testify before Congressional 
Committees on Coinage, Weights and Meas- 
ures. 

Shortly after the entrance of this country 
into the World War, Fischer was chosen and 
commissioned a major in the Ordnance De- 
partment of the U. S. Army and was placed 
in responsible charge of the important section 
of gauge design. Here again his remarkable 
abilities as an administrator and organizer, 
combined with his tireless energy, enabled him 
to make a highly efficient organization out of 
a hastily assembled personnel, that was neces- 
sarily built up on the basis of quick but dis- 
criminating judgment. The value to the 
nation of his broad scientific grasp of his sub- 
ject, of his engineering and technical train- | 
ing, of his unerring judgment, and of his un- 
tiring devotion to duty in this position can 
hardly be overestimated. 

Fischer was a graduate of the George Wash- 
ington University, a member of the American 
Physical Society, of the Physical Society of 
France, of the American Society of Mechan- 
ical Engineers, of the Washington Academy 
of Sciences; member and past-president of the 
Philosophical Society of Washington, and fel- 
low of the American Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science. For many years he has 
been an active member of the Cosmos Club 
and of the Columbia Country Club. 

He was a lover of clean and manly sports 
and achieved distinction as an athlete. In 
his early manhood he was a noted oarsman, 
winning many honors for the Potomac and 
Analostan Boat Clubs in local and national 
regattas. Rather late in life he took up tennis 

/and soon won recognition as one of the leading 
tennis players of Washington, representing 
the Bachelors’, the Dumbarton, and the Co- 
lumbia Country Clubs in many local, intercity, 
and interstate tournaments. 

Fischer, like his distinguished colleague 
Rosa, who died only a few weeks before, be- 


AveusT 12, 1921] 


longs to that group of public officials, grow- 
ing increasingly prominent in the scientific 
and technical services of the government, who 
willingly forego the rewards and comforts that 
their brilliant abilities might easily win for 
them in other walks of life, in order that they 
may follow the highest ideals of their profes- 
sion. In the example of his splendid life, in 
the influence of his wise and unerring judg- 
ment and counsel, and in his splendid ideal- 
ism, Fischer will continue to live on, in the 
years that stretch out before, in the memory 
of those whose lives were enriched by his 
friendship. 
C. W. WAIDNER 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 


THE BRITISH NATIONAL PHYSICAL LABORA- 
TORY 

THE report of The British National Phys- 
ical Laboratory for 1920, which was recently 
issued, gives a survey of the work carried out 
in the various departments during that year, 
and also a statement of the program for 1921- 
22. 

From the abstract in the London Times we 
learn that in regard to testing work, the 
charges for which have been revised owing to 
increased cost, the number of tests made in 
some departments was considerably smaller 
than in the preceding year and even than in 
the year before the war, though in others an 
increase is recorded. Of clinical thermometers 
no fewer than 1,598,100 were tested, and it is 
interesting that there has been a steady im- 
provement in the quality of the instruments 
since the introduction of the order requiring 
them to be submitted to test. 

In spite of the falling off in the routine 
work of certain sections, the activities of the 
laboratory continue to grow, and the demands 
upon it are likely to be increased in conse- 
quence of the steps taken by the government 
for the establishment of coordinating research 
boards for physics, chemistry, engineering, 
and radio research. The Radio Research 
Board has drawn up and approved a scheme 
of research to be carried out at the laboratory, 
and the Physics Research Board has also in- 


SCIENCE 


125 


dicated certain lines of research which it is 
considered desirable the laboratory should 
take up. Some additions to the buildings 
have been authorized and others are under 
consideration. The space available for ex- 
tension is, however, very limited, and accord- 
ingly measures have been taken to secure 
land for building purposes immediately ad- 
joining the laboratory grounds. 

As usual, in addition to researches of a. 
general character, the laboratory has in hand 
various special investigations for government: 
departments and other bodies. The Photom- 
etry Divison, for example, has undertaken 
experiments on ships’ navigation lamps for 
the Board of Trade, on miners’ lamps for the 
Home Office, and on motor-car head lamps for 
the Ministry of Transport. It is assisting the 
Office of Works in connection with the light- 
ing of government offices, museums, and other 
buildings. Experiments have been made for 
the purpose of securing adequate illumina- 
tion on the walls at the National Gallery, 
while avoiding direct sunlight and of 
diminishing as far as possible reflection of 
objects and people in the glass covering the 
pictures. Measurements in the Houses of 
Parliament have shown that, especially in the 
House of Commons, the illumination is very 
low—less on the average than the equivalent 
of one candle at a foot, whereas it is usually 
considered that three or four times as much 
should be provided for the easy reading of 
such matter as manuscript notes. 


RESOLUTIONS OF THE MEDICAL BOARD OF 
THE JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL 

THE resolutions limiting the fees of sur- 
geons operating at the Johns Hopkins Hos- 
pital to $1,000 and fees for hospital visits to 
$35 weekly, recently passed by the trustees on 
the recommendation of the Medical Board, 
are as follows: 

WHEREAS, the trustees of the Johns Hopkins 
Hospital desire that all patients may leave the 
hospital feeling that they have received not only 
proper professional, nursing and administrative 
service, but also that they have been dealt with 
fairly in every particular, including charges for 
medical and surgical service; and 


126 


WHEREAS, the trustees believe that the members 
of the staff likewise desire this result and will 
continue to cooperate in carrying out the policy 
of the hospital as considered for the best interest 
of the patients and the hospital; therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the following regulations be 
adopted: 


1. That members of the staff shall bring promptly 
to the attention of the director of the hospital 
any conditions or circumstances which they feel 
justify criticism and should be corrected, also 
any just complaints uttered by their patients or 
the friends and relatives of patients, applying 
either to the professional service or to the man- 
agement. 

2. That all fees to be charged for services ren- 
dered any patients in the private rooms of the 
Hospital shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the 
committee on fees, and shall in no case exceed 
the amounts stated below, except where the con- 
sent of said committee shall have been obtained; 
it being understood, however, that all fees charged 
shall in no case impose a hardship upon those re- 
sponsible for their payment and shall be arranged 
in advance of admission wherever possible, or as 
soon thereafter as possible. 

(a) Professional service by physicians, $35 
per week, which includes at least three visits by 
the patient’s physician, 

(b) Consultation fees, $25. 

(c) Maximum fee for major operation, $1,000. 

(d) No consultation fee shall be charged pa- 
tients entering the public wards when the exami- 
nation has been made anywhere in the hospital. 

3. That not more than 10 rooms shall be at the 
disposal of any one member of the staff at one 
time if the private rooms are in demand by other 
members of the staff having the same privilege. 


THE HUNAN-YALE COLLEGE OF MEDICINE 


On June 18, eleven Chinese young men 
received their M.D. degrees at the Hunan- 
Yale College of Medicine at Changsha, China. 
This medical college is part of the educational 
enterprise known as “ Yale-in-China,” the 
first of the American institutions overseas 
to be launched by and to bear the name of 
the alma mater. 

In 1900, Hunan Province was closed to 
foreigners. Its wealth of resource, its edu- 
cational traditions, the caliber of its men, were 
all known; but no Westerner was desired 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1389 


inside. On July 28, 1908, a treaty threw its 
capital, Changsha, open to the world. Soon 
after, it was decided to establish there the edu- 
cational work of Yale University. 

Starting with a class of high-school fresh- 
men in 1906, Yale-in-China now includes a 
College of Arts and Sciences, authorized by 
the Connecticut legislature to grant degrees; 
a Preparatory School; a modern medical 
college, with associated hospital and school 
of nursing. The student enrollment is nearly 
400. 

In 1913 a modern hospital was promised by 
a Yale graduate; and the assurance of this 
gift so stimulated the Chinese of this interior 
capital city that they formed a society for the 
promotion of medical education. A joint 
local board now administers all the medical 
work, and the Hunan government makes an 
annual grant of $50,000 silver. In addition, 
generous grants are received from the China 
Medical Board of the Rockefeller Found- 
ation and from the Commonwealth Fund. 

The medical college requires two years of 
pre-medical science laboratory work, and 
grants the medical degree only after five years 
of study, the fifth being largely a hospital 
year. 

The graduation in June was the first in the 
medical college and was a memorable occasion, 
large numbers of Chinese officials being pres- 
ent in recognition of the fact that this 
institution stands conspicuous in China as 
representing a true Chinese and American 
cooperation. 

The Medical Advisory Board includes Dr. 
W. B. James, chairman, Dr. W. H. Welch, 
Dr. John Howland, Dr. S. W. Lambert, Dr. 
F. T. Murphy, Dr. George Blumer, Dr. 
Harvey Cushing, Dr. R. P. Strong and Dr. A. 
D. Bevan. 


A NEW MUSEUM AT CASTINE, MAINE 


Near the site of the first French settlement 
(1611) at Castine, a museum is being erected. 
It is 75 feet in length, about 35 feet deep 
and is flanked by a terrace overlooking Cas- 
tine Bay. The construction is fireproof and 
the building will have objects of historical 


Aveust 12, 1921] 


importance as well as a large collection of 
the artifacts, utensils, weapons, etc., of pre- 
hitoric man here and abroad. 

Dr. J. Howard Wilson and his mother, 
Mrs. J. B. Wilson, are the donors. Rather 
than place his important exhibits in some of 
the larger museums, Dr. Wilson preferred to 
give the citizens of Castine this modern 
structure and interest them in the beginnings 
of human culture as well as preserve their own 
priceless historical relics. It is quite fitting 
that the building-lot adjoins the famous Fort 
Pentagoet site. 

The building and endowment of local 
museums should be encouraged, since by that 
means knowledge is more generally dis- 
seminated than through the larger museums. 

By November the structure will be com- 
pleted, and it is proposed to have it dedicated 
some time next spring. Dr. Wilson’s collec- 
tions total many thousands, and there are 
numerous French, English and colonial objects 
in Castine which are available for exhibition. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Watter G. CAMPBELL, assistant chief of the 
Bureau of Chemistry since 1916, has been ap- 
pointed acting chief to fill the place of Dr. 
Carl L. Alsberg, who resigned to become one 
of the directors of the Institute for Food Re- 
search at Stanford University. Dr. W. W. 
Skinner, chief of the water and beverage labo- 
ratory of the bureau since 1908, has been desig- 
nated as assistant chief. 


Dr. Roscozk THatcHer, who succeeds Dr. 
W. H. Jordan as director of the New York 
State Agricultural Experiment Station, has 
taken up his work at Geneva. 


Drs. Georce Dock, St. Louis; Otto Folin, 
Boston; and Ludvig Hektoen, Chicago, have 
accepted appointments as consultants to the 
National Pathological Laboratories to advise 
on methods used, interpretation of results and 
ethical policies. 


Davw Prescorr Barrows, president of the 
University of California, has been appointed a 
member of the National Research Council 


SCIENCE 


127 


for a period of three years in the Division of 
States Relations. 


WE learn from Nature that at the meeting 
of the Royal Society of Edinburgh on July 
4 the following were elected honorary fellows: 
—British: William Henry Perkin, Sir Ronald 
Ross, Sir Ernest Rutherford and Sir Jethro 
J. H. Teall. Foreign: Reginald Aldworth 
Daly (Cambridge), Johan Hjort (Bergen), 
Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran (Paris), 
Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (Leyden), and Sal- 
vatore Pincherle (Bologna). 


On June 22 a portrait of Sir Napier Shaw, 
painted by W. W. Russell, was presented to 
him by the staff of the Meteorological Office, 
South Kensington, for preservation in the 
office. A copy of the portrait was presented to 
Lady Shaw. 


An International Hydrographic Bureau has 
been established at Monaco, with the follow- 
ing directors: Vice-Admiral Sir John Parry 
(Great Britain), Captain Phaff (Netherlands), 
and Captain Muller (Norway). The secretary 
is Captain Spicer-Simson (Great Britain). 


CotoneL THomas Sinciai, professor of sur- 
gery in Queen’s College, Belfast, is among the 
twenty-four members elected to the senate of 
the Parliament of Northern Ireland, and Sir 
Thomas Joseph Stafford, late medical commis- 
sioner, Local Government Board, Ireland, is 
elected to the senate for the Southern Parlia- 
ment. 


A FrencH society “for encouragement du 
bien,” recently awarded a civic crown to the 
Institut Pasteur at Paris, and presented it to 
Dr. Roux as the representative of that in- 
stitute. 


THE trustees of the Beit Fellowships for 
Scientific Research, endowed in 1913 by Sir 
Otto Beit, to promote the advancement of 
science by means of research, have elected to 
fellowships Messrs. H. L. Riley and W. A. P. 
Challenor. Both will carry out research at the 
Imperial College of Science and Technology 
at South Kensington. 


Proressor AND Mrs. E. W. D. Houtway, of 
the University of Minnesota, sailed from New 


128 


York City on July 28, for Rio de Janeiro, 
Brazil. They have planned a two-years’ trip 
for the collection of plants and especially the 
rusts. They expect to cross the Andes early in 
the coming year, and spend the remainder of 
the time on the west coast. 


Dr. Frank T. McFaruanp, who has been 
spending his sabbatical leave at the University 
of Wisconsin investigating the relationships 
of the various claviceps, has returned to the 
University of Kentucky as head of the Depart- 
ment of Botany. 

Proressor Grorce F. Syxes, of the depart- 
ment of zoology and physiology in the Oregon 
State College, will spend a sabbatical year in 
travel, study and literary work, during which 
his address will be Warren, Rhode Island. 


Dr. Freperick Starr, of the University of 
Chicago, is giving a series of illustrated lec- 
tures at the university as follows: August 5, 
“ Aztec Mexico”; August 12, “ Modern Mex- 
ico”; and August 19, “ Mexico to-day.” 


Dr. WintHrop E. Stone, since 1900 presi- 
dent of Purdue University, and previously pro- 
fessor of chemistry, fell from a cliff near the 
summit of Mt. Eanon, Alberta, on July 16, 
and was instantly killed. Dr. and Mrs. Stone 
had nearly completed the initial ascent of the 
mountain when the accident occurred. 

Proressor Anrrep Monroe Kenyon, head 
of the mathematical department of Purdue 
University, died suddenly at Ashland, Ohio, 
on July 27, while returning to Lafayette, Ind., 
by train after attending the funeral of his 
mother. Professor Kenyon was 52 years old. 

CuartEs Barney Cory, curator of zoology 
in the Field Museum of Natural History, died 
on July 29, at the age of 64 years. Mr. Cory 
was one of the founders and a past president 
of the American Ornithologists’ Union, a mem- 
ber of many societies, and widely known for 
his ornithological writings. 

CuHarLtEs Howarp Royce, extension profes- 
sor of animal husbandry at the New York 
State College of Agriculture, Cornell Univer- 
sity, died on August 5, as a result of in- 
juries suffered in a fall from a silo on his farm 
here on July 11. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1389 


Epmonp Perrier, director of the Museum of 
Natural History in Paris, died on August 1, 
aged seventy-seven years. 


Proressor KRAEPELIN, of Munich, announces 
that the Institute for Research in Psychiatry, 
of which he is director, has received gifts 
and bequests this year totaling over 1,500,000 
marks, and the collections and the library have 
also been notably enriched by gifts. 


Accorpinc to an announcement made by 
the secretary of the New York Association 
for Medical Education, Dr. Otto von Huff- 
man, the Carnegie Foundation has offered to 
make a, donation of $12,000 to the association 
on condition that the medical profession shall 
raise $3,000. The raising of this sum will 
enable the association to continue its activities 
which have been curtailed of late because of 
lack of funds. This association was organ- 
ized two years ago to collect information in 
regard to postgraduate medical instruction 
and to develop such courses. 


Instructions have been issued to the 
representatives of the Bureau of Fisheries on 
the Pribilof Islands authorizing the taking of 
30,000 fur-seal skins on both islands during - 
the calendar year 1921. Tentative divisions 
by classes for the killings on the two islands 
are as follows: St. Paul, 22,100 three-year- 
olds, 3,000 four-year-olds, and 600 five-year- 
olds; and St. George, 2,750 three-year-olds, 
450 four-year-olds, and 100 five-year-olds. 
As the season progresses some readjustments 
as to numbers of the various classes may be- 
come desirable as the result of observations 
on the ground. The regular summer sealing 
season ended on August 5, instead of con- 
tinuing until August 10, as heretofore. 


An interdepartmental conference was held 
on July 25, in the Interior Department build- 
ing, Washington, D. C., to discuss the status 
of patients arising within the government 
service, the intention being to formulate a 
coordination of the views now held in the 
various bureaus and departments upon this 
subject, and to work out some concerted 
method of procedure for handling the patients 
here considered. Mr. E. C. Finney, assistant 


AvuGusT 12, 1921] 


secretary of the interior, presided at the 
conference, which was held at the suggestion 
of the secretary of the interior and was com- 
posed of ‘representatives |from the various 
executive departments. After a general dis- 
cussion of the subject under debate, two com- 
mittees were appointed to go into the matter 
further and to report to a similar conference 
to be held at some future date. A committee 
of five is to consider in detail ways and means 
for the coordination and procedure work 
above suggested, and a committee of three is 
to develop a plan to provide a general clear- 
ing house for the dissemination of information 
among the several executive departments with 
respect to licenses, shop rights, and_ titles, 
which the Government has acquired, or may 
acquire with respect to patients. 


ANNOUNCEMENT is made that it is the policy 
of the War Department to encourage the 
development of military inventions by officers, 
enlisted men and civil employees. In con- 
sideration of assistance to be given by the 
department in the issue of patents, it will 
require of inventors a license to manufacture 
and use their inventions for governmental pur- 
poses, thereby reserving to the patentee com- 
plete freedom and ownership of the patent 
in its commercial applications. In special 
eases of inventions of great military im- 
portance, however, provision is made for ex- 
elusive government ownership and the ut- 
most secrecy. 


Tue New England Intercollegiate Geologi- 
eal Excursion will be held on October 14 and 
15 in the vicinity of Attleboro, Massachusetts, 
under the leadership of Professor Jay B. 
Woodworth of Harvard University. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
_ NOTES 


Ar a recent meeting of the board of regents 
of the University of Oregon, it was. decided to 
place contracts immediately for the construc- 
tion of the new medical school building in 
Portland. It was also decided to name the 
medical school building after the late Dr. 
Robert C. Yenny. 


SCIENCE 


129 


Sr. Louis Universiry is erecting a new 
building, 50 x 200 ft., three stories high, as an 
extension to the medical school. Accommoda- 
tions will be afforded for the library, reading 
room, administration offices and the labora- 
tories for physiology, pharmacology and _his- 
tology. In addition to this the old building is 
being remodeled so as to give more adequate 
accommodations to the other departments. 


By the will of Seymour T. Coman, of Chi- 
cago, the residue of his estate is bequeathed to 
the University of Chicago for scientific re- 
search with special reference to the cause, pre- 
vention, and cure of disease. The fund is to 
be known as the Seymour Coman Research 
Fund. 


At the Harvard Medical School Dr. Alex- 
ander Forbes has been promoted to be asso- 
ciate professor of physiology, and Dr. George 
Cheever Shattuck to be assistant professor 
of tropical medicine for a one-year term. 


Masor Huco Diemer, formerly professor of 
industrial engineering at Pennsylvania State 
College and later personnel superintendent at 
the Winchester Repeating Arms Co., New 
Haven, has been appointed director of the in- 
dustrial management division of LaSalle Ex- 
tension University, Chicago, Ill. The division 
includes the resident and correspondence in- 
struction in industrial management efficiency, 
modern foremanship and production meth- 
ods and personnel administration, as well as 
the consulting service in each of these de- 
partments. 


Dr. ArtHur J. TiesE, who received his doc- 
torate from the University of Minnesota 
in 1920, has been appointed assistant profes- 
sor of geology at the University of Colorado, 
and assistant geologist on the Colorado Ge- 
ological Survey. 


Proressor Maurice DeWutr, formerly of 
the University of Louvain and sometime 
teacher in Harvard and Lowell lecturer, has 
accepted a permanent appointment as profes- 
sor of philosophy at Harvard. 


130 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


“DENUDATION,” ‘“ EROSION,” “ CORROSION ” 
AND ‘ CORRASION ’”’) 


THE recent article by Professor M. H. Bis- 
sell1 on the use of the terms “ denudation,” 
“erosion,” “corrosion” and “ corrasion” ex- 
presses a need which is felt by most instructors 
of elementary classes in geology and physi- 
ography. In the opinion of the writer the 
confusion of terms is attendant on a confusion 
of ideas concerning three very essential topics 
discussed in any elementary class, namely, 
weathering, denudation, and deposition. 

The geologic agents of denudation and depo- 
sition are practically identical. Hence it is 
logical to discuss the denudational and depo- 
sitional work of the wind, running water, un- 
derground water, the ocean, ice, and gravity. 
It seems to the writer, however, that the prac- 
tise of placing a discussion of weathering in a 
chapter entitled “The work of the atmo- 
sphere” is very confusing. The agents of 
weathering are quite distinct from those of 
denudation and deposition, and require sepa- 
rate treatment. It is very difficult to show the 
connection between the work of the atmo- 
sphere and exfoliation. It is poor physics to 
teach that the expansion and contraction of 
rocks is due to the atmosphere. 

The writer would define weathering as the 
alteration of rocks rendering them liable to 
transportation by the dynamic forces having 
their origin near the surface of the earth. 
Wind, water, ice, and gravity can not trans- 
port bed-rock. But when bed-rock is broken 
down by the chemical and mechanical activity 
of weathering, its particles may be transported. 

In a similar way, denudation might be de- 
fined as the removal of the products of rock 
weathering by the dynamic forces having their 
origin near the earth’s surface. The process 
involves the lowering of the earth’s surface by 
the combined actions of erosion and trans- 
portation. Erosion may be subdivided into 
two processes: (1) the mechanical wearing 
away of rocks (abrasion) by wind, running 
water, ice, and gravity; and (2) the chemical 
loss (corrosion) due to agents present in pass- 
ing streams of water and air. The central 


1 Science, April 29, 1921. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1389 


idea expressed by the term “ denudation” 
should involve the erosion and transportation 
of rock debris from its source to a position be- 
low baselevel. 

The word “corrasion” appears to be so 
similar in usage to the term “erosion” that 
it should be discarded in favor of the com- 
moner term. 

The writer believes that the average geolo- 
gist has not departed very far from the root 
significance of the terms discussed by Profes- 
sor Bissell. The development of the term 
“weathering,” however, has outrun its origi- 
nal meaning, and processes are included which 
are not connected with atmospheric action. 

A diagrammatic outline for class discussion 
of these topics might be the following. 


Mechaniecai (frost) 
Chemical (hydration, 
oxidation, etc.) 


Water. 


Heat and cold, mechanical (ex- 


foliation) 

Atmospheric gases, chemical 
(oxidation, earbonization, 
ete.) 


Mechanical (root 


Weathering. hs ety) 
Chemical (acids from 
roots and decay) 
Mechanical (dig- 
ging,  burrow- 
i ing) 

Animals.) Ghemical (acids 
from decay and 
excreta) 

Wind: Erosion, transportation, 
deposition 
Denudation Running Water: Erosion, 
eral transportation, deposition 
Deportion Underground Water: Erosion, 


transportation, deposition 
Ice: Erosion, transportation, 
deposition 
Gravity: Erosion, transporta- 
tion, deposition 


It may appear that the chemical activity of 
water in weathering, and of running water in 
denudation, are one and the same thing, but it 


Avucust 12, 1921] 


would appear to the writer that a distinction 
can be drawn between the static agent on the 
one hand, and the moving agent on the other. 


Witpur G. Foye 
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY 


A POSSIBLE FACTOR IN THE INCREASING IN- 
CIDENCE OF GOITER 


In my surveys of industrial hygiene I have 
noted that at some of the salt works in Ohio, 
where the material is obtained from deep wells 
(which in pioneer days were widely known 
springs, and the gathering points of men and 
animals), bromine, and a trace of iodine, are 
separated out of the purified product, sodium 
chloride, and bromine sold as a by-product. 
I suspect that in inland countries, Nature’s 
chief source of iodine has been in connection 
with these salt springs, wells, and “licks,” 
and that perhaps this change to a deep 
source of salt and this purification has resulted 
in the quite complete absence of iodine from 
our daily condiment when obtained from in- 
land manufacturers, that is, in package or 
carton through the avenues of commerce. 

It is well known that sea salt, some sea 
foods, and sea growths contain iodine. Also 
there is only a limited amount of goiter 
among dwellers along the seas. Furthermore, 
in former times a considerable part of the salt 
used has been sea salt, simply crystallized, and 
not necessarily pure sodium chloride separated 
from the other halogen salts. 

At first this theory does not seem plausible 
in connection with the historical incidence 
of goiter, cretinism, and other manifestations 
of hypo-thyroidism, noted in the Alps and 
associated mountain regions, wherein are 
located some of the largest salt mines in the 
world. However, Molinari in his “ Inorganic 
Chemistry,” as translated by Dr. Ernest Fiel- 
mann (1912), takes occasion to explain that 
while these great salt beds were originally 
naturally deposited from sea waters, they have 
had the composition of the deposits very ma- 
terially changed during the ages, through the 
varying solubilities of the halogen compounds 
(sodium iodide being particularly soluble 
and therefore among the first to be washed 
out through the influence of percolating wa- 


SCIENCE 


131 


ters). Hence perhaps inhabitants of these re- 
gions, getting their salt from these localities, 
have been bereft of the associated iodine com- 
ponent so essential to the human economy. 
As is well known, Marine and Kimball pub- 
lished remarkable effects of the administra- 
tion of a few grains of sodium iodide several 
times a year to school children as a prophy- 
laxis in goiter.1 After communication with 
two or three authorities I am convinced that 
this suggestion concerning goiter has not been 
heretofore considered. Also in an investiga- 
tion of literature at hand, I have been unable 
to find that any consideration has been given 
to the influence of a condiment composed of 
whole sea salts upon goitrous conditions. 
Should any one be so informed, I shall be 
pleased to hear from him, inasmuch as I 
have determined to spend a little time this 
summer in investigating the subject from 
the industrial end. 
E. R. Hayuurst 
OnI0 STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, 
CoLUMBUS, OHIO 
\ 
THE SOCIAL ASPECTS OF COUNTRY PLANNING 


Fottowine in the wake of city planning 
now comes country planning. As the face of 
the country differs from the face of the city, 
so country planning in some respects will 
differ from city planning. The social aspects 
of the planning idea as applied to country 
living conditions, are so important that a 
study of these aspects should rank as a socio- 
logical contribution of the first order. 

Such a study is under way in the Division 
of Farm Life Studies, Office of Farm Man- 
agement and Farm Economies, U. S. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. The first step in the 
study is finding out the location of a few of 
the best instances or examples of outdoor 
country art and country planning in the 
United States—especially instances arising 
from the initiative of farm or village popula- 
tions. The next step is to obtain a description 
and history of each from the person who has 
been connected with, or has close personal 

1Jour. Amer, Med. Assoc., Vol. 71, No. 26, 
pp. 2155, Dec., 1918. 


132 


knowledge of, the enterprise. This fund of 
information will give a basis for studying the 
social effects upon the farm population itself, 
and of estimating the special value of a-policy 
of country planning in the development of 
country life in America. 

The kinds of examples of country planning 
which the division of Farm Life Studies is 
particularly desirous of locating are as fol- 
lows: Country parks (not State or Federal) 
for country people, outside villages and cities; 
public reserves in the country, that is, spots 
of natural beauty or of historic interest re- 
served for public use either through private 
benefaction or by local government; “ gate- 
ways” to town or village from the farming 
country—that is, improved fringes of towns 
and villages, where highways lead from the 
farms planned and maintained through pri- 
vate or public means; colonization planning 
by land companies, which provides beforehand 
for better adjustments of rural community 
life; special outdoor art features, such as may 
be illustrated by certain farm athletic fields, 
farm roadside tree plantings, country bulletin 
boards, country cemeteries, community build- 
ings, detachment of farm houses from farm 
work by screening effects. 

The technical landscaping phases of country 
planning are promoted by the Bureau of 
Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agricul- 
ture. The technical side of country planning, 
highly important indeed in its place, is not, 
however, a subject of inquiry in the present 
study. On the other hand, the human con- 
ditions and motives which lead to outdoor art 
improvements or which on the other hand, 
prevent or retard such improvements among 
American farm population groups, are the im- 
mediate aim of the study. ‘There are pre- 
sumably inducements to a country art move- 
ment not now generally recognized. There are 
possibly social values in country art which 
may become convincing to farmers when once 
analyzed. The result will doubtless increase 
the demand in farm communities for the out- 
door art technician. 

It will help to forward this work if any one 
conversant with the particulars of any out- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1389 


standing instance of the foregoing phases of 
outdoor country art, will send some account, 
and photograph or other pictorial representa- 
tion of the same, to the undersigned. 

C. J. Gmpin 


U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 


QUOTATIONS 
CUSTOMS LEGISLATION IN ENGLAND 

So far as makers of scientific apparatus are 
concerned, we believe they are not satisfied 
with import duties, and want prohibition of 
import for a time, with permits to import in 
special cases. Many consumers have stated 
their preference for a system of subsidies to 
enable prices to be low enough to compete with 
foreign goods. Such a scheme naturally of- 
fers difficultes, and there would need to be 
assurance that efforts at improvement are be- 
ing made. There seems to be no reasonable 
objection to the price being made as nearly as 
possible equal to that of the foreign article, 
so that the competition should become one of 
quality. The bill, however, will probably be 
passed, although it may still be possible to in- 
sert provisions to enable free import to recog- 
nized scientific institutions. Such permits 
must be of a general character, not requiring 
renewal, and not demanding the intervention 
of the customs or other government depart- 
ment. No special licenses for individual cases 
would be satisfactory. 

How obstructive to scientific progress the 
customs regulations may be is shown by letters 
that have appeared in these columns. The 
question of books is a very serious one. Inci- 
dentally, reference may be made to the in- 
creasing difficulty of publication of scientific 
papers, which seems to be greater in England 
than in other countries. But here again what 
is wanted is a general fall in prices, and this 
can be brought about only by a return to nor- 
mal trade relations throughout the world. 

Much stress was laid by certain speakers in 
the House of Commons on the necessity of our 
industries as a national insurance in case of 
future war. The only remark that need be 
made in this place is that the most important 
matter is to keep abreast of scientific work in 
other countries. Restriction of research is 


Avcust 12, 1921] 


likely to do more harm than the more or less 
ineffective artificial protection of a few indus- 
tries would do good. It is to be hoped, there- 
fore, that institutions in which such scientific 
research is carried on will be placed beyond the 
effect of the new restrictions on import.— 
Nature. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


THE PRACTICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE REVO- 
LUTION OF THE EMBRYO IN APHID EGGS 
In 1916 W. F. Turner? and the writer pub- 

lished a paper on the green apple aphis, in 
which certain studies on the embryology of 
the species were reported. Studies on other 
species have since been completed and it seems 
now worth while to point out the important 
bearing that certain phases of the embryonic 
development have on the hatching of the egg 
under varying conditions. This seems espe- 
cially urgent from the viewpoint of control 
in the egg stage. 

As pointed out by Baker and Turner, the 
egg envelopes in the three common apple 
species, pomi, malifolie and prunifolie (avene 
of American authors) are two in number, the 
chorion which is thick and glossy black in 
color and the vitellime membrane which is 
delicate and transparent. At the time of 
deposition the egg is embedded by the female 
in a viscid material which serves to hold it 
in place on the twigs. This soon hardens and 
firmly fastens the egg in its location. This 
material covers irregularly all eggs and serves 
not only to cement them to the twigs but also 
as a protection for the chorion during the 
winter. It no doubt corresponds, in the 
Aphiine to the waxen coating with which 
the females of the Eriosomatinz cover their 
eggs. A somewhat comparable condition is 
met with in other insects in which a glutinous 
cap covers the micropyle-area and may extend 
as an envelope over the greater part or even 
the entire egg. 

The eggs of all three species when laid are 
of a somewhat greenish color and this changes 
ultimately to the glossy black of the winter- 

1Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. V., 
No. 21. 


SCIENCE 


133 


ing egg. This change in color coincides with 
preliminary embryonic development. This 
usually occupies about five day’s time. Eggs 
which are infertile or in other ways abnormal 
do not change color in the usual way. In 
fact most infertile eggs are not of the normal 
green color when laid but have an orange or 
brownish tinge which may darken with age. 

One of the most interesting phases in ‘the 
development of these aphids is the resting 
stage of the embryo. All eggs, no matter 
whether laid early or late, reach this same 
stage for wintering. This is the normal 
dormant condition. The embryo lies in the 
center of the egg with its cephalic portion 
toward the posterior pole. The caudal half 
of the abdomen is reflexed dorsad in such a 
manner as to include the ovarian yolk. Seg- 
mentation is well marked and the formation 
of the appendages has begun. The stomato- 
deum and proctodeum are present while the 
formation of the mesenteron has begun. The 
genital rudiments are separated into two 
groups but the ovarian yolk is not yet divided 
and at the posterior pole lies the polar organ. 

In this condition the embryo, especially of 
pomi and malifolie, remains until early 
spring and it must remain in this condition 
throughout the winter until normal growth is 
resumed. Attempts to force the eggs to their 
spring development are without success. 

In the early spring development is resumed. 
This takes place in the vicinity of Wash- 
ington, about the middle of March with pomz 
and malifolie. This development is accom- 
panied by a movement of the embryo through 
the yolk toward the posterior pole until that 
portion of the amnion which lies above the 
head comes in contact with the serosa at its 
junction with the polar organ. The two en- 
velopes then rupture here and the embryo re- 
volves. This is a most important period in 
the development of the species and the time 
of this revolution is of great significance in 
understanding certain results which have been 
obtained by different workers. 

It has been shown by Baker and Turner 
that an elevation of temperature before revo- 
lution is fatal to the embryo. It is also im- 


134 


portant to remember that after the revolution 
of the embryo the eggs are much more suscep- 
tible to contact and similar injury. Recently 
Peterson? has published an important paper 
on the hatching of the eggs of these species, 
but he has apparently failed to note the fact 
that the time of revolution is extremely im- 
portant in interpreting the results of experi- 
ments. It is very probable that the revolution 
of the embryo in New Brunswick takes place 
considerably later than in Washington. 
Judging from the conditions this would in all 
probability begin during the first week in 
April. It is evident then that in eggs taken 
during most of March and possibly some of 
those taken early in April the embryos would 
still be in the resting stage. Under such con- 
ditions eggs placed under a high temperature 
for hatching purposes would fail to hatch as 
all the embryos would be killed. In exami- 
ning Peterson’s Table I., p. 16, it will be seen 
that out of 4,400 eggs of pomz taken on March 
14, not an egg hatched at 80° F., whether in 
dry air or in different percentages of satura- 
tion. Other eggs taken on April 6, gave a 
variable percentage of hatch. In dry air 
(expt. 105) some hatching occurred and also 
in 63 per cent. and 100 per cent. of moisture, 
but in 22 per cent. moisture (expt. 106) no 
hatching occurred. It seems probable that 
many of the embryos in the eggs used had not 
revolved and that more such eggs were present 
in experiment 106 than in experiments 105, 
107 and 108. In fact these results seem to 
eontradict Peterson’s conclusion for more 
hatched in dry air than in 22 per cent. 
moisture in which there was no hatch what- 
ever. Certainly since more hatched in dry 
air than in 22 per cent. moisture one can not 
claim that it was lack of moisture which pre- 
vented the hatch. Some other factor must 
have been at work and this factor was evi- 
dently the condition of the embryo. 

The writer does not intend to convey the 
impression that moisture has no influence on 
the hatching of these eggs for, as Peterson in- 
dicates, it undoubtedly has but he wishes to 
point out the fact that in experiments of this 

2 New Jersey Agr. Exp, Sta. Bull. No. 332, 1919. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1389 


kind the stage of embryonic development must 
be considered if accurate conclusions are to be 
drawn. 

Thus the small percentage of hatch secured 
by Gillette in Colorado is explained by Peter- 
son entirely on moisture conditions and yet 
the writer has just shown that the failure 
to hatch in some of Peterson’s own experi- 
ments with pomi is due to an entirely differ- 
ent factor. 

The hatching of the different species takes 
place in very much the same way although 
prunifolie is much earlier than pomi and 
malifolie which two hatch at approximately 
the same date. 

After revolution of the embryo hatching 
can be advanced or retarded greatly by 
weather conditions. An elevated temperature 
which before this time is fatal serves after- 
wards to hasten hatching unless the at- 
mosphere is extremely dry. The gelatinous 
matrix in which the egg is embedded has by 
this time become more or less brittle and 
splits irregularly, usually in a longitudinal 
direction. This is soon followed by a rupture 
in the shell made by the egg burster. The 
young nymph continues to push its way out- 
ward until it stands in an erect position just 
above the slit in the shell. At this time the 
membrane has not ruptured and the aphid 
sometimes dies without freeing itself. Nor- 
mally, however, the membrane ruptures to the 
right of the egg burster and gradually works 
downward carrying this structure with it. The 
young insect then leaves the egg and this thin 
pellicle is left as a shrivelled structure partly 
protruding from the slit in the shell. In 
speaking of the fate of the egg burster Peter- 
son (I. c., p. 14) says: “During emergence 
this ridge disappears and only a faint line 
remains along the meson.” As far as our ob- 
servations go, however, the egg burster retains 
its identity as part of the membrane in much 
the same way as that of Corydalus cornutus, 
described by Riley. In some cases the writer 
has observed young of viviparous aphids to 
free themselves while on the leaf. Packard® 

3‘¢Text Book of Entomology,’’ 1909, The Mae- 
millan Co., p. 583. 


AveusT 12, 1921] 


has reported the casting of the amnion of 
Melanopus spretus while the nymph is free 
from the egg and mentions observing this con- 
dition in the hatching of several other insects. 
In fact, it has been observed that very many 
insects, including the seventeen year cicada, 
are entirely enclosed in this membrane after 
hatching. 

In the aphids as the embryo revolves the 
serosa contracts and draws with it the cells of 
the polar organ and the serosa and polar organ 
from the dorsal plate. This then invaginates, 
forming the dorsal body which separates itself 
from the amnion completely and is ultimately 
absorbed. Thus only the serosa and polar 
organ disappear while the amnion closes the 
gap and remains as a distinct membrane over 
the embryo. This membrane separates, re- 
mains distinct, and, as previously indicated, 
is left behind as a thin, transparent membrane 
by the hatching nymph. 

Headlee* has stated that “ A third layer may 
be seen as the nymph hatches, but this is 
probably the first-cast skin of the nymph,” 
and this view seems to be held also by Peter- 
son (1. c., p. 10) who says, “ This layer is shed 
by the nymph as it emerges, consequently it 
must be an exuvium.” The writer is unable 
to agree with this view for the exuvia cast 
by the nymph during its growth are quite 
different from this embryonic membrane 
which it leaves behind when hatching. 

After the embryo has revolved and is pro- 
ceeding toward hatching the egg is in much 
more critical condition than during the dor- 
mant period. It is less protected by reason of 
the fracture of the gelatinous matrix en- 
closing it and the embryo which is actively 
growing is more susceptible to the effect of 
spray solutions. This undoubtedly explains 
the varying results obtained by different work- 
ers in spraying experiments on aphid eggs. 
In many lots wherein the embryo had revolved 
good results were obtained, whereas in other 
lots where no revolution had taken place, 
hatching was about normal. In this connec- 
tion it is important to bear in mind that pomi 

4 New Jersey Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. No. 328, 1918. 


SCIENCE 


135 


and malifolie revolve at about the same 
period, the middle of March in Washington, 
and that early in April these eggs are very 
susceptible to treatment with such sprays as 
lime sulphur. At the time these eggs are in 
this critical period of embryonic development 
those of prunifolie have hatched and the 
young are in the first or rarely the second 
instar. These young nymphs are not affected 
greatly by lime sulphur but are easily killed 
by nicotine sprays. 

It seems clear therefore, than in inte- 
preting hatching records of aphid eggs in the 
course of spraying or other experiments, ac- 
count must be taken of the condition of the 
embryo in regard to revolution. Knowledge 
of this fact is also essential in practical 
control work. Thus in the case of the three 
apple aphids here considered, the recommenda- 
tions for use of the combined lime-sulphur- 
nicotine spray as a “delayed dormant” treat- 
ment, is seen to be based on scientific reasons 
—the lime sulphur to destroy the later hatch- 
ing eggs, principally pomi and malifolie, and 
the nicotine for the already hatched aphids. 

A. C. Baker 

U.S. BurzEav or ENToMmo.Loey, 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 
(Continued) 


SECTION OF CELLULOSE CHEMISTRY 


Harold Hibbert, chairman. 
G. J. Esselen, Jr., secretary. 


Effect of adding various chemicals to wood 
previous to distillation: L. F. Hawury. Several 
different chemicals have been mixed with wood 
and the mixture distilled for the determination of 
the effect of the chemical on the yield of valuable 
products. The chemical was mixed with the saw- 
dust by sprinkling in case it was water soluble 
or by mixing the solid in case it was insoluble. 
The mixture was then briquetted and the briquets 
distilled in a special retort in which mechanical 
pressure could be applied to the briquets during 
distillation. The only chemical tried which had a 
beneficial effect when used in reasonable quanti- 
ties was sodium carbonate. When about one per 
cent. of sodium carbonate is mixed with wood 
previous to distillation the yield of methyl alcohol 


136 


is increased by about 50 per cent. The yield of 
acetic acid is not decreased by the sodium car- 
bonate, 


The removal of free acid from nitrated cellulose, 
with special reference to the use of saline leaches: 
S. E. SHEPPARD, 


Motor fuel from vegetation: T. A. Boyp. The 
use of motor vehicles in the United States has 
increased very much more rapidly than the produc- 
tion of crude oil and considerably faster than the 
production of gasoline, although the volatility 
of gasoline has beeen decreasing from year to 
year. This, coupled with the fact that reserves 
of crude oil are being rapidly depleted, makes 
it essential that other sources of motor fuel be 
developed. Alcohol makes a desirable motor fuel, 
and it appears to be the most promising ally to 
petroleum oils for the purpose. The preparation 
of sufficient alcohol for motor fuel from food- 
stuffs does not appear to be feasible, and it seems 
advisable to make a further and more intensive 
investigation of cellulose as a source of this ma- 
terial. 


Possibilities of the moist tropics as a source of 
cellulose and carbohydrates: H. N. WHITForD. 
The subject resolves itself into three headings, (a) 
an inventory of present resources of the tropics, 
(b) growth in moist tropical forests, (¢) bamboo 
and other plants as sources for cellulose and in- 
dustrial aleohol. (a) From an economic stand- 
point tropical forests are not so complex as usu- 
ally believed. A rough estimate of the great 
forested regions of South America and Asiatic 
tropics shows more than twice as much standing 
timber as in the United States. (6b) Actual 
knowledge of growth of certain forest crops shows 
that practically the annual increment per unit area 
as fully stocked stands is usually more than 
twice that in the United States. (c) Heavy 
yields of bamboo indicate that it may be the most 
promising plant for the production of cellulose 
and possibly alcohol. Nipa palm possesses possi- 
bilities for alcohol. 


The possibilities of a future fuel supply from 
our forests: R. C, HAWLEY. 


The réle of the chemist in relation to our future 
fuel supply: HaroupD Hissert. Up to the present 
attention has been concentrated primarily on the 
production of aleohol from cellulose products. In 
view of the fact that in the fermentation of sugar 
not more than 80 per cent. of the theoretical quan- 
tity of aleohol is obtained while 50 per cent. by 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1389 


weight of the original material is lost in the form 
of carbon dioxide, it seems desirable to subject 
cellulose to intensive investigation with a view 
to ascertaining how far it is possible to convert 
it into other materials such as furfuraldehyde, 
ete., in which a better yield could possibly be ob- 
tained of a material suitable for use as a liquid 
fuel. 


The effect of chemical reagents on the micro- 
structure of wood: ALLEN ABRAMS. A method 
has been devised for treating very thin sections of 
wood with chemical reagents under different con- 
ditions of temperature and pressure. This method 
has been used in treating sections with a consider- 
able variety of reagents, such as cellulose solvents, 
acids, alkalies, oxidants and chemicals used in 
paper-making. The effects on the microstructure 
of wood have been studied both by microscopic 
observation and by cell measurements. Some of 
these effects may be summarized as follows: (1) 
Cellulose solvents act strongly and proportionately 
on both the middle lamella and the cell wall. (2) 
Strong oxidants act on the cell wall but have 
little effect on the middle lamella. (3) The or- 
dinary paper-making reagents act strongly on the 
middle lamella, with but relatively little visible 
effect on the cell wall. Whereas caustic soda solu- 
tions cause swelling of the cell wall, solutions of 
sodium bisulphite and sodium sulfide cause little 
or no swelling. 


Measuring soil toxicity, acidity and basicity (co- 
operative work with the U. S. Dept. of Cereal 
Investigation): R. H. Carr. There is a close 
connection between an acid soil, the amount of 
easily soluble iron and aluminum present, and the 
soil’s capacity to ‘grow a good crop. A quanti- 
tative method has been developed to measure the 
presence of easily available iron and aluminum 
by extracting the dry soil with an alcoholic solu- 
tion of potassium thiocyanate. A red color will 
develop if the soil is acid, due to the formation 
of ferric thiocyanate. This solution is titrated 
with a standard alcoholic base until the color 
just disappears. If no color develops the soil is 
neutral or basic and it may be titrated with a 
standard alcoholic acid, and the limestone equiva- 
lent determined. A special tube has been devised 
for this work. 


Influence of mixed acid on the character of nitro- 
cellulose: W. J. Watts. The vapor tension of 
nitric acid in the nitrating bath controls the de- 
gree of nitration of the nitrocellulose. The de- 
hydrating value of sulphuric acid is a factor which 


Aucusr 12, 1921] 


influences the vapor tension of the nitrie acid. 
The hydrolyzing action of sulphuric acid in the 
nitrating bath sets up secondary reactions, which 
are responsible for variations in yield, formation 
of insoluble bodies, gelatinous products, and un- 
stable esters. The solubility of nitrocellulose is 
determined by the dehydrating value of sulphuric 
acid in the nitrating bath. The nitrocelluloses 
used in the commercial world are divided into 
seven types based on their specific uses. Degree 
of nitration curves based on factory experience, 
showing the degree of nitration as a function of 
the actual nitrie acid and the nitrating bath, indi- 
eates that, for the same degree of nitration, as 
the actual nitric increases a corresponding increase 
jn the nitrating total is required in order to main- 
tain the same molecular ratio between the water 
and sulphurie acid in the bath. 


Some commercial possibilities of corn cob cellu- 
lose: F. B. LaForce, Brief outline of our process 
for the preparation of adhesive, furfural and 
cellulose from corn cobs; proposed uses of the 
three products. Preparation of corn cob cellulose 
jn powder form and uses as substitute for wood 
flour for nitration and acetylation; preparation 
in the form of pulp and uses in paper manufacture, 
Corn stalks and husks as a source of adhesive 
furfural and fiber. 


A color test for ‘‘remade milk’’: Oscar L. 
Evenson. A yellow color produced by the action 
of sodium hydroxide on the washed curd of milk 
made from milk powder, serves as a test for the 
presence of milk powder in natural milk. The 
eurd precipitated from 25 ¢.c. of milk with acetic 
acid is washed and placed in a vial with 10 e.e. 
of 5 per cent. sodium hydroxide. Natural pas- 
teurized milk treated in the same manner is used 
as a control. The color is probably due to the 
presence in the curd of a residue of aldehydic 
nature resulting from the action of heat and 
desiccation. 


Nitro-cellulose and its solutions as applied to the 
manufacture of artificial leather: W. K. Tucker. 
(1) Properties of the nitro-cellulose: (a) Degree 
of nitration and why lower and higher nitrations 
are objectionable; (b) viscosity; (c) degree of 
purification and the effects of the purification on 
viscosity; (d) stability; (e) ash. (2) Solution: 
(a) solvents and non-solvents generally used and 
why; (0) viscosity of solutions generally used. 
Granular and short solutions; (c) effect of va- 
rious solvents and non-solvents on the viscosity 
of solutions; (d) proportion of nitro-cellulose in 


SCIENCE 


137 


solutions generally used and short discussion of the 
use of solution with a larger percentage. 

An experimental study of the significance of 
*“lignin’’ color reactions: ErNEsT C, CroKEer. An 
investigation of the so-called color reactions showed 
that the following phenols gave strong red, violet 
or blue colors with wood of any kind when applied 
in strongly acid solution: phloroglucinol, oreinol, 
resorcinol, and pyrogallol. Likewise, all primary 
aromatic amines gave yellow to orange colors when 
applied in acid solutions of any strength. The 
secondary amine, diphenylamine, also gave an 
orange color even when highly purified and freed 
from traces of primary amines. Pyrrole gave a 
deep red color in hydrochloric acid solution. Va- 
rious materials were substituted for wood, and 
tested with above types of reagents for color 
formation. It was found that only (but not all) 
aromatic aldehydes gave color reactions similar to 
those given by wood. Spectroscopic investigation 
and comparison of colors obtained showed that 
the principal color source of wood is not vanillin 
or furfural, as several writers have claimed, but 
a different aldehyde—possibly coniferyl aldehyde. 
It was found that certain natural phenols and 
ethers such as eugenol and safrol, which are re- 
ported as giving colors with the phenols and al- 
dehydes, do so only because of aldehydic impuri- 
ties. The Maule test was found to give a distinct 
red color only in the case of deciduous woods. The 
test was found to be caused by a component of the 
wood, which after chlorination turns red when 
made alkaline. Apparently no color test is an 
indicator of lignin, but of traces of materials (al- 
dehydic for most of the tests) which usually— 
perhaps always—accompany lignin. 

A proposal for a standard cellulose to be avail- 
able for research: B. JOHNSEN, 


A discussion of some beater furnish reactions 
from the standpoint of colloidal chemistry: JESSIE 
E. Minor. This discussion is based upon a series 
of experiments performed for the purpose of ob- 
taining some more exact information as to the 
changes in the physical properties of a paper which 
are brought about by each addition made to the 
furnish. The increased strength attained by beat- 
ing is due to the mucilaginous product of hydroly- 
sis and the decrease in strength by excessive beat- 
ing is due to the loss of fiber structure. Alum 
eoats the fiber with a gelatinous layer of aluminum 
hydroxide and changes the electrical charge on the 
fiber. It thus aids in size retention as does calcium 
sulphate, though the latter is less effective. In- 


138 


soluble fillers which give almost no ions are 
still less effective. Their chief effect is to weaken 
the paper as do calcium chloride and sodium ecar- 
bonate. Explanations for these various phenomena 
are given based on the modern concepts of colloid 
chemistry. 

The solubility of cellulose acetate in chlorinated 
hydrocarbons: GusSTAVUS J. ESSELEN, Jr. The 
present paper offers an explanation of the fact 
that cellulose acetate is soluble in certain chlori- 
nated hydrocarbons but not in others, as for ex- 
ample, in chloroform but not in earbon tetrachlo- 
ride. The internal pressures of the chlorinated 
derivatives of methane and ethane have been eal- 
eulated and it is shown that the corresponding sol- 
vent action on cellulose acetate is in general what 
is to be expected from the relative values of the 
internal pressures. The fact that the addition of 
a little alcohol increases the solvent action of cer- 
tain of the solvents in question is also shown to 
be in accord with what is to be expected from the 
accompanying change in the polar environment, 

The action of dry hydrobromic acid on cellulose 
and related derivatives: HarotD HIspert and 
Haroip S, Hitu. The authors have reinvestigated 
the action of dry hydrobromie acid in chloroform 
solution on cellulose, viscose, dextrose, a methyl 
glucoside, sucrose and certain other derivatives. 
Higher yields of brom-methyl furfuraldehyde were 
obtained in the case of cellulose and viscose, while 
with dextrose as much as 12-15 per cent. of the 
erystalline product was obtained. Good yields 
were also obtained in the case of a methyl glucoside 
and other derivatives. The evidence would seem 
to prove that the formation of brom-methyl fur- 
furaldehyde is no longer to be associated with the 
presence of a free carbonyl (keto) group in the 
cellulose molecule, 

The oxidation of cellulose: W. S. HouzBERGER. 

European practise in cellulose acetate and dopes 
during the war: Puiuie DRINKER. (1) Cellulose 
acetate developments from commerciai and sci- 
entifie aspects. (2) Cellulose acetate solvents, 
non-solvents, plastics, high-boilers, ete., as devel- 
oped for airplane dopes. (3) Various dope for- 
mule as shown by their historical development as 
the war progressed, the ‘‘standard forms’? ulti- 
mately decided upon, ete. (4) The effect of sun- 
light and other agents on fabrics and means of pre- 
venting said effects with account of researches 
on these subjects. (5) Recovery of solvents in 
doping and recovery of cellulose acetate from dis- 
earded airplane fabrics. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1389 


The influence of temperature on hemi-cellulose 
production: W. E. TottincHam. Red clover and 
buckwheat plants grown at temperatures of about 
15° to 18° in one case and 20° to 23° in another, 
in the latter case with the evaporating power of 
the air kept nearly the same for the two tempera- 
ture ranges, have shown an increase of acid hy- 
drolyzable material at the lower temperatures. 
This difference amounted to about 5 per cent. of 
the total dry tissue of the plant. No evidence has 
been obtained as yet of definite variations of the 
fundamental cellulose with temperature differ- 
ences attending growth. It appears that the hemi- 
cellulose which would be included in the acid 
hydrolyzable material may form an important 
carbohydrate reserve in the plant economy. It 
is suggested that the depression of respiration in 
proportion to photo-synthesis at the lower tempera- 
tures may favor the accumulations of hemi-cellu- 
lose observed. 


The chemical changes involved during infection 
and decay of wood and wood pulp: Mark W. 
Bray and JosrpH A. Srami. The results and 
significance of the determination of various con- 
stants are given on a number of samples of sound 
and. decayed spruce woods, pulps and waterleaf 
papers made from them by the groundwood, sul- 
phite and soda processes. It was found that the 
water soluble materials, the alkali soluble sub- 
stances, the copper numbers, and the beta cellulose, 
increase, while the alpha and gamma cellulose con- 
stants decrease with the progress of decay, in all 
the woods, pulps, and papers studied. The lignin 
content shows an apparent percentage increase 
in decayed wood. If the calculations are based 
on the original weights of the sound wood, how- 
ever, there is a slight decrease in this constant. 
The data given show the relation of the lignin 
or non-cellulose encrusting material of sound and 
decayed woods and pulps. Certain organisms of 
decay have a selective action on the constitutents 
of wood and wood pulp, attacking the cellulose in 
preference to the non-cellulose encrusting sub- 
stances. Gamma cellulose is so unstable that a 
very small percentage was obtained in decayed 
woods and pulps. The losses sustained by the 
paper industry as a result of the use of decayed 
woods and pulps are pointed out. 
| The chemical constitution of soda and sulfite 
pulps from coniferous woods and their bleaching 
qualities: SIDNEY D, WELLS. 

CHARLES L, PARSONS, 
Secretary 


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Vou. LIV, No. 1390 


Seeing the Unseen— 


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SCIENCE 


Frmay, Aucusr 19, 1921 


The American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science: 
Some Present Aspects of Chemistry in the 


United States: Prorrssor B, F. Lovenacr. 139 


An Ancient Skeleton discovered in Ecuador: 
Dr. MARSHALL H, SAVILLE... 260. se. c eee 147 


Scientific Events: 
The Mulford Biological Exploration of the 
Amazon Basin; Educational Forestry; Lec- 
tures at the University of Michigan; Book- 
lets of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Sciences. scabs siecle wes 


Scientific Notes and News................ 
University and Educational News........ Be lb2 


Discussion and Correspondence: 

Another high-temperature Record for Growth 

and Endurance: Dr, D. T. MacDouGaL AND 

Eart B. Worxine. A Calculator for con- 
verting Gas Chain Voltage into Equivalent 
Cy, or pu Values: Dr. Paunt E. Kuopstec. 
Mathematics in Spanish-speaking Countries: 
The Earliest 
Bees, Wasps and Ants: Proressor T, D. A. 


Proressor G. A. MILLER. 


COCKER BLT ers cre ister slate veorua teenie caine itn 152 


Special Articles: 


The Pneumatic Paradox in Acoustics: Pro- 
FESSORM CART BARUS eerste nineteen). 


The Kentucky Academy of Science: ALFRED 
M. PETER 


MSS. intended for publication and books, ete.,intended for 
review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. 


—=————=a. 


SOME PRESENT ASPECTS OF CHEM- 
ISTRY IN THE UNITED STATES? 


Ir has often been observed that those living 
in the midst of great events sometimes fail 
to understand the far-reaching effects of the 
occurrences going on around them. During 
revolutionary times attention is so riveted 
upon the single occurrences which follow each 
other with bewildering rapidity that the par- 
ticipants often fail to view the succession of 
events as a whole and thus miss their full sig- 
nificance. Revolution is scarcely too strong 
a word to apply to the changes relating to 
chemistry which are taking place in this coun- 
try. The very great impetus which the science 
of chemistry has experienced during recent 
years brings with it a series of problems vitally 
related to the science as a whole, to our educa- 
tional institutions and to industry. 

It seems appropriate that on this occasion 
we might with profit, to borrow a business ex- 
pression, take stock of the present situation. I 
shall therefore endeavor to give a brief and 
partial analysis of the outstanding features of 
the existing conditions, which are more or less 
confused, and lay down a few broad principles 
which appear to offer a sound basis of future 
development. 

The events of the past five years have ex- 
erted a profound influence not only upon 
chemistry but upon various other sciences rep- 
resented by the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science. To meet the critical 
situation presented in 1914 and the more criti- 
eal condition in 1917, the country called to its 
service the entire scientific resources at its 
command and nearly every branch of science 
contributed something, either directly or in- 
directly, to aid in the solution of the pressing 
problems presen‘ed. The geologist was called 

1 Address of the vice-president and chairman of 
Section C, of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science, Chicago, December, 1920. 


140 


upon to reexplore the natural resources of the 
country and to find, if possible, within our 
own borders raw materials which we had for- 
merly imported, and many important and un- 
expected discoveries were made. The physicist 
was presented with a host of problems, prob- 
lems in light, in sound, in electricity, in wire- 
less transmission, etc., and in the attempt to 
solve these problems contributed materially to 
the advancement of our cause and to the 
general welfare. The engineer, working in 
conjunction with the physicist and chemist, 
gave body and substance to the discoveries of 
the latter, and gave besides an example of the 
power of concentrated and intelligent effort 
to solve engineering difficulties of all kinds, 
which won the admiration of the world. The 
various branches of medical science, repre- 
sented by the physician, the surgeon, the physi- 
ologist, the pharmacologist and others, all ren- 
dered a service of inestimable value, the mem- 
ory of which will long be enshrined in the 
thought of the world. I refer not only to the 
direct service in mitigating immediate hu- 
man suffering, but also, and more important 
even than that, to the advances in medical 
science which were made. And so we might 
eall the roll of the sciences and each could 
respond with a record of achievement, of 
things actually accomplished for the welfare 
of our country and the world. 

It is perhaps true that no branch of science 
was given the opportunity of rendering more 
conspicuous or more vital service than that 
of chemistry. It is scarcely too much to say 
that for a period of two years the whole or- 
derly course of scientific research in chemistry 
was suspended. In 1917 the country was con- 
fronted with a very large number of practical 
chemical problems, some of them of an ex- 
tremely complex and difficult nature, the 
prompt solution of which was imperatively de- 
manded. These problems may be grouped un- 
der two general heads. Since foreign sources 
were to a large extent cut off as early as 1914, 
we were faced with the task of supplying the 
ordinary everyday needs of the community for 
the vast number of substances in the manu- 
facture of which chemistry played an essential 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1390 


part, and these problems were far from being 
satisfactorily solved in 1917. The second 
group included the multitudinous problems 
which had to do directly with the prosecution 
of war. In order to meet the situation thus 
presented the critical nature of which could 
hardly be exaggerated, practically the entire 
research and manufacturing facilities of the 
country were drafted. The extent to which 
the research personnel of the country was 
drawn into some branch of industrial or war 
work was truly amazing. Never before had 
this country witnessed such intensive chemical 
effort. For the industrial chemist it did not 
as a rule call for any very radical change in 
the nature of his work. To him it meant, in 
the main, redoubled effort in the line he was 
accustomed to, or in related lines. But for 
the large number of university men who were 
able to give a portion or all their time, the 
change was more radical. In many cases they 
abandoned, for the time being, the researches 
upon which they were engaged and addressed 
themselves to the solution of certain definite 
problems, not chosen by themselves, but pre- 
sented by the exigencies of war. These men 
came from various colleges and universities” 
in all sections of the country and for nearly 
two years gave themselves over to an entirely 
new experience, viz., an intensive study of 
definite problems which were essentially indus- 
trial in nature, in that they were in most 
cases directed toward ultimate large scale 
operation. After working out a particular 
problem in the laboratory it then became 
necessary, with the cooperation of the engi- 
neer, to put the process being developed 
through the various stages leading finally to 
large scale production. 

The very great chemical activity which 
characterized this period and particularly the 
conspicuous success which was attained by 
the chemist in the solution of many of the 
difficult problems presented to him have had 
important results in several directions. 

1. The chemist finds himself in a more fa- 
vorable position than he formerly held in the 
eyes of the general public. It was not so very 
long ago that to the average man in the street, 


Avcust 19, 1921] 


the terms chemist and drug-clerk were synony- 
mous. The educated non-technical man how- 
ever was better informed. Asked for a defi- 
nition of a chemist, he would reply, Oh! 
he is a curious fellow who can look at a rock 
and tell you what it is made up of! When 
one considers the fundamental importance of 
the work of the chemist to the everyday life 
of every individual in the community, that his 
work enters into everything he wears, eats, 
drinks, reads, works with and plays with, it 
is really astonishing that the public at large 
has had so little appreciation of him. It must 
be remembered, however, that in the past few 
opportunities were afforded to the average citi- 
zen, and no encouragement, to learn what the 
chemist meant to him. It was not so very 
long ago that the most widely disseminated 
chemical information was that furnished by 
the Sunday supplements of certain news- 
papers. And it will be recalled that they ap- 
peared to be particularly fond of describing 
such experiments as the extraction of gold 
from sea water, and others of a similar type, 
generally giving a more or less grotesque idea 
of the chemist and his work. 

The education of the public as to the im- 
portance of chemistry to the community be- 
gan in the fall of 1914 when it suddenly dis- 
covered that it was dependent upon other 
countries for many things chemical which 
were necessary to its daily comfort and con- 
venience. And the temporary lack of things 
to which all were accustomed, and for which 
they were told to wait upon the chemist, did 
much to raise the latter in the public esti- 
mation. And when the promised articles be- 
gan gradually to appear, in increasing quan- 
tity and with steadily improving quality, the 
chemist was still further raised in public 
esteem. 

The second lesson came with the war. The 
ordinary citizen came to realize, as he had 
never done before, that in modern warfare the 
most powerful weapons of offense and the most 
effective means of defense are literally the 
products of the laboratories of scientists. 
Thanks to the introduction of what came to be 
known as chemical warfare, the late war be- 


SCIENCE 


141 


came to a very large degree a contest between 
the chemists of the opposing countries. And 
a vivid knowledge of this fact was brought 
home to the people in a variety of ways. 

Recoginzing the fact that, under a republi- 
can form of government, the widest possible 
dissemination of popular but exact informa- 
tion concerning a particular science is a mat- 
ter of fundamental importance to that sci- 
ence, the American Chemical Society several 
years ago authorized and provided for the 
establishment and maintenance of an official 
news service, known as the American Chem- 
ical Society News Service. The chief func- 
tion of this service is to furnish, at frequent 
intervals, to all the important newspapers 
throughout the country for publication, short 
popular articles on chemical subjects. The 
space given by the newspapers to these ar- 
ticles, while not all that might be desired, is 
gratifying in that it evidences an interest, 
and Jet us hope it will prove an increasing in- 
terest, on the part of the people generally in a 
subject which is of such great importance to 
the general welfare. 

2. A second and very much more important 
change which has been taking place during 
the past five years is a growing appreciation 
of the value of research on the part of those 
concerned with chemical industry. Some of 
the larger and more progressive concerns, 
whose policies are dominated by men of sci- 
entific training, have long followed a liberal 
policy in regard to research. They have been 
sufficiently far sighted to recognize the possi- 
bilities of research in the utilization of by- 
products, the development of new processes 
and the improvement of old ones. Their ex- 
perience has amply justified the financial wis- 
dom of such a policy. A larger number of 
concerns have maintained research departments 
of a more limited scope, their activities be- 
ing confined to the more immediate and ob- 
vious problems of plant operation. Then we 
have had a very considerable number of chem- 
ical plants in which no research chemists at 
all were employed. There has been in the 
past a surprising number of plants which 
were operated, in effect, upon the idea that 


142 


it would not be profitable to try to discover 
anything new about the chemistry of the 
processes being carried on. 

Very rapid changes have been taking place 
in this respect during the past few years. The 
demand for research chemists in the indus- 
tries has been stimulated by a variety of 
causes: the desire, in many cases at the in- 
stance of government, to increase output and 
extend operations into new lines, the stimulus 
to new enterprises afforded by the general 
shortage of chemicals, and, perhaps most im- 
portant of all, the conspicuous success which 
has attended the efforts to solve various im- 
portant and difficult chemical problems. It 
is worthy of note in this connection that in 
a number of instances discoveries of very 
great practical importance to industry have 
been made by university professors to whom 
contact with industrial chemistry brought 
about by war conditions was an entirely new 
experience. 

Whatever other influences may have con- 
tributed, the result is that the industries are 
calling more insistently and for greater num- 
bers of thoroughly trained and experienced 
research chemists than ever before and in con- 
sequence the universities and colleges of the 
country, along with other research institu- 
tions, are confronted with several very serious 
problems. In the main the Ph.D. graduates 
in chemistry, after completing their training, 
go into one of three lines of work. Some 
of them go into college teaching and in the 
past this field has absorbed a very consider- 
able proportion of them. Others whose liking 
for pure research has been the determining 
factor in their choice have gone either into 
government service or to research institutions, 
educational and others. This choice has usu- 
ally entailed being content, at least for a pe- 
riod of years, with a smaller financial return 
for their work than might have been expected 
in other fields. The remainder have gone into 
industrial work. As a result of the rapidly 
increasing proportion going into the last 
named field, the colleges particularly are find- 
ing it difficult and, in many cases, impossible 
to secure the services of properly trained men. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1390 


Those connected with graduate institutions 
which are the source from which the colleges 
draw their teachers are in the best position to 
appreciate how serious the present condition 
is. Many times during the past twelve months 
the chemical department of the Johns Hop- 
kins University has been compelled to reply 
to urgent calls for teachers that there were 
no men available. The seriousness of the situ- 
ation is accentuated by the fact that, not 
only do the industries want the best and most 
promising men, but they are willing to pay 
larger salaries than the colleges and univer- 
sities, with their limited endowments, can 
hope to pay and larger also than those obtain- 
ing in government research laboratories. The 
inducements offered by the industries are in 
fact frequently attractive enough to win over 
men all whose inclination is toward teaching 
and pure research. 

There is another phase of the situation 
which is equally serious. Not only are the 
industries absorbing an undue proportion of 
young graduates, so much so that the uni- 
versities and colleges find it impossible prop- 
erly to fill various teaching and research po- 
sitions, but in a good many cases they have - 
invaded the research faculties in the univer- 
sities themselves. To the university teacher 
the temptation to enter the industrial field is 
made very great by reason of the difficult eco- 
nomic situation in which he finds himself. 
The moderate increases in salary which have 
been recently granted by most of the institu- 
tions of the country have been entirely insuffi- 
cient to offset the decreased purchasing power 
of the dollar and the economic position of the 
teacher, never particularly enviable, has been 
for the past three years considerably worse 
than formerly. The temptation to improve 
their economic positions has induced a num- 
ber of men to abandon their university careers 
for industrial work, with consequent crippling 
of the research work of the institutions con- 
cerned. A perhaps larger number of univer- 
sity professors of chemistry have adopted a 
compromise. To supplement an inadequate 
income they have been devoting their summer 
vacations to industrial work, and in many 


August 19, 1921] 


cases acting in an advisory capacity to their 
employers while they are carrying on their 
regular university work. The perils in such 
a situation from the standpoint of the uni- 
versity and the cause of pure science, some 
of them obvious and others not apparent, have 
been discussed several times and will be re- 
ferred to a little later. 

We come now to the consideration of an- 
other phase of the present situation. An ac- 
tive discussion has been going on for several 
years having to do with the general subject 
of the relation of the universities to the 
community. The particular part of this dis- 
cussion with which we are concerned is that 
pertaining to the relation of the departments 
of chemistry in the university to the chemical 
industries. 

However much some of us may be inclined 
to cling to our old ideals, I think most of us 
will agree that the idea long held of the uni- 
versity as a seat of learning for learning’s 
sake is gradually giving place to a new con- 
ception of the university as a utilitarian in- 
stitution. To appreciate the change that has 
already taken place one need only visit the 
class rooms of any large institution and see 
the handful of students taking Greek, for ex- 
ample, while in any subject having a direct 
practical utility, huge lecture rooms are filled 
to overflowing. Many colleges and universities 
have endeavored to uphold the old ideals and 
have continued to maintain the old chairs, and 
a few students continue to take these so- 
called cultural courses and always will so long 
as they are offered, but it remains true that 
the great majority of the students are inter- 
ested mainly in those subjects which have a 
definite practical value. This is true of both 
graduate and undergraduate schools. And of 
necessity the departments dealing with sub- 
jects which are of practical value to the stu- 
dent in after life are receiving relatively 
greater, and increasingly greater, financial 
support from governing boards. Thus our 
higher institutions of learning, and particu- 
larly the graduate departments, are apparently 
tending to become, in fact, professional 
schools; that is, institutions in which men and 


SCIENCE 


143 


women receive specialized training which fits 
them for a particular kind of work. This de- 
velopment is perhaps not so much the result 
of the adoption of a definite policy by those 
in charge of such institutions, but rather 
comes from the demand on the part of the 
students themselves. The students want such 
courses and, if a particular university will not 
give them, they will go elsewhere. The very 
great popularity of chemistry in the colleges 
and universities throughout the country is not 
due to a widespread scholarly interest in the 
science itself, but arises from the facts that 
chemistry is fundamentally related to the wel- 
fare of the community and that a thorough 
knowledge of the subject opens the door to an 
attractive profession. 

We have already pointed out that most of 
the graduate students in chemistry in the uni- 
versities may be grouped under three heads: 

1. Those looking forward to professorships 
of chemistry in colleges, in which their chief 
work will be the teaching of chemistry to un- 
degraduates, with limited opportunities for 
research. 

2. Those looking forward to careers of re- 
search in pure chemistry, either in universities 
or other research institutions. 

3. Those expecting to become industrial 
chemists. 

So long as the university had to do mainly 
with students of the first two groups, there 
was no particular difficulty in providing suit- 
able instruction for them without in any way 
endangering the ideals of the university la- 
boratory as a place set apart from commercial 
considerations and devoted, with singleness of 
eye, to the cause of the advancement of sci- 
ence for the common good. The course of in- 
struction generally adopted by American uni- 
versities required for its completion three or 
more years’ work subsequent to the bachelor’s 
degree. A part of this time was devoted by 
the student to acquiring a knowledge of the 
fundamental facts and principles of the sci- 
ence, after which he was required to spend 
one or more years in actual research under 
guidance. 

The rapid increase in the number of stu- 


144 


dents falling under group 8, that is, those who 
come to the university with the idea of going 
into industry, raises, in addition to those 
problems already referred to, a number of 
others of equally vital importance to the uni- 
versities and to the industries themselves. 

1. Unless all signs fail, the demand for 
chemists for the industries is not a temporary 
one, but will continue and in all probability 
increase. The country has definitely set out to 
develop its chemical industries, the goal sought 
being nothing less than chemical indepen- 
dence. The realization, even if it is not alto- 
gether complete, or falls short of our present 
hopes, will call for a continuous supply of 
chemists. ‘The enhanced popular interest in 
the subject may also be expected to produce 
an increased demand for chemists in college 
and university positions. It seems certain 
therefore that the graduate departments of 
chemistry (and undergraduate as well), al- 
ready in many cases among the largest in their 
respective institutions, must look forward to 
a considerable increase in the number of stu- 
dents applying for instruction each year. 
This will entail problems of enlargement of 
buildings and other additions to material 
equipment, increase of teaching personnel, pos- 
sible additions of new courses, etc. But these 
are questions which mainly concern boards of 
trustees and I will not discuss them here. 

2. A group of problems are presented hav- 
ing to do with the content of the courses of- 
fered for graduate students. The graduate 
courses that have been given in the past were 
developed along broad theoretical lines with- 
out particular reference to the training of 
men for the industrial field. The attempt was 
made to give the student as broad an acquaint- 
ance as possible with the basic facts and prin- 
ciples of the science of chemistry and in ad- 
dition a knowledge and experience of the 
methods of research. 

Now, inasmuch as the industries are de- 
pendent upon the universities for the training 
of the chemists which they require each year 
in increasing numbers, it is only natural that 
they should concern themselves with the char- 
acter of instruction given. And inasmuch as 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1390 


one of the functions. of the university is to 
train men for the industrial field it is only 
proper that those charged with the responsi- 
bility of this training should inquire whether 
or not the students are receiving the kind of 
instruction and experience that best fits ther 
for their future work. The question therefore 
whether the chemical departments of the uni- 
versities are giving the best kind of training 
to those who are to go into industrial work is 
entirely proper and the correct answer is of 
vital importance to the university, to the sci- 
ence of chemistry and to chemical industry. 
Now there are a number of people among 
both teachers and employers of chemists, who 
believe that the present methods of university 
instruction could be materially changed to ad- 
vantage so far as the future work of the 
industrial chemist and chemical industry are 
concerned and various suggestions have been 
put forward, most of them with the idea of 
making the work more “ practical” in char- 
acter. It is said that the present method and 
scope of university teaching make the Ph.D. 
graduate too theoretical and impractical; that 
when he goes into the plant he is at a loss be- 
cause he has learned to think only in terms 
of small scale reactions and because he has 
no knowledge of engineering and therefore no 
appreciation of the mechanical difficulties that 
always appear when you go from the labora- 
tory to large scale production. Hence it is 
concluded that the kind of chemist the in- 
dustries need is one who is also an engineer. 
Hence the growth of a large number of in- 
stitutions in the country in which a high- 
school graduate is put through a training em- 
bracing four or five years, taking various 
courses in mathematics, physics, engineering 
and chemistry, is given a bachelor’s degree and 
sent into the industry. However valuable in 
a chemical plant men of this training may be, 
their outlook upon chemistry as a whole is en- 
tirely too limited to make them of any great 
value in the research laboratory. If our 
country is to realize its dream of chemical in- 
dependence, our industries must have available 
and must employ large numbers of chemists of 
the highest quality, characterized by breadth 


Aveust 19, 1921] 


of chemical training, familiarity with chem- 
ical literature, enthusiasm for research and, 
above all, a thorough understanding of theo- 
retical principles, which alone gives the in- 
vestigator the ability to interpret observations 
and devise sound and effective methods of 
attack. The above qualities are essential to the 
research chemist, regardless of whether he is 
in an industrial or a university laboratory. 
For in the development of an industrial proc- 
ess, the first stage is in the laboratory and here 
the problem differs from a problem in “ pure” 
research only in one particular, viz., that it is 
directed toward a definite commercial object. 
The same thoroughness should be sought, the 
same methods employed and precisely the same 
qualities on the part of the investigator are 
necessary. 

Those of us therefore who are charged with 
the responsibility of university instruction in 
graduate chemistry should set our faces 
against the tendency in evidence around us to 
place the emphasis in teaching upon the prac- 
tical, necessarily at the expense of the funda- 
mentals. 

This does not in any sense mean that uni- 
versity laboratories should avoid attacking 
problems the solution of which is of impor- 
tance to industry. On the contrary, one of 
the happy developments of the past few years 
has grown out of the opportunity which has 
been afforded to large numbers of university 
professors to get in close contact with some 
of the problems of commercial chemistry. 
Many of these problems, of fundamental and 
far reaching importance to the industries, have 
been taken into the university laboratory and 
the professor brings to their study his ripe 
knowledge and experience, his patience and 
resourcefulness which, combined with the ma- 
terial facilities at his command, offer the 
promise of sure progress in their solution. 
Already substantial contributions along a 
number of lines have been made and we may 
confidently look forward to greater achieve- 
ments in the future. The universities may 
very properly take advantage of the opportuni- 
ties thus presented to render a high service to 
the community. But there are also dangers 


SCIENCE 


145 


inherent in the situation. While rendering 
this service, we must sedulously avoid sacri- 
ficing the ideals of pure science. We must 
keep out of our university laboratories the 
spirit of commercialism and not allow our 
interest in these problems of applied chem- 
istry to lessen our interest in the large num- 
ber of even more fundamental questions which 
happen to be of less immediate practical im- 
portance. 

In the foregoing discussion we have partly 
anticipated the answer to a question which 
has been frequently discussed in recent years. 
I refer to the matter of cooperation between 
the universities and the industries. How car 
the university laboratory: render the most 
valuable service to chemical industry? How 
can industry cooperate with the university to 
the end that the interests of both may be best 
served? It must be clear that these interests 
are mutual; more particularly, that any plan 
which enables the university more effectively 
to perform its function of advancing scien- 
tific knowledge and training chemists will be 
beneficial to industry and anything which in- 
terferes with or in any way hampers the uni- 
versity laboratory in the performance of these 
primary functions must ultimately be harm- 
ful to industry. 

Recognizing the importance of this question 
and fully conscious of the wisdom of properly 
guiding the movement already under way look- 
ing toward a closer relation between the uni- 
versities and the industries, the American 
Chemical Society, under the recent presidency 
of Dr. Stieglitz, authorized the appointment 
of a committee to study and report upon the 
subject. The committee consists of leading 
educators and representatives of industry and 
I believe is still engaged in studying the 
question in the effort to formulate a plan by 
which the desired ends may be accomplished 
without injury to the university. 

The opening paragraph of a tentative re- 
port made by the committee reads as follows: 


The most important contribution which the 
universities can make to the development of in- 
dustry in this country is to supply the industries 
with sufficient numbers of men thoroughly and 


146 


broadly trained in the principles of chemistry. All 
other considerations must be subservient to this 
fundamental purpose. 


This is a thoroughly sound principle and if 
it is accepted fully and made a guiding policy 
by both the university faculties and the in- 
dustries it will constitute a touchstone by 
means of which the quality of any specific pro- 
posal may be tested. It must be clearly un- 
derstood that if men are to be “ thoroughly 
and broadly trained in the principles of chem- 
istry” emphasis must be laid upon a good 
many things of which we ean not at present 
point out any very direct practical applica- 
tion to industry. The fact is, however, that 
the number of these abstract questions em- 
phasized by university teachers that have no 
bearing upon the problems of commercial 
chemistry is not nearly so large as the prac- 
tical man believes. In other words, chemical 
industry lags considerably behind chemical 
science. The discovery on the part of in- 
dustry that it has not been utilizing the 
chemical knowledge which has been available 
all along, carefully recorded in the literature, 
is really one of the outstanding events of the 
last five years. This is the explanation of the 
greatly increased demand for trained chem- 
ists. Their chief efforts will be directed, not 
so much toward original research, but rather 
toward applying what is already recorded to 
the practical problems of the plant. 

The second paragraph of the report deals 
with “the strong tendency at the present to 
draw men, who have been particularly effective 
in research work, away from the universities 
by the payment of salaries far in excess of 
the salaries paid the same men in a univer- 
sity.” In view of the considerable number 
of younger men of great promise who have 
in consequence been induced to abandon their 
university careers, the report goes on to say 
that “it seems evident that unless a very con- 
siderable increase in the salaries of teachers 
of chemistry can be secured, the next genera- 
tion of chemists is likely to be trained by a 
set of mediocre men. Such a result would be 
disastrous to cur industries and every pos- 
sible effort should be made to meet this 
danger.” 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1390 


As to the various specific proposals for co- 
operation that have been put forward they 
should all be tested by the touchstone men- 
tioned, and if this is conscientiously done it 
seems to me that no very great difficulty will 
be experienced in reaching wise decisions. 
There would seem to be no possible objection 
to the endowment of fellowships in the uni- 
versities, similar to the duPont fellowships, 
which leave the student and the instructor 
entirely free in the choice of the subject of 
research and which carry no restrictions in 
the matter of publication of the results. 

Fellowships designed to promote the solu- 
tion of problems for the benefit of a particular 
industry, it seems to me, may be safely ac- 
cepted by the university, but it should be 
clearly understood: (1) That the subject of 
investigation should be of fundamental im- 
portance to the industry as a whole; (2) that 
the instructor and student must be left en- 
tirely free in deciding upon the method and 
scope of the investigation; (38) that there 
must be no secrecy attached to the work; and 
(4) that the results should be published for . 
the benefit of the industry as a whole within 
a reasonable time. 

It seems to me that other kinds of fellow- 
ships proposed, of a private character, for 
example, a fellowship endowed by a single firm 
for its exclusive use, either for a limited or 
indefinite period, would be attended with grave 
dangers to the university. Aside from other 
considerations of equally vital importance, 
one of the most invaluable and inspiring fea- 
tures of the university research laboratory, 
viz., the entire freedom from restrictions which 
prevails, would be lost by the introduction of 
a system of private fellowships. Each worker, 
while he is interested mainly in his own par- 
ticular subject, needs the inspiration which 
comes from contact with his fellow workers, 
and to deny him the privilege of learning what 
those around him are doing is to take from 
him a thing of inestimable value and for which 
there is no substitute. 


B. F. Loveacr 


THE JOHNS HopKINS UNIVERSITY 


Aveust 19, 1921] 


AN ANCIENT SKELETON DISCOVERED 
IN ECUADOR 

Durine the month of May, while engaged 
in archeological work on the Ecuadorian coast, 
for the Museum of the American Indian Heye 
Foundation, the writer discovered, in situ, a 
complete human skeleton under conditions 
which indicate considerable antiquity. The 
find was made in the province of Esmeraldas, 
along the beach at a place 40 miles north of 
the equator called Tomsupa. This was the 
writer’s third visit to the site, which he dis- 
covered in 1907. A brief account was pub- 
lished in his paper, “ Archeological research 
on the coast of Esmeraldas, Ecuador,” in the 
proceedings. of the XVI. Internationalien 
Amerikanisten-Kongresses, Wien, 1909. In 
this paper attention was called to the character 
of the deposits, accompanied by a photograph 
ot the same. 

The skeleton recently uncovered was found 
in the bank a few hundred yards north of the 
place shown in the photograph, at a point 
where the alluvium is considerably deeper. 
All along the beach in the vicinity for some 
distance one finds deposits of human artifacts 
in the bank. 

The region here is a plain bounded on the 
north by low hills which terminate at the sea 
in a point called Punta Chevele. To the 
south just below where the Atacames River 
empties into the sea there are also hills, and 
at the ocean is a rocky point called Punta 
Sua. From appearances it would seem that 
this plain, three or four miles wide, was for- 
merly the dwelling place of numerous people, 
as we not only find here the Tomsupa deposits, 
but they are even more extensive at the south- 
ern limit along the banks of the Atacames 
River, and they also extend inland for some 
distance. It would seem that this plain later 
became the course of a great river, which 
gradually deposited gravel and alluvium to a 
depth of fifteen feet. Then came a washing 
away of the alluvium, more extensive to the 
south, as at present more than half of the 
plain along the beach is only slightly above 
high water mark. 


SCIENCE 


147 


In the paper above referred to are the fol- 
lowing data about the Tomsupa deposits: 

The layer of pottery along the beach varies 
from 20 to 24 inches, and the measurements are 
as follows: alluvium and light earth, 16 inches; 
dark soil, ashes containing pottery and shells, 2 
feet; sand to present line of beach, 1 foot. 


At other places during our last trip deposits 
were found covered with 3 feet, and even 5 
feet of alluvium. Skeletal remains were dis- 
covered nearby at a depth of 4 feet 7 inches 
under undisturbed alluvium. 

Near the northern extremity of the plain 
is a ridge of alluvium running at right angles 
to the beach, which abruptly terminates at 
the north toward Punta Chevele, and from 
here on to the point the same conditions pre- 
vail as at Atacames, the plain being only 
slightly above high water mark. In this al- 
luvial ridge there is a layer of stratified coarse 
gravel 12 feet from the surface, and this de- 
posit extends southward for several hundred 
yards terminating with a covering of alluvium 
of three or four feet. This gravel deposit 
averages 24 feet in thickness. 

The skeleton to which attention is called 
in this communication was discovered at the 
deepest part of the ridge and under the gravel, 
being covered by 12 feet of alluvium, and 23 
feet of gravel. It was discovered by the wri- 
ter’s assistant, his son, Winthrop L. Saville, 
whose attention was drawn to a reddish knob 
just visible under the undisturbed gravel and 
alluvium. After the writer and his assistant 
excavated for a few minutes it was found to 
be a human leg bone. As night was coming 
on, a photograph was taken of the locality; 
the remains were carefully covered to protect 
them from rain and the carelessness of passers- 
by, for in this part of Ecuador the beach is the 
only highway. The next day the excavation 
was continued with some difficulty due to the 
extreme fragility of the bones and the nature 
of the high bank above, for the writer had 
far too little time at his disposal to permit 
of first cutting down the bank, and no laborers 
could be obtained at this place. We finally 
uncovered the remains of a young man just 
cutting his wisdom teeth. He had been buried 


148 


with the arms and legs bent close to the body, 
and the skull had been deformed with the 
frontal depression. The entire skeleton was 
tinged a bright red by the infiltration of iron, 
and the inner surface of the skull was covered 
by a deposit of brownish-black limonite. We 
were able to take out the skull, which fell into 
a hundred pieces, and only fragments of the 
bones. The only relic found was the foot of 
a pottery vessel with traces of a highly pol- 
ished red inner surface. This was found 
near the skeleton above the bones and under 
the gravel. The skeleton was covered with 
earth, immediately below the layer of gravel 
and alluvium, and was not intrusive, there 
being absolutely no signs of disturbance above. 
It could not have been intruded from the side 
as there is rapid erosion going on here. Every 
year parts of the banks are washed away by 
the sea during the time of flood tides. The 
owner of the property assured the writer that 
the bank now visible is not the surface seen 
during former visits, as the ocean is slowly 
washing away the shoreline. 

Concerning the age of this skeleton, the 
archeologist is not competent to pass his 
opinion. This must be done by the geologist 
and physiographer. But the writer is of the 
opinion that this find is the oldest burial thus 
far found in South America. 

MarsHatt H. Savitie 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 
THE MULFORD BIOLOGICAL EXPLORATION 
OF THE AMAZON BASIN 
FurtTHER advices received from Dr. H. H. 
Rusby, director of the Mulford Biological 
Exploration, report continued favorable prog- 
ress, and a considerable amount of scientific 
work already accomplished in quest for 
medicinal plants and biological specimens. 
Members of the expedition left La Paz, 
Bolivia, about July 9, whence they pro- 
ceeded by rail to Eucalyptus, the terminus 
of the railroad. From Eucalyptus to Pongo 
they traveled by auto truck over the new auto 
road recently completed by the Guggenheim 
interests in Bolivia. From Pongo, a three 
: days’ journey by mule brought them to Cana- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1390 


mina, which will be their temporary head- 
quarters for three or four weeks. From this 
point certain members of the party will make 
an ascent of the La Paz river for a consider- 
able distance for the purpose of making 
special collections, the remainder of the party 
making detailed studies in the vicinity of 
Canamina. 

Collections have been made in and around 
Mollendo, Arica, Arequipa, Tiavaya and La 
Paz. <A large quantity of these materials, 
shipped just before the party left La Paz, has 
been received in Philadelphia. 

The shipment includes among other things 
botanical specimens of economic products of 
Peru and Bolivia, such as the green-colored, 
purple-striped fruit of the “pepino”; the 
fruit of a species of Tasconia which is 
sold in the markets there under the name 
of “ Tumbo”; also another edible fruit known 
as “acchocta,’ and a turnip-shaped root 
called “rhacache,” and many others. These 
will go to the economic museum of the New 
York Botanical Garden and the Brooklyn 
Botanical Garden. A quantity of herbs is also 
included, which will be sent to Professor 
Edward Kremers of the University of Wis- 
consin, who will study the volatile oils con- 
tained in them. 

In ascending and crossing the mountains 
from Mollendo to La Paz, Drs. Rusby and 
Hoffman made systematic observations on 
blood pressure changes at different altitudes 
and on the mountain sickness known as “ sir- 
roche.” They have availed themselves of 
every opportunity to study tropical diseases 
and while at Arequipa they visited the fine 
hospital there to study a form of tropical 
ulcer known as “ uta.” 


EDUCATIONAL FORESTRY 
(From @ correspondent) 


Epucationau forestry is being carried on by 
experts at the Alleghany State Park, the new 
public recreation ground just dedicated in 
Cattaraugus county. The Buffalo Academy 
of Science is cooperating with the New York 
State College of Forestry in this work. 

Henry R. Francis, professor of forest 


Aucust 19, 1921] 


recreation, and R. R. Fenska, professor of for- 
est engineering, both of the forestry college, 
who are engaged in making a survey of the 
65,000 acres of forested land contained in the 
tract, will lecture to visitors every Saturday 
in the Academy building at Tunesassa. 

The talks will include a personally con- 
ducted hike through the forests and a study 
of the flora and fauna encountered on the 
trip. Valuable information about birds, 
woods and wild animals common to that 
section of the state will be given by the experts, 
something that every person who goes into 
the woods should know. The hike will be 
followed by an illustrated talk on forestry, 
particularly as the subject pertains to the 
best use of the woods for recreation and health. 
The lectures will be given every Saturday 
until the vacation season ends. 

The efforts of the commission headed by A. 
T. Fancher, of Salamanca, to make this great 
forested region of mountains and valleys and 
picturesque trout streams one of the most 
attractive in the United States are bringing 
forth excellent results. The large number of 
tourists and campers who already have been 
attracted to the park show the importance and 
popularity of forest recreation. 


LECTURES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 


Tue following program of scientific lectures 
has been given for the students of the sum- 
mer session of the University of Michigan. 


July 5—Fever, Dr, C. W. Edmunds, professor of 
therapeutics and materia medica, University of 
Michigan, 

July 12—Causes of mental disorder, Dr. A. M. 
Barrett, professor of psychiatry, University of 
Michigan. 

July 14—Miagara Falls and vicinity (illustrated), 
Assistant Professor K. C. MeMurry, depart- 
ment of geology, University of Michigan, 

July 18—The asteroids and rings of Saturn, Mr. 
L. A. Hopkins, assistant professor of mathe- 
matics and secretary of the colleges of engi- 
neering and architecture, University of Michi- 
gan. 

July 18—The nature of cancer, Dr, A. 8. Warthin, 
professor of pathology and director of the 
pathological laboratory in the medical school, 
University of Michigan. 


SCIENCE 


149 


July 22—How the psychologist tests intelligence 
(illustrated), Mr. Guy M. Whipple, professor 
of experimental education, University of Michi- 
gan. 

July 26—Practical points in the prevention and 
treatment of cancer, Dr. C, V. Weller, assistant 
professor of pathology, University of Michigan. 

July 29—Michigan’s inland lakes: their value to 
the state (illustrated), Mr. I. D. Scott, asso- 
ciate professor of physiographical geology, Uni- 
versity of Michigan, 

Aug. 1—The senses and the learning process in 
fishes (illustrated), Dr. J. E. Reighard, profes- 
sor of zoology and director of the zoological 
laboratory and the zoological museum, University 
of Michigan. 

Aug. 2—Stone in the kidney, Dr. Hugh Cabot, 
dean of the medical school, University of 
Michigan. 

Aug. 4—The nature of intelligence, Professor L. 
L. Thurstone, of the Carnegie Institute of Tech- 
nology. 

Aug. 8—Functions in high-school mathematics, 
Professor E. R. Hedrick, University of Missouri. 

Aug. 9—Junior-high-school mathematics, Profes- 
sor EK. R, Hedrick. 

Aug. 10—The conservation of health through food 
and drug inspection, Professor C. C. Glover, 
secretary of the college of pharmacy, University 
of Michigan. 

Aug. 12—Acoustics of auditoriums (with experi- 
mental demonstrations), Assistant Professor D. 
L. Rich, department of physics, University of 
Michigan. 

Aug. 17—Modern theories of matter (illustrated) , 
Dr, E. F. Barker, department of physics, Uni- 
versity of Michigan. 

Aug. 19—Ten years of heredity (illustrated), 
Professor A. F. Shull, department of zoology, 
University of Michigan, 


BOOKLETS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 
FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 

Tue office of the permanent secretary of the 
American Association for the Advancement of 
Science has recently published two booklets 
that should be of interest to workers in sci- 
ence and other friends of science. The first 
of these, entitled “Resolutions bearing on 
Important Features of the Public Welfare,” 
includes five resolutions that have already ap- 
peared in the pages of Science, and it also 
presents the list of general officers of the as- 


150 


sociation for the calendar year 1921. 
second is “ A Booklet of General Information, 
specially announcing the Second Toronto 
Meeting,” which is to occur December 27-31, 
1921. It includes preliminary information re- 
garding the second Toronto meeting, with 
notes on the city of Toronto, and presents a 
succinct statement of the “ Organization and 
work of the association.” The latter topic is 
discussed under the following headings: “ Gen- 
eral scope,” “ Meetings,” “Endowment and 
grants for research,” “ Publications,” “ Co- 
operation with other organizations,” “ Finan- 
cial aspect of the work of the association,” and 
“ Conditions, obligations and privileges of 
membership and fellowship.” 

The last cover page of this booklet bears 
an instructive graph showing the growth of 
the membership list from 1848 (461) to 1920 
(11,442). Copies of these booklets may be ob- 
tained from the permanent secretary’s office. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Dr. Georce E. Hater, director of. the Mount 
Wilson Observatory of the Carnegie Institu- 
tion, was elected president of the Pacific Di- 
vision of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science at the recent Berkeley 
meeting. 


At the opening meeting of the second In- 
ternational Congress of Eugenics, which will 
be held at the American Museum of Natural 
History, New York City, on the evening of 
September 22, addresses will be made by Pro- 
fessor Henry Fairfield Osborn, president of the 
congress; Major Leonard Darwin, president of 
the Eugenics Education Society, London; and 
Dr. Charles B. Davenport, director of the De- 
partment of Genetics of the Carnegie Insti- 
tution. 


Tue Paris Academy of Medicine has elected 
as foreign correspondents Professor L. J. Hen- 
derson, of Harvard University; Sir Robert 
Philipp, of Edinburgh; Sir Humphry Rolles- 
ton, of London; and Sir d’Arcy Power, of 
London. 


At the June meeting of the Royal Society 
of New South Wales, Mr. R. T. Baker, curator 


SCIENCE 


The, 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1390 


and economic botanist of the Technological 
Museum, Sydney, was presented with the 
Mueller medal awarded to him by the Austra- 
lasian Association for the Advancement of 
Science for his services to botany, particularly 
in regard to the Euealypts. 


Dr. R. Roses, of Guatemala, has been made 
a chevalier of the Legion of Honor by the 
president of the French Republic, in recog- 
nition of his discovery that the disease known 
in Central America as “coast erysipelas” is 
transmitted by a filaria. 


Dr. Junius LinenFrexp, professor of physics 
at the University of Leipzig, has arrived in 
New York, where he has recently given a 
demonstration of his new roentgen-ray tube 
before the New York Roentgen Ray Society. 


Dr. A. J. Hint, of New Hampshire, for 
twenty years a member of the Census Bureau 
and for several years chief statistician, has 
been appointed assistant director of the census. 


GovERNOR SPROUL, of Pennsylvania, has ap- 
pointed Dr. John M. Baldy as commissioner of 
welfare under the law which was passed at the 
last session of the legislature. The law creates 
a department of welfare to take over the work of 
the old state Board of Public Charities, the 
Lunacy Commission, the Prison Labor Board 
and other related activities. Dr. Baldy has 
been president of the State Board of Medical 
Education and Licensure since its creation in 
1911, and is succeeded in this office by Dr. 
Irvin D. Metzger, Pittsburgh. 


Tue British Civil List pensions granted 
during the year ended March 31, 1921, as re- 
ported in Nature, amounted to 1,2001., and in- 
elude the following: Mrs. Frederick Enock, 
in recognition of her husband’s services to 
natural science and entomology, 1001.; Mr. 
Edward Greenly, in recognition of his services 
in the geological survey of Anglesey, 80/.; Mrs. 
J. A. McClelland, in recognition of her hus- 
band’s distinguished services as an investi- 
gator in physical science, 100/.; Mrs. and 
Miss Sharman, in recognition of Mr. George 
Sharman’s valuable services in paleontological 
science, 80/.; Mr. John Nugent Fitch, in recog- 
nition of his long services to the cause of 


Avcust 19, 1921] 


botany, horticulture, and natural history, '75I.; 
Mr. W. R. Hodgkinson, in recognition of his 
valuable scientific work in the public service, 
1001.; and Mr. Herbert Tomlinson, in recog- 
nition of his services as a teacher, and of his 
valuable and distinguished contributions to 
physical science, 1001. 


Tue title of emeritus professor of philosophy 
and comparative psychology in the University 
of London has been conferred on Mr. Carveth 
Read. 

A statuE of Donders, the great Dutch 
ophthalmologist and physiologist, was recently 
unveiled at Utrecht where he had been profes- 
sor of ophthalmology and of physiology until 
his death in 1889. 


Accorpine to the Journal of the American 
Medical Association, a tablet has been placed 
in the provincial hospital at Madrid commem- 
orating the work of Dr. Achicarro, the prom- 
ising young histologist whose untimely death 
occurred a few years ago. 


Tue name of Virtudes street in Havana has 
been officially changed to “ Mayor Gorgas,” 
and metal plates with the new name have been 
affixed. 


A TABLET with a portrait medallion of Sir 
William Ramsay, by Charles L. Hartwell, will 
‘be placed in Westminster Abbey as part of the 
Ramsay memorial. 

GrorceE TruMBULL Lapp, professor and 
emeritus professor of philosophy at Yale 
University for forty years, died on August 8, 
at the age of seventy-nine years. Dr. Ladd 
was the author of important books on phi- 
losophy and a leader in the development of 
physiological and experimental psychology. 

Dr. O. ScuMIEDEBERG, formerly professor of 
pharmacology at the University of Strasbourg, 
has died at the age of eighty-three years. 

AN examination for scientific assistant 
($1,400 a year) in the United States Bureau 
of Fisheries, will be held on September 21. 
Applicants will be rated chiefly upon zoology 
in its relation to the fisheries, and general 
tbiology. 

A BILL to create a Department of Health 


SCIENCE 


151 


has been introduced in the Japanese House 
of Representatives, in order to bring the 
various health organizations of the empire 
under the control of one department. 


An Institute of Pathological Anatomy, 
named after Professor Hlava, has recently 
been inaugurated at the University of Prague. 
The institute is described as being the largest 
and best equipped of its kind in Europe. 


THE Committee of the Fifth Cuban Medical 
Congress, which will be held in December 
next, has decided to invite American, French 
and Spanish physicians and surgeons to 
attend. 


AN international exhibition for the pro- 
motion of hygiene will be held at Amsterdam, 
Holland, from October 8 to November 8. 
The exhibition includes the following: Feed- 
ing, clothing, housing, bodily cleanliness, 
labor hygiene, sport, dental care, infants’ care, 
nursing, food adulterations, quack remedies, 
alcoholism, anti-tuberculosis movement, ma- 
laria, typhus, sex diseases, tropical hygiene, 
historical section. Apart from the above, 
there will be a commercial exhibition of 
clothing, foodstuffs and their packing, hous- 
ing devices, wall and floor coverings, wash- 
stands, bathroom fixtures, kitchen utensils, 
suction sweepers, baby clothing, baby articles, 
sport clothing, sport articles, surgical instru- 
ments, dressing, equipment for operating 
rooms, dentists’ and oculists’ equipment, etc. 
Further particulars may be had from the 
Netherlands Chamber of Commerce, Beaver 
Street, New York City. 


THe Journal of the American Medical 
Association states that in the 1921 budget of 
the German government department for 
science and art, one specification is for 800,000 
marks to continue the study of the Fried- 
mann remedy for tuberculosis. Already 
several hundred thousand marks of govern- 
ment appropriations have been spent on the 
committee conducting the research. The 
Deuteshe medizinische Wochenschrift is quoted 
as remarking that it would be better to devote 
the money to maintaining the sanatoriums 
which are closing their doors for lack of 


152 


funds. The social insurance authorities have 
had to close the children’s sanatorium at 
Lichtenberg and dismiss the personnel, and 
the full utilization of the great sanatorium at 
Beelitz is threatened. 


Tue Henry Phipps Institute of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania has received a grant 
of $25,000 a year from the Carnegie Corpor- 
ation, and $25,000 for two years from the uni- 
versity trustees. The conditions which must 
be met that advantage may be taken of the 
Carnegie grant are, first, the grant itself be 
expended for research, and second, there shall 
be previously expended for research not less 
than $50,000 a year, derived from other 
sources, in any year in which this grant is 
claimed. 


A CORRESPONDENT writes: “Dr. E. H. Sel- 
lards, geologist in the bureau of economic 
geology of the University of Texas, has been 
given leave from the University in order to 
undertake geologic investigations for the 
State of Texas in the Attorney General’s 
Department relating to the Texas-Oklahoma 
boundary line on the Red River. The United 
States Supreme Court has held that the 
treaty of 1819 between the United States and 
Spain made the south bank of Red River 
the boundary between the two countries, and 
that by subsequent treaties and congressional 
acts this line as defined by the treaty with 
Spain has become the boundary line between 
Texas and Oklahoma on the Red River. 
However, there remain undetermined the 
questions : What constitutes the south bank 
of this river; where was the south bank 
approximately one hundred years ago when 
the treaty with Spain was made ; and by what 
process has the river departed from its 
position of one hundred years ago, that is 
has the river moved gradually as by accretion 
to its. banks, or suddenly as by ovulsion. 
The actual location of the boundary line 
between the two states for a distance of three 
hundred miles or more is contingent upon the 
Supreme Court’s decision on these points to be 
made in accordance with the evidence that 
may be presented.” 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1390 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 


‘Vassar CoLLecE receives $150,000, and Bar- 
nard College, Yale University, the University 
of Rochester and Colgate College, $10,000 each, 
by the will of the late Dr. Henry M. Sanders, 
formerly pastor of the Madison Avenue Bap- 
tist Church, of New York City. 


Dr. P. P. Cuaxton, recently United States 
commissioner of education, has accepted the 
provostship of the University of Alabama. 


SEcreTary WEEKS, of the Department of 
War, has asked the University of Pennsylvania 
to release Major General Leonard Wood from 
his promise to become provost of the univer- 
sity in order that he may be free to accept the 
governor generalship of the Philippines. 


As an ad interim measure, Dean Stanley 
Coulter has been appointed chairman of the 
faculty of Purdue University by the board of 
trustees and will administer all academic in- 
terests, while financial matters will be han- 
dled by a member of the board. 


Dr. Cuartes D. Snyper has been appointed 
professor of experimental physiology in the 
Johns Hopkins University. 


Dr. JoHn C. Donatpson has accepted ap- 
pointment as assistant professor of anatomy 
in the school of medicine of the University 
of Pittsburgh. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
ANOTHER HIGH-TEMPERATURE RECORD FOR 
GROWTH AND ENDURANCE 
A TEMPERATURE record for growth and en- 
durance of developing joints above that of any 
previously given was published by the senior 
author in Science for April 15, 1921. Young 
joints of Opuntia were found to continue 
elongation at 55° C. (131° F.) and to endure 
this temperature so that development was 
continued normally at lower and accustomed 
temperatures in March at the Desert Labora- 

tory. 
Measurements on other individuals with the 
advance of the season confirmed the earlier 


Aveust 19, 1921] 


results and have established a new high-tem- 
perature limit for active protoplasm in higher 
plants, also a new endurance record. The 
principal facts are as follows: 

1. Joints of Opuntia were observed to main- 
tain a fair rate of enlargement when at a 
temperature of 56.5° C., the air surrounding 
them being at 58° C. (187° F.). 

2. Growth of young joints of Opuntia the 
temperature of which rose to 62° OC. (144° F.) 
in an air temperature of 63° C. (146° F.) 
stopped and some shrinkage ensued, but growth 
or enlargement was resumed when their tem- 
perature fell to 50° C. 

3. The young joints which were subjected 
to these temperatures were about 15 to 20 mm. 
in width and 25 mm. in length, and after being 
held at or near the record temperatures for 
an hour or more, which was repeated in one 
ease, carried forward normal development, 
reaching maturity at a normal average of 100 
mm. in width and 130 mm. in length. 

4. It is to be noted that data from observa- 
tions in which temperatures were taken from 
the air or from water in which the roots or 
aerial parts of plants were immersed, have 
but little value in any estimation of the work- 
ing temperature of active protoplasm by reason 
of the abnormal hydration and transpiration 
conditions introduced. These conditions as 
well as the proportions and state of the main 
colloidal components must determine the tem- 
perature effects. 

D. T. MacDovaat, 
Eart B. Workine 
DeEsErT LABORATORY, 
Tucson, ARIZONA 


A CALCULATOR FOR CONVERTING GAS CHAIN 
VOLTAGE INTO EQUIVALENT Cy, OR 
Py VALUES 

In the determination of hydrogen-ion con- 
centrations by electrometric methods employ- 
ing the hydrogen electrode, the step of find- 
ing the Cy, or py value from the measured 
voltage, with the aid of the working formula, 
though not difficult, is time-consuming. The 
extensive tables of Schmidt and Hoagland?! 


1 Univ. of Cal. Pub. in Physiol., 5, 23, 1919. 


SCIENCE 


153 


simplify the process considerably. They give, 
in parallel columns, the voltages measured be- 
tween a hydrogen electrode and a tenth-nor- 
mal, and between the hydrogen electrode and 
a normal calomel ‘electrode, respectively. . 
With these are given the corresponding py, 
Cu+ and Con- values, respectively. If the 
calomel electrode — because of difference in 
concentration of its potassium chloride solu- 
tion, for example — has a different value, 
against the normal hydrogen electrode, from 
those assumed in these tables, a simple com- 
putation is necessary. 

By definition, py——log Cy,, and the 
working equation, derived from WNernst’s 
equation, shows these quantities to be linearly 
proportional to the measured voltage. If in 
all cases we had to deal with a single unvary- 
ing reference potential, the simplest proced- 
ure would be to draw the straight line, ex- 
pressing the relationship, on a chart of rect- 
angular coordinates, and to use this as the con- 
version chart. This plan, however, is not 
practicable in its application to all cases, be- 
cause of the preferences of different workers 
for different types of reference electrodes.? 
Some prefer the tenth-normal, others the nor- 
mal, still others the saturated type. In any 
given type, there are likely to be minor differ- 
ences between different electrodes. To be able 
to apply the graphic chart to all cases requires 
that the straight line be capable of being 
shifted, parallel to itself at! any one tempera- 
ture, to correspond to the fundamental poten- 
tial of the reference electrode being used. 

Since it is a straight line relationship with 
which we are dealing, and since the varia- 
tions mentioned do not change the slope of 
line, an instrument of the slide-rule pattern 
is not only feasible, but highly practicable. 
For convenience, the circular type was chosen. 
The Cy, and pq scales are engraved on a 
disk 125 mm. in diameter. From the relation 
between these two quantities, their main divi- 
sions coincide; e.g., for py—8, Oy,= 10-8. 

2A graphic conversion chart of the kind men- 
tioned is reproduced in ‘‘Electrometrie Methods 
and Apparatus for Determining Hydrogen-ion Con- 
eentrations,’’ L. & N. Co., 1920, p. 25. 


154 


Of these main divisions there are 14, covering 
the entire range from normal acid to normal 
alkaline reaction. The 125 mm. disk is 
mounted by means of a central pivot on a 
second disk, having its scale of voltage around 
the circumference of the first. The range of 
the latter extends from 0.24 to 1.17 volts. 
Concentric with the disks is a movable arm 
of transparent celluloid, with a radial hair- 
line scribed upon it, to facilitate making 
readings. The points on the voltage scale cor- 
responding to the potentials of tenth-normal, 
normal and saturated KCl calomel cells are 
marked, as a matter of convenience. The 
temperature for which the slide-rule gives 
correct readings is 25° C. 

To use the instrument, the zero mark of 
the circular scale is set on the voltage corre- 
sponding to the reference electrode being used. 
The hair-line is set to indicate the measured 
voltage, and the corresponding py and Cy, 
readings appear under the hair-line on the 
inner disk. Settings are possible to an ac- 
curacy of -£0.5 millivolt. 

The slide-rule can be used equally well 
when the reference electrode, instead of being 
the usual calomel half-cell, is a hydrogen elec- 
trode of known potential relative to the stand- 
ard solution in which it is immersed. What- 
ever the nature of the fixed electrode, the 
change in potential difference at the ter- 
minals of the gas chain is 59.1 millivolts for 
each decimal change in the concentration. 
The graduation of the inner disk. is based 
upon this assumption, which makes it appli- 
eable to any case. 

Because of the fact that so few data are 
available on the variations of gas chain elec- 
tromotive forces with temperature, it seems 
advisable, pending an accumulation of reliable 
information on this point, to make measure- 
ments at a temperature of 25° whenever this 
is possible. 

Paut E. Kiopstea 


MATHEMATICS IN SPANISH-SPEAKING 
COUNTRIES 
THe Spanish-speaking countries publish 
only one journal devoted to advanced mathe- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1390 


matics, which is now called Revista Mate- 
matica Hispano-Americana and is published 
at Madrid, Spain, under editorship of J. Rey 
Pastor. In view of the fact that the professors 
of mathematics in so many countries can ob- 
tain no other advanced mathematical journal 
in their own language one might suppose that 
this periodical would not suffer for want of 
suitable manuscripts or sufficient financial 
support. 

Such a supposition is, however, not in ac- 
cord with the facts, judging from a eall is- 
sued recently by its editor. In this eall it is 
stated that there is now an almost complete 
lack of Spanish mathematical production and 
that it has been necessary therefore to publish 
an excessive number of articles by the same 
authors. It is also stated that nearly all 
Spanish professional mathematicians occupy 
the position of spectators and critics, and thus 
place the burden of doing the work connected 
with the periodical on the shoulders of one or 
two men. 

In view of the fact that in the English- 
speaking countries of America the mathe- 
matical journals are now overcrowded by 
suitable manuscripts offered for publication it 
is interesting to note that just the opposite is 
true in the Spanish-speaking countries of this 
continent. As was noted in Screncz, N. S., 
volume 34, page 872, the Spanish-speaking 
people organized a mathematical society in 
1911. This society has been fairly successful 
in awakening among them an interest in the 
newer fields of mathematics, but, judging from 
the call noted above, which was directed to 
the members of this society, it seems that this 
interest is still far from being general and 
effective. 

G. A. Miniter 


UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


THE EARLIEST BEES, WASPS AND ANTS 


Ir seems desirable to correct some state- 
ments appearing in text-books of geology, 
which lead students to imagine that we are 
acquainted with bees, wasps and ants from 
Mesozoic strata. Thus, Professor J. W. Miller, 


Aveust 19, 1921] 


in his “Introduction to Historical Geology ” 
(1916), says (p. 2382): 

Insects such as bees, ants and wasps made their 
first appearance in the Jurassic. 

Dr. C. Schuchert, in “ Historical Geology ” 
(“ Text-book of Geology,” part 2), 1915, p. 812, 
states that “ with the Comanchian . . . insects 
(beetles, flies, ants, bees, wasps) took their rise.” 
As a matter of fact, the oldest known bees are 
from Baltic amber (Oligocene Tertiary), and 
the oldest known true wasps and ants are from 
the Eocene. In the Jurassic, the peculiar 
family Pseudosiricide, apparently related to 
the modern Siricide, were well represented. 
One species of this extinct family (Megapte- 
rites mirabilis Ckll.) has lately been described 
from the English Eocene. There is a very 
dubious Jurassic Hymenopterous insect from 
Spain, supposed to be related to the Ichneu- 
monide. These Hymenoptera were not in any 
way adapted to be pollinators of flowers. Con- 
sidering the development of the Hymenoptera 
in the Eocene, it may ‘be presumed that the 
wasps and ants, at least, originated as early as 
the Cretaceous, but there is no direct evidence 
on the point. 

T. D, A. CocKkERELL 

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 

THE PNEUMATIC PARADOX IN ACOUSTICS 

1. Tue following pretty experiment is very 
instructive in its bearing on the Mayer- 
Dvorak effect, as well as on the experiments 
of the present paper. In the figure, b is the 
light wooden beam (30 em. long, counter- 
poised at a) of a horizontal torsion balance, 
the torsion wire (of brass, .02 em. in diameter 
and 18 cm. long on either side normal to the 
diagram) being seen at w. A light disc of 
cardboard d is suspended in equilibrium from 
the end of the balance. Below this is the 
telephone T to which the brass pipe p (13 cm. 
in length and 2.6 cm. in diameter) has been 
cemented, to form of a closed c’’ organ pipe 
of which the telephone plate is the bottom. 
The open top of p is surrounded by a fixed 
annular dise cc of metal parallel and close 
to the movable dise d. 


SCIENCE 


155 


When the telephone is strongly energized 
and emits a rising note (motor break and rheo- 
stat), no effect is produced until its frequency 
is in resonance with the pipe p, whereupon the 
dise d is at once attracted. Since the pipe p 
is closed above by this process, the telephone 
frequency must be slightly reduced to keep 
the dises in cohesion. On breaking the cur- 


rent d is at once released. 


This is of course nothing further than a 
modified example of the familiar pneumatic 
paradox. When the pipe howls, the distance 
from which d may be attracted and held is 
perhaps 2 ecm. beyond which the couche of 
diminished static pressure is ineffective. The 
thickness vanishes with the intensity of sound. 

2. If now ce is removed and the dise d is 
replaced by the closed paper cylinder e of a 
diameter (2.1 cm.) sufficiently small to enter 
the mouth of p easily, the results of the ex- 
periment are the same. Here however the 
cylinder e may be made to enter the pipe as 
much.as 1 cm. or more by successively decreas- 
ing the pitch, conformably by the gradually 
stopped mouth of p. Supposing the total dis- 
placement to be 2 em., the force indicated by 
the torsion balance would be .7 dyne and the 
mean pressure decrement for the area 3.5 
em.2, therefore .2 dynes/cm.2 But as both the 
dise and cylinder come down with a jerk, the 
maximum forces are probably larger. 

If there were a pin hole in the bottom of e, 


156 


the density of air contained would tend to in- 
crease and the cylinder fall for this reason 
also. But the present experiment is relatively 
too crude to show this. For the content of 
the cylinder e (6 cm. long) may be taken 
as 33 milligrams of air. The forces registered 
by the pinhole valve in experiments with reso- 
nators did not exceed dp|p—=3 > 10-*. Thus 
the increment of weight of e is but 10-2 dyne, 
which would lower the index of the torsion 
balance only .3 mm. 

8. Finally let the closed cylinder e be re- 
placed by the cylinder r open below and 
capable of entering the pipe p. Let the length 
of r be such that the open cylinder is in 
resonance with p. Then the conditions of the 
experiment are obviously improved (though 
not as much so in the experiment as antici- 
pated!) ; but the results will still be the same 
in character. The open end of r will tend to 
enter the sounding pipe p; which is the 
equivalent of the Mayer-Dvorak experiment, 
here exhibited without any “neck” effect and 
without air currents. 

4. I may add a comparison of the pin-hole 
compression observed in the given pipe (2.6 
cm. diameter and 13 em. long) when sounding 
loudly (4.e., when resistance in the telephone 
circuit has been reduced as much as possible) 
and the compression observed in the open 
organ pipe of the standard form on the inter- 
ferometer. The embouchured organ pipe, 
tested on the interferometer,? showed for the 
maximum compression dp |p=10-° X14 in 
case of a moderately loud note. The telephone 
closed pipe, tested with the pin-hole valve at 
the end of a quill tube thrust well within, 
gave a displacement of 20 fringes with 2,000 
ohms in circuit. This is equivalent to a pres- 
sure increment of .0120 em. of mercury when 
but 100 ohms are in circuit, as was approxi- 
mately the case in the experiments of this 
paragraph. Thus in case of the probe 
dp |p=1.6 X10-*. Reservoirs at the U-tube 
of different volumes showed the same quanti- 

1 On varnishing the paper resonator to stiffen it, 
forces above 2 dynes per em.2 were directly meas- 
ured, 

2 Science, LII., p. 47. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1390 


tative result. The increment (compression) 
does not quite vanish even in the plane of the 
mouth of p, but a little beyond. The ratio of 
the two compressions is thus 87; but while the 
interferometer direct gives a fringe displace- 
ment rarely exceeding 1, the pin-hole valve, 
under like conditions, will give fringe dis- 
placements easily several hundred times larger, 
depending on the degree of approach to the 
critical diameter of the pin hole. 


Cart Barus 
Brown UNIVERSITY, PROVIDENCE, R. I. 


THE KENTUCKY ACADEMY OF 
SCIENCE 


Tue Kentucky Academy of Science held its 
eighth annual meeting on May 14th at the Uni- 
versity of Kentucky, Lexington. The meeting 
was called to order at 9:30 o’clock by President 
Coolidge. 

The secretary’s report showed 127 members, in- 
eluding 44 national members, 55 local members, 
21 corresponding members and 7 honorary mem- 
bers. These represent 37 different lines of ac; 
tivity of which chemistry leads with 26 members. 
Twenty-one new members were elected. 

The report of the committee on legislation pro- . 
posed a large program to be worked for, including 
a state appropriation for the support of the acad- 
emy; awarding prizes for research; increased ap- 
propriations for completing the topographical map 
of the state and soil surveys; a natural history 
survey of the state and the establishment of a 
natural history museum; increase in the teaching of 
science in the high schools; the preservation of the 
records of drilled wells; the setting aside of areas 
for preserving natural conditions and the endorse- 
ment of the law now before Congress to make 
Mammoth Cave and its environs a national park. 
This report was adopted. 

The officers elected were: 

President, George D. Smith, State Normal School, 

Richmond, Ky. 

Vice-president, Lucien Beckner, Winchester, Ky. 

Secretary, A. M. Peter, Experiment Station, Lex- 
ington, Ky. 

Treasurer, Charles A. Shull, University of Ken- 
tucky, Lexington, Ky. 

Member of Publications Committee, D. W. Mar- 
tin, Georgetown College, Georgetown, Ky. 

Representative in the Council of the A, A. A. S., 
A. M. Peter. 


The program included an address by Dr. Henry 


Aveust 19, 1921] 


B. Ward which was the principal feature of the 
afternoon session, 


The following program was rendered: 


President’s address: 
training to industry: 


The relation of chemical 
W. H. Coouimnes. 


An experiment in mental and physical correla- 
tion: J. J. TiGrrT, University of Kentucky, Lex- 
ington, Ky. By title. 

Summary of the Thurstone intelligence tests for 
college freshmen and high-school seniors: WALTER 
E. Ervin, Centre College. The average of 58 
freshmen tested was 83, ranging from 30-39 (one 
student) to 150-159, The author remarks that 
such tests are not conclusive as to the mental equip- 
ment of any boy or girl, but they are helpful by 
placing the student in the school with more fair- 
ness, 


The tragedy of the passenger pigeon: GEORGE 
D. Smiru, Eastern Kentucky State Normal School, 
The author described his observation of the whole- 
sale destruction of the pigeons in their roosting 
place in a marsh, at night, by persons who came 
for miles around for this purpose, and hauled 
away the dead birds by the wagon load. This 
incident seems to have been one of the final stages 
in the extermination of the pigeon. 


The last warning of the rattler: Grorce D. 
SmirH, Eastern Kentucky State Normal School. 
The paper describes a fight which the author ob- 
served between a diamond rattlesnake and a large 
blue racer, The fight was long and fierce and 
ended in the destruction of the rattler. During 
the fight the racer is badly bitten by the rattler, 
hastens to a patch of weeds and bites several of 
the weeds, sucking out the juice. He then hastens 
back to renew the combat. In the progress of the 
fight the juice of the weed was applied a second 
time and the racer rushed back to renew the 
fight as before. 


Absorption in the corn grain: 
SHULL, University of Kentucky. 


Orthogenesis in the Membracide: W. D. FuNK- 
HOUSER, University of Kentucky. The attempt to 
explain the remarkable developments of the pro- 
notum in the family Membracide by natural se- 
lection fails in the cases of the most bizarre and 
curious tropical forms. Poulton and others have 
suggested explanations based on protective colora- 
tion and mimicry which must be earried into the 
realm of speculation when applied to certain exotic 
species, Certain genera, including Heteronotus, 
Centrotus, Pyrgonota and Spongophorus, seem to 


CHARLES A. 


SCIENCE 


157 


show very regular pronotal development along 
definite lines when traced from the more general- 
ized to specialized forms. This is particularly 
true of the length and position of the supra- 
humeral, dorsal and posterior horns. These devel- 
opments seem in many cases to be entirely with- 
out regard to utility and even to threaten the 
existence of the species. In comparison with 
the classical example of the Irish elk, many spe- 
cies of Membracide seem to show even greater 
evidence of orthogenesis. 


The progress of Kentucky in the second decade 
of the twentieth century: EpWarD TUTHILL, Uni- 
versity of Kentucky 


Kentucky petroleum problems: LUCIEN BECKNER. 
Kentucky offers many problems in petroleum ge- 
ology which the consulting geologist and the ge- 
ologist of the private company seldom have time 
to solve. The larger anticlines, the Cincinnati, 
north and south, and the Kentucky, east and west, 
present their peculiar characters that are not yet 
well understood. The author points out many 
problems which, could they be solved, would save 
the useless expenditure of thousands of dollars 
and probably result in the production of much 
wealth. 

The first food of young black bass: H. GARMAN, 
Experiment Station, Lexington, Ky. A study of 
the food by use of the microscope on the stomach 
contents of both large- and small-mouthed black 
bass, taken from the State Hatchery pools at 


Forks of Elkhorn, Kentucky, showed that the 


dietary of both species during the first five weeks 
of their active lives consists of small crustaceans 
belonging to the orders Cladocera and Entomo- 
straca, and of insect larve belonging to the dip- 
terous family Chironomide. The percentages of 
the different kinds of food were determined and, 
as far as practicable, an exact determination was 
made of the crustacean species most prevalent in 
the dietaries. The purpose of the study was to 
learn just what food was most relished and how 
it might be influenced artificially for the benefit 
of young fishes produced at the hatchery. 

The tolerance of hogs for arsenic: D. J. 
HEALY and W. W. Dimock, Experiment Station, 
Lexington, There is a popular belief that hogs 
are not very susceptible to arsenical poisoning and 
an examination of the literature failed to dis- 
close a record of arsenical poisoning in hogs. 
The results of four tests made by administering 
arsenic trioxid are given. The total of 11 shoats 
received large doses of arsenic trioxid; in some 


158 


cases the doses were enormous. Nine of the 


shoats received, in addition to the arsenic, hog. 


cholera virus. One animal died from acute ar- 
senical poisoning, one from acute cholera, and one 
from an undetermined cause. It would appear 
from these results that young hogs possess a marked 
tolerance for arsenic trioxid. 


Growing seedlings in test tubes with only filter 
paper pulp and distilled water: Mary DIDLAKE, 
Experiment Station, Lexington. The lower third 
of a test-tube is filled loosely with crumpled strips 
of filter paper, enough water to cover the paper 
is added and the tube plugged with cotton and 
sterilized in the autoclav. Sterilized seeds may be 
dropped in and allowed to germinate and grow. 
Soybean, cowpea, garden bean, garden pea, Can- 
ada field pea, vetch, alfalfa, red clover, Japan 
clover, velvet bean, peanut, locust, acacia, corn, 
wheat, hemp, and morning glory have been grown 
successfully in this way. Plants will grow 
thriftily for a month or six weeks. 


Effect of frost and ‘‘sotl stain’’ on the keeping 
quality of sweet potatoes: A, J. OLNEY, Univer- 
sity of Kentucky. When the vines were cut away 
before frost, only 4 per cent. of the potatoes spoiled 
after storage at about 60 to 65° F. When the 
vines were cut immediately after a freeze, no loss 
occurred. When the vines were cut 5 days after 
the freeze the loss was 88 per cent. Potatoes badly 
affected with soil stain (Monilochaetes infuscans) 
but otherwise sound, sustained a loss of 55 per 
cent., while healthy checks suffered a loss of 12 
per cent. Potatoes wrapped with paper sustained 
a loss of 20 per cent., as against 12 per cent. in 
those unwrapped. 


Attempted inter-species crosses of the genus 
Nicotiana; G, C, Rourr. Crosses were attempted 
among 7 species of Nicotiana. Of 911 flowers ex- 
perimented with, 201 set seed. Only 4 of the 19 
combinations proved fertile in both crosses and 
reciprocals, 4 proved fertile in one way only, and 
11 proved infertile. Plants have not yet been 
grown from the seed obtained. 

The production of antitoxin: Morris SCHERAGO, 
University of Kentucky. The method of producing 
diphtheria and tetanus antitoxin is described from 
the time the flasks of media are inoculated for the 
production of the homologous toxin until the anti- 
toxin is ready for distribution. The factors in- 
fluencing the potency of a toxin are discussed and 
the method of estimating the M. F. D. is outlined. 
The immunization of horses is discussed including 
the types of animals desired, preliminary treat- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1390 


ment, dosage and time of injection. The time for 
taking trial bleedings and regular bleedings is 
indicated and the standardization of antitoxin is 
briefly discussed. The method of concentrating 
antitoxin is also described and discussed. 


The inefficiency of the efficiency expert: P. K. 
Houmes, University of Kentucky. Efficiency is 
the keynote in modern industry. Our modern 
‘‘captains of industry’’ are giant efficiency ex- 
perts. They often fail at the vital point because 
they do not apply their principles of efficiency to 
their own living, although they demand it of their 
employees who handle delicate machinery or as- 
sume big responsibilities for them. Big business 
can not long be efficiently done on artificial stimu- 
lants and by flabby muscles and shortness of 
wind. In the struggle for business supremacy 
only the strong survive. We must no longer be 
satisfied to live on a low health plane. We must 
have as our standard positive, and not negative, 
health. Such only is the basis of general effi- 
ciency. 

On the trail of the Alaska salmon: Dr. HENRY 
B. Warp, University of Lllinois. The marvelous 
life history of the Alaska salmon has been worked 
out by the combined efforts of many investigators. 
In the early summer the adult fish appear off the 
coast, move forward into the inlets, start up 
stream, ultimately reach their spawning grounds, — 
and having spawned, die. No adult salmon ever 
returns to salt water. The eggs rest in their gravel 
nests over winter and hatch out in the spring; the 
young fry play about in fresh water, descending 
slowly the streams until they disappear into the 
ocean. The markings on the scales carry a pre- 
cise record of the age and wanderings of the fish 
in fresh water and in the ocean. Reasons for their 
movements in fresh water are not yet so well de- 
termined. The course they follow is very precise 
but the influences that direct it are still unknown. 
Partial explanations of the movements are to be 
found in the influences of the current of the 
stream and the temperature of the water. The 
application of these principles to special instances 
indicates the extent to which they serve to ex- 
plain the complex problems involved in migration. 
The author deseribed many of his observations 
while studying the salmon in Alaskan waters. He 
also brought out forcibly the importance of 
Alaska’s natural resources, of which the salmon 
is one of the greatest. 

ALFRED M, PETsr, 
Secretary 


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SCIENCE 


Froay, Aucust 26, 1921 


The American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science: 


Whose Business is the Public Health: Pro- 
FESSOR FREDERICK P, GAY.........+....-- 159 


The Aboriginal Population of California: 


Proressor A. L. KROEBER..............-- 162 
The Centenary of the Birth of Hermann von 
Helmholtz: Dr. T. C. MENDENHALL...... 163 
Scientific Events: 
Deaths of German Men of Science; Prog- 
ress in the Work of Mapping the United 
States; The Tongass National Forest; The 
Roosevelt Wild Life Memorial............ 165 
Scientific Notes and News...........s.s+005 167 
University and Educational News........... 169 
Discussion and Correspondence: 
The Temple Hill Mastodon: SHERMAN C. 
BisHop. A More Phenomenal Shoot: W. F. 
Prouty. A Phytophthora Parasitic on 
Peony: Dr. H. W. TuHurston, JR., and C. 
RIGOR TONG Us cheiepeternis i oboheier eerste pack ste/s «ele oles 170 
Quotations: 
Fair Weather Predictions................ 171 
Special Articles: 
The Duboscq Type of Colorimeter for the 
Demonstration of Differences in Surface 
Tension: Dr. FREDERICK S. HAMMETT. 
Variation of Individual Pigs in Economy of 
Gains) (DRI. ROBERTSAs sos piss eles 6 172 
The American Chemical Society: Dr. CHARLES 


WG PAR SONS) Mh ercrersts rst ver ieee vo ciclo 174 


MSS. intended for ‘publication and books, etc.,intended for 
review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. 


=—=——=a, 
WHOSE BUSINESS IS THE 
PUBLIC HEALTH??* 


Tue larger the field of usefulness of any sci- 
ence or art, the more obvious its applications, 
the greater is its danger of exploitation. Just as 
real estate and insurance attract the business 
incompetent so does public health attract the 
intellectual “piker.” All things to all men, 
dripping with statistical odds and ends, full 
of startling though often uncontrolled results, 
stamped with the hall-mark of altruism, public 
health draws the well-meaning and self-seek- 
ing alike. Even when based on the greatest 
accuracy that science affords it often becomes 
essentially inaccurate through the medium of 
its interpreters and its employment. 

In this large forest of accuracies and inac- 
curacies, of scientific principles and their ap- 
plication, it would seem that one should coun- 
sel simplification rather than elaboration—and 
yet my idea is that we have not thought of 
public health in a large enough way—we have 
indeed failed to see the woods for the trees. 
What then is public health? 

Let us recall, to begin with, that “ health ” 
means a normal condition not only of body 
but of mind and morals as well. We may 
stretch our definition a little further and fol- 
lowing Henderson demand that “ health” in- 
clude not only a normal individual but a nor- 
mal environment. The business of public 
health then consists in the detection, correc- 
tion and prevention of the maladjustments of 
human life, individual and collective. The 
forces of public health are engaged in war 
against “The Kingdom of Evil.” Some of 
you may recall the service that Southard ren- 
dered social workers in offering them an or- 
derly classification of their labors. The analy- 


1 Address read in a Symposium on Science and 
the Public Health before the Pacifie Division of 
the American Association for the Advancement 
of Science, Aug. 4, 1921. 


160 


sis of social maladjustment, according to 
Southard (1), should first of all be on the 
basis of the individual rather than the family 
and should proceed by a “ process of orderly 
exclusion,” weighing in turn the significance 
of disease, vice, delinquency, ignorance and 
poverty. These, then, are the provinces of the 
kingdom of evil. 

We should conceive the public health pro- 
gram as embracing and extending this field of 
social service. I find it easy to explain how 
public health embraces this inclusive scheme 
of Southard’s, but more difficult to state just 
how it extends it, other than in the way of 
specialized correction. Social work can 
scarcely be confined to simple detection of evil, 
leaving its correction and prevention to a more 
inclusive public health. Social work may 
then be a mere synonym for public health but 
of course the social worker as now conceived 
would be only one of the cogs in the machine. 

To re-define, it is the function of public 
health to spy out and remedy the “ills that 
flesh is heir to,” to deal with the individual 
and collective problems of disease, ignorance, 
vice, crime and poverty. It is evident we have 
here the whole tissue of human altruism, and 
have far outstripped the meaning of public 
health in common speech. What then are the 
discrepancies between the term “public 
health” as currently employed and the larger 
definition which, with possible prevision, I 
have here given. 

Let us here correlate very briefly recent in- 
formation as to the scope of public health. 
There exist in this country several well-estab- 
lished curricula, schools, or institutes of pub- 
lic health. What are the vocational fields for 
which they train their students? In what do 
their courses of training consist? 

There are several statements by experts on 
the careers that are open to properly qualified 
students in public health work. Vincent (2), 
Winslow (3) and Ferrell (4) have all expressed 
themselves on this matter and with con- 
siderable unanimity. We may construct 
from their articles a composite picture of the 
public health field as they conceive it, as 
viewed from the aspect of its opportunities. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1391 


One of the most interesting aspects of our 
field is that it offers opportunities of useful- 
ness to individuals of several different degrees 
of intellectual training. Thus we find that a 
class “A” which we may designate as “ skilled 
workers” is required: clerks, stenographers, 
accountants and laboratory technicians. These 
individuals after an ordinary high-school edu- 
cation are trained through apprenticeship. 

Class B includes the “ professional work- 
ers.” These individuals are the specialists and 
their assistants, with collegiate and usually 
graduate training and comprise several groups: 

1. Administrators: directors of public health 
schools, public health laboratories, bureaus 
and the like. 

2. Laboratory workers: statisticians, bac- 
teriologists, zoologists with various subgroups, 
immunologists, chemists and physiologists. 

8. Field workers: public health nurses, sani- 
tary engineers, epidemiologists, physicians, 
particularly school health officers, and social 
workers. 

Although there is rather general agreement 
concerning most of these occupations and pro- 
fessions that together compose “ public health ” 
as now understood, it is evident that new 
groups are being added, that there are as yet 
“ untilled fields,” as Winslow has expressed it. 

If vocational fields as ample as these exist, 
if tillers of these fields are in demand it is 
evident that they must be trained in other 
than the haphazard way that was necessary 
with the pioneers. Hence the “school of 
public health ” the present conception of which 
now occupies us. A survey of the courses re- 
quired and offered in four of the leading 
schools of public health in this country, 
Harvard-Technology, Yale, Pennsylvania and 
Johns Hopkins, shows certain accepted stan- 
dards and suggests the lines of further ad- 
vance that are contemplated. We shall not 
here concern ourselves with prerequisites and 
degrees granted but consider only what may be 
regarded as the fullest training offered. 

It is evident that public health training for 
other than medical graduates requires prac- 
tically the first two years as given in first 
class medical schools, that is, complete courses 


AucusT 26, 1921] 


in at least physiology, biochemistry and bac- 
teriology. Anatomy is required at Hopkins 
and Harvard and the latter school also requires 
introductory pathology. It is evident that we 
are approaching the curriculum recently advo- 
eated by Sedgwick (5), who advised identical 
training for medicine and public health stu- 
dents for two years with divergent paths for 
two years more. Public health further re- 
quires somewhat more elaborate training of its 
students in certain branches of zoology, notably 
in parasitology, protozoology, helminthology 
and entomology, than is usually required of 
medical students. 

Then come the medical and pre-medical 
sciences specifically applied to public health 
problems. Advanced physiology particularly 
of fatigue, respiration, climatology and ven- 
tilation; chemistry as applied to nutrition and 
metabolism, food, food adulteration and sani- 
tation; bacteriology as applied in public health 
laboratories and to sanitary engineering. 

And lastly are the public health sciences 
properly speaking: vital statistics, public 
health administration, sanitary law, sanitary 
engineering, epidemiology, school inspection, 
control of contagious diseases, and the like. 

The total curriculum is certainly medical 
enough in aspect, which accounts for the very 
natural supposition in the minds of the gen- 
eral public and of many of the medical pro- 
fession that public health is simply another 
specialty of medicine. How far wrong this 
conception is I shall hope to bring out a little 
later. Let it suffice here to note that the 
medical bulk of public health as outlined in 
schools of public health is preventive medi- 
eine and not curative medicine, medical sci- 
ence and not medical art. This is clearly 
brought out by the almost complete absence in 
all these curricula of the medical clinic. The 
hospital is not a necessary adjunct in public 
health training. 

In finally considering the scope of public 
health we may glance at it as mirrored in cur- 
rent textbooks. Here at least no practical con- 
sideration of money or men need limit the 
field to be covered.1| Again the main emphasis 

1Rosenau (6), Park (7), and Abel (8) were 
consulted in this connection. 


SCIENCE 


161 


very properly lies in disease prevention with 
rather more emphasis than in the course out- 
lines on certain correlated branches of per- 
sonal hygiene and community welfare; the 
construction of dwellings; the question of 
clothing; the group care of infants and school 
children; health measures as applied to pris- 
ons, to armies, to transportation, and the 
tropics. A wider field is suggested by mention 
at least of such deeply specialized fields as 
mental hygiene (Park) and eugenics (Rose- 
nau). 

It is evident then from these summaries that 
public health is primarily concerned and prop- 
erly so with the abolition of disease and in 
this campaign has enlisted the cooperation of 
many specialists outside the field of medi- 
We suggest again that its future lies 
in the further assumption of the burden of 
combating ignorance, vice, crime, and poy- 
erty. What then is the actual and prospective 
personnel of the army of public health work- 
ers? Since disease is and will probably re- 
main its most serious, tangible and defeatable 
enemy the man with a medical training is the 
most considerable figure in the scheme. Un- 
doubtedly a full medical training remains 
the best foundation on which to base a fur- 
ther training in the broader field of public 
health. As an entire training medicine alone 
is inadequate, and to the type of mind that 
remains satisfied with accomplishment of the 
diagnosis and cure of an individual case of 
disease, it may even be detrimental. This is 
no place for the guild-consciousness of the 
practitioner of medicine. As a matter of fact 
the graduate in medicine is no longer of neces- 
sity the forwarder of those very sciences on 
which the art of medicine depends. If it be 
true that physiology, bacteriology, biochem- 
istry and anatomy are progressing in the 
hands of non-medical specialists to the ulti- 
mate advantage of medical practise, this is 
even more true of the field of public health. 
No one would dream of asserting that one 
must have a medical training to be a good 
sanitary engineer, social worker, or crimi- 
nologist. In this connection it is of interest 
to note that less than half the faculties of 


cine. 


162 


the Yale and of the John Hopkins Schools of 
Public Health are doctors of medicine. 

May I point out then in conclusion that 
there are a number of fields of human en- 
deavor that have been largely or entirely over- 
looked in efforts to present the scope of public 
health? They overlap each other and the 
fields already recognized. 

The whole field of social economics has been 
notably neglected. The study of poverty, care 
of dependents, the question of housing from 
the standpoint of the inhabitant; some con- 
ception of city government, and the labor 
problem may be mentioned as contributory in 
this training. 

Further consideration of industrial hygiene 
is necessary not simply from the standpoint 
of occupational diseases and accident preven- 
tion but from the aspect of labor education 
and efficiency. 

There is a group of studies that may be 
included under mental hygiene: psychology; 
abnormal psychology ; criminology, the studies 
of vice, and delinquency. Closely related 
thereto are the endeavors in child hygiene and 
child welfare, eugenics, juvenile court work 
and the like. 

Somewhere in the scheme I am sure should 
come certain aspects of physical education 
as a building method of the healthy mind and 
body. And perhaps, as Vincent has suggested, 
we should consider some forms at least of 
proper publicity and education of the masses 
jn the results of public health work. 

The whole business of public health action 
then seems dependent on those who have spe- 
cialized information in any one of the nu- 
merous branches that have and will comprise 
it. The further development of this art 
depends on those with successively larger 
visions of what’s wrong with the world. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


1. Southard, E. E. The Kingdom of Evil: <Ad- 
vantages of an Orderly Approach in Social 
Case Analyses. Proc. Nat. Conf. of Social 
Work. Pamphlet No. 179, 1918. 

2. Vincent, G. E. Publie Health Training in Uni- 
versities. Jour, A. M. A., 1917, 68, p. 
1013. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1391 


ie) 


. Winslow, C.-E. A. The Untilled Fields of Pub- 
lie Health. Science, 1920, 51, p. 23. 
4, Ferrell, J. A. Careers in Public Health Serv- 
ice. Jour. A. M. A., 1921, 76, p. 489. 
5. Sedgwick, W. T. Modern Medicine and the 
Public Health. Public Health Reports, 
1921, 36, p. 109. 
6. Rosenau, M. J. Preventive Medicine and Hy- 
giene. Appleton & Co., 1913. 
7. Park, W. H. Public Health and Hygiene. Lea 
and Febiger, 1921. 
8. Abel, R. Handbuch der Praktischen Hygiene. 
Fischer, 1913. 
FREDERICK P. Gay 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA © 


THE ABORIGINAL POPULATION OF 
CALIFORNIA * 


THE only attempt to compute the aboriginal 
population of California is that of C. Hart 
Merriam in the American Anthropologist for 
1905. His figure of 260,000 was obtained thus: 
In 1834 there were 30,000 converted Indians 
at the Missions. The addition of unconverted 
Indians within the Mission area would make 
40,000. The population at the Missions had 
suffered a decline; correct therefore to 50,000 
for aboriginal times. The Missionized area 
embraced one fifth of the habitable area of the 
state. The total would be 250,000; to which 
add 10,000 in the mountains and deserts. 

This computation appears to err on the side 
of the area tapped by the Missions, which 
should be estimated at one third rather than 
one fifth of the total, reducing the result to 
150,000 or 160,000. 

Calculations gradually made during the past 
twenty years suggest a still lower figure, 
133,000. This is the aggregate of the closest 
possible estimates which can be made for in- 
dividual tribes and groups. For instance, a 
elose survey of the Yurok shows them in- 
habiting between 50 and 55 settlements at the 
time of discovery. The houses averaged 6 per 
settlement, the inmates 7.5 per house. The 
total of approximately 2,500 for the Yurok, 
together with less complete data on number 

1 Abstract of a paper presented before the 
Section of Anthropology, American Association 
for the Advancement of Science, Chicago, 


Aveust 26, 1921] 


of settlements among neighboring tribes and 
valuations of their territory as to food sup- 
ply, allows figures to be set for these other 
tribes. The figures for the entire district can 
then be used as a check on estimates made 
independently from local sources for other 
districts, due regard being given to variety 
of geographic conditions. In this way the 
total is arrived at. 

The best early data are those from Spanish 
sources, which sometimes include approximate 
counts. Early American figures are usually 
impressionistic and exaggerated. 

A check is furnished by the large Yokuts 
group. Here Moraga in 1806 computed 3,760 
souls in thirteen tribelets, an average of 290. 
The inclusion of absentees might bring the 
figure to 850. Nearly 50 such tribes are known 
among the Yokuts, with a small part of their 
area unaccounted for. The total population 
of the stock thus was about 18,000. Its area 
embraced about one ninth of modern Cali- 
fornia and seems about average in food-sup- 
plying capacity. Multiplying 18,000 by 9 
gives 162,000. A deduction of one fifth for 
the larger blocks of high mountain and desert 
areas brings the total to about 180,000; a 
reasonable verification. 

Of course, no figure can be more than an 
approximation; but it seems at least highly 
probable that the native population fell be- 
tween 120,000 and 150,000. 

Even this total, the lowest ever arrived at, 
yields the unusual density of nearly one in- 
habitant per square mile for aboriginal Cali- 
fornia. Mooney’s estimate is about 1,050,000 
for the continent north of the Mexican boun- 
dary; 846,000 within the limits of the United 
States exclusive of Alaska. 

The latter figure however, seems to contain 
Merriam’s 260,000 for California. Reduced 
to conform to the new estimate of 133,000, the 
population of the United States would not 
much have exceeded 700,000, or one inhabitant 
per four square miles. In other words, more 
than a sixth of the Indians of this country 
were settled in California. A similarly heavy 
concentration seems to have held good for the 


SCIENCE 


163 


Pacific coast of the continent as far north as 
Alaska. 

The decrease of Indians in California has 
reached fully 85 per cent. in a century and 
a half. The factor most favorable to heavy 
decrease has been immediacy of contact with 
Caucasians and Caucasian civilization. Other 
factors have intervened to make the result 
somewhat irregular; but these are too de- 
pendent on local circumstances to make their 
analysis possible here. 


A. L. Krorser 


UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 


THE CENTENARY OF THE BIRTH OF 
HERMANN. VON HELMHOLTZ 


SomENTIFIO men of the twentieth century 
are so engrossed in their various pursuits (for 
which, happily, material equipment far in ex- 
cess of anything dreamed of fifty years ago 
is provided) that they are in some danger of 
forgetting, overlooking or even ignoring the 
work of their predecessors of the nineteenth 
century. 

It is upon fundamental discoveries in elec- 
tricity and magnetism made during that cen- 
tury, and especially upon the two great gener- 
alizations, the law of the conservation of energy 
and the doctrine of evolution, which together 
constitute its great glory, that the present 
generation is building a brilliant, though a 
somewhat complicated and bizarre superstruc- 
ture. It may be well, therefore, to remind 
the group of busy younger men who read the 
pages of ScreNcE, that one hundred years ago, 
August 31, 1821, was born one who must al- 
ways be ranked with the very first—the three 
or four very first—of those upon whose work 
twentieth century science rests. 

Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand, Baron von 
Helmholtz, was the son of a professor of 
philology and philosophy at Potsdam. His 
mother was a Hanoverian lady, a direct de- 
scendant of William Penn. 

Exhibiting at an early age a fondness for the 
study of natural phenomena, the necessity for 
a vocation by which he could earn a living 
directed him to the medical profession and 
his first appointment was as an army surgeon. 


164 


At the age of twenty-one years he published 
his first paper announcing the discovery of 
nerve cells in ganglia, the beginning of 
a steady flow of contributions to science from 
his pen, interrupted only by his death more 
than fifty years later. 

At twenty-six he had produced what was 
possibly the most important piece of work 
of his whole career, namely, his famous paper 
on the conservation of energy. Refused for 
publication by Poggendorff’s Annalen, its value 
was appreciated by Du Bois-Reymond, who 
presented a copy of it to Tyndall (then a stu- 
dent at Berlin) with the remark that it was 
“the product of the first head in Europe.” 
This paper fixed his place as one of that im- 
mortal trinity, Joule, Helmholtz and Kelvin, 
to whom we owe the establishment of this 
great law. 

An account of Helmholtz’s principal con- 
tributions to science was given in this journal 
not long after his death, together with the lead- 
ing incidents of his long career.? 

In one respect he was unique. No other man 
of his day approached him in the wide range 
of his intellectual activities, ranking, as he 
did, among the first of mathematicians, physi- 
cists, and physiologists, besides being claimed 
as “their own” by chemists and musicians. 
His contributions to the science of astronomy 
and of theoretical mechanics are of the highest 
order and in respect to his prodigious learning 
and the wide scope of his investigations he 
may be put in the same category with Francis 
Bacon and his own renowned fellow country- 
man, Alexander von Humboldt. The enor- 
mous extension of the bounds of human knowl- 
edge within the past fifty years and the 
irresistible tendency to specialization make it 
certain that there will never be an addition to 
this group. 

Helmholtz’s intellectual processes were in 
a marked degree typical of the race to which 
he belonged. They were not characterized by 
brilliant sorties but rather by steady advances 
accompanied by entrenchments so safe and 
strong that he was rarely if ever obliged to 
retreat. 


1 Science, No. 58, February 7, 1896. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1391 


There was a certain massiveness of style in 
both his speech and composition which made 
his arguments a little more difficult to follow 
than was the case with his two or three more 
brilliant contemporaries. The charm of his 
personality will not be forgotten by those 
who had the good fortune to come within its 
sphere. With much dignity of manner he was 
easy of approach, simple and modest in his 
mode of life, eloquent in speech in popular ad- 
dresses on scientific subjects, and to those who 
had tried to find the man in his published 
works, unexpectedly delightful in social inter- 
course. ; 

Physically he was not above the average in 
height and in figure much like that of the 
well-bred and well-fed German. The one small 
disappointment was his head which, though 
large, did not in shape at once proclaim his 
intellectual superiority, as did that of von 
Humboldt. 

Personally chosen by the Kaiser to repre- 
sent the German Empire, he came to the 
United States at the time of the World’s Fair 
in Chicago in 1893. He was honorary presi- 
dent of the International Electrical Congress, 
with its “ Chamber of Delegates” assembled 
at that time and through the kindness of 
friends, official and unofficial, all of whom 
were glad to do him honor, he was enabled 
to see the places and things most worth seeing 
in this country which he had never before 
visited. 

On the voyage back to Germany he met 
with an accident which resulted finally in his 
death in September, 1894, mourned, as he had 
been beloved, by people of every nationality 
and all ranks of life. 

The then youthful Kaiser, who was very 
fond of von Helmholtz and who two years 
earlier on the occasion of his seventieth birth- 
day, had placed him at the head of the civil 
list, judged wisely in selecting him as the 
“highest product of the Empire” and in pure 
intellectual power he will always rank with 
the foremost men of the nineteenth century. 

T. C. MrnpDENHALL 

RAVENNA, OHIO 


AvucusT 26, 1921] 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 
DEATHS OF GERMAN MEN OF SCIENCE? 


At our request, Professor OC. Runge, of 
Gottingen, has been good enough to send us 
the following list of leading men of science in 
Germany who have died since the beginning 
of the late war. The list is not, however, com- 
plete, and may be supplemented later. Short 
obituary notices of some of the men will be 
found in the Geschaftliche Mitteilungen der 
Gottinger Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, 
1918-19-20 (Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 
Berlin S.W. 68, Zimmerstr. 94):—W. Lexis, 
mathematician and statistician, August, 1914; 
W. Hittorf, physicist, November, 1914; A. 
von Auwers, astronomer, January, 1915; A. 
von Konen, geologist, May, 1915; E. Riecke, 
physicist, June, 1915; P. Ehrlich, physician, 
August, 1915; H. Solms-Laubach, botanist, 
November, 1915; R. Dedekind, mathematician, 
February, 1916; E. Mach, philosopher and 
physicist, February, 1916; K. Schwarzschild, 
astronomer, May, 1916; R. Helmert, mathema- 
tician and physicist, June, 1917; A. von 
Baeyer, chemist, August, 1917; G. Frobenius, 
mathematician, August, 1917; A. von Froriep, 
anatomist, October, 1917; H. Véchting, botan- 
ist, November, 1917; C. Rabl, anatomist, De- 
ecember, 1917; G. Cantor, mathematician, 
January, 1918; L. Edinger, physician, Janu- 
ary, 1918; E. Hering, physiologist, January, 
1918; F. Merkel, anatomist, May, 1919; S. 
Schwendener, botanist, June, 1919; E. Fischer, 
chemist, July, 1919; H. Bruns, astronomer, 
1919; Th. Reye, mathematician, July, 1919; 
W. Voigt, physicist, December, 1919; P. 
Stickel, mathematician, December, 1919; W. 
Pfeffer, botanist, January, 1920; O. Biitschli, 
zoologist, February, 1920; and W. Forster, as- 
tronomer, 1920. J. Elster, physicist, and Joh. 
Thomae, mathematician, have died recently. 
In addition to the above, several other Ger- 
man men of science were referred to in the 
obituary notice of Professor von Waldeyer in 
Nature of May 19, and news has also reached 
us of the following deaths not previously re- 
corded in these columns:—Professor G. A. 


1From Nature. 


SCIENCE 


165 


Schwalbe, Strassburg, on April 23, 1916, age 
seventy-one years; and Professor Karl von 
Bardeleben, editor of the Anatomischer An- 
zeiger, on December 19, 1918, age sixty-nine 
years. 


PROGRESS IN THE WORK OF MAPPING THE 
UNITED STATES 

Tue United States Geological Survey, 
Department of the Interior, has published 
about 3,000 engraved topographic maps, which 
represent nearly 48 per cent. of the area 
of the United States. These maps are the 
results of surveys made during a period of 34 
years, and the results are fairly good in 
quantity and quality for a Government bureau 
which can go only as fast as appropriations 
will permit. 

A few geologic maps were published by 
the Survey prior to 1886, some of them in 
atlases accompanying reports on regions in the 
West, and a few were published separately 
as photolithographs; but the 1-degree sheets 
of northwest New Mexico and _ northeast 
Arizona, known as Wingate and Mount 
Taylor, N. Mex., and Fort Defiance, Tusayan, 
Marsh Pass, and Canyon de Chelly, Ariz., 
published in 1886, were the first topographic 
maps printed by the Geological Survey from 
engraved plates. 

Hight States—Massachusetts, Rhode Island, 
Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Mary- 
land, West Virginia, and Ohio—have been 
completely mapped, and the work of mapping 
the State of New York is more than 90 per 
cent. completed. Séveral States are actively 
cooperating with the Survey in this work 
and in 1920 contributed to it a total of 
nearly $200,000. 

The Bulletin of the Survey containing this 
information continues: 


With nearly 60 per cent. of the area of the 
country entirely unmapped and much that has 
been mapped in need of resurveys, and with the 
largest mapping organization in the country sur- 
veying only about 40 per cent. of the area in 40 
years, the logical demand is for more speed. If 
these maps are to serve their full purpose in pro- 
moting national development the whole country 
must be mapped within this generation, or, even 


166 


better, within the next decade. Practical engi- 
neers realize that every dollar of Federal and 
State funds appropriated for these surveys, if 
spent in the next twenty years, will save many 
dollars that otherwise must be spent by corpora- 
’ tions and individuals in fragmentary surveys made 
for special purposes, and the worst feature of 
such an uneconomic procedure would be that it 
would provide no maps for the use of the general 
public. 


THE TONGASS NATIONAL FOREST 

One million cords of pulpwood on the Ton- 
gass National Forest, Alaska, has been sold 
by the Forest Service of the United States 
Department of Agriculture to the Alaskan- 
American Paper Corporation. The timber is 
from the east shore of the Behm Canal, Re- 
villagigedo Island, about 32 miles from 
Ketchikan, the largest city in the Territory. 
The contract price of the timber was 60 
cents per 100 cubic feet for spruce and cedar, 
and 30 cents per 100 cubic feet for all other 
species. The sale area covers 45,000 acres, 
and extends for 55 miles along the coast. 
Twenty per cent. of the forest is spruce, 66 
per cent. hemlock, and 14 per cent. Alaska and 
western red cedar. 

A conditional award has been made by the 
Forest Service to the company, pending ap- 
proval by the Federal Power Commission of 
their application for a hydro-electric power 
license. The timber sale contract covers an 
initial period of 32 years, or until 1953. The 
price of the stumpage will be redetermined 
and fixed by the Federal Government in 1928, 
and every five years thereafter. Cutting must 
begin by October 1, 1923, thus allowing two 
years for organization and construction of im- 
provements. The contract also requires the 
establishment of a pulp mill of not less than 
95 tons capacity by October 1, 1926. A yearly 
cut of from 2,500,000 to 3,000,000 cubie feet 
is contemplated. 

The award of this sale is in line with the 
general policy of the Forest Service for making 
available the timber resources of Alaska as a 
means of increasing the supply of pulpwood 
for the United States. The national forests 
of the Territory probably contain 100,000,000 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1391 


cords of timber suitable for the manufacture 
of newsprint and other grades of paper. Un- 
der scientific management, experts say these 
forests can be made to produce 2,000,000 cords 
of pulpwood annually for all time, or enough 
to manufacture one third of the pulp products 
now consumed in this country. 

The Alaska forests also contain the second 
chief essential of the pulp and paper manu- 
facturing industry, namely, water power. No 
accurate survey of the power resources has 
yet been made, but known projects have a pos- 
sible development of over 100,000 horsepower, 
and it is believed that a complete exploration 
of the national forests in southern Alaska 
will show not less than 250,000 potential horse- 
power that can be developed from water. 

Forest Service cruisers are now working in 
Alaska collecting data for further use and de- 
velopment of the forests. One block of timber 
containing 335,000,000 cubic feet—enough to 
keep a 100-ton pulp mill running—has been 
advertised and is now ready for sale. 


THE ROOSEVELT WILD LIFE MEMORIAL 


Tue wild life memorial established by New 
York State to Theodore Roosevelt, The Roose- 
velt Wild Life Forest Experiment Station at 
Syracuse, is this summer conducting field 
investigations in New York State in the newly 
established seven thousand acre Allegheny 
State Park, which lies south of Buffalo on 
the Allegheny River. Here Mr. Aretas A. 


' Saunders is investigating the birds, and Pro- 
‘fessor T. L. Hankinson the fishes. 


Through 
friends of the station funds have been provided 
to investigate the beaver in the Adirondacks, 
where numerous complaints of the injuries 
have necessitated a study of their present 
status. This investigation is being made by 
Dr. Charles E. Johnson. Through the cooper- 
ation of President Howard H. Hays, of the 
Yellowstone Park Camps Company, and with 
the approval and cooperation of Director 
Mather, of the Park Service, and of Superin- 
tendent Albright, of the Yellowstone National 
Park, a field party has been at work in the 
Yellowstone studying wild life problems, with 
headquarters at Camp Roosevelt, in the north- 


Avucust 26, 1921] 


eastern corner of the park. Dr. Robert A. 
Muttkowski has been making an investigation 
of the fish food producing capacity of the 
trout streams, and Dr. Gilbert M. Smith the 
relation of the aquatic plants to this fish food 
supply. Mr. Edward R. Warren, assisted by 
Mr. Ellis L. Spackman, is making an inten- 
sive study of the beaver, including the mapping 
of their dams and ponds. Another friend of 
the station has made it possible for Mr. Ed- 
mund Heller, formerly naturalist on the 
Roosevelt African Expedition, to conduct for 
the station an investigation of the status of 
the large game mammals of the park. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 

Ar the opening session of the New York 
meeting of the American Chemical Society, 
which will be held at Columbia University, 
New York City, on September 8, Dr. Edgar 
F. Smith, provost emeritus of the University 
of Pennsylvania, will preside, and addresses 
will be made by Mr. Herbert OC. Hoover, 
secretary of the Department of Commerce, 
and Sir William Pope, president of the British 
Society of Chemical Industry. 

Tue French Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science met during the first week in 
August at Rouen under the presidency of M. 
Rateau. 

Dr. Henry Gorpon Gate, professor of 
physics in the University of Chicago, and 
dean of the colleges of science, has been 
made chairman of the division of Physical 
Science of the National Research Council, 
Washington, D. C. 

Dr. Henry H. Donatpson, professor of 
neurology at the Wistar Institute, has been 
elected a foreign corresponding member of I] 
Reale Istituto Lombardo di Scienze e Let- 
tere di Milano. 

Proressor Heinrich O. Horrman, of the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has 
been elected an honorary member of the Ameri- 
can Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. 

Dr. Water Nernst, professor of chemistry, 
has been elected rector of the Berlin Uni- 
versity. 


SCIENCE 


167 


Mr. J. Suepparn, of the Municipal Museums 
at Hull, has been elected president of the 
British Museums Association. 


Dr. W. J. Humpureys, of the Weather 
Bureau, has been elected secretary of the 


American Geophysical Union, to succeed Dr. 
H. O. Wood, resigned. 


E. G. Montcomery, professor of agronomy 
in Cornell University, has been named by Sec- 
eretary Hoover as chief of the food-stufts 
division of the Bureau of Foreign Commerce. 


Mr. Rozpert C. Duncan, physicist of the 
Bureau of Standards, has accepted a position 
with the Bureau of Ordnance of the Navy 
Department. 


Proressor Paut Anprerson, dean of the 
School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineer- 
ing at the University of Kentucky, has been 
appointed director of the research laboratory 
of the Heat Engineering Society at Pitts- 
burgh. 


Epwarp F. McCarruy, of the New York 
State College of Forestry at Syracuse, has 
been assigned to the new forest experiment 
station of the U. S. Forest Service at Ash- 
ville, N. C. 


Proressor G. F. Warren, of Cornell Uni- 
versity, has been requested by Mr. Wallace, 
Secretary of Agriculture, to serve as consult- 
ing specialist to the chief of the Bureau of 
Markets and Crop Estimates during the re- 
organization and consolidation of the bureau. 
Professor Warren has accepted and has been 
granted leave of absence from Cornell until 
February 1, 1922. 


Donatp D. Smyru, instructor in economic 
geology at Cornell University, has accepted a 
position as geologist with the Cerro de Pasco 
Copper Corporation of Peru. 


Foreien zoologists who attended the recent 
summer meeting of the American Phytopatho- 
logical Society included Dr. E. J. Butler, 
director of the Imperial Bureau of Mycology, 
Kew Gardens, Surrey, England, and Dr. Kingo 
Miyabe, of the College of Agriculture, Hak- 
kaido Imperial University, Sapporo, Japan. 


Dr. P. H. Aaser, director of the Norwegian 


168 


State Hygienic Laboratory, Christiania, is 
visiting laboratories in the United States for 
the purpose of studying their organization, 
equipment and functions. 


Gavten H. CLEVENGER, consulting metallur- 
gist to the United States Smelting, Refining 
and Mining Company, and vice-chairman of 
the Engineering Division of the National Re- 
search Council, has returned to Boston after 
a sojourn of four months in Mexico, organizing 
and directing research. 


Proressor H. H. WueErzeEt, of Cornell Uni- 
versity, is planning to spend a year in Ber- 
muda devoting his time to a survey of the 
fungi of the islands, especially those species 
causing plant diseases. 


Proressor Roiuin T. CHAMBERLIN, who has 
been spending the spring and summer months 
in the Alps, in the study of the internal mo- 
tion of glaciers by the use of a delicate time- 
recording shear-meter devised for the purpose, 
reports that he has obtained records of actual 
shear movement. The motion takes place by 
little starts and stops, as might be expected in 
an elastico-rigid body, and not by uniform or 
steadily progressive motion, as might be ex- 
pected in a viscous body. After completing 
his glacial studies, about mid-summer, Profes- 
sor Chamberlin expects to give some time to 
the structure of the Alps and to certain geo- 
logical phenomena in Spain. 


Tue John Burroughs Memorial Association 
has been inaugurated at a meeting of a num- 
ber of his friends at the American Museum of 
Natural History, the immediate purpose of the 
association being to protect Mr. Burroughs’s 
home and camps and to preserve them, with 
their wild life, for future generations. The 
committee appointed to complete the organiza- 
tion included Dr. Frank M. Chapman, Dr. G. 
Clyde Fisher, Mr. Carl E. Akeley, Mr. Ham- 
lin Garland, Judge A. T. Clearwater, Mr. 
Kermit Roosevelt, Mrs. Thomas A. Edison, 
Mrs. Henry Ford, and Mr. W. O. Roy. 

A MEMORIAL window in the Episcopal Church 
of St. John’s in the Wilderness, at Paul 
Smiths, N. Y., the gift of Mr. William Rocke- 
feller, was dedicated on August 7 to the mem- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. LIV. No. 1391 


ory of the late Dr. Edward Livingston Tru- 
deau. 


WE learn from Nature that the council of 
the Society of Chemical Industry has decided 
to institute a Messel memorial lecture in mem- 
ory of Dr. Rudolph Messel. A gold medal with 
an honorarium will be presented to the lec- 
turer, and for the present the remainder of 
the income from the bequest to the society will 
be allowed to accumulate. 


THE Royal Society proposes to erect a monu- 
ment to Lord Lister in Portland-place, near 
the house where he lived. The necessary funds 
have been provided. 


TuHE park that has been constructed opposite 
the headquarters of the national public health 
service in Havana has been named for Dr. 
Carlos J. Finlay, and a statue portraying him 
was recently unveiled. It stands in the center 
of the park, and it is proposed to place in the 
corners of the park statues of the three mem- 
bers of the American commission, Dr. Reed, 
Dr. Carroll, and Dr. Lazear, who with Dr. 
Agramonte, confirmed the transmission of yel- 
low fever by the mosquito. 


Orestes M. St. Jonn, formerly geologist on 
the surveys of Iowa and Illinois, has died at 
San Diego, California. 


The British Medical Journal states that a 
scholarship has been founded at the Man- 
chester Royal Infirmary primarily for the in- 
vestigation of the claims made, especially in 
Germany, for the intensive X-ray treatment of 
cancer. The anonymous donor, however, de- 
sires that the inquiry shall include the study 
of the cancer problem from any point of view 
that may arise, and also an inquiry into 
the precautions that should be taken for the 
protection of persons working with highly 
penetrative rays. The scheme under which 
the scholar will work has been framed by a 
committee, consisting of Sir William Milligan, 
Professors H. R. Dean and W. L. Bragg, Dr. 
A. Burrows, Dr. Powell White, Mr. James 
Watts, and Dr. A. E. Barclay. Dr. C. C. An- 
derson has been appointed the first scholar, 
and will visit various centers where the in- 
tensive method is in use. He will then return 


AuaGust 26, 1921] 


to Manchester to carry on the investigation in 
collaboration with other workers, who will at- 
tack the problems arising from the pathological 
and physiological standpoints. It is intended 
that the first visit should be made to Er- 
langen, but if time permits the scholar will 
afterwards visit Freiburg, Berlin and Mann- 
heim, and certain centers in France, Holland 
and Sweden. 


A REPORT of the British Interdepartmental 
Committee, which was asked to prepare a 
scheme for giving effect to the resolutions of 
the British Empire Forestry Conference with 
regard to a central institution for training 
forest officers, has been issued. The commit- 
tee recommends that such an _ institution 
should be placed at Oxford and incorporated 
with the university. It should be governed 
by a board appointed one half by the de- 
partments or governments concerned, and the 
other half by the university. The board should 
have general charge of the higher course of 
training, of finance, and of administration. 
The director of the institution, who should be 
the professor of forestry, and the staff should 
be appointed by the university with the ap- 
proval of the board. Pending the erection of 
buildings, arrangements can be made with the 
university for temporary accommodation. The 
committee says that the annual cost of the 
permanent staff should not at the beginning 
exceed £4,000 per annum. There will be a 
further liability on every department con- 
cerned for the university fees and subsistence, 
estimated at £300 a year for each probationer. 
Students should be selected by the depart- 
ments for admission to the central institution 
from those who have taken a forestry degree 
at any university whose standard of education 
is approved by the board. 


Av the last annual meeting of the Ameri- 
ean Physiological Society a fellowship for re- 
search in physiology was established by the 
generosity of Dr. Wm. T. Porter, of the Har- 
vard Medical School. By resolution of the 
society, the council has been instructed to 
receive nominations and appoint the fellow 
for the year 1921-22 with a stipend of $1,200. 


SCIENCE 


169 


The fellowship may be pursued at the univer- 
sity or institution where the particular prob- 
lem being developed by the candidate can best 
be forwarded. The proposed program of in- 
vestigation is limited only by the general pur- 
pose, namely, the pursuit of physiological re- 
search. But the program submitted by the 
candidate must meet the approval of the coun- 
cil of the society. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 


By the will of the late Frances Appleton 
Foster, of Weston, Mass., the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology receives $1,000,000 
and Wellesley College $500,000. 

Ir is reported from the University of Mani- 
toba that requirements for securing the gift 
of $500,000 from the Rockefeller Foundation 
will be fully met and that another new build- 
ing will be erected on the college grounds. 

Proressor R. R. Fenska has resigned as as- 
sistant professor in forestry at the University 
of Montana to become professor of forest en- 
gineering at the New York State College of 
Forestry, Syracuse University. 

Mr. Dwicut Isety, scientific assistant in the 
United States Bureau of Entomology, has 
resigned and has accepted the position of 
associate professor in the Department of En- 
tomology, University of Arkansas, and asso- 
ciate entomologist in the Experiment Station. 


Joun R. Du Prisst, professor of steam and 
gas engineering and design in the Rensselaer 
Polytechnic Institute, and consulting engi- 
neer for the Endicott Machine Corporation, 
Baltimore, has been appointed assistant profes- 
sor of mechanical engineering at the Oregon 
Agricultural College. 


Herpert C. Hanson, of the University of 
Colorado, has been appointed assistant profes- 
sor of biology in the University of Arizona. 


Tue Linacre chair of zoology and compara- 
tive anatomy, at Oxford, vacant by the retire- 
ment of Professor G. C. Bourne, has been filled 
by the appointment of Professor E. S. Good- 
rich, fellow of Merton College and professor 
of comparative embryology in the university. 


170 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


THE TEMPLE HILL (ORANGE COUNTY, N. Y.) 
MASTODON 


THE 101st separate record of mastodon re- 
mains in the state of New York and the 31st 
record for Orange County, have been made 
by the recent discovery of an almost complete 
skeleton on the muck lands near Temple Hill 
about three quarters of a mile northwest of 
Vail’s Gate Junction. The discovery is of 
exceptional interest. Next to the Warren 
Mastodon which stands in the American Mu- 
seum of Natural History, the Temple Hill 
skeleton follows in order of completeness, all 
bones being present except a part of the 
cranium and a few of the ribs. While the 
skeleton appears to be somewhat larger than 
that of the Cohoes Mastodon in the New York 
State Museum, it is evident that the bones 
are those of a young animal, as the epiphyses 
are free and there is a full set of four inter- 
mediate molars in addition to the complete 
permanent molars, making in all 12 teeth in 
both jaws. The animal was found lying on 
its side with a quantity of triturated plant 
remains, apparently tamarack, lying between 
the ribs, evidently the creature’s last meal. 
The skeleton was discovered about the 10th 
of June. and was immediately acquired for 
the State Museum through the generosity of 
an appreciative friend. 

The Mastodon was the most conspicuous 
member the mammal fauna of New York ever 
had, and it is perhaps of special interest to 
again note, with this occasion, the great 
abundance of these creatures in the state dur- 
ing the time of the recession of the post- 
glacial waters, especially over the swampy 
highlands before the land had settled down 
to its present altitude. After all the disturb- 
ances to which the soil of New York and its 
contents have been subjected, the wasting by 
the weather and the various other agencies 
attacking and destroying the integrity of such 
remains, the abundance of the recorded dis- 
coveries of mastodon bones in the state can 
only be interpreted as indicating the fact that 
in their heyday these animals were as abun- 
dant here as the buffalo were on the plains 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1391 


75 years ago; and it is also a fact worthy of 
consideration by those giving attention to soil 
changes, that of all these 101 recorded skele- 
tons but two or three have been preserved in 
anything approaching entirety. 

SuHerMan C. BisHop ~ 

New York StTaTe Museum, 
July 6, 1921 


A MORE PHENOMENAL SHOOT 


Tue July 1, number of Science records a 
“phenomenal shoot” which grew near Ra- 
leigh, N. C. This shoot grew from the stump 
of a beheaded tree of Paulownia tomentosa 
in one season to the length of 19 feet 5 inches; 
had twenty internodes, and was 7.75 inches 
in circumference at the base. This shoot is 
thought by Mr. Wells to be “a record for the 
tree type of woody plant in the temperate 
zone.” ; 

During the past season the writer kept track 
of a shoot which grew from stump of a be- 
headed tree of Paulownia tomentosa. This 
shoot grew during the season of 1920 to a 
length of 21 feet 6 inches, it has twenty-four 
internodes and is ten inches in circumference 
at the base. One of the leaves, measured in 
the latter part of July, was 88 inches in 
largest dimension. This shoot grew in clay 
loam soil residual from granite on property 
adjoining the campus of the University of 
North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C. The shoot 
is on exibition in the Geological Museum of 
the University. 

W. F. Prouty 

CHAPEL HILL, N. C. 


A PHYTOPHTHORA PARASITIC ON PEONY 


Earty in May the writers received from 
Mrs. George Ray, of Erie, Pa., some blighted 
peonies. Since the cause of the trouble was 
not at once apparent, cultures were attempted 
from the diseased portions. These yielded 
at once a pure growth of Phytophthora. As 
the writers are not aware of any previous re- 
port of a Phytophthora as a parasite on this 
host, a brief description of the disease and the 
causal organism is here made a matter of 
record, pending further investigation. 


AucGustT 26, 1921] 


Upon the original specimens, which were in 
fine condition when received, the disease was 
manifest as a necrotic condition of the bud, in- 
volving also the surrounding leaves and ex- 
tending for several inches down the stem. In 
general appearance the symptoms are similar 
to those caused by Botrytis, although the in- 
fected areas are darker brown or black. No 
evidence of external fruiting of the parasite 
was found either upon the original specimens 
or upon subsequent artificially infected plants. 
Several attempts were made to isolate a simi- 
lar organism from diseased peonies in the vi- 
cinity of State College, so far without suc- 
cess. Inoculations of the pure culture into 
healthy peonies, however, readily produced 
infections, and the characteristic “blighted ” 
symptoms, from which the organism was re- 
isolated with ease. Inoculations were made 
upon plants growing out doors with pure cul- 
ture, using bits of mycelium and zoosporangia, 
and were successful both with and without 
wounding of the host. The characteristic 
symptoms appeared in from three to six days. 

The Phytophthora in question grows readily 
upon a variety of artificial media, and in this 
respect differs from P. infestans. The growth 
is somewhat sparse upon the surface of agar 
slants, but is abundant beneath the surface. 

It has been grown on ordinary beef pep- 
tone agar, potato agar, corn meal agar and in 
beef broth, where it grows luxuriantly sub- 
merged but not at the surface. Zoosporangia 
are produced in abundance and measure 16.7— 
22.3 p x 20.4-29.7 p. These measurements cor- 
respond closely to those for the zoosporangia 
of P. infestans! but are somewhat broader than 
those of P. Thalictri? which would appear to 
be its closest relative so far as hosts are con- 
cerned. Oospores have not been observed 
either in cultures or tissue sections. 


H. W. Tuurston, Jr. 
C. R. Orton 


PENNSYLVANIA STATE COLLEGE 


1Rosenbaum, J., Jour. Agr. Res., 8:. 233-276. 
1917. 

2 Wilson, G. W., Bull. Torr, Club, 34: 387-416. 
1907. 


SCIENCE 


171 


QUOTATIONS 
FAIR WEATHER PREDICTIONS 


One fixed determination in the office of this 
Journal has been that the monthly issue shall | 
always be ready to go into the mails on the 
appointed date. The staff has loyally cooper- 
ated in this effort, regardless of hours of 
work. With the notice given in April of an 
impending strike on the first of May, the mat- 
ter passed beyond our hands, and when the 
strike materialized, the record of promptness 
was effectually shattered. 

Fortunately for our peace of mind, the 
Council of the Society, representative of the 
membership, had agreed, by formal resolutions 
adopted at the Rochester Meeting, to wait in- 
definitely for journals, thereby materially as- 
sisting the printer in his stand against what he 
considered unjust demands from the striking 
employees. 

The labor conditions affected most seriously 
the hand composition work in the printing 
office, and this force has been recruited on an 
open shop basis until it is now greater in num- 
ber than before. Naturally, men not accus- 
tomed to printing chemical articles have had 
to be developed and trained, so that the new 
force, at first quite inefficient, is gaining stead- 
ily in efficiency. There is now every prospect 
that the August issue will quickly follow and 
that the September issue will go into the mails 
promptly on the last day of August. Pardon 
anachronisms in the editorials of the July 
and August issues, in view of the unusual 
situation. 

With all of these troubles upon us, there has 
been one pleasurable aspect of the situation, 
the hearty cooperation of both authors and ad- 
vertisers in the effort to get our work upon 
a right and permanent basis. Letters re- 
ceived, especially from advertisers, make us 
feel that there is a strong bond between this 
Journal and its patrons, and we desire here to 
express our sincere appreciation of that spirit. 

One further word only to the authors of 
papers is added. The preparation of reprints 
requires a considerable amount of hand com- 
position work and remaking of material. We 


172 


urge authors to be extra patient in the matter 
of receiving their reprints. If the present 
composition force is diverted to work on re- 
prints, the issue of each of the journals of the 
society would be delayed to that extent. We 
have, therefore, taken the liberty of authoriz- 
ing the printer to postpone the making up of 
reprints from this Journal, and to put all 
emphasis upon catching up with the regular 
schedule of publication. We are confident of 
an extension of loyal cooperation on the part 
of our contributors. 

To adopt the language of the Weather Bu- 
reau: “ For to-morrow: fair weather.”—Jour- 
nal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


NOTE ON THE USE OF THE DUBOSCQ TYPE OF 
COLORIMETER FOR THE DEMONSTRA- 
TION OF DIFFERENCES IN SUR- 

FACE TENSION 


AutHoucH there are many interesting ex- 
periments by which the phenomena of surface 
tension can be demonstrated to students, as a 
rule they fail to give a basis of direct visual 
evidence of the main force concerned. Conse- 
quently any procedure which will enable the 
student to demonstrate to himself in a semi- 
quantitative manner, that there are differences 
in the ability of different liquids to sustain 
themselves by the forces inherent in their sur- 
faces, should assist in an understanding of the 
underlying principles. 

Such a demonstration can be staged by the 
use of the Duboscq type of colorimeter. 
Moreover the effects of the additions of mi- 
nute amounts of various substances to water, 
on the surface tension of the latter can be 
strikingly shown. 

If that point on the scale at which the dry 
lower surface of the plunger just comes in 
contact with the surface of a liquid in the 
cup or small beaker of about 5 cm. diameter 
resting upon the cup support is taken as the 
base line, it is possible to measure with a con- 
siderable degree of constancy the height in 
tenths of millimeters to which the plunger can 
be raised above the surface of the liquid be- 
fore the clinging column of fluid breaks con- 
tact and slides back into the container. This 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vor. LIV. No. 1391 


affords a clear idea of the principle of surface 
tension from the fact that an obviously weigh- 
able volume of liquid is lifted and held above 
the main surface of fluid by the force of the 
liquid surface in contact with the plunger. 
When a comparison is made of the height to 
which the plunger can be raised from contact 
with the surface of such substances as water, 
ether, absolute alcohol, acetone and toluol, it 
becomes at once evident that different liquids 
have different abilities to cling to the plunger 
surface and hence different surface tensions. 
When a bit of soap is swished around in the 
water in the beaker and then removed, the 
marked decrease in surface force is made plain 
by the decrease in the height to which the 
plunger can be raised before contact is broken. 
A similar result is obtained when a trace of 
amyl alcohol is added to the water. When a 
bit of picrie acid is dissolved in the water in 
the beaker the opposite effect is observed and 
is of sufficient magnitude to demonstrate why 
picrie acid solutions “bump” when heated. 


TABLE 
Substance Height in 0.1 mm. a2mm?2 
Wiastere eae rennet a Eek 40 14.68 
MoluolWeeereisraeehsts Sains sede 29 6.72 
AGet ones etmexeieicicire cssisieieeiols 28 6.18 
Absolute alcohol ............ 27 5.08 
IDS Gos gd odd bo COE eU Se OOO 25 4.61 
Water plus soap............. 36 
Water plus amyl alcohol..... 33 
Water plus picric acid........ 42 


The accompanying table shows the values 
obtained for the substances mentioned. The 
second column of figures gives the values for 
the same compounds as copied from Landolt, 
Bernstein and Roth’s tables, 4th edition, in 
terms of a’mm’*. The correspondence is pleas- 
ingly close, but is of course accidental since 
contributing factors other than the height 
in millimeters are obviously involved, though 
in this group they happen to be mutually com- 
pensating. 

These few examples suggest the availability 
of the plunger-cup mechanism as a basis for 
the development of an accurately calibrated 
piece of apparatus for the determination of 


Aveust 26, 1921] 


absolute surface tension values in terms of 
dynes. Such an instrument with its proper 
formula might well be of service in such meas- 
urements because of its simplicity of manipu- 
lation. 
Freperick S. Hammett 
THE WISTAR INSTITUTE OF 
ANATOMY AND BIOLOGY 


VARIATION OF INDIVIDUAL PIGS IN ECONOMY 
OF GAIN 


In a very interesting article by Ashby and 
Malcomson, published in the Journal of Agri- 
cultural Research, Volume XIX., pages 225- 
934, the following statement is made on page 
232: 

The resultant coefficient of correlation 

r= — 0.452 + 0.068 


shows a distinct negative correlation between rate 
of gain and economy of gain, entirely disproving 
the apparent relation shown by Tables IX. to XV. 

This conclusion is very interesting, espe- 
cially since it is contrary to the usual belief 
and usual experience. The writer has re- 
calculated the coefficient of correlation from 
Table XVI. on page 232 and found a different 
result from that given by Ashby and Malcom- 
son in that r—— 0.166 + 0.083 which is not 
a significant correlation. 

Thinking that a different treatment of the 
data might throw further light on this point, 
a new correlation table was made between the 
rate of daily gain and the amount of feed re- 
quired to produce 100 pounds of gain. This 
correlation was found to be 


r= +. 0.140 + 0.083. 


This is not a significant correlation, but it is 
interesting to note that it is positive instead 
of negative. 

Again Ashby and Maleomson combined 
cases of animals fed on pasture and of those 
fed in the dry lot. From a statistical point of 
view, this is not advisable, since the food de- 
rived from the pasture was not taken into 
consideration. 

The average daily gain of 27 animals fed on 
pasture was 1.14 pounds and the average 
amount of feed required to produce 100 pounds 


SCIENCE 


173 


of gain was 361.2 pounds. The average daily 
gain of 36 animals fed in the dry lot was 1.41 
pounds and 391.8 pounds of feed were required 
to produce 100 pounds of gain. It is readily 
seen from these figures that the rate of gain ' 
among pasture fed animals was less than 
among those of the dry lot, and at the same 
time the amount of feed for 100 pounds of 
gain was less, because the part of the feed 
from the pasture was not taken into con- 
sideration. 

Separate correlations were found for these 
two groups. In the pasture-fed group 


r==— 0.181 + 0.126, 
while in the dry lot group 
r==— 0.036 + 0.112. 


Both of these are negative but not significant. 
When treated together 


r= -+t 0.140 + 0.083, 


a positive correlation but still not significant. 

One can not accept the conclusion of Ashby 
and Malcomson that there is a negative cor- 
relation between the rate of gain and economy 
of gain for the following reasons: 

1. On the basis of their own data, there is 
no significant correlation. 

2. From a statistical standpoint it is not 
legitimate to pool cases of animals fed on 
pasture and animals fed in the dry lot, for the 
purpose of determining the correlation be- 
tween rate of gain and economy of gain since 
the two groups are dissimilar. 

Other factors which might influence the 
results are initial weight, age, length of feed- 
ing period and methods of feeding. In their 
discussion, the possibility is suggested of 
using these individual differences as a basis 
for selecting strains which are more econom- 
ical producers. But these variations which 
they found can not be said to be genetic be- 
cause of too many uncontrolled factors such 
as cited above. It is interesting to note that 
even when pigs are self-fed, selection is ex- 
ercised by individual pigs in the kinds of 
feed which they consume. The following 
table taken from a preliminary report by Ashby 
on page 201 of the 1916 Proceedings of the 


174 


American Society of Animal Production il- 
lustrates this point: 


PERCENTAGE COMPOSITION OF RATION 


Feed Range in Per Cent. 
COTM IK ees iala cia telars ota tetoye 85.21 — 90.65 
SHOE odapopbosGauaosaD 1.53 — 4,11 
Mankaeipstne cideteisietaciarte 6.22 — 12.10 


The method of individual feeding which 
Ashby and Malecomson used seems to be the 
only method available for the study of some 
of the problems of animal production and one 
to which more attention must be given, but 
there are many factors operative rendering 
such a method difficult. 

E. Rogerts 

AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, 

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 
(Continued) 
DIVISION OF RUBBER CHEMISTRY 


W. W. Evans, chairman. 
Arnold H. Smith, secretary. 


The day was devoted entirely to a discussion of 
the tentative procedure for the analysis of rubber 
goods, 

Reports from the executive committee, abstract 
committee, accelerator committee, and physical 
testing committee were read. 


Thermal conductivity of some rubber compounds: 
A, A. SoMERVILLE. Rubber mixes have been made 
containing different amounts of sulphur, with and 
without accelerators, with equivalent volumes of 
various fillers, and given a range of cures. The 
thermal conductivities of these samples have been 
eompared and the results of the test indicate a 
wide variation in thermal conductivities due to 
different fillers being used. 

Contribution to the knowledge of the resins of 
Hevea rubber: G, StarrorD WHITBY and J. DoLiD. 
A number of crystalline substances have been 
isolated from the acetone extract of plantation 
Hevea rubber. At least two of these are sterols. 
The less soluble of the two constitutes roughly 5 
per cent. of the extract, it decomposes without 
melting, and forms an optically active acetate 
erystallizing in leaflets and melting at 169°. With 
this sterol another substance, not yet isolated in 
a state of purity, was associated. The soluble 
sterol consisted of matted, flexible leaflets, melting 
at 127°. A substance, optically inactive, melting at 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1391 


62°, constituting roughly 5 per cent. of the ex- 
tract, was obtained. Quebrachitol was isolated 
from the extract, and was found to occur gener- 
ally in sheet and crepe. The results of a quanti- 
tative study of the oxidation of caoutchoue under 
the catalytic influence of copper are reported. 


The solubility of gases in rubber as affecting 
their permeability: CHarLES S. VENABLE and 
TYLER Fuwa. It was found that when rubber 
absorbs gas, the gas is held in true solution and 
not by absorption. In the case of carbon dioxide, 
which has about an average solubility, the amount 
of gas thus held in true solution by the rubber is 
directly proportional to the pressure and de- 
creases with increasing temperature. This solu- 
bility is unaffected by degree of vulcanization or 
by the presence of compounding ingredients. 
Other gases seem to behave in a similar manner. 
Relative solubility values obtained for various 
gases in rubber show that there is a general re- 
lationship between the solubility and density of 
the gas and its rate of penetration through rub- 
ber. These results, in general, confirm the original 
hypothesis of Graham that the penetration mech- 
anism consists in the solution of the gas at one 
surface of the rubber and the diffusion of the 
undissolved gas through the rubber and its evap- 
oration at the other surface. The indications are, 
however, that the actual size of the gas molecule 
is also an appreciable factor. A striking rela- 
tionship between the solubility of various gases 
in rubber and in water has been noted. 


Reactions of accelerators during vulcanization. 
III. Carbo-sulphydryl accelerators and the action 
of zine oxide: C. W. Brprorp and L. B. SEBRELL. 
Reactions of accelerators producing mercapto 
groups by action of sulfur are discussed. Thio 
earbanilide with aniline in benzol solution will 
dissolve zine oxide and will vuleanize a zine oxide 
cement at room temperature. Other zine salts of 
mercaptans such as zine thiophenol and zinc-ethyl- 
xanthate will vuleanize pure gum cements contain- 
ing sulfur at room temperature. These accelerators 
are free from nitrogen or alkali and also func- 
tion in press or steam cures. Without zine oxide 
no accelerator has been found which will vulcanize 
at room temperature. Zine salts of carbo-sul- 
phydryl accelerators furnish the key to the paper. 


The influence of piperidine-piperidyl-dithiocar- 
bamate on vulcanization: G. STAFFORD WHITBY 
and O. J. WALKER. Tested in a 90: 10 rubber- 
sulfur mix, 1 per cent. of the base mentioned is 


Avaust 26, 1921] 


found to reduce the time of cure by seven eighths, 
and even at 130° to lead to curing in about one 
third of the time required at 141° in its absence. 
At the optimum eure rubber containing the base 
showed (a) a noticeably lower sulfur coefficient, 
(b) a very considerably higher breaking stress, 
(€) a noticeably smaller elongation, and (d) a 
lower position of the stress-strain curve (strains 
as ordinates) than did rubber from which the 
base was absent. On aging for 7 months, vuleani- 
zates prepared with the base behaved in a manner 
essentially similar to that shown by vuleanizates 
prepared without it; the stress-strain curves com- 
ing down the paper to a similar extent and the 
breaking points altering in a similar way. 


A rapid bomb method for the determination of 
sulfur in rubber compounds: W. W. Evans and 
RutH E. MERLING. 


The direct determination of the sulfur of vul- 
canization: 8. CoLLier and MicHAEL Levin, The 
sulphur actually combined with the rubber is de- 
termined by dissolving the rubber and polyprene 
sulphide in cymene, The solution is diluted with 
petroleum ether and filtered after the fillers have 
settled out. The filtrate containing the poly- 
prene sulphide is evaporated to dryness by heat- 
ing on the steam bath and by means of a gentle 
current of air. The residue is dissolved in nitric 
acid and the solution evaporated to dryness. 
Three e.c. of nitric acid are added to the residue 
and then 5 grams of sodium carbonate. The mix- 
ture is fused and the amount of sulphur deter- 
mined. 


Volume increase of compounded rubber under 
strain, (Lantern.) (With comments on the work 
of H. F. Schippel.): HENRY GREEN. 

A general round table discussion followed on 
the topics of factory control of vulcanization, 
testing of crude rubber as received at the factory, 
reactions between sulfur and various softeners, 
and others. 


DIVISION OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 


A. W. Dox, chairman. 
H. B. Lewis, secretary. 


A study of the highly unsaturated fatty acids 
occurring in fish otls: G. D. Brau and J. B. 
Brown. A proximate determination of the com- 
position of five commercial fish oils was made by 
converting a kilo of each of the oils into its 
methyl esters by a modified Haller methanolysis, 
distilling these into ten-degree fractions under 


SCIENCE 


175 


reduced pressure and analyzing these fractions. 
Evidence for the presence of myristic, palmitie 
and eclupanodonie acids was given, and also for 
acids more highly unsaturated and of greater 
molecular weight than clupanodonic acid. When 
the refractive indices of the fractions were plotted 
against the corresponding iodine numbers and 
mean molecular weights of the acids, curves which 
were nearly straight lines were produced. The 
analytical data showed a decided similarity for 
the oils examined, which included salmon, men- 
haden, herring, cod and sardine oils. The pure 
highly unsaturated acids were prepared in more 
than 50 per cent. yield by reduction of their 
methyl ester polybromides in methyl aleohol with 
zine dust. The mean molecular weight of these 
acids by titration was over three hundred, a value 
much too high for clupanodonie acid. Distilla- 
tion of the methyl esters of these acids and analy- 
sis of the fractions gave good evidence for the 
presence of the following acids—hexadecatrienoic, 
C,,H..0., clupanodonie, C,H..0., arachidonic, 
CxH320., eicosapentenoic, CH 0.2, docosapentenocie, 
C..H3,0,, and docosahexenoic, C.,H.02. 


Further studies on the mosaic disease of spinach: 
S. L. Jopmr. Mosaie disease affects many crops 
of vast economic importance such as the Irish 
potato, tobacco, corn, sugar beet, sugar cane, 
spinach, cabbage, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and 
others. It seemed quite desirable to study the 
mosaic disease of at least one crop—in this case 
spinach—from various angles and by various 
methods. The results of the investigation have led 
to the following conclusions: (1) The physical 
and chemical properties of the soil taken from 
under diseased spinach plants were found to ap- 
proach very closely those of the soil taken from 
under healthy plants. (2) The differences in the 
biological behavior of the two soils under con- 
sideration, as shown by their ability to ammonify 
various organic nitrogenous compounds, were so 
small as to be negligible. (3) The mosaic disease 
of spinach does not seem to be due to malnutrition, 
since in the experiments reported the diseased con- 
dition of the plants can not be ascribed to phys- 
ical, chemical and biological conditions obtaining 
in the soil. 

Chemical, physical and insecticidal studies of ar- 
senicals: F. C. Cook and N. E. McINpoo. 


Cysteine as a product of the intermediary metab- 
olism of cystine: H. B. Lewis and Lucie E. Roor. 
After the administration either orally or sub- 
eutaneously of 1-phenyluraminocystine to rabbits, 


176 


a product was isolated from the urine which has 
been identified as the phenyluramino derivative of 
eysteine. 

Avian versus mammalian dietary requirements: 
W. D. RicHarpson. 


The influence of fasting and of vitamine B 
deprivation on the non-protein nitrogen of rat’s 
blood: H. A. Martiit. The non-protein nitrogen 
of the blood of fasting rats is 30-40 per cent. 
higher than that of normal animals, the most 
marked inerease being in urea. Creatinine and 
creatine are very slightly increased as are total 
solids. The blood of rats deprived of vitamine B 
shows practically no variation from the normal 
except that creatinine is at the fasting level and 
creatine is slightly higher than the fasting fig- 
ure. In the present state of uncertainty with ref- 
erence to the determination of blood creatine and 
creatinine these variations are of little significance 
but at least the total solids, the non-protein nitro- 
gen and the urea fraction in the blood of rats on 
a diet deprived of vitamine B are normal and not 
increased as in the blood of fasting rats. The 
desirability of obtaining information on the 
gaseous metabolism as well as on creatine metab- 
olism in animals deprived of vitamine B is sug- 
gested. ; 


The effect of temperature and the concentration 
of hydrogen ions upon the rate of destruction of 
the antiscorbutic vitamin: H. C. SHERMAN, V. 
K. LAMsrr and H. L. CAMPBELL. The time curve 
of the destruction in filtered canned tomato juice 
follows neither the unimolecular nor the square 
root law of Schiitz when the heat treatment is 
conducted at 60°, 80°, 100° C. for 1 to 4 hours. 
Empirically the destruction in these cases was 
found to be a function of the fourth root of the 
time. The temperature coefficient of the de- 
struction of the vitamin was low: Q1. (60°-80°) 
= 1.23; Q» (80°-100°) =1.12. The low tem- 
perature coefficient and the colloidal nature of the 
material indicate that in tomato juice, at least, 
the reaction is of the heterogeneous type with dif- 
fusion playing an important role. Oxidation by 
oxygen can not be an important factor in these 
experiments. The velocity of the reaction at 1 
hour at 100° C. progressively increases with de- 
creased (H*). The omission of reacidification 
following such treatment produces an even greater 
destruction due no doubt to the continued action 
of the greater (OH-) even at low temperature. 

The quantitative measurement of the antiscor- 
butic vitamin: H. C. SHERMAN, V. K. LaMer and 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1391 


H. L. CaMpBeni. Guinea pigs are fed a basal 
diet consisting of oats 59 per cent.; skim milk 
powder heated 2 hours at 110° C., 30 per cent.; 
butter fat, 10 per cent.; NaCl, 1 per cent. In ad- 
dition to the determination of the minimum pro- 


tective dose of antiscorbutie the degrees of scurvy 


produced, as measured by the autopsy findings, 
retardation in growth, and symptoms in life, are 
determined for a series of animals receiving gradu- 
ated sub-protective doses of antiscorbutie food. 
When the dosage is calculated per unit of body 
weight it is possible to distinguish the degrees of 
scurvy produced for addenda of antiscorbuties 
differing by 15 per cent. or less. The per cent. de- 
struction due to a deleterious process is obtained 
by comparison of the degree of scurvy produced 
in a series of standard animals fed a similarly 
graduated series of doses of the treated product. 
The probable error of the mean in a series of 5 
or more animals is less than 4 per cent. 


The action of nitrous acid on casein: Max §S. 
Dunn and H. B. Lewis. Deaminized casein has 
been prepared by the action of nitrous acid on 
easein. Analysis by the Van Slyke method for 
free amino nitrogen showed the absence of free 
amino nitrogen. Casein and deaminized casein 
were hydrolyzed and analyzed by Van Slyke’s 
procedure for the determination of characteristic 
groups. In harmony with the current theories as 
to the nature of the free amino groups of the 
protein molecule, lysine was found to be absent 
in deaminized casein. No other notable differ- 
ences were detected between casein and deaminized 
casein. Tyrosine was determined by the Folin- 
Denis colorimetric method. Deaminized casein 
was found to contain a lower percentage of tyro- 
sine than casein. 


Lipase studies. The hydrolysis of the esters of 
some dicarboxylic acids by the lipase of the liver: 
A, A. CHRISTMAN and H. B. Lewis. On the basis 
of the acidity developed when the lipase of hog 
liver was allowed to act on the diethyl esters of 
succinic and malonic acids, it is considered that 
the reaction proceeded to an equilibrum which 
corresponded to the removal of one ethyl group 
from the diethyl esters. A substance was ob- 
tained from the products of the reaction between 
diethyl malonate and lipase which gave on analysis 
figures which were in good agreement with those re- 
quired for monoethyl malonate. Lipase of hog 
liver was not able to hydrolyze monoethyl malonate 
or potassium ethyl malonate. 


Aueust 26, 1921] 


Vitamines in milk: (By title.) H. STEENBOCK, 
Mariana T. SELL and E, M, Netson. The writers 
have been able to substantiate Osborne and Men- 
del’s findings that at least 15 c.c. of milk are re- 
quired daily to cover a young rat’s requirements for 
the water soluble vitamine. Generally speaking, milk 
can not then be considered a good source of either 
the water soluble vitamine or the antiscorbutic 
vitamine, as our previous investigations and those 
of others have already shown. This conclusion is 
emphasized by the fact that it has now been found 
that approximately 2 c.c. of milk are necessary 
to furnish a sufficiency of the fat soluble vitamine, 
which shows that milk fully equals in value, with 
one exception, our best known sources of this 
dietary constituent. This figure can not be taken 
as absolute, however, for even under practical farm 
conditions a many fold variation in fat soluble 
vitamine content easily obtains as the ration of the 
cow changes. Sudden variations in vitamine con- 
tent are probably in large part prevented by drain- 
age of the storage reservoirs of the animal. Liver 
' tissue for one has been found to depreciate in fat 
soluble vitamine content on a fat soluble vitamine 
poor diet. Yet in the aggregate even this effect 
can not be very prolonged. 


Further experiments on the isolation of the anti- 
neuritic vitamine: ATHERTON \SEIDELL. In a pre- 
vious paper (Public Health Reports, April 1, 1921) 
it was shown by control tests on pigeons that the 
precipitate obtained by addition of ammoniacal 
silver nitrate to a purified vitamine extract made 
from yeast ‘‘activated’’ fuller’s earth is highly 
antineuritic. This vitamine silver complex is 
amorphous and its conversion to a crystalline con- 
dition has not been effected. Attention has, there- 
fore, been directed towards the preparation of 
crystalline derivatives of the active constituent of 
the compound. Among those which have been 
obtained are the picrate, nitrate and what ap- 
pears to be the free base. Of these, the picrate 
does not give a constant melting point and yields 
picrie acid by ether extraction. The nitrate melts 
with decomposition at 146°. The base is very 
slightly soluble in strong aleohol but so soluble 
in water that a viscous pellicle is usually obtained 
on slow evaporation of the aqueous solution. The 
physiological testing of these products has not 
been completed. 


The occurrence in the animal organism of two 
types of lipases: Victor BE. LEVINE and FRANCIS 
J. McDonovucH. Lipase was found in all the 


SCIENCE 


177 


organs of the pig that have thus far been ex- 
amined. By the action of bile or bile salts (sodium 
glycocholate and sodium taurocholate), the lipo- 
lytic enzyme may be differentiated into two types: 
a-lipase and f-lipase. The former is observed 
only in the pancreas or in its secretions. Its 
activity is accelerated by bile or bile salts and by 
heated blood serum. The latter is found in all 
the other tissues tested. Its activity is also ac- 
eelerated by serum, but is markedly inhibited by 
bile or bile salts. The contrasting effect of bile 
salts therefore serves to distinguish the exo-lipase 
of the pancreas from the endo-lipase of all other 
organs. In the light of these experimental results 
Cohnheim’s contention, that no difference exists 
between an exo-enzyme and its corresponding endo- 
enzyme, is untenable. In view of the similarity 
in the action of serum upon q-lipase and upon B- 
lipase it is probable that the two types possess 
the same groupings or chemical nuclei in their 
molecular structure. The dissimilarity in the ef- 
fect of bile salts may be the result of tautomeric 
modification, or may indicate a difference in 
stereoisomeric configuration or a variation in the 
side chains or substituents in the major group- 
ings of the enzyme molecule. 


The distribution of lipolytic activity in the 
kidney: Victor E. LEVINE and Saver A. Gra- 
NELLI. Studies were made of the lipolytie ae- 
tivity of the kidney of the rabbit, dog, sheep, pig 
and cow. The source of enzyme was a chloroform- 
water extract of the anatomical regions of the kid- 
ney, cortex, upper medulla and lower medulla 
(papillary portion). Ethyl acetate, ethyl buty- 
rate, methyl salicylate, olive oil and castor oil 
served as zymolytes or substrates. Quantities of 
extract equivalent to 80 mgs. of tissue were em- 
ployed, and the lipolytic activity determined by 
titration, in the presence of phenolphthalein, with 
N/25 or N/50 sodium hydroxide. When olive oil 
or castor oil was used, titrations were made after 
the addition of aleohol. The two kidneys in the 
same animal always show a distinct variation in 
lipolytic activity. The greatest lipolysis is regu- 
larly observed in the cortex, the least in the 
lower portion of the medulla (papillary region). 
The relative extent of lipolytic activity corre- 
sponds to the relative distribution of fat in the 
kidney as recently reported by Christianna Smith 
(Amer, Jour. Anat., 1920, 27, 69). This distribu- 
tion in accordance with the anatomical divisions 
of the kidney explains the preponderating oceur- 
rence of fat in the cortex under normal conditions 


178 


and also under those of fatty degeneration. The 
large number of contradictory findings concerning 
the presence or absence of enzymes in the kidney 
and the inability of investigators to find normals 
for this tissue rest upon the failure on their part 
to consider the kidney with reference to its ana- 
tomical regions. 

Uric acid and phenols in the saliva: M. X. Sut- 
LIVAN and Paut R. Dawson. Salivas collected in 
30 minutes under stimulus of chewing paraffin 
were freed from protein by treatment with 10 
per cent. trichloracetic acid followed by 10 per 
cent. sodium tungstate in 2/3 N H.SO, and were 
then tested for uric acid and phenol. The uric 
acid precipitated by silver lactate in 5 per cent. 
lactic acid, after appropriate treatment, was esti- 
mated colorimetrically. The phenols in the fil- 
trate from silver urate, after appropriate treat- 
ment, were estimated colorimetrically with resor- 
einol as standard. Both urie acid (urates) and 
phenols (free and conjugated) were found in nor- 
mal saliva and in the saliva of pellagra patients. 


Extraction and estimation of lipoids in cereal 
products: O. S. Rask and I, K. Pureups. Ether 
extracts from cereal products, raw or cooked, do 
not represent their total lipoid content (fatty 
matter). A preliminary treatment of such prod- 
ucts by an ammoniacal alcohol solution and a sub- 
sequent extraction by a mixture of ethyl ether 
and petroleum ethers in a manner similar to that 
specified in the Roese-Gotlieb method for fat in 
milk, yields higher results which appear to repre- 
sent more nearly the true lipoid content of cereal 
products. Ether extracts of uncooked cereal prod- 
ucts represent on the average 65 to 70 per cent. 
of the results obtained by the above procedure. 

Estimation of phospholipins in cereal products: 
O. S. Rask and I. K. Puenpes. A further study 
of the lipoids referred to in the preceding abstract 
indicates that they contain all phospholipins pres- 
ent in cereal products and the lipoid phosphorus 
of cereals may be estimated by determining the 
phosphorus content of their lipoids thus obtained. 


Resemblance of the thermal death point of bac- 
teria to chemical reaction: W. D. BicELtow. The 
data presented by W. D. Bigelow and J. R. Baty 
in the Journal of Infectious Diseases for Decem- 
ber, 1920, can be expressed in the form of semilog 
curves which are straight lines between the tem- 
peratures of 105° and 125° C, At higher tem- 
peratures the experimental evidence is inconclu- 
sive because of error produced by the time required 
for heat to penetrate to the center of the tubes. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. LIV. No. 1391 


For this reason the time secured by extending the 
semilog curves mentioned above is more nearly 
correct than the experimental data for tempera- 
tures above 125° ©, At temperatures below 105° 
C. the time necessary for the destruction of spores 
appears to be less than would be indicated by an 
extension of the semilog curves, The semilog 
curves showing the thermal death point of spores 
of the fifteen bacteria referred to are all parallel © 
to each other. It is suggested that if other spores 
follow the same law the position of the eurve 
showing the time necessary to destroy the spores 
at various temperatures is fixed by the determina- 
tion of the time at one temperature. It is sug- 
gested that the thermal death point of non-spore- 
bearing bacteria at different temperatures will 
probably follow the same law or a similar law. 
The intensity of light necessary to initiate a 
photochemical change in the retina: EH. L. CHAFFEE 
and W. T. Boviz. This investigation concerns the 
potential differences which are set up in the 
retina when it is illuminated. An apparatus is 
described in which the differences in potential ° 
are amplified by audions through stages. An Hin- 
thoven galvanometer is used. The changes are re- 
corded photographically. A single exposure gives 
three distinct deflections. It was shown as a new 
contribution that these deflections are greatly in- 
fluenced by experimental conditions, such as the 
length of time which has elapsed since the eye 
has been excised. Over a range of intensities 
which are very close to the threshold for human 
vision the height of the first deflection is pro- 
portional to the amplitude of the light vibration. 


An ‘‘antidote’’ for a ‘‘poisoned electrode’’: 
W. T. Bovis. 


Abiotic action of rays due to ozone and the heat 
sensitization of protoplasm by ultra-violet light: 
W. T. Bovir. The experiments concern the proc- 
esses which take place in Paramecium caudatum 
during the time between the exposure to fluorite 
rays and the appearance of the first visible effects 
of the radiation; that is, during the so-called 
‘latent period.’’ The latent period is shorter 
and the effects of the rays are more intense the 
higher the temperature to which the organism is 
raised and the longer the time the organism is 
maintained at the higher temperature. No similar 
effects are observed if the organism is subjected 
to the increased temperature immediately before 
the radiation instead of after it. 

CHARLES L, PARSONS, 
Secretary 


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SCIENCE 


ee SS SSS 
Fray, SEPTEMBER 2, 1921 


The Spirit of Investigation in Medicine: Dr. 


LEONARD G. ROWNTREE ................. V7.9) 
Observations of the Aurora at the Lowell Ob- 

servatory May 14, 1921: PRoressor HENRY 

Norris Russevt, Dr. V, M. SuipHer, Dr. 

CMO UAMP LAND oer mer etre ciie tial siclcier cls 183 
Scientific Events: 

The Production of Fixed Nitrogen; For- 

estry Legislation; The Harvard School of 

JANN JF QUID, aescgcoabaopodsoadaddassaD 187 
Scientific Notes and News .............-.+. 189 
University and Educational News.......... 192 
Discussion and Correspondence : 

An important but unnamed Radioactive 

Quantity: Dr. N. Ernest Dorsry. The 

Value of Tilth in Agriculture: L, S. Frirr- 

Son. Bacteria in the American Permian: 

DR RO Yall MOODIE ceyy-iciesepsieivere eles sreyee 193 
Quotations: 

SoHE O IRONS Socaccondccsunoduodonds 195 
Special Articles: 

On the Law of Surface Area in Energy 

Metabolism: Dr. JoHN R. Muruin. On 

the Significance of an Experimental Differ- 

ence with a Probability Table for Large De- 

viations: Prrcy W. Coss. Polarization of 

Sound's; ANDERS) (BULL. 4400. sce. ice 196 
The American Chemical Society: Dr. CHARLES 

PEARSON Sisloinieteletotcreletetereicrhiiereleletolereraisicie 203 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc.,intended for 
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————n 
THE SPIRIT OF INVESTIGATION IN 
MEDICINE 1 


Tue first Greek poet of whose personality 
we are certain, Arctinus of Lesbos (B.c. 770), 
sharply differentiated medicine and surgery, 
and held medicine responsible for the advance- 
ment of medical science. He relates how Escu- 
lapius “ endowed one of his sons with nobler 
gifts than the other; for while to the one, 
Machaon, he gave skilled hands to draw out 
darts, make incisions and heal sores and 
wounds, he placed in the heart of the other, 
Podilarius, all cunning to find out things in- 
visible and cure that which healed not.” How 
can we, disciples of Podilarius, best proceed 
in this day and generation to “ find out things 
invisible and cure that which heals not”? 

The problem is as old as medicine itself 
The story of medical investigation unfolds 
itself in the history of medicine. Progress 
comes through ideas. Great investigators have 
appeared from time to time in medicine. They 
have contributed new ideas, in the elaboration 
of which they recorded new observations, recog- 
nized new facts, established laws, advanced 
the art of practise, and thus developed the 
science of medicine. As time passed the so- 
ealled underlying or fundamental sciences 
evolved, and in turn made fresh opportunities 
for the medical investigator, but they have 
taken a large proportion of medical investi- 
gators from the field of active practise. Some 
are still left who are attempting to “find out 
things invisible” and to solve the ever-present 
problems of treatment of the sick. 

Recently, to further such ends, a national 
Society for Clinical Investigation was cre- 
ated (1909). According to the constitution 
the objects of this society are “ the cultivation 

1 From The Mayo Foundation, Rochester, Minne- 
sota. President’s address before The American 
Society for Clinical Investigation. May 9, 1921. 


180 


of clinical research by the methods of the nat- 
ural sciences, the unification of science and the 
practise of medicine, the encouragement of 
scientific investigation by the practitioners, 
and the diffusion of a scientific spirit among 
its members.” Broadly speaking, these simmer 
down to the better care of the sick, the broad- 
ening of the bounds of medicine, and the de- 
velopment of the physician himself. 

To the public generally, medical investiga- 
tion makes no great appeal. The research 
worker is commonly regarded as impractical. 
Yet the routine practise of to-day is based on 
the investigation of yesterday. Wassermann 
‘tests, renal functional tests, and spinal fluid 
findings constitute substantial phases of the 
medical practise of to-day. Yet, we did not 
have them fifteen years ago. The public and 
many physicians fail to appreciate that prac- 
tise is based on investigation, and that clinical 
investigation means better care of the sick, 
greater public health, and happier communi- 
ties. 

Investigation is complex. It demands cer- 
tain mental attributes. The most essential 
is a veritable lust for truth. This has to be 
supported by skill in experimentation, accu- 
racy in observation and record, correct inter- 
pretation of findings, and due appreciation of 
their significance. The lust for truth must 
result in active search which recognizes 
no sacrifice. Skill in experimentation 
involves insight and ability in the selection 
and the carrying out of well-controlled ex- 
periments. Accuracy in observation implies 
capacity to see, a knowledge of the subject, 
and an appreciation of the phenomena ob- 
served. Accuracy of record demands precise 
and prompt notations, made preferably during 
the course of experimentation, for, as a rule, 
observations made to-day and recorded to- 
morrow are lost to science. Correct interpre- 
tations of findings and due appreciation of 
their significance demand a well-trained mind, 
critical judgment, and a familiarity with the 
subject in relation to contemporary science. 

This may be stated in a somewhat different 
way. Investigation consists of four funda- 
mental factors: (1) the clear conception of 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1392 


the problem, that is, a definite “ Fragestel- 
lung”; (2) the selection or development of 
methods capable of solving the problem; (3) 
ability to recognize relationships, to orient the 
problem to existing facts; and (4) accurate 
measurements and records. 

The spirit of investigation is a living force, 
born within or rendered kinetic by contact 
from without, which, when first awakened, is 
usually feeble and requires cultivation, but 
when fully developed directs action and con- 
trols destiny. It is difficult to define, to un- 
derstand, to acquire, to cultivate, and to com- 
municate. 

The cultivation and the diffusion of the 
spirit are our problems. Once the investigator 
is imbued with the spirit, investigations will 
proceed and bring results. But in diffusing, 
the spirit must be communicated so that it may 
be acquired by another. Consequently we 
must consider its acquisition as well as its 
cultivation and diffusion. 

Acquisition of the Spirit of Investigation. — 
The statements of Hippocrates relative to the 
attributes desirable in the student for instruc- 
tion in medicine apply equally well to the 
prospective investigator. Hippocrates says: 


Whoever is to acquire a competent knowledge of 
medicine ought to be possessed of the following 
advantages: a natural disposition, instruction, a 
favorable position for the study, early tuition, 
love of labor, leisure. First of all, a natural talent 
is required, for when nature opposes everything 
else is vain, but when nature leads the way to 
what is most excellent, instruction in the art 
takes place, which the student must try to appro- 
priate to himself by reflection, becoming an early 
pupil in a place well adapted for instruction. He 
must also bring to the task a love of labor and 
perseverance, so that instruction taking root may 
bring forth proper and abundant fruit. 

Instruction in medicine is like the culture of the 
production of the earth, for our natural dispo- 
sition is, as it were, the soil; the tenets of our 
teacher are, as it were, the seed; instruction in 
youth is like the planting of the seed in the ground 
at the proper season; the place where the in- 
struction is communicated is like the food imparted 
to vegetables by the atmosphere; diligent study 
is like the cultivation of the fields; and it is time 


SEPTEMBER 2, 1921] 


which imparts strength to all things and brings 
them to maturity. 


But we need not concern ourselves unduly 
about the extent and character of the 
soil. Every year brings into medicine thou- 
sands of young men—< good ground ” capable 
of bringing forth fruit, “some thirty, some 
sixty and some an hundred fold.” To be sure, 
we must participate in the cultivation of the 
soil, but to the planting of the seed in the 
ground at the proper season we must first di- 
rect our efforts. 

The present season is unusually favorable. 
Formerly much of the sowing and early culti- 
vation among Americans was done abroad. 
Since this is no longer possible, the responsi- 
bility is clearly ours. Never in the history 
of American medicine has the responsibility 
been heavier, the opportunity greater. Seed 
time in medical life rarely lasts more than ten 
years. It is represented by years in the med- 
ical school and those immediately following 
graduation. In the undergraduate years, in- 
tensive cultivation, as a rule, preempts the 
field and permits sowing and cultivation, but 
rarely harvesting. Unless fruit is brought 
forth within five years of graduation it is 
rarely forthcoming. In this crucial period of 
growth there are in this country at the pres- 
ent time probably a thousand young men 
properly seeded, but in need of cultivation. In 
this period environment is all important and 
includes subsidiary factors necessary to pro- 
duction, such as time, space, facilities for 
work, inspiration, guidance, criticism, advice, 
and access to literature. Growth at this pe- 
riod is, as a rule, not sufficiently advanced to 
permit the investigator to control these fac- 
tors personally. The responsibility rests, 
therefore, upon the sowers. 

Some of these factors are supplied by the 
creation of the so-called “atmosphere.” Our 
greatest need in medicine is institutions with 
atmosphere. All of us who have worked in 
certain medical centers have recognized the 
existence of atmosphere and have felt its in- 
fluence. It results from the reciprocal stimu- 
lation of many capable workers in diversified 
fields. It constitutes, as it were, a high tension 


SCIENCE 


181 


center capable of furnishing inspiration to 
many. 

The Cultivation of the Spirit—Work.— 
Osler’s masterword in medicine is also the 
masterword in investigation. Every member 
of this society should possess the spirit, and 
is pledged to its diffusion. This means always 
more work. American medicine looks to the 
members of this organization for leadership in 
clinical investigation. It is self-evident that 
real leadership can not be exercised with work 
that is finished. Only he who continues to 
work continues to lead. 

Great efforts have been put forth in this 
country during the last decade to do away 
with the old system whereby the energies of 
so many clinical investigators of merit are 
diverted into other fields. A man capable of 
high-grade investigation should not be con- 
verted into a routine teacher, administrator, 
or practitioner solely. For it can not be too 
strongly emphasized that capable investigators 
are more rare than good administrators, and a 
first class teacher must be an investigator. 

The medical way is but a succession of de- 
cisions. The successful investigator faces con- 
tinuously the situation described by William 
James. In one of his letters he says, 


I stand at the place where the road forks, One 
branch leads to material comfort, the flesh pots, but 
it seems a kind of selling of one’s soul; the other 
to mental dignity and independance, combined, 
however, with physical penury. On one side is 
science, on the other business. 


The further the medical road is successfully 
travelled, the more enticing are the by-paths 
leading from investigation, and they need not 
all be paved with gold. The sign posts carry 
such inscriptions as “ deanship,” “ professor,” 
“ director,” or “chief.” These signs on the 
medical way are dangerous, and ofttimes de- 
ceive the very elect, especially if the elect be 
hampered with physical penury or blessed with 
a large family. Despite position failure to 
continue to investigate leads to loss of those 
attributes necessary for leadership. Neither 
position nor worldly possessions should insure 
leadership in medicine. Work is the master- 
word, work in the class-room, laboratory, 


182 


ward, -and office. Investigation can not be 
done solely from the office desk nor from over 
the tea cups. 

Science rests on investigation, and investi- 
gation is measuring. With the modicum of 
science at his disposal, the busy practitioner 
is not equipped mentally, nor has he the time 
nor the technical facilities necessary to deal 
with the more complex problems of disease. 
The investigator must needs keep pace with 
contemporary science, in itself a big under- 
taking, and must apply it to medical problems 
as opportunity arises or can be created. As 
Galileo was engaged in the creation of the 
sciences of physics and mathematics, Sanc- 
torius through his assistance was engaged in 
applying the thermometer and balance, that is, 
the new instruments of science, to the problems 
of physiology. This is as it should be. In 
these days physiologists and physiologic chem- 
ists at times intervene, but some times as liai- 
son officers only, between the clinician and 
pure Scientists. The field in medicine for the 
pure scientist is still great, despite the splen- 
did contributions to medicine which constantly 
pour forth from the laboratory workers in the 
fundamental branches of medicine. Closer 
and more direct points of contact are desirable, 
more direct intercourse, in order that the 
problem, as seen by the physician, may be 
placed first-hand and in its true light before 
the pure scientists. 

Diffusion of the Spirit—There are at pres- 
ent in this country a relatively large number 
of young men capable of developing into in- 
vestigators. This society has approximately 
150 members, all of whom are obligated to the 
diffusion of its principles, As a society, to my 
mind, we are not even approaching the possi- 
bilities in diffusing the love of investigation 
among the younger men. 

Membership in this society entails responsi- 
bilities. Eligibility for membership is simple. 
Any practising physician in the United States 
who has accomplished a meritorious, original 
investigation and who enjoys an unimpeach- 
able standing in the profession is eligible. But 
once a member, the responsibility of a leader 
is assumed, since one of the obligations im- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1392 


posed upon its members by this society is to 
be “active in the diffusion of the principles 
of this society.” 

This is a national organization comprizing 
members from every part of the country. It 
meets once a year and presents and listens to 
twenty-five papers. Many younger men are 
scattered throughout the country who have no 
access except through abstracts to the pro- 
ceedings of this society. The founder of this 
society recognized this truth. He met the situ- 
ation, however, in his own locality by found- 
ing the Society of Experimental Biology and 
Medicine in New York City with a constitu- 
tion embodying principles identical with ours. 
The local society functions locally and at- 
tempts to accomplish locally what we are 
attempting nationally. It meets frequently, 
whereas we meet annually. It reaches those 
who need its influence most. 

As president of this society I wish to sug- 
gest that we consider and adopt some plan 
whereby we can be more effective in the cul- 
tivation of the spirit of investigation. It 
might be wise to follow the example of Dr. 
Meltzer and create subsidiary, local societies 
of clinical investigation in various medical 
centers throughout the country, societies which 
would carry some sort of affiliation with the 
national society. 

How could such a plan be carried out in 
Boston, for instance? At the present time 
each institution entering into consideration 
has, in all probability, its own society intended 
for the cultivation of the spirit. Without dis- 
turbing their present organization or function, 
it would be possible to hold joint sessions once 
a month in the various institutions, as the 
Boston Society for Clinical Investigation. 
Such an organization would afford each Bos- 
ton member an opportunity to attend, to brmg 
with him his young associates and to meet those 
of the others, and to diffuse and instil the 
spirit into the entire group. On a small scale 
such an organization would afford the beginner 
the same opportunities and advantages enjoyed 
by us through membership in this society. By 
holding the meetings in the various institu- 
tions, each beginner would be afforded an op- 


SEPTEMBER 2, 1921] 


portunity to acquaint himself with other in- 
stitutions and their staffs, such advantages as 
some of us on a larger scale have enjoyed 
through membership in the Interurban Clinical 
Clubs. From the local programs could be 
selected the best material for presentation be- 
fore the national society. From the local so- 
ciety could be selected those most fit for full 
membership in this organization. Thus, with- 
out necessarily increasing the number of meet- 
ings, through the organization of subsidiary, 
local societies, the spirit of investigation could 
be better cultivated among those whose need 
is greatest. Since the aims are identical, the 
advantages accruing to the members of the 
local organization are obvious, but whether 
their relation to us should be official or un- 
official is for us to decide. 

Dr. Meltzer, the founder of this society and 
the prototype of the clinical investigator, rec- 
ognized very clearly the need of encouraging 
younger men in their investigative aspira- 
tions. We could not do greater honor to his 
memory than to follow his example and cre- 
ate local centers fostering clinical investi- 


gation. Lronarp G. RowntREE 


THE MAyo CLINIC 


OBSERVATIONS OF THE AURORA AT 
THE LOWELL OBSERVATORY 
MAY 14, 1921 


Tue very brilliant auroral display which 
appeared on May 14 exhibited frequently the 
phenomenon of streamers diverging from a 
definite point in the heavens, and it was often 
possible to locate this radiant, with reference 
to the stars, with considerable accuracy. The 
resulting positions, with the times of observa- 
tion, are as follows: 


Mountain Time Hour Angle Declination 
gr 54m + 47™ +'4°.5 
8. 56 + 39 +3 .6 
9 00 + 39 +4 .4 
9 O1 + 44 +4 4 
9 04 + 30 +3 ..7 
9 06 + 34 +3 .1 
9) 3 + 39 +3 ..7 
9 16 + 38 +2 6 
927 19 + 40 +3 .0 


SCIENCE 


183 
9 20 Bae EG) af 
9 24 Bit 42.2 
10 49 421 LOTS 
10 55 Lal +28 
11 02 426 2318 


Jupiter, Saturn and 8 Virginis served as com- 
parison stars for the earlier observations and 
¢ Virginis for the last three. The means of 
the first eleven estimates and of the last three, 
give: 


Mountain Hour Declina- Alti- 

Time Angle tion tude Azimuth 
gt 08™ + 38™ +3°.4 57°.2 § 17°.4 W. 
TOMS) + 26 +3 .0 57 4 S$ 12 1 W. 


The average deviation of a single observation 
from the mean is + 0°.7 in declination and 
+ 3".5 in hour angle, so that the difference 
between the two positions appears to be real. 

The mean of the two, giving the first double 
weight, places the radiant in altitude 57°.3, 
azimuth S 15°.6 W. The magnetic dip at 
Flagstaff is 62° and the variation 15° E. so 
that the radiant was very nearly on the mag- 
netic meridian but about 5° south of the 
“magnetic zenith.” 

The aurora was not only very bright, in 
spite of the light of the half moon, but ex- 
tended surprisingly far south. About 9 p.m. 
several bright patches were seen low in the 
south, and at 11 the whole southern sky was 
full of streamers and patches of light. 

At 10:57 a remarkable group of short curved 
streamers appeared surrounding the radiant. 
These were but a few degrees in length, but 
very bright, and a distinct motion of the 
luminosity along the streamers was visible,— 
outward in all directions from the radiant, 
and with a curvature in a counter-clockwise 
direction. The motion was rapid, covering 
the length of the visible streamers in less than 
a second, and the impression was strong that 
what was seen was the actual motion of the 
particles which enter the atmosphere and 
cause the luminescence. 


Henry Norris Russeru 
May 16, 1921 . 


184 


Durine the last twenty years I have known 
of bright auroral displays being observed in 
Arizona on only a few occasions. One of 
these was on June 15, 1915, another one on 
March 22, 1920, and a third on the 14th of the 
present May. The first and the third of these 
were observed at the Lowell Observatory, but 
not the second one as it came during unfavor- 
able observing weather at Flagstaff. Of the 
two I observed, that of May 14 was much the 
more brilliant and wonderful (and this doubt- 
less was also a finer display than that of March 
22, 1920). It was recognized about 8:30 
o’clock, and rapidly increased in brightness, 
soon displaying streamers and bright and dark 
cloud masses with the curtain or drapery fea- 
tures. These continued bright for some time 
and then in more or less subdued intensity dur- 
ing about an hour when the northern sky be- 
gan again to show the arch and drapery effects 
rising and it was soon evident that another 
outburst was developing. This one then also 
progressed rapidly and at its height near eleven 
o’clock it was even more remarkable than the 
first. 

The rays (for convergence of these see ob- 
servations of Dr. Russell and Mr. Lampland 
given herewith) and the cloud forms were 
present in all parts of the sky at eleven o’clock. 
Some of these in the southern sky attracted 
my attention particularly by undergoing strik- 
ing fluctuations in brightness. These would 
be bright for a few minutes, would then fade 
nearly or quite to invisibility, brighten again 
and fade, repeatedly, in the same position. 
There were a few small ordinary vapor clouds 
scattered low in the east and northeast and 
one or two in the southwest, which as reference 
objects brought out clearly the very different 
and fleeting behavior of the auroral clouds, 
both the luminous and the dark, which im- 
pressed me as being the remnants of the dis- 
membered arch and draperies that spread over 
the whole sky. The spreading of the auroral 
canopy southward over the sky was most strik- 
ing as it swung forward through the east and 
the west. The color displayed was most notice- 
able in the northwest where a red tone usually 
prevailed and was at times quite strong. A 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. LIV. No. 1392 


less intense red tint was sometimes very evi- 
dent in the northeast. I did not see the blue 
tones sometimes reported for northern auroral 
displays. The most of the light was of the 
intermediate colors, silver with more or less 
greenish yellow, the silvery tone being notice- 
able for the higher streamers and the green 
and yellow tones increasing somewhat with the 
zenith distance, and particularly was the 
northern sky generally yellow with some green 
and less often some red tones. 

My efforts were directed toward getting 
spectrographie observations of the aurora. 
Unfortunately no properly adjusted spectro- 
graph was in readiness, but owing to the 
length of the display two slit spectrographs 
could be set up and three useful spectrograms 
secured. Two of these were with a single 
prism and a three and a quarter inch focus 
camera, and the third with a very dense prism 
and a 15 inch focus camera. The first of 
the small scale spectra on an isochromatic 
plate, is the stronger and shows about fifteen 
lines and band heads between ) 3800 and 
the chief aurora line at \ 5578.0. Those near 
3914 and ) 4276 were especially strong and 
appeared to be the less refrangible edges of 
flutings (band heads)—this is probably also 
true of the radiation near . 4650. The other 
small scale spectrum, on Ilford Panchromatic 
plate, shows the stronger of these lines, in- 
cluding the line ) 5578 and a line in the red 
whose wave-length according to my prelimi- 
nary measures is near ) 6320. 

The negative made with the higher disper- 
sion instrument, on Ilford red plate, records 
only faintly the chief aurora line, measures 
of which give the wave-length as 5577.8. 
This is in satisfactory agreement with the 
value 5578.05, which I found some years ago 
for this line from higher dispersion plates ex- 
posed to the permanent auroral light of the 
sky. This observation is of interest in that 
it leaves no further doubt that the wave-length 
is the same, within the errors of observation, 
whether the auroral light is that permanently 
scattered over the sky or is that of a violent 
storm display. The red line \ 6320 had been 
previously observed visually but this is I be- 


SEPTEMBER 2, 1921] 


lieve the first time it has been photographed 
and the negative should furnish much the more 
accurate determination of its wave-length. 


V. M. SuHer 
LOWELL OBSERVATORY, 
FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA, 
May 20, 1921 


THE magnificent auroral display seen at the 
Lowell Observatory on the evening and night 
of May 14 was of much interest to observers 
in a latitude so far south on account of the 
great brilliancy and diversity of types of many 
of the formations and their widespread dis- 
tribution over the sky. The auroral light 
was first recognized about 8:25, or a little 
earlier, before twilight had disappeared. The 
lower sky was then very brilliant in the north 
and particularly in the northeast, and the 
characteristic greenish auroral color was pre- 
dominant but over parts of the active areas a 
suffused ruddy glow was conspicuous, espe- 
cially in the northeast. Almost immediately 
streamers made their appearance in the north 
and northeast. Ten or fifteen minutes later 
the display developed into great activity. Long 
brilliant streamers were reaching up towards 
the zenith and beyond, and at the same time 
occurred in various parts of the sky, but espe- 
cially in the east and west, brilliant patches, 
and masses of light suggesting unevenly illu- 
minated cloud forms as when cumulus masses 
are lighted on one side with the great bulk 
of the cloud thrown into relief by the parts 
that are more feebly illuminated or in the 
shadow. One was inclined at first to attribute 
these massive forms, the darker parts barely 
perceptible against the background of the sky, 
as being partially due to atmospheric clouds. 
But their auroral origin soon became evident. 
The entire formation vanished when the au- 
roral activity in that region ceased, and also, 
with some attention, it was possible to dis- 
tinguish the few inconspicuous ordinary atmo- 
spheric clouds present. Several of the bril- 
liant patches persisted in nearly the same po- 
sition for some time, fading out and bright- 
ening up again repeatedly. 

The greatest activity of the second outburst 


SCIENCE 


185 


occurred between the hours of 10 and 11. Au- 
roral formations were at that time visible in 
practically all parts: of the sky, exhibiting 
simultaneously streamers, luminous masses, 
and bright patches, and all undergoing inces- 
sant change. Streamers from every direc- 
tion were playing across the heavens, the 
great beams of light gradually becoming nar- 
rower on approaching the region of con- 
vergence. 

The activity in the region near the con- 
vergent was at times quite remarkable. The 
transformations were complex and rapid, the 
luminous detail flaring up and fading out in 
almost the twinkling of an eye in some in- 
stances. About 10:46 occurred a very striking 
display in this area when detail formed and 
dissolved at an extremely rapid rate, struc- 
ture appearing in momentary flashes and at 
one time suggesting the fragments of a par- 
tially formed crown. 

The term “convergent” will be used in 
connection with the phenomena of the stream- 
ers, as I had frequently the impression that 
the streamers from different directions did 
not radiate from the region of their concur- 
rence but in many cases took a perceptible in- 
terval in rising from the lower parts of the 
sky to the point in question, gradually ap- 
proaching it in a series of intermittent or pul- 
sating advances. Doubtless the apparent con- 
figuration is a matter of perspective as in 
the case of meteor paths. The streamers de- 
scending along the lines of force of the 
earth’s magnetic field are for any locality 
nearly parallel and the vanishing point—the 
point where the streamers appear to meet— 
would be the highest altitude at which the 
streamers become visible. Strictly speaking, 
it might be more definite to use the term ra- 
diant as understood for meteors. 

The writer made several estimates of the 
convergent of the streamers but he missed 
many opportunities for additional estimates as 
well as for observing and recording numerous 
other phenomena in attempting to photograph 
the streamers in the region of their concur- 
rence. At this point, or small area, the stream- 
ers were much of the time comparatively faint 


186 


and never long at rest, and when momentarily 
a favorable formation developed the intensity 
fell off too rapidly to give suitable photo- 
graphs for accurate determination of the con- 
vergent. At times the convergent could be 
readily determined when streamers from many 
different directions were nearly or actually 
concurrent and the position of this point 
could be located with reference to comparison 


SCIENCE 


stars. My own observations were as follows: 
M.S. T. H. A. Dec. Azimuth Altitude 
h. m. h. m. 2 Q 2 
Wu |Or| sar as 16.8 57.3 

9 | 14 0 | 36 2.8 16.6 56.5 

9 | 16 0 | 36 2.8 16.5 56.5 

9 19 0 | 45 3.0 20.3 56.2 

9 | 22 | 0 | 38 2.2 17.2 55.8 

0 

10 } 50 | O | 22 | —0.2 9.4 54.2 
LO 52 OM oth oe 3i7, 10.0 58.1 
1125 |) 0} 80 E19 13.5 56.0 

These observations, and also Dr. Russell’s, 


show that generally the point of convergence 
was near the magnetic meridian but between 
5° and 6° south of the “magnetic zenith” 
(coordinates of the magnetic zenith for Flag- 
staff are: azimuth 8. 15° W.; altitude 62°). 
If the auroral streamers follow the lines of 
force of the earth’s magnetic field the higher 
parts of the streamers might be expected to 
show a deflection in the direction indicated 
but no calculations have been made to see if 
the magnitude of the apparent displacement 
might be of the order observed. What the ef- 
fect of parallax may be is also a point not to 
be overlooked. There can be little doubt but 
that the point of convergence was subject to 
greater actual variation in azimuth than alti- 
tude. In the magnetic disturbances that ac- 
company auroras it is possible that changes in 
the earth’s magnetic field might be perceptible 
in the course of the auroral streamers. 

At 10:44 a series of parallel streamers, com- 
ing into view almost directly overhead and ex- 
tending east and west, were seen drifting very 
rapidly towards the north, with undulating and 
flickering motions flowing lengthwise through 
them. They were visible for only a moment, 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1392 


the detail dissolving a short distance north of 
the zenith, and one had the impression that the 
phenomena taking place were comparatively 
near. 

Streamers of both narrow and broad. (at 
times somewhat diffuse) types were present. 
As a rule a greenish tint was most prominent 
in both the streamers and the extensive lumi- 
nous areas but a pinkish or ruddy color was 
also much in evidence. At various times 
pinkish or pale red streamers were seen, gen- 
erally in the northeast or northwest. A broad 
pinkish streamer in the northwest appeared 
to be rather quiescent and remained visible 
much longer than any of the other streamers 
during the display. It was 8° or more in 
width, extending perpendicularly upward 
from the horizon about thirty degrees. About 
12:35 a superb display of both pinkish and 
green streamers was visible for a few minutes 
in the northeast, extending up about 45° from 
the horizon, considerably inclined southward. 
Throughout the display streamers of greatly 
varying intensity playing upward from the 
northern horizon were visible but these were 
not as conspicuous as might have been ex- 
pected in view of the brightness and activity 
of the auroral light in other parts of the sky. 
Occasionally these streamers were subject to 
marked flickering, and some moyement—a 
slow lateral drift. Now and then dark lanes 
occurred between the streamers, and in one 
jnstance a very conspicuous dark rift had a 
leisurely motion eastward. 

From the time the auroral light was first 
made out in the waning twilight it was strong, 
with greatly increased intensity during the 
intervals of the outbursts mentioned, until 
after 1 o’clock when it rapidly subsided into 
a feeble glow along the northern horizon. It 
was reported by someone stationed at a sheep 
camp north of the San Franciseo Peaks that 
another outburst of streamers developed later 
in the night. 

The auroral light must have been of great 
intensity as the display was a magnificent 
spectacle even when dimmed with the light 
of the moon near the first quarter. 

On the day following the display two spots 


SEPTEMBER 2, 1921] 


of considerable size were seen on the solar 
surface not far from the center of the disk. 
C. O. LAMPLAND 
LOWELL OBSERVATORY, 
Fuagstarr, ARIZONA 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 
THE PRODUCTION OF FIXED NITROGEN 


Tue final report of the Nitrogen Products 
Committee of the British Ministry of Muni- 
tions, issued early in 1920, has been supple- 
mented by a series of statistical tables relating 
to nitrogen fixation, now publlished by the 
Stationery Office, covering the latter part of 
the war and the period that has elapsed since 
its termination. This additional informa- 
tion has been compiled by Dr. J. A. Harker, 
formerly director of the Nitrogen Research 
Laboratory, for the Department of Scientific 
and Industrial Research. 

Among other things, the statistics deal with 
the world’s resources in nitrogen products, the 
Chile nitrate industry, the production of nitric 
acid and sulphate of ammonia, the synthetic 
ammonia process during the war, and the 
cyanamide industry. It is estimated that the 
world’s capacity for the production of fixed 
nitrogen amounted last year to 1,561,000 tons, 
of which about 57 per cent. was attributable 
to natural sources, such as Chile nitrate and 
the by-product industry, and the remainder to 
artificial fixation processes. 

The London Times, from which we take this 
information, says: 


The most striking, and in some ways the 
most disquieting, feature of the statistical sup- 
plement to the Nitrogen Products Committee’s 
report (mentioned in The Times of yesterday) 
is the great increase in the world production 
of fixed nitrogen, and of the fact that of the 50 
plants in operation throughout the world, not one 
is established in this country and only two are to 
be found within the Empire. Canada has one 
are process plant with a maximum capacity of 
800 metric tons a year and a cyanamide process 
plant estimated to be capable of 12,000 tons. 
Thus, of the world’s total estimated capacity for 
1920 of 671,300 tons, the British Empire com- 
mands only 12,800 tons, 

A fuller examination of the position reveals the 


SCIENCE 


187 


conclusive predominance of Germany in this field, 
While Norway outdistances all rivals in the are 
process, producing 30,000 tons out of a total of 
38,300, Germany, taking the three processes to- 
gether, produces nearly twice as much fixed nitro- 
gen as the rest of the world. Of the 325,000 tons 
credited to the cyanamide process, Germany com- 
mands 120,000, while under the synthetic ammonia 
process she has a capacity of 300,000 tons, and the 
only rival is the United States, with the almost 
negligible figure of 8,000. Put in a sentence, Ger- 
many can produce by fixation processes 424,000 
metric tons of nitrogen a year, and the rest of the 
world can produce only 237,000 tons, of which this 
country produces none. 

Our one internal source of fixed nitrogen ig 
therefore by-product works, and even there we 
produce only 100,000 tons against Germany’s 
150,000. As a net result our internal resourced 
—that is, the resources on which we should have 
to rely if all colonial and foreign supplies were 
cut off—represent 2,240 tons of fixed nitrogen per 
million of population, while Germany’s resources 
amount to 8,830 per million of her population. It 
is sometimes suggested that our inaction in this 
field may yet prove of advantage, since by waiting 
until experiment had demonstrated the best proe- 
ess, we might adopt it and then pick up our com- 
petitors. The history, however, of our loss of the 
synthetic dyestuff industry, which began in 1856 
with Perkin’s discovery of mauvine and still flour- 
ished for 20 years after, gives little support to this 
complacent theory. 

The plain truth is that while other countries, 
especially Germany, have carried their experi- 
mental work well into the productive and com- 
mercial stage, we are still engaged in construct- 
ing plants and debating the merits of the proc- 
esses of German, French, and other chemists. 
The synthetic ammonia factory at Billingham, 
designed to manufacture about 60,000 tons of 
ammonia nitrate annually for war purposes, was 
begun by the Ministry of Munitions early in 1918, 
but at the time of the Armistice was only very 
little advanced. This is now being redesigned by 
Brunner, Mond and Co., to manufacture fertilizers, 
and a subsidiary company is at present eoncen- 
trating upon designs for an initial plant to produce 
25 tons of nitrogen per day or about 6,000 to 7,000 
tons annually. Cumberland Coal Power and Chem- 
icals, Limited, have purchased the British rights 
in the French process by Georges Claude, and the 
British Cyanides Company are continuing at Bir- 
mingham their large-scale experiments on fixar 


188 


tion of nitrogen by the barium process. The fact 
remains, however, that we are still in the construc- 
tional or experimental stage, while Germany far 
outdistances all competitors in actual production. 


FORESTRY LEGISLATION 


Tue Forest Service, United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, reports that no less than 
thirty-three states have now provided for some 
sort of forestry activities and twenty-five of 
these share in the federal cooperative forest 
protection fund, allotted to states maintaining 
an effective fire detection and suppression 
system. 

Two others have applied recently for such 
assistance. Public backing of the movement 
to preserve the remaining forests from de- 
struction by fire, and to put idle forest lands 
to work growing trees, is becoming widespread, 
and the effects of the popular demand for ac- 
tion is shown clearly in the state laws passed 
this year. 

Pennsylvania, under the direction of Gifford 
Pinchot, the new commissioner of forestry, 
leads all states in forest activities. The bien- 
nial appropriation passed by the legislature 
and approved by the governor carried $1,870,- 
000, an increase of $863,300 over the appropri- 
ation of 1919; $1,000,000 of the total is for fire 
protection. The legislature also passed an act 
empowering the federal government to acquire 
lands on the watersheds of navigable streams 
within the state, by purchase or condemnation, 
and to control and regulate such reserves. 

The Minnesota legislature was more gener- 
ous with the state forestry board than ever be- 
fore. A total of $275,500 for general forestry 
work was appropriated for the next two years, 
of which $125,000 a year is for fire protection. 
The last named sum was augmented by an ad- 
ditional allotment of $44,000 from the state 
board of relief. For the equipment of a flying 
field $45,000 was voted. This provision was to 
meet the offer of the federal government to fur- 
nish the service of twelve planes if the neces- 
sary hangars and flying fields were provided. 
While the primary purpose of this agreement 
is to supply aerial mail communication, the 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1392 


planes will be able also to render effective serv- 
ice in discovering forest fires. 

In California, where there has been much 
favorable sentiment toward forestry for many 
years, the legislature voted a substantial in- 
crease in appropriation for the state board of 
forestry, for the biennial period beginning 
July 1. For the prevention and suppression 
of fire $75,000 was appropriated; for general 
administration, $27,000; for a study of water- 
shed areas, $10,000, and to establish and main- 
tain state forest nurseries, $35,000. The legis- 
lature also voted $300,000 for the purchase of 
redwood timber land for park purposes along 
the state highway in Mendocino and Humboldt 
counties, the area to be administered by the 
state board of forestry. 


THE HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH 


Puans for the organization of a School of 
Public Health in Harvard University, with the 
aid of an initial gift of $1,785,000 by the 
Rockefeller Foundation, are announced by 
the university and the officers of the Founda- 
tion. The announcement says: 

An excellent general course for the training of 
public health officers as well as special courses in 
preventive medicine, in tropical medicine and in- 
dustrial hygiene have already been developed at 
Harvard. The work has been hampered, however, 
by lack of adequate funds and by uneven growth. 

The new school will provide opportunities for 
research, will unify existing courses and will offer 
new or extended teaching facilities in public health 
administration, vital statistics, immunology, bac- 
teriology, medical zoology, physiological hygiene 
and communicable diseases. 

For the housing of the school the university 
hopes to secure an existing building of very suit- 
able character immediately adjacent to the Med- 
ical School. Funds for the purchase and equip- 
ment of the building will be drawn from the gift 
of the Rockefeller Foundation. 

The cost of maintenance and development of the 
school will be met from endowment funds in part 
set aside by the university and in part contributed 
by the Foundation. The Foundation’s immediate 
appropriations to the project will aggregate 
$1,785,000. The arrangement also provides for 
further gifts, if the growth of the school seems to 
demand it, to any amount which shall not exceed 
$500,000. 


SEPTEMBER 2, 1921] 


Though the School of Public Health at Harvard 
will have its headquarters in a well-equipped 
building of its own:and have its own separate 
faculty and administration, it will be developed 
in close relation with other divisions of the uni- 
versity, especially the Medical School, 

The administration buildings of the two schools 
will, it is hoped, stand side by side on the same 
grounds; certain heads of departments will be 
members of both faculties; and a number of 
laboratories and lecture rooms will be used in 
common. 

The school will be able to cooperate with a large 
number of laboratories, hospitals and public health 
agencies in Boston and thus afford its students un- 
usual opportunities for first-hand investigation 
and practical field experience. 

In addition, the school, through cooperative re- 
lations with a number of manufacturing and com- 
mercial corporations, will be able to offer the 
students practical experience in industrial hygiene. 


There already exists a School of Public 
Health conducted jointly by Harvard Univer- 
sity and the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology. Professor M. J. Rosenau, of the 
Harvard Medical School, is the director of 
this school, and the other members of the ad- 
ministrative board are Professor G. C. 
Whipple, of the Harvard Engineering School, 
and Professor C. E. Turner, of the Massa- 
chusetts Institute of Technology. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Tue British chemists who have been meeting 
at Montreal and Toronto will be welcomed at 
Niagara Falls by Governor Miller on Monday, 
September 5. The reception committee of 
chemists consists of Mr. S. R. Church, chair- 
man of the American Section of the Society of 
Chemical Industry ; Dr. Edgar F. Smith, presi- 
dent of the American Chemical Society; Dr. 
David Wesson, president of the American In- 
stitute of Chemical Engineers; Dr. Acheson 
Smith, president of the Electrochemical So- 
ciety; and Drs. Charles F. Chandler, Ira Rem- 
sen, M. T. Bogert and William H. Nichols, 
past presidents of the Society of Chemical 
Industry. As has already been noted in Scr- 
ENCE, the opening meeting of the American 
Chemical Society in New York City will be at 


SCIENCE 


189 


Columbia University at ten o’clock on the 
morning of September 7. 


At the recent second International Confer- 
ence of Pure and Applied Chemistry held at 
Brussels, Professor Charles Moureau, of Paris, 
presided. The vice-president representing the 
United States was Dr. F. G. Cottrell, recently 
chief of the Bureau of Mines and chairman of 
the Division of Chemistry of the National 
Research Council. 


Grorce Otis Suir, director of the United 
States Geological Survey, has returned to 
Washington from London, where he went to 
serve as a member of the organization com- 
mittee of the International Geological Con- 
gress, the next meeting of which is being ar- 
ranged for August, 1922, at Brussels. 


Mr. C. J. West has left the position of di- 
rector of the Information Department of Ar- 
thur D. Little, Inc., Cambridge, Mass., to be- 
come managing editor of the “Tables of 
Physical and Chemical Constants,” which is 
being published by the National Research 
Council, in cooperation with the American 
Chemical Society. 


Mr. Grorcr A. Oxson has resigned as chem- 
ist of the Washington Agricultural Experiment 
Station and state chemist of the State of 
Washington, in order to accept the position as 
director of agricultural research and agricul- 
tural adviser for the Gypsum Industries As- 
sociation, Chicago, Ill., which position was for- 
merly held by Dr. William Crocker, who re- 
cently resigned to become the director of the 
Thompson Institute for Plant Research at 
Yonkers, N. Y. 

Frank C. Morrison, assistant director of the 
agricultural experiment station of the Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin, has been appointed a 
member of the committee on Animal Nutri- 
tion of the National Research Council. 

B. D.. Porrirr has been appointed director 
of research by the Research Association of 
British Rubber and Tyre Manufacturers. 

Fotitowine the recent transfer of the Port 
Erin Biological Station to Liverpool Univer- 
sity (department of oceanography), Mr. Her- 
bert C: Chadwick, who has been curator under 


190 


the Liverpool Marine Biology Committee for 
the last twenty-four years, has resigned, but 
remains on the staff of the institution as re- 
search assistant. Mr. J. Ronald Bruce has 
been appointed naturalist-in-charge. 


WE learn from Nature that at the annual 
general meeting of the Réntgen Society the 
following officers and council were elected: 
President, Professor J. W. Nicholson; Vice- 
Presidents, Dr. G. H. Rodman, Sir Ernest 
Rutherford, and Sir William Bragg; Hon. 
Treasurer, Mr. G. Pearce; Hon. Secretaries, 
Dr. E. A. Owen and Dr. J. R. Reynolds; Hon. 
Editor, Dr. G. W. C. Kaye; Council, C. An- 
drews, Dr. H. Black, A. E. Dean, Major Ken- 
elm Edgcumbe, N. S. Finzi, Dr. F. L. Hop- 
wood, Dr. F. H. Johnson, Dr. R. Morton, C. 
E: S. Phillips, Professor A. W. Porter, Profes- 
sor A. O. Rankine, and Sir Archibald D. Reid. 

Tue following physicians have been elected 
members of the Brazilian Congress: Profes- 
sors C. Fraga and P. Mendes, from Bahia, and 
Professors A. Sodré, A. Austregesilo and Dr. 
M. de Medeiros from Rio de Janeiro. 


Proressor WituraM H. Hopps, of the Uni- 
versity of Michigan, is now in Japan to make 
an investigation of the coral islands. 


Accorpina to Terrestrial Magnetism, the 
New Zealand Government has made arrange- 
ments for the continuation of the magnetic 
and seismic work of the Samoa Observatory 
at Apia. Dr. Angenheister, in charge from 
1914 to 1921, has returned to Gottingen, 
Germany. The New Zealand government did 
not have available funds for the observational 
work in atmospheric electricity and meteorol- 
ogy. Accordingly, Dr. H. M. W. Edmonds, of 
the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of 
the Carnegie Institution, was stationed at Apia 
for the continuation, during the year, of the 
work and for the purpose of taking charge of 
the department’s secular-variation work in the 
Pacific Ocean. He arrived at Apia the latter 
part of June. Mr. C. J. Westland, of New 
Zealand, succeeds Dr. Angenheister in the 
charge of the Observatory. 


Proressor Frank H. Bicetow retired from 
the directorship of the Observatorio Solar y 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1392 


Magnetico, Pilar, Argentina, on June 30, and 
will reside for the present in Southern France. 
He will prepare for publication a series of 
papers describing his researches on atmospheric 
physies. 

Governor Baxter, of Maine, has received an 
undated letter from Captain Donald B. Mac- 
Millan, the Arctic explorer, now on an expedi- 
tion to Baffin Land, in which he writes: “I 
have taken on the last provisions and fresh 
water and am now awaiting weather to clear 
before proceeding northward to Hopedale, the 
first Eskimo settlement.. The Bowdoin is 
proving to be a wonderful sea boat. Had her 
going the other day with sea rail under and 
fore rigging cutting every wave.” 


Tue Journal of the American Medical As- 
sociation states that as Ramén y Cajal will 
soon retire as professor of histology in the 
School of Medicine of Madrid, Dr. Van 
Baubergen introduced a bill providing that 
Cajal should be appointed honorary dean of all 
Spanish medical schools, and that he should 
be granted an annual pension of 25,000 pesetas 
(about $3,200). The minister of public edu- 
cation, while endorsing its first paragraph, 
held that the pension could not be granted, as 
it would violate the budget law. Cajal tried to 
stop subsequent action in favor of the pension, 
publishing a letter in which he said, “The 
legend of the poverty-stricken and neglected 
researcher has no application in my case.” 
Cajal asked in his letter that, rather than 
granting him a pension he does not need, they 
should increase the funds for the Cajal School. 
The government accepted the suggestion and 
increased by 50,000 pesetas (about $6,500) the 
annual appropriation for the school. 


Tue Journal of Industrial and Engineering 
Chemistry states that the Fixed Nitrogen 
Research Laboratory, located at American 
University, Washington, has been transferred 
from the War Department to the Department 
of Agriculture. Dr. R. C. Tolman, director, 
will remain in charge, and the entire personnel 
of 110 to 120, including 50 of the best trained 
experts in the world on nitrogen, is trans- 
ferred. Most of the work of the laboratory 


SEPTEMBER 2, 1921] 


has been done on the cyanamide process that is 
used in the Muscle Shoals plant, but the Haber 
and are processes have also been studied. The 
laboratory will still consider nitrogen produc- 
tion from a military viewpoint, but it will do 
intensive work on problems of nitrogen sup- 
ply for agricultural purposes. The laboratory 
and the Bureau of Plant Industry of the De- 
partment of Agriculture have in the past year 
made extensive field tests on various fertilizers 
produced at the Alabama plants, and it is 
planned to continue and enlarge these tests. 
Dr. R. O. E. Davis, in charge of the soil phys- 
ical investigation of the Bureau of Soils, has 
been cooperating in these tests. 


Tue American Astronomical Society held 
its annual meeting at the Van Vleck Observa- 
tory, Middletown, Conn., from August 30 to 
September 1. The following observatories, 
colleges and institutions were represented: 
United States Naval Observatory, Lick Ob- 
servatory, Mt. Wilson Observatory, Allegheny 
Observatory, Dominion Observatory (Canada), 
Dudley Observatory, Harvard, Yale, University 
of Illinois, Ohio State, Princeton, Massachu- 
setts Institute of Technology, Swarthmore, 
Syracuse, Dartmouth, New York University, 
Brown, Amherst, Wesleyan, Vassar, Smith, 
Wellesley, Mount Holyoke, Eastman Kodak 
Company, Elgin Watch Company, Warner and 
Swasey Co., Alvan Clark Company and Ameri- 
can Optical Company. The program for the 
meeting contained thirty-eight papers based 
upon observations with the spectroscope, seven 
papers dealt with stellar parallaxes or the dis- 
stances of the stars and their distribution in 
space, and four papers were on the nebule. 


Tue British expedition which is aiming at 
the conquest of Mount Everest in the Hima- 
layas, the world’s highest peak, has completed 
its explorations to the north and west of the 
mountain without discovering a practical route 
to the summit, it is announced in a Reuter 
dispatch from Simla. Some hope is still en- 
tertained, however, that a route may be gained 
on the northeast flank of the great mountain, 
and when the monsoon abates another effort 
will be made. Meanwhile the headquarters of 


SCIENCE 


191 


the expedition have been moved toward Kharta, 
upon which point the further effort will be 
based. The present expedition has surveyed 
about 10,000 square miles of territory on and 
adjacent to Mount Everest. 


Accorpine to the Journal of Industrial and 
Engineering Chemistry, the first conference 
of the complete Pharmacopeial Committee of 
Revision was held July 1 and 2, 1921, at Phila- 
delphia, Pa. The first day was devoted to sub- 
committee conferences, and at the close of the 
day all subcommittees reported their current 
problems settled or decided as far as possible. 
The following day was devoted to a meeting of 
the General Committee. \ A committee was 
appointed to take up the recommendation of 
the Pharmacopeial Convention that a confer- 
ence on international standards be called be- 
fore the completion of the Tenth Revision of 
the U. S. P. An announcement was made of 
the authorization by the Board of Trustees of 
the use of the U. S. P. IX. text for translation 
into Chinese. It is expected that this will be 
accepted by Chinese government officials and 
become the Pharmacopeia of China, First Edi- 
tion. It was also announced that individual 
work on pharmacopeial problems could by 
special permission be released for publication. 
A conference was held with the Prohibition 
Commissioner in regard to the proposed co- 
operation between the department and the 
Committee of Revision on all questions in 
which pharmacopeial alcoholic preparations 
are involved. 


A new forest experiment station, the first 
in eastern states, has been established at Ashe- 
ville, N. C., by the forest service of the United 
States Department of Agriculture. Steady 
depletion of the southern Appalachian timber 
supply has been responsible for the location 
of this station in the east; and the object of 
the work to be conducted will be to secure the 
information needed by foresters to determine 
the best methods of handling forest lands 
in the southern mountains. 


THE provisional figures of births registered 
in England and Wales during the first quarter 
of 1921 show a decline of over 61,000 from 


192 


the record of the corresponding period of 
last year. Compared with the first quarter of 
1914, however, the drop in numbers is under 
8,000. Excluding the war years, the births 
are the fewest recorded in the first quarter of 
any year since 1872. The deaths registered 
also show a decline in numbers from the 
very low record of 1920, and are, indeed, the 
smallest in number registered in the first quar- 
ter of any year since 1868. The natural in- 
crease by excess of births over deaths was 
over 80,000, as compared with 133,000 in the 
March quarter of 1920 and 73,000 in 1914. 
The infant mortality was 101 per 1,000 births. 


We learn from the Journal of the Washing- 
ton Academy of Sciences that the purchase of 
additional land near the Connecticut Avenue 
entrance to the National Zoological Park, pro- 
vided for in the Sundry Civil Bill for 1921, has 
been completed. The addition to the Park is 
about six acres, making the total area about 
175 acres. 


We learn from Nature that the governor- 
general of New Zealand, Lord Jellicoe, has 
formally opened the Cawthron Institute in 
Nelson, South Island. The institution was 
founded under the terms of the late Thomas 
Cawthron to provide a place for teaching and 
carrying out scientific research relating to 
the industries of Nelson and of the Dominion. 
Lord Jellicoe paid eloquent tribute to the 
great public generosity of the late Mr. Caw- 
thron, and then spoke of the importance of 
scientific research. For an agricultural com- 
munity to achieve success the agriculturists 
must cooperate with men of science. The work 
undertaken in the new institute will deal 
largely with problems of agriculture, fruit- 
growing, etc., and should therefore exert great 
influence on the prosperity of the whole of the 
Dominion. The Bishop of Nelson, who is 
chairman of the trustees, also addressed the 
gathering, and made particular mention of 
the library of scientific books’ belonging to the 
institute, which it was hoped, when completed, 
would be the best in Australasia. Professor 
Easterfield, director of the Cawthron Institute, 
gave a brief outline of the many lines of re- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1392 


search now occupying the attention of the 
staff; soil surveys, experiments with fertiliz- 
ers and cover-crops, fire-blight, the deteriora- 
tion of trout, fruit pests, and the utilization 
of flax-waste were among the problems men- 
tioned. 


Art a recent meeting of the Royal Geograph- 
ical Society Dr. Knud Rasmussen explained 
the plans for his expedition to gather ma- 
terials for an archeological and ethnographical 
survey. The expedition, which consists of Dr. 
Rasmussen, three other Danish scientific men 
and six Esquimaux, will leave the settlement 
of Holstemborg, in Greenland, for Hudson 
Bay at the end of August. The area to be 
explored is the central part of the archipelago, 
between Greenland and North America, com- 
prising Ellesmereland, North Devon, North 
Somerset, Baffin Land, Borthia Felix, the 
Melville Peninsula and the Barren Grounds. 


Accorpine to the daily press, a trading ex- 
pedition to Siberia via the Kara Sea is on the 
point of leaving Europe. Two cargo boats 
from Liverpool, two from Hamburg, and one 
from Goteborg are to meet at the Russian port 
of Murmansk, where they will be rejoined by 
the ice-breaker Alexandria from Leith. The 
expedition is carrying about 11,000 tons cargo, 
most of which is to enter Siberia via the 
Yenesei River. The expedition is being or- 
ganized by the All-Russian Cooperative So- 
ciety, Limited, London. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 


Mr. H. H. Wits some time since presented 
the University of Bristol with the sum of 
200,000/. for the provision of a new physics 
laboratory, and a contract for the erection of 
a building has now been signed. It is esti- 
mated that the work will absorb the whole of 
the original gift, together with interest on 
the fund, amounting to 21,0001. The build- 
ing will be named “ The Henry Herbert Wills 
Physical Laboratory.” 


Tue board of curators of the state univer- 
sity of Missouri has taken a definite stand 


SEPTEMBER 2, 1921] 


in favor of establishing a four year course in 
medicine at the university. The board will 
prepare a bill for presentation at the next 
session of the legislature in 1923 to authorize 
and appropriate money for the establishment 
of a state hospital at Columbia to be operated 
in conjunction with the medical school. 


Dr. H. J. Weeper has been appointed profes- 
sor of citriculture in the University of Califor- 
nia and director of the Citrus Experiment 
Station at Riverside, the position he held be- 
fore he accepted an industrial position at 
Hartsville, South Carolina. 


Proressor A. V. Mituer, associate profes- 
sor of drawing and descriptive geometry, has 
been apppointed assistant dean of the college 
of engineering of the University of Wiscon- 
sin, to take the place of Professor J. D. Phil- 
lips, who is now acting business manager 
during the year’s leave of absence of H. J. 
Thorkelson. 


_ Dr. Joun Sunpwatu, professor of hygiene 
and public health at the University of Minne- 
sota, has been made director of hygiene and 
public health in the newly established depart- 
ment of physical education. 


In the Medical School, Boston, Dr. Fred 
Wilbur Thyng has been promoted to be pro- 
fessor of anatomy, and Dr. Jesse Leroy Conel 
has been appointed assistant professor. 


Proressor H. C. PirumMer has been ap- 
pointed professor of mathematics at the Ord- 
nance College, Woolwich, England. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
AN IMPORTANT BUT UNNAMED RADIOACTIVE 
QUANTITY 
Tue problems that are met in the quanti- 
tative study of radioactive materials and proc- 
esses fall naturally into two classes. One class 
includes the strictly chemical problems; the 
other, the problems that are primarily con- 
cerned with radioactive phenomena, such as 
the rate of emission of energy and the rate of 
production of alpha particles. In problems be- 
longing to the first class we are concerned with 
the total amount of material present; but in 
problems of the second class we are directly 


SCIENCE 


193 


concerned with only the relatively small frac- 
tion (AN) of the atoms present that take part 
in the phenomenon studied; we are only in- 
cidentally interested in the atoms that have 
remained untransformed. 

In such problems, comparable amounts of 
different radio-elements are such as correspond 
to the same value of }N. There should be a 
name by which to denote the amount of any 
radio-element, irrespective of family, that is 
thus comparable to a gram of radium. If, 
tentatively, we use the letter r to denote this 
quantity, then an r of any material may be 
defined as that amount of the material that 
will produce transformed atoms at the same 
rate as transformed atoms are produced by 
one gram of radium. This quantity plays in 
radioactivity a part that is analogous to that 
played by the gram-molecule in physical chem- 
istry, and the adoption of some name for it 
will facilitate the recording, discussion, and 
presentation of observations and phenomena. 

Thus arises the question whether the term 
“ curie,” which denotes an r of radium emana- 
tion, shall be redefined so as to cover the entire 
field embraced by our definition of the quan- 
tity r, or whether a new name shall be added 
to the nomenclature of the science. This 
question was submitted by the Bureau of 
Standards to a number of chemists and physi- 
cists; the majority of those who replied fa- 
vored a redefinition of the “ curie.” 

The advantages to be secured by adopting a 
name for the quantity here denoted by r 
are considered in greater detail in an article 
that will appear in an early issue of the Jour- 
nal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. 


N. Ernest Dorsry 
BUREAN OF STANDARDS, 
WASHINGTON, D. C., 
July 30, 1921 


THE VALUE OF TILTH IN AGRICULTURE 


To tHe Epiror or Science: If the surface 
of the earth be broken up to a moderate depth, 
the growth of plants will be marvelously in- 
creased, as has been known from time im- 
memorial. 

A scientific explanation of this fact is sug- 


194 


gested by Mr. Jerome Alexander in Sciencg, 
July 22, page 74, to the effect that the evap- 
orating surface is increased by the comminu- 
tion of the soil, with the resulting increase of 
evaporation of the soil water. This in turn 
results in a greater upward flow of the soil 
water from below, bringing with it a greater 
store of plant food than would normally be 
transported from the depths of the soil. This 
induced upward movement of the soil water 
is thought by the author of the note in ques- 
tion to account also for “the curious fact 
well known to farmers, that in dry weather, 
cultivation will to a considerable extent fur- 
nish moisture to the growing crops.” 

The value of cultivation (aside from the 
killing of weeds) is unquestionably the result 
of a number of diverse factors, the bare enu- 
meration of which would transcend the limits 
of the space available in Sctence. So far, 
however, as the movements of the soil water 
are influenced by the comminution of the 
surface concerned, there are two chief re- 
sults which prove of benefit to the growing 
crops. 

By evaporation at the surface, the minerals 
held in solution are left behind at a locality 
inaccessible to the feeding roots, which can 
not long exist at the surface of the land. 
Cultivation of the surface moves this zone 
of concentration to the subsurface, and here 
the roots are able to take advantage of the 
greater concentrated solution of plant foods. 

The well-known fact that tilth apparently 
increases the amount of moisture in the land 
is accounted for by the exact reversal of the 
hypothesis suggested by Mr. Alexander, the 
fact being that the comminution of the upper 
surface of the soil, instead of increasing the 
evaporation of the soil water, more or less 
perfectly stops evaporation, and thus conserves 
the store of soil water. 

L. S. Frmrson 


GAYLE, LOUISIANA 


BACTERIA IN THE AMERICAN PERMIAN 

THE presence of bacteria in the closing 
period of the American Paleozoic has been 
suggested by the condition of the fractured 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1392 


reptilian spine, recalling an osteomyelitis, 
already noted.* At the time this first notice 
was written microscopic sections of the fossil 
spine had not been studied. Since then, I 
have received four transverse sections through 
the spine, showing in detail the nature of the 
sinuses which caused the tumefaction. Care- 
ful search through the sections has failed to 
reveal any sequestrum, such as is commonly 
found in modern chronic osteomyelitis, nor 
were bacteria found in the margins of the 
calcite filled sinuses. The presence of path- 
ogenic bacteria in such a situation would be 
rather rare in a fossil state, since the nature 
of fossilization would prevent their preserva- 
tion. It is doubtful too whether we could 
prove the pathogenicity of such bacteria save 
by their location. 

Bacteria of the Micrococcus type, so com- 
mon in the fossil vertebrate material studied 
by Renault from the Autun of France, are 
however abundantly preserved in the distorted 
osseous lacune. They are similar in all re- 
spects to those occurring in the fossil bone 
of fishes previously described? from the De- 
vonian of America and Scotland. The bac- 
teria, often seen isolated in the terminal bulb 
of the canaliculus-like burrows, which radiate 
out from the body of the lacuna, are no doubt 
those of decay and had nothing to do with the 
infection producing the osteomyelitis. There 
seams no doubt that bacteria of this type may 
be found in any fossil vertebrate material of 
the type which has been embedded in moist 
ground long enough to undergo a slight 
amount of decay, prior to fossilization. The 
only reason they have been seen so seldom 
in fossil vertebrate material is simply because 
no one has looked for them. They are there 
beyond any question. 

The bodies which have been interpreted as 
bacteria, when seen isolated at a magnifica- 
tion of 1240 diameters, measuring from 1 to 
2.5 microns, appear as semicrystalline, round- 
ed, brownish bodies resembling minute specks 
of amber. The question as to whether they 

1 Science, N. 8., Vol. LIII., No, 1371, p. 333, 
Apr, 8, 1921. 

2 Scrence, N. S., Vol. LI., No. 1305, p. 14, 1920. 


SEPTEMBER 2, 1921] 


are really bacteria has been satisfactorily dis- 
cussed by the researches of Bernard Renault 
who has placed the subject of bacteriology of 
fossil vertebrate remains on a safe footing. 
Those seen in the present sections often group 
themselves in pairs recalling the modern Dip- 
lococcit. I have never seen chains of these 
forms in vertebrate material. 

The other question as to how such minute 
bits of protoplasm are capable of preservation 
over many millions of years is one of those 
unsolved puzzles of paleontology which we 
may place with that of the fossilization of the 
ganoid fish brains from Kansas. 

Roy L. Mooprr 

DEPARTMENT OF ANATOMY, 

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, 
CHICAGO 


QUOTATIONS 
SCIENTIFIC PAPERS 

AutHoucH the scientific societies made a 
valiant effort to preserve continuity through 
the war, the session now closed is the first 
that has been nearly normal for several years. 
Most of the younger men were engaged on 
work that does not qualify for membership of 
learned societies, and the scientific investi- 
gations of the others, young or old, were often 
advisedly kept secret. Now that science has 
resumed its old range and almost its old out- 
put the precise utility of the weekly and fort- 
nightly meetings of the societies, under 
discussion before the war, is again being con- 
sidered. Clearly they have a social value, in- 
creased by the almost universal change from 
the evening to the late afternoon, and by the 
more abundant presence of ladies, as members 
or as guests. But what of their specific func- 
tion as an aid to the advancement of knowl- 
edge? It is to be confessed that for the most 
part this seems slight. Distinguished investi- 
gators are not always clear expositors by word 
of mouth. In many cases the programme 
is so long that many items, and these often 
the more interesting, have to be “taken as 
read.” The actual communications made are 
often such that it is to be doubted if more 
than one out of ten of the audience has the 
slightest idea what it is all about. Sir James 


SCIENCE 


195 


Dewar, speaking at the closing meeting of the 
Royal Institution, possibly partly in jest, 
ventured the opinion that it was good for 
people to listen to the most recent results of 
science, even if they failed to understand 
them. This is an opinion in which we can 
not concur, holding, on the contrary, that 
if there is a state worse than ignorance it is 
that of the vain worshippers of scientific shib- 
boleths. If the purpose of a meeting is to 
convey instruction, the exposition should be 
as simple and clear as that to which Sir 
James Dewar himself has accustomed his 
audiences at Albemarle-street. 

But the original purpose of the meetings 
of the scientific societies was to discuss new 
results rather than to educate. Im earlier 
days, when the range of knowledge was nar- 
rower, almost any man of science was capable 
of emitting a useful impromptu opinion on 
almost any branch of science. An approach 
to such a communion between lecturer and 
audience may still be possible in some of the 
smaller and more highly specialized societies. 
In other bodies a useful attempt is sometimes 
made to reach it, by grouping the papers for 
a meeting, or by setting a topic for discussion. 
But even such arrangements frequently fail 
of their object, because those with most right 
to be heard are least anxious to criticize or to 
approve what they have heard for the first 
time, whilst those who have least claim to 
serious attention are most ready to hazard 
opinions. It would be interesting, were some 
society to experiment with a method frequent- 
ly suggested, but, so far as we know, not yet 
actually adopted. It is the custom for the 
communications made at a meeting to be 
printed and published subsequently, after due 
examination by a referee. It is worth noting 
that strict precautions are taken to prevent 
substantial alteration or correction of a 
manuscript, even if the discussion had shown 
that these would be an advantage. There is 
threfore no gain by the delay, and much 
detriment to the value and interest of the 
meeting. If, on the other hand a paper were 
published in full, and distributed in the usual 
way at a due interval before the meeting at 


196 


which the author was to present it, experts and 
those with varying degrees of knowledge could 
master the main points of the thesis. They 
would thus be prepared to join in, or to listen 
to, a debate which would certainly be a real 
contribution to the progress of knowledge.— 
The London Times. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
ON THE LAW OF SURFACE AREA IN ENERGY 
METABOLISM 1 


Tue generalization that heat production in 
animals is proportional to the surface of the 
animal body rather than the weight of the body 
was first hinted at by French writers before the 
middle of the last century. It was formulated 
rather definitely by Bergmann in 1848 and 
was first placed on a definite footing of fact 
almost simultaneously by Rubner in Ger- 
many and by Richet in France in 1885. This 
so-called law of surface area has been quite 
generally accepted and has contributed much 
to the understanding of metabolism which we 
now have. 

Recently this law has been submitted to 
severe criticism by F. G. Benedict and his 
colleagues? and the conclusion has_ been 
reached that surface area is little or no better 
as a measure of metabolism than is body 
weight. The purpose of the present communi- 
cation is to direct attention to some natural 
limitations of the law of surface area which 
seem to have been overlooked by these critics. 
Harris and Benedict have rendered a service 
to the science of metabolism and nutrition by 
calling attention to the fact that since sur- 
face is usually expressed as a quantity in 
which two thirds power of the weight enters 
as a factor it must of necessity be less variable 
than the weight. As a matter of fact the 

1 Abridged from an address delivered before the 
Yorkville Medical Society, New York City, March 
21, 1921. 

2 Harris, J. A., and Benedict, F. G., ‘‘A Bio- 
metric Study of Basal Metabolism in Man,’’ Car- 
negie Inst. of Washington, Publ. No. 279, Wash- 
ington, 1919; Benedict, F. G., and Talbot, F. B., 
‘«Metabolism and Growth from Birth to Puberty,’’ 
Carnegie Inst. of Washington, Publ. No. 302, 
Washington, 1921. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1392 


mathematical relationship does not stop here; 
for in many instances the constant employed 
in the formula, for example, of Meeh or of 
Lissauer, by which the two thirds power of the 
weight is multiplied, equalizes the propor- 
tions between surfaces and weights. A few 
illustrations will make this clear. Suppose, 
for example, we have two infants weighing 7 
and 8 kilograms respectively. Expressing 
their weights in grams and their surfaces in 
sq. em. by the Meeh and Lissauer formule, 
we have the proportions shown in the first 
line of the following table. The ratio of 


TABLE I. 
Relation of Body Weights and Surfaces to Each 
Other 
Meeh-Rubner Lissauer 
11.97% (w)? 10.37% (w)2 
Weight Ratio 
Gm. 
Surface Surface 
sq. cm. Ratio | sq. em.| Ratio 
7,000 .... 4,354 3,769 
8,000 ....| 0.88 | 4,760 0.91 4,120 |0.91 
20 kgm... 0.8768 sq. m. 0.7589 
sq.m. 
21 kgm...! 0.95 |0.9058 0.97 |0.7840)0.97 
40 kgm... 1.3920 sq. m. 1.205 
41 kgm...| 0.98 |1.4150 0.98 +]1.225 |0.98 + 
4kgm... 0.299 0.259 
40 kgm...| 0.10 |1.3920 0.210 |1.205 |0.21 
3.5kem.. . 0.274 0.237 
70 kgm...| 0.05 |2.021 0.135 !1.750 10.136 


weights is .88: 1 and of surfaces .91: 1. 
Now it is obvious that if the metabolism of 
these two children is proportional to their 
weights it must of necessity also be nearly pro- 
portional to surface. With two youths weigh- 
ing 40 and 41 kilos the surfaces bear to each 
other exactly the same ratio as the weights, 
whether the Meeh or Lissauer formula be em- 
ployed. Both, therefore, will be equally good 
measures of metabolism for the two individu- 
als. The “ discovery ” that surface is no bet- 
ter as a measure of metabolism, than weight 
as between individuals of nearly the same 
weight could, therefore, have been made with 
paper and pencil. 


SEPTEMBER 2, 1921] 


Contrast with this the relationship between 
individuals weighing 4 and 40 kilograms, or 
still better, an infant weighing 3} kilograms 
and a man weighing 70 kilograms. The 
weights are to each other as .05 to 1, and the 
surfaces as .185 to 1. In other words, the 
weight of the larger individual is twenty times 
that of the smaller, while the surface is a 
little over seven times that of the smaller. In 
this case the weight and surface can not pos- 
sibly be of equal value as measures of the 
metabolism. One is nearly three times as 
good (or as bad) as the other. As a matter 
of fact it is now well known that surface is 
about two and one half times as good a meas- 
ure as weight between two such individuals. 

In the judgment of the writer it is incorrect 
to suppose that physiologists have believed the 
metabolism to be absolutely proportional to 
surface, regardless of circumstances. Rubner 
for the German literature and Richet for the 
French are responsible for the first demonstra- 
tions of the applicability of the law. Rubner 
worked with dogs of adult stature but widely 
different size, estimating their metabolism by 
the indirect method. Richet worked first 
with rabbits ranging from 2,000 to 3,500 grams 
in weight but he determined only the heat of 
radiation and conduction, neglecting, as nearly 
all subsequent French observers have done, the 
heat given off by evaporation. Naturally his 
quantities would be more nearly proportional 
to surface than the total. However, in the es- 
timation of surfaces he says, 

If one supposes that animals of different size 
are like spheres of different volumes, then the 
respective volumes are related among themselves 
as the cubes of their radii; while the respective 
surfaces are related among themselves as the 
squares of their radii. These considerations apply 
to living animals, and, since their form is so ir- 
regular compared with that of a perfect sphere, 
one can only apply the geometrical facts to them 
approximately.2 i 

Further in summing up the factors which 
determine heat production Richet notes that 

2Richet, Ch., ‘‘Recherches de Calorimetrie,’’ 


Arch. de Physiol. norm, et path., 1885, 3d ser., 
VI., 237. 


SCIENCE 


197 


one of these is “ the nature of the integument.” 
In two important respects, therefore, Richet 
made saving clauses regarding the application 
of the law of surface, one concerning the 
measurement of surface and the other concern- 
ing the nature of the skin, meaning, of course, 
its conducting properties. Rubner in the be- 
ginning considered that he had demonstrated 
the law only for adult animals and later in 
applying it to children made this very em- 
phatic reservation: 

The law of surface area holds under all physio- 
logical conditions of life, but for its proof it is a 
reasonable presumption that only organisms of 
similar physiological capacities, as regards nutri- 
tion, climatic influences, temperament,3 and fune- 
tional power, should be compared.4 


Other students of metabolism have made 
similar reservations. Thus Schlossman says, 


The presumption is on the one hand that the 
environment is relatively normal, on the other 
that the child has a relatively normal surface, that 
is, a functioning and good conducting skin with 
the normal amount of subcutaneous fat.5 


Otherwise, he thinks, the law could not be ex- 
pected to apply. 

One other point of some importance may be 
mentioned in this connection. There has been 
much discussion regarding the formula which 
should be used to express the body surface of 
infants. Rubner and Huebner modified the 
old formula of Meeh changing the constant 
from 12.3 to 11.9. Later Lissauer, from the 
measurements of a group of infants most 
of whom were distinctly undernourished, found 
the constant 10.3 to be more exact. Then came 
the formula of Howland and Dana of the 
y=ma«-+ b form, and still more recently the 
height-weight formula and the linear formula 
of DuBois, the latter similar to one previously 
devised by Roussy and first applied to infants 

3 Misquoted as ‘‘temperature’’ by Harris and 
Benedict, loc, cit., p. 196. 
4Rubner, M., ‘‘Ernihrungsvorgiinge beim Wach- 
stum des Kindes,’’ Arch. f. Hyg., 1908, LXVI., 
89. 

5 Schlossmann, A., ‘‘Atrophie und respirator- 
ischer Stoffwechsel,’’ Zeitschr. f. Kinderheilk., 
Orig., 1912-13, V., 227. 


198 


by Variot and Lavialle. Benedict and Talbot 
have recently shown that the linear formula of 
‘DuBois gives results very nearly the same 
as the formula of Lissauer with a somewhat 
variable constant. Which of these formule 
is most nearly correct for body surface can 
only be determined by a statistical study of 
a large number of cases. However, if one of 
them is clearly superior to the others as a 
measure of heat production it should appear 
in the coefficients of correlation between heat 
production and surface as measured by the 
several formule. Harris and Benedict include 
in their statistical studies the basal metab- 
olism of a series of 94 newborn infants, pre- 
viously published by Benedict and Talbot. 
They did not, however, carry the analyses so 
far as to determine which formula gives the 
closer correlation with heat production. I 
have taken the trouble to work out the coefh- 
cients of variability and of correlation for the 
Boston series of 94 newborns using four differ- 
ent formule. They are given below. 


TABLE II 
Coefficients for the Minimal Metabolism of New- 
born Infants (According to the data of 
Benedict and Talbot) 

Coefficients of Variability Coefficients of Correlation 
Vh =15.37 + 0.79 
Vw = 14.68 + 0.72 
Vsu== 9.92 = 0.48 
Vsz =10.08 = 0.49 


Phw = 0.7530 + 0.0205 
Phs y — 0.7672 + 0.0202 
Phsz— 0.7762 + 0.0195 

VsH=10.25 + 0.50 Phsy— 0.7677 & 0.0202 

Vsp— 8.844 0.43 Phsp=0.7682 + 0.0202 

Vn Coefficient of variability of heat produc- 
tion, Vi» of weight; ete. -s3;—= Surface by Meeh- 
Rubner formula (s—=11.9 y (w)*); s,;== Surface 
by Lissauer’s formula, (s==10.3 ¥ (w)*); SH= 
Surface by Howland and Dana formula (y= ma 
+b, where x is body weight, m represents a con- 
stant 0.483 and b represents 730 sq. em.); Sp= 
Surface by weight-height formula of DuBois and 
DuBois: (Ss ==wt.0- X< ht.0-"5 71-84). 


There are two surprises in this table: one, 
that heat production as determined by Bene- 
dict and Talbot is more variable than either 
body weight or body surface, no matter by 
which formula it is measured; and the other, 
that it makes very little difference which for- 


mula is used for body surface so far as cor- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1392 


relation with heat production is concerned. 
The formula of Howland and Dana gives the 
most variable body surface; the height-weight 
formula of DuBois, which has never been 
confirmed for infants, gives the least variable. 
But the formula of Lissauer gives a body sur- 
face which parallels the metabolism slightly 
better than the others, the difference, however, 
being altogether negligible. Taking the entire 
group of newborns in this series we may con- 
clude that the sleeping metabolism, which is 
practically the whole of metabolism in the 
newborn, is as well measured by one formula 
as another; also that surface by any formula 
is but slightly better than body weight as a 
measure. 

We must distinguish clearly the arguments 
against the law of surface as of two classes: 
(1) on the basis of fact and (2) on the basis 
of explanation. The arguments against the 
law, so far as they rest upon facts, seem, as 
we have just seen, to have been misconceived. 
It never was supposed by its chief proponents 
that the law would apply to all physiological 
and pathological conditions but only to similar 
physiological (normal) conditions. Also, a 
very superficial understanding of the neces- _ 
sary mathematical relations shows that the 
law has natural limitations which must be 
recognized if one is to avoid compromising it 
with impossible conditions. 

There ,is no doubt that Rubner, following 
Bergmann, first conceived of the law as casu- 
ally related to Newton’s law of cooling. This 
dependence as commonly accepted may be 
phrased in this way. Solid bodies .when 
warmed lose heat in proportion to the differ- 
ence between the temperature of the body 
and the temperature of the surrounding me- 
dium. Since this heat must all pass through 
the surface it follows, other things equal, 
that they will lose heat for any particular 
gradient of temperature in proportion to sur- 
face. As applied to the animal body it is ob- 
served that the body temperature is nearly 
constant. Hence, if heat is lost in proportion 
to surface, it must also be produced in pro- 
portion to surface. This implies a causal re- 
lationship between surface loss and interior 


SEPTEMBER 2, 1921] 


production of heat. It is this causal relation- 


ship to which Benedict and Talbot in their — 


latest publication make objection. They say, 


As the result of the critique of the body surface 
law presented by Harris and Benedict, we believe 
that the accurate measurements of body surface 
made possible by DuBois may legitimately be used 
in a manner heretofore never practicable in metab- 
olism experiments, provided that they are con- 
sidered as physical measurements and with no 
erroneous conception as to the existence of a 
causal relationship between surface area and heat 
elimination. 


Nevertheless they compute many of their 
measurements by the Lissauer formula and 
find that many others as given by the DuBois 
linear measurements agree with the Lissauer 
formula provided a “ constant” varying from 
10.0 for infants up to 6 kgm. to 11.5 for 
youths between 25 and 40 kgm. is used. How 
the use of a physical measurement instead of 
a formula which agrees with the physical meas- 
urement improves matters it is difficult to see. 
The elaborate biometric analysis of Harris 
and Benedict has proved nothing more regard- 
ing the causal relationship than is proved by 
the simple mathematical analysis shown in 
Table I. Whatever the physical measurement 
of surface, if it can be expressed even approxi- 
mately by a formula such as Lissauer’s, it 
will follow that the ratio of body weights for 
certain ranges will be the same as the ratio 
of body surfaces provided the weights are not 
far apart, and for subjects of a continuous 
series in which weights differ by small incre- 
ments it will follow that surface will be only 
a little, if any, better as a measure of metab- 
olism than weight. 

The question of causal relationship stands 
just where it always has stood. If the posses- 
sion of a large surface in proportion to weight, 
as in a mouse, is accompanied by a vastly 
higher heat production per unit of weight as 
compared with a horse, but the heat produc- 
tion is found to be proportional to the surfaces 
of two such animals with approximately the 
same body temperature, it seems to follow that 
surface loss of heat is at least a more probable 


6 Benedict and Talbot, loc. cit., p. 159. 


SCIENCE 


199 


cause of heat production than body mass. The 
same is true as between a baby and a man. 
How else are such facts to be explained? 

A word as to the teleological aspect of the 
ease. Since heat production of animals seems 
to be proportional to surface area, it would 
seem to follow that heat is produced in order 
to replace that which is lost, or to maintain 
body temperature. This view some say, de- 
notes an all too naive conception of nature. 
Blood does not coagulate in order to prevent 
hemorrhage, but because certain chemical 
agents are present and certain properties. The 
fact that it does stop hemorrhage is quite in- 
cidental. It may have selective value, so that 
a species whose blood did not clot would have 
the worst of it in the struggle for existence, 
but it will never do to say that this chemical- 
physiological function originated for the pur- 
pose of preventing hemorrhage; for that 
would imply a mind at work in anticipation of 
the result. So also with heat production. 
These critics, of whom Kassowitz has been 
chief, prefer to account for heat production 
in a perfectly causal manner. 

Small animals maintain a higher rate of oxi- 
dation, it is true, than large ones, but this is not 
because they lose heat more rapidly in conse- 
quence of greater (relative) surface, but because 
their alternating movements (later phases caused 
reflexly by earlier phases) follow one another more 
rapidly on account of shorter nerve paths.7 


Kassowitz indeed finds that the higher rate 
of oxidation in small, warm-blooded animals 
has even for them “ dysteleological conse- 
quences; for because of the more extensive 
muscular contractions more food and reserve 
substances are placed in requisition and by 
this means the deposit of reserve fat in the 
whole body, and especially in the subcutane- 
ous tissues, is made more difficult, so that 
the protection against cooling—which a thick 
layer of fat prevents—fails in part amongst 
the very animals which need it most.”8 Even 


7 Kassowitz, M., ‘‘ Allgemeine Biologie,’’ 1904, 
Chap. XXV., par. 40. 

6 Kassowitz, M., ‘‘Der grossere Stoffverbrauch 
der Kinder,’’ Zeitschr. f. Kinderheilk., 1913, VI., 
247, 


200 


Kassowitz is obliged to admit, however, that 
“in warm-blooded animals which are in a po- 
sition to maintain their own body tempera- 
ture under the most diverse conditions, one can 
claim the appearance of some justification that 
their living parts produce heat in order to pro- 
tect the body against loss by radiation, etc.” ® 

Whether this is a real justification or only 
the appearance of one will not trouble the prac- 
tical physiologist so long as the generalization 
that human beings of different size produce 
heat in proportion to surface rather than 
weight, and therefore, require food energy in 
this proportion, helps him to understand his 
feeding problems; and there is no doubt that 
the law of surface area has been immensely 
useful in this connection. It explains the 
much higher basal metabolism per unit of 
weight of the small individual in comparison 
with the large better than the so-called causal 
explanation cited by Kassowitz. It explains 
also much better the need for conservation of 
heat in the infant, and the role which sub- 
cutaneous fat plays in this connection. 

Joun R. Muruin 
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER 


ON THE SIGNIFICNACE OF AN EXPERIMENTAL 
DIFFERENCE, WITH A PROBABILITY 
TABLE FOR LARGE DEVIATIONS 


Tur results of experiments from which 
scientific conclusions are drawn always con- 
stitute a sample, limited in number, of a 
potentially unlimited universe. The argu- 
ment is always from the limited number to 
the infinite number, and assumes that the 
gample is representative of the universe. This 
is a priori not necessarily true, which is 
proven in the fact that two sets of measure- 
ments of supposedly the same quantity never 
agree in any absolute sense, that they may 
disagree widely, and that they therefore have 
to be qualified by a measure of their precision, 
which is derived from the magnitude of the 
mutual disagreement of the individual meas- 
urements of the same set. 


9 Kassowitz, M., ibid., p. 240. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. LIV. No. 1392 


This fact becomes of trying significance in 
many biological measurements. We may 
make two sets of measurements, A and B, 
under conditions alike except for one experi- 
mentally varied factor, and find that al- 
though their means show an apparently 
definite difference, many of the measurements 
A lie beyond the mean of B, and vice versa. 
It may be that a plot of the aggregate of the 
two distributions shows little or no bimodality 
corresponding to the difference in the respec- 
tive conditions of A and B. 

The usual mode of procedure in such a case 
is, first, to compute the méasure of precision 
of the difference of the two means, accord- 
ing to the formula: 


oA _ a ost 
Ny, N:2?’ 

where A is the difference between the arith- 
metic means (M, — M,), c, its standard devia- 
tion, 7, and 7, are the standard deviations? of 
the.two distributions A and B, respectively, 
and WN, and WN, are the respective numbers of 
measurements. 

Then the probability, P, of a deviation ly- 
ing within the limits + A, in a normal dis- 
tribution of standard deviation o,, is found 
from the table? The complement of this, 
1—P, is the probability of such a deviation 
lying outside the limits + A. 

The accompanying probability table was 
computed by the writer for deviations higher 
than those included within the range of most 
such tables extant, with a view to giving 
values of P much nearer to unity than usual. 
An approximate method of computation was 
used. While the computation of values of 


x —x2 
une dx 


1 This assumes that 


ase | 22H | 
\ Ni—1 

Where JN, is large the error due to the use of N, 
instead of (N,—1) tends to become negligible. 

2Such as Table IV., pp. 119-125, Davenport, 
‘«Statistical Methods,’’ third edition, New York; 
or Table 24 or Table 25, Smithsonian Physical 
Tables, Seventh Edition, Washington, 1920. 


SEPTEMBER 2, 1921] 


is laborious, excessively so where, as in the 
present case, many decimal places are requir- 
ed, it is possible to make a closely approx- 
imate integration of small segments of the 
function: 

ydx = e—**dx 


Zz 
fie (a+ 2)" dz, 


where a is any abscissa and z is small. 
Expanding the exponent, this becomes: 


2 
2 Zz — 22 
LOR sO“ tBoGr an 


which by putting 


e-?=1— 2, 


such as 


becomes 


ena" (1-20-29 


2—1 z *.) 


=e-—@ — 2 Series aaa 
a [e mi 2a 2a* + 4a 


bre (cima ;) | 
S| esa 


Reducing and substituting for z the value 
1/10 gives: 
e-# 


1 
fie GAAP: 
LO) = 4q3 


[ (ens +e-4)al5 


+ (ea/6 — e—al). (1.98a2 —1) i. 


Thus, by assigning values to a, progressing 
by 0.2, the areas of the segments of the inte- 
gral for the abscissal intervals a + 1/10 
could be closely approximated and summated, 
the values in the table being finally: 


log (2 JE _ e Warde ): 
or log (1—P), according to the usual sym- 
bology. It was found that it was only neces- 
sary in the extreme value given (hx — 1.0) 
to carry the computation a few steps farther, 
in order that the sum of the subsequent seg- 
ments to infinity should be a vanishing quan- 
tity with respect to the degree of precision 
decided upon. The table is.not to be looked 
upon as more than supplementary to the 
tables in general use, and upon examination, 


SCIENCE 


201 


it will appear that the error introduced by 
assuming that e”—1-—z? is negligible 
since, for z= 1/10 this error at its maximum 
is only as 0.99 — 0.99005 to 0.99, or 5 parts in 
99,000 with respect to 1— P, and on the whole, 
even less than this; and it is the values of 
1— P, smaller than those obtainable from the 
usual tables, in which we are here interested. 
The values of this table check with those in 
the usual tables, as far as the latter go, and 
also (in the extreme cases, especially where 
he = 5.0, 5.5 and 6.0) with the values given 
in the original work of Burgess.? 


EXPLANATION OF TABLE 


Common logarithms of the values of the 
integral: 


Lat aa Sie 
2 re e—hxdz (=1—P) 
for various values of hz. 


0.47692 0.707 1x 
He et 


hz= 


where # is the probable error and ¢ the quad- 
ratic mean error. 

Interpolations will be fairly accurate to the 
fourth place if proper account be taken of the 
second difference. 


ha log (1—P) ha log (l1— P) 
0.0....0.0000 3.5... .3.8710-10 
0.1... .9.9482-10 3.6....3.5513 
0.2....9.8906 BeliiaowweoL 
0.3....9.8270 3.8... .2.8865 
0.4....9.7571 3.9....2.5415 
0.5... .9.6808 4.0....2.1880 
0.6... .9.5978 4.1....1.8261 
0.7....9.5081 4.2....1.4557 
0.8....9.4115 4.3....1.0768 
O19 93007 4.4....0.6895 
1.0... .9.1967 4.5....0.2936-10 
1.1....9.0784 4.6... .9.8893-20 
1.2....8.9527 407... .9.4764 
1,3... .8.8195 4.8....9.0551 
1.4... .8.6787 4.9... .8.6252 
1.5... .8.5301 5.0... .8.1868 
1.6... .8.3739 5.1... .7:7399 


8 Burgess, Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb., XXXIX., 
p. 257 ff. ‘‘On the Definite Integral (2/7) fo‘e-‘*dt 
with Extended Tables of Values.’’ 


202 
1.7... .8.2098 5.2... .7.2844 
1.8....8.0378 5.3... .6.8204 
1.9... .7.8579 5.4... .6.3479 
2.0....7.6700 5.5... .5.8668 
2.1....7.4741 5.6....5.3771 
2.2....7.2702 5.7... .4.8789 
2.3....7.0581 5.8... .4.3721 
2.4... .6.8379 5.9....3.8567 
2.5... .6.6095 6.0... .3.3328 
2.6....6.3730 6.1... .2.8003 
2.7... .6.1282 6.2... .2.2593 
2.8....5.8751 6.3... .1.7096 
2.9... .5.6138 6.4....1.1514 
3.0... .5.3442 6.5... .0.5846 
3.1... .5.0663 6.6... .0.0092-20 
3.2... .4.7800 6.7... .9.4252-30 
3.3... .4.4854 6.8... .8.8326 
3.4... .4.1824 6.9... .8.2314 
3.5....3.8710-10 7.0... .7.6216-30 


Prrcy W. Cops 
LABORATORY OF PURE SCIENCE, 


NELA RESEARCH LABORATORIES 
May, 1921 


POLARIZATION OF SOUND 


THE term polarization, applied to a wave 
motion, is generally associated only with trans- 
verse waves, more especially with light-waves, 
as referring to a state in which certain quali- 
ties are different in certain directions at right 
angles to one another and to the direction of 
propagation. By its origin, however, the term 
may be used with the same justification for 
longitudinal waves exhibiting qualities that 
are different in different directions, irrespec- 
tive of the nature of such qualities and the 
relation of the various directions to each 
other. 

It is thus proper to speak of a polarization 
of sound when conditions prevail under which 
a quality like its pitch is of opposite character 
to opposite sides of a fixed plane or axis. 

Such conditions may be brought about by 
putting the source, which for the sake of sim- 
plicity is supposed to produce a sustained 
sound of uniform pitch, through certain move- 
ments. It is well known that when such a 
source is in motion the pitch of the sound 
emitted into space will be a function both 
of the direction of the movement and _ its 
speed. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. LIV. No. 1392 


This is due to the relative displacement 
of the individual wave rings by the motion, 
and is readily observed by anyone standing 
close to a railroad track while a locomotive 
blowing its whistle is passing. At the in- 
stant of passage there is a sudden fall in the 
pitch of the blast, the fall being approximately 
proportional to the speed of the locomotive. 

The pitch observed at any point may be ex- 
pressed by the formula: 


DN icity 


p denoting the pitch observed, q the pitch 
produced, v the velocity of sound, and wu the 
speed component of the movement in the di- 
rection of the observer, with due consideration 
of its sign. 

If the source, instead of being moved at 
uniform speed in one direction, is made to 
perform a harmonic oscillatory movement at 
right angles to a plane P, and symmetrical to 
it, then the resulting sound will be of uniform 
pitch only at points located in this plane, as- 
suming the extent of the movement to be small 
as compared with the distance to the point of 
observation. To either side of the plane the 
pitch will be undulating, the undulations 
reaching their maximum amplitude at points 
directly in line with the movement. 

While the undulations will be of the same 
amplitude at any two points symmetrically 
located with respect to the plane, they will be 
opposite in phase and, therefore, of opposite 
character. Accordingly, if the source is made 
to emit sound while to one side of the plane 
only, i.e., during alternate half oscillations, 
then, by the above formula, the resulting 
sounds will be of descending pitch to that 
side of the plane, while to the opposite side of 
it the same sounds will be of ascending pitch. 

The sound may thus be said to have been 
polarized with respect to the plane P. 

Tf the oscillatory movement of the source is 
substituted by a rotation at uniform speed 
about an axis A, results of a similar nature 
are obtained. In this instance, however, the 
resulting sound will be of uniform pitch only 


SEPTEMBER 2, 1921] 


at points directly in line with the axis, while 
aside of it the pitch will be undulating. The 
undulations will reach their maximum ampli- 
tude at points located in the plane of rota- 
tion, being of opposite character at any two 
points symmetrically located with respect to 
the axis. ‘ 

In the terminology of optics, the sound may 
be said, in the latter case, to have been cir- 
cularly polarized with respect to the axis A. 

Polarized sound-waves may be of value in 
acoustic research, for investigations involving 
the direction of sound. They are also ap- 
plicable to practical purposes, like fog sig- 
nalling. The signals may be polarized in such 
a way as to enable a pilot to determine with 
ease and certainty, and by the unaided ear, 
the direction from which they are coming. A 
device for this purpose has already been con- 
structed by the writer and has successfully 
stood the test, it being possible to locate the 
source within a “ point” of the compass. 

Awnpers Bun 

CurcaGo, ILL., 

June 27, 1921 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 
(Continued) 
DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY OF MEDICINAL PRODUCTS 


Charles E. Caspari, chairman. 
Edgar B. Carter, secretary. 


N-derivatives of arsphenamine. I. Introduction 
of fatty acids: GrorGe W. Raiziss and JOSEPH 
L. Gavron. JI. Aldehyde addition products: 
GrorGE W. Ratrziss and ABRAHAM C, BLATT. The 
authors introduced various atomic groupings in 
arsphenamine and studied the biological properties 
of the resulting compounds. They observed that 
the amino groups have a controlling influence upon 
the toxicity of the drug. Five derivatives of 
arsphenamine each containing a fatty acid sub- 
stituent in both amino groups have been prepared. 
On the whole they are less toxic than the parent 
substance. Addition products of arsphenamine and 
various aldehydes, in which two molecules of the 
aldehyde are combined with one of arsphenamine, 
have also been prepared. Some of these have 
characteristic colors and may prove to serve as a 
means of identification. The biological study of 
these compounds is still in progress. One has been 


SCIENCE 


203 


found less toxie than arsphenamine and also ex- 
hibits marked trypanocidal properties. 


Some recent observations on protoplasmic stimu- 
lus: G. H. A. CLowrs. It has long been known 
that the sperm of sea urchins and other marine 
forms may be stimulated to excessive activity and 
their fertilization capacity promoted by treatment 
with extracts and secretions of eggs of the same 
Species. This substance has now been proved to 
be a volatile, readily oxidized, non-specific, organo 
substance, resembling the lower alcohols or mer- 
captans. Similar sperm stimulating and fertiliza- 
tion promoting results may be obtained by utiliz- 
ing a large variety of organo substances at dilu- 
tions of one in a hundred million or more. 


Significance of residue determination as a test 
for the purity in drugs and chemicals: H, V. Farr. 
Salts of potassium and sodium are apparently 
more volatile in the presence of vapors of other 
metals, making their determination by ignition 
difficult in such compounds as mercury salts. The 
results seems to indicate widely different inter- 
pretations of the ignition test by different chem- 
ists. A much more accurate definition of the U. S. 
P. requirement is essential. 


A new use for edible oils in surgery: CHARLES 
BASKERVILLE. Numerous efforts have been made 
to introduce gaseous anesthetics, as ether vapor, 
into the lower bowel until Dr. J. T. Gwathmey, of 
New York, conceived the idea of utilizing the solu- 
bility of ether in oil and administering the mixture 
as an enema. Fundamental factors were estab- 
lished by the investigations of the author before 
the proposal was tried with human beings. He de- 
termined the rates of evaporation of ether from 
various oils, mainly vegetable, although Russian 
mineral oil was also used. It was conclusively 
proven that ether evaporates from its solution in 
or of various oils suitable for internal use at a 
definite rate at the temperature of the human 
body. Nearly 30,000 operations, every one sue- 
cessful from the patient’s point of view, have 
been performed by using this method. Not a 
single untoward circumstance has been reported. 
Vomiting, post-anesthesia nausea and many other 
uncomfortable accompaniments have been reduced 
to a minimum. Gwathmey also introduced the 
oral administration of the oil-ether mixture to 
produce analgesia during the dressing of wounds. 
Some surgeons have utilized the method in civilian 
practise in dressings after operations. 


Further study of saligenin and allied compounds: 


204 


ArTHUR D, HirscHFELDER. Saligenin in two to 
four per cent. solution is a practical local anes- 
thetic not only for minor but also for major 
surgical operations such as thyroidectomies and 
laparotomies, and for caudal anesthesia; in 4 to 
8 per cent. solution it is particularly useful in 
anesthesia of the male and female urethra for cyst- 
oscopy. Quigley and Hirschfelder have shown in 
a series of phenyl carbinols that substitution for 
one of the inactive hydrogens of the carbinols 
lessens the anesthetic action and substitution of 
both causes it to be lost. Ethyl, propyl, n-butyl, 
iso amyl and benzyl ethers of saligenin were pre- 
pared from potassium saligenate and the cor- 
responding halide. They all numb the tongue like 
cocaine, the butyl ether most, but all also produce 
a stinging sensation as well. Emulsions made 
with acacia lower the blood pressure on intravenous 
in rabbits, the benzyl ether producing the most 
lasting effects. The mono acetic, di benzoic and 
mono benzoic esters of saligenin have been pre- 
pared, as well as the acetate and salicylate of 
bromsaligenin. 

Molecular magnitude and physiological action: 
OttveR Kamm. Molecular volume data were uti- 
lized to predict the relative acute toxicities of 
monohydroxy alcohols belonging to several dif- 
ferent homologous series. Benzyl alcohol and its 
homologues were found to agree with predicted 
values. : 

Preparation and hydrolysis of benzyl esters: EH. 
H. Vouwiter. Benzyl benzoate as an antispas- 
modie has come into increasingly general use 
since it was first suggested by Macht. With the 
purpose of finding the benzyl esters best adapted 
as antispasmodics, a number of other benzyl es- 
ters, both new and old, were prepared and their 
hydrolysis rates determined. The rates of hydroly- 
sis of these benzyl esters increase in the following 
order: salicylate, benzoate, stearate, cinnamate, 
acetate, succinate, and fumarate. Benzyl acetyl- 
salicylate, a new compound melting at 26°, was 
prepared; its rate of hydrolysis is very rapid, 
due to the presence of the acetyl group. It is 
therapeutically the most active of all the benzyl 
esters investigated. 

Arsphenamine: Some factors which influence 
its colloidal properties: A. E. SHERNDAL. When 
the pentavalent aryl arsenic acids are reduced to 
the trivalent arseno compounds, their well marked 
erystalloidal characteristics are suddenly replaced 
by decidedly colloidal tendencies. This may be 
caused by the formation of large complex molecu- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. LIV. No. 1392 


lar aggregates. Arsphenamine in dry form shows 
marked colloidal properties, which vary in de- 
gree with the method of preparation. Precipita- 
tion from ionized solutions tends to increase these 
colloidal tendencies, while anhydrous non-electro- 
lytes tend to reduce them to a minimum, as shown 
by experiment. These variable colloidal charac- 
teristics are paralleled by differences in the dis- 
perse state of acid and alkaline arsphenamine so- 
lutions, and may account for hitherto unexplained 
toxie and biologic phenomena exhibited by such 
solutions. 

Laboratory tests vs, clinical results: RoBrrt P. 
FiscHenis. A discussion of the need for clinical 
evidence of the value of medicinal products and 
how such evidence may be obtained. The author 
included a discussion of the necessity for drawing 
proper conclusions from laboratory tests, as com- 
pared with clinical results. 


Vanillin glyceride: Francis D. Doper. A 
erystalline deposit which had formed after a time 
in a flavoring mixture composed essentially of va- 
nillin, glycerin and alcohol was found to be a 
compound of vanillin and glycerin, apparently 
analogous to the benzol-glyceride described by 
Fischer. The compound is obtained more readily 
with acid catalysts (hydrochloric or sulfuric acids) 
and when purified melts at 159°. It is very 
slightly soluble in water or ether, more readily in 
aleohol, and may be recrystallized from hot alco- 
hol. It is soluble in aqueous potassium hydroxide, 
and is reprecipitated by acids. The compound is 
hydrolyzed by hot water, yielding vanillin and 
glycerin in equivalent amounts. It is also very 
quickly hydrolyzed in acid solutions, so that the 
preparation requires much care. For purification, 
the crude erystals are dissolved in the calculated 
amount of 0.5N KOH, and reprecipitated by 
somewhat less than the theoretical amount of acid. 
The compound thus obtained forms thin plates, 
which are stable in dry air. Under the micro- 
scope, the crystals show, in convergent polarized 
light, an orthorhombic interference figure, and are 
thus. easily distinguished from the monoclinic 
needles of vanillin. The formula is probably: 


OCH; HO—CH, 
HO | 
| O—CH 
NN 
CH 
N 
O—CH, 
CHARLES L., PARSONS, 
Secretary 


NEw SERIES 
Vou. LIV, No. 1893 


FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1921 


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By C. Stuart GAGER, Director of the Brook- 
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By E. H. S. BatLey, pu. D., Professor of 
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SCIENCE 


Fripay, SEPTEMBER 9, 1921 


CONTENTS 


The Nature of Man: Proressor Cassius J. 


TRB VISIR tilteveseveyat ey ecebelenenneney ste rolekelete steve ellen 205 
Mendelian or Non-Mendelian: PROFESSOR 

GEORGE WAYISHULLL sehicetdetielote cisisicinisl siete 213 
Scientific Events: 

"Memorial to James Orton; Vaccination for 
Smallpox in England; The Work of the 
Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good 
Hope; The International Commission on Il- 
lumination; Chemistry and Civilization .... 216 

Scientific “Notes ‘and. News "ie sew widen ce ee 219 
University and Educational News .......... 220 
Discussion and Correspondence : 
The Chert Pits at Coxackie, N. Y.: EVERETT 
R. BurMaster. The use of Agar in facili- 
tating the Removal of a Swallowed Foreign 
Object: Dr. LeRoy S. WEATHERBY. An 
Inconsistency in Taxonomy: PROFESSOR Ep- 
win C. Starks. Estimating the Number of 
Genetic Factors concerned in Cases of 
Blending Inheritance: Proressor W. E. 
Caste. The Curve of Distribution: Dr. 
CARDEE WEAN EE URSTON Minit steileisie «felalelele snte 221 
Quotations: 
Diyesmior Bactertovogyiy. set acs ee ceca: 224 
Special Articles: 
The Second-year Record of Birds which did 
and which did not lay during Individual 

Months of the Pullet Year: Dr. J. ARTHUR 

HLARRIS, UIARRY (Re UBWIS) 660/500. oe os 224 
The American Chemical Society: Dr. CHARLES 

TG HePEVAR SON Siaiersnenuepeveestararekemeeensee everett oie 226 
The Royal Society of Canada .............. 229 


MSS. intended for publication and books, ete.,intended for 
review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. 


=——S 
THE NATURE OF MAN1 


A FEW years ago, as you may remember, 
Elie Metchnikoff published a book entitled 
“The Nature of Man: Studies in Optimistic 
Philosophy.” If you have read that interesting 
work, you know that it is chiefly concerned 
with the great problem of death—with the 
problem, that is, of adjusting human emotions 
and human understanding satisfactorily to the 
common doom of living creatures. In 
Metchnikoff’s view that problem has been 
mainly responsible for the existence of re- 
ligions and philosophies. In his belief re- 
ligions and philosophies have not been able to 
deal with the problem satisfactorily; but their 
failure, says he, is no reason for despair; for 
it is his conviction—and here we see why he 
deemed his study to be one in optimistic phi- 
losophy—that the problem can be satisfactorily 
solved by science and in particular by the sci- 
ence of biology, for the process of dying is one 
of the processes of life. And so his book aims 
at being an important contribution to what 
may be called the science or the philosophy 
of death. 

I hope that this address upon “ The Nature 
of Man” may appear to you, as it appears to 
me, to be, likewise, a study, or the result of 
a study, in optimistic philosophy. It is not 
of death, however, that I intend to speak, 
but of life. I desire to look towards the possi- 
bility—to contemplate the possibility—of a 
valid philosophy, or a science, of human life. 

The core of my message is a certain concept 
—a concept regarding the essential nature of 
man. The concept is, I believe, both new and 
important—strictly new, if I be not mistaken, 
and tremendously important. This judgment 
I may express with propriety because the idea 

1 Address at the annual meeting of the Phi 


Beta Kappa Society, Columbia University, May 
31, 1921, 


206 


in question did not originate with me. I 
should be proud if it had. I encountered it a 
little less than a year ago in an unpublished 
manuscript which by good fortune it became 
my privilege to examine. And so the concep- 
tion is mine only by acquaintance, by medi- 
tation upon it, by a steadily growing sense 
of its significance, and by adoption—adoption 
of it, I mean, as an inspiring idea of great 
beauty and as a fruitful working hypothesis. 
The manuscript, I am happy to report, is now 
being published (by E. P. Dutton and Com- 
pany) in the form of a book entitled “ The 
Manhood of Humanity: The Science and Art 
of Human Engineering,” and will appear very 
soon. The author of it is a Polish nobleman, 
Count Alfred Korzybski, a native citizen of 
Warsaw, by temperament a poet and philan- 
thropist, by training and experience a me- 
chanical engineer and soldier, twice wounded 
in the war; about six years ago transferred 
as a military expert to North America where, 
both in the United States and in Canada, he 
worked hard in the cause of freedom. 

The book is, in my opinion, a momentous 
contribution to the best thought of these 
troubled years—momentous in what it con- 
tains, even more so in what it suggests, and 
most of all, I dare say, in the excellent things 
it will eventually help men and women to 
think and say and do. I am not going to re- 
view it on this occasion. Having examined 
the work carefully and reflected much upon 
it, I am convinced that its significance can be 
grasped and felt, not indeed by reading or 
listening to any review of it, but only by read- 
ing the work itself, re-reading it and ponder- 
ing it. What I purpose to do is at once some- 
thing less and something more—I hope a good 
deal more—than the submission of a review. 
The work deals with a wide variety of ideas; 
these do not constitute a mere collection; they 
constitute a system—the ideas are connected— 
logically connected—spiritually interlocked in 
many ways. It happens that among the ideas 
of the system there is one which dominates 
all the rest, binding them together, giving 
them their proper order, their life, their ight 
and their significance—its place in the system 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1393 


is like that of the sun in the solar system. 
That central idea is Korzybski’s concept of 
Man—a concept of what is characteristic of 
humankind; it is, in other words, a thesis 
purporting to state what that is in virtue of 
which we human beings are human. I desire 
in the first place to present that thesis, or 
conception, as clearly as I can, for your con- 
sideration both now and in the future; it 
will be my further aim to indicate, in so far 
as time allows, some of the bearings it seems 
to me to have upon the cardinal interests of 
mankind. 

The task is not easy to perform well in the 
time at our disposal. In trying to perform it, 
I am going to invite you to join me in an 
attempt to do a little fundamental thinking. 
I extend the invitation confidently for the 
reason that the mood of such thinking is the 
only mood that befits the times. The World 
War has indeed constrained us to think about 
realities as we never thought before, and there 
is one thing of which we are all of us con- 
vinced—it is only by thinking of realities that 
we may hope to solve the pressing problems of 
the world. That is a great gain and is full 
of promise but it is only a beginning. In this 
presence it is unnecessary to argue that in 
dealing with realities it is of the highest im- 
portance to have just conceptions of them; I 
desire to emphasize the prime importance of 
concepts that correspond to facts; certainly in 
this presence it is unnecessary to argue that, 
in order to deal successfully with the great 
human problems of our time, it is not suffi- 
cient to have enthusiasm, sincerity and good- 
will; we know that, in addition to these ex- 
céllent things, it is indispensable to acquire 
true conceptions of the realities involved. 
Now, of all the realities with which we hu- 
mans have to deal, of all the realities involved 
jn the present perplexities of the world, it .is 
evident that the supreme reality is man. ‘It 
follows that of all the questions we human be- 
ings can ask—of all the questions which in 
reflecting upon the ills of our time we must 
ask—the supreme question—the most funda- 
mental question—is: What is man? What is 
a human being? What is the defining or 


SEPTEMBER 9, 1921] 


characteristic mark of humankind? In the 
scheme of nature, what is the place—the dis- 
tinective place—of the human class of life? 
The sovereign importance of that question 
seems perfectly evident and is thus evident 
a priort. Have we propounded it to our- 
selves? In the published thought of recent 
years I see no sign that we have; if we have, 
it seems not to have led us to the discovery 
of anything fundamentally new or funda- 
mentally important. It is safe to say that 
we have not asked the question—at all events 
not seriously. And it seems a bit strange that 
we have not; for many questions closely con- 
nected with it and naturally leading to it we 
have asked. Rudely reminded of the dismal 
things of human history, we have asked: 
What is the explanation of them? Can we 
prevent their recurrence? And, if so, how? 
Keenly aware of the present plight of the 
world, we have asked: What is the cause? 
Are we humans under the dominion of a ma- 
levolent fate? Or is there a cure? And, if 
there be a cure, what is the remedy? In try- 
ing to answer these great questions, we have 
been led to ask others—questions about eth- 
ical systems or ethical beliefs, about national 
or racial philosophies, about education, about 
industrial methods, about economics, about 
jurisprudence, political science and theories 
of government. We have beheld the amazing 
progress of invention, of natural science, of 
mathematics, and the technological sciences; 
we have seen their swift conquests of space, 
time, and matter; we have seen our globe thus 
rapidly reduced to the small dimensions of an 
ancient province; we have seen many peoples 
of divers tongues, traditions, customs and 
institutions consequently constrained to live 
together as in a single community; we have 
seen that there is thus demanded a new ethical 
wisdom, a new legal wisdom, a new educational 
wisdom, a new economical wisdom, a new in- 
dustrial wisdom, a new political wisdom, a 
new wisdom in the affairs of government; for 
the new wisdoms our anguished times cry 
aloud; we have heard the answers—which are 
in the main but reverberated echoes of the 
wailing cry mingled with the chattering voices 


SCIENCE 


207 


of excited public men who know not what to 
do; knowing that the welfare of the world, 
since it depends at once upon all the cardinal 
forms of human activity, demands team-work 
of them and therefore equal progressiveness 
in all of them, we have compared the swift 
advancement of the genuine sciences, on the 
one hand, with the slow, uncertain, halting 
pace of the so-called social sciences, on the 
other; we have been astounded by the 
contrast; in the crumpled and broken con- 
dition of our civilization we behold the 
appalling consequences of the mighty dis- 
parity; and so we have asked why it is 
that the social sciences—of ethics, educa- 
tion, jurisprudence, economics, politics, and 
government—have lagged so far behind the 
forward strides in the other great fields of 
human activity that the system of human re- 
lationships throughout the world has been 
strained and torn asunder like an immense 
network of wire rent by a cyclone. This very 
important question has led to some curious re- 
sults. It has led to the invention of doctrines 
that alarm, to proposals that startle,—doc- 
trines and proposals that we are wont to call 
radical, revolutionary, red. Is it true that our 
thinking has been too radical? The trouble 
is that, in the proper sense of that much abused 
term, our thinking has not been radical 
enough. Our questionings have been eager 
and wide-ranging but our thought has been 
shallow; it has been emotional and it has been 
daring but it has’ not been deep. We have 
indeed known that the character and status 
of the so-called human or social sciences de- 
pend upon what man is; but we have not 
reflected upon the fact that they depend also, 
in equal or greater measure, upon what we 
humans think man is. The fact of this funda- 
mental dependence, had we considered it, 
would have led us to a further reflection—it 
would have led us to wonder whether the 
backwardness, the medixval-mindedness, the 
disastrous lagging of the social sciences may 
not be due to their having at their base or in 
their heart a fundamentally false conception 
or false conceptions of what is really charac- 
teristic of humankind. It is evident that, if 


208 


our thinking had reached that point, we could 
not have failed to ask ourselves the supreme 
question: What is man? 

Why have we not in these times asked that 
fundamental question? Doubtless it is be- 
cause we have assumed, in the main uncon- 
sciously, that we know the answer. For why 
enquire when we are sure we know? Is our 
assumption of knowledge in this case just? 
Have we really known, do we know now, what 
is in fact the idiosynerasy of the human class 
of life? Do we critically know what we, as 
representatives of man, really are? Here it is 
essential to distinguish; we are speaking of 
knowledge; there is a kind of knowledge that 
is instinctive—instinctive knowledge—imme- 
diate inner knowledge by instinct—the kind 
of knowledge we mean when we say that we 
know how to move our arms or that a fish 
knows how to swim or that a bird knows how 
to fly. I do not doubt that, in this sense of 
knowing, we do know what human beings 
are; it is the kind of knowledge that a fish has 
of what fishes are or that a bird has of what 
birds are. But there is another kind of 
knowledge—scientific knowledge—knowledge 
of objects by analyzing them—objective knowl- 
edge by concepts—conceptual knowledge of 
objects; it is the kind of knowledge we mean 
when we say that we know or do not know 
what a planet is or what a number is. Now, 
we do not suppose fish to have this sort of 
knowledge of fish; we do not suppose a bird 
can have a just conception—nor, properly 
speaking, any conception—of what a bird is. 
We are speaking of concepts, and our question, 
you see, is this: have we humans a just con- 
cept of man? If we have, it is reasonable to 
suppose that we inherited it, for so important 
a thing, had it originated in our time, would 
have made itself heard of as a grave discoy- 
ery. So I say that, if we have a just con- 
cept of man, it must have come down to us 
entangled in the mesh of our inherited opin- 
jons and must have been taken in by us, as 
such opinions are usually taken in, from the 
common air, by a kind of “ cerebral suction.” 

Well, what are the concepts of man that our 
generation has thus inherited? Broadly 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. LIV. No. 1393 


speaking, they are of two types. One of them 
is biological or zoological; the other one is . 
mythological. Some of us hold the former 
one; some of us the latter; and some of us 
probably hold both of them; for, though they 
are mutually incompatible, mere incompati- 
bility of two ideas does not necessarily prevent 
them from finding firm lodgment in the same 
brain. According to the zoological conception, 
man is an animal—a kind or species of ani- 
mal. This conception has at least one merit 
—it regards human beings as natural—as 
creatures having a place in the scheme of 
nature. This merit the mythological concep- 
tion has not; according to it, man has strictly 
no place in nature—he is indeed neither nat- 
ural nor supernatural but is both at once—a 
kind of miraculous union, compound, or hy- 
brid of the two. Such, then, are the concepts 
of man that now reign throughout the world 
and that have so reigned from time immemo- 
rial. And such are the concepts that have 
fashioned our so-called human or social sci- 
ences in so far as these have been and are 
fashioned by what we humans consciously or 
unconsciously think man is. 

Are the concepts true? Or rather we must: 
ask—since they can not both of them be 
true—is one of them true? 

It should not amaze us to find that both are 
false; for the concepts are man’s and their 
object is man; thus the difficulty is unique; 
it is that of a self-conscious being having to 
regard its kind as an object and rightly con- 
ceiving what the object is. In respect of the 
mythological conception, there are no doubt 
some who are disposed to treat it ironically as 
only the other day it was treated by Plato, 
for example. ‘“ We must accept,” said he, “ the 
traditions of the men of old time who affirm 
themselves to be the offspring of the gods— 
that is what they say—and they must surely 
have known their own ancestors. How can 
we doubt the word of the children of the 
gods? Although they give no probable or cer- 
tain proofs, still, as they declare that they 
are speaking of what took place in their own 
family, we must conform to custom and be- 
lieve them.” But this gentle irony—the way 


SEPTEMBER 9, 1921] 


of the Greek philosopher—is not the way of 
the Polish engineer. The latter is not indeed 
without a blithesome sense of humor but in 
this matter he is tremendously in earnest; 
deeming it to be immeasurably important for 
all mankind, he treats it with the utmost seri- 
ousness; and he bluntly affirms, boldly and 
confidently, that neither the mythological con- 
ception nor the zoological conception of man 
is true; he denies outright that man is a 
species of animal and similarly denies that 
humans are compounds of natural and super- 
natural. 

What is the error in those traditional con- 
ceptions? It is, he contends, of the same 
kind in both of them, and the kind is funda- 
mental. It is the kind of error that consists 
in what mathematicians call confusion of 
types and what Korzybski calls mixing of di- 
mensions. Let me explain; I have only to re- 
mind you of what everybody knows. And 
the simplest explanation is the best. You 
and I may speak of, say, the class of geo- 
metric points or of the class of spheres but we 
ean not speak logically of a class composed 
of points and spheres for there is no such 
class; or we may speak of the class of water- 
drops or of the class of oceans but not logically 
of a class of water-drops and oceans; the types 
are different and must not be confused; to 
talk as if there were such a class is to talk 
nonsense, and it would be the same if we tried 
to discourse rigorously about a class com- 
posed of stars and rays of light; it would be 
to chatter as if there were no such thing as 
logic, or laws of thought. The matter is even 
clearer in terms of dimensions, or dimension- 
ality; pardon me for dwelling upon it—it is 
so very important: here is a straight line—it 
has length only—it is a one-dimensional 
thing; it is not a point; it does contain points 
and it has some point properties, but, if on 
this account we called it a point, we should 
be guilty of a type-confusing blunder; next 
consider a surface, say a plane—it has length 
and breadth—it is a thing of two dimensions; 
it contains points and lines and it has certain 
point properties and certain line properties; 
but we do not call it a point or a line; if we 


SCIENCE 


209 


did the blunder would be a dimension-mixing 
blunder; once more, here is a solid, say a cube 
—it has length, breadth and thickness—it has 
three dimensions; it has surfaces and it has 
certain surface properties, but it is not, there- 
fore, a surface; if we called it a surface or if 
we were to say it is a surface mysteriously 
combined with some miraculous influence 
from outside the universe of space, then in 
either case we should be guilty of treason 
against the eternal law of types or dimensions. 

In the light of such elemental considerations 
we are going to see very soon and, I hope, 
very clearly what kind of beings we humans 
are according to Korzybski’s concept of man 
and at the same time why he condemns the 
traditional conceptions as false. Consider 
the great life classes of our world—consider 
their patent cardinal distinctions and rela- 
tions candidly and open-mindedly; and let 
us begin with the class of plants. I offer, as 
I need offer, only a rude sketch. Plants, we 
say, are living things. How are they charac- 
terized as a class, positively and negatively ? 
They take in, chemically transform, organize 
and appropriate the basic energies of sun, 
soil and air; but they have not the autonom- 
ous power to move about in space; together 
they constitute the lowest order or class or 
type or dimension of life—say, for conveni- 
ence, the life dimension I; being, as indicated, 
binders: of the basic energies of the world, 
the plants are, in Korzybski’s nomenclature, 
the basic-energy-binding, or chemistry-bind- 
ing, class of life. What of the animals? 
What, I mean, are we to say of the creatures 
traditionally designated .as the “lower” ani- 
mals? Like the plants, animals, too, take in, 
transform, organize and appropriate the ener- 
gies of sun, soil and air, though in large part 
they take them already prepared by the plants; 
but unlike the plants, animals possess the 
autonomous power to move about in space— 
to creep or crawl or swim or run or fly; it 
is thus evident that, compared with plants, 
animals belong to a higher type or dimension 
of life—say the life dimension IT; the class- 
ification we are here interested in, you see 
is broad; because they are distinguished by 


210 


their autonomous power to move, to abandon 
one place and occupy another and so to ap- 
propriate the natural fruits of many locali- 
ties, the animals are called space-binders— 
the space-binding class of life. 

And now we come to the crux. What 
are we to say of man? Like the animals, 
human beings have the autonomous power 
to move—the capacity for binding space—for 
taking now one and now another “place in 
the sun” with the goods thereof, and it is 
plain that, if human beings had no capacity 
of higher order, men, women, and children 
would indeed be animals. But what are the 
facts? Be good enough to examine them 
carefully; they are familiar; let us, if we can, 
reflect upon them as if they were unfamiliar, 
for that is half the secret of philosophy and 
of science, too. Long, long ago, a quarter or 
half million years ago, there came into 
existence upon this globe—no matter how— 
a new kind of beings; they did not know 
what they were; they knew nothing of the 
world, nothing of its size or shape or place in 
the universe, nothing of its resources, their 
locations or properties, nothing of natural 
law; they were without guiding maxims, pre- 
cepts or precedents; they had no science, 
no philosophy, no art, no wealth, no instru- 
ments, no history—not even tradition: their 
ignorance was almost absolute; and yet, com- 
pared with the animals, which they hunted 
and which hunted them, they were marvels 
of genius; for there was in them a strange 
new gift—a strange new energy—that mys- 
terious power in virtue of which they did 
that most wonderful, of all things—initiated 
the creative movement called civilization. 
That power, first manifest in the infancy of 
our race, is the power that invents, the power 
that imagines, conceives, reasons; it is the 
power that makes philosophy, science, art and 
all the other forms of material and spiritual 
wealth; the power that detects the uniformi- 
ties of nature, creates history, and foretells the 
future; it is the power that makes progress 
possible and actual, discerns excellence, ac- 
quires wisdom, and, in the midst of a hostile 
world, more and more determines its own 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1393 


destiny. The animals have it not or, if they 
have, they have it in a measure so small that 
we may neglect it as mathematicians neglect 
infinitesimals of higher order. Do not fail to 
observe how it relates us to that mysterious 
thing called Time, which so many thinkers— 
psychologists, philosophers, astronomers, phy- 
sicists, and mathematicians—are just now as 
never before engaged in studying, each in his 
own way. By virtue of that familiar yet 
ever strange human power, each generation 
inherits the fruit of the creative toil of by- 
gone generations, augments the inheritance, 
and transmits it to the generations to come; 
thus the dead survive in the living, destined 
with the living to greet and bless the yet 
unborn. If this be poetry it is also fact. 
Past, Present and Future are not three; in 
man they are spiritually united to constitute 
one living reality. And now we behold, and 
are at length prepared to grasp, Korzybski’s 
great Concept. Because this capacity for 
binding time, under a law of ever-increasing 
amelioration, is peculiar to man or is at all 
events his in an incomparable degree, the 
class of human beings is to be conceived and 
scientifically defined to be the Time-binding 
class of life. We have here, you see, a new 
dimension, a new type, of life—life-in-Time. 
Animals are binders of space; man is a time- 
binder. Allow me a word of caution. Since, 
like the animals, man, too, binds space, may 
we not say that man is a time-binding animal ? 
No; to say that would be the same kind of 
blunder as to say that a solid is a surface 
because it has surfaces and some surface 
properties or to say that fractions are a 
species. of whole numbers because they happen 
to have some of the properties of whole 
numbers. It is fatal to confuse types, or 
to mix dimensions. Time-binding activity— 
the defining mark of man—may involve and 
often does involve space-binding as a higher 
involves a lower; but to say that, therefore, 
man is a species of animal—a time-binding 
species thereof—is like saying that a solid 
is a species of surface or that water is a 
species of oxygen or that wine is a species 
of water or that a violin is a species of wood 


SEPTEMBER 9, 1921] 


or that definite integration is a species of 
addition or that a symphony is just a species 
of sound. 

Such, then, is the new conception of man— 
the conception of a being whose character 
and appropriate dignity consist in his pe- 
culiar capacity or power for binding time. 
The nobility of the conception is obvious, un- 
mistakable. It has two other marks that be- 
long to all really great ideas—it is intelligible 
to all and is universal in its interest and ap- 
peal. Your sense of its significance, if your 
experience repeats my own, will grow as you 
meditate upon it, for its significance, I do 
not doubt, is mighty. The author, I believe, 
is right in his belief that it marks the begin- 
ning and will guide the development of 
humanity’s manhood. I wish it were pos- 
sible to examine here some of its bearings on 
the cardinal interests of mankind; but “ the 
hour contracts” and I ean do no more than 
barely allude to a few salient considerations. 

One of them is that, though we human 
beings are indeed not a species of animal, we 
are natural beings: it is as natural for us to 
bind time as it is natural for fishes to swim 
or birds to fly. 

That fact is fundamental. Another one, 
also fundamental, is this: time-binding power 
—the characteristic of humanity—is not an 
effect of civilization but is its cause; it is 
not civilized energy, it is the energy that 
civilizes ; it is not produced by wealth, whether 
material or spiritual, but is the source and 
ereator of both. 

I come now to the gravest of considerations. 
Inasmuch as time-binding is the character- 
istic of humanity, to study and understand 
man is to study and understand the nature 
of his time-binding energies; the laws of 
human nature are the natural laws of these 
energies; to discover these laws is a task of 
supreme importance for it is evident that upon 
the natural laws of time-binding must be 
based the future science and art of human 
life and human welfare. 

One of the laws we already know—not in- 
deed precisely—but fairly well—we know its 
general type—and it merits our best atten- 


SCIENCE 


211 


tion. It is the natural law of progress in 
time-binding, or civilization-building. Let us 
glance at it. Each generation of (say) 
beavers begins where the preceding generation 
began; that is a law for animals—there is 
no advancement, no time-binding—a beaver 
dam is a beaver dam. Contrast this with 
human life. Man invents and discovers and 
creates. An invention or discovery or cre- 
ation once achieved, what happens? Each 
invention leads to new inventions, each dis- 
covery to new discoveries, each creation to new 
creations; invention breeds invention, science 
begets science, the children of knowledge and 
art and wisdom produce their kind in larger 
and larger families; each generation begins, 
not where its predecessor began, but where 
it ended; things done become instruments 
for the doing of better things; the Past sur- 
vives in the living achievements of the dead; 
the body of these achievements—invention, 
science, art, wisdom—is the living capital of 
the ever passing Present, inherited to be held 
in trust for enlargement and for transmission 
to Future man; the process is that of time- 
binding: Past and Future are thus united 
in one eternal Now owning a law of per- 
petual growth and continual progress. What 
is the Law thereof—the natural law? You 
see at once what it is: it is that of a rapidly 
increasing geometric progression—if P be the 
progress made in a given generation, called 
the first, and if R be the ratio, then the pro- 
gress made in the second generation is PR, 
that in the third PR*, and that made in the 
single T'th generation will be PRT-1. Observe 
that R is a large number and that the time T 
enters as an exponent—and so the expression 
PRT is called an exponential function of 
Time. This is an amazing function; as T in- 
creases, the function not only increases but 
does so at a rate which itself increases accord- 
ing to a similar law, and the rate of increase 
of the rate of increase again increases in like 
manner, and so on endlessly, thus sweeping 
on towards infinity in a way that is truly 
marvelous. Yet that is the law—the natural 
law—for the advancement of civilization— 


212 


immortal offspring of the marriage of Time 
and human Toil. 

And here arises a great question which I 
have hardly time enough to touch. The ques- 
tion is: Has civilization always advanced in 
accord with the mentioned law? And, if not, 
why not? The time-binding energies of man 
have been in operation long—300,000 to 500,- 
000 years, according to the witness of human 
relics, ruins and records of the caves and the 
rocks. If progress had followed the mentioned 
law throughout that vast period, our planet 
would no doubt be now clothed with a eiviliz- 
-ation so advanced that we are powerless to 
imagine it or to conceive it or even to con- 
jecture it in dreams. And yet that law is 
a natural law of the time-binding energies 
of man. What has been the trouble? What 
the main trouble has been is pretty plain. 
As already said, what we human beings do 
depends, not merely upon what we are but, 
in equal or greater measure, upon what we 
think we are. From time immemorial the 
characteristic energies of our humankind have 
been hampered by the falSe conception that 
man is a species of animal and hampered by 
the false conception that man is a miracul- 
ous mixture of natural and supernatural. 
Throughout the long period of our race’s 
childhood, from which we have not yet 
emerged, those misconceptions have lain 
athwart the course of civilization. All that 
is precious in present civilization has been 
accomplished in spite of them. The goods, the 
glorious achievements, of which they have 
deprived the world, we can not now know 
but the subtle ramifications of their positive 
evil we can trace in a thousand ways. And 
it is your duty and mine to trace them. Who- 
ever preforms the duty will be appalled. I 
can not dwell upon the matter here. Suffice 
it to say that, if we humans do not in fact 
constitute a perfectly natural class of life, 
then there never has been and never can be a 
human ethies having the understandability, 
the sanction and the authority of natural law; 
if we do constitute such a class of life but 
continue to think we do not, the result will 
be much the same—our ethics will continue 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1393 


to carry the confusion and darkness produced 
by the presence in it of mythological elements. 
Tf, on the other hand, human beings continue 
to regard man as a species of animal, then 
the social life of the world in all its aspects 
will continue to reflect the misconception; 
especially our ethics, which subtly pervades, 
colors and fashions all of the social sciences, 
will continue to be—what it always has been 
in large measure—a zoological ethics, animal 
ethics, the ethics of tooth and claw, space- 
binding ethics, the ethics of strife, violence, 
combat and war. 

So it has been, but it will not continue 
so to be if we have the wisdom to learn the 
fundamental lesson of our recent experience. 
What is that lesson? It is this: the World 
War was an unforeseen, sudden, cataclysmic 
demonstration of human ignorance of human 
nature—a demonstration, pitiless as fate or 
famine, that human beings have never rightly 
conceived Man to be what Man is—not a 
mixture of natural and supernatural nor a 
species of animal, but the natural agency 
for those time-binding energies in the world 
whose peculiar function it is to produce 
civilization and to do so in conformity with 
its marvelous law of an increasing function 
of time. 

That conception will be found, I believe, 
to initiate a new epoch—the epoch of human- 
ity’s manhood. The concept is easy to 
grasp—all, and especially the young, can 
understand it. Once it is understood, human 
life will accord with human nature, the time- 
binding energies will be freed from the old 
bondage, and civilization will at length 
advance in accord with its natural Law as the 
great forward-leaping exponential function of 
Time. There will be great changes and many 
transfigurations. Hducation—education in 
home, school and church—will have for its 
supreme function to teach the children of man 
what man is and what they are. Ethics will 
abandon the space-binding standards of ani- 
mals and will become hwman ethics based upon 
the natural laws of the time-binding energies 
of man. Freedom will be freedom to live in 
aecord with those laws and righteousness will 


SEPTEMBER 9, 1921] 


be the quality of life that does not contravene 
them. The social sciences of ethics, education, 
economics, polities and government will be- 
come what they never have been—genuine 
sciences; fashioned by a just conception of 
man, they will cooperate to fashion the state; 
and the state, which may ultimately embrace 
the world, will rescue itself from ignorant 
politicians and commit its destiny to the 
guidance of honest men who know. 

And when guided by honest men who 
know—when guided, that is, by the coming 
-science of human engineering, which will be 
intelligence applied to human affairs—when 
thus guided in the light of the true conception 
of man as the binder of time—then and only 
then our human civilization—the living issue 
of time-binding toil, mainly that of the dead— 
will advance, not haltingly as hitherto, but, 
as said, in accord with the natural law thereof, 
in a warless world, swiftly and endlessly. 


Cassius J. Kryser 
CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


MENDELIAN OR NON-MENDELIAN? 


In 1907, several years after the Mendelian 
discoveries had begun to attract general inter- 
est, a writer endeavored to limit “ Mendelian 
heredity ” to the occurrence of 3 to 1 pheno- 
typic ratios. All other ratios were held to 
represent other systems of inheritance. This 
extreme view was not held by any one actually 
engaged at that time in genetical invyesti- 
gations, and the paper referred to was en- 
tirely ignored by geneticists because its author 
was so obviously ignorant of the real impli- 
cations of the Mendelian discoveries. 

Recently, two of our foremost geneticists! 
have gone to the opposite extreme in stating 
what should be included in Mendelian hered- 
ity, declaring that “ Mendelian heredity has 
proved to be the heredity of sexual reproduc- 
tion; the heredity of sexual reproduction is 
Mendelian.” Certainly few geneticists would 
at the present time include so much under 

1East, E. M., and Jones, D. F., ‘‘ Inbreeding 
and Outbreeding.’’ 285 pp. Philadelphia: J. B. 
Lippincott Co., 1919. See p. 50. 


SCIENCE 


213 


the term “ Mendelian heredity,” though one,? 
at least, there is, who sympathizes with this 
dictum. 

Between these extreme views as to the 
meaning to be attached to the expression 
“Mendelian heredity” different geneticists 
have taken different positions and even one 
and the same writer has given the term 
different meanings at different times. These 
differences of usage have led to misunder- 
standings and to some controversy. 

Davis? has placed the mere occurrence of 
segregation in the (notheras equivalent to 
Mendelian inheritance, thus accepting the 
validity of a criticism made by East* based 
on the same conception as that quoted above 
from East and Jones, that all heredity in 
sexual reproduction is Mendelian. As I under- 
stand it, however, the occurrence or non-occur- 
rence of segregation in the (notheras has 
never been an important issue; the real 
question has been whether the segregation 
which does quite obviously occur is of the 
Mendelian type, i.e., whether the hereditary 
factors are distributed during gametogenesis 
and fertilization according to the formulation 
actually developed by Mendel in interpreting 
the results of his experiments. 

Other writers® have grouped the phenomena 
of segregation under the terms “ Mendelism ” 
and “neo-Mendelism,” but include under the 
latter name several phenomena which are now 
generally recognized among geneticists as 
differing in no essential way from the actual 
cases studied by Mendel. Still others speak 
of “orthodox” Mendelism, implying that 
there is also a “heterodox” Mendelism, or 
they use the expressions “strictly Mendelian,” 

2 Wright, S., ‘‘Systems of mating. I. The 
biometric relations between parent and offspring.’?’ 
Genetics, 6: 111-123. 1921. See p. 111. 

3 Davis, B. M., ‘‘Hybrids of Gnothera biennis 
and Gnothera franciscana in the first and second 
generations,’’ Genetics, 1: 197-251. 1916. 

4 East, E. M., ‘‘The Mendelian notation as a 
description of physiological facts,’’ Amer. Nat., 
46: 633-655. 1912. 

5 Coulter, J. M., and Coulter, Merle C., ‘‘Plant 
Geneties.’? ix +214 pp. Chicago: Univ. of Chi- 
cago Press. 1918. See pp. 40-96. 


214 


“typical Mendelian,” etc. All such qualify- 
ing expressions give evidence of the recogni- 
tion of the fact that usage varies regarding 
the significance of the words “ Mendelism ” 
and “ Mendelian.” 

Since there are these differences of usage 
among geneticists, it would seem to be 
necessary for any one who describes a geneti- 
cal situation as Mendelian or non-Mendelian, 
to state just what meaning is to be attached 
to the expression he uses. In my own usage 
of the expression “ Mendelian heredity” it 
has always referred to cases such as Mendel 
actually observed, in which there is (statisti- 
cally) independent segregation of unit factors 
during gametogenesis and chance recombi- 
nations at fertilization. I had this conception 
in mind in declaring® that the genetical 
phenomena in the (notheras are, with rare 
exceptions, non-Mendelian. 

As Mendel never observed a ease of linkage 
and no provision is made for such a phenome- 
non in the theory by which he interpreted his 
results, such cases are, on this basis, to be 
considered non-Mendelian,—especially as they 
definitely contradict the fundamental Mende- 
lian postulate of independent segregation. 
This may perhaps with some justice be termed 
the strict-constructionist view. On the other 
hand, since it is now obvious that strictly 
Mendelian phenomena and linkage phenomena 
are products of the same mechanism and 
indeed that linked genes are in many cases 
quite indistinguishable from wholly indepen- 
dent ones, there is some justification for those 
who give a broader construction to the term 
Mendelian, making it. essentially synonymous 
with chromosomal heredity as distinguished 
from cytoplasmic heredity. 

In view of these discrepancies in usage by 
different authors, has not the time come to 
abandon the use of “ Mendelian” and “ non- 
Mendelian” as definite categories, and to 
adopt other terms which will have greater 
precision of meaning? It seems to me that 
the accumulation of facts from genetical 

6 Shull, G. H., ‘A peculiar negative correlation 


in Gnothera hybrids,’’ Jour. Genetics, 4: 83-102. 
1914. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1393 


investigations has reached such magnitude 
as to justify an attempt in this direction. 

In offering a terminology for several of the 
fundamental categories of genetical phenom- 
ena my object is chiefly to emphasize by 
this means the fact that the categories them- 
selves do exist and that they have been (and 
are) recognized by geneticists. 

Very few (if any) geneticists will now fail 
to agree that the relation of hereditary 
factors to linkage groups, or to paired pa- 
ternal and maternal material bodies, the chro- 
mosomes, must provide the basis for such a 
classification. Since we have long been 
familiar users of two words, homozygous and 
heterozygous, derived from the Greek root 
Cvy- (Cedyvypn, to join, Zedéis, a yoking; Cuydv, 
a yoke), it seems appropriate to use the same 
Greek root as the basis of the more complete 
terminology here suggested. 

To distinguish between phenomena which 
are dependent upon the distribution of the 
chromosomes, and those phenomena which are 
to be referred to extra-chromosomal bodies 
or substances, we may use the nouns, zewxis 
and exozeuxis, and corresponding adjectives 
zygous and exozygous. These alternatives - 
correspond closely with chromosomal and 
cytoplasmic inheritance; but “ exozeuxis” 
has an advantage over “ cytoplasmic heredity,” 
since some exozygous phenomena may con- 


ceivably be associated with nucleoplasmic 
structures or substances instead of the cyto- 
plasm. 

Under zeuxis or chromosomal heredity 


three fundamental relationships of hereditary 
factors are to be noted, depending on whether 
only one chromosome pair or linkage group 
is involved, or more than one, and whether 
the chromosomes concerned are behaving in 
typical or atypical fashion. These three cate- 
gories may be named, respectively, monozeuxis 
(one pair involved), pleiozeuxis (two or more 
pairs involved), and anomozeuwis (involving 
chromosomal irregularities), and the cor- 
responding adjectives will be monozygous, 
pleiozygous and anomozygous. 

The last of these categories, anomozeuxis, 
is a composite made up of several phenomena 


SEPTEMBER 9, 1921] 


of diverse nature, which have been occasion- 
ally lumped together under the expression 
“ chromosome-exceptional,” including non-dis- 
junction (primary and secondary), triploidy, 
tetraploidy, etc., chromosome elimination, 
fragmentation, chromosomal fusions, rear- 
rangements of whole chromosomes, or of genes 
in the chromosomes, ete. 

Accepting the four categories represented by 
the terms monozeuxis, pleiozeuxis, anomo- 
zeuxis and exozeuxis, what is their relation 
to Mendelism? This question can be profit- 
ably discussed only if prefaced by a statement 
that Mendelism is here taken to include only 
the phenomena to which Mendel’s interpre- 
tation applies, namely to the separation of 
each pair of alternative factors into equal 
numbers of germ cells in both sexes, and a 
purely chance assortment of the several alter- 
natives among the several gametes, so that 
the permutational groupings of unit factors 
shall be potentially represented by equal 
numbers of germ, cells. 

Such behavior of the genes during game- 
togenesis provides for the production of the 
typical Mendelian ratios if there is neither 
selective fertilization nor selective elimi- 
nation. 

With this understanding of the phenomena 
to which the words “ Mendelism” and “ Men- 
delian ” are appropriately applied, it will be 
obvious (1) that all zygous monohybrids are 
Mendelian. In other words, monozeuxis is 
Mendelian if only one pair of factors is con- 
cerned and the chromosome pair involved is 
behaving typically. (2) Monozygous dihy- 
brids are likewise Mendelian whenever cross- 
ing over equals or exceeds 50 per cent. (3) 
All pleiozygous dihybrids or polyhybrids are 
Mendelian so long as no two factors in the 
series are monozygous with a frequency of 
crossing over lower than 50 per cent. (4) 
Anomozeuxis may under certain circum- 
stances exhibit Mendelian phenomena. Thus 
in the case of non-disjunction, if the odd 
(unpaired) chromosome does not interfere 
with the normal disjunction of any other pair 
of chromosomes the genetical behavior with 
respect to qualities determined by the un- 


SCIENCE 


215 


paired chromosome gives the results expected 
of a typical Mendelian monoheterozygote. 

Non-Mendelian phenomena will be found 
(1) in monozygous dihybrids whenever cross- 
ing over is less than 50 per cent.; (2) in 
most cases of anomozeuxis, and (3) in all 
cases of exozeuxis. 

In the Cnotheras where the question of 
Mendelian or non-Mendelian heredity has 
been most sharply and persistently raised, the 
situation seems now in fair way to be cleared 
up: 

1. Exozeuxis is probably concerned in the 
inheritance of a variegation of the foliage 
which is occasionally found. 

2. The brevistylis factor which has seemed 
thus far to be inherited independently of 
other known factors, probably represents, in 
relation to these other factors, a case of 
pleiozeuxis. 

3. The occurrence of frequent irregularities 
in chromosome behavior (anomozeuxis) is 
illustrated (a) by the oft-repeated occurrence 
of the 15-chromosome forms, albida, lata, 
semilata, scintillans, bipartita, ete.; (b) the 
triploid or “ semi-gigas” individuals some- 
times called “heroes” because of their robust, 
gigas-like appearance; (c) the tetraploid 
gigas; and (d) by cases of probable frag- 
mentation of chromosomes in forms with an 
extra diminutive chromosome.? 

4. I now have on record data which demon- 
strate beyond question that the factors for 
the following characters are monozygous, 
being located in a single chromosome pair 
(chromosome I) and at a maximum distance 
of considerably less than 50 units: (a) 
rubricalyx bud pigmentation; (b) intense red- 
dening of the stems; (c) nanella stature; (d) 
pink-coned buds; (e) sulfurea flower-color; 
and (f) and (g) two zygote lethals (“bal- 
anced”). As this group of characters makes 
up so large a block of those which have at- 
tracted the attention of geneticists, and as 
there are preliminary indications that still 
other factors are linked with the factors for 

7 Lutz, Anne M., ‘‘Cinothera mutants with di- 


minutive chromosomes,’’ Amer. Jour. Bot., 3: 
502-526. 1916, 


216 


the above-mentioned characters,—notably, (h) 
a pollen lethal, and (7) a factor for revolute 
leavess—it can be safely stated that inherit- 
ance in the (Enotheras is comprised almost 
wholly in the two categories, anomozeuxis and 
monozeuxis, while pleiozeuxis seems at the 
present time to be exemplified clearly only by 
the relation between the factor for brevistylis 
and the other known factors, with the pos- 
sibility that even brevistylis may one day be 
connected up with the same linkage group as 
the others, through the discovery of an inter- 
mediately placed gene. 

On the whole it is now clear that while the 
genetical phenomena in the (notheras, with 
exception of the case of variegated foliage, 
can be referred definitely to the chromosomes 
(zeuxis), the occurrence of independent segre- 
gation which is necessary for the production 
of typical Mendelian behavior is so rare as 
to be almost negligible. 

GeorcE H. SHULL 

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 
MEMORIAL TO JAMES ORTON 


Tuer governments of Bolivia and Peru have 
erected a monument to James Orton, the 
American explorer, whose grave is on Esteves 
island in Lake Titicaca. The funds for the 
memorial were given by the alumnae of Vas- 
sar College, where at the time of his death 
Dr. Orton was professor of natural history. 
The execution of the memorial was entrusted 
to John Ettl, the New York sculptor. It 
will be placed on the crest of the island which 
rises several hundred feet above the lake. 
The memorial is nine feet in height, circular 
in pattern with a square plinth, and in its 
ensemble suggests a tomb. The circular 
character was inspired by the tall shaft-like 
structures of the Incas. The dedicatory exer- 
cises will be held on September 25, the forty- 
fourth anniversary of Orton’s death. The 

8 Since this was written the factor for revolute 
leaves has been fully demonstrated to lie in 
chromosome J at or very near the same level as 
the factor for rubricalyz buds and that for red 
stems. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1393 


Peruvian Government will be officially repre- 
sented, and a large attendance is expected 
from Arequipa, Peru and La Paz, Bolivia. 

Miss Anna P. Orton, the daughter of the 
explorer, Mrs. Alice P. Sanford and Miss 
Ellen W. Farrar, Vassar alumnae, will repre- 
sent the college. They take to the ceremony 
a stand of flags, including the Peruvian, 
Bolivian and American, presented by the 
United States Government. 

James Orton was born at Seneca Falls, 
New York, April 21, 1830. He graduated 
from Williams College in 1855 and at An- 
dover Theological Seminary in 1858. In 
1866, he was appointed instructor in natural 
sciences in Rochester University. In 1867 a 
scientific expedition to the equatorial Andes 
and the River Amazon was organized under 
the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, 
and Professor Orton was selected as its 
leader. The expedition sailed from New 
York on July 1, 1867, and after crossing the 
Isthmus of Panama, the route was from 
Guayaquil to Quito, over the Western Cordil- 
lera; thence over the Eastern Cordillera and 
through the forest on foot to the Napo; down 
the Rio Napo by canoe to Pebas, on to Mara- 
fion; and thence by steamer to Para, Brazil. 
As a result of this expedition many hitherto 
unknown specimens of natural history were 
collected and from portions of the collections 
in the museums of the Smithsonian Institu- 
tion, the Philadelphia Academy of Natural 
Science, the Boston Society of Natural His- 
tory, the Peabody Academy of Science, and 
Vassar College, while the bulk of the collec- 
tion was purchased by Ingham University, 
Leroy, New York. 

Upon his return to the United States in 
1869, Professor Orton was offered the chair of 
natural history at Vassar College with which 
institution he remained until his death in 
1877. In 1873 he made a second journey 
across South America from Para up the 
Amazon to Lima and Lake Titicaca, making 
ethnological collections of Inca 
relics. In 1876 he organized a third expedi- 
tion, with the object of exploring the great 
Beni River, a branch of the Madeira. This 


valuable 


SEPTEMBER 9, 1921] 


expedition reached the mouth of the river, 
but much of the equipment and many sup- 
plies were lost. Orton, with a few com- 
panions, made the 600-mile journey back to 
La Paz through the forest and jungle amid 
incredible hardships. He died on crossing 
Lake Titicaca. 


VACCINATION FOR SMALLPOX IN ENGLAND 


Tue London Times reports that at Notting- 
ham, an epidemic of considerable proportions 
is now established; there have been 46 cases, 
36 being unvaccinated, since the beginning of 
February. Last year a somewhat serious out- 
break took place in Glasgow. 

It is said that many towns in the country 
are badly protected at present for the doctrines 
of the opponents of vaccination have been 
widely spread. Of some areas it would be 
fair to say that they are destitute of protec- 
tion. The population has simply refused vac- 
cination en masse. An _ illustration—which 
is by no means exceptional—is Coventry, 
where the medical officer of health has issued 
the following figures: 


Vaccinated, 
Year Births Percentage 
OMG Py eI ay sre ed atltset stale 2,996 22:9 
LOM Tiieraretake itn Netra sic Sata 2,738 13.0 
TO TRON MONE 2,857 10.7 
TD NO yet Cesta yay anes LAs 2,429 8.7 
EO 2 ONE sy Seaeyteaenccmia attra Ooi 3,372 9.6 


It was deliberate, as the following list 


makes quite clear: 


Year Declarations made of con- 
scientious objections 

TQM Gy! Pevsner eps sscuey veeas 1,946 

MO i piretion terete; aicyertiv areas ceehsi 1,830 

OMS ae Seplerses)cvesiarans sieves cus 1,763 

LOMO Nadler y Wetec eks Ae a 1,250 

OZ OM Mwaysteat sinc) s <leteanel aisle ie Oe SOD, 


The medical officer points out that “this 
community is becoming largely an unvacci- 
nated one.” 

What this may mean can be guessed from 
a series of figures published by the City of 
Liverpool in which the ravages of smallpox 
during the past 51 years are set down. The 
following are extracts: 


SCIENCE 


217 
Year Deaths Year Deaths 
STO nein. 174 aRetees yaa Brats 26 
STi hy Tse) Uo Giyiinte Bec 106 
US Gwy ywe 50 MI 650505 46 
V4 ae ingle 10 1886 never 29 
US Enea ote 3 NSS Teeter rctave 1 
NUS he Bolder 29 SSS meemeeens 1 
SIG pieneyatere 386 NS. 8 Oar 1 
IBC Isa oes 299 US SOM ee None 
USMS er osvas 3 iTS Oise eretece 2 
UE) Boe 3 o/5 None TEA iG od blvis 13 
USS ON ee peleters 2 MELE) sooo ood ) 
MSSM eyes 34 eG i 20 
N88 Oe ee 6 IRIS) Giga iya 12 


The figures have remained very low since 
then except for the sharp epidemic of 1903 
when there were 141 deaths. In 1918 there 
were only seven cases in England and Wales. 
But the sharp drop in vaccination of the past 
two years may be followed by a severe penalty. 


THE WORK OF THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY 
AT THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE 

S. S. Cloven, H. M. astronomer at the Cape 
of Good Hope, has recently issued’a report in 
which he gives an account of the distribution 
of the normal work of the observatory. 

Dr. Halm exercises general supervision in 
all departments and takes part in heliometer 
observations and observations of an extra- 
routine character requiring special attention. 
He acts in full charge of the observatory dur- 
ing the absence of H. M. astronomer. Dr. 
Lunt is in charge of the Victoria telescope 
and its instrumental accessories, and of all 
photographic work in connection therewith. 

Mr. Cox is in charge of the new meridian 
circle and of the time signal service, and su- 
pervises the reductions of all meridian obser- 
vations. Mr. Woodgate is in charge of the 
astrographic telescope, photo-heliograph and 
seismograph, and of all photographie work 
connected therewith, and supervises the de- 
partment of miscellaneous computations. 

In addition to the above, a staff of fourteen 
computers and assistants is employed. 

There are also attached to the observatory 
an instrument maker, an electric fitter, a 
stoker, a carpenter, and three Kroomen, who 


218 


act as messengers and keep the rooms and 
grounds in order. : 

Messrs. A. W. Long and J. F. Skjellerup, 
two voluntary observers, have undertaken a 
program of observations of variable stars, and 
an equatorial (either the 6-inch or the 7-inch) 
has been placed at their disposal as required 
for this purpose. The regular meridian ob- 
servers during the year have been Messrs. 
Cheeseman, Wilkin, Peirce, Mullis, Duncan 
and Davis. The heliometer observations have 
been made by Messrs. Hough and Halm. The 
observations with the Victoria telescope have 
been made by Messrs. Lunt, Jackson and 
Baines, those with the astrographic telescope 
by Mr. Woodgate. Occasional observations of 
occultations, ete., have also been made by 
Messrs. Cox, Power and Pead. 


THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON 
ILLUMINATION 

Tue first technical session of the Interna- 
tional Commission on Illumination, the suc- 
cessor of the International Photometric Com- 
mission, was held in Paris on July 4-8. 
According to the report of the meeting in 
Nature those interested in illumination prob- 
lems in Belgium, France, Great Britain, Italy, 
Spain, Switzerland and the United States of 
America were represented at the session, 
which was opened by the Minister of Public 
Works, who welcomed the delegates in the 
name of the French Republic. The British 
delegates, nominated by the National Tllumin- 
ation Committee of Great Britain, were: 
Major K. Edgcumbe (Institution of Electrical 
Engineers, chairman of the National Commit- 
tee), Mr. C. C. Paterson (hon. secretary and 
treasurer of the International Commission), 
Mr. A. P. Trotter (Illuminating Engineering 
Society), Dr. E. H. Rayner (National Physi- 
eal Laboratory), Mr. L. Gaster (Illuminating 
Engineering Society), Mr. R. Watson (In- 
stitution of Gas Engineers), and Mr. J. W. 
T. Walsh (National Physical Laboratory, as- 
sistant secretary of the International Commis- 


sion). The subjects dealt with by the commis- - 


sion were as follows: (1) The unit of candle- 
power at present in use in this country and 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1393 


in France and the United States was adopted 
for international purposes, and is to be known 
as the “international candle.” It is main- 
tained by means of electric incandescent 
lamps at the National Laboratories of the 
three countries named. (2) The definitions of 
the terms “luminous flux,” “luminous inten- 
sity,’ and “illumination,” and the units of 
these quantities, viz. the lumen, the candle, 
and the lux (meter-candle), were agreed upon. 
(3) The subjects of heterochromatic photom- 
etry (including physical photometry and the 
characteristics of the “normal eye”), fac- 
tory lighting, and automobile head-lighting 
were also discussed at the meetings, and 
sub-committees were appointed to study the 
questions from the international point of 
view during the next three years. The new 
president of the commission is Dr. E. P. 
Hyde, director of the Nela Research Labora- 
tories of America, and Major Edgcumbe is 
one of the three vice-presidents. The next 
meeting of the commission was provisionally 
arranged to be held in New York in 1924. 


CHEMISTRY AND CIVILIZATION 


Tue American Chemical Society, meeting 
this week in New York City, held on Sep- 
tember 8 a session devoted to “ Chemistry 
and Civilization.” According to the an- 
nouncement Dr. Edgar F. Smith, provost 
emeritus, University of Pennsylvania, would 
be in the chair, and the speakers were: 


The réle of chemistry, Dr. CHas. BASKERVILLE, 
director of the Laboratories, College of the City 
of New York; chairman of the International 
Committee. 

Energy; its sources and future possibilities, Dr. 
Artuur D, LirTuz, chemical engineer and tech- 
nologist, Boston. 

The engineer; human and superior direction of 
power, Dr. Leo H. BAEKELAND, honorary pro- 
fessor of chemical engineering, Columbia Univer- 
sity. 

Chemistry and life, Str Witu1am J. Pops, pro- 
fessor of chemistry, Cambridge University. 
Theories, Dr. Wituis R. WHITNEY, head of re- 
search department, General Electric Company. 
Research applied to the world’s work, Dr. C. E. 


SEPTEMBER 9, 1921] 


K. Mess, head of the research department, 
Eastman Kodak Company. 

Problem of diffusion and its bearing on civiliza- 
' tion, Proressor ErNst CoHEN, professor of 
chemistry, University of Utrecht. 

Catalysis: the new economic factor, PROFESSOR 
Wiper D. Bancrort, professor of physical 
chemistry, Cornell University. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 
Dr. Jorn AsapH ALLEN, curator of the De- 
partment of Birds and Mammals at the Amer- 
ican Museum of Natural History since 1885, 
died at Cornwall-on-Hudson on August 29, 
aged eighty-three years. 


As has already been noted in Scrence the 
Second International Congress of Eugenics, 
which will meet at the American Museum of 
Natural History, New York City, from Sep- 
tember 22 to 28, will hold four sections. The 
opening addresses before the sections are an- 
nounced as follows: The address before Sec- 
tion I, Human and Comparative Heredity, 
will be given by M. Lucien Cuénot, professor 
of zoology and physiology in the University 
at Nancy, France, on “ Adaptation and Modern 
Genetic Conception ”; before Section II., Eu- 
genics and the Human Family, by Dr. Her- 
man Lundborg, professor of psychiatry and 
neurology in the University of Upsala, Swe- 
den, on “ Eugenics and the Human Family.” 
The address before Section III, Human Ra- 
cial Differences, will be given by Georges 
Vacher de Lapouge, Poitiers, France, the title 
of whose address is still to be announced. 
The address before Section IV, Eugenics and 
the State, will be given by Major Leonard 
Darwin, of London, on “ The Aims and Meth- 
ods of Eugenical Societies.” 


Tue annual summer meeting of the Amer- 
ican Phytopathological Society was held in 
conjunction with the Conference of Cereal 
Pathologists at St. Paul, Minnesota and 
Fargo, North Dakota on July 19 to 22 inclu- 
sive. The following scientific men were pres- 
ent as invited guests of the society: Dr. E. 
J. Butler, Imperial Bureau of Mycology, Lon- 
don; Dr Kingo Miyabe, professor of botany 
and director of the Botanic Garden, Hokkaido 


SCIENCE 


219 


Imperial University, Sapporo, Japan; Mr. R. 
J. Noble, and Mr. James P. Shelton, Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, New South Wales, 
Australia. Members of the society were pres- 
ent from Philippine Islands, from three prov- 
inces of Canada and from ten states. The 
meeting really constituted an international 
conference on cereal diseases. Drs. Butler 
and Miyabe will visit a number of institutions 
before returning home, and Mr. Noble and 
Mr. Shelton expect to remain for at least a 
year to engage in research. Professor A. Jac- 
zewski, director of the Institute of Mycology 
and Phytopathology, Petrograd, Russia, and 
Professor N. I. Vavilov, Bureau of Applied 
Botany and Plant Breeding, Petrograd, Rus- 
sia, arrived too late to attend the conference. 
They will make an extended tour of the 
United States and Canada before returning to 
Russia. 


Tue following honorary degrees were con- 
ferred upon members of the British Medical 
Association by the University of Durham on 
the occasion of the recent meeting of the 
association in that city:—Doctor of Civil 
Laws: Sir William MacEwen, Sir Thomas 
Oliver, and Sir Humphry D. Rolleston. 
Doctor of Hygiene: Dr. T. E. Hill and Dr. J. 
W. Smith. Doctor of Science: Sir Arthur 
Keith. Doctor of Literature: Sir Dawson 
Williams, editor of the British Medical 
Journal. M.A.: Dr. Alfred Cox, medical 
secretary of the association. } 


A MARBLE bust of Professor E. Fuchs, the 
Vienna ophthalmologist, was unveiled at the 
University of Vienna on June 14, the occasion 
being his seventieth birthday. He retired in 
1915. 


F. J. W. Roveurton, of Trinity College, 
Cambridge has been elected to the Michael 
Foster research studentship in physiology. 
The Raymond Horton Smith prize in medi- 
cine has been awarded to Dr. R. L. M. Wallis 
of Downing College. 


Dr. CHartes-Epwarp Amory Winstow, of 
Yale University, medical director of the 
American Red Cross, is in Geneva attending 
the meeting of the Health Commission of the 


220 


League of Nations. The commission plans to 
organize a world health institution separate 
from the International Health Office of the 
Red Cross, to which the United States belongs. 


Dr. A. B. Stout, of the N. Y. Botanical 
Garden, has spent two weeks at the State Ex- 
perimental Station at Geneva, N. Y., in 
making further study of flower types in grapes 
and in the work of breeding for seedless sorts 
of hardy grapes. This work is being done 
im cooperation with the Department of 
Horticulture of the Experimental Station. 


Dr. Gustav T. TRoEpsson, privat-docent at 
the Geological Institute at Lund, Sweden, 
is accompanying Professor Perey E. Raymond, 
of Harvard University, on the third of the 
Shaler Memorial Expeditions for the study 
of the Ordovician in the southern Ap- 
palachians. 

Dr. J. W. Kimpaty, formerly research 
chemist at Delta Laboratory, E. I. du Pont 
de Nemours and Co., Arlington, N. J., has 
joined the staff of the National Aniline and 
Chemical Co., as research chemist at their 
works at Marcus Hook, Pa. 


We learn from Nature that a medal, to be 
known as the Meldola medal, will be presented 
annually by the Society of Maccabeans for 
the most noteworthy chemical work of the year 
carried out by a British subject who is not 
more than thirty years of age on completing 
the work. The award will be made by the 
council of the Institute of Chemistry acting 
with one member of the Society of Mac- 
cabeeans, and power to vary the conditions of 
award is vested in the committee of the 
society and the council of the institute acting 
jointly. The object of instituting the medal 
is to recognize merit among the younger 
generation of chemists and to perpetuate the 
memory of Professor Raphael Meldola, the 
distinguished chemist who served as president 
both of the society presenting the medal and 
of the Institute of Chemistry. It is hoped 
that the first presentation will be made at the 
annual general meeting of the Institute of 
Chemistry on March 1, 1922. 


Ar a meeting of the Royal College of Sur- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1393 


geons of Edinburgh, held on July 18, the pres- 
ident, Dr. George Mackay, presented to the 
College a portrait of the late Lord Lister. 
The picture is a full-sized copy made by Mr. 
Dorfield Hardy of the portrait painted by W. 
Ouless, R. A., in the possession of the Royal 
College of Surgeons of England. In accept- 
ing the portrait on behalf of the College, the 
vice-president, Dr. McKenzie Johnston, ex- 
pressed the satisfaction the college had in ac- 
quiring this memorial of its most distin- 


‘guished fellow through the generosity of 


their president. 


Tue Priestley Memorial. Committee of the 
American Chemical Society has reported that 
the sum of two thousand dollars has been col- 
lected and placed on interest. The committee 
has authorized the chairman to select an artist 
to copy the Stuart portrait of Priestley, which 
is now at Northumberland, Pa., and imme- 
diate steps will be taken to obtain a die for 
the Priestley medal. 


Prrer Cooper Hewirt, the electrical and 
mechanical engineer of New York City, died 
in Paris on August 25. 


W. Horace Hoskins, professor of veterin- 
ary jurisprudence and dean of the New York 
State Veterinary College at New York Univer- 
sity, died on August 17, aged sixty-one years. 


W. E. Routston, associated with Sir Nor- 
man Lockyer in the work of the Solar Physics 
Observatory at South Kensington until he en- 
listed in 1915, has died at the age of forty- 
five years. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 


Tue Journal of the Americal Medical As- 
sociation states that members of the medical 
faculty of the University of Maryland Medi- 
eal School, have placed their resignations in 
the hands of Dr. Albert F. Woods, president 
of the university. This action has been initi- 
ated by the medical men themselves in order 
that the faculty might be reorganized on a 
“half-time pay” basis. Plans for reor- 
ganization call for doubling the $500,000 a 


SEPTEMBER 9, 1921] 


year now expended by the hospital and medi- 
cal school for running expenses, and provid- 
ing a building fund of $1,000,000. 

Dr. Lee I. Kyicur, of the department of 
botany, University of Minnesota, has been 
appointed chairman of that department. 


Dr. Harry F. Lewis, A.B. and A.M., Wes- 
leyan University, and Ph.D., Tilden, Illinois, 
has been elected associate professor in chemis- 
try at Cornell College. 


Dr. JosepH L. Mayer, chief chemist of the 
research and analytical laboratories of the 
Louis K. Liggett Co., New York, has been 
appointed professor of analytical and phar- 
maceutical chemistry in the Brooklyn College 
of Pharmacy where he has been associate pro- 
fessor of analytical chemistry for several 
years. 


S. C. Ocsurn, Jr., graduate of the Univer- 
sity of North Carolina, has been appointed in- 
structor in chemistry at Washington and Lee 
University. 

James L. Howe, Jr., who has been for three 
years assistant professor of chemistry in Wash- 
ington and Lee University, has accepted the 
professorship of chemistry in Hangchow 
Christian College, China. 


H. P. Purpot, assistant professor at Uni- 
versity College, London, has been appointed to 
the professorship of civil and mechanical 
engineering at the Finsbury Technical Col- 
lege; and A. J. Hale, chief assistant in the 
department of applied chemistry, has been 
appointed to the professorship in that depart- 
ment. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
THE CHERT PITS AT COXSACKIE, N. Y. 

A REMARKABLE series of chert pits and two 
large quarries two miles south of Coxsackie, N. 
Y., is being examined by the archeological 
staff of the State Museum of New York under 
the leadership of State Archeologist Arthur C. 
Parker. 

These pits are on the property of the West 
Shore Railroad and cover the greater portion 
of an elongate hill a mile in length and some 
one thousand feet in width. The hill is cov- 


SCIENCE 


221 


ered with the refuse of aboriginal excavations. 
The steep slopes are covered in places to a 
depth of six or more feet with the rock broken 
from the pits and quarries. One immense 
dump is more than a hundred feet long and 
eight feet in thickness and contains besides 
the waste rock the rejected blocks of flint and 
many broken or partially completed imple- 
ments. Broken rock occurs in such quantities 
that the railroad purchased the property think- 
ing it an enormous bed of broken stone suit- 
able for road bed ballast. 

Mr. Parker is making a survey of the hill in 
order to make a relief model of it for a mu- 
seum exhibit. The artificial nature of the 
broken stone was discovered by Mr. Jeffer- 
son Ray, of West Coxsackie, who made a 
collection of 1,500 chipped chert implements 
from the workshop sites on the flats below the 
hill. 

The site is an exceedingly old one and must 
have been worked by three or four hundred 
Indians at a time for a period of 500 to 1000 
years, judging from the large quantities of 
flint found upon it. The site is a remarkable 
one and is a unique archeological monument 
that will well repay visitation by archeologists 
and geologists interested in securing data 
bearing on the stone age. 


Everett R. BurMASTER 


State Museum, 
ALBaNy, N, Y. 


THE USE OF AGAR IN FACILITATING THE 
REMOVAL OF A SWALLOWED FOREIGN 
OBJECT 

OpporTUNITY of experimentation and obser- 
vation in the use of agar in assisting in the 
removal of a foreign object from the stomach 
came to the writer in the case of a child, four 
and one half years old, who had swallowed a 
safety pin. 
pin, one and one half inches long, and was 
closed. 

According to the best medical practise the 
use of purgatives or cathartics in such emer- 
gency is to be avoided, as such would tend to 
liquefy and remove the bowel content leaving 
the object unsupported; and moreover any 


The pin was an ordinary nickeled 


222 


purgative acting by irritation of the bowels 
might cause such peristalsis as to allow the 
pin to become caught in the contracting 
action in such a manner as to become per- 
manently imbedded. The removal by natural 
action is deemed best, aided by the feeding 
of much bulky food to stimulate natural 
peristaltic action, and to form encasement for 
the foreign object. 

In accordance with these principles the 
child was induced to eat as much bulk-form- 
ing food as possible, as shredded wheat, oat- 
meal, bread and milk, potatoes, carrots, 
spinach and celery. Milk was allowed after 
the appetite had become satiated with the 
solid food. 

In order to make more certain the removal 
of the object, as well as to hasten the action, 
it was conceived that the addition of agar to 
the diet would be highly beneficial. Since 
agar is not digested and swells to several 
times its bulk its effect would be not only to 
hasten peristalic action by natural stimula- 
tion, but its added bulk would assist in en- 
casing the object and in carrying it along. 
It was reasoned that its effect would be of 
especial value in those portions of the digest- 
ive tract in which the digestible food is in 
the state of emulsification. 

At evening and morning meals therefore, 
there was added to a little of the prepared 
cereal, three heaping teaspoonfuls of choco- 
late-coated granular agar. This was eaten by 
the child readily and with relish. 

As the child tended somewhat toward con- 
stipation, the removal of the previous fecal 
matter was hastened by the use of a glycerol 
suppository. The later actions were wholly 
normal. The first feeding occurred in the 
evening, soon after the swallowing of the ob- 
ject. Bowel action occurred as follows: 16 
hours, 23 hours, 40 hours, at which time the 
pin appeared. The stools were copious and 
of a moist, compact, firm structure—an ideal 
consistency to carry a foreign object. As 
bowel action occurred twice daily, instead of 
the usual once; and as the bulk of each was 
at least twice normal; it is evident that the 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1393 


bowel content had been increased by four- 
fold, due in a large measure to the agar. 

It is not to be supposed that the safe re- 
moval of the object was due wholly to the 
agar, though this probably at least hastened 
its removal. As the experiment was wholly 
satisfactory however it would lead to the 
recommendation of the use of agar for this 
purpose. In the case of the removal of ob- 
jects more dangerous, or more difficult of 
removal, it might prove a decisive factor. 

LeRoy S. WEATHERBY 

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY, 

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 


AN INCONSISTENCY IN TAXONOMY 


In the classification of animals we are often 
very inconsistent in the use and evaluation 
of characters as we apply them to different 
groups. This is more apparent between widely 
separated groups than closely related ones. 
Thus in the subgroups in one class of the 
vertebrates, osteological or other anatomical 
characters may be largely used, while in an- 
other class such internal characters may be 
almost entirely subordinated to external ones. 
Sometimes, to be sure, certain characters have 
not the same value in one class that they have 
in another, but the main reason for the incon- 
sistency lies in the less skilful or less thorough 
handling of one group as compared with 
another. The truth is, classification became 
unfashionable long before the groups, especi- 
ally the larger ones, were well formulated. 
Among groups as small as genera there are 
probably few cases so extreme as the following. 

There are two genera of sharks, Mustelus 
and Cynias, that are strikingly similar in all 
external characters. We refer them to differ- 
ent genera because they differ in regard to a 
modification of the yolk sac in the young. In 
Mustelus the yolk sac is modified to function 
as a placenta by which the young forms a 
connection with the walls of the mullerian 
duct of the mother. This so-called placenta 
is absent in Cynias, or, more correctly speak- 
ing, the yolk sac is unmodified. 

On the other hand, we place two mackerel 
together in the genus Scomber even though 


SEPTEMBER 9, 1921] 


one of them possesses an entire organ that is 
absent in the other. Scomber scombrus is 
without a swim bladder; Scomber japonicus 
has a well-developed one. 

This is a most glaring inconsistency. On 
one hand, to separate two genera on the basis 
of a mere modification of an organ that is 
possessed by both of them, and on the other 
hand, to include in one genus two forms, one 
of which possesses an organ that is absent in 
the other. Making this inconsistency more 
marked is the fact that in the case of the 
sharks it is only during a part of the life of 
the animals (when they are with young) that 
the character of the ‘placenta,’ upon which 
the genus is based, can be ascertained. In 
the mackerel the presence or absence of the 
swim bladder can be seen at any time by 
simply opening the abdominal cavity. 

On the whole, workers in vertebrate tax- 
onomy seem to be more chary than those in 
invertebrate, in making use of internal charac- 
ters in classification. The fact that a character 
is not readily apparent should not influence 
its use if animals are to be arranged in their 
true relationship. 

Such a marked structural difference as the 
possession of an organ as compared with the 


suppression of it certainly should be consid-_ 


ered of generic weight. Therefore it would 
seem well to raise the subgenus Pneumato- 
phorus Jordan and Gilbert, to generic rank. 
The American species, Scomber colias and 
S. japonicus, would thus stand Pneumato- 
phorus colias and P. japonicus. 

Epwin C. Starks 


AN IMPROVED METHOD OF ESTIMATING THE 
NUMBER OF GENETIC FACTORS CON- 
CERNED IN CASES OF BLEND- 

ING INHERITANCE 


Dr. Sewatt Wricut has kindly pointed out 
an error in the formula which I recently sug- 
gested! in connection with this subject. In- 
stead of taking the direct difference between 
the standard deviations of F, and F,, as I 
did, one should deal with the difference be- 
tween the squared standard deviations. Dr. 
Wright bases this correction on his discussion 


1Scrence, July 29, 1921. 


SCIENCE 


223 


of the fundamentals of factorial theory as de- 
veloped particularly in “Systems of Mating 
IV.,” Genetics, 6, March, 1921. He gives the 
correct formula for the number of factors () 
concerned in a case of blending inheritance as 


pss) ae 
8( o,2 —o;°) ? 

in which D is the difference between the means 
of the parental races, ¢, is the standard devi- 
ation of F',, and og, is the standard deviation 
of F,. This method gives in general a smaller 
number of genetic factors than the method 
which I suggested, and its use is simpler. 
Applied to the examples which I cited, it 
gives, in the case of seed weight of maize, 4 
or 5 factors instead of “about 15”; and in 
the case of weight of rabbits in three different 
crosses, 3, 14 and 22 or 23 factors, instead of 
56, 80, and 176, respectively. I am greatly 
indebted to Dr. Wright for the correction. 

W. E. Castries 


THE CURVE OF DISTRIBUTION 


To THE Epriror or Science: An explanation 
of the irregularities in the curve of the dis- 
tribution of the heights of 221,819 men, taken 
from insurance statistics, to which Professor 
Boring called attention in Science for Novem- 
ber 12, 1920, may possibly be found in the 
nature of the measuring devices used by the 
examining physicians. One of the three lead- 
ing types on the market and at least one other 
are graduated in inches alone instead of in 
feet and inches. The tendency for men who 
use these scales to read off the round num- 
ber, 70 inches, instead of 69, and 60 inches 
instead of 59, might be great enough to ac- 
count for the “bumps” in the Gaussian curve 
at 5 ft. 10 in. and at 5 ft.; and the lowering 
of the average height which would result from 
the correction of these exaggerations might 
change the ideal curve sufficiently to bring 
the bump at 5 ft. 8 in. within the normal limits 
of error for a curve whose unit of measurement 
is so large in comparison to the total range of 
variation. 

Cart H. P. TuHursron 

PASADENA, CALIF. 


224 


QUOTATIONS 
DYES FOR BACTERIOLOGY 


BacTERIOLOGISTS in this country and in the 
United States of America are anxious about 
the supply of chemical dyes used in their work. 
Animal tissues and the microbes which may 
infest them, as seen under the microscope, 
present to the eye an almost uniform appear- 
ance of pale translucency. A skilled treatment 
with dyes and mordants reveals the otherwise 
invisible differences of structure and com- 
position. Particular cells and granules, bac- 
teria and spores, have affinities for particular 
stains, and betray their presence by the colors 
they absorb. The presence, the quality, and 
even the phase of an infection or of a morbid 
state are thus detected, and the processes are 
a necessary part of research, diagnosis, and 
treatment. But the reactions are delicate, 
and their value depends on a high purity 
and standardization of the reagents employed. 
The materials are almost entirely the aniline 
dyes used in textiles. Before the war Griibler 
in Germany had examined these and selected 
those that might be of use to biologists. The 
total bulk of the trade is very small, and the 
German manufacturer had taken so much 
trouble to standardize his products and secure 
their purity that he had a practical monopoly 
and was able to charge a high but legitimate 
price. When the war came, in 1914, a few 
fortunate institutions had in hand a stock of 
the Griibler reagents sufficient to meet their 
wants. But the greater number of biologists 
were soon in difficulties. Here and in the 
United States several manufacturers, partly 
from patriotic motives and partly from the 
attraction of the great difference in price 
between the crude textile dyes and the micro- 
scope stains, began to supply the demand. 
There is no reason to suppose that their out- 
put was inferior to the German products. But 
it varied from manufacturer to manufacturer 
in its precise qualities. The users got results 
which were not exactly comparable with those 
obtained from the Griibler products or with 
each other. The total demand, moreover, is 
so small in bulk that it is hardly worth dis- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1393 


tributing. The situation has given rise here 
and in America to a desire for the free im- 
portation of German bacteriological stains, 
on the one hand, and, on the other, to fresh 
efforts to maintain national independence in 
this branch of scientific work. The Society 
of American Bacteriologists is endeavoring 
to secure cooperation in determining on a 
reliable standard brand of each kind of stain, 
and in discouraging the marketing of variants. 
A similar course in this country would be 
very convenient.—The London Times. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


THE SECOND-YEAR RECORD OF BIRDS WHICH 
DID AND WHICH DID NOT LAY DURING 
INDIVIDUAL MONTHS OF THE PUL- 

LET YEAR 

The egg output of the commercial poultry 
plant is due in part to birds in their first 
and in part to birds in their second year. 
At some time during the first year the number 
of pullets is reduced to the number which is 
to be retained as hens during the second 
year. 

It would be of obvious advantage if the 
birds sold from the flock as pullets could be 
those which if retained would make the poorest 
record in their second year. If the birds 
destined to be the highest producers in the 
second year could be selected on the basis of 
some criterion recognizable in the first year, 
it should be possible to raise the average pro- 
duction of the flock as a whole by increasing 
the average production of the hens. 

In the course of a general investigation of 
the problem of the prediction of the egg pro- 
duction of the domestic fowl from the records 
of short periods, we have availed ourselves 
of the opportunity of considering the relation- 
ship between first and second year laying 
activity presented by the data of the Vine- 
land International Egg Laying and Breed- 
ing Contest. As one phase of this work? we 
have sought to determine to what extent the 
simple criterion of laying versus not laying 
jn any month of the first year may be used 

1 Other phases of the investigations will be re- 
ported in detail elsewhere. 


SEPTEMBER 9, 1921] 


in predicting the record of the second year. 
The criterion has already been considered 
in relation to the prediction of first year egg 
record.2, While our immediate purpose is the 

2Harris, Blakeslee and Kirkpatrick, Genetics, 
3: 42-44, 49-56, 1918. 


SCIENCE 


225 


consideration of the second year production 
of birds which did and of those which did not 
lay during given months of the first year, 
it seems desirable to give the mean first 
year productions of these birds as well. For 
comparison the results deduced from the data 


MEAN ANNUAL PRODUCTION FOR FIRST AND SECOND YEAR FOR BIRDS WHICH DID AND WHICH DID NOT LAY DURING 
INDIVIDUAL MONTHS OF THE FIRST YEAR 


Vineland data for first and second year 


Storrs data for first year 
Condition of bird in month of first year Per cent. First year | Per cent. First year | Second year 
of annual of annual annual 
flock mean flock mean mean 
November 
INotiHayving 4 fanaa iii sere atte 40.6 136.8 19.4 144.5 127.8 
TES VA Oe ayy aaa span ey Moya okey ae eat 59.4 164.2 80.6 181.2 142.7 
Wifferencen eves ee Mae cole + 27.4 + 36.7 + 14.9 
17.9% 21.1% 10.7% 
December 
INotlaying sen eisran css chcie eine 38.0 133.6 22.3 142.3 125.9 
STs yrimn PIPES Seg EERE EY Fae cE Ye 62.0 165.2 77.7 183.2 143.8 
Mi fference ley: sie seiiisahavelsjecsc oa lela aes + 31.6 + 40.9 + 17.9 
20.6% 23.9% 12.8% 
January 
INotilayingerieria set ciaciaserlteltaneroei 42.5 136.4 20.5 141.6 124.4 
TDI Tab eye iy A Pre AN Sa AB ve faye) 165.6 79.5 182.4 143.8 
Differences ee ylueriseieet sie went oe + 29.2 + 40.8 + 19.4 
19.1% 23.4% 13.9% 
February 
INO tila ying ee aine) dunner easel aa 9.9 118.6 5.0 133.6 117.0 
LEER IA Dat Cece es me Cues a4 a 90.1 157.0 95.0 176.2 141.0 
Diff ETENCe omens neiNcra nsec aise + 38.4 + 42.6 + 24.0 
25.1% 24.5% 17.2% 
July 
Notilayine testy Duele i tai it 7 2.3 72.3 3.1 110.6 92.5 
SAAN Drey een PRS No ae e atari 97.7 155.1 96.8 176.1 141.3 
Wifference sashes eyerwer se) 4 WE aN + 82.8 + 65.5 + 48.8 
54.1% 37.6% 34.9% 
August 
UNKOL RAR TA DAV OR SUK sek en In AN Ls er 5.1 89.9 7.2 121.6 99.5 
Mayan wren ye ees U temas su erepa get Wi) ANNAN 94.9 156.5 92.8 178.1 142.9 
Difference ae ene eee tee + 66.6 + 56.5 + 48.4 
43.5% 32.5% 31.0% 
September 
No tilasyin iy sae ea hat AAC OMO NDS Liets 23.0 115.0 33.2 147.8 124.3 
Trasyan gee ne Ea Nei ee Te RSTO ha 77.0 164.6 66.8 187.1 147.5 
Mifference ye sees ee ee ee + 49.6 + 39.3 + 23.2 
32.4% 22.6% 16.6% 
October 
Not laying DISS CROCE Deo t Od Go BtS 54.7 131.9 63.2 156.9 129.8 
a VIN Ge ee ee ey Gah eee oe: 45.3 178.9 36.8 203.5 157.0 
M Differences ia). MUN oNi ENE ANnReY + 47.0 + 46.6 + 27.2 
30.7% 26.8% 19.5% 


226 


of the International Egg Laying Contest at 
Storrs during the year 1913-14 and 1914- 
715 are laid beside those presented here from 
the Vineland data. 

The essential constants appear in the ac- 
companying table. This gives the per -cent. 
of the flock which did and which did not lay 
during the months of the first year in which 
any considerable proportion of the birds did 
not lay. The average annual production for 
these birds in the first year of both the Storrs 
(1918 14 and 191415) and the Vineland 
(1916 17) contests and in the second year 
(1917 18) of the Vineland contest are shown. 
While the actual differences in egg preduction 
are the data of practical significance, com- 
parison between the three series is facilitated 
by expressing the differences between these 
annual means for the birds of the two classes 
as percentages of the actual annual average 
productions! of the flock. 

Considering first the records of the pullet 
year we note that for the Storrs series the 
birds which laid in any given month show an 
average annual (pullet year) egg production 
of from 27.4 to 82.8 eggs higher ethan those 
which did not lay or from 17.9 to 54.1 per 
cent. For the Vineland series the difference 
in the production of the two groups ranges 
from 36.7 to 65.5 eggs or from 21.1 to 37.6 
per cent. Thus the difference in the annual 
ege production of the birds which did and 
which did not lay in any given month, as 
well as the percentage of the birds which 
are not laying, varies greatly according to 
the month considered. During the months 
of November, December and January the 
percentage differences in the annual produc- 
tion of the two groups of birds is higher in 
the Vineland than in the Storrs series 
whereas for the other months of the eight 
considered the reverse is true. The average 
percentage difference is 30.4 in the Storrs 
series and 26.6 in the Vineland series. 

3 Harris, Blakeslee and Kirkpatrick, loc. cit., 
p. 42. 

4These are 153.19 eggs for the first year at 
Storrs, 174.05 eggs for the first year at Vineland, 
and 139.79 eggs for the second year at Vineland. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1393 


Thus the constants show conspicuous differ- 
ences of great practical significance in the 
first (pullet) year records of birds which did 
and those which did not lay during the 
individual months of the first year. The 
results for the first year records at Storrs and 
the first year records at Vineland are in fair 
agreement. 

Turning to the second year means we note 
that for each of the eight months of the first 
year used as a basis of selection for an in- 
crease of second year preduction, the second 
year record of birds is higher if they laid dur- 
ing the special month under consideration in 
the first year than if they did not lay in that 
month. The differences between the groups 
amount to about two dozen eggs or more per 
bird in five of the eight months considered. 

It is clear, therefore, that so simple a 
criterion as laying vs. non laying in the first 
year may furnish a criterion of some value 
for the selection of the birds to be retained 
in the flock for breeding and for second year 
production. 


J. Artuur Harris, 
Harry R. Lewis 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 
(continued) 


DIVISION OF INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING 
CHEMISTRY 


H. D. Batchelor, chairman 
H. E. Hows, secretary 


Symposium on Drying. CHARLES O. LAVETT, 
chairman 


The rate of drying of solid materials: W. K. 
LEWIS. 

The theory of atmospheric evaporation: W. H. 
CARRIER. 

The compartment dryer: W. C, Carrier and A. 
E. Stacey. A discussion of the relative merits 
of the continuous and compartment dryers. 

Direct heat rotary drying apparatus: R. G. 
Merz. The paper was treated under the following 
heads: (1) The kinds and characteristics of di- 
rect heat rotary dryers. (2) The fields of appli- 
cation of such drying apparatus to the industries 
where they can be used to advantage. (3) The 


SEPTEMBER 9, 1921] 


advantages and limitations of these machines. (4) 
Efficiency is dependent upon the physical charac- 
teristics of the material to be handled, the initial 
and final moisture contents, the kind of fuel em- 
ployed and the method of application of the dry- 
ing medium. (5) When use of waste heat from 
other processes is advisable and economical. 


Tunnel dryers: GRAHAME B. RiptEyY. For the 
purposes of this paper, tunnel dryers are limited 
to those having material on trays which are moved 
progressively through a tunnel which is supplied 
with a current of heated air from which all the 
heat used for drying is obtained and by which all 
the moisture is removed. Details of their opera- 
tion were described. 


The spray process: R. 8S. FLEMING. 


Vacuum drying: Cuas. O. Laverr and D. 
J. VAN Marie. The paper gave an outline of the 
principles of vacuum drying, in particular the heat 
transmission and the influence of the vacuum on 
the temperature and rate of evaporation. A more 
detailed description was given of the vacuum shelf, 
rotary and drum dryer, their construction, applica- 
tion and cost of operation. 


Tests on counter-current kelp driers: G. OC. 
SPENCER and E. B. Smiru. Details were given of 
tests made at the kelp-potash plant of the U. S. 
Bureau of Soils at Summerland, Calif., during the 
year 1918. 


The preparation, properties and constitution of 
liquid and solid water-glasses: Louis SCHNEIDER. 
Liquid water-glass may be prepared by a number 
of methods, of which the furnace process is at 
present the most widely employed in this country. 
Solid water-glass may be produced by dehydration, 
hydration, synthetic and crystallization methods. 
A practical crystallization method is unfortunately 
limited to the meta-silicate ratio. A continuous 
dehydration method at atmospheric pressure offers 
the best means of attaining a stable and completely 
soluble water-glass at a low cost. A number of 
important properties of liquid and solid water- 
glasses, as well as of sodium meta-silicate crystals 
and silicic acid hydrogels, have been fully de- 
seribed, It has been shown that solution and not 
dilution occurs when a solid water-glass is mixed 
with water. Viscosity is mainly a function of the 
sodium meta-silicate content. The free causticity 
of concentrated liquid water-glasses may be ascer- 
tained by the attainment of the heat of solution of 
a hydrated silica in the concentrated liquid water- 
glass and in a dilute caustic soda solution. It 


SCIENCE 


227 


has been established (a) that a liquid water-glass 
is primarily a solution of sodium meta-silicate, 
silicie acid and, if the maximum solubility of the 
latter is exceeded, silicic acid hydrogel; and (b) 
that a solid water-glass, above the ratio of 
1 Na,O : 1Si0., is a mixture of hydrated sodium 
meta-silicate and an incompletely dehydrated silicic 
acid hydrogel. A system of nomenclature has been 
proposed to eliminate the prevalent indefiniteness 
of the terms employed in the literature and the 
trade. 


Method for treating filter cake obtained in re- 
fining vegetable and animal oils: CHARLES BASKER- 
VILLE. According to the Baskerville process, vege- 
table and animal oils are refined by treating with 
caustic, a determined amount of cellulose such as 
paper pulp or ‘‘linters’’ being mixed in with the 
oil, and heating to a ‘‘break.’’? The soap par- 
ticles are hardened and colloids are agglomerated 
by the further addition of anhydrous sodium sul- 
phate or sodium carbonate. The insoluble mass 
thus produced is filtered out. The filter cake ob- 
tained may be subjected to squeezing in another 
press whereby some whole oil is recovered and a 
more compact cake results. The author also de- 
vised a process for recovering the remaining whole 
oil and the fatty acids in the cake. It depends 
upon cooking up the cake with an acid solution 
and running the completely disintegrated acid 
mass, the linters or paper pulp forming a filtering 
medium, which makes a complete separation of the 
hot mixture of free fatty acids and water solu- 
tions of salts and acids from the fiber. The free 
fatty acids and the whole oils rise to the top of the 
mixture and may be separated by any of several 
well-known methods, washed with hot water, the 
product being thus converted into a soap making 
material containing approximately fifty per cent. 
free fatty acids and fifty per cent. whole oil. 
A patent covering the process has been applied 
for. 


The application of the Cottrell precipitator to the 
wood distillation process: L. F. Haw ry and H. 
M. Pier. Recent experiments on a wood distilla- 
tion retort holding about 75 pounds of wood have 
shown that the Cottrell precipitator can remove 
from the vapors coming from the retort practically 
all of the tar. The pitch formed during the dis- 
tillation of the wood is non-volatile and is earried 
over to the condenser in the form of a fog of 
fine particles. If the precipitator is kept at too 
high temperature the pitch precipitated is so hard 
that it builds up across the tubes and causes short 


228 


cireuiting. If, however, the precipitator is op- 
erated at a temperature near the boiling point of 
water a certain amount of oil and water is pre- 
cipitated with the pitch so that a thin liquid is pre- 
cipitated which does not cause short circuiting. 
By the application of the precipitator in this way 
it is hoped to be able to provide a pyroligneous 
acid direct from the condenser in sufficient purity 
so that it will not have to be redistilled to remove 
the tar. 


Alcohol and chemical industries: J. M. Doran. 
The present and future development of our chem- 
ical industries, notably our dye industry, is inti- 
mately bound up with our alcohol industry. The 
eighteenth amendment to the Constitution and the 
Volstead Act affect this key industry far more 
vitally than the average chemist is aware. Title 
III. of the National Prohibition Act accords spe- 
cial treatment under the law to industrial alcohol 
but overshadowing all are the prohibition features 
of Title II. of the same act wherein alcohol is de- 
fined as intoxicating liquor and subject to the re- 
strictions surrounding intoxicating liquor. In order 
to free the alcohol industry and dependent and 
allied chemical industries from the strangling 
rules surrounding liquor under which no industry 
can prosper, it is of utmost importance that aleohol 
be divested of its beverage character. The handling 
and use of pure alcohol in any industry is now a 
liability rather than an asset. Under the denatur- 
ing provisions of the National Prohibition Act it 
is possible both to enforce prohibition and assure 
the healthy development of industrial alcohol. The 
solution of this problem is essential if we are to 
have a healthy chemical industry. 


The caustic calcination of dolomite and its use 
in sorrel cements: G. A. Bote and J. B. SHaAw. 
Magnesium limestones can not be burned success- 
fully by present methods as the calcium carbonate 
gives rise to free lime which is detrimental to the 
sorrel reaction. The pressure of carbon dioxide 
may be so regulated as to prevent the liberation of 
free lime. An oxide produced at 700 to 750° C. 
js superior to that burned at any other temperature- 
data given. All dolomites do not act alike in cal- 
cining but some dissociate at a much lower tem- 
perature than others. The conclusion is drawn 
that when properly burned, i.e., temperature and 
pressure controlled, some dolomites, but not all, 
will produce an oxide well suited for stucco mixes. 

Valuation of oil-bearing seeds by free fatty acid 
of the oil: LEHMAN JOHNSON. The petrolie ether 
extract from 16 grams of cotton seed thoroughly 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1393 


dried at 103° C. was titrated for free fatty acid 
and found to bear a true relation to the free fatty 
acid of the hydraulically expressed oil. This test 
will serve to determine the quality and proximate 
refining loss where the alkaline method of refining 
is to be employed on the oil. It is suggested as a 
more scientific and fairer method of valuing cotton 
seed than the ‘‘out and count’’ of damaged seed 
method now in use. It is probably applicable to 
other oil-bearing seeds. 

The detection of carbon monoxide: C. R. HOOVER. 
Carbon monoxide reacts at ordinary temperature 
with mixtures of iodine pentoxide and fuming sul- 
furie acid to give carbon dioxide and iodine or 
compounds of oxides of iodine and sulfur. With 
excess of sulfur trioxide colors are obtained vary- 
ing with the concentration of carbon monoxide 
from pale green to dark brown. This reaction has 
been applied to the detection of carbon monoxide 
and other reducing gases. In the laboratory 
simple apparatus enables one to determine carbon 
monoxide quantitatively when present in amounts 
varying from .01 per cent. to 1 per cent. Two 
simple portable devices have been constructed by 
means of which an approximate quantitative de- 
termination of carbon monoxide from .03 per cent. 
to 1 per cent. can be carried out in thirty seconds. 


Microscopie illumination with reference to Brown- 
ian movement and combination lightning: A. Stt- 
VERMAN. Brownian movement can be studied 
against a black background by direct illumination 
from a ring lamp surrounding the objective. This 
results in a marked contrast and gives unusual 
definition to the particles. Second, the use of 
combination lighting from the ring lamp for opaque 
objects imbedded in transparent media results in 
the desired contrast between the object and me- 
dium and shows the details of the object itself by 
the reflected light. This is accomplished by placing 
the concave mirror parallel to the stage of the 
microscope so that the light travels through the 
transparent medium to the substage reflector and 
is sent up again to produce the contrast. The de- 
tails in the opaque object are obtained by the 
direct light from above. 


The relation of structures to free alkali in 
sodium silicate solutions: WILLIAM STERICKER. 
Although the general opinion is that solutions of 
sodium silicate contain large quantities of free 
alkali, they probably do not. The misconception 
is due to a lack of a satisfactory method for the 
determination of the degree of hydrolysis. Ultra- 
microscopic examination proves that sodium silicate 


SEPTEMBER 9, 1921] 


solutions are two-phase systems in which the dis- 
persed phase has a negative charge. Probably 
hydroxyl ions are absorbed on the particles and 
attract sodium ions to form double layers which 
cause higher concentrations of alkali at the inter- 
faces than elsewhere in the solution. This hypoth- 
esis explains discrepancies between the results from 
various methods. 


Compression evaporation: A new method of con- 
centrating liquids developed in Europe recently: 
GUSTAV CARLSSON. 

Action of lime on greensand: R, Norris SHREVE. 
The Eastern Potash Corporation has under con- 
struction at New Brunswick, N. J., a large plant 
for obtaining caustic potash and other potash com- 
pounds from greensand. The main reaction in the 
process is the action of lime in decomposing green- 
sand whereby eaustie potash is liberated and a valu- 
able residue obtained, which possesses considerable 
cementitious properties. In the reaction the lime 
attacks the greensand, or rather the glauconite 
contained therein, when heated with the greensand 
in the presence of water and at elevated tempera- 
tures and under sufficient pressure to keep the 
water in the liquid phase. 


A modification of the acetate method for esti- 
mating iron and albumen in phosphates: F,. P. 
VeircH and H. P. Ho~pman. As a result of co- 
operative work with the fertilizer division of the 
American Chemical Society and also independent 
investigations, certain modifications have been 
made in the acetate method for estimating iron 
and aluminum in the presence of lime and phos- 
phoric acid. This method, in substantially its 
present form, was submitted by the authors to the 
committee on research and analytical methods of 
the fertilizer division and was published as a part 
of that committee’s report on phosphate rock in 
Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 
7, pp. 446-448. The present article made further 
modifications as a result of subsequent work, dis- 
cussed the reasons for the conditions described as 
necessary for accurate results by this method, and 
gave results obtained on solutions of known com- 
positions. 

The water resistance of treated canvas during 
continuous exposure to weather: F. P. VxrircH 
and T. D. JarrELL. This paper gives a detailed 
report on the water resistance of gray 12 oz. 
U.S. standard army duck, which had been treated 
with eighteen formulas developed in the Bureau 
of Chemistry. The degree of water resistance 
was determined in the laboratory by modified fun- 


SCIENCE - 


229 


nel and modified spray methods and also in actual 
service by exposure to weather for 14 months. 
General conclusions are drawn as to the effective- 
ness of the various treatments. The treatments 
which have proved most serviceable by exposure 
test have also given high results by the funnel 
test. However, not all treatments showing a high 
rating by the funnel test have proven highly sery- 
iceable in those cases where water lay for some 
time on the canvas. 

The detection and estimation of coal tar oils in 
turpentine: V. E. GrorTuiscH and W. C. Smita. 
The method outlined includes the following steps: 
(1) passing dry hydrogen chloride gas into the 
liquid, thus converting the pinene into crystal- 
line pinene hydrochloride, also raising the boiling 
points of the unprecipitated reaction products; 
(2) distillation of the filtrate under reduced pres- 
sure to separate the coal tar oils with a minimum 
of terpene bodies; (3) sulphonation of the distil- 
late with fuming sulphurie acid, thereby destroy- 
ing terpenes and converting coal tar hydrocarbons 
into sulphonic acids; (4) dilution and steam dis- 
tillation of the sulphonation mixture to remove un- 
decomposed terpenes or mineral oils; (5) direct 
distillation of the sulphonation mixture. to break 
up the sulphonic acids, with recovery of the 
coal tar hydrocarbons. 

CHARLES L. Parsons, 
Secretary 


THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 

Tue following papers were presented before 
the Mathematical, Physical and Chemical Sec- 
tion of the Royal Society of Canada at the 
meeting held in Ottawa on May 18, 19 and 20: 

Presidential Address.—“ Division in rela- 
tion to the algebraic numbers,” by Professor 
J. C. Fields. “Tonization potential and the 
size of the atom,” by Professor A. S. Eve. 
“ Detection of variation in electric earth cur- 
rents by coil and galvanometer,” by Professor 
A. S. Eve and Mr. E. S. Biehler. “ The effec- 
tive range of beta-rays,” by Miss V. Douglas 
and Dr. J. A. Gray. “ The velocity of sound 
in air and soil; Properties of x-rays excited by 
beta-rays; The absorption of gamma-rays; 
A note on the examination of materials by 
x-rays,” by Dr. J. A. Gray. “The trans- 
mission of heat through the thin boundary 
films of air or of water at the surface of glass,” 
by Dr. A. Norman Shaw and Mr. L. S. Smith. 


230 


“The viscosity of ether at low temperatures 
and solution of acetic acid in liquid hydrogen 
bromide,” by Dr. E. H. Archibald, Mr. C. E. 
Stone and Mr. E. M. White. “ Preliminary 
report on the lubricating properties of the dif- 
ferent series of hydrocarbons,” by Dr. W. F. 
Seyer. “An automatic mercury pump,” by 
Dr. D. F. Steadman. “Some results of the 
destructive distillation of British Columbia 
alder and Douglas fir,” by Mr. W. A. Hardy. 
“On the variation of the ‘emanating power’ 
of certain uranium minerals with temperature 
and a new secondary radium emanation stan- 
dard,” by Dr. J. H: L. Johnstone. “The ef- 
fect of thermo-luminescence on electrical con- 
ductivity,” by Mr. ©. A. Mackay. “The 
anemometer factor; pilot balloon methods in 
Canada,” by Mr. J. Patterson. “On some 
new formule for the direct numerical calcula- 
tion of the coefficient of mutual induction of 
coaxial circles;” “On a new high frequency 
vibration galvanometer;” “On the photo- 
graphic recording and measurement of radio- 
telegraph signals; ” “On a new lecture room 
illustration of atomic models,” by Dr. Louis 
V. King. “On the refractive indices of metal- 
lic -vapors,” by Professor J. C. McLennan. 
“On the absorption spectrum of liquid and 
gaseous oxygen,” by Mr. W. W. Shaver. “On 
the structure of the Balmer series lines of 
hydrogen,” by Professor J. C. McLennan and 
Mr. P. Lowe. “On the spectrum of helium, 
hydrogen and carbon in the extreme ultra- 
violet,” by Professor J. C. McLennan and Mr. 
Pp. A. Petrie. “On the liquefaction of hydro- 
gen,” by Professor J. C. McLennan. “ Nitro- 
phthalic anhydrides and acetylamino-phthalic 
anhydrides with toluene and aluminium chlo- 
rides,” by Mr. W. A. Lawrence. “ Brom- 
phthalic anhydrides with benzene and alumin- 
ium chloride,” by Mr. H. N. Stephens. “ The 
effect of certain chemicals on the rate of repro- 
duction of yeast,” by Mr. N. A. Clark. “ The 
passage of hydrogen and of helium through 
silica tubes,” by Professor J. B. Ferguson and 
Mr. G. A. Williams. “ The action of methyl- 
green on yeast,” by Mr. W. B. Leaf. “ Pres- 
sure-volume relations of superheated liquids,” 
by Mr. K. L. Wismer. “ Scattering of light 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1393 


by dust-free liquids,” by Mr. W. H. Martin. 
“Note of Wolski’s paper on optically empty 
liquids,” by Professor F. B. Kenrick. “ Re- 
determination of the melting point of sodium 
chloride,” by Professor J. B. Ferguson. “ Re- 
searches in physical and organic chemistry 
carried out in the chemical laboratory of the 
University of Toronto,” communicated by 
Professor W. Lash Miller. “ On the reduction 
of the circulants to polynominal form with 
applications to the circulants of the 7th and 
11th degrees,” by Dr. J. C. Glashan. “The 
gravitation potential of an anchor ring; some 
tidal problems,” by Professor A. H. S. Gill- 
son. “ Law of distribution of particles in col- 
loidal solutions,” by Professor EK. F. Burton 
and Miss E. S. Bishop. “ Production of heat 
during charcoal absorption,” by Mr. Stuart 
McLean. “ The relation between coagulative 
power of electrolytes and concentration of col- 
loidal solutions,” by Professor E. F. Burton 
and Mr. E. D. MacInnes. “The radial veloci- 
ties of 570 stars;” “The orbit and dimen- 
sions of TV Cassiopeae;” “The temperature 
control of the stellar spectrograph,” by Dr. 
J. S. Plaskett. “The orbital elements of the 
brighter components of Boss 497;” “ The 
orbits of spectroscopic components of Boss 
4622,” by Mr. W. E. Harper. “ The intensity 
distribution in typical stellar spectra,” by Mr. 
H. H. Plaskett. “The solution of plane tri- 
angles by nomographic charts,” by Dr. S. D. 
Killam. “Note on the geometrical equival- 
ence of certain invariants,” by Dr. Charles T. 
Sullivan. “The interpolation of breaks in 
tide curves for recording gauges,” by Dr. W. 
Bell Dawson. “The vertical movement of 
alkali under irrigation in heavy clay soils; ” 
“ Notes on the nature of burn-outs,” by Dr. 
Frank T. Shutt and Miss Alice H. Burwash. 
“ Reversible pendulum,” by Professor H. F. 
Dawes. “Characteristic x-rays from boron,” 
by Professor A. L. Hughes. “ A new experi- 
ment in vibration,” by Professor John Sat- 
terly. “Note on the spectra of potassium; ” 
“ Note on infra-red spectroscopy,” by Profes- 
sor J. C. McLennan. “Selected radiation 
emitted by specially excited mercury atoms,” 


by Mr. H. J. C. Ireton. 


SCIEN 


NEw SERIES SINGLE Coprrs, 15 Crs. 
Vou. LIV, No. 1394 Fripay, SEPTEMBER 16, 1921 —_-Smeme corm, 18m. 1921 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, $6.00 


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and other high-grade Optical Products. 


SCIENCE—ADVERTISEMENTS 


An Important New Textbook for First Year Chemistry 
To be Published in September 


-GENERAL CHEMISTRY 


By HARRY N. HOLMES 
Professor of Chemistry, Oberlin College 


Cloth, octavo, with figures and diagrams, about 650 pages 


HE book has been written from the viewpoint of the student. It is a 

text in the full teaching sense of the term, not a reference book. 

The order of topics adopted has proved satisfactory in actual practice. 
Chlorine and hydrogen chloride are studied as early as Chapter IX because of 
the excellent drill they provide both in the classroom and in the laboratory. 
Treatment of the Periodic System is delayed until two good illustrations of its 
relations (the halogens and the group comprising sulfur, selenium, and tellurium) 
have been discussed. Important theories are introduced in chapters dealing 
with the substances which best illustrate them. 


Chemical symbols, formulas, and equations—‘‘the tools of the trade’— 
are introduced early. 


- Valence, a rather intangible topic to many students, is given a clear and 
readily comprehensible introduction. 


The treatment of Molecular and Atomic Weights has been simplified in 
order to make it entirely logical and convincing. 


A notable inclusion is the chapter on Colloid Chemistry. The growing 
importance of this subject and its natural relation to the study of solutions 
warrant the prominent place given to it. 


_ Ina course on “General Chemistry,” it is fitting that adequate consideration 
be given to the elementary facts and principles of organic chemistry. The 
book contains two able chapters treating of the chief components of carbon. 


Frequent reference is made to the applications of chemistry in industry, in 
daily life, and in warfare. 


A great many exercises and problems are included. These are interspersed 
through the text, serving to emphasize and illustrate specific points as they arise. 


THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 


NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO 
DALLAS ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO 


SCIENCE 


= 


J 


Fray, SERS 16, 1921 


Address of the President of the British As- 
sociation for the Advancement of Science: 
SiRy LH DWARDY OHORPB) settee ss) setce* ole 231 


Life in Other Worlds: Dr. W. D. MatruHew. 239 


George Trumbull Ladd: 
SEASHORE! s csi ise! Pa paar CA ch U4 w+. 242 


Proressor C. E. 


Scientific Events: 


The British Imperial Bureau of Mycology; 
Ceramic Investigations by the United States 
Bureau of Mines; The Biology Club of the 
Ohio State University; Dr. Carl L. Alsberg 


and the Bureau of Chemistry.............. 242 
Scientific: Notes and News........2........ 244 
University and Educational News........... 247 


Discussion and Correspondence : 
Secular Perturbations of the Inner Planets: 


Haroup Jrerrreys. Sporozoan Infection: 


FRANK G. HaucHwour. Scientific Litera- 
ture and Apparatus for Rowmania: PRoFEsS- 
sor E, G. Racovirza. American Scientific 


Literature for Foreign Countries: Dr. H. D. 


Barker. The Truth about Vivisection: 

LDS We Ae dsGooN Sey boos oO FELIS EC AIG ed eR 248 
Quotations: 

Chemistry and \the) Publice ee 251 


Special Articles: 
Triploid Intersexes in Drosophila melano- 


gaster: Dr. CALVIN B. BrinGEs.......... 252 
The American Chemical Society: Dr. 
CHARLES MLA ARSONGHeitcre eaters iets 254 


MSS. intended for ‘publication and books, etc.,intended for 
review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. 


_——$————= 
ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE 
BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE? 


Tue British Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science owes its origin, and, in great 
measure, its specific aims and functions, to the 
public spirit and zeal for the interests of sci- 
ence of Scotsmen. Its virtual founder was 
Sir David Brewster; its scope and character 
were defined by Principal Forbes. ‘Yn consti- 
tution it differed from the migratory scientific 
associations existing on the Continent, which 
mainly served to promote the social intercourse 
of their members by annual gatherings, in 
that it was to be a permanent organization, 
with a settled establishment and headquarters, 
which should have not merely its yearly re- 
unions, but which, “by methods and by in- 
fluence peculiarly its own, should continue to 
operate during the intervals of these public 
assemblies, and should aspire to give an im- 
pulse to every part of the scientific system; to 
mature scientific enterprise; and to direct the 
labors requisite for discovery.” 

Although, for reasons of policy, it was de- 
cided that its first meeting of September 27, 
1831, should be held at York, as the most 
central city for the three kingdoms, and its 
second and third meetings at the ancient Uni- 
versities of Oxford and Cambridge respec- 
tively, it was inevitable that the association 
should seize the earliest opportunity to visit 
the metropolis of Scotland where, as an his- 
torical fact, it may be said to have had its 
origin. 

The meeting in this city of September 8, 
1834, was noteworthy for many reasons. It 
afforded the first direct proof that the associa- 
tion was fulfilling its purpose. This was 
shown by the popular appreciation which at- 
tended its activities, by the range and charac- 

1 Read at the Edinburgh meeting, September 7, 
1921. 


232 


ter of its reports on the state and progress 
of science, by the interest and value of its sec- 
tional proceedings, and by the mode in which 
its funds were employed. In felicitous terms 
the president of the preceding year, the Rev. 
Professor Sedgwick, congratulated the gather- 
ing “on the increased strength in which they 
had assembled, in a place endeared to the feel- 
ings of every lover of science by so many 
delightful and elevating recollections, espec- 
cially by the recollection of the great men 
whom it had fostered, or to whom it had given 
birth.” In a few brief sentences Professor 
Sedgwick indicated the great power which 
this association is able to apply towards the 
advancement of science by combination and 
united action, and he supported his argument 
by pointing to the results which it had already 
achieved during the three short years of its 
existence. Professor Sedgwick’s words are no 
less true to-day. His contention that one of 
the most important functions of this philo- 
sophical union is to further what he termed 
the “ commerce of ideas” by joint discussions 
on subjects of kindred interest, has been en- 
dorsed by the recent action of the council in 
bringing the various sections into still closer 
touch with each other with a view to the dis- 
cussion of common problems of general in- 
terest. This slight reorganization of the work 
of the sections, which is in entire accord with 
the spirit and aims of the association, as de- 
fined by its progenitors and formulated in its 
constitution, will take effect during the pres- 
ent meeting. Strictly speaking, such joint 
sectional discussions are not unknown in our 
history, and their utility and influence have 
been freely recognized. But hitherto the -oc- 
casions have been more or less informal. They 
are now, it is hoped, to be part of the regular 
official procedure of the meetings, to which it 
is anticipated they will afford additional in- 
terest and value. 

Another noteworthy change in our procedure 
is the introduction of discussions on the ad- 
dresses of the presidents of sections. Hitherto 
these addresses have been formally read and 
never discussed. To the extent that they have 
been brief chronicles of the progress of the 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1394 


special departments of science with which 
the section is concerned they have given but 
little opportunity for discussion. With the 
greatly increased facilities which now exist 
for every worker to keep himself informed of 
the development of the branch of knowledge 
in which he is more particularly interested, 
such résumés have in great measure lost their 
true purpose, and there has, consequently, been 
a growing tendency of late years for such presi- 
dential addresses to deal with contemporary 
topics of general interest and of fundamental 
importance, affording ample opportunity for 
a free exchange of opinion. The experiment 
will certainly conduce to the interest of the 
proceedings of the sections, and will contribute 
to the permanent value of their work. We see 
in these several changes the development of 
ideas connected with the working of the asso- 
ciation which may be said to have had their 
birth at its first meeting in Edinburgh, eighty- 
seven years ago. 

Sixteen years later, that is on July 21, 1850, 
Edinburgh again extended her hospitality to 
the British Association, which then honored it- 
self by electing the learned principal of tke 
United Colleges of St. Salvator and St. Leon- 
ard, St. Andrews, to the presidential chair— 
at once a tribute to Sir David Brewster’s emi- 
nence as a natural philosopher, and a grateful 
recognition of his services to this body in sug- 
gesting and promoting its formation. 

On the occasion of his inaugural address, 
after a brief account of recent progress in sci- 
ence, made with the lucidity of expression 
which characterized all the literary efforts of 
the learned biographer of Newton and versa- 
tile editor of the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, the 
Edinburgh Magazine, and the Edinburgh Jour- 
nal of Science, the president dwelt upon the 
beneficent influence of the association in se- 
curing a more general attention to the objects 
of science, and in effecting a removal of dis- 
advantages of a public kind that impeded its 
progress. It was largely to the action of the 
association, assisted by the writings and per- 
sonal exertions of its members, that the goy- 
ernment was induced to extend a direct na- 


SEPTEMBER 16, 1921] 


tional encouragement to science and to aid in 
its organization. 

Brewster had a lofty ideal of the place of 
science in the intellectual life of a community, 
and of the just position of the man of science 
in the social scale. In well-weighed words, 
the outcome of matured experience and of an 
intimate knowledge of the working of Euro- 
pean institutions created for the advancement 
of science and the diffusion of knowledge, he 
pleaded for the establishment of a national 
institution in Britain, possessing a class of 
resident members who should devote them- 
selves wholly to science—with a place and sta- 
tion in society the most respectable and inde- 
pendent—“ free alike,” as Playfair put it, 
“from the embarrassments of poverty or the 
temptations of wealth.” Such men, “ ordained 
by the state to the undivided functions of sci- 
ence,” would, he contended, do more and better 
work than those who snatch an hour or two 
from their daily toil or nightly rest. 

This ideal of “ combining what is insulated, 
and uniting in one great institution the living 
talent which is in active but undirected and 
unbefriended exercise around us,” was not at- 
tained during Brewster’s time; nor, notwith- 
standing the reiteration of incontrovertible 
argument during the past seventy years, has it 
been reached in our own. 

I have been led to dwell on Sir David Brew- 
ster’s association with this question of the re- 
lations of the state towards research for sey- 
eral reasons. Although he was not the first 
to raise it—for Davy more than a century ago 
made it the theme of presidential addresses, 
and brought his social influence to bear in the 
attempt to enlist the practical sympathy of 
the government—no one more consistently 
urged its national importance, or supported his 
case with a more powerful advocacy, than the 
principal of the University of Edinburgh. It 
is only seemly, therefore, that on this particular 
oceasion, and in this city of his adoption, 
where he spent so much of his intellectual 
energy, I should specially allude to it. More- 
over, we can never forget what this association 
owes to his large and fruitful mind. Every 
man is a debtor to his profession, from which 


SCIENCE 


233 


he gains countenance and profit. That Brew- 
ster was an ornament to his is acknowledged 
by every lover of learning. That he endeavored 
to be a help to it was gratefully recognized 
during his lifetime. After his death it was 
said of him that the improved position of men 
of science in our time is chiefly due to his 
exertions and his example. 

I am naturally led to connect the meeting 
of 1850 with a still more memorable gathering 
of this association in this city. In August, 
1871—just over half a century ago—the British 
Association again assembled in Edinburgh 
under the presidency of Lord Kelvin—then 
Sir William Thomson. It was a _ historic 
occasion by reason of the address which inau- 
gurated its proceedings. Lord Kelvin, with 
characteristic force and insistence, still fur- 
ther elaborated the theme which had been so 
signal a feature of Sir David Brewster’s ad- 
dress twenty years previously: “ Whether we 
look to the honor of England,” he said, “as a 
nation which ought always to be the foremost 
in promoting physical science, or to those vast 
economical advantages which must accrue 
from such establishments, we can not but feel 
that expermiental research ought to be made 
with us an object of national concern, and not 
left, as hitherto, exclusively to the private en- 
terprise of self-sacrificing amateurs, and the 
necessarily inconsecutive action of our present 
governmental departments and of casual com- 
mittees.” 

Lord Kelvin, as might have been anticipated. 
pleaded more especially for the institution of 
physical observatories and laboratories for ex- 
perimental research, to be conducted by quali- 
fied persons, whose duties should be not teach- 
ing, but experimenting. Such institutions as 
then existed, he pointed out, only afforded a 
very partial and inadequate solution of a 
national need. They were, for the most part, 
“absolutely destitute of means, material, or 
personnel for advancing science, except at the 
expense of volunteers, or of securing that 
volunteers should be found to continue such 
little work as could then be carried on.” 

There were, however, even then, signs that 
the bread cast upon the waters was slowly re- 


234 


turning after many days. The establishment 
of the: Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge, 
by the munificence of its then chancellor, was 
a notable achievement. Whilst in its consti- 
tution as part of a university discipline it did 
not wholly realize the ideal of the two presi- 
dents, under its successive directors, Professor 
Clerk-Maxwell, the late Lord Rayleigh, and 
Sir J. J. Thomson, it has exerted a profound 
influence upon the development of experi- 
mental physics, and has inspired the founda- 
tion of many similar educational institutions 
in this country. Experimental physics has 
thus received an enormous impetus during the 
last fifty years, and although in matters of 
science there is but little folding of the hands 
to sleep, “the divine discontent” of its fol- 
lowers has little cause for disquietude as re- 
gards the position of physics in this country. 

In the establishment of the National Phys- 
ical Laboratory we have an approach to the 
ideal which my predecessors had so earnestly 
advocated. Other presidents, among whom I 
would specially name the late Sir Douglas 
Galton, have contributed to this consumma- 
tion. The result is a remarkable testimony 
to the value of organized and continuous effort 
on the part of the British Association in form- 
ing public opinion and in influencing depart- 
mental action. It would, however, be ungrate- 
ful not to recall the action of the late Lord 
Salisbury—himself a follower of science and 
in full sympathy with its objects—in taking 
the first practical steps towards the creation 
of this magnificent national institution. I 
may be allowed, perhaps, to refer to this mat- 
ter, as I have personal knowledge of the cir- 
cumstances, being one of the few survivors of 
the committee which Lord Salisbury caused to 
be formed, under the chairmanship of the late 
Lord Rayleigh, to inquire and report upon the 
expediency of establishing an institution in 
Great Britain upon the model of certain state- 
aided institutions already existing on the con- 
tinent, for the determination of physical 
constants of importance in the arts, for investi- 
gations in physical problems bearing upon 
industry, for the standardization and verifica- 
tion of physical instruments, and for the gen- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. LIV. No. 1394 


eral purposes of metrology. I do not profess 
to give the exact terms of the reference to the 
committee, but, in substance, these were recog- 
nized to be the general aims of the contem- 
plated institute. The evidence we received 
from many men of science, from departmental 
officers, and from representatives of engineer- 
ing and other industrial establishments was 
absolutely unanimous as to the great public 
utility of the projected laboratory. It need 
hardly be said that the opportunity called forth 
all the energy and power of advocacy of Lord 
Kelvin, and I well remember with what 
strength of conviction he impressed his views 
upon the committee. That the National Phys- 
ical Laboratory has, under the ability, organ- 
izing power, and business capacity of its first 
director, Sir Richard Glazebrook, abundantly 
justified its creation is recognized on all hands. 
Its services during the four years of war alone 
are sufficient proof of its national value. It 
has grown to be a large and rapidly increasing 
establishment, occupying itself with an extra- 
ordinary range of subjects, with a numerous 
and well-qualified staff, engaged in determina- 
tive and research work on practically every ~ 
branch of pure and applied physics. The range 
of its activities has been further increased by 
the establishment since the war of coordinating 
research boards for physics, chemistry, engi- 
neering and radio-research. Government de- 
partments have learned to appreciate its serv- 
ices. The photometry division, for example, 
has been busy on experiments on navigation 
lamps for the Board of Trade, on miners’ 
lamps for the Home Office and on motor-car 
head-lamps for the Ministry of Transport, 
and on the lighting of the National Gallery 
and the Houses of Parliament. Important 
work has been done on the forms of ships, on 
the steering and manceuvring of ships, on the 
effect of waves on ship resistance, on the in- 
teraction between passing ships, on seaplane 
floats, and on the hulls of flying-boats. 

It is also actively engaged in the study of 
problems connected with aviation, and has a 
well-ordered department of aerodynamical 
research. 

It can already point to a long and valuable 


SEPTEMBER 16, 1921] 


series of published researches, which are 
acknowledged to be among the most important 
contributions to pure and applied physics 
which this country has made during recent 
years. 

I may be pardoned, I hope, for another per- 
sonal reference, if I recall that it was at the 
Edinburgh meeting, under Lord Kelvin’s presi- 
dency, fifty years ago, that I first became a 
member of this association, and had the honor 
of serving it as one of the secretaries of its 
chemical section. Fifty years is a considerable 
span in the life of an individual, but it is a 
relatively short period in the history of science. 
Nevertheless, those fifty years are richer in 
scientific achievement and in the importance 
and magnitude of the utilitarian applications 
of practically every branch of science than any 
preceding similar interval. The most cursory 
comparison of the state of science, as revealed 
in his comprehensive address, with the present 
condition of those departments on which he 
chiefly dwelt, will suffice to show that the de- 
velopment has been such that even Lord Kel- 
vin’s penetrative genius, vivid imagination, 
and sanguine temperament could hardly have 
anticipated. No previous half-century in the 
history of science has witnessed such momen- 
tous and far-reaching achievements. In pure 
chemistry it has seen the discovery of argon by 
Rayleigh, of radium by Madame Curie, of 
helium as a terrestrial element by Ramsay, of 
neon, xenon, and krypton by Ramsay and 
Travers, the production of helium from ra- 
dium by Ramsay and Soddy, and the isolation 
of fluorine by Moissan. These are undoubtedly 
great discoveries, but their value is enormously 
enhanced by the theoretical and practical con- 
sequences which flow from them. 

In applied chemistry it has witnessed the 
general application of the Gilchrist-Thomas 
process of iron-purification, the production of 
calcium cyanamide by the process of Frank and 
Caro, Sabatier’s process of hydrogenation, a 
widespread application of liquefied gases, and 
Haber’s work on ammonia synthesis—all man- 
ufacturing processes which have practically 
revolutionized the industries with which they 
are concerned. 


SCIENCE 


235 


In pure physics it has seen the rise of the 
electron theory, by Lorentz; Hertz’s discovery 
of electro-magnetic waves; the investigation 
of cathode rays by Lenard, and the elucidation 
of crystal structure by Bragg. 

It has seen, moreover, the invention of the 
telephone, the establishment of incandescent 
lighting, the electric transmission of force, 
the invention of the cinematograph, of wireless 
telegraphy, the application of the Réntgen 
rays, and the photographic reproduction of 
color. 

In physical chemistry it has witnessed the 
creation of stereo-chemistry by Van’t Hoff and 
Le Bel, Gibbs’s work on the phase rule, Van’t 
Hoff’s theory of solutions, Arrhenius’s theory 
of ionic dissociation, and Nernst’s theory of 
the galvanie cell. 

Such a list is far from complete, and might 
be greatly extended. But it will at least serve 
to indicate the measure of progress which the 
world owes to the development and application 
during the last fifty years of the two sciences 
—physies and chemistry—to which Lord Kel- 
vin specially referred. 

The more rapid dissemination of informa- 
tion concerning the results of recent or con- 
temporary investigation, which Lord Kelvin 
so strongly urged as “an object to which the 
powerful action of the British Association 
would be thoroughly appropriate,” has been 
happily accomplished. The timely aid of the 
association in contributing to the initial ex- 
pense of preparing and publishing monthly ab- 
stracts of foreign chemical literature by the 
Chemical Society is gratefully remembered 
by British chemists. The example has been 
followed by the greater number of our scientific 
and technical societies, and the results of con- 
temporary inquiry in every important branch 
of pure and applied science are now quickly 
brought to the knowledge of all interested 
workers. In fact, as regards the particular 
branch of science with which I am more di- 
rectly concerned, the arrangements for the 
preparation and dissemination of abstracts of 
contemporary foreign chemical literature are 
proving to be a veritable embarrassment of 
riches, and there is much need for cooperation 


236 


among the various distributing societies. This 
need is especially urgent at the present time 
owing to the greatly increased cost of paper, 
printing, binding, and indeed of every item 
connected with publication, which expense, of 
course, ultimately falls upon the various so- 
cieties and their members. The problem, 
which has already received some attention 
from those entrusted with the management of 
the societies referred to, is not without its diffi- 
culties, but these are not insoluble. There is 
little doubt that a resolute and unanimous ef- 
fort to find a solution would meet with success. 

The present high cost of book production, 
which in the case of specialized books is about 
three times what it was in 1914, is exercising 
a most prejudicial effect upon the spread of 
scientific knowledge. Books on science are not 
generally among the “best sellers.” They ap- 
peal to a comparatively limited and not par- 
ticularly wealthy public, largely composed of 
the professional classes who have suffered in 
no small measure from the economic effects 
of the war. The present high price of this 
class of literature is to the public detriment. 
Eventually it is no less to the detriment of 
the printing and publishing trades. Publish- 
ers are well aware of this fact, and attempts 
are being made by discussions between employ- 
ers and the executives of the Typographical 
Association and other societies of compositors 
to reach an equitable solution, and it is greatly 
to be hoped that it will be speedily found. 

All thinking men are agreed that science is 
at the basis of national progress. Science can 
only develop by research. Research is the 
mother of discovery, and discovery of inven- 
tion. The industrial position of a nation, its 
manufactures and commerce, and ultimately 
its wealth, depend upon invention. Its welfare 
and stability largely rest upon the equitable 
distribution of its wealth. All this seems so ob- 
vious, and has been so frequently and so con- 
vincingly stated, that it is superfluous to dwell 
upon it in a scientific gathering to-day. 

A late distinguished admiral, you may re- 
member, insisted on the value of reiteration. 
On this particular question it was never more 
needed than now. ‘The crisis through which 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1394 


we have recently passed requires it in the in- 
terests of national welfare. Of all post-war 
problems to engage our serious attention, none 
is more important in regard to our position and 
continued existence than the nation’s attitude 
toward science and scientific research, and 
there is no more opportune time than the 
present in which to seek to enforce the teach- 
ing of one of the most pregnant lessons of our 
late experience. 

It is, unfortunately, only too true that the 
industrial world has in the past underrated the 
value of research. One indication that the 
nation is at length aroused to its importance 
is to be seen in the establishment of the De- 
partment of Scientific and Industrial Re- 
search, with its many subordinate associations. 
The outbreak of the Great War, and much in 
its subsequent history, revealed, as we all 
know, many national shortcomings, due to our 
indifference to and actual neglect of many 
things which are at the root of our prosperity 
and security. During the war, and at its close, 
various attempts, more or less unconnected, 
were made to find a remedy. Of the several 
committees and boards which were set up, 
those which still exist have now been coordi- 
nated, and brought under the control of a 
central organization—the Department of Sci- 
entific and Industrial Research. Research 
has now become a national and state-aided ob- 
ject. For the first time in our history its pur- 
suit with us has been organized by government 
action. As thus organized it seeks to fulfil 
the aspirations to which I have referred, whilst 
meeting many of the objections which have 
been urged against the endowment of research. 
It must be recognized that modern ideas of 
democracy are adverse to the creation of places 
to which definite work is not assigned and 
from which definite results do not emanate. 
This objection, which strikes at the root of 
the establishment of such an institution as Sir 
David Brewster contemplated, is, to a large ex- 
tent, obviated by the scheme of the Department 
of Scientific and Industrial Research. It does 
not prescribe or fetter research, but, whilst 
aiding by personal payments the individual 
worker, leaves him free to pursue his inquiry 


SEPTEMBER 16, 1921] 


as he thinks best. Grants are made, on the 
recommendation of an advisory council of ex- 
perts, to research workers in educational in- 
stitutions and elsewhere, in order to promote 
research of high character on fundamental 
problems of pure science or in suitable cases 
on problems of applied science. Of the boards 
and committees and similar organizations es- 
tablished prior to or during the war, or subse- 
quent to it, with one or two exceptions, all are 
now directly under the department. They deal 
with a wide range of subjects, such as the 
Building Research Board, established early in 
1920 to organize and supervise investigations on 
building materials and construction, to study 
structural failures, and to fix standards for 
structural materials. The Food Investigation 
Board deals with the preservation by cold of 
food, and with the engineering problems of 
cold storage, with the chemistry of putrefac- 
tion, and the agents which induce it, with the 
bionomics of moulds, and the chemistry of 
edible oils and fats. The Fuel Research Board 
is concerned with the immediate importance 
of fuel economy and with investigations of 
the questions of oil-fuel for the navy and mer- 
cantile marine, the survey of the national coal 
resources, domestic heating, air pollution, pul- 
verized fuel, utilization of peat, the search for 
possible substitutes for natural fuel oil, and 
for practicable sources of power alcohol. 

The Geological Survey Board has taken over 
the Geological Survey of Great Britain and the 
control of the Museum of Practical Geology. 
The maintenance of the National Physical 
Laboratory, originally controlled by a general 
board and an executive committee appointed 
by the president and council of the Royal So- 
ciety, is now transferred to the Department of 
Scientific and Industrial Research. A Mines 
Research Committee and a Mine Rescue Ap- 
paratus Committee are attached to the depart- 
ment. The former is concerned with such 
questions as the determination of the geother- 
mic gradient, the influence of temperature of 
intake and return air on strata, the effect of 
seasonal changes on strata temperature of in- 
takes, the cooling effect due to the evolution 
of fire-damp, heat production from the oxi- 


SCIENCE 


237 


dation of timber, ete. The department is also 
directing inquiries on the preservation and 
restoration of antique objects deposited in the 
British Museum. It is concerned with the 
gauging of rivers and tidal currents, with spe- 
cial reference to a hydrographical survey of 
Great Britain in relation to the national re- 
sources of water-power. In accordance with 
the government policy, four coordinating 
boards have been established to organize sci- 
entific work in connection with the fighting 
forces, so as to avoid unnecessary overlapping 
and to provide a single direction and financial 
control. The four boards deal, respectively, 
with chemical and physical problems, problems 
of radio-research, and engineering. These 
boards have attached to them various commit- 
tees dealing with special inquiries, some of 
which will be carried out at the National Phys- 
ical Laboratory. The government have also 
authorized the establishment of a Forest 
Products Research Board. 

The department is further empowered to 
assist learned or scientific societies and in- 
stitutions in carrying out investigations. 
Some of these were initiated prior to the war, 
and were likely to be abandoned owing to lack 
of funds. Whenever the investigation has a 
direct bearing upon a particular industry that 
had not hitherto been able to establish a re- 
search association, it has been a condition of a 
grant that the institution directing the research 
should obtain contributions towards the cost 
on a £ for £ basis, either directly through its 
corporate funds or by special subscriptions 
from interested firms. On the formation of 
the appropriate association the research is, 
under suitable safeguards, transferred to it 
for continuance. The formation of a number of 
research associations has thus been stimulated, 
dealing, for example, with scientific instru- 
ments, non-ferrous metals, glass, silk, refrac- 
tories, electrical and allied industries, pottery, 
ete. 

Grants are made to research associations 
formed voluntarily by manufacturers for the 
purposes of research, from a fund of a million 
sterling, placed at the disposal of the research 
department for this purpose. Such associa- 


238 


tions, to be eligible for the grant, must sub- 
mit articles of association for the approval of 
the department and the Board of Trade. If 
these are approved, licenses are issued by the 
Board of Trade recognizing the associations as 
limited liability companies working without 
profits. Subscriptions paid to an association 
by contributing firms are recognized by the 
Board of Inland Revenue as business costs of 
the firms, and are not subject to income or ex- 
cess profits taxes. The income of the asso- 
ciation is similarly free of income tax. Grants 
are ordinarily made to these associations on 
the basis of £1 for every £1 raised by the 
association between limits depending upon the 
particular industry concerned. In the case of 
two research associations grants are made at 
a higher rate than £ for £, as these industries 
are regarded as having a special claim to state 
assistance on account of their “ pivotal” char- 
acter. The results of research are the sole 
property of the association making them, sub- 
ject to certain rights of veto possessed by the 
department for the purposes of ensuring that 
they are not communicated to foreign coun- 
tries, except with the consent of the depart- 
ment, and that they may be made available to 
other interested industries and to the govern- 
ment itself on suitable terms. 

These arrangements have been found to be 
generally satisfactory, and at the present time 
twenty-four of such research associations have 
been formed to whom licenses have been issued 
by the Board of Trade. Others are in process 
of formation, and may be expected to be at 
work at an early date. These research associ- 
ations are concerned with nearly all our lead- 
ing industries. The official addresses of most 
of them are in London; others have their head- 
quarters in Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Bir- 
mingham, Northampton, Coventry, Glasgow, 
and Belfast. 

The department has further established a 
Records Bureau, which is responsible for re- 
ceiving, abstracting, filing and collating com- 
munications from research workers, boards, 
institutions, or associations related to or super- 
vised by the department. This information is 
regarded as confidential, and will not be com- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1394 


municated except in writing, and after con- 
sultation with the research worker or organiza- 
tion from which it has been received. Also 
such non-confidential information as comes 
into the possession of the department which is 
of evident or probable value to those working 
in touch with the department is collected and 
filed in the bureau and made generally avail- 
able. 

It is also a function of the bureau to effect 
economy in preventing repetition and overlap- 
ping of investigations and in ensuring that the 
fullest possible use is made of the results of 
research. Thus, the programmes of research 
associations are compared in order to ensure 
that researches are not unwittingly duplicated 
by different research associations. Sometimes 
two or more research associations may be in- 
terested in one problem from different points 
of view, and when this oceurs it may be pos- 
sible for the bureau to arrange a concerted at- 
tack upon the common problem, each research 
association undertaking that phase of the work 
in which it is specially interested and sharing 
in the general results. 

As researches carried out under the depart- 
ment frequently produce results for which it is, 
possible to take out patents, careful considera- 
tion has been given to the problems of policy 
arising on this subject, and other government 
departments also interested have been freely 
consulted. As the result, an interdepartmental 
committee has been established with the fol- 
lowing terms of reference:— 


1. To consider the methods of dealing with in- 
ventions made by workers aided or maintained from 
public funds, whether such workers be engaged (a) 
as research workers, or (b) in some other technical 
capacity, so as to give a fair reward to the in- 
ventor and- thus encourage further effort, to se- 
cure the utilization in industry of suitable in- 
ventions and to protect the national interest, and 

2. To outline a course of procedure in respect 
of inventions arising out of state-aided or sup- 
ported work which shall further these aims and 
be suitable for adoption by all government de- 
partments concerned. 


About forty patents have been taken out by 
the department jointly with the inventors and 


SEPTEMBER 16, 1921] 


other interested bodies, but of these, nine have 
subsequently been abandoned. At least five 
patents have been developed to such a stage 
as to be ready for immediate industrial appli- 
cation. 

It will be obvious from this short summary 
of the activities of the department, based upon 
information kindly supplied to me by Sir 
Francis Ogilvie, that this great scheme of 
state-aided research has been conceived and is 
administered on broad and liberal lines. A 
considerable number of valuable reports from 
its various boards and committees have already 
been published, and others are in the press, 
but it is, of course, much too soon to appre- 
ciate the full effects of their operations. But 
it can hardly be doubted that they are bound 
to exercise a profound influence upon indus- 
tries which ultimately depend upon discovery 
and invention. The establishment of the de- 
partment marks an epoch in our history. No 
such comprehensive organization for the ap- 
plication of science to national needs has ever 
been created by any other state. We may say 
we owe it directly to the Great War. Even 
from the evil of that great catastrophe there 
is some soul of goodness would we observingly 
distil it out. T. Epwarp THORPE 

(To be concluded) 


LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS 

Dors life—especially intelligent life—exist 
elsewhere than on the earth? Three letters in 
recent numbers of ScreNcE discuss this age- 
old problem. And it is noticeable that, as 
usual, the astronomers take the affirmative 
and the biologists the negative side of the 
argument. There may be two reasons for this. 

1. Astronomers, physicists, mathematicians, 
are accustomed to hold a more receptive atti- 
tude, an open mind, toward hypotheses that 
can not be definitely disproved. This frame 
of mind is natural and adapted to their work. 
They are accustomed to deal with problems 
which can be solved by mathematical and de- 
ductive methods. A limited number of solu- 
tions appear, all of them to be receptively 
considered until they can be definitely dis- 
proved. 


SCIENCE 


239 


The biologist, on the other hand, deals with 
a different sort of problem. His evidence is 
almost always inductive, experimental. His 
subjects are far too complex, too little under- 
stood, to admit of mathematical analysis, save 
in their simpler aspects. And always he is 
compelled to adopt toward the illimitable num- 
bers of possible explanations, a decidedly ex- 
clusive attitude, and to leave out of considera- 
tion all factors that have not something in the 
way of positive evidence for their existence. 
Tf he fails to do so, he soon finds himself 
struggling hopelessly in a bog of unprofitable 
speculations. A critical rather than a recep-~ 
tive frame of mind is the fundamental condi- 
tion of progress in his work. 

2. The second reason is that the astronomer 
or cosmologist has in mind when he thinks of 
this problem, the physical and chemical con- 
ditions that would render life possible. If 
these be duplicated elsewhere he sees life as 
possible, and by the incidence of the laws of 
chance probable or almost certain, if they 
be duplicated often enough. Viewing the 
innumerable multitude of stars, each of them 
a solar system with possible or probable plan- 
ets analogous to our own, he sees such multi- 
tudinous duplications of the physical condi- 
tions that have made life possible on our 
earth, that it appears to him incredible that 
all stand empty and lifeless. 

The biologist, on the other hand, has at the 
forefront of his mind the history and evolu- 
tion of life on the earth. He knows that al- 
though these conditions favoring the creation 
of living matter have existed on earth for 
many millions or hundreds of millions of 
years, yet life has not come into existence on 
earth save once, or at most half a dozen times, 
during that time. The living beings on earth 
are reducible at most to a few and probably 
to one primary stock, all their present variety 
being the result of the evolutionary processes 
of differentiation and adaptation. It must 
appear therefore to him that the real condi- 
tions for the creation of life on earth have 
involved, not merely the favoring physical 
conditions, but some immensely complex con- 
catenation of circumstances so rare that even 


240 


on earth it has occurred probably but once 
during the wons of geologic time. The mar- 
velous complexity of the fundamental sub- 
stance of life, so complex even in its simplest 
forms that his most precise and elaborate 
methods of analysis give him but a partial 
and tentative comprehension of its real struc- 
ture, must needs strengthen his concept of 
the immense complexity of the conditions 
necessary to its creation and evolution. If 
these conditions have not been duplicated on 
earth during the whole of the recorded his- 
tory of life from the Cambrian down to the 
present day, it appears to him infinitely less 
probable that they have been duplicated else- 
where than on the earth. 

That the “man in the street” should be 
sympathetic with the astronomer’s rather than 
the biologist?s conclusion is natural enough. 
The physical probabilities are obvious enough 
to all; the complexity of life and its condi- 
tions he does not realize; nor does he sense 
the minute relative proportion of time during 
which intelligent life has existed upon earth, 
or the vast and impassable barriers of space 
that preclude the transfer of organized matter 
from star to star. Moreover, to admit the 
probability of extra-mundane life opens the 
way for all sorts of fascinating speculation in 
which a man of imaginative temperament 
may revel free from the checks and barriers 
of earthly realities. 

Such life, if it exists, would surely be 
evolved ab initio on independent lines of 
adaptation and the probabilities would be 
overwhelming that the results of the eons of 
its evolution, if by some rare chance it de- 
veloped intelligent life simultaneously with 
its appearance on the earth, would be a phys- 
ical and intellectual type so different funda- 
mentally from our own as to be altogether 
incomprehensible to us even if we recognized 
it as being intelligence or life at all. Who 
that has studied the ant or the bee has failed 
to be impressed with the unplumbed mysteries 
in its sensations, its psychology, its inner 
life! We are far from any full understanding 
of the intelligence, if I may use the word, of 
the social insects, relatives, albeit distant rela- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1394 


tives, of our own, brought up under the identi- 
cal environment of terrestrial conditions. How 
much farther would we be from any compre- 
hension of the intellectual processes of a race 
of beings whose ultimate origin was wholly 
different from ours, whose evolution was shaped 
under conditions that, however closely paral- 
lel, could not have been identical with those 
of the earth. Indeed, if we are to take a 
receptive attitude in this matter, why limit 
ourselves to protoplasm as the basis of life? 
What reason have we to suppose that a self- 
perpetuating substance, capable of acquiring 
the heterogeneity of function, the multiple 
complexity of structural adaptation, the spe- 
cialization of parts, the elaboration of control 
and correlation organs, and finally the domi- 
nance of these last and development of con- 
scious and intelligent beings, must necessarily 
be based upon the semi-liquid jelly upon which 
life, as we know it, is fundamentally based? 
Other substances, solid, liquid, or even gase- 
ous, may have similar capacities, may have 
carried them out under different conditioning 
laws, to a result equally complex and marvel- 
ous. We know of nothing of the sort. But 
would we know of it if it existed, even if it 
existed upon earth? Would there be any 
conceivable method of communication, any 
common ideas, interests, or activities, between 
such beings and ourselves? It does not ap- 
pear probable. How much less the probability 
of communication across the void of inter- 
planetary space. 

To suppose that parallel evolution could go 
so far as to produce similar methods of ex- 
ploiting the earth to those used by civilized 
man—irrigation canals, cities, or other such 
phenomena of the immediate present—in life 
evolved independently in different planets— 
and to produce them at an identical moment 
in geologic time—would seem to be the result 
of those limitations of constructive or creative 
thought which are characteristic of myth and 
fairy-tale, of the anthropomorphic god, or the 
animal that thinks and talks like a man. Civ- 
ilized men cannot form any real concept of 
intelligent life on Mars save in terms of civil- 
ized life on earth. Yet, so far as we may judge 


SEPTEMBER 16, 1921] 


from earth conditions, if life exists at all on 
Mars, it is a thousand to one that it is not 
intelligent life, for intelligent life on earth is 
a phenomenon that has existed for about a 
thousandth part of the geologic record of life. 
And it is a hundred thousand to one that it is 
not civilized life, for civilized life has existed 
at the utmost for a hundredth part of the time 
that man as such has been on the earth. Could 
we view the earth from without at any earlier 
portion of her history, we would by no means 
conclude that the existence of life must needs 
involve or culminate in the existence of in- 
telligent life, still less of civilization. We 
have no means of knowing whether its ex- 
istence at the present moment is a transitory 
episode or the commencement of a new era. 
But if it be the latter, it is probable that the 
external evidences of civilization a hundred 
centuries in the future would be as incom- 
prehensible to us to-day, as impossible to in- 
terpret in the light of our present knowledge 
and customs, as our modern civilization would 
be to the pithecanthropos or the chimpanzee. 
Does any one seriously suppose, after consid- 
ering the trends and progress of the last few 
centuries, that our descendants a thousand 
centuries hence will still be growing grain and 
irrigating fields for human provender? Such 
primitive expedients in food production will 
probably be obsolete in a hundredth part of 
that time. Life on earth at any other moment 
than the immediate present would not be indi- 
cated to an outsider by any such evidence as 
our present civilization might afford. Nor is 
it in the least probable that life upon another 
planet would be indicated by such evidence at 
any stage of its existence, or would have any 
resemblance to our own sufficient for us to 
recognize it. 

In sum it appears to me as a paleontologist 
that 

1. The complex concatenation of circum- 
stances necessary to bring about the initiation 
of life has occurred upon earth half a dozen 
times at most, probably but once, in an en- 
vironment that has apparently been favorable 
for a thousand million years. The probability* 
of its occurring in a substantially similar 


SCIENCE 


241 


environment upon another planet is so slight 
as to be practically reducible to a mathematical 
zero in any particular instance. 

2. The number of solar systems being almost 
infinite, we might regard the number of such 
possible favorable environments as amounting 
practically to infinity. 

3. The resultant of these two considerations 
is that there is a finite and reasonable chance 
that life has existed or will exist somewhere 
else in the universe than on this earth alone. 

4, The probability that intelligent life exists 
is vastly less, and that anything in the least 
analogous to our civilization exists at the 
present time is so slight as to be negligible. 

5. If any life involving the development of 
self-consciousness, of abstract thought and 
introspection analogous to the higher intelli- 
gence of mankind, or the control of environ- 
ment and utilization of natural resources that 
we call civilization, should develop indepen- 
dently upon some other planet out of the 
preexisting simpler phases of life, it prob- 
ably—almost surely—would be so remote in 
its fundamental character and its external 
manifestations from our own, that we could 
not interpret or comprehend the external in- 
dications of its existence, nor even probably 
observe or recognize them. 

6. In any specific instance, such as other 
planets of our own system, the probabilities 
of the existence of any kind of life amount 
to practically zero. The probabilities of an 
intelligent life upon Mars or Venus or else- 
where in our system so similar to our own in 
its character and manifestations as to be in- 
dicated by irrigation canals, cities, or other 
manifestations of human civilization, appears 
to be zero of the second degree. The most 
that one can allow as a reasonable possibility 
is that there may be some form of life existing 
somewhere else in the universe than upon our 
planet. That we have or shall ever get evi- 
dence of its existence appears to me practically 
impossible in the light of present knowledge 
and limitations. 

W. D. Marruew 


Tur AMERICAN MusEuM or NATURAL HISTORY 


' 


242 


GEORGE TRUMBULL LADD 


Grorce TruMBULL Lapp, for forty years pro- 
fessor of moral philosophy and metaphysics 
at Yale University, died on August 8, at the 
age of eighty-one years. 

In the eighties and nineties, Ladd was a 
towering figure, through his academic leader- 
ship, in the introduction of the new psychol- 
ogy. This was the period in which physi- 
ological, experimental, genetic and abnormal 
psychology gained recognition in the college 
curriculum of this country, and Ladd did 
much to bring this recognition. Yet, he was 
not primarily a psychologist and did no ex- 
perimental work in any of the fields which he 
so ably introduced. He came into psychology 
through philosophy, and had come into 
philosophy through theology. History will 
probably recognize him as an organizer rather 
than an inspirer, or an original contributor 
in specific problems. 

While always regarded as more or less dry, 
his books and lectures were characterized by 
remarkable clearness, accuracy, thoroughness, 
broadmindedness and chasteness of style and 
a pleasing absence of the irrelevant. His 
definitions were those of a logician; his 
scientific perspective was that of a philoso- 
pher; his power of appeal was that of the 
forceful teacher. The fidelity and construc- 
tive analysis with which he interpreted the 
findings of research men in_ physiology, 
physics, medicine and genetics gave dignity 
and permanence to his work. The encyclope- 
die character of his work shows him at his 
best in his power to organize for himself and 
put in teachable form these new and diverse 
approaches to the study of the human mind. 
His “ Elements of Physiological Psychology ” 
and “Psychology Descriptive and Explana- 
tory ” will live as classics from that period. 

His conservatism was another feature which 
gave his work in that period prestige and 
success. Wundt, Ribot, Galton, James, Hall, 
Cattell, Baldwin, Scripture, and others, each 
came out with a different brand of psychology 
which was bound to draw out some temporary 
antagonism; but Ladd welcomed all these 
and quieted the turbulent waters by certify- 
ing and formulating as a philosopher, as a 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1394 


preacher and as a teacher what was “ whole- 
some” and giving it a setting in academic 
psychology. As an original thinker, Ladd’s 
power lay not in the scientist’s observation 
and discovery within a narrow field, but rather 
in the power of a great thinker to interpret 
and organize new and relevant facts. 

His utterances on mental evolution, on 
mental measurement, on disorders of person- 
ality, on “psychology without a soul,” make 
most interesting reading from the present 
point of view. The new points of view are 
all in his work, but their presentation is so 
sagaciously qualified as to make the present 
reader question whether he had actually 
recognized the real significance of these new 
concepts in psychology. Yet, it was this 
mode of conservative thought and guarded 
statement that gave stability to his teaching 
and made it for many years the orthodox 
point of view in the new psychology. He 
made the transition not only from philosophy 
to psychology but also from theology to 
psychology and from common sense view of 
daily life to scientific psychology without any 
break or antagonism. 

Ladd’s influence in psychology was cut 
short by an unfortunate breaking up of the 
department in the late nineties, which led 
to his premature retirement and deprived him 
of the contact with the younger working con- 
stituency and the opportunity of projecting 
himself through such a constituency. His 
interest then turned to interpretative psychol- 
ogy through his various books on psychology 
as applied to philosophy, ethics, esthetics, 
social life, and religion. His appeal was here 
to the general reader, and in this field his 
utterances are characterized by the same traits 
that we found in the earlier academic period. 

C. E. SrasHore 

THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL, 


WASHINGTON, D. C., 
August 20, 1921 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 


THE BRITISH IMPERIAL BUREAU OF MY- 
COLOGY 


In 1918 the British Imperial War Con- 
ference had brought to its notice the loss to 


SEPTEMBER 16, 1921] 


the empire caused by fungoid diseases of 
plants. 

A Canadian estimate places the loss in the 
year 1917, in the prairie region of Canada 
alone, at 100,000,000 bushels, worth from 
£25,000,000 to £50,000,000. For the same 
year, the loss in the five chief cereals of the 
United States due to this fungus was placed 
at 400,000,000 bushels. The annual loss on 
Indian wheat is estimated in millions of 
rupees. 

A proposal was adopted for the establishment 
of a central organization to encourage and 
coordinate work throughout the Empire on 
fungi in relation to agriculture. The Colonial 
Office has brought the necessary negotations 
to a successful issue, and has now formed a 
mycological bureau supported by contribu- 
tions from the various self-governing Domin- 
ions, India, Egypt, the Sudan, and the non- 
self-governing Colonies and _ Protectorates. 
The precedent of the Imperial Bureau of 
Entomology has been followed, and the new 
institution is to be managed by a committee 
of experts under the chairmanship of Lord 
Harcourt. The headquarters of the bureau 
are to be at Kew, and it is to work in close 
association with the Royal Botanic Gardens, 
where there are already a magnificent library, 
laboratories, and a department for fungi in 
the. museum. 


CERAMIC INVESTIGATIONS BY THE UNITED 
STATES BUREAU OF MINES 

A NEw ceramic laboratory, in which investi- 
gative work regarding the clays of the North- 
west will be conducted, is to be installed at 
the Northwest Experiment Station of the 
United States Bureau of Mines on the campus 
of the University of Washington at Seattle. 

The laboratory work in connection with a 
general study of the clays of Washington has 
been completed, and a bulletin on the subject 
of Washington clays is now in course of 
preparation. 

At the Northwest Experiment Station an 
attempt is being made to remove iron and 
silicon from kaolin to produce either sil- 
limanite or the oxide of aluminum. Clay was 


SCIENCE 


243 


melted in an arcing furnace in presence of 
carbon; some silicon and iron were volatilized 
and some reduced to metal. The products 
contained less iron oxide and silica and more 
alumina than previously, but not in sufficient 
amounts to be sillimanite. The refractori- 
ness of these products is to be determined 
by the ordinary tests. 

A cooperative agreement has been effected 
between the United States Bureau of Mines 
and the Central of Georgia Railway for an 
investigation by the Ceramic Experiment 
Station, Columbus, Ohio, of the white clay 
and bauxites through central Georgia along 
the railroad right-of-way. R. B. Gilmore, 
formerly ceramic chemist with the Vesuvius 
Crucible Co., Swissvale, Pa., and H. M. 
Kraner, formerly ceramic assistant of the 
Bureau of Mines, have been assigned to this 
work. Preliminary tests on the effects of low 
calcination temperatures on the colloidal con- 
tent of Georgia white clays have been made. 
By calcining Georgia clay to from 500° to 
600° C. the adsorptive properties were reduced 
to those of the English china clay, without 
materially reducing its plasticity. 

A microscopic examination of the mineral 
constituent of kaolins is being conducted at 
the Ceramic Experiment Station at Columbus. 


THE BIOLOGY CLUB OF THE OHIO STATE 
UNIVERSITY 

During the academic year of 1920-21, the 
Biology Club of the Ohio State University held 
monthly meetings from October to May, inclusive. 
The elub, organized in 1891, is one of the oldest 
organizations of the university. It is composed 
of members of the science faculties, graduate stu- 
dents, and those interested in scientific research. 
Opportunity has been given the past year for 
discussions of scientific experimentation and in- 
vestigation by members of the faculties, and re- 
ports of research by graduate students. The fol- 
lowing papers were presented: 
Oct. 11. Reports on a survey of Ohio fishes. 

1. ‘‘Distribution of Ohio fishes,’’ Professor R. 
C. Osburn, 

2. ‘‘Food of the large mouth bass,’’ E. L. 
Wickliff. 

3. ‘Algal food of the gizzard shad,’’ L. H. 
Tiffany. 
Nov. 2. ‘*The Hessian fly in Ohio,’’ Professor T. 

H. Parks. 


244 


Dec. 6. ‘‘Some new factor relations in barley,’’ 
Professor J. B. Park. 

‘‘Effect of environment on expression of char- 
acters in hybrid oats,’’ D. M. Lutz. 

Jan. 10. ‘‘The vegetation of the Lake Okoboji 
(Iowa) region’? (lantern slides), Professor A. 
E. Waller. 

Feb. 14. ‘‘The inferior vena cava of man and 
mammals—its abnormalities and their inter- 
pretation from the standpoint of their devel- 
opment,’’ Professor C. F. McClure, Princeton 
University. (Joint meeting with the Omega 
Chapter of the Society of the Sigma Xi.) 

Mar. 7. ‘‘The origin and development of the 

prairie,’’ Professor H. C. Sampson. 

11. ‘‘Some measurements of emotional 
states,’’ Professor H. E. Burtt. 
“*Parasites on aphids,’’ E. A. Hartley. 

May 2. ‘‘Some recent applications of physics to 
biological problems,’’ Professor Alphaeus W. 
Smith. 

‘Experimental work with mealy bugs,’’ W. S. 
Hough. 


The president of the club for the year was Dr. 
C. H. Kennedy, of the department of zoology and 
entomology; the vice-president, Dr, J. W. Bridges, 
of the department of psychology, and the secre- 
tary, Dr. L. H. Tiffany, of the department of 
botany. 


Apr. 


DR. CARL L. ALSBERG AND THE BUREAU OF 
CHEMISTRY 


In formally accepting the resignation of - 


Dr. Car] L. Alsberg as Chief of the Bureau 
of Chemistry, Secretary Wallace wrote him 
as follows: 


Permit me, in formally accepting your resigna- 
tion, once more to express my sincere regret that 
the government and this department will no longer 
have the benefit of your services. 

Your nine years in the department have been 
fruitful years. You have attained a leadership 
in scientific work not alone in this department, but 
in the larger field seldom reached by men of 
your years. The tender of the important position 
which you have accepted is evidence of this. 

Your administration of the food and drugs act 
has been characterized by tactfulness, fearlessness, 
justice, and common sense, and you have, there- 
fore, commanded the confidence and respect both 
of those who have come under the law and of 
the great public whose health you have so zeal- 
ously protected. Your work in this field has been 
an inspiration which I hope will continue with us. 

It is not often that one attains such outstanding 
eminence in both research and administrative work. 

We shall all miss you here; especially I shall 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vout. LIV. No. 1394 


miss your wise and sane counsel from which I 
have profited very much in the rather trying task 
of undertaking to qualify for a difficult and im- 
portant work. I wish that you might still be 
within eall. : 

Notwithstanding our regret that you are leaving 
the department, all of us here rejoice in the op- 
portunity that has opened for you to pursue im- 
portant research in a field in which you have such 
a great heart interest. We are expecting much of 
you; we are confident that you will make large 
and valuable contributions to the national wel- 
fare. 

I know that I express the feelings of every one 
in this department when I say that our very best 
wishes go with you, and if at times you find that 
we canbe of help in the work you are now 
undertaking, we shall expect you to call upon us 
with full assurance of a prompt and sympathetic 
response, 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 

Tue American Chemical Society held last 
week its sixty-second meeting at Columbia 
University, New York City, under the presi- 
dency of Dr. Edgar Fahs Smith, provost 
emeritus of the University of Pennsylvania. 
The principal events of the program have 
already been recorded in ScrmncE and we hope 
to print in subsequent numbers accounts of 
the business transacted and abstracts of the 
papers before the sections. 

Tue Second International Eugenics Con- 
gress meets at the American Museum of His- 
tory, New York City, next week under the 
presidency of Dr. Henry Fairfield Osborn, 
with Dr. Alexander Graham Bell as honorary 
president. The opening meeting will be held 
in the Hall of the Age of Man on September 
22, when addresses will be made by Dr. Osborn, 
Dr. Charles B. Davenport and Major Leonard 
Darwin. 

At the meeting of the British Association 
for the Advancement of Sdience, held at 
Edinburgh from September 7 to 14, a joint 
discussion before the sections of mathematical 
and physical science and of chemistry on “ The 
structure of molecules” was opened by Dr. 
Irving Langmuir, of the research laboratory 
of the General Electric Company. Others 
taking part in the discussion were Profes- 


SEPTEMBER 16, 1921] 


sor A. Smithells, Professor W. L. Bragg, 
Professor J. R. Partington, Professor <A. 
O. Rankine, and Dr. 8. H. C. Briggs. 


THE quinquennial prize for the best work 
in the medical sciences, offered by the Brussels 
Academy of Medicine, has been awarded to 
Professor A. Brachet of the chair of anatomy 
and embryology of the University of Brussels. 


From exchanges we learn that the Univer- 
sity of Vienna has created an honorary title 
to express its gratitude to those who have aided 
in relieving the material distress of the uni- 
versity during the last few years. The honor- 
ary title has been conferred on Dr. Ferriére, 
the president of the International Red Cross, 
and Dr. Franz Boas of Columbia University 
besides the ambassadors of Great Britain 
and Sweden, Mr. Herbert Hoover, the presi- 
dent and ambassador of Argentina and an 
English woman, Lady Mary Murray. 


Mr. J. P. Bonarpi, who has been with the 
Bureau of Mines Experiment Station at Den- 
ver for the past five years, has accepted a po- 
sition as manager of the assay and chemical 
department of the Mines and Smelter Supply 
Co., of Denver, Colo. 


Masor GeneraL W. L. Srert, head of the 
Chemical Warfare Service during the war, is 
now on his farm in Warren County, Kentucky, 
where some twenty oil wells are being de- 
veloped. 


Mr. Cuartes K. Weap, for over twenty 
years an examiner in the U. S. Patent Office 
in the Class of Music, has resigned and gone 
to Ann Arbor, Mich, to live. 


Proressor Epwarp A. Wuirr, of Cornell 
University, has sailed for England to spend 
several months in study at the Royal Botanic 
Gardens at Kew; he will also study commercial 
floriculture in other parts of England and 
Scotland, and in Holland and Belgium. 


Tue advisory committee provided for by the 
Importation of Plumage (Prohibition) Act 
recently enacted by the British Parliament has 
been constituted as follows: Lord Crewe 
(chairman), Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker and Dr. 
W. Eagle Clarke (representing ornithology), 
Mr. C. F. Downham, Mr. W. G. Dunstall, and 


SCIENCE 


245 


Mr. L. Joseph (representing the feather trade), 
Lord Buxton, Capt. E. G. Fairholme, Mrs. 
Reginald McKenna, and Mr. H. J. Massing- 
ham. 


A MEMORIAL tablet was recently placed on 
the house at Enghien-les-Bains, formerly oc- 
cupied by the radiologist, A. Leray, who suc- 
cumbed last spring to the effects of roentgen- 
ray injury acquired during his work for the 
wounded during the war. 


We learn from Nature that on July 21, a 
memorial was unveiled in the public gardens at 
Dartmouth to the memory of Thomas New- 
comen, the pioneer of the steam engine. New- 
comen was born in Dartmouth in 1663; he 
followed the trade of blacksmith there, and 
was also a Baptist preacher. 


Tue Royal Photographic Society is collect- 
ing funds for a memorial at Lacock to W. H. 
Fox Talbot, distinguished for his work in sci- 
entific photography. 

Nature announces the death, at the age of 
eighty-nine years, of Samuel Alfred Varley, 
known for his work on the applications of 
electricity. 


Juues Carpentier, known for his work on 
the designing and manufacture of electrical 
and scientific apparatus, member of the Paris 
Academy of Sciences, has died at the age of 
seventy years. 


Proressor OswaLD SCHMIEDEBERG, formerly 
professor of experimental pharmacology in 
Strasbourg, died in Baden-Baden on July 12, 
at the age of 82. 


Proressor N. A. CHonopKovsky, author of 
works on entomology and helminthology, pro- 
fessor emeritus in the Academy of Medicine 
and at the Institute of Forestry, has died in 
Petrograd at sixty-one years of age. Profes- 
sor Cholodkovsky was also a distinguished 
poet. 


A Reuters dispatch from Christiania dated 
August 13 states that a telegram to the Aften- 
post from Hammerfest says that the expedi- 
tion sent to Siberia to search for Tessem and 
Knudsen, the missing members of the Amund- 
sen expedition, failed to find any trace of the 


246 


men at Cape Wild, where they were supposed 
to be. Two members of the relief expedition 
will continue the search in Northwest Siberia. 


Tue Lange Koch expedition which left 
Denmark last year and wintered in Melville 
Bay started for Peary Land on March 15. 
There has been some difficulty in the trans- 
port across Melville Bay as the Cape York 
Eskimos hired for this task had not arrived, 
but it is hoped that everything was got across 
safely. 


Dr. J. Cuarcot, the French polar explorer, 
sailing in the North Atlantic in his exploring 
vessel, the Pourquoi Pas, has succeeded in 
landing upon the islet of Rockall, which lies 
some 260 miles west of the Hebrides and 185 
miles from St. Kilda. 


Tur Antarctic expedition by Sir Ernest 
Shackleton planned to leave England on Sep- 
tember 12. The steamer Quest was found to 
give inadequate accommodations for the in- 
creased personnel necessary after the program 
to be followed was increased, and alterations 
made on the ship delayed the work of fitting 
out the expedition. 


Tue British Iron and Steel Institute met in 
Paris under the presidency of Dr. J. E. Stead 
on September 5 and 6. 


Tue Scientific American, long the leading 
weekly American journal of industry, inven- 
tion and science, will hereafter be published 
monthly in combination with The American 
Scientific Monthly. 


SeverAL hundred American engineers will 
meet with representatives of the principal en- 
gineering societies of Great Britain and 
France at a dinner to be given at the Engi- 
neers’ Club in New York City on the evening 
of October 10. The dinner, while formally 
celebrating the homecoming of the mission of 
American engineers who went abroad to con- 
fer the John Fritz Medal upon Sir Robert 
Hadfield of London and Eugene Schneider of 
Paris, will mark the launching of a new move- 
ment to bring English and American engi- 
neers together. The guests at the dinner will 
include the twelve members of the deputation 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1394 


which represented the John Fritz Medal Board 
and representatives of the British and French 
societies by which they were received. Invi- 
tations have been extended to many men prom- 
inent in public life, including Mr. Herbert 
Hoover, Secretary of Commerce; Viscount 
Bryce and Mr. Charles E. Hughes, Secretary of 
State. Others who will attend are the govern- 
ing boards of the four national engineering 
societies, the John Fritz Medal Board of 
Award, the Library Board of the Engineering 
Societies and of the Engineers Club; the 
trustees of the United Engineering Society, 
and the officers of the Federated American En- 
gineering Societies. 


Tue Journal of the American Medical As- 
sociation states that according to an agree- 
ment to improve their equipment and co- 
ordinate their personnel, the several public 
health agencies operating laboratories in 
Memphis on September 1 moved into their 
new quarters in the university laboratory. Dr. 
William Krauss, professor of preventive medi- 
cine and hygiene in the college of medicine for 
many years, has been made director of the labo- 
ratories, and his salary will be paid jointly by 
the agencies interested, which include the ma- 
larial research laboratory of the U. 8. Public 
Health Service, the West Tennessee laboratory 
of the State Board of Health, the department 
of bacteriology of the University of Tennes- 
see College of Medicine, and the laboratories 
of the Memphis department of health. The 
plan of coordination has received the endorse- 
ment of Dr. Frederick F. Russell, director of 
laboratories for the International Health 
Board. 


Under the auspices of the Yale Medical 
School, the state of Connecticut and the Rocke- 
feller Foundation will unite to finance the pro- 
posed Connecticut Psychopathic Hospital. 
The Rockefeller Foundation will provide 
$500,000, the state probably the same amount, 
while the share and part of Yale in the trans- 
action is not determined. The hospital build- 
ing will be erected by the state grant, the 
Rockefeller Foundation will supply the sal- 
aries for the teaching staff, while Yale may 


SEPTEMBER 16, 1921] 


supply the clinical quarters and other costs. 
As the New Haven General Hospital is now 
a part of the Yale Medical School, the Psy- 
chopathie Hospital is expected to supply the 
cases under observation. There will be a 
close connection between the new psychopathic 
hospital and the New Haven General Hospi- 
tal. Details of arranging for the gift will 
come before the Yale Corporation at its next 
meeting. Governor Lake of Connecticut re- 
cently appointed a commission to take charge 
of the plans for expenditure of the state fund 
of $500,000 for the hospital. Dr. Paul Water- 
man, of Hartford, is chairman of the com- 
mission, and Dean Winternitz, of the Yale 
Medical School, is a member. 


Nature says: “The classical experimental 
plots which Lawes and Gilbert started at 
Rothamsted have been of the greatest service 
to agricultural science, and their importance 
is constantly increasing. Fundamental ques- 
tions in the physics, chemistry, and biology 
of agriculture can be attacked with more con- 
fidence in the light of results obtained from 
long-continued field experiments carried out 
on a systematic plan. Further, the results are 
capable of statistical examination. The im- 
portance of the Rothamsted experiments led 
to the institution of a parallel series at Wo- 
burn in 1876 by the Royal Agricultural So- 
ciety. The Woburn soil is light and sandy, 
but that at Rothamsted is a heavy loam. The 
two series of experiments enable instructive 
comparisons to be made between these two 
soil types. All interested in 
science received with concern the decision of 
the council of the Royal Agricultural Society 
to relinquish—owing to economic conditions 
—the Woburn experiments. Fortunately the 
danger has been averted. Arrangements have 
been made for the experiments to be continued 
under the auspices of, but legally distinct 
from, the Rothamsted Experimental Station. 
The general portion of the Woburn farm will 
continue under the direct control of Dr. A. J. 
Voelcker, who for many years has carried out 
the duties on behalf of the Royal Agricul- 
tural Society. The new arrangement will not 


agricultural 


SCIENCE 


247 


only ensure the continuance of the valuable 
work already done, but will also lead to a 
closer contact with the work of Rothamsted.” 


Tue Directoria de Meteorologia e Astron- 
omia of the Brazilian Department of Agricul- 
ture has been divided into two separate 
services “ Directoria de Meteorologia 2” and 
“Observatorio Nacional.” The division for 
meteorology has been placed under the direc- 
tion of Dr. Sampaio Ferraz. It will continue 
the climatological work established in 1909, 
unifying methods of meteorological research 
and publishing all available data for the past 
ten years. It is planned to issue nine bul- 
letins by the end of the year. The division 
will establish a forecast service for central 
and southern Brazil; an aerological service 
for aviators and kite and pilot balloon 
stations; a special coast service for naviga- 
tion; an agricultural meteorological service; 
a marine meteorological service; a special 
service of rains and floods, and the usual in- 
vestigations in every department of meteor- 
ology with especial reference to longer ranges 
in weather forecasting. Rio Grande do Sul, 
Minas Geraes and Sao Paulo continue their 
state services, but under the supervision of 
the Directoria. The Reclamation Service of 
semi-arid northeastern Brazil will maintain 
its rain organization. 

Statistics relating to the growth of the 
population of France show that last year the 
excess of births over deaths was 159,790, as 
against 58,914 in 1913, while the number of 
marriages has doubled. It is the first time 
since the war that statistics have been avail- 
able for the whole of France, including the 
three departments of Alsace-Lorraine. The 
births were 834,411 last year, compared with 
790,355 in 1918—an increase of 44,056. The 
deaths were 674,621 against 731,441 in 1913— 
a decrease of 56,820. The marriages were 
623,869 last year against 312,036 in 1913. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 
By the will of the late John MeMullen, 
president of the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific 
Dredging Company, Cornell University will 


248 


receive a bequest estimated at from one to 
two million dollars. 


Fre which resulted in damage to equip- 
ment of approximately $20,000 and to the 
building of about $28,000 was discovered in 
the attic of the Richardson Chemistry Build- 
ing, Tulane University, New Orleans, on the 
morning of July 6. 


Dr. J. M. Bett succeeds Dr. F. P. Venable 
as head of the department of chemistry at 
the University’ of North Carolina. Dr. 
Venable, who was formerly president of the 
university, has resigned as head of the 
chemistry department, but retains his pro- 
fessorship. 


Dr. Evcenet P. Dearrick has resigned as 
instructor of soil technology, College of 
Agriculture, Ithaca, N. Y., to become associ- 
ate professor of soils, and head of department, 
West Virginia University, Morgantown, W. 
Va. 


Dr. Revsen S. Tour has been appointed 
professor of chemical engineering at the Uni- 
versity of Cincinnati. Dr. Tour, who suc- 
ceeds Dr. O. R. Sweeney, who resigned be- 
eause ct ill health, has served for several 
years as an expert for the government on ni- 
trate and other chemicals, and will continue 
to act as consulting expert for the govern- 
ment. 


Dr. Cuas. C. Mackin has resigned his 
position as associate professor of anatomy in 
Johns Hopkins University to accept the pro- 
fessorship of histology and embryology in 
Western University, London, Canada. 

Proressor H. Lesrsqus, of the faculty of 
sciences, University of Paris, has been elected 


professor of mathematics at the Collége de 
France. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
SECULAR PERTURBATIONS OF THE INNER 
PLANETS 


To THE Eprror or Somnce: It is true, as 
Professor Poor states (Scmnce, Vol. 54, 
pp. 30-34, 1921), that if we are at liberty to 
assume any distribution of density we like 
around the sun it is not difficult to account 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. LIV. No. 1394 


for all the secular perturbations of the four 
inner planets within their mean square errors, 
by means of the Newtonian law of gravita- 
tion. Professor Poor, however, does not ap- 
pear to have read much of the paper of mine 
to which he refers,! or he would have noticed 
that the density we are at liberty to assume 
is subject to very severe limitations. It is 
possible to estimate the density of the matter 
at any distance from the sun directly; for the 
amount of light it scatters is known from 
observations of the zodiacal light and the 
corona, and by considering different possible 
constituents, whose scattering powers for 
given masses are known, we can determine 
limits to the density. Seeliger and de Sitter 
succeeded in explaining the residual secular 
perturbations of the four inner planets by 
means of two ellipsoids of matter, one close 
to the sun, and the other extending to the 
orbit of the earth. I showed, however, in the 
paper referred to, that the density of the mat- 
ter between the orbits of Mercury and Mars 
can not exceed Yoo of that required by these 
writers, and in a later paper? I showed that 
the disturbing effect of the matter near the 
sun can not exceed 10-° of that supposed to 
be produced by their inner ellipsoid. Accord- 
ingly, none of the secular perturbations of 
the inner planets can be explained by means 
of the Newtonian law of gravitation. The 
fact that the excess motion of the perihelion 
of Mercury is accounted for by Einstein’s 
law therefore decides definitely in favor of 
the latter. Further, Einstein’s law is the 
simplest that can account for it. None of 
the other nine residuals exceeds 3 times the 
corresponding mean error, and only three of 
them the mean error itself, and there is there- 
fore no reason to regard them as anything 
but accidental errors. 


HaroipD JEFFREYS 
St. JOHN’s COLLEGE, 
CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND 


1‘*The Secular Accelerations of the Four Inner 
Planets,’’? Monthly Notices, R. A. S., Vol. 77, pp. 
112-218, 1917. 

2¢On the Crucial Tests of Einstein’s Theory of 
Gravitation,’’ Joc. cit., Vol. 80, pp. 138-154, 1919. 


SEPTEMBER 16, 1921] 


SPOROZOAN INFECTION 


To tue Eprtor or Science: I have just de- 
tected, in an American recently arrived in the 
Philippine Islands from the United States, a 
ease of infection with Isospora hominis Ri- 
volta, 1878 (emend Dobell, 1919). Circum- 
stances connected with the case lead me 
strongly to suspect that the infection was con- 
tracted in the United States. Inspection of 
the recent literature has disclosed that since 
1918, at least eleven cases of sporozoan infec- 
tion (including Isospora) have been discovered 
in the United States. Four of these cases ap- 
parently are autochthonous. They will be 
found in the tables accompaning papers by 
Kofoid and his coworkers,! 2 on the examina- 
tion of overseas and home service troops in 
New York. These findings have escaped com- 
ment for one reason or another and, as the 
patient studied by me has never been in any 
part of Europe—much less the Eastern Medi- 
terranean area where coccidial infections seem 
to be endemic, I consider we have reason to 
suspect that dissemination of the parasite is 
oceurring among the civilian population of the 
United States. 

We have little knowledge of the clinical 
manifestations of “human coccidiosis” and 
no knowledge of its pathology. Reports indi- 
cate that the parasite is not especially harmful 
to adults, but too much should not be assumed 
in this direction. Especially should we be 
watchful for infections in children and in 
people of lowered vitality. The cysts of the 
coccidia are highly resistant to desiccation, and 
to the action of chemicals and disinfectants, 
and they remain viable for long periods of 
time—much longer than do the cysts of other 
intestinal protozoa infesting man, so that the 
parasite presents a difficult problem in epi- 
demiology. 

All available information should be gath- 
ered at this time, regarding the incidence of 
human coccidiosis in the United States, for it 


1 Kofoid, Kornhauser and Plate, Jour. Amer. 
Med. Assoc., Vol. 72, p. 1721, 1919. 

2 Kofoid and Swezy, N. O. Med. and Surg. Jour., 
Vol. 73, pp. 4-11, 1920. 


SCIENCE 


249 


may be possible to trace the cases originating 
in the soldiers already observed, and other cases 
that it is not unlikely have originated from 
them by this time. Such studies can not begin 
too early. With the object of aiding such an 
investigation, I am, by authority of Professor 
Elmer D. Merrill, director of the Bureau of 
Science, sending preserved material from our 
case to the following specialists, where it will 
be available for comparison with any material 
that may be found in the United States: 

Professors Gary N. Calkins, Columbia Uni- 
versity, New York; Robert W. Hegner, Johns 
Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.; Henry 
B. Ward, University of Illinois, Urbana, IIL; 
Charles A. Kofoid, University of California, 
Berkeley, Calif.; R. B. Gibson, Iowa State 
University, Iowa City, Ia.; Ernest E. Tyzzer, 
Harvard University Medical School, Boston, 
Mass.; Kenneth M. Lynch, Medical College of 
the State of South Carolina, Charleston, S. C.; 
James C. Todd, University of Colorado, Boul- 
der, Colo.; Mark F. Boyd, University of Texas, 
Galveston, Tex.; and Allen J. Smith, Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania. 

Frank G. Havcuwout 
BurREAU OF SCIENCE, 
Mania, P. I. 


SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE AND APPARATUS 
FOR ROUMANIA 

To tue Epiror or Science: You were so 
kind as to publish in Scrmence (April 8) my 
letter in which I showed: (1) That our Insti- 
tutions do not possess American books and 
instruments; (2) that the disadvantageous ex- 
change of our money since the war, prevents 
us from making scientific purchases in the 
United States; (3) that means should be 
found to remove a difficulty that hinders 
scientific relations. 

This letter provoked the interest of the 
American universities and intellectuals. I 
received not only approvals but also gifts con- 
sisting of books and even scientific instru- 
ments. 

We accept with gratitude all these mani- 
festations of sympathy, but they do not 


250 


bring the practical solution of our question. 

The institutes of our university have funds 
that would be sufficient if the value of the 
dollar were of 5 lei, as it was before the war, 
and not 90-100 lei as it is now. The credits 
assigned to our laboratories, even augmented, 
can not meet at the same time the general 
rise in price of scientific materials and the 
disadvantageous exchange of our money. 

The solution of this great difficulty might 
be found, I think, in the organization of a 
eredit with a fixed term of payment in 3 or 
4 years. Such credits were organized dur- 
ing the war for the supply of engines of 
destruction; why should it be impossible to 
organize them in a time of peace in order to 
facilitate scientific cooperation and for the 
benefits of science? 

IT think that this organization might be 
created. Under the auspices of an American 
scientifie association a number of booksellers 
and instrument makers might be grouped, 
forming a society which would divide among 
them the orders of our institutions central- 
jzed by the chancellor of the university. 

The total sum forming the price of the 
objects, guaranteed by the university, would 
be divided into two fractions: one part pay- 
able immediately and another credited for 3 
or 4 years, with a fixed annual interest. Our 
universities are state institutions and offer 
every guaranty of solvency. 

I beg again the friends of science and of 
international cooperation to be willing to ex- 
amine the question also from this point of 
view and seek the solution of the organiz- 
ation of this credit. Our university is ready 
to make every sacrifice in its power in order 
fo secure practically and permanently the 
cooperation of American science. 


E. G. Racovirza 


INSTITUTE OF SPEOLOGY, 
UNIVERSITY OF CLUJ, 
ROUMANIA 


AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE FOR 
FOREIGN COUNTRIES 
In Science, Volume 53, page 335, April 8, 
1921, Professor Racovitza, of the University 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1394 


of Cluj, Roumania, points out that his uni- 
versity is practically barred from access to the 
American scientific literature and scientific 
instruments by the present state of foreign 
exchange. He points out that Scrmncz, which 
before the war cost thirty-five Roumanian 
lei, now costs five hundred and ninety-five lei. 

The Biological Club of the University of 
Minnesota believe that such a situation should 
not exist and that American scientific litera- 
ture should be widely disseminated in Europe. 
Obviously, however, the University of Cluj 
can not purchase many American journals 
at such a rate of exchange. Accordingly the 
secretary of the Biological Club was author- 
ized to write Professor Racovitza and ask him 
for a list of journals which he would prefer 
to have in their library. In a letter under 
date of July 16, he submits the following 
list in order of his preference: (1) The 
American Naturalist, (2) Ecology, (3) Ge- 
netics, (4) Journal of General Physiology 
(Loeb), (5) Journal of Morphology, and (6) 
Journal of Experimental Zoology. 

The Biological Club is accordingly asking 
the publishers of The American Naturalist 
to send that journal to the library of the 
Institutul De Speologie, Universitatea Din 
Cluj, and bill the subscription price to the 
Club until further orders. 

We are publishing this note in Scmncr in 
the hope that similar scientific organizations 
will take like action. In case such action is 
taken by any organization it is suggested that 
it might be advisable in order to avoid send- 
ing duplicate journals to their library that a 
central clearing house of some sort should be 
established. If this seems best the under- 
signed would be glad to serve in this way. 


H. D. Barker, 
Secretary of the Biological Club 


THE TRUTH ABOUT VIVISECTION 
To tue Eprror or Scrence: In the Womans 
Home Companion for July, 1921, is the best 
paper on this subject I have ever seen called 
“The Truth about Vivisection” by Mr. 
Ernest Harold Baynes. Mr. Baynes first read 


SEPTEMBER 16, 1921] 


the literature on both sides and then visited 
practically all the laboratories from the Mayos’ 
at Rochester, Minnesota, to the eastern sea- 
board. He visited especially the Rockefeller 
Institute several times, also a number of Euro- 
pean laboratories. He became thoroughly con- 
vineed (1) that the experiments were not 
eruel, (2) that the statements in the litera- 
ture of the antivivisectionists were often 
garbled and utterly misleading, and (3) 
that the results to animals themselves as well 
as to human beings were of enormous benefit. 
Then he wrote the article, and Miss Lane, 
the editor of the Companion, bravely printed 
it. 

The especial significance of his writing such 
an article lies in his nation-wide reputation 
as a lover of animals and their protector. He 
is the father of all the bird-refuges in the 
United States. His lectures on animals have 
been heard everywhere, and when he approves 
of experiments on animals every one knows 
that he has good reasons for so doing. 

The fury of the antivivisectionists at once 
rose to fever heat. The New York Antivivi- 
section Society through its president, Mrs. 
Belais, sent out an extraordinary appeal call- 
ing him “one Ernest Harold Baynes ”—al- 
most as if one should write “one Herbert 
Hoover”! In a paragraph all in capitals 
Mrs. Belais called on all lovers of animals to 
help crush Miss Lane financially not only by 
cancelling their own subscriptions but by urg- 
ing all their friends to do the same—a nation- 
wide boycott. This extraordinary method 
will ensure a reaction in favor of Miss Lane 
because of its vindictive unfairness. It is not 
argument, it is persecution and is also illegal. 

It behooves the friend of scientific research 
and real lovers of animals to support Miss 
Lane by expressing to her by mail their ad- 
miration of her courage, and by adding their 
own names to the list of her subscribers. Her 
address is 881 4th Ave., New York, and the 
cost of a year’s subscription is only two dol- 
lars. She has received hundreds of letters 
from the A-Vs—many abusive. The Novem- 
ber and succeeding issues will contain some 
interesting reading. 


SCIENCE 


251 


Mr. Baynes has also been attacked by mail 
and by eancellation of engagements. It is up 
to us to sustain so doughty a champion. He 
has given the antivivisectionists the hardest 
blow I have known in 40 years. 


W. W. Keen 


QUOTATIONS 
CHEMISTRY AND THE PUBLIC 


Ir is fitting that 3,000 British, Canadian, 
and American chemists should be sitting to- 
gether at Columbia University, for they have 
been acting together for seven years. The 
chief feature of American chemical history 
after 1914 was the remarkable cooperation of 
American and Allied—especially British— 
chemists upon problems pertaining to muni- 
tions and other war essentials. They found 
themselves faced by a Germany which had 
built up its chemical industries by decades of 
shrewd effort. As Mr. Garvan said on 
Wednesday, the Germans had taken the dis- 
coveries of the British chemist Perkin—the 
Perkin Medal is one of our most prized scien- 
tific awards—and had made it the basis for 
a chemical technology unapproached else- 
where. Happily, we were able to build up 
some branches of industrial, agricultural, and 
electrical chemistry with a speed that sur- 
prised those who were unacquainted with our 
resourcefulness and our skill in research. By 
the end of 1915 the United States had the 
largest aniline plant in the world and was 
credited with nitric acid and nitro-cellulose 
plants three times greater than any others. 

Not since Syracuse waited for the inven- 
tions of Archimedes to beat off the Romans 
has attention been concentrated upon sci- 
ence in war-time as Americans concentrated 
it upon chemistry after 1917. We had been 
shocked into a realization that we had depend- 
ed upon Germany for medicines and dyes; 
that we had developed no independent potash 
resources; that we had done little with our 
Louisana sulphur; that we had looked to Chile 
for nitrates which we should have manu- 
factured in part for ourselves, and that we 
had wasted the precious by-products we might 


252 


have gained from coking. The results of our 
awakening are shown in the newly issued 
summary of the 1920 census. In 1914 the 
United States had 754 establishments manu- 
facturing chemicals, with products worth 
$200,195,800. In 1920 it had 1,874 establish- 
ments, with products worth $694,643,000. The 
increase in the value of the products in six 
years was 247 per cent. The manufacture of 
potash and potassium products was slightly 
more than twice as great—measured in value 
—as in 1914; that of acids about two and a 
half times as great; that of sodas and sodium 
almost three times as great, and that of coal 
tar products was $133,340,000, as against 
$8,839,000 in 1914, or about fifteen times as 
great. 

Gratifying as this progress is, the complex- 
ity of some essential chemical industries, the 
careful adjustments they must establish with 
other industries, render more progress neces- 
sary before we are safe. Leaders in the coal- 
tar business, which are vital to national de- 
fence, declare that although we have far 
surpassed all other nations except Germany 
and Switzerland, we need five years yet to 
make our position impregnable. For the 
time being many of our drug-making and 
dye-making firms—we had 213 companies 
making these and other coal-tar products 
last year—have a right to complete tariff pro- 
tection. The chemists at Columbia Univer- 
sity have adopted resolutions asking for a 
“selective embargo.” Any embargo needed 
in certain parts of this field can and should 
be provided by wise tariff legislation, and 
not, as some demand, by the arbitrary decrees 
of a licensing bureau.a—New York Evening 
Post. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
TRIPLOID INTERSEXES IN DROSOPHILA 
MELANOGASTER 1 


In an experiment made to determine the 
locus of the new second-chromosome recessive 
mutant “brown” by means of a back-cross 
with the well-known second-chromosome re- 
cessives plexus and speck, one culture was 

1 Paper read before the Pacifie Division A. A. 
A. 8., Univ. of Cal., Aug. 5, 1921. 


SCIENCE 


LN. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1394 


found that produced a total of 96 females, 9 
males, and about 80 individuals that were 
intermediates between males and females. 

The “ intersexes,” which were easily distin- 
guished from males and from females, were 
large-bodied, coarse-bristled flies with large 
roughish eyes and scolloped wing-margins. 
Sex-combs (a male character) were present 
on the tarsi of the fore-legs. The abdomen 
was intermediate between male and female in 
most characteristics. The external genitalia 
were preponderantly female. The gonads were 
typically rudimentary ovaries; and sperma- 
thece were present. Not infrequently one 
gonad was an ovary and the other a testis; 
or the same gonad might be mainly ovary 
with a testis budding from its side. The in- 
tersexes showed considerable variation, ap- 
parently forming a bimodal group—on the one 
hand a more “ female-type,” the extreme in- 
dividuals of which might even lack sex-combs, 
and, on the other hand, a more “ male-type,” 
many of the individuals having large testes 
and normal male genitalia. All intersexes 
proved sterile. 

Just as striking as the production of inter- 
sexes was the fact that the 96 females and 9 
males of that same culture showed three, in- 
stead of two, large classes representing origi- 
nal combinations, namely, plexus speck, plexus 
brown, and brown speck. Extensive tests were 
made of these flies; and each was found to 
have received from the father a second-chromo- 
some carrying plexus brown and speck, and to 
have received from the mother one of three 
different second-chromosomes, namely, a plexus 
brown, or a plexus speck, or a brown speck 
chromosome. That is, the mother of the in- 
tersexes had carried three second-chromosomes, 
instead of two. For each of the loci plexus, 
brown and speck she had carried two recessive 
genes for the mutant character and one wild- 
type allelomorph, with nearly complete domi- 
nance of the wild-type gene in each ease. 

A condition of triploidy for certain sections 
of chromosome had been met with in the pre- 
vious (unpublished) studies on duplications 
and on translocation; but that this triploidy 
was far more extensive soon became evident. 


SEPTEMBER 16, 1921] 


The third-chromosome recessive “ white-ocelli ” 
had been present in the original culture; and 
tests of the flies produced by that culture 
showed that white-ocelli was being distributed 
in the same abnormal fashion as were plexus 
brown and speck. Not only were the second- 
and third-chromosomes involved, but the X- 
chromosome as well, as was shown by specific 
tests with sex-linked characters. 

The hypothesis that the intersexes were 
triploid was easily put to test by direct cyto- 
logical examination. The chromosomes (which 
were unusually clear and well separated) con- 
sisted of two sets of three V’s (the two sets 
differing in the size of the V’s), a pair of rods, 
three or two small round chromosomes, and a 
J-shaped chromosome or not. That is, all 
intersexes possessed the second- and the third- 
chromosomes in triplicate and the X- in dupli- 
eate, but they might possess three or two 
fourth-chromosomes, and have or lack a Y- 
chromosome, so that four sub-types of intersex 
constitution were found. 

About ten per cent. of the daughters from 
the original culture, when tested, produced in 
turn intersexes and further disturbances of the 
linkage ratios. '‘lhese females were presum- 
ably triploid for all the chromosomes (except 
the fourth, which might be present in dupl- 
cate). It was then discovered that these inter- 
sex-producing females could be identified by 
their somatic characters, which were similar 
to, but less extreme than, those of the inter- 
sexes—namely, large size, coarse bristles, and 
large roughish eyes. Stocks producing trip- 
loids and intersexes were maintained more 
easily by taking advantage of the fact that 
triploid females carrying two white and one 
eosin gene have a pale yellow eye-color 
lighter than that of their diploid white-eosin 
sisters, and likewise that the third-chromosome 
dominant Delta is dominant over two reces- 
sive non-Delta genes, but the triploid hetero- 
zygote is markedly different from the diploid 
heterozygote. 

With material from these stocks genetical 
proof was obtained that the intersex-producing 
females possess in triplicate the loci for a 
large variety of first-, second- and third-chro- 


SCIENCE 


253 


mosome genes, and that they might possess 
fourth-chromosome loci in triplicate or in 
duplicate. This genetical finding, checked by 
cytological examination, extends the direct 
proof of the chromosome theory of heredity 
to specifie second- and third-group mutant 
characters and specific V-shaped chromosomes. 
Such direct proof had already been provided 
for certain sex-linked mutants and the rod- 
shaped chromosomes by the phenomena of non- 
disjunction of the X-chromosomes,? and more 
recently for the small round chromosome and 
the mutants of the “fourth” group through 
study of ‘“ Diminished” individuals haploid 
for that chromosome because of non-disjunc- 
tion.® 

In the triploid strain individuals triploid 
for the fourth-chromosome alone have been 
identified as a distinct somatic type, tested 
genetically in a variety of ways, and proved 
to be such by direct cytological examination. 

A significant new conclusion proved by the 
intersexes is that sex in D. melanogaster is 
determined by a balance between the genes 
contained in the X-chromosome and those con- 
tained in the autosomes. It is not the simple 
possession of two X-chromosomes that makes 
a female, and of one that makes a male. A 
preponderance of genes that are in the auto- 
somes tend toward the production of male 
characters; and the net effect of genes in the 
X is a tendency to the production of female 
characters. The ratio of 2X : 2 sets auto- 
somes, or 3X : 8 sets autosomes (or 1X: 1 
set autosome?) produces a female, while 1X : 2 
sets autosomes produces a male. An inter- 
mediate ratio, 2X : 3 sets autosomes, produces 
an intermediate condition—the intersex. The 
fourth-chromosome seems to have a dispro- 
portionately large share of the total male- 
producing genes; for there are indications that 
the triplo-fourth intersexes are preponderantly 
of the “male-type,” while the diplo-fourth 
intersexes are mainly “ female-type.” 

The condition 3X: 2 sets autosomes should 
be “ super-females,” and 1X: 3 sets autosomes 
“super-males.” Triploid females produce a 

2 Genetics, 1, 1916. 

3In press, Proc. Nat’! Acad. 


254 


small proportion of males that are somatically 
quite different from males and from inter- 
sexes and that are sterile. There is genetical 
evidence that these males are 1X: 3 sets 
autosomes in constitution. Studies of “ high 
non-disjunction” show that triplo-X indi- 
viduals ordinarily die, but in certain lines they 
occasionally survive as females that are so- 
matically quite different from diploid or trip- 
loid females and that are sterile. Such fe- 
males occur also in the progeny of triploid 
females; and, in the case of those produced by 
non-disjunction, both genetical and cytological 
proofs of their constitution (8X : 2 sets auto- 
somes) are now complete. 
Carvin B. Brees 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 
(Concluded) 
DIVISION OF DYE CHEMISTRY 


A, B. Davis, chairman 
R. Norris Shreve, secretary 


Contribution to the estimation of H acid: H. R. 
Ler. The stability of diazo-benzene and p-diazo- 
toluene is taken up from the standpoint of their 
use as standard volumetric solutions, Data show- 
ing the relative stability of these diazo salts both 
in acid and alkaline solution are presented. Tables 
showing comparative analyses of a large number 
of samples of commercial and pure H acids are 
given. The method used by the Newport Com- 
pany for the analysis of H acid is outlined. The 
use of p-diazo-toluene for the analysis of a number 
of amino-naphthol-sulfonic acids other than H 
acid is suggested. 

A new alizarin process: CHAS. W. SCHAFFER. 
This process depends on a cheap process for 
manufacture of pyrocatechol and then the syn- 
thesis of alizarin according to Baeyer and Caro 
from pyrocatecho] and phthalic anhydride. Phenol 
is nitrated and reduced wth zine giving ortho and 
para amino-phenol. This is diazotized, not filtered 
and the diazo solution run directly into the still. 
In the distillation the diazonium chloride, being 
unstable, is decomposed—water and acid first com- 
ing off—and at 243-245° C. the pure pyrocatechol 
comes over. The p-amino-phenol may also be di- 
azotized and sublimed, giving hydroquinone. 

Bleaching of dyed cotton fabrics: J. Merritt 
MATTHEWS. Owing to the demand of the Ameri- 
can public for more cotton goods with larger va- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. LIV. No. 1394 


riety of colors it was necessary to modify the 
old-fashioned method of bleaching in order to 
properly preserve the color and also to produce a 
satisfactory bleached fabric. The extension of 
cotton goods in the field of wearing apparel has 
been made possible to great degree by the fact 
that a variety of color effects can now be em- 
ployed. This has been very beneficial to many of 
our manufacturing enterprises and has also made 
it possible to use the cheaper staple cotton in 
place of the more expensive staples of wool and 
silk. Furthermore, it has led to the development 
of apparel materials which can meet the conditions 
of modern treatment in the laundry. There is an 
ever inereasing demand for faster dyes owing to 
the fact that modern methods of usage are such as 
to put a very severe burden on the color. It has 
been the endeavor of the dyestuff manufacturers 
to inerease continually the line of such fast dyes 
for the purpose not only of enlarging the color 
palette, but also of simplifying the method of 
dyeing so that the dyer is not more inconvenienced 
by the use of these fast dyes than he would be by 
using the more fugitive colors, 


The immediate needs of chemistry in America: 
WILLIAM J. Hate. The industries are fast ridding 
themselves of poorly trained chemists and hence 
the recent period of business depression has come 
in this respect like a godsend to chemistry in 
America. <A classification of chemists everywhere 
is attempted. In order that industrial advance- 
ment may be made all the more apparent, the 
highest development of the several classes of chem- 
ists is an absolute necessity. Four distinct factors 
constitute the immediate needs of chemistry in 
America, the most pertinent being the development 
of chemists with engineering training. In fact, 
physics and engineering are no less important than 
chemistry itself in the training of the young 
chemist. The greatest need for the future as 
well as for the present is the collaboration of uni- 
yersities and industries upon researches which 
take their rise from industrial problems. 


Contribution to the chemistry of malachite green: 
JosrepH R. MinevitcH. Tetramethyldiamidotri- 
phenyl methane, which is prepared by tne con- 
densation of dimethylaniline and benzaldehyde in 
the presence of hydrochloric acid, when oxidized 
with lead peroxide as a solution of the dihydro- 
chloride either with or without sufficient acetic 
acid does not give exclusively the tetramethyl- 
diamidotriphenyl carbinol. The  tetracarbinol 
possesses crystalline properties and forms mala- 


SEPTEMBER 16, 1921] 


chite green crystals either as the oxalate or the 
zine double chloride salt. What actually does form 
in this reaction is a mixture of carbinols, one of 
which—probably a triphenyl derivative—possesses 
little or no crystalline properties and forms amor- 
phous salts with oxalie acid or zine chloride. 
Hydrochloric acid corresponding to the methane 
dihydrochloride and in the presence of at least 
2.25 molecules of acetic acid gives the maximum 
of tetramethyl derivative. Oxidation without 
acetic acid produces a earbinol or a mixture of 
earbinols which is so weak in erystalline properties 
as to form little or none of the crystalline mala- 
chite green salts. 


C. R. 
The following import statistics are 


Imports of dyes by classes during 1920: 
DE Lone. 
presented; 


Vat dyes other than indigo. 855,000 Ibs. 


Mordant and chrome dyes... 840,000 Ibs. 
AGL ChE cb oooceb cou cepoT 765,000 Ibs. 
Direct dyesiye jessie ere: 595,000 Ibs. 
Sulfuridyesienernen crete: 255,000 Ibs. 
IBASichidyesh iets sere utters 200,000 Ibs. 
HT aS OMe Muay el tesveqneeve renal 171,000 Ibs. 


Dyes derived from beta-oxynaphthoic acid and 
from J-acid with reference to the Chemical Founda- 
tion patents: A, WILLIARD JoycE. The colors made 
from beta-oxynaphthoie acid are mostly insoluble 
in water and oil, and are of special interest to the 
makers of lake-pigments. Those derived from the 
arylamides of beta-oxynaphthoie acid are of value 
as pigments and also as colors developed directly 
on cotton when used in combination with a di- 
azotized arylamine. This class of colors has been 
developed chiefly by the German firms of Meister 
Lucius and Bruning and Griesheim-Elektron. The 
dyes derived from J-acid are valuable direct cot- 
ton colors of good fastness, especially to acids and 
of great clearness and brilliancy of shade. These 
colors from J-acid and J-acid derivatives have 
been greatly developed by leading German dye 
manufacturers: the Bayer Company, Cassella and 
Co., Meister Lucius and Bruning, and Kalle and 
Co. The Chemical Foundation, Inc., owns patents 
which cover dyes made from the above inter- 
mediates. 


The quantitative determination of phenanthrene: 
ArTHUR G, WILLIAMS. Phenanthrene in crude 
phenanthrenes may be quantitatively determined 
by oxidation in glacial acetic acid solution by 
jodie acid to phenanthraquinone followed by pre- 
cipitation of the quinone, also in glacial acetic acid 


SCIENCE 


255 


solution, as toluphenanthrazine by 3,4-tolylene di- 
amine. The hydrocarbon may be conveniently de- 
tected qualitatively by oxidation in glacial acetic 
acid solution by means of KBrO, or HIO, followed 
by precipitation by water, filtration, extraction of 
the residue by NaHSO,, liberation of the quinone 
by means of HCl and FeCl,, extraction with CCL, 
and final detection of phenanthraquinone by means 
of the Hilpert and Wolf test with SbCl, in CCk. 

Alkali fusions. III. Fusions of phenylglycine 
o-carboaylic acid with potassium hydroxide and 
with sodium hydroxide for the production of in- 
digo: MAX PHILLIPS. 


Vapor pressure determinations on naphthalene, 
anthracene, phenanthrene, and anthraquinone be- 
tween their melting and boiling points: O. A. NEL- 
son and C. E. SENSEMAN. 


Nomenclature of dyestuff intermediates: J. 
WARREN KINSMAN. 


SECTION OF PETROLEUM CHEMISTRY 


T. G. Delbridge, chairman 
W. A. Gruse, secretary 


Petroleum hydrocarbons that can not be dis- 
tilled: C, F. MAaBrry. 


Petroleum: a raw material for our chemical in- 


dustries: SIDNEY Born. 


Some chemical considerations of petroleum re- 
fining: B. T. Brooxs. Chemical investigation 
has played a relatively unimportant part in the 
petroleum industry. Reasons advanced for this 
are: (1) Petroleum has been plentiful and crude 
methods profitable. (2) Research has been re- 
garded as unprofitable ‘‘wild catting.’’ (3) Ini- 
tiative and spirit of research has been killed by 
the policy of secrecy. (4) Petroleum technologists 
are unorganized and inarticulate. (5) Fundamen- 
tal or theoretical research in this branch of or- 
ganic chemistry has been comparatively neglected. 
(6) Chemists have been poorly and narrowly 
trained. Several factors which are improving this 
situation are given. It is important to minimize 
refining losses. Many opinions previously held 
in regard to olefines are untenable. 

Oil shale: R. F. Bacon. 


Determination of gasoline in natural and casing- 
head gas: CHARLES SKEELE PALMER, 

Dechlorination of chlorohydrocarbons: 
FARAGHER and F, H. GARNER. 


SW lve 


Determination of moisture in transformer oils: 
C. J. RopMAN. 


256 


Viscosity—temperature curves of fractions of 
typical American crude oils: E, W. DEAN and F, 
W. LANE. 

Iodine numbers of unsaturated hydrocarbons 
and cracked gasolines: W. F. FARAGHER, F. H. 
GARNER and W. A. GRUSE. 

The reclamation of used motor oils: WILLIAM 
F. ParisH. The disposal of used motor oils is 
becoming a serious problem. The chief reason 
for their poor quality, as recovered from the 
motor, is the dilution with approximately 30 per 
cent. of heavy ends from motor fuel. By washing 
with a water solution of soda ash and distilling 
off the diluent, airplane motor oils were recovered 
ten times and more at one aviation camp during 
the war and gave better service than new oils. 
The improvement in recovered oils is due to the 
removal of low boiling constituents. 

Total heats and condensation points of kero- 
sene-air mixtures: Rospert E. WILson and D. 
P. BARNARD, 

A new method of color measurement for oils: 
LEon W. Parsons and Ropert E. WILSON. 


Catalytic oxidation of petroleum oils: 
WATERS. 

Viscosities of motor oils at high temperatures: 
L. B. LockHart. (By title.) 


C. E. 


DIVISION OF WATER, SEWERAGE AND SANITATION 


W. P. Mason, chairman 
W. W. Skinner, secretary 


Reactions in the Dorr-Peck tank: A. M. Bus- 
WELL. 

Definition of alkalinity and temporary hardness: 
A. M. BUSWELL. 

Notes on the analysis of mine drainage water: 
JosEpH A, SHaw and N. A. Barry. 


Method for the determination of free and com- 
bined carbon dioxide: JosrpH A, SHAW. 

Radioactivity of miscellaneous waters examined 
in the Bureau of Chemistry: W. W. SKINNER and 
J. W. Sate, Analyses of radioactivity of eleven 
spring waters collected at source by a representa- 
tive of the Bureau of Chemistry, of eight river, 
lake and ocean waters, of fifteen commercial do- 
mestic bottled waters, and of twelve imported 
bottled waters, are tabulated. The significance 
of the data depends on the fact that no com- 
mercial bottled water of natural origin has been 
found to contain sufficient radioactivity, either tem- 
porary or permanent, to warrant its purchase by 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1394 


consumers because of its content of radioactivity. 
In order to obtain the minimum daily dose of ema- 
nation from the most radioactive sample examined, 
it would be necessary to consume 2,810 gallons of 
water daily, and to obtain the minimum daily dose 
of radioactive salt from the most radioactive sam- 
ple examined, it would be necessary to consume 
2,935 gallons of water daily. To obtain the maxi- 
mum doses, it would be necessary to consume daily 
at least ten times these amounts, or 28,100 and 
29,350 gallons of water respectively. It is con- 
cluded, therefore, that shippers of bottled waters 
are not justified in making any statments on the 
labels which will induce prospective consumers to 
purchase the articles because of their radioactivity. 


A comparison of some miscellaneous samples of 
ocean, bay and lake waters: W. W. SKINNER and 
W. E. SHarrer. In considering the composition 
of a water, two things must be borne in mind, (1) 
the amount of dissolved mineral matter per unit 
volume which may be termed the concentration of 
the water, and (2) the character or composition 
of this dissolved mineral matter. The waters of 
Chesapeake Bay near Chesapeake Beach, of the 
Gulf of Mexico off Galveston, Texas, of the At- 
lantie Ocean off Boston, and of the Pacific Ocean 
off San Francisco, while varying in concentration, 
are shown to contain the same constituents in al- 
most exactly the same relative proportions. There- 
fore, the mineral matter dissolved in the rivers 
flowing into Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of 
Mexico does not materially affect the composition 
of those waters. Although the concentration of 
the sea water is greater at rising tide than at 
falling tide, yet the percentage composition of the 
dissolved mineral matter in the water remains 
practically unaffected by the inflow and outflow 
of the tide. The mineral matter dissolved in 
certain North Dakota and Utah lakes is somewhat 
similar in composition to the mineral matter dis- 
solved in Atlantic Ocean water. However, the 
difference in calcium content between these 
North Dakota and Utah lakes is noteworthy. The 
dissolved mineral matter in the three North Da- 
kota lakes contains 4.54 per cent. calcium, while 
that in the six Utah lakes contains only 0.92 per 
cent. calcium. These lakes are from one fifteenth 
to two and three quarters times as concentrated as 
Atlantie Ocean water. 

The present status of chlorination of public water 
supply: S. T. Powe... 

CHarLes L. Parsons, 
Secretary 


SCIENC 


NEw SERIES 6 Smneie Copris, 15 Cts. 
Vou. LIV, No. 1895 Fripay, SEPTEMBER 23, 1921 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, $6.00 


NEW LABORATORY E cIIPMENT | 


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SCIENCE | 


Frmay, SEPTEMBER 23, 1921 


Address of the President of the British Asso- 
ciation for the Advancement of Science: 
SRSLY HD WARDMEHORPE s,s ccrleelcteye ie ciwiers ele 257 


Aerial Observation of Earthquake Rifts: Dr. 


BATT Ya VVLLLALS i velcclereleteverslcleleielevensversisiele clove 266 


Scientific Events: 
International Exploration of the Upper Air; 
The World’s Supply of Wheat; An English 
View of American Biology; The Retirement 


Of Dr WED SONA AUA See ate ereialne se eiels 268 
Scientific Notes and News.......... Go00poe cH 
University and Educational News.......... 273 


Discussion and Correspondence : 
Sauropod Dinosaur Remains in the Upper 
Cretaceous of New Mexico: CHARLES W. GIL- 
MoRE. Leaf Stripe Disease of Sugar Cane in 


the Philippines: Dr. H. ATHERTON LEE 
and Martano G. MrepatLa. English Pronun- 
ciation for the Metric System: PROFESSOR 
THADDEUS L. Botton. Gregor Mendel and 
the Support of Scientific Work at Briinn: 
Proressor H. B, BABCOCK........ olepetenetevate 274 

Notes on Meteorology and Climatology: 
Determining the True Mean Temperature: 


C. LrRoy MB&ISINGER............ etehone ur elat 276 
Special Articles: 

On the Elimination of the X-chromosome 

from the Egg of Drosophila melanogaster by 


X-rays: Dr. JAMES W. Mavor. Epidemic 
Pneumonia in Reptiles: Dr. G. A. Mac- 
GATT UME We neletoriospel lack cvare) epsietetaleh sie cheleves 277 
The Ohio Academy of Science: PROFESSOR Ep- 
WAR DML MMEUI CH rele apecveucraistaecsuctatceevers eo teuet tas 281 


MSS. intended for ‘publication and books, etc.,intended for 
Teview should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. 


————SSS=a 
ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE 
BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE1 


II 


I tTurN now to a question of scientific 
interest which is attracting general attention 
at the present time. It is directly connected 
with Lord Kelvin’s address fifty years ago. 

The molecular theory of matter—a theory 
which in its erudest form has descended to us 
from the earliest times and which has been 
elaborated by various speculative thinkers 
through the intervening ages, hardly rested 
upon an experimental basis until within the 
memory of men still living. When Lord 
Kelvin spoke in 1871, the best-established 
development of the molecular hypothesis was 
exhibited in the kinetic theory of gases as 
worked out by Joule, Clausius, and Clerk-Max- 
well. As he then said, no such comprehensive 
molecular theory had ever been even imagined 
before the nineteenth century. But, with the 
eye of faith, he clearly perceived that, definite 
and complete in its area as it was, it was “ but 
a well-drawn part of a great chart, in which all 
physical science will be represented with every 
property of matter shown in dynamical rela- 
tion to the whole. The prospect we now have 
of an early completion of this chart is based 
on the assumption of atoms. But there can 
be no permanent satisfaction to the mind in 
explaining heat, light, elasticity, diffusion, 
electricity and magnetism, in gases, liquids 
and solids, and describing precisely the rela- 
tions of these different states of matter to one 
another by statistics of great numbers of atoms 
when properties of the atom itself are simply 
assumed. When the theory, of which we 
have the first instalment in Clausius and Max- 
well’s work, is complete, we are but brought 
face to face with a superlatively grand ques- 


1 Edinburgh, September 7, 1921. 


258 


tion: “ What is the inner mechanism of the 
atom?” 

If the properties and affections of matter 
are dependent upon the inner mechanism of 
the atom, an atomic theory, to be valid, 
must comprehend and explain the all. There 
can not be one kind of atom for the physicist 
and another for the chemist. The nature of 
chemical affinity and of valency, the modes 
of their action, the difference in characteris- 
tics of the chemical elements, even their 
number, internal constitution, periodic posi- 
tion, and possible isotopic rearrangements 
must be accounted for and explained by it. 
Fifty years ago chemists, for the most part, 
rested in the comfortable belief of the exist- 
ence of atoms in the restricted sense in which 
Dalton, as a legacy from Newton, had im- 
agined them. Lord Kelvin, unlike the chem- 
ists, had never been in the habit of “ evading 
questions as to the hardness or indivisibility 
of atoms by virtually assuming them to be 
infinitely small and infinitely numerous.” 
Nor, on the other hand, did he realize, with 
Boscovich, the atom “as a mystic point en- 
dowed with inertia and the attribute of at- 
tracting or repelling other such centers.” 
Science advances not so much by funda- 
mental alterations in its beliefs as by addi- 
tions to them. Dalton would equally have 
regarded the atom “as a piece of matter of 
measurable dimensions, with shape, motion, 
and laws of action, intelligible subjects of 
scientific investigation.” 

In spite of the fact that the atomic theory, 
as formulated by Dalton, has been generally 
accepted for nearly a century, it is only with- 
in the last few years that physicists have ar- 
rived at a conception of the structure of the 
atom sufficiently precise to be of service to 
chemists in connection with the relation be- 
tween the properties of elements of different 
kinds, and in throwing light on the mechan- 
ism of chemical combination. 

This further investigation of the “ superla- 
tively grand question—the inner mechanism 
of the atom,”—has profoundly modified the 
basic conceptions of chemistry. It has led to 
a great extension of our views concerning the 


(73 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1395 


real nature of the chemical elements. The 
discovery of the electron, the production of 
helium in the radioactive disintegration of 
atoms, the recognition of the existence of 
isotopes, the possibility that all elementary 
atoms are composed either of helium atoms or 
of atoms of hydrogen and helium, and that 
these atoms, in their turn, are built up of two 
constituents, one of which is the electron, a 
particle of negative electricity whose mass is 
only 1/1800 of that of an atom of hydrogen, 
and the other a particle of positive electricity 
whose mass is practically identical with that of 
the same atom—the outcome, in short, of the 
collective work of Soddy, Rutherford, J. J. 
Thomson, Collie, Moseley and others—are 
pregnant facts which have completely altered - 
the fundamental aspects of the science. 
Chemical philosophy has, in fact, now definite- 
ly entered on a new phase. 

Looking back over the past, some indica- 
tions of the coming change might have been 
perceived wholly unconnected, of course, with 
the recent experimental work which has served 
to ratify it. Im a short paper entitled 
“Speculative ideas respecting the constitu- 
tion of matter,” originally published in 1863, 
Graham conceived that the various kinds of 
matter, now recognized as different elementary 
substances, may possess one and the same 
ultimate or atomic molecule existing in differ- 
ent conditions of movement. This idea, in 
its essence, may be said to be as old as the 
time of Leucippus. To Graham as to Leucip- 
pus “the action of the atom as one substance 
taking various forms by combinations un- 
limited, was enough to account for all the 
phenomena of the world. By separation and 
union with constant motion all things could 
be done.” But Graham developed the con- 
ception by independent thought, and in the 
light of experimentally ascertained knowl- 
edge which the world owes to his labors. 
He might have been cognizant of the 
speculations of the Greeks, but there is 
no evidence that he was knowingly influ- 
enced by them. In his paper Graham uses 
the terms atom and molecule if not exactly 
in the same sense that modern teaching de- 


SEPTEMBER 23, 1921] 


mands, yet very differently from that hitherto 
required by the limitations of contempor- 
ary chemical doctrine. He conceives of 
a lower order of atoms than the chemi- 
eal atom of Dalton, and founds on_ his 
conception an explanation of chemical 
combination based upon a fixed combining 
measure, which he terms the metron, its rela- 
tive weight being one for hydrogen, sixteen 
for oxygen, and so on with the other so-called 
“elements.” Graham, in fact, like Davy be- 
fore him, never committed himself to a belief 
in the indivisibility of the Daltonian atom. 
The original atom may, he thought, be far 
down. 

The idea of a primordial ylé, or of the es- 
sential unity of matter, has persisted through- 
out the ages, and in spite of much experi- 
mental work, some of it of the highest order, 
which was thought to have demolished it, it 
has survived, revivified and supported by 
analogies and arguments drawn from every 
field of natural inquiry. This idea of course 
was at the basis of the hypothesis of Prout, 
but which, even as modified by Dumas, 
was held to be refuted by the monu- 
mental work of Stas. But, as pointed out 
by Marignac and Dumas, any one who will 
impartially look at the facts can hardly escape 
the feeling that there must be some reason 
for the frequent recurrence of atomic weights 
differing by so little from the numbers re- 
quired by the law which the work of Stas was 
supposed to disprove. The more exact study 
within recent years of the methods of de- 
termining atomic weights, the great improve- 
ment in experimental appliances and tech- 
nique, combined with a more rigorous standard 
of accuracy demanded by a general recogni- 
tion of the far-reaching importance of an 
exact knowledge of these physical constants, 
has resulted in intensifying the belief that 
some natural law must be at the basis of the 
fact that so many of the most carefully de- 
termined atomic weights on the oxygen stand- 
ard are whole numbers. Nevertheless there 
were well authenticated exceptions which 
seemed to invalidate its universality. The 
proved fact that a so-called element may be 


SCIENCE 259 


a mixture of isotopes—substances of the same 
chemical attributes but of varying atomic 
weight—has thrown new light on the ques- 
tion. It is now recognized that the fractional 
values independently established in the case 
of any one element by the most accurate ex- 
perimental work of various investigators are, 
in effect, “statistical quantities” dependent 
upon a mixture of isotopes. This result, in- 
deed, is a necessary corollary of modern con- 
ceptions of the inner mechanism of the atom. 
The theory that all elementary atoms are com- 
posed of helium atoms, or of helium and 
hydrogen atoms, may be regarded as an ex- 
tension of Prout’s hypothesis, with, however, 
this important distinction, that whereas 
Prout’s hypothesis was at best a surmise, with 
little, and that little only weak, experimental 
evidence to support it, the new theory is 
directly deduced from well-established facts. 
The hydrogen isotope H,, first detected by 
J. J. Thomson, of which the existence has 
been confirmed by Aston, would seem to be 
an integral part of atomic structure. Ruther- 
ford, by the disruption of oxygen and nitro- 
gen has also isolated a substance of mass 3 
which enters into the structure of atomic 
nuclei, but which he regards as an isotope 
of helium, which itself is built up of four 
hydrogen nuclei together with two cementing 
electrons. The atomic nuclei of elements of 
even atomic number would appear to be com- 
posed of helium nuclei only, or of helium 
nuclei with cementing electrons; whereas 
those of elements of odd atomic number are 
made up of helium and hydrogen nuclei to- 
gether with cementing electrons. In the case 
of the lighter elements of the latter class the 
number of hydrogen nuclei associated with 
the helium nuclei is invariably three, except 
in that of nitrogen where it is two. The 
frequent occurrence of this group of three 
hydrogen nuclei indicates that it is structural- 
ly an isotope of hydrogen with an atomic 
weight of three and a nuclear charge of one. 
It is surmised that it is identical with the 
hypothetical “nebulium” from which our 
“elements” are held by astro-physicists to 


260 


be originally produced in the stars through 
hydrogen and helium. 

These results are of extraordinary interest 
as bearing on the question of the essential 
unity of matter and the mode of genesis of 
the elements. Members of the British As- 
sociation may recall the suggestive address 
on this subject of the late Sir William 
Crookes, delivered to the Chemical Section 
at the Birmingham meeting of 1886, in which 
he questioned whether there is absolute uni- 
formity in the mass of the atoms of a chemic- 
al element, as postulated by Dalton. He 
thought, with Marignac and Schutzenberger, 
who had previously raised the same doubt, 
that it was not improbable that what we term 
an atomic weight merely represents a mean 
value around which the actual weights of the 
atoms vary within narrow limits, or, in other 
words, that the mean mass is “a statistical 
constant of great stability.” No valid experi- 
mental evidence in support of this surmise 
was or could be offered at the time it was 
uttered. Maxwell pointed out that the pheno- 
mena of gaseous diffusion, as then ascertained, 
would seem to negative the supposition. If 
hydrogen, for example, were composed of 
atoms of varying mass it should be possible 
to separate the lighter from the heavier atoms 
by diffusion through a porous septum. “ As 
no chemist,” said Maxwell, “has yet obtained 
specimens of hydrogen differing in this way 
from other specimens, we conclude that all 
the molecules of hydrogen are of sensibly the 
same mass, and not merely that their mean 
mags is a statistical constant of great stabil- 
ity.” But against this it may be doubted 
whether any chemist had ever made experi- 
ments sufficiently precise to solve this point. 

The work of Sir Norman Lockyer on the 
spectroscopic evidence for the dissociation of 
“elementary ” matter at transcendental tem- 
peratures, and the possible synthetic intro- 
stellar production of elements, through the 
helium of which he originally detected the ex- 
istence, will also find its due place in the 
history of this new philosophy. 

1Clerk-Maxwell, Art. ‘¢Atom,’? Ency. Brit., 
9th Hd. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1395 


Sir J. J. Thomson was the first to afford 
direct evidence that the atoms of an element, 
if not exactly of the same mass, were at least 
approximately so, by his method of analysis 
of positive rays. By an extension of this 
method Mr. F. W. Aston has succeeded in 
showing that a number of elements are in 
reality mixtures of isotopes. It has been 
proved, for example, that neon, which has a 
mean atomic weight of about 20.2, consists 
of two isotopes having the atomic weights 
respectively of 20 and 22, mixed in the pro- 
portion of 90 per cent. of the former with 10 
per cent. of the latter. By fractional dif- 
fusion through a porous septum an apparent 
difference of density of 0.7 per cent. between 
the lightest and heaviest fractions was ob- 
tained. The kind of experiment which Max- 
well imagined proved the invariability of the 
hydrogen atom has sufficed to show the con- 
verse in the case of neon. : 

The element chlorine has had its atomic 
weight repeatedly determined, and, for spe- 
cial reasons, with the highest attainable ac- 
curacy. On the oxygen standard it is 35.46, 
and this value is accurate to the second deci- 
mal place. All attempts to prove that it is a 
whole number—35 or 86—have failed. When, 
however, the gas is analyzed by the same 
method as that used in the ease of neon it 
is found to consist of at least two isotopes of 
relative mass 35 and 87. There is no evidence 
whatever of an individual substance having 
the atomic weight 35.46. Hence chlorine is 
to be regarded as a complex element consist- 
ing of two principal isotopes of atomic weights 
35 and 87 present in such proportion as to 
afford the mean mass 385.46. The atomic 
weight of chlorine has been so frequently 
determined by various observers and by vari- 
ous methods with practically identical results 
that it seems difficult to believe that it consists 
of isotopes present in definite and invariable 
proportion. Mr. Aston meets this objection by 
pointing out that all the accurate determina- 
tions have been made with chlorine derived 
originally from the same source, the sea, which 
has been perfectly mixed for wons. If samples 
of the element could be obtained from some 


SEPTEMBER 23, 1921] 


other original source it is possible that other 
values of atomic weight would be obtained, 
exactly as in the case of lead in which the 
existence of isotopes in the metal found in 
various radioactive minerals was first con- 
clusively established. 

Argon, which has an atomic weight of 
39.88, was found to. consist mainly of an 
atomic weight of 40, associated to the extent 
of about 3 per cent. with an isotope of atomic 
weight 86. Krypton and xenon are far more 
complex. The former would appear to consist 
of six isotopes, 78, 80, 82, 88, 84, 86; the 
latter of five isotopes, 129, 131, 132, 134, 1386. 

Fluorine is a simple element of atomic 
weight 19. Bromine consists of equal quanti- 
ties of two isotopes, 79 and 81. Jodine, on 
the contrary, would appear to be a simple 
element of atomic weight 127. The case of 
tellurium is of special interest in view of its 
periodic relation to iodine, but the results of 
its examination up to the present are indefi- 
nite. 

Boron and silicon are complex elements, 
each consisting of two isotopes, 10 and 11, and 
28 and 29, respectively. 

Sulphur, phosphorus, and arsenic are ap- 
parently simple elements. Their accepted 
atomic weights are practically integers. 

All this work is so recent that there has 
been little opportunity, as yet, of extending it 
to any considerable number of the metallic 
elements. These, as will be obvious from the 
nature of the methods employed, present 
special difficulties. It is, however, highly 
probable that mercury is a mixed element 
consisting of many isotopes. These have been 
partially separated by Brénsted and Hervesy 
by fractional distillation at very low pres- 
sures, and have been shown to vary very slight- 
ly in density. Lithium is found to consist of 
two isotopes, 6 and 7. Sodium is simple, 
potassium and rubidium are complex, each of 
the two latter elements consisting, apparently, 
of two isotopes. The accepted atomic weight 
of cesium, 132.81, would indicate complexity, 
but the mass spectrum shows only one line 
at 133. Should this be confirmed cesium 
would afford an excellent test case. The ac- 


SCIENCE 


261 


cepted value for the atomic weight is suf- 
ficiently far removed from a whole number 
to render further investigation desirable. 

This imperfect summary of Mr. Aston’s 
work is mainly based upon the account he 
recently gave to the Chemical Society. At 
the close of his lecture he pointed out the 
significance of the results in relation to the 
Periodic Law. It is clear that the order of 
the chemical or “mean” atomic weights in 
the periodic table has no practical signifi- 
cance; anomalous cases such as argon and 
potassium are simply due to the relative pro- 
portions of their heavier and lighter isotopes. 
This does not necessarily invalidate or even 
weaken the periodic law which still remains 
the expression of a great natural truth. That 
the expression as Mendeléeff left it is im- 
perfect has long been recognized. The new 
light we have now gained has gone far to clear 
up much that was anomalous, especially Mose- 
ley’s discovery that the real sequence is the 
atomic number, not the atomic weight. This 
is one more illustration of the fact that sci- 
ence advances by additions to its beliefs 
rather than by fundamental or revolutionary 
changes in them. 

The bearing of the electronic theory of 
matter, too, on Prout’s discarded hypothesis 
that the atoms of all elements were them- 
selves built up of a primordial atom—his 
protyle which he regarded as probably identi- 
cal with hydrogen—is too obvious to need 
pointing out. In a sense Prout’s hypothesis 
may be said to be now reestablished, but with 
this essential modification—the primordial 
atoms he imagined are complex and are of 
two kinds—atoms of positive and negative 
electricity—respectively known as protons and 
electrons. These, in Mr. Aston’s words, are 
the standard bricks that nature employs in 
her operations of element building. 

The true value of any theory consists in 
its comprehensiveness and sufficiency. As ap- 
plied to chemistry, this theory of “the inner 
mechanism of the atom” must explain all its 
phenomena. We owe to Sir J. J. Thomson 
its extension to the explanation of the periodic 
law, the atomic number of an element, and 


262 


of that varying power of chemical combina- 
tion in an element we term valency. This 
explanation I give substantially in his own 
words. The number of electrons in an atom 
of the different elements has now been deter- 
mined, and has been found to be equal to the 
atomic number of the element, that is to the 
position which the element occupies in the 
series when the elements are arranged in the 
order of their atomic weights. We know now 
the nature and quantity of the materials of 
which the atoms are made up. The proper- 
ties of the atom will depend not only upon 
these factors but also upon the way in which 
the electrons are arranged in the atom. This 
arrangement will depend on the forces be- 
tween the electrons themselves and also on 
those between the electrons and the positive 
charges or protons. One arrangement which 
naturally suggested itself is that the positive 
charges should be at the center with the nega- 
tive electrons around it on the surface of a 
sphere. Mathematical investigation shows 
that this is a possible arrangement if the elec- 
trons on the sphere are not too crowded. The 
mutual repulsion of the electrons resents 
overcrowding, and Sir J. J. Thomson has 
shown that when there are more than a certain 
number of electrons on the sphere, the at- 
traction of a positive charge, limited as in 
the case of the atom in magnitude to the sum 
of the charges on the electrons, is not able 
to keep the electrons in stable equilibrium on 
the sphere, the layer of electrons explodes and 
a new arrangement is formed. The number 
of electrons which can be accommodated on 
the outer layer will depend upon the law of 
force between the positive charge and the 
electrons. Sir J. J. Thomson has shown that 
this number will be eight with a law of force 
of a simple type. 

To show the bearing of this result as af- 
fording an explanation of the Periodic Law, 
let us, to begin with, take the case of the 
atom of lithium, which is supposed to have 
one electron in the outer layer. As each ele- 
ment has one more free electron in its atom 
than its predecessor, glucinum, the element 
next in succession to lithium, will have two 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1395 


electrons in the outer layer of its atom, boron 
will have three, carbon four, nitrogen five, 
oxygen six, fluorine seven and neon eight. 
As there can not be more than eight electrons 
in the outer layer, the additional electron in 
the atom of the next element, sodium, can not 
find room in the same layer as the other elec- 
trons, but will go outside, and thus the atom 
of sodium, like that of lithium, will have one 
electron in its outer layer. The additional 
electron, in the atom of the next element, 
magnesium, will join this, and the atom of 
magnesium, like that of glucinum, will have 
two electrons in the outer layer. Again, 
aluminium, like boron, will have three; sili- 
con, like carbon, four; phosphorus, like nitro- 
gen, five; sulphur, like oxygen, six; chlorine, 
like fluorine,’ seven; and argon, like neon, 
eight. The sequence will then begin again. 
Thus the number of electrons, one, two, three, 
up to eight in the outer layer of the atom, 
will recur periodically as we proceed from 
one element to another in the order of their 
atomic weights, so that any property of an 
elenient which depends on the number of 
electrons in the outer layer of its atom will 
also recur periodically, which is precisely 
that remarkable property of the elements 
which is expressed by the periodic law of 
Mendeléeff, or the law of octaves of New- 
lands. 

The valency of the elements, like their 
periodicity, is a consequence of the principle 
that equilibrium becomes unstable when 
there are more than eight electrons in the 
outer layer of the atom. For on this view 
the chemical combination between two atoms, 
A and B, consists in the electrons of A 
getting linked up with those of B. Consider 
an atom like that of neon, which has already 
eight electrons in its outer layer; it can not 
find room for any more, so that no atoms 
can be linked to it, and thus it can not form 
any compounds. Now take an atom of flour- 
ine, which has seven electrons in its outer 
layer; it can find room for one, but only one, 
electron, so that it can unite with one, but 
not with more than one, atom of an element 
like hydrogen, which has one electron in the 


SEPTEMBER 23, 1921] 


outer layer. Fluorine, accordingly, is mono- 
valent. The oxygen atom has six electrons; 
it has, therefore, room for two more, and so 
ean link up with two atoms of hydrogen: 
hence oxygen is divalent. Similarly nitrogen, 
which has five electrons and three vacant 
places, will be trivalent, and so on. On this 
view an element should have two valencies, 
the sum of the two being equal to eight. 
Thus, to take oxygen as an example, it has 
only two vacant places, and so can only find 
room for the electrons of two atoms; it has, 
however, six electrons available for filling up 
the vacant places in other atoms, and as there 
is only one vacancy to be filled in a fluorine 
atom the electrons in an oxygen atom could 
fill up the vacancies in six fluorine atoms, 
and thereby attach these atoms to it. A 
fluoride of oxygen of this composition re- 
mains to be discovered, but its analogue, 
SF,, first made known by Moissan, is a com- 
pound of this type. The existence of two 
valencies for an element is in accordance 
with views put forward some time ago by 
Abegg and Bédlander. Professor Lewis and 
Mr. Irving Langmuir have developed, with 
great ingenuity and success, the consequences 
which follow from the hypothesis that an 
octet of electrons surrounds the atoms in 
chemical compounds. 

The term “atomic weight” has thus ac- 
quired for the chemist an altogether new and 
much wider significance. It has long been 
recognized that it has a far deeper import 
than as a constant useful in chemical arithme- 
tic. For the ordinary purposes of quantitative 
analysis, of technology, and of trade, these 
constants may be said to be now known with 
sufficient accuracy. But in view of their bear- 
ing on the great problem of the essential 
nature of matter and on the “superlatively 
grand question, What is the inner mechanism 
of the atom?” they become of supreme im- 
portance. Their determination and study 
must now be approached from entirely new 
standpoints and by the conjoint action of 
chemists and physicists. The existence of 
isotopes has enormously widened the horizon. 
At first sight it would appear that we should 


SCIENCE 


263 


require to know as many atomic weights as 
there are isotopes, and the chemist may be 
appalled at such a prospect. All sorts of 
difficulties start up to affright him, such as 
the present impossibility of isolating isotopes 
in a state of individuality, their possible 
instability, and the inability of his quantita- 
tive methods to establish accurately the rel- 
atively small differences to be anticipated. 
All this would seem to make for complexity. 
On the other hand, it may eventually tend 
towards simplification. If, with the aid of 
the physicist we can unravel the nature and 
configuration of the atom of any particular 
element, determine the number and relative 
arrangement of the constituent protons and 
electrons, it may be possible to arrive at the 
atomic weight by simple calculation, on the 
assumption that the integer rule is mathe- 
matically valid. This, however, is almost 
certainly not the case, owing to the influence 
of “packing.” The little differences, in fact, 
may make all the difference. The case is 
analogous to that of the so-called gaseous laws 
in which the departures from their mathe- 
matical expression have been the means of 
elucidating the physical constitution of the 
gases and of throwing light upon such varia- 
tions in their behavior as have been observed 
to occur. There would appear, therefore, 
ample seope for the chemist in determining 
with the highest attainable accuracy the de- 
partures from the whole-number rule, since 
it is evident that much depends upon their 
exact extent. 

These considerations have already engaged 
the attention of chemists. For some years 
past, a small international committee, origin- 
ally appointed in 1903, has made and pub- 
lished an annual report in which they have 
noted such determinations of atomic weight 
as have been made during the year preceding 
each report, and they have from time to time 
made suggestions for the amendment of the 
tables of atomic weights, published in text- 
books and chemical journals, and in use in 
chemical laboratories. In view of recent 
developments, the time has now arrived when 
the work of this international committee must 


264 


be reorganized and its aims and functions 
extended. The mode in which this should be 
done has been discussed at the meeting in 
Brussels, in June last, of the International 
Union of Chemistry Pure and Applied, and 
has resulted in strengthening the constitution 
of the committee and in a wide extension of 
its scope. 

The crisis through which we have recently 
passed has had a profound effect upon the 
world. The spectacle of the most cultured 
and most highly developed peoples on this 
earth, armed with every offensive appliance 
which science and the inventive skill and 
ingenuity of men could suggest, in the throes 
of a death struggle must have made the angels 
weep. That dreadful harvest of death is past, 
but the aftermath remains. Some of it is 
evil, and the evil will persist for, it may be, 
generations. There is, however, an element 
of good in it, and the good, we trust, will 
develop and increase with increase of years. 
The whole complexion of the world—material, 
social, economic, political, moral, spiritual— 
has been changed, in certain aspects immedi- 
ately for the worse, in others prospectively 
for the better. It behooves us, then, as a 
nation to pay heed to the lessons of the war. 

The theme is far too complicated to be 
treated adequately within the limits of such 
an address as this. But there are some aspects 
of it germane to the objects of this associa- 
tion, and I venture, therefore, in the time 
that remains to me, to bring them to your 
notice. 

The Great War differed from all previous 
internecine struggles in the extent to which 
organized science was invoked and system- 
atically applied in its prosecution. In its 
later phases, indeed, success became largely 
a question as to which of the great contend- 
ing parties could most rapidly and most effec- 
tively bring its resources to their aid. The 
chief protagonists had been in the forefront 
of scientific progress for centuries, and had 
an accumulated experience of the manifold 
applications of science in practically every 
department of human activity that could have 
any possible relation to the conduct of war. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1395 


The military class in every country is probab- 
ly the most conservative of all the professions 
and the slowest to depart from tradition. But 
when nations are at grips, and they realize 
that their very existence is threatened, every 
agency that may tend to cripple the adver- 
sary is apt to be resorted to—no matter how 
far it departs from the customs and conven- 
tions of war. This is more certain to be the 
ease if the struggle is protracted. We have 
witnessed this fact in the course of the late 
war. Those who, realizing that in the present 
imperfect stage of civilization, wars are 
inevitable, yet strove to minimize their hor- 
rors, and who formulated the Hague Con- 
vention of 1899, were well aware how these 
horrors might be enormously intensified by 
the applications of scientific knowledge, and 
especially of chemistry. Nothing shocked 
the conscience of the civilized world more than 
Germany’s cynical disregard of the underta- 
king into which she had entered with other 
nations in regard, for instance, to the use of 
lethal gas in warfare. The nation that 
treacherously violated the Treaty of Belgium, 
and even applauded the action, might be ex- 
pected to have no scruples in repudiating her 
obligations under the Hague Convention. 
April 25, 1915, which saw the clouds of the 
asphyxiating chlorine slowly wafted from the 
German trenches towards the lines of the 
Allies, witnessed one of the most bestial epi- 
sodes in the history of the Great War. The 
world stood aghast at such a spectacle of 
barbarism. German Kultur apparently had 
absolutely no ethical value. Poisoned weapons 
are employed by savages, and noxious gas had 
been used in Eastern warfare in early times, 
but its use was hitherto unknown among 
European nations. How it originated among 
the Germans—whether by the direct un- 
prompted action of the Higher Command, or, 
as is more probable, at the instance of persons 
connected with the great manufacturing con- 
cerns in Rhineland, has, so far as I know, not 
transpired. It was not so used in the earlier 
stages of the war, even when it had become a 
war of position. It is notorious that the great 
chemical manufacturing establishments of 


SEPTEMBER 23, 1921] 


Germany had been, for years previously, 
sedulously linked up in the service of the war 
which Germany was deliberately planning— 
probably, in the first instance, mainly for the 
supply of munitions and medicaments. We 
may suppose that it was the tenacity of our 
troops, and the failure of repeated attempts 
to dislodge them by direct attack, that led 
to the employment of such foul methods. Be 
this as it may, these methods became part of 
the settled practise of our enemies, and during 
the three succeeding years, that is from April, 
1915, to September, 1918, no fewer than eight- 
een different forms of poison—gases, liquids 
and solids—were employed by the Germans. 
On the principle of Vespasian’s law, reprisals 
became inevitable, and for the greater part 
of three years we had the sorry spectacle of 
the leading nations of the world flinging the 
most deadly products at one another that 
chemical knowledge could suggest and techni- 
eal skill contrive.. Warfare, it would seem, 
has now definitely entered upon a new phase. 
The horrors which the Hague Convention 
saw were immanent, and from which they 
strove to protect humanity, are now, apparent- 
ly, by the example and initiative of Germany, 
to become part of the established procedure of 
war. Civilization protests against a step so 
retrograde. Surely comity among nations 
should be adequate to arrest it.. If the League 
of Nations is vested with any real power, it 
should be possible for it to devise the means, 
and to ensure their successful application. 
The failure of the Hague Convention is no 
sufficient reason for despair. The moral sense 
of the civilized world is not so dulled but 
that, if roused, it can make its influence pre- 
vail. And steps should be taken without delay 
to make that influence supreme, and all the 
more so that there are agencies at work 
which would seek to perpetuate such methods 
as a recognized procedure of war. The case 
for what is called chemical warfare has not 
wanted for advocates. It is argued that poison 
gas is far less fatal and far less cruel than 
any other instrument of war. It has been 
stated that “amongst the ‘mustard gas’ 
casualties the deaths were less than 2 per 


SCIENCE 


cerning 


265 


cent., and when death did not ensue complete 
recovery generally ultimately resulted. 

Other materials of chemical warfare in use 
at the Armistice do not kill at all; they pro- 
duce casualties which, after six weeks in 
hospital, are discharged practically without 
permanent hurt.” It has been argued that, 
as a method of conducting war, poison-gas 
is more humane than preventive medicine. 
Preventive medicine has increased the unit 
dimension of an army, free from epidemic 
and communicable disease, from 100,000 men 
to a million. “ Preventive medicine has made 
it possible to maintain 20,000,000 men under 
arms and abnormally free from disease, and 
so provided greater scope for the killing 
activities of the other military weapons. .. . 
Whilst the surprise effects of chemical war- 
fare aroused anger as being contrary to mili- 
tary tradition, they were minute compared 
with those of preventive medicine. The 
former slew its thousands, whilst the latter 
slew its millions and is still reaping the 
harvest.” This argument carries no convic- 
tion. Poison gas is not merely contrary to 
European military tradition; it is repugnant 
to the right feeling of civilized humanity. 
It in no wise displaces or supplants existing 
instruments of war, but creates a new kind 
of weapon, of limitless power and deadliness. 
“Mustard gas” may be a comparatively in- 
nocuous product as lethal substances go. It 
certainly was not intended to be such by our 
enemies. Nor, presumably, were the Allies any 
more considerate when they retaliated with it. 
Its effects, indeed, were sufficiently terrible to 
destroy the German morale. The knowledge 
that the Allies were preparing to employ it 
to an almost boundless extent was one of the 
factors that determined our enemies to sue 
for the Armistice. But if poisonous chemi- 
cals are henceforth to be regarded as a regu- 
lar means of offence in warfare, is it at all 
likely that their use will be confined to 
“mustard gas,” or indeed to any other of the 
various substances which were employed up 
to the date of the Armistice? To one who, 
after the peace, inquired in Germany con- 
the German methods of making 


266 


Menoher, chief. The aviator was Sergeant T. 
J. Fowler. The photographic equipment con- 
sisted of a mapping camera, K.1 model, fixed 
in the bottom of the plane. This camera is 
designed to take successive pictures auto- 
matically and can be so adjusted for the alti- 
tude of the plane and the apparent air speed 
that the exposures take a small overlap. The 
views can therefore be combined in a continu- 
ous mosaic. Theoretically the action should 
be perfect and the continuity of the pictures 
unbroken. In practise, the tilting of the plane 
is equivalent to turning a camera through a 
greater or less angle on a tripod and suc- 
cessive views may jump interspaces of greater 
or less extent. One remedy, with this type of 
camera, would be to repeat, a recourse which 
is practicable when flying over a restricted 
area, but impracticable in a flight between 
distant landing fields. A clinometer would 
enable the photographer to note the inclina- 
tion of the plane and a finder might be used. 
, The flights here noted covered a course of 
approximately 400 miles each way and were 
made in 4 hours 40 minutes on the southward 
trip and 4 hours 18 minutes on the north- 
ward. 

The San Andreas Rift, the object of ob- 
servation, is that major continental structure 
which extends from Humboldt County in 
northern California to the Mohave Desert in 
the southern part of the state, a distance of 
about 600 miles. It is an ancient fault, the 
locus of innumerable movements, which have 
given rise to pronounced topographic features. 
Displacements have been upward or downward 
or lateral along different sections of the fault 
or during different movements along the same 
section. We have yet much to learn about the 
effects of faulting expressed in the details of 
geology along the rift. 

The earthquake of April, 1906, produced 
marked surface features, which were carefully 
studied by Branner, Gilbert, Lawson and other 
geologists and which have been fully described 
in the report of the California State Earth- 
quake Commission, publication 87 of the Car- 
negie Institution of Washington. One is often 


asked to what extent those features are still 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1395 


“mustard gas,” the reply was:— “ Why are 
you worrying about this when you know 
perfectly well that this is not the gas we shall 
use in the next war?” 

I hold no brief for preventive medicine, 
which is well able to fight its own case. I 
would only say that it is the legitimate busi- 
ness of preventive medicine to preserve by 
all known means the health of any body of 
men, however large or small, committed to its 
eare. It is not to its discredit if, by knowl- 
edge and skill, the numbers so maintained 
run into millions instead of being limited to 
thousands. On the other hand, “an educated 
public opinion” will refuse to give credit 
to any body of scientific men who employ 
their talents in devising means to develop and 
perpetuate a mode of warfare which is abhor- 
rent to the higher instincts of humanity. 

This association, I trust, will set its face 
against the continued degradation of science 
in thus augmenting the horrors of war. It 
could have no loftier task than to use its 
great influence in arresting a course which 
is the very negation of civilization. 


T. Epwarp THORPE 


AERIAL OBSERVATION OF EARTH- 
QUAKE RIFTS 

THE Seismological Society of America is 
interested in mapping the earthquake rifts of 
California, with a view to increasing our 
knowledge of the structures related to earth- 
quakes and to promoting security in the en- 
gineering work of the state. Data of a gen- 
eral and comprehensive character already exist 
in published and unpublished maps, but ad- 
ditional surveys are desirable. Faults may 
be located in several ways and it is possible 
that a method of tracing them may be de- 
veloped with the airplane, as was first sug- 
gested to the writer by H. O. Wood. To test 
the idea, a flight was made by me from San 
Francisco to Los Angeles and return on June 
9 and 11, so far as practicable over the San 
Andreas Rift, to observe and photograph it. 

The plane was furnished by the Air Service 
of the U. S. Army, by courtesy of Major H. 
H. Arnold, under authority of General C. T. 


SEPTEMBER 23, 1921] 


visible and the answer is that much depends 
upon the climatic conditions of any selected 
section. Where rainfall is abundant, vegeta- 
tion vigorous and erosion efficient, there is not 
much to be seen after fifteen years; but under 
arid conditions the marks of the disturbance 
of 1857 survive plainly. 

The essential fact is that the Rift is a 
line, and features peculiar to it must fall into 
line. The general position and course of this 
Rift being known, the observer was constantly 
noting valleys, lakes and ponds, ravines, washes 
or scars on the surface, which lined up with 
one another. From over Mussel Rock, where 
the Rift cuts the shore, the range along the 
Rift was plainly that of the axis of 
San Andreas and Crystal Springs Lakes, and 
‘was continued in the valley through Searles 
Lake and beyond to Black Mountain. Stevens 
Creek heads in that summit on the Rift, and 
flows for six miles along it. Thus for a dis- 
tance of 33 miles the earthquake line is marked 
by major features of the topography, by val- 
leys which are due to the cooperation of dis- 
placement and erosion. Similar valleys might 
be produced by erosion alone, and since the 
rocks are hidden by water, soil and vegetation, 
the aerial observer could not see the dis- 
placement. In this section the observer could 
infer, but could not demonstrate the existence 
of the Rift. 

Continuing southeastward beyond Wright’s 
Station on the Santa Cruz branch of the 
Southern Pacific the Rift traverses the west- 
ern slope of the Santa Cruz Mountains near 
the summit, and determines the course of nu- 
merous small valleys which are the head-val- 
leys of streams that flow south to Monterey 
Bay, but which contrary to what would be ex- 
pected, range themselves into line parallel 
with the crest of the mountains. Along this 
same line there are numerous landslide scars 
and small ponds. No one or small group of 
these features would necessarily indicate the 
existence of the Rift, but their alignment over 
a distance of 25 miles would be strong pre- 
sumptive evidence of it, and that alignment 
can be seen from the airplane. The only other 
way in which it can be demonstrated is by a 


SCIENCE 


267 


study of an accurate topographic map, which 
is in itself, as it were, an airplane view. Thus 
for any section of an earthquake track which 
might be indicated by features similar to those’ 
occurring on the western slopes of the Santa 
Cruz Mountains observation by airplane 
would constitute a valuable method of in- 
vestigation. 

Passing to the middle section of the earth- 
quake Rift where the aridity of the climate 
prevents the growth of vegetation, and limits 
the destructive work of erosion, the marks of 
the earthquake became more distinct and more 
continuous. Thus my notes read: “ Mustang 
Ridge and Peach Tree Valley, Rift shows in 
serpentine slides in the ridge. ~Temblor 
Range, the line of the Rift shows like a light 
soil streak for miles ahead. Over Carrizo 
Plains at Wolforts, Rift shows up in a line 
of white washes easily lined up,” and a little 
further along: “Rift shows plainly like a 
canal ditch.” 

The ditch-like character of the Rift along 
the northeast slope of Carrizo Plain has been 
noted by Fairbanks and others. It is remark- 
able, plainly visible from an altitude of 12,000 
feet, like a large empty irrigation canal. I 
could see it perhaps 10 miles ahead till it was 
lost in the rosy dust haze. 

At this point the aviator passed me a note: 
“Forty minutes more gas.” I scaled off the 
distance to Bakersfield, the only landing place. 
It was 85 minutes away and we turned from 
the Rift. 

Returning from Los Angeles on the 11th 
we flew along the southeastern section of the 
Rift from Tejon Pass up Cuddy Valley to San 
Emidio Peak. In this stretch it is marked 
by springs which give rise to alkali patches 
or to green mallins, the marshes peculiar to 
seepages in arid valleys. Its features are 
easily traceable because of their linear con- 
tinuity. 

Photographing from an airplane is less 
satisfactory than observing. When the camera 
is fixed on the plane, as it must be to secure 
continuity of views, there is the trouble of 
swinging already referred to. I myself lost 
the sense of horizontal or vertical and was 


268 


quite unconscious of the fact that the camera 
was winking at the mountain slope when I 
thought it was photographing the lake. 

In the vertical view features are flattened. 
This is true for vision and is even more pro- 
nouncedly true in photographs. It would be 
desirable therefore to observe during the ear- 
lier and later hours of the day when shadows 
are strong. The swiftness of flight makes this 
practicable, since miles become short when 
expressed in minutes and a distant field of 
study can be reached quickly. Photography, 
however, requires the strongest light possible 
because the exposure must be very brief when 
the camera is moving a hundred miles an hour, 
and this requirement limits the available hours 
to those when shadows are weak or lacking. 
The effect of this limitation is yet to be worked 
out, but since rift features are to a great ex- 
tent relief features, it is of consequence. 

So far as the trial flights of June 9 and 11 
go they seem to demonstrate that aerial ob- 
servation of a linear structural feature such 
as an earthquake rift is practicable. If one 
end of a rift be known it can be followed by a 
man skilled in the interpretation of topo- 
graphic forms. Or if a line of features be 
detected, it may be so traced as to demonstrate 
their continuity and to facilitate the closer 
examination which may be necessary to prove 
the existence of a fault. I conclude that the 
airplane can be used to advantage as a means 
of rapid geologic reconaissance to map large 
structural features. 

Batey WILLis 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 
INTERNATIONAL EXPLORATION OF THE UP- 
PER AIR? 


INTERNATIONAL exploration of the upper air 
dates from 1896, when a conference took place 
at Petrograd. Methods of sounding the atmo- 
sphere, even to a height of 23 miles, were 
devised. By the use of drifting free balloons, 
and recording instruments carried up by kites 
and anchored balloons, an unexpected strati- 
fication of the atmosphere has been discovered. 
The temperature falls regularly up to a height 
averaging six or seven miles from the ground, 

1From the London Times. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1395 


lower over the equator, higher near the poles. 
But the upper air is arranged in vertical 
columns in which the temperature is constant 
with height at any particular time and place. 
Little is known as to the cause of this dis- 
position, and less as to the influence it must 
have on other factors of wind and weather. 
Useful knowledge can be gained only from 
data obtained by the same methods at the 
same times at the largest possible number of 
stations. International cooperation is neces- 
sary. It was interrupted by the war, although 
all the combatants made extensive use of the 
latest meteorological methods for the practical 
objects of artillery, aviation; poison gas, and 
sound-ranging. It has now been resumed. The 
other day we gave an account of the proceed- 
ings of the first meeting since the war, held at 
Bergen, in the last week of July, under the 
presidency of Professor WV. Bjerknes. The 
name of that distinguished Norwegian mete- 
orologist is associated with a new theory of 
the weather in temperate latitudes, on which 
we commented a year ago. The theory briefly 
is that just as the poles are capped with snow 
so they are capped by a great mass of cold air. 
In a wavering line round each temperate zone 
this polar air meets the warm air from the 
equator abruptly. Along the front of contact 
the warm air rises over the cold stream. 
Cyclones and anticyclones are born of the con- 
test. The professor urges the formation of a 
closely set chain of observing stations round 
the globe in the zone of struggle. Other 
meteorologists are more disposed to assign the 
causes of our weather to the vaster regions of 
the upper air. An international meteorological 
committee, to meet in London in September, 
has been appointed by the Commission, and is 
to give special attention to the polar theory. 
The progress of its labors will be followed with 
deep interest. There are few human activities 
which would not gain by the advance of mete- 
orological science, and the future of aviation 
will be largely determined by it. 


THE WORLD’S SUPPLY OF WHEAT 


ACCORDING to a report issued to the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture prospects for the world’s 


SEPTEMBER 23, 1921] 


wheat supply, while not so satisfactory as was 
expected during the first part of the current 
season, show at the present time no cause 
for serious alarm. Estimates of the quantity 
of wheat harvested in 20 countries, including 
the United States, for 1921, total 2,461,480,000 
bushels, compared with 2,384,143,000. bushels 
harvested last year according to data com- 
piled by the Bureau of Markets and Crop 
Estimates, United States Department of Agri- 
culture. 

The 20 countries included in this estimate 
are the United States, Canada, Argentina, 
Chile, Uruguay, Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, 
France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Spain, British 
India, Japan, Algeria, Tunis, Union of South 
Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. These 
countries produced approximately 68 per cent. 
of the known wheat crop of the world during 
the years 1903-1918, according to the annual 
average production records of the bureau. 

Although the long-sustained drought 
throughout the greater part of the Northern 
Hemisphere was a serious menace to the 
various crops in many countries, the fall- 
sown wheat has not been affected adversely 
so much as was at first supposed. On the 
contrary, the fall-sown wheat managed to ob- 
tain a firm hold on the soil and a fairly 
vigorous growth before the beginning of the 
drought. 

Nearly all of northern and central Kurope 
will have larger wheat crops this year than 
last, according to the last estimates made 
by the bureau, Belgium and Greece being the 
only countries in which smaller crops are ex- 
pected. 

Outside of Europe, British India was most 
seriously affected by the drought. The dry- 
ness and the hot winds that have prevailed 
throughout most of the growing season have 
resulted in the very low yield 250,469,000 
bushels of wheat, or about 50,000,000 bushels 
less than the quantity normally consumed in 
that country. With the rice crop also seri- 
ously affected, India is expected to import 
wheat this year instead of exporting it. In 
an average year before the World War, India 
exported over 50,000,000 bushels of wheat. 


SCIENCE 


269 


In Canada the total yield of spring wheat 
is estimated at 273,020,000 bushels, of which 
264,137,000 bushels were grown in Saskatche- 
wan, Manitoba, and Alberta. Fall wheat, 
grown almost exclusively in Ontario and 
Alberta, was estimated at 15,473,000 bushels. 
The total wheat yield of Canada for 1921 is 
therefore 288,493,000 bushels, compared with 
263,189,000 bushels last year. 

A very unsatisfactory feature in the present 
international situation is the hopeless con- 
dition of the Russian crops. Unofficial reports 
state that during last autumn and the spring 
of this year only a very small area was sown 
to the various crops, resulting in a failure 
to produce sufficient food for the country’s 
needs. It is also reported unofiicially that a 
considerable amount of wheat will yet be 
imported by Russia this year. But up to the 
present time the amount of wheat, as well as 
other foodstuffs, which will be imported is 
conjectural, and the Bureau of Markets and 
Crop Estimates is unable to make a definite 
statement concerning it. 

In northern Africa, the wheat crop was 
generally larger than last year. In Algeria, 
thrashing results show a better yield than was 
expected earlier in the season. In Tunis, bad 
weather reduced the yields somewhat from 
those expected earlier, while in Morocco the 
crop was generally reported as satisfactory. 
According to estimates published by the In- 
ternational Institute of Agriculture at Rome, 
these three countries are expected to produce, 
for 1921, a yield of 66,138,000 bushels of 
wheat, compared with 36,743,000 bushels in 
1920. 


AN ENGLISH VIEW OF AMERICAN BIOLOGY 


AT a recent meeting of the National Union 
of Scientific Workers in the Royal School of 
Mines, London, Sir Daniel Hall took the chair, 
and a lecture was given by Mr. W. B. Brierley 
head of the department of mycology at 
Rothamsted on “Personal Impressions of 
American Biological Research.” 

According to Science Progress Mr. Brierley 
opened by explaining that his visit to America 
was made primarily to attend the Phyto- 


270 


pathological Conference, which was peripatet- 
ic, ending at Lancaster, Ohio. By means of 
a sketch-map Mr. Brierley showed a com- 
plicated personal itinerary, from Quebec as 
a point of arrival, reaching to the southern 
limits of the United States, and including 
all the principal universities and biological 
stations. He then indicated the most striking 
and individual feature of American agricul- 
ture, which he described as the main source 
of wealth of the country. This was the almost 
complete concentration in wide areas of a 
single crop, so that there were 500 miles 
together of maize, of cotton, or of rice, and 
not much smaller areas of fruit or vegetables 
for preserving. One consequence of this was 
that plant disease ran riot through a whole 
area, and the field problems confronting the 
American agricultural biologist were so vast 
and menacing as almost to destroy the pos- 
sibility of academic research, except in the 
eastern industrial regions, and to force the 
whole available scientific personnel into the 
field to stem a tide of disaster. In the in- 
dustrial area, containing the older universities, 
the biological work approximated closely to 
that done in this country in subject and mode 
of attack, but in the state universities in the 
newer agricultural regions—each with its own 
single crop presenting urgent problems for 
solution—certain feaures were noticeable: 
(1) An early and extreme specialization, 
subjects which were here studied after a 
degree course in botany (such as plant pathol- 
ogy), being themselves degree courses, and 
the graduates, almost all of whom, from 
economic pressure on individuals and the 
crying need in the field, were unable to take 
post-graduate training, immediately devoting 
themselves exclusively to the study of a single 
type of disease. (2) There was almost no 
gradation between the academic biologist of 
real eminence and national or international 
reputation and the ordinary worker dealing 
with a limited field of applied science. For 
this reason the science on which their special- 
ized practise was founded was apt to be too 
much in the background. Coming back, he 
felt Europe and England to be somewhat old, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1395 


sophisticated, and contemptuous of youth. 
America is young, and has all the boundless 
energy of adolescence and its unique fervor. 

Sir D. Hall, before opening the discussion, 
pointed out that America was not a country 
of farmers, but of industrialists working upon 
the land. Consequently they were less tied 
by tradition, and more ready to look to science 
for help. On the other hand, the state legisla- 
tures, which supported the biological work, 
were very apt to demand immediate results, 
and some promising work was spoiled by 
premature publication. England should take 
warning of the danger of allowing the legisla- 
ture to get direct control of scientific research. 
He wecomed such a visit as Mr. Brierley’s as 
a help towards counteracting the tendency in 
all civilized countries to erect quarantine 
walls against the entry of plants from abroad, 
for fear of disease. This fear was easily ex- 
ploited by commercial firms for their own 
ends. The only way to get over the difficulty 
was to establish such mutual confidence be- 
tween biologists in different countries as to 
render a guarantee of health given by the ex- 
perts in any country absolutely trustworthy. 


THE RETIREMENT OF DR. W. H. JORDAN 


Tue faculty of Cornell University has 
adopted the following resolutions: 


On the occasion of the retirement of Dr. Whit- 
man Howard Jordan from the professorship of 
animal nutrition in Cornell University and from 
the directorship of the New York Agricultural Ex- 
periment Station at Geneva, the members of this 
faculty desire to record their appreciation of the 
inestimable service which Professor Jordan has 
rendered to science and to the scientific agriculture 
of the state and of the nation. 

Professor Jordan assumed the directorship of 
the experiment station in 1896, a critical time for 
agriculture and for the new experiment stations. 
He brought to his work true scientific training, 
gained as an undergraduate student at the Uni- 
versity of Maine, as a postgraduate student at 
Cornell University under the guidance of Professor 
Caldwell, and as an assistant to Dr. Atwater at 
the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station; 
and long experience as a teacher of agriculture and 
agricultural chemistry at the University of Maine 


SEPTEMBER 23, 1921] 


and at the Pennsylvania State College, and as 
director of the Maine Agricultural Experiment 
Station. With this wealth of training and ex- 
perience, in addition to his high scientific ideals, 
his indomitable courage, his unflagging zeal for 
truth, his sound judgment in the selection of 
associates, and his unswerving loyalty to the best 
interests of agriculture, he has made a profound 
and lasting impression on the agriculture of this 
state. 

The outstanding feature of his long service in 
the interest of agriculture has been his strict 
adherence to the dictates of science without re- 
gard to popular esteem or favor. Strong as the 
temptation has been for an administrator to popu- 
larize the work of his institution at the expense 
of its research, Professor Jordan, in his adminis- 
tration of the station, has held strictly to the 
original purpose and object of the institution unin- 
fluenced by considerations of popular favor. Under 
his wise and capable administration, the New York 
Agricultural Experiment Station has attained a 
leading position among the agricultural experiment 
stations of the world. 

Professor Jordan’s connection with this college 
as professor of animal nutrition dates only from 
June 22, 1920, but his interest in the institution 
and his hearty and cordial cooperation have ex- 
tended through all the twenty-five years that he 
has been director of the experiment station at 
Geneva. Accordingly there has always existed be- 
tween these two institutions such elose and grati- 
fying cooperation in the proseeution of investi- 
gation and research that their work has ever 
been supplementary and unnecessary duplication of 
effort has been avoided. 

In spite of all the multiplicity of duties which 
naturally come to an outstanding figure in agricul- 
ture, Professor Jordan has always found time to 
continue his own scholarly work in animal nutri- 
tion and to advise critically with members of his 
staff on a wide variety of highly technical sub- 
jects. His keenly analytical mind, his sound judg- 
ment, his unusual administrative ability, and, 
above all, his lofty personal ideals and breadth 
of vision, have endeared him to his colleagues and 
associates. He has richly earned the relief which 
retirement from active service brings, and we, his 
colleagues, wish him many years in which to enjoy 
the privileges of the contemplative life which is 
now his. 


SCIENCE 


271 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


At the recent Montreal meeting of the 
Society of Chemical Industry, Dr. Robert F. 
Ruttan, MacDonald professor of chemistry at 
McGill University, was elected president in 
succession to Sir William Pope. 


Tue University of Edinburgh has conferred 
the degree of doctor of laws on Dr. Irving 
Langmuir, of the research laboratory of the 
General Electric Company, Schenectady, who 
at the meeting of the British Association in 
that city opened the discussion on “The 
Structure of Molecules.” 


Proressor Epwarp W. Berry, of the Johns 
Hopkins University, has been elected a fellow 
of the American Academy of Arts and Sci- 
ences. 


Dr. James M. Anpers has been elected 
president of the American Therapeutic Society 
for the ensuing year. Dr. Anders was also 
recently elected president of the American 
College of Physicans. 


Baron R. von Htcen has resigned the 
curatorship of the Museum of Archeology and 
Ethnology of the University of Cambridge 
and Dr. A. C. Haddon, Christ’s College, has 
been appointed deputy curator. 


Tuomas ForsytH Hunt, dean of the college 
of agriculture, University of California, has 
resumed his office after a year’s stay in Europe, 
spent in part at Rome as the delegate of the 
United States to the International Institute 
of Agriculture. 


Harry D. Kitson, professor of psychology 
at Indiana University, has returned from 
Europe where he conferred with investigators 
in industrial psychology in England, France, 
Germany and Switzerland. 


Proressor Winuiam S. Cooper, of the Uni- 
versity of Minnesota, is making a study of the 


-recession of the Muir Glacier at Glacier Bay, 


Alaska. 


Mr. Montacue Frees, horticulturist and 
head gardener of the Brooklyn Botanic 
Garden, returned recently from England where 
he visited Kew and various other public and 
private gardens. In the course of the trip, 


272 


Mr. Free secured many valuable seeds and 
living plants in exchange for similar materi- 
al from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. 

We learn from Nature that Mr. B. A. Keen, 
head of the soil physics department, Rotham- 
sted Experimental Station, has been awarded 
a traveling fellowship by the Ministry of 
Agriculture. He has come to America to in- 
spect general agricultural conditions with 
special reference to problems on soil cultiva- 
tion. 

Dr. Ma Saw Sa, head of the Lady Dufferin 
Hospital, Rangoon, Burma, has come to the 
United States to continue the study of medi- 
cine at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. 

A stature of Dr. Enrique Nufiez has been 
erected at the entrance to the grounds of the 
Garcia Hospital at Havana, the construction 
of which was due to his initiative. He was 
long chief of the national public health 
service. 

Aw oil portrait of the late Senator Judson 
H. Morrill, which for many years hung in 
his Washington home, has been presented to 
the University of Vermont, and has been 
placed in Morrill Hall. 

The Experiment Station Record announces 
the death on July 5, at the age of seventy-eight 
years, of John Hamilton, formerly professor 
of agriculture in the Pennsylvania State 
College, and of Jacob H. Arnold, agriculturist 
in’ the Office of Farm Management and Farm 
Economies, of the U. S. Department of Agri- 
culture, who died on July 12, at the age of 
fifty-seven years. 

Prorressor Henri Beaunis, known for his 
work on physiological psychology and hypno- 
tism at Mercy and later at Paris, has died at 
the age of ninety-one years. 

Tue 1921 volume of the Summarized Pro- 
ceedings of the American Association for the 


Advancement of Science, the publication of 


which has been greatly delayed owing to the 
printers’ strike, will soon be issued from the 
office of the permanent secretary of the asso- 
ciation. This volume contains the old and the 
new constitution, the lists of officers, and ref- 
erences to Science for the reports of the Pacific 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1395 


Coast meeting (summer of 1915), the Colum- 
bus meeting (1916), the New York meeting 
(1917), the Pittsburgh meeting (1918), the 
Baltimore meeting (1919), the St. Louis meet- 
ing (1920), and the Chicago meeting (1921). 
It also contains the complete list of members 
of the association, corrected to June 15, 1921. 
Members who have already ordered the volume 
will be sent copies as soon as the book is pub- 
lished; and those who have not ordered the 
volume may still do so, the price being two 
dollars, payable when the order is placed. The 
price to others is two dollars and fifty cents. 
The new list constitutes a directory contain- 
ing the names, degrees, positions, addresses, 
ete., of about 12,000 scientific workers and 
others interested in scientific progress. It has 
been prepared from data obtained through 
special information blanks sent to all members. 


Tue Société de Chimie Industrielle will hold 
a congress in Paris in October. There will be 
thirty-four sections representing the various 
applications of chemistry and some valuable 
discussions are anticipated. A reception of 
the members will take place on the evening of 
October 9, and the opening meeting will be 
held on the following day, under the presidency 
of Monsieur Dior, Minister of Commerce. On 
October 11 the Minister of Agriculture will 
occupy the chair at a banquet in the Palais 
d’Orsay. A number of works will be visited 
and an exhibition is being organized in connec- 
tion with the congress. 


Tue board of trustees of The Ohio State 
University has authorized the establishment, 
within the college of agriculture, of the plant 
institute of the Ohio State University. All 
members of the staff of the college interested 
in plant studies may be members, and all 
graduate students doing their major work 
with plants are associate members. The insti- 
tute will conduct a seminary, review the work 
of its graduate students and encourage re- 
search, especially the study of such problems 
as require cooperation. The departments of 
the college chiefly concerned are: Botany, 
Horticulture, Farm Crops, Agricultural Chem- 
istry and Soils. 


SEPTEMBER 23, 1921] 


Tue Connecticut legislature has increased 
the biennial appropriation for the State Ex- 
periment Station from $45,000 to $82,000. 
It has also appropriated $10,000 for investi- 
gations on matters connected with the pro- 
duction of tobacco. The station has secured 
a field of about 13 acres where experimental 
work may be carried on along this line. 


Accorpine to the Journal of the American 
Medical Association a new hospital group, 
designed to be one of the largest and most up 
to date in the country and incorporating the 
University Hospital, the nurses’ home and the 
schools of medicine, dentistry and pharmacy 
in a single system, is to be erected by the 
University of Maryland at Lombard and 
Green streets, Baltimore. The main building 
will be eleven stories in height with a roof 
garden above. Plans call for a hospital of 
300 beds, and ultimate expansion to 500 is 
contemplated. The nurses’ home is planned 
to furnish accommodations for 200, with facili- 
ties for 300 students in the combined schools. 
The cost is estimated at about $1,250,000. 
When the project is fully developed, a unique 
feature will be an arrangement by which the 
most modern adjuncts of medical science will 
be placed at the disposal of rural practitioners 
through graduate and extension courses. It 
is planned to have traveling instructors, who 
will hold courses in rural communities and 
also to give the rural practitioner the opportu- 
nity to bring all special cases to the hospital. 
The institution will offer the medical practi- 
tioner the service which the agricultural col- 
lege of the university now provides for the 
farmer. One of the principal objects of the 
enlarged institution will be to relieve the 
city’s imadequate hospital facilities. Con- 
struction of the first portion of the group will 
be begun within the month and will cost ap- 
proximately $250,000 when completed; erec- 
tion of the second unit of the home is ex- 
pected in about a year. The whole project 
will require several years for its development. 
The University Hospital was opened in 1823 
under the name of the Baltimore Infirmary, 
and has been enlarged fourfold by successive 
additions. 


SCIENCE 


273 


Tue San Diego museum has been presented 
with a library of ancient and modern manu- 
scripts and books treating Chinese art, by Dr. 
William P. Gates, one of the founders of the 
institution. 


Nature states that in consequence of the re- 
tirement of Sir Hercules Read, the depart- 
ment of the British Museum hitherto known 
as the Department of British and Medieval 
Antiquities and Ethnography has been diy- 
ided, and the following appointments have 
been made by the principal trustees: Mr. O. 
M. Dalton to be keeper of the Department of 
British and Medieval Antiquities; Mr. R. I. 
Hobson to be keeper of the Department of 
Ceramics and Ethnography; Mr. T. A. Joyce 
to be deputy-keeper in the Department of Cer- 
amics and Ethnography. Mr. Reginald 
Smith, hitherto deputy-keeper in the undi- 
vided department, becomes deputy-keeper in 
the Department of British and Medieval Anti- 
quities. The prehistoric collections fall into 
the Department of British and Medieval 
Antiquities, and the Oriental collections into 
that of Ceramics and Ethnography. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 


Trinity CoLLEcE will receive a contribution 
of $125,000 to its centennial fund from the 
General Education Board. 


Tue Lxperiment Station Record reports 
that a fund to be known as the A. D. Watson 
prize fund is being collected by subscription at 
the University of Minnesota in honor of the 
retiring director of extension work. The in- 
come of this fund is to be used annually in 
either the college or school of agriculture or 
both as prizes to students excelling in studies 
having to do with cooperation and cooperative 
enterprises. 


Art the recent meeting of the State Board of 
Agriculture, the resignation of Dr. F. S. 
Kedzie as president of the Michigan Agricul- 
tural College, effective on August 31, was 
accepted, and he was appointed dean of the 
Division of Applied Sciences. Professor 
David Friday of the department of economics 
of the University of Michigan was appointed 


274 


president, effective on January 1, 1922. R. S. 
Shaw, dean of the Division of Agriculture, was 
appointed acting president for the interim. 


D. T. Gray, chief in animal industry in the 
North Carolina Agricultural College and sta- 
tion, has been appointed director of the Ala- 
bama station, succeeding J. F. Duggar, director 
since 1903, who retires to become consulting 
agriculturist. 

Dr. Oxor LarsELL, former associate professor 
at Northwestern University Medical School, 
Chicago, has been appointed professor of an- 
atomy at the University of Oregon Medical 
School. 


Dr. J. P. BaumBERGER has been promoted to 
an assistant professorship of physiology at 
Stanford University. 


Dr. F. C. Virpranpt, of the Ohio State Uni- 
versity, has been appointed associate professor 
of industrial chemistry of the University of 
North Carolina. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
DISCOVERY OF SAUROPOD DINOSAUR RE- 
MAINS IN THE UPPER CRETACEOUS OF 
NEW MEXICO 

In a small collection of vertebrate fossils 
recently received at the U. S. National Mu- 
seum, from Mr. John B. Reeside, Jr., geolo- 
gist of the U. S. Geological Survey, was an 
almost complete left scapula of a large 
Sauropodous dinosaur. The importance of 
this particular specimen lies in the fact that 
it was collected by Mr. Reeside in the Ojo 
Alamo formation, Upper Cretaceous, as de- 
veloped in the San Juan Basin in northern 
New Mexico. Since the remains of Sauropod- 
ous dinosaurs have not been known before 
above the early Lower Cretaceous in North 
America, the extension of their geological 
range into the Upper Cretaceous, as indicated 
by the present discovery, is of the greatest 
interest. 

The close general resemblance of this 
bone to the described scapule of the Sauropoda 
from Morrison formation, its great size (five 
feet in length), and the fairly good state of 
preservation, precludes the possibility of mis- 
taken identification, and the determination of 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1395 


its geological occurrence by a geologist of the 
acknowledged ability of Mr. Reeside, who has 
an intimate acquaintance with the geological 
structures and succession of formations in the 
San Juan Basin, due to two field seasons 
spent in the area, places the determination 
of the geological position of the specimen be- 
yond all question of doubt. 

This preliminary announcement will be fol- 
lowed by a more detailed account of the speci- 
men when its preparation now in progress is 
completed. 

Cuartes W. GILMORE 

U. S. NationaL Museum, 

August 16, 1921 


LEAF STRIPE DISEASE OF SUGAR CANE IN 
THE PHILIPPINES 


In early 1920, a firm of Japanese sugar- 
cane growers introduced cane points of 
Formosan cane varieties for use on their 
plantation in Rizal Province, Luzon. The 
sugar-cane points, according to the Japanese 
firm, had been grown by the Experiment 
Station of the Japanese Government in 
Formosa. On arrival at the port of Manila, 
the shipment was intercepted by the Philip- 
pine plant quarantine inspectors, but the 
Japanese growers prevailed upon the too- 
lenient government official to allow them to 
bring in the cane, after dipping it in Bordeaux 
mixture. 

Upon the appointment of the writers to the 
plant disease laboratories in March, 1920, 
they became cognizant of these circumstances, 
and since then, periodical inspections of the 
planting have been made. In April, 1921, 
the cane haying been ratooned numerous 
eases of etiolation of the young plants were 
observed. Such light-colored plants were 
very conspicuous and could be observed at a 
considerable distance from the field. 

On the lower surface of affected leaves, a 
white spore mass was abundant; the patholo- 
gical condition was of course immediately 
suggestive of downy mildew of the sugar cane. 
Examination of the fungus evidenced the 
presence of a Sclerospora species. This 
pathological condition could not be found on 


SEPTEMBER 23, 1921] 


fields of native cane adjacent to, and sur- 
rounding, the field of Formosan cane. Ac- 
cording to Dr. W. H. Weston, the morph- 
ology of Sclerospora philippinensis is very 
nearly identical to that of S. sacchari. How- 
ever, he states: 

In the Philippines, in regions heavily infected 
with the maize mildew, sugar cane fields com- 
prising many varieties grown under widely vary- 
ing conditions and situated adjacent to the badly 
infected maize, and even containing some maize 
plants growing among and in contact with the 
young cane, have been under frequent observation 
during all stages of their development for over 
a year, and yet no case of infection with the downy 
mildew of maize has ever been seen. 


He was, moreover, unable to cross-inoculate 
S. philippinensis from corn to sugar cane. The 
evidence is therefore strongly suggestive of 
the importation of the sugar-cane downy mil- 
dew, Sclerospora sacchari T. Miyaki, from 
Formosa. 

The only literature on this disease which 
we have available here is the above-mentioned 
publication by Dr. Weston on. the Philip- 
pine corn mildew, which incidentally discus- 
ses the cane mildew. 


Measures have been taken to plow up the 


affected field, burn the affected stubble, and 
fallow the land. Steps to trace seed cane that 
emanated from the field are also under way, 
and it is possible that the disease may be 
entirely eradicated in the Philippines. The 
present brief note is presented as of possible 
interest to agronomists and plant quarantine 
officials of western countries. The importation 
of this disease and the recent experience in 
the Philippines with the introduction of Fiji 
disease of cane are two excellent examples of 
the need for rigid enforcement of plant 
quarantine regulations. 
H. Atuerton Lez, 
Mariano G. MEDALLA 
PLANT DISEASE LABORATORIES, 
BuREAU OF SCIENCE AND 
BurEAU OF AGRICULTURE, 
MANILA 


1 Weston, W. H., ‘‘Philippine downy mildew of 
maize,’’ Jour. Agr. Res., XIV., No. 3, p. 97. 


SCIENCE 


275 


ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION FOR THE METRIC 
SYSTEM 


To tHe Eprror or Science: May I add a 
word of approval to what Dr. Frost has said 
in re (Scryer, May 18, 1921) “ English Pro- 
nuneiation for the Metric System” and sug- 
gest that the word ki’lo-me’ter should be pro- 
nounced with the accent upon the first and 
third syllables. In some quarters it is pro- 
nounced kilo’m-eter, contrary to the more 
general usage. This pronunciation, however, 
follows the custom in the case of thermo’meter, 
which is a much older word. 


Tuappeus L. Botton 


THE TEMPLE UNIVERSITY, 
PHILADELPHIA 


GREGOR MENDEL AND THE SUPPORT OF SCI- 
ENTIFIC WORK AT BRUNN 


To tue Epiror or Science: Under date of 
December 29, 1920, I received a letter from 
Dr. Hugo Iltis of Briinn, Czechoslovakia, of 
which the following paragraphs are extracts: 


The venerable old ‘‘Naturforschende Verein’’ 
of Briinn runs the risk of stopping scientific work 
for want of money. For the same reason our uni- 
versity extension work is cut short. In this con- 
dition of utter distress I apply to your kindness 
and ask you to help us. Wealthy friends of Men- 
delism could perhaps be induced to grant us the 
means to continue our scientific and popular edu- 
cation-work. If it would be possible to get an 
assistance of one thousand dollars for each of the 
two institutions, the ‘‘Naturforschende Verein,’’ 
where Mendelism took its origin, and ‘‘ University 
Extension of Briimn,’’ where work has just begun, 
would be saved for the next two or three years. 

When we published the Mendel-festival-volume, 
science and art flourished, and we tried by our 
work to prove worthy of Gregor Mendel. Now 
we have become so poor that we can not buy any 
scientific literature, nor can we have scientific 
treatises printed. We have made up our minds to 
sell our most precious treasure, the original 
manuscript of Gregor Mendel’s most renowned 
work, ‘‘Versuche itiber Pflanzenhybriden,’’ and 
I ask you to lend us your kind assistance in 
this matter too. Perhaps it could be sold by auc- 


276 


tion with the lowest bid of $6,000. This sum would 
afford us the chance of buying a small house as 
a refuge for our collections and library, which 
are in constant danger of being burned out. 

It seems to me that all who appreciate the 
importance of Mendel’s contribution should 
be actively interested in this message. Just 
what ean and should be done and how to go 
about it are matters for discussion. I would 
suggest that those interested express their 
views in the columns of Sctence. However, 
some may wish to communicate directly with 
Dr. Iltis. His local address is Bickergasse 
10, Briinn, Tschechoslwakei. 

E. B. Bascock 


NOTES ON METEOROLOGY AND 
CLIMATOLOGY 


DETERMINING THE TRUE MEAN TEMPERATURE 


Wuat is the true mean temperature? It isa 
much easier task to define the true mean 
temperature than to determine it, but the 
prosecution of meteorological and climatolog- 
ical work demands that this element be de- 
termined. A very detailed and thorough dis- 
cussion of the question has been published by 
Mr. C. E. P. Brooks, of the British Meteor- 
ological Office, in the Monthly Weather Re- 
view,! and it is of interest to review the varied 
nature of the problem and the solutions offered. 

The “true mean temperature” is the mean 
height of a thermograph trace corrected for 
any sources of instrumental error. In prac- 
tise, however, the mean of twenty-four hourly 
observations, or even the mean of observations 
every two, three, or four hours, is sufficiently 
close to yield the daily mean temperature. 
But it is not always feasible to secure such 
frequent observations, and the problem of 
reconstructing the true mean from three ob- 
servations daily and the maximum and mini- 
mum faces the meteorologist. There are four 
ways of accomplishing this: 

First, the combination of the means of the 
three daily observations at fixed hours, or the 
maximum and minimum, in proportions that 
have been found to be satisfactory at certain 
standard stations. If observations at 7 A.M., 
1 or 2 p.m., and 9 p.m. be designated by J, IJ, 

1 April, 1921, pp. 226-229. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1395 


and III, respectively, and the true mean by T, 
it is found that 


T=(1+11 +2 X II)/4 


gives the best results, in general; but, in 
Greenland, where the morning observation oc- 
curs at 8 A.M., the formula commonly used is 


T=[2(1+ 11) +5 X 111]/9. 


The author carried out an investigation of 
this type of formula by the method of least 
squares, for various groups of stations, such 
as western Europe, subtropics, and tropics, 
and found that for the first the usual one 
(given above) gave the best results; for the 
subtropics, the best combination is 


T= [1 +11 + I — (II — 111) 1/3; 


and for the tropics, this last can be used, al- 
though it is not as accurate for the tropics as 
for the subtropics. An alternative formula 
which gave very satisfactory results for Ba- 
tavia is 

T=[2(1+ 11) +3 X III)/7. 


These apply, of course, to the hours specified 
above. It is further pointed out that the maxi- 
mum and minimum can be combined into such 
formule, instead of the three observations, 
and examples are given for Hamburg, in 
which the maximum and minimum are com- 
bined with the morning and evening observa- 
tions; and for Tunis and Egyptian stations in 
which the minimum only was combined with 
the three daily observations. 

Second, “the calculation of appropriate ad- 
ditive corrections for various combinations 
of hours or for the mean of the maximum 
and minimum at standard stations, and their 
transference without modification to other sta- 
tions in the vicinity.” This method is only 
applicable to those stations or regions where 
the conditions are similar, such as are to be 
found in Russia and Siberia, or in the eastern 
half of the United States. The method is to 
plot the corrections for standard stations and 
to read off for the intermediate stations the 
appropriate correction. In mountainous dis- 
tricts, such as western United States, or the 
mountains of India, this scheme is unsatis- 


SEPTEMBER 23, 1921] 


factory. A combination of this method with 
the first one above is often helpful, and has 
been used in Chile. 

Third, “ the corrections at the standard sta- 
tion may be multiplied by a factor propor- 
tional to the daily range (or to the difference 
between midday and evening observations) at 
the station to be corrected.” This method de- 
pends upon properly correcting for any differ- 
ence in daily range which may exist between 
nearby stations, as, for instance, between hill 
and valley stations where the daily ranges may 
be quite different. But care must be used to 
see that the climates of the two places are 
similar, for the daily amplitude of variation 
may be the same, but the shape of the curve 
different. This was found to be the case in 
applying the method to Los Andes (valley) 
and Santiago (coastal slope), Chile, in which 
the amplitude is the same but the sharp night 
minimum at Los Andes was markedly differ- 
ent from that at Santiago. 

The fourth, and last, method is that in which 
“all direct use of standard stations may be 
avoided and the reduction to true mean based 
on considerations connected with the general 
phenomena of the diurnal variation of temper- 
ature.” This makes no use of standard sta- 
tions but bases the whole system upon a nor- 
mal diurnal curve which may be expressed by 
the Fourier series 
Tr=T +a, sn (% +41) +@ sin (2t,+ A), 
in which the coefficients of the first and second 
harmonics may be calculated as follows: 


a,—=— 0.72 + 0.44 (M—m), 
d= + 0.54+ 0.08 (M—m). 


This method has been thoroughly tested and 
has given satisfactory results, but is chiefly 
valuable when the stations are so situated that 
the other methods are not applicable. 

A. Buchan favored the mean of the daily 
maximum and minimum as the most satisfac- 
tory expression of true mean temperature, and 
the view has become widely accepted. But 
there are objections, not only from the instru- 
mental standpoint—for maximum and mini- 
mum thermometers are more likely to develop 
systematic errors than are dry-bulb thermom- 


SCIENCE 


207 


eters—but also because the ratio of this mean 
to the true mean is dependent upon location, 
time of year, and cloudiness. For that reason, 
the author advises meteorologists in English- 
speaking countries to make less use of the 
mean of the daily extremes and more of suit- 
able combinations of the observations at fixed 
hours, such as the first formula above. 
C. LeRoy MEetsincer 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
ON THE ELIMINATION OF THE X-CHROMO- 
SOME FROM THE EGG OF DROSOPHILA 
MELANOGASTER BY X-RAYS 

Some of the results of the investigation of 
the biological effects of X-rays point to a 
specific effect of the rays on the nuclear mat- 
ter of the dividing cell and especialy the germ 
cell. 

1. Actively growing tissue whether normal 
or pathological is the most susceptible to X- 
rays. 

2. It has been found comparatively easy to 
sterilize a number of different species without 
apparently otherwise injuring them. 

3. Perthes! has found that X-rays have a 
destructive effect on chromosomes in the ova 
of Ascaris megalcephala. 

The experiments to be described were per- 
formed with a view to determining if X-rays 
by affecting the X-chromosome could disturb 
the inheritance of a sex-linked character. 
Wild type (red-eyed) females of Drosophila 
melanogaster, homozygous for red-eye, were 
X-rayed soon after emerging from the pupa 
with a dose just under the sterilization dose 
and mated to white-eyed males. Sisters of the 
rayed females were used as controls and mated 
to white-eyed males. The white eye color is 
sex-linked and recessive to the red and when 
there is no non-disjunction the offspring in 
tht first generation of a cross between a 
homozygous red-eyed female and a white-eyed 
male are all red-eyed. 

In all, four experiments have been per- 
formed. In three of these, numbers 71, 76, and 
TT, thirty-five virgin females, homozygous for 


1 Perthes, Deut. Med. Woch., 30, 1904. 


278 


the red-eyed character, were mated with white- 
eyed males. Nineteen of these were used as 
controls and sixteen were X-rayed soon after 
emerging from the pupa and immediately 
before mating. The rayed females were the 
sisters of the controls. None of the nineteen 
control pairs produced white-eyed males. 
One of the rayed females was sterile. Of the 
fifteen fertile rayed females, twelve produced 
one or more white-eyed males. The total 
number of offspring in the first generation 
produced by the control pairs was 6579 
(3367 3, 8212 2) all red-eyed, and by the pairs 
in which the females were rayed it was 2460 
(1227 red-eyed 3, 1211 red-eyed , 20 white- 
eyed ¢ and 2 gynandromorphs). In the fourth 
experiment seven wild-type sister females 
were used, three were kept as controls and 
four were rayed. All were mated with white- 
eyed males. One of the control females pro- 
duced one white-eyed male. Two of the three 
rayed females produced white-eyed males, one 
producing three and the other one. 

In the first and fourth experiments the 
white-eyed males were also homozygous for the 
character, “dumpy,” which is located in the 
second chromosome. Of the six white-eyed 
males produced in these experiments five had 
normal wings and the other died before its 
wings expanded. 

Twenty-three out of the twenty-four ex- 
ceptional white-eyed males came from eggs 
which were laid during the first six days after 
raying and mating. The other male came 
from an egg probably laid on the seventh day 
after raying. Further the exceptional white- 
eyed males divide themselves into two groups 
corresponding to eggs laid during the earlier 
part and the later part of this six day period. 

That the presence of these white-eyed males 
could be due to natural non-disjunction and 
not to any effect of the X-rays seems extreme- 
ly unlikely from the following considerations: 
In experiment 71, out of 7 fertile sisters the 
two which were X-rayed produced white-eyed 
males. The chance in a random picking of 
getting a particular two out of seven can be 
shown to be 1 in 42. We may add the results 
of experiments 76 and 77 since the females 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1395 


used in these experiments were all the off- 
spring taken at random of two pairs. If the 
result here was not due to X-rays, then in tak- 
ing at random 12 females from 26 for raying 
we must have taken the only 10 which pro- 
duced white-eyed flies. The chance of doing 
this can be shown to be 1 in 9,600,000 tries. 

Since the white-eyed males produced by the 
X-rayed females when crossed to white-eyed 
dumpy males were normal winged, the second 
chromosome of the female can not have been 
affected to the extent of the elimination of 
the gene for normal wing. 

It may be stated that a repetition of these 
experiments is in progress and that a number 
of experiments have already been carried far 
enough to confirm the earlier findings. 

In order to determine whether the whole 
or a part of the X-chromosome is affected by 
the X-rays, two strains with sex-linked charac- 
ters have been used, both obtained through 
the kindness of H. H. Plough—an eosin-minia- 
ture stock and a scute-echinus-cut-vermilion- 
garnet-forked stock. Males of both of these 
stocks have been used in experiments similar 
to those described. In all cases so far the ex- 
ceptional males produced by the X-rayed fe- 
males (the control females have produced no 
exceptional males) have all the sex-linked 
characters. 

Since the eggs which have produced the 
exceptional white-eyed males were probably 
rayed either 2 to 8 or 5 to 7 days before lay- 
ing, there seems reason to believe that they 
were acted on by the X-rays while preparing 
for one of the maturation divisions. (Com- 
pare here the work of H. H. Plough, 1917, 
on the effect of temperature on crossing over.) 

We know from the work of Stevens? and 
Metz’ that the X-chromosomes of Drosophila 
melanogaster (ampelophila) behave, in the 
male, differently from the other chromosomes 
in the maturation divisions. If, as seems 
probable, the chromosomes during division go 
through a stage in which they are particularly 
susceptible to X-rays, then it would seem 

2Stevens, Proc. VII. International Zool. Cong., 
1907. 

3 Metz, Journ. Exp. Zool., 1914. 


SEPTEMBER 23, 1921] 


probable that the X-chromosomes may pass 
through that stage at a time different from 
that at which the other chromosomes pass. 
This would account for the production of the 
exceptional white-eyed males in the experi- 
ments if we consider that the X-rays were ap- 
plied to the particular germ cell at a time 
when only the X-chromosome was in a condi- 
tion suceptible to the dose given. 

The writer wishes to express his great in- 
debtedness to Dr. Willis R. Whitney, director 
of the Research Laboratory of the General 
Electric Company at whose suggestion work 
on fruit-flies was undertaken and without 
whose cooperation it could hardly have been 
done. He is also indebted to Mr. O. J. Irish 
for accurate and careful ‘work as technical 
assistant throughout the investigation. 

James W. Mavor 

UNION COLLEGE, 

ScHEeNecTapy, N. Y. 


EPIDEMIC PNEUMONIA IN REPTILES 


Durine the spring and early summer months 
of 1919 there occurred an epidemic among 
the reptiles kept in captivity in the Bronx 
Zoological Gardens which resulted in the death 
of many of them. 

The clinical course of this disease, if it may 
be considered the same disease in all, was diffi- 
cult to follow on account of the well-known 
sluggishness of these animals, which often re- 
main quiet for a long time and fail to eat 
anything. For this reason the attention of the 
caretakers was seldom attracted to sick ani- 
mals until they were found dead. In some 
cases, however, it was observed that they suf- 
fered from an intense dyspncea and held their 
mouths open in the effort to breathe. Others 
emitted a frothy, slimy exudate from the 
mouth and nostrils. Even then it was difficult 
to observe any other symptoms and the attempt 
to secure a series of observations on the tem- 
perature of the sick animals for comparison 
with that of several normal ones of the same 
sort could not be carried out successfully. 

A great number of those which died were 
sent to the laboratory for autopsy and it is 
interesting that several turtles sent from the 


SCIENCE 


279 


New York Aquarium were found to have died 
from the same disease. Careful autopsies 
were made upon all these animals and cultures 
and smears taken from the lungs and upper 
respiratory tract and usually also from the 
heart’s blood. Other snakes and some rabbits, 
rats and mice were inoculated with the cul- 
tures derived from these cases. 

Cases of pneumonia were studied at autopsy 
in the following animals, often in many indi- 
viduals of the same species: Iguana tubercu- 
lata, Zamenis lamelliformis (Texas rattle- 
snake), Trachyurus rugosus (stump-tailed 
lizard), Crotalus atrox (Florida rattlesnake), 
Ancistrodon contortrix (copperhead), Vara- 
nus gouldt (Australian monitor), Spilotes 
corais (blacksnake), Tupinambis teguexin 
(yellow tegu), Pityophis sayt (bull snake), 
Alligator mississippiensis, Anaconda, Che- 
lonia imbricata (hawksbill turtle), Hutenia 
sirtalis (garter snake), Coluber guttatus, Tha- 
lassochelys caretta (loggerhead turtle), Helo- 
derma suspectum (gila monster), Ophi- 
bolus getulus (king snake), Chrysemys ele- 
gans (Cumberland turtle), Chrysemys picta 
(painted turtle), Tropidonotus fasciatus 
(water snake), Heterodon platyrrhinus, and 
Zamenis flagelliformis. 

The autopsies on these animals as a rule 
revealed a partial consolidation of the tubular 
spongy lung, various diverticula of the main 
bronchial cavity with their air cells being 
filled with an opaque blood-stained grayish 
exudate with occasional hemorrhages in the 
surrounding tissue. In one instance (Vara- 
nus) there was also an acute pericarditis with 
yellowish effusion upon the surface of the 
heart. 

Smears from the consolidated portions of 
such lungs showed the presence of great num- 
bers of rather small gram negative bacilli, 
sometimes with a slight admixture of gram 
positive diplococcoid organisms but usually in 
practically pure culture. 

Microscopically, the condition was fairly 
uniform in all. In Crotalus atrox many of 
the wide air cells were distended with compact 
masses of cellular exudate composed chiefly 
of leucocytes which are large with round vesic- 


280 


ular nucleus and indefinite granules. There 
were many red corpuscles and more especially 
nuclei of laked red corpuscles mingled with 
these, but little fibrin. Im this exudate and 
especially in the crevices between masses of 
exudate great clouds of gram negative bacilli 
could be seen. The same description applies 
to the lungs of Ancistrodon, Zamenis, Pity- 
ophis, Chelonia imbricata, et cetera. 

The lungs of the anacondas presented a 
slightly different appearance, for the gram 
negative bacilli tend to be collected in masses 
in the alveoli and densely surrounded by leu- 
cocytes and red corpuscles in a disintegrated 
condition so as to form round balls. The 
large leucocytes are filled with conspicuous 
granules which stain purple with the Gram 
stain and with Wright’s stain and are probably 
to be regarded as basophilic granules. 

So, too, the lungs of Tupinambis teguexin 
showed round nodules or masses of cells clus- 
tered round a central clump of gram negative 
bacilli. 

In the lungs of Heloderma the exudate in 
the alveoli was composed of a dense pink stain- 
ing granular coagulated material with abun- 
dant clumps of gram negative bacilli usually 
enclosed in phagocytes. 

The lung of Chrysemys picta presented a 
dense exudate of closely packed leucocytes 
with nuclei of red corpuscles and with great 
numbers of diffusely scattered gram negative 
bacilli. In this case the alveolar walls were 
much thickened and infiltrated with fluid and 
with leucocytes. 

No especial alteration of the bronchial walls 
nor of the coarser supporting tissue of the 
lungs could be observed. The abdominal or- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1395 


as a rule the animals were in a good state of 
nutrition. 

Cultures made from heart’s blood and 
lungs gave in practically every case luxuriant 
growths of a small gram negative bacillus 
when incubated at 23° C. Only in the case 
of Thalassochelys Caretta and one alligator 
were the bacilli somewhat larger. 

Five of these strains were grown in broths 
containing various sugars for comparison with 
results shown in the following table. 

Growth produced sediment in all tubes ex- 
cept those with maltose inoculated with 2 and 
4 where there was pellicle formation. 

From the above table it will be seen that 
Nos. 1 and 8 agree in acid and gas formation 
when grown in the specified sugars, while 2, 
4 and 5 differ among themselves and also 
differ from 1 and 8 in their powers of sugar 
fermentation and gas formation. When grown 
on gelatin liquefaction was produced by 4 
and 5 but not by 1, 2 and 8. 4 also produced 
gas. 

From several normal garter snakes studied 
as controls the cultures of heart’s blood and 
lungs were sterile except in two cases in 
which occasional colonies of a quite different 
thick gram negative bacillus were found. 

A rabbit was immunized with four injec- 
tions of culture 4, and eight days after the 
last injection the serum of this rabbit agglu- 
tinated the homologous strain completely in a 
dilution of 1-60 but showed no agglutination 
with nine other strains. 

Intratracheal injections of cultures 4 and 
6 were made in garter snakes and two spe- 
cies of Chrysemys and were followed by pneu- 
monia exactly resembling that in the animals 


gans were in all cases apparently normal, and from which the cultures were taken. The 
Maltose Levulose Dextrose Xylose Saccharose Lactose | Mannit 
| 

Acid | Gas | Acid | Gas | Acid | Gas | Acid | Gas | Acid | Gas | Acid | Gas | Acid Gas 
Wl eeae vce Wass | ce Were ee Perse | ce | Oe 0 ON) istecteal eects 
Se ESE a OEE Oka. @ FMA) Oe KARE ff“ @ 
Screed apedarae | apa drae ese tba eel Moa @ ) 0 spar + 
4 0 0 aP ar 0 qRaF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ap aP 0 
5 |++! + 1} tt! + | 44+! + 1 tt] + 144+!) +] 0 1 +] +41 + 


SEPTEMBER 23, 1921] 


organism was recovered in pure culture from 
the lungs of these inoculated animals. The 
bacillus is also highly virulent for rabbits, 
killing them often within twenty-four hours. 

No exact identification of the organism or 
organisms concerned in this epidemic can 
be offered, although in general they are very 
closely related to the rabbit septicemia group. 
The bacteriological studies, for which I am 
greatly indebted to Mrs. Julia T. Parker, were 
not carried to completion but they show that 
although the gram negative bacilli found in 
all the cases were morphologically identical, 
they differed somewhat in their fermentation 
reactions and did not, except in the case of the 
homologous strain, agglutinate with the one 
specific serum produced in a rabbit. The 
latter result may be because of an unfortunate 
choice of one aberrant strain for the produc- 
tion of the serum or it may be because the 
various strains occurred in different species of 
reptile. 

Since this was a well-defined epidemic of 
pneumonia affecting a variety of reptiles it 
seems probable that the original infecting 
organism may have acquired slightly different 
biological characters in its growth in different 
species. 

G. A. MacCatitum 

Dept. OF PATHOLOGY, 

COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS, 
CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


THE OHIO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 

Tue thirty-first annual meeting of the Ohio 
Academy of Science was held at Western Re- 
serve University and Case School of Applied Sci- 
ence, Cleveland, March 25 and 26, 1921, under 
the presidency of Mr, W. H. Alexander, of the 
United States Weather Bureau, Columbus. Fifty- 
nine members were registered as in attendance; 
forty-seven new members were elected. 

An excursion, organized in connection with the 
meeting, was carried out by the Section for 
Geology on May 28, 29, and 30. The itinerary 
(Wilmington, Clarksville, Fort Ancient, Oregonia, 
Dayton) was planned for the study of the Rich- 
mond formations of southwestern Ohio. The party 
of fifteen geologists was under the guidance of 
Drs. August Foerste and W. H. Shideler. 


SCIENCE 


281 


The trustees reported a gift of two hundred and 
fifty dollars from Mr. Emerson MeMillin, of New 
York City, in furtherance of the research work of 
the Academy. 

The death of one member was reported: Mr. 
Thomas Piwonka, of Cleveland. Mr. Piwonka was 
born of Bohemian stock in New York City, Sep- 
tember 10, 1854; he died May 9, 1920. His mem- 
bership in the Academy began in 1893. The obit- 
uary notice, prepared by Professor J. E. Hyde, 
closes with these words: ‘‘His life work was law, 
but in spare moments he was a naturalist with 
particular interest in geology, botany and mi- 
eroscopy. His passing removes one more (very 
few are left!) of that generation of men interested 
in the natural history of their locality, with the 
collector’s keen instinct, to which paleontology is 
profoundly indebted. With them is passing a 
phase of our culture.’’ 

Another of the older members of the academy, 
Professor G, Frederick Wright, of Oberlin, died 
on April 20, less than a month after the meeting. 
His name appears on the program; but he was 
too ill to be present, and the paper was read by 
another. He had been a member since 1892. 

Officers were elected as follows: President, R. 
C. Osburn, Ohio State University; Vice-presidents: 
Zoology, J. E. Kindred, Western Reserve Uni- 
versity; Botany, E. N. Transeau, Ohio State Uni- 
versity; Geology, J. E. Hyde, Western Reserve 
University; Physics, W. G. Hormell, Ohio Wes- 
leyan University; Medical Sciences, F. C. Waite, 
Western Reserve University; Psychology, Rudolph 
Pintner, Ohio State University (since removed to 
Teachers College, Columbia University) ; Secretary, 
EH. L. Rice, Ohio Wesleyan University; Treasurer, 
A, E. Waller, Ohio State University. 

The scientific program was as follows: 


PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 


Thunderstorms: especially those of Ohio: Mr, W. 
H. ALEXANDER, U. S. Weather Bureau, Columbus. 


PUBLIC LECTURES 


Hookworm and human efficiency: PROFESSOR 
CuarLes A. Korom, University of California. 

Scientific work at the Ohio Bureau of Juvenile 
Research: Dr. Henry H. Gopparp, Ohio Bureau 
of Juvenile Research, Columbus. 


PAPERS 
The new Cleveland Museum of Natural History: 
Paunt M. Rea. 
The state park situation in Ohio: 
CaRMAN. 
Chronological view of men of science: 
CULLER. 


J. ERNEST 


EPA 


282 


A peculiar case of stature inheritance: A. B. 
PLOWMAN. 

A differential sensitivity theory of time and space 
and its bearing on evolution: L. B. WALTON. 

The relation of the biologist to public health ad- 
ministration: A. B. PLOWMAN. 

The function of the strie and the origin of bilateral 
symmetry in the euglenoids: L. B. WALTON. 
The geographical distribution of the genera of 

the Opalinide: Maynarp M. Mercatr. 

Hemiptera of the Adirondacks: HERBERT Os- 
BORN. 

Collecting in southern Florida: HERBERT OSBORN. 

Some studies in Hessian fly emergence: T. H. 
PARKS. 

Notes on the habits and life history of Galeatus 
peckhami Ashm.: Cari J. DRAKE. 

A new Ambrosia beetle: notes on the work of 
Xyloterinus politus Say: Caru J. DRAKE. 

Phylogeny and distribution of the genus Libellula: 
CLARENCE H. KENNEDY. 

Aids in teaching elementary cytology: Z. P. Mrt- 
CALF. 

The cytology of the seaside earwig, Anisolabis: 
S. I. KornHAUSER. 

Copulation in Planaria maculata: R, A. BupINe- 
TON. 

On the regulative capacity of the neural tube: H. 
L. WIEMAN. 

The musculature of the head and throat of Chi- 
mera ogilvyt: Mar FRIEDLANDER. 

New models of the development of the heart in the 
chick: BraDLEY M. Patten. 

Some features of the morphology of the kidney of 
Necturus: S. W. CHASE. 

Orientation in the cat: FRANCIS H,. HERRICK. 

Diet of a captive mole: E. L. Mosg.ey. 

Additions to the birds of Ohio: LyNDS JONES. 

Phagocytosis and clotting in the perivisceral fluid 
of Arbacia: J. E, KINDRED. 

Further observations as to the effect of thyroid 
substance on plant protoplasm: R. A. Bvu- 
DINGTON. 

The origin and development of the prairie in North 
America: H. C. Sampson. 

The significance of native vegetation in crop pro- 
duction: A. E. WALLER. 

Energy relations of an acre of corn: 
TRANSEAU. 

Some energy relations of aquatic life and their 
significance: Li. H. TIFFANY. 

Contributions to the genetics and cytology of 
parthenogenetic Taraxaca: Paun B. SEARS. 
Reversal of the sexual state in Japanese hop: J. 

H. SCHAFFNER. 

The occurrence and abundance of certain alge in 
Lake Erie: Maucoum E. STICKNEY. 

The census of flowering plants on certain small 
islands of Lake Erie: Maucoum HE. STICKNEY. 

Causes and consequences of the irregularities in 
the glacial border in the Ohio Valley: G. FRED- 
ERICK WRIGHT. 

Explorations in eastern Bolivia: K, F. MATHER. 

Some sub-surface rock channels filled with glacial 
material: J. ERNEST CARMAN. 

A fault-zone breccia in the Bass Island series: J. 
ERNEST CARMAN. 


E. N. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1395 


A disconformable contact at the base of the Syl- 
wvania sandstone: J. ERNEST CARMAN. 

The Ordovician and Silurian seas of American 
arctic and subarctic regions and the relation of 
their faunas to contemporaneous seas of Huro- 
pean areas: AUGUST FOERSTE. 

Some coastal geology of southern Florida: G. F. 
LAMB. 

An interpretation of some Ohio geology: G. F. 
LAMB. 

Richmond Ostracoda of especial interest: W. H. 
SHIDELER. 

Additions to our knowledge of the Arnheim: W. 
H. SHIDELER. 

A Pliocene brackish water fauna near Alexander, 
La.: E, R, SMiTH. 

A modification of Hobbs’s method of teaching 
interpretation of geologic maps: HE, R. Sir. 

An embryonic volcano in Adams County, Ohio: 
WALTER H. BUCHER. 

Local geology of Cleveland from an economic 
standpoint: FRANK R. VAN Horn. 

The reopening and the end of the Linton (Ohio) 
Coal-measures fossil-amphibian locality: J. E. 
Hype. 

The fauna of the Berea Grit; a recurrent Bed- 
ford fauna, and its bearing on the age of the 
Bedford: J. E, Hyp. 

Some psychology applied to Americanization: 
Garry C. Myerrs. 

Scientific direction of childhood,—America’s great- 
est social and political responsibility: HERMAN 
H. Youne. ; 

Reliability of survey methods in individual diag- 
nosis: FLORENCE FITZGERALD. 

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PROBLEMS OF PHYSICS? 


My predecessor in office a year ago re- 
minded you that the theoretical researches 
of Einstein and Wey! suggest that not merely 
the material universe but space itself is per- 
haps finite. As to the probabilities I do not 
wish to express an opinion; but the statement 
is significant of the extent of the revolution 
in the conceptions and fundamental prin- 
ciples of physics now in progress. That space 
need not be infinite has, I believe, long been 
recognized by geometricians, and appropriate 
geometries to meet its possible limitations 
have been devised by ingenious mathe- 
maticians. I doubt, however, whether these 
inventive gentlemen ever dreamed that their 
schemes held any objective validity such as 
would assist the astronomer and the physicist 
in understanding and classifying material 
phenomena. It is not certain that they will; 
but the possibility is definite. Apart from 
this, the whole development of relativity is 
an extraordinary triumph for pure mathe- 
matics. Had Einstein not found his entire 
calculus ready to hand, owing to the purely 
mathematical work of Christoffel, Riemann, 
and others, it seems certain that the develop- 
ment of generalized relativity would have 
been much slower. It is a pleasure to be able 
to acknowledge this indebtedness of physics 
and astronomy to pure mathematics. 

Relativity is the revolutionary movement 
in physics which has caught the public eye, 
perhaps because it deals with familiar concep- 
tions in a manner which for the most part 
is found pleasantly incomprehensible. But it 
is only one of a number of revolutionary 
changes of comparable magnitude. Among 
these we have to place the advent of the quan- 

1 Address of the President of Section A—Mathe- 
matics and Physies, British Association for the 


Advancement of Science, Edinburgh, September, 
1921. 


284 


tum, the significance of which I hope we shall 
thoroughly discuss early next week. The vari- 
ous consequences of the electronic structure 
of matter are still unfolding themselves to us, 
and are increasing our insight into the most 
varied phenomena at a rate which must have 
appeared incredible only a few decades ago. 

The enormous and far-reaching importance 
of the discoveries being made at Cambridge 
by Sir Ernest Rutherford can not be over- 
emphasized. These epoch-making discoveries 
relate to the structure and properties of the 
nuclei of atoms. At the present time we have, 
I think, to accept it as a fact that the atoms 
consist of a positively charged nucleus of mi- 
nute size, surrounded at a fairly respectful 
distance by the number of electrons requisite 
to maintain the structure electrically neutral. 
'The nucleus contains all but about one two- 
thousandth part of the mass of the atom, and 
its electric charge is numerically equal to that 
of the negative electron multiplied by what 
is called the atomic number of the atom, the 
atomic number being the number which is 
obtained when the chemical elements are 
enumerated in the order of the atomic weights; 
thus, hydrogen =1, helium=2, lithium=—3, 
and so on. Consequently the number of ex- 
ternal electrons in the atom is also equal to 
the atomic number. The evidence, derived 
from many distinct and dissimilar lines of 
inquiry, which makes it necessary to accept 
the foregoing statements as facts, will be 
familiar to members of this Section of the 
British Association, which has continually been 
in the forefront of contemporary advances in 
physical science. But I would remind you 
in passing that one of the important pieces 
of evidence was supplied by Professor 
Barkla’s researches on the scattering of X-rays 
by light atoms. 

The diameters of the nuclei of the atoms 
are comparable with one millionth of one 
millionth part of a centimeter, and the prob- 
lem of finding what lies within the interior 
of such a structure seems at first sight almost 
hopeless. It is to this problem that Ruther- 
ford has addressed himself by the direct 
method of bombarding the nuclei of the dif- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1396 


ferent atoms with the equally minute high- 
velocity helium nuclei (alpha-particles) given 
off by radioactive substances, and examining 
the tracks of any other particles which may 
be generated as a result of the impact. A 
careful and critical examination of the results 
shows that hydrogen nuclei are thus expelled 
from the nuclei of a number of atoms such 
as nitrogen and phosphorus. On the other 
hand, oxygen and carbon do not eject hydro- 
gen under these circumstances, although there 
is evidence in the case of oxygen and nitrogen 
of the expulsion of other sub-nuclei whose 
precise structure is a matter for further in- 
quiry. 

The artificial transmutation of the chemical 
elements is thus an established fact. The 
natural transmutation has, of course, been 
familiar for some years to students of radio- 
activity. The philosopher’s stone, one of the 
alleged chimeras of the medieval alchemists, 
is thus within our reach. But this is only 
part of the story. It appears that in some 
cases the kinetic energy of the ejected frag- 
ments is greater than that of the bombard- 
ing particles. This means that these bom- 
bardments are able to release the energy which | 
is stored in the nuclei of atoms. Now, we 
know from the amount of heat liberated in 
radioactive disintegration that the amount of 
energy stored in the nuclei is of a higher 
order of magnitude altogether, some millions 
of times greater, in fact, than that generated 
by any chemical reaction such as the combus- 
tion of coal. In this comparison, of course, 
it is the amount of energy per unit mass of 
reacting or disintegrating matter which is 
under consideration. The amounts of energy 
which have thus far been released by artificial 
disintegration of the nuclei are in themselves 
small, but they are enormous in comparison 
with the minute amounts of matter affected. 
If these effects can be sufficiently intensified 
there appear to be two possibilities. Either 
they will prove uncontrollable, which would 
presumably spell the end of all things,” or they 

*To reassure the nervous I would, however, 
interpolate the comforting thought that this planet 
has held considerable quantities of radioactive 


SEPTEMBER 30, 1921] 


will not. If they can be both intensified and 
controlled then we shall have at our disposal 
an almost illimitable supply of power which 
will entirely transcend anything hitherto 
known. It is too early yet to say whether the 
necessary conditions are capable of being 
realized in practise, but I see no elements 
in the problem which would justify us in 
denying the possibility of this. It may be 
that we are at the beginning of a new age, 
which will be referred to as the age of sub- 
atomic power. We can not say; time alone 
will tell. 


THERMIONIC EMISSION 


With your permission, I will now descend 
a little way from the summit of Mount Olym- 
pus, and devote the rest of my address to a 
sober review of the present state of some of 
the questions with which my own thoughts 
have been more particularly occupied. At 
the Manchester meeting of the Association 
in 1915 I had the privilege of opening a dis- 
cussion on thermionic emission—that is to 
say, the emission of electrons and ions by in- 
candescent bodies. I recall that the opinion 
was expressed by some of the speakers that 
these phenomena had a chemical origin. That 
view, I venture to think, is one which would 
find very few supporters now. It is not that 
any new body of fact has arisen in the mean- 
time. The important facts were all estab- 
lished before that time, but they were insufli- 
ciently appreciated, and their decisiveness was 
inadequately realized. 

It may be worth while to revert for a mo- 
ment to the issues in the controversy, already 
moribund in 1915, because it has been closely 
paralleled by similar controversies relating to 
two other groups of phenomena—namely, 
photoelectric emission and contact electromo- 
tive foree—which, as we shall see, are inti- 
mately connected with thermionic emission. 
The issue was not as to whether thermionic 
emission may be looked upon simply as a type 
of chemical reaction. Such an issue would 
have been largely a matter of nomenclature. 


matter for a very long time without anything very 
serious happening so far as we know. 


SCIENCE 


285 


Thermionic electron emission has many feat- 
ures in common with a typical reversible 
chemical reaction such as the dissociation of 
calcium carbonate into lime and carbon dioxide 
There is a good deal to be said for the point 
of view which regards thermionic emission as 
an example of the simplest kind of reversible 
chemical action, namely, that kind which con- 
sists in the dissociation of a neutral atom 
into a positive residue and a negative elec- 
tron, inasmuch as we know that the negative 
electron is one of the really fundamental ele- 
ments out of which matter is built up. The 
issue in debate was, however, of a different 
character. It was suggested that the phenom- 
enon was not primarily an emission of elec- 
trons from the metallic or other source, but 
was a secondary phenomenon, a kind of by- 
product of an action which was primarily a 
chemical reaction between the source of elec- 
trons and some other material substance such 
as the highly attenuated gaseous atmosphere 
which surrounded it. This suggestion carried 
with it either implicitly or explicitly the view 
that the source of power behind the emission 
was not the thermal energy of the source, but 
was the chemical energy of the postulated 
reaction. 

This type of view has never had any suc- 
cess in elucidating the phenomena, and I do 
not feel it necessary at this date to weary you 
with a recital of the facts which run entirely 
counter to it, and, in fact, definitely exclude 
it as a possibility. They have been set forth 
at length elsewhere on more than one occa- 
sion. I shall take it to be established that the 
phenomenon is physical in its origin and re- 
versible in its operation. 

Establishing the primary character of the 
phenomenon does not, however, determine its 
nature or its immediate cause. Originally I 
regarded it as simply kinetic, a manifesta- 
tion of the fact that as the temperature rose 
the kinetic energy of some of the electrons 
would begin to exceed the work of the forces 
by which they are attracted to the parent sub- 
stance. With this statement there is, I think, 
no room for anyone to quarrel, but it is per- 
missible to inquire how the escaping electrons 


286 


obtain the necessary energy. One answer is 
that the electrons have it already in the in- 
terior of the substance by virtue of their 
energy of thermal agitation. But thermal 
agitations now appear less simple than they 
used to be regarded, and in any event they 
do not exhaust the possibilities. 

We Imow that when light of short enough 
wave-lengths falls on matter it causes the ejec- 
tion of electrons from it—the so-called photo- 
electric effect. Since the formula for the 
radiation emitted by a body at any given tem- 
perature contains every wave-length without 
limitation, there must be some emission of 
electrons from an incandescent body as the 
result of the photoelectric effect of its own 
luminosity. Two questions obviously put them- 
selves. Will this photoelectric emission caused 
by the whole spectrum of the hot body vary 
as the temperature of the incandescent body 
is raised in the way which is known to char- 
acterize thermionic emission? A straightfor- 
ward thermodynamic calculation shows that 
this is to be expected from the theoretical 
standpoint, and the anticipation has been con- 
firmed by the experiments of Professor W. 
Wilson. Thus the autophotoelectric emission 
has the correct behavior to account for the 
thermionic emission. The other question is: 
Is it large enough? This is a question of fact. 
I have considered the data very carefully. 
There is a little uncertainty in some of the 
items, but when every allowance is made there 
seems no escape from the conclusion that the 
photoelectric effect of the whole spectrum is 
far too small to account for thermionic emis- 
sion. 

This question is an important one, apart 
from the particular case of thermionic emis- 
sion. The same dilemma is met with when 
we seek for the actual modus operandi of evap- 
oration, chemical action, and a number of 
other phenomena. These, so far as we know, 
might be fundamentally either kinetic or 
photochemical or a mixture of both. In my 
judgment the last alternative is the most prob- 
able. (1 am using the term photochemical 
here in the wide sense of an effect of light in 
changing the composition of matter, whether 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1396 


the parts affected are atoms, groups of atoms, 
ions, or electrons.) For example, the approxi- 
mation about boiling points known as Trou- 
ton’s rule is a fairly obvious deduction from 
the photochemical standpoint. The photo- 
chemical point of view has recently been put 
very strongly by Perrin, who would make it 
the entire motif of all chemical reaction, as 
well as of radioactivity and changes of state. 
In view of the rather minor part it seems to 
play in thermionic emission, where one would 
a priort have expected light to be especially 
effective, this is probably claiming too much 
for it, but the chemical evidence contains one 
item which is certainly difficult to compre- 
hend from the kinetic standpoint. The speed 
of chemical decomposition of certain gases is 
independent of their volume, showing that the 
decomposition is not due to molecular col- 
lisions. The speed does, however, increase very 
rapidly with rising temperature. What the 
increased temperature can do except increase 
the number and intensity of the collisions, fac- 
tors which the independence of volume at con- 
stant temperature shows to be without effect, 
and increase the amount of radiation received 
by the molecules, is not too obvious. It seems, 
however, that, according to calculations by 
Langmuir,’ the radiation theory does not get 
us out of this difficulty; for, just as in the 
ordinary photoelectric case, there is nothing 
like enough radiation to account for the ob- 
served effects. It seems that in the case of 
these mono-molecular reactions the phenomena 
can not be accounted for either by simple 
collisions, or by radiation, or by a mixture of 
both, and it is necessary to fall back on the 
internal structure of the decomposing mole- 
cule. This is complex enough to afford ma- 
terial sufficient to cover the possibilities; but, 
from the standpoint of the temperature energy 
relations of its parts, it can not at present be 
regarded as much more than a field for specu- 
lation. 
CONTACT ELECTRICITY 

A controversy about the nature of the con- 

tact potential difference between two metals, 


5 Journ. Am. Chem. Soc., Vol. XLII., p. 2190 
(1920). 


SEPTEMBER 30, 1921] 


similar to that to which I have referred in 
connection with thermionic emission, has ex- 
isted for over a century. In 1792 Volta wrote: 
“The metals . .. can by themselves, and of 
their own proper virtue, excite and dislodge 
the electric fluid from its state of rest.” The 
contrary position that the electrical manifes- 
tations are inseparably connected with chem- 
ical action was developed a few years later by 
Fabroni. Since that time electrical investi- 
gators have been fairly evenly divided between 
these two opposing camps. Among the sup- 
porters of the intrinsic or contact view of 
the type of Volta we may recall Davy, Helm- 
holtz, and Kelvin. On the other side we have 
to place Maxwell, Lodge, and Ostwald. Jn 
1862 we find Lord Kelvin ‘ writing: 

For nearly two years I have felt quite sure that 
the proper explanation of voltaic action in the com- 
mon voltaic arrangement is very near Volta’s, 
which fell into discredit because Volta or his fol- 
lowers neglected the principle of the conservation 
of force. 


On the other hand, in 1896 we find Ostwald 5 
referring to Volta’s views as the origin of the 
most far-reaching error in electrochemistry, 
which the greatest part of the scientific work 
in that domain has been occupied in fighting 
almost ever since. These are cited merely as 
representative specimens of the opinions of the 
protagonists. 

Now, there is a close connection between 
thermionic emission and contact potential dif- 
ference, and I believe that a study of ther- 
mionie emission is going to settle this little 
dispute. In fact, I rather think it has already 
settled it, but before going into that matter 
I would like to explain how it is that there 
is a connection between thermionic emission 
and contact potential difference, and what the 
nature of that connection is. 

Imagine a vacuous enclosure, either imper- 
vious to heat or maintained at a constant tem- 
perature. Let the enclosure contain two dif- 
ferent electron-emitting bodies, A and B. Let 

“Papers on Electrostatics and Magnetism, p. 
318, 

'«¢ Hlektrochemie, Ihre Geschichte und Lehre,’’ 
p. 65, Leipzig (1896). 


SCIENCE 


287 


one of these, say A, have the power of emitting 
electrons faster than the other, B. Since they 
are each receiving as well as emitting elec- 
trons, A will acquire a positive and B a nega- 
tive charge under these circumstances. Owing 
to these opposite charges A and B will now 
attract each other, and useful work can be 
obtained by letting them come in contact. 
After the charges on A and B have been dis- 
charged by bringing them in contact, let the 
bodies be quickly separated and moved to their 
original positions. This need involve no ex- 
penditure of work, as the charges arising from 
the electron emission will not have had time 
to develop. After the charges have had time 
to develop the bodies can again be permitted 
to move together under their mutual attrac- 
tion, and so the eycle can be continued an 
indefinite number of times. In this way we 
have succeeded in imagining a device which 
will convert all the heat energy from a source 
at a uniform temperature into useful work. 

Now, the existence of such a device would 
contravene the second law of thermodynamics. 
We are therefore compelled either to deny the 
principles of thermodynamics or to admit that 
there is some fallacy as to the pretended facts 
in the foregoing argument. We do not need 
to hesitate between these alternatives, and we 
need only look to see how the alleged behavior 
of A and B will need to be modified in order 
that no useful work may appear. There are 
two alternatives. Either A and B necessarily 
emit equal numbers (which may include the 
particular value zero) of electrons at all tem- 
peratures, or the charges which develop owing 
to the unequal rate of emission are not dis- 
charged, even to the slightest degree, when the 
two bodies are placed in contact. 

The first alternative is definitely excluded 
by the experimental evidence, so I shall pro- 
eeed to interpret the second. It means that 
bodies have natural states of electrification 
whereby they become charged to definite poten- 
tial differences whose magnitudes are inde- 
pendent of their relative positions. There is 
an intrinsic potential difference between A and 
B which is the same, at a given temperature, 
whether they are at a distance apart or in con- 


288 


tact. In the words of Volta, which I have 
already quoted, “ the metals can by themselves, 
and of their own proper virtue, excite and dis- 
lodge the electric fluid from its state of rest.” 

Admitting that the intrinsic potentials ex- 
ist, a straightforward calculation shows that 
they are intimately connected with the magni- 
tudes of the thermionic emission at a given 
temperature. The relation is, in fact, gov- 
erned by the following equation: If A and B 
denote the saturation thermionic currents per 
unit area of the bodies A and B respectively, 
and V is the contact potential difference be- 
tween them at the absolute temperature T, 
then V—=kT/e log A/B where k is the gas 
constant calculated for a single molecule 
(Boltzmann’s constant), and e is the electronic 
charge. 

I have recently, with the help of Mr. F. S. 
Robertson, obtained a good deal of new inform- 
ation on this question from the experimental 
side. We have made measurements of the con- 
tact potential difference between heated fila- 
ments and a surrounding metallic cylinder, 
both under the high-vacuum and gas-free con- 
ditions which are now attainable in such appa- 
ratus, and also when small known pressures 
of pure hydrogen are present. As is well 
known, both contact potentials and thermionic 
emission are very susceptible to minute traces 
of gas, but we find that under the best condi- 
tions as to freedom from gas there is a con- 
tact potential of the order of one volt between 
a pure tungsten filament and a thoriated fila- 
ment. We have also been able to measure the 
thermionic emissions from the filaments at 
the same time, and we find that the contact 
potential calculated from them with the help 
of the foregoing equation is within 20 per 
cent. of the measured value. Considering the 
experimental difficulties, this is a very substan- 
tial agreement. Whilst the evidence is not 
yet as complete as I hope to make it, it goes 
a long way towards disproving the chemical 
view of the origin of contact potential differ- 
ence. 

From what has been said you will realize 
that the connection between contact potentials 
and thermionic emissions is a very close one. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1396 


I would, however, like to spend a moment in 
developing it from another angle. To account 
for the facts of thermionic emission it is nec- 
essary to assume that the potential energy of 
an electron in the space just outside the emit- 
ter is greater than that inside by a definite 
amount, which we may call w. The existence 
of this w, which measures the work done when 
an electron escapes from the emitter, is re- 
quired by the electron-atomic structure of 
matter and of electricity. Its value can be 
deduced from the temperature variation of 
thermionic emission, and, more directly, from 
the latent heats absorbed or generated when 
electrons flow out of or into matter. These 
three methods give values of w which, allow- 
ing for the somewhat considerable experimen- 
tal difficulties, are in fair agreement for any 
particular emitter. The data also show that 
in general different substances have different 
values of w. This being so, it is clear that 
when uncharged bodies are placed in contact 
the potential energies of the electrons in one 
will in general be different from those of the 
electrons in the other. If, as in the case of 
the metals, the electrons are able to move 
freely they will so move until an electric field 
is set up which equilibrates this difference of 
potential energy. There will thus be an in- 
trinsic or contact difference of potential be- 
tween metals which is equivalent to the differ- 
ence in the values of w and is equal to the 
difference in w divided by the electronic 
charge.® 


PHOTOELECTRIC ACTION 


We have seen that there is a connection 
on broad lines between thermionic emission 
and both contact potentials on the one hand 
and photoelectric emission on the other. The 
three groups of phenomena are also related in 
detail and to an extent which up to the present 
has not been completely explored. In order 
to understand the present position, let us re- 


*This statement is only approximately true. In 
order to condense the argument certain small effects 
connected with the Peltier effect at the junction 
between the metals have been left out of consid- 
eration. 


SEPTEMBER 30, 1921] 


view briefly some of the laws of photoelectric 
action as they have revealed themselves by 
experiments on the electrons emitted from 
metals when illuminated by visible and ultra- 
violet light. 

Perhaps the most striking feature of photo- 
electric action is the existence of what has been 
called the threshold frequency. For each metal 
whose surface is in a definite state there is a 
definite frequency n,, which may be said to 
determine the entire photoelectric behavior of 
the metal. The basic property of the thresh- 
old frequency n, is this: When the metal is 
illuminated by light of frequency less than Ny 
no electrons are emitted, no matter how in- 
tense the light may be. On the other hand, 
illumination by the most feeble light of fre- 
quency greater than n, causes some emission. 
The frequency n, signalizes a sharp and abso- 
lute discontinuity in the phenomena. 

Now let us inquire as to the kinetic energy 
of the electrons which are emitted by a metal 
when illuminated by monochromatic light of 
frequency, let us say, n. Owing to the fact 
that the emitted electrons may originate from 
different depths in the metal, and may undergo 
collision at irregular intervals, it is only the 
maximum kinetic energy of those which escape 
which we should expect to exhibit simple prop- 
erties. As a matter of fact, it is found that 
the maximum kinetic energy is equal to the 
difference between the actual frequency n and 
the threshold frequency n, multiplied by 
Planck’s constant h. In mathematical sym- 
bols, if v is the velocity of the fastest emitted 
electron, m its mass, e its charge, and V the 
opposing potential required to bring it to rest, 


eV =himv=h(n—Mm). 


From this equation we see that the threshold 
frequency has another property. It is evi- 
dently that frequency for which kinetic energy 
and stopping potential fall to zero. This sug- 
gests strongly, I think, that the reason the elec- 
tron emission ceases at n, is that the electrons 
are not able to get enough energy from the 
light to escape from the metal, and not that 
they are unable to get any energy from the 
light. 


SCIENCE 


289 


The threshold frequencies have another 
simple property. If we measure the threshold 
frequencies for any pair of metals, and at the 
same time we measure the contact difference 
of potential K between them, we find that K 
is equal to the difference between their thres- 
hold frequencies multiplied by this same con- 
stant h divided by the electronic charge e. 

These results, as well as others which I have 
not time to enumerate, admit of a very simple 
interpretation if we assume that when illumi- 
nated by light of frequency n the electrons 
individually acquire an amount of energy hn. 
We have seen that in order to account for ther- 
mionic phenomena it is necessary to assume 
that the electrons have to do a certain amount 
of work w to get away from the emitter. There 
is no reason to suppose that photoelectrically 
emitted electrons can avoid this necessity. Let 
us suppose that this work is also definite for 
the photoelectric electrons and let us denote 
its value by hn,. Then no electron will be 
able to escape from the metal until it is able 
to acquire an amount of energy at least equal 
to hn, from the light—that is to say, under 
the suppositions made—until n becomes at 
least as great as n,. Thus n, will be identical 
with the frequency which we have called the 
threshold frequency, and the maximum en- 
ergy of any electron after escaping will be 
h (n—n,). 

The relation between threshold frequencies 
and contact potential difference raises another 
issue. We have seen that the contact poten- 
tial difference between two metals must be 
very nearly equal to the difference between 
the amounts of work w for the electrons to 
get away from the two metals by thermionic 
action, divided by the electronic charge e. The 
photoelectric experiments show that the con- 
tact electromotive force is also nearly equal 
to the differences of the threshold frequencies 
multiplied by */,. It follows that the photo- 
electric work hn, must be equal to the ther- 
mionie work w to the same degree of accuracy. 
We have to except here a possible constant 
difference between the two. I do not see, how- 
ever, how any value other than zero for such 
a constant could be given a rational interpre- 


290 


tation, as it would have to be the same for all 
substances and frequencies. The photoelectric 
and thermionic works are known to agree to 
within about one volt. To decide how far they 
are identical needs better experimental evi- 
dence than we have at present. The indirect 
evidence for their substantial identity (that 
is to say, within the limits of accuracy re- 
ferred to above) is stronger at the moment 
than the direct evidence. 

I do not think that the complete identity of 
the thermionic work w and the photoelectric 
hn, is a matter which can be inferred a priori. 
What we should expect depends to a consider- 
able extent on the condition of the electrons 
in the interior of metals. We can not pretend 
to any real knowledge of this at present; the 
various current theories are mere guesswork. 
Unless the electrons which escape all have the 
same energy when inside the metal we should 
expect the thermionic value to be an average 
taken over those which get out. The photo- 
electric value, on the other hand, should be 
the minimum pertaining to those internal elec- 
trons which have most energy. The apparent 
sharpness of the threshold frequency is also 
surprising from some points of view. There 
seems to be scope for a fuller experimental 
examination of these questions. 

I have spoken of the threshold frequency as 
though it were a perfectly definite quantity. 
No doubt it is when the condition of the body 
is or can be definitely specified, but it is ex- 
traordinarily sensitive to minute changes in 
the conditions of the surface, such as may be 
caused, for example, by the presence of ex- 
tremely attenuated films of foreign matter. 
For this reason we should accept with a cer- 
tain degree of reserve statements which appear 
from time to time that photoelectric action is 
some parasitic phenomenon, inasmuch as it 
can be made to disappear by improvement of 
vacuum or other change in the conditions. 
What has generally happened in these investi- 
gations is that something has been done to 
the illuminated surface which has raised its 
threshold frequency above that of the shortest 
wave-length in the light employed in the test. 
Unless they are accompanied by specific in- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1396 


formation about the changes which have taken 
place in the threshold frequency, such state- 
ments are of little value at the present stage 
of development of this subject. 

Interesting calculations have been made by 
Frenkel which bring surface tension into close 
connection with the thermionic work w. 
Broadly speaking, there can be little doubt 
that a connection of this nature exists, but 
whether the relation is as simple as that given 
by the calculations is open to doubt. It should 
be possible to answer this question definitely 
when we have more information about the dis- 
position of the electrons in atoms such as the 
continuous progress in X-ray investigation 
seems to promise. 


LIGHT AND X-RAYS 


One of the great achievements of experi- 
mental physics in recent years has been the 
demonstration of the essential unity of X-rays 
and ordinary light. X-rays have been shown 
to be merely light of particularly high fre- 
queney or short wave-length, the distinction 
between the two being one of degree rather 
than of kind. The foundations of our knowl-- 
edge of X-ray phenomena were laid by Barkla, 
but the discovery and development of the crys- 
tal diffraction methods by v. Laue, the Braggs, 
Moseley, Duane, and de Broglie have estab- 
lished their relations with ordinary light so 
clearly that he who runs may read their sub- 
stantial identity. The actual gap in the spec- 
trum of the known radiations between light 
and X-rays is also rapidly disappearing. The 
longest stride into the region beyond the ultra- 
violet was made by Lyman with the vacuum 
grating spectroscope which he developed. For 
a short time Professor Bazzoni and I held the 
record in this direction with our determina- 
tion of the short wave limit of the helium 
spectrum, which is in the neighborhood of 450 
Angstrom units. More recently this has been 
passed by Millikan, who has mapped a number 
of lines extending to about 200 Angstrom units 
—that is to say, more than four octaves above 
the violet limit of the visible spectrum. I am 
not sure what is the longest X-ray which has 
been measured, but I find a record of a Zina 


SEPTEMBER 30, 1921] 


L-ray by Friman? of a wave-length of 12.346 
Angstrom units. There is thus at most a mat- 
ter of about four octaves still to be explored. 
In approaching this unknown region from the 
violet end the most characteristic property of 
the radiations appears to be their intense ab- 
sorption by practically every kind of matter. 
This result is not very surprising from the 
quantum standpoint. The quantum of these 
radiations is in excess of that which corre- 
sponds to the ionizing potential of every known 
molecule, but it is of the same order of magni- 
tude. Furthermore, it is large enough to reach 
not only the most superficial, but also a num- 
ber of the deeper-seated electrons of the atoms. 
There is evidence, both theoretical and experi- 
mental, that the photoelectric absorption of 
yadiation is most intense when its quantum 
exceeds the minimum quantum necessary to 
eject the absorbing electron but does not ex- 
ceed it too much. In the simplest theoretical 
case the absorption is zero for radiations whose 
frequencies lie below the minimum quantum, 
rises to a maximum for a frequency compar- 
able with the minimum, and falls off to zero 
again at infinite frequency. This case has not 
been realized in practise, but, broadly judged, 
the experimental data are in harmony with it. 
On these general grounds we should expect in- 
tense absorption by all kinds of matter for the 
radiation between the ultra-violet and the 
X-ray region. 

The closeness of the similarity in the prop- 
erties of X-rays and light is, I think, even 
yet inadequately realized. It is not merely a 
similarity along broad lines, but it extends 
to a remarkable degree of detail. It is per- 
haps most conspicuous in the domains of 
photoelectric action and of the inverse phenom- 
enon of the excitation of radiation or spectral 
lines by electron impacts. Whilst there may 
still be room for doubt as to the precise inter- 
pretation of some of the experimental data, 
the impression I have formed is that each im- 
portant advance tends to unify rather than to 
disintegrate these two important groups of 
phenomena. 

O. W. RicHarDson 


" Phil. Mag., Vol. XXXII, p. 494 (1916). 


SCIENCE 


291 


SCIENTIFIC ABSTRACTING}! 


Is it worth while for scientific journals to 
provide abstracts at the beginning of their 
articles? 

The answer to this question depends, of 
course, on the nature of the abstracts. If they 
are sketchy, incomplete and unreliable, as 
many abstracts published at present are, they 
may be worse than useless. But suppose each 
abstract describes the contents of the article 
so completely and precisely that any reader can 
tell with assurance whether the article contains 
any results of interest to him, and suppose it 
summarizes the methods, conclusions and 
theories so as to give all the information any 
reader not a specialist in the narrow field in- 
volved needs; that is, suppose each is the 
result of a careful analysis of the article by a 
competent abstractor, would not such abstracts 
enable the reader to grasp the significant re- 
sults in the articles not only more quickly but 
more completely and clearly than by skim- 
ming through the articles? 

Such abstracts would save much time for 
the scientist not only as a reader of current 
literature but also as an investigator. For 
when he desires information on a certain nar- 
row subject, such abstracts would help him to 
determine more quickly than otherwise which 
of the articles referred to in a bibliography or 
other list contain what he needs; and fre- 
quently the abstracts would give him the in- 
formation directly and make a search through 
the articles unnecessary. Finally, such ab- 
stracts would save his time as an abstractor 
at home and abroad. For abstract journals 
are recognized to be such useful, almost in- 
dispensable guides to scientific literature that 
most sciences have one or more in each of the 
great scientific languages. At present, then, 
most of the articles in the fields of astronomy, 
physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine are 
abstracted from three to six times each, while 
if an abstract suitable for reprinting in an ab- 


1The method of analytic abstracting described 
jn this paper was developed by the writer during 
1919-20 while on the staff of the Research In- 
formation Service of the National Research 
Council, 


292 


stract journal were prefixed to each original 
article, a reabstracting of the article would 
be unnecessary and much duplication of effort 
would be avoided. Moreover the practise would 
enable abstract journals to report current lit- 
erature with less delay than at present. 

But to render this service to scientists, the 
abstracts must, as stated above, adequately de- 
scribe and summarize the contents of the 
articles. The standard must not only be 
high; it must be uniform, so that the ab- 
stracts may be beyond suspicion of incomplete- 
ness and inaccuracy. 

During 1920 the National Research Council 
devoted considerable attention to various ques- 
tions relating to abstracts, such as: how they 
might be improved in form so as to render 
more effective service; how the rules might 
be made more definite and the method of prep- 
aration more systematic so as to result in 
more uniformly good abstracts. As a result 
of study and experimentation a type of ab- 
stract was developed which is believed to be 
well suited to the needs both of abstract jour- 
nals and of scientific journals with prelimi- 
nary abstracts. 

Abstracts of this type, which are called 
analytic abstracts, have been appearing in the 
Astrophysical Journal and, less consistently, in 
the Physical Review since January, 1920. 
Their main characteristics are illustrated in 
the following samples. 


1. A new method of determining the atomic 
weight of iodine. Marcel Guichard; Ann. 
chim., 6, 279-318 (1916); 7, 5-49 (1917). 


ABSTRACT 


Atomic weight of iodine—The pentoxide 
method used involves the preparation of I,O,, 
the decomposition of this anhydrid, and the 
-eollection of the iodine by condensation and of 
the oxygen by combination with pure copper. 
The mean of five determinations is 126.915. 
The article gives in voluminous detail the re- 
finements employed to guard against error. 

Iodine pentoxide; preparation, purification 
and decomposition with heat.—The results of 
a thorough study are presented. As it was 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1396 


found impracticable to prepare it by direct 
combination of I, and O,, the method adopted 
was to oxidize I, with fuming HNO, and 
subsequently expel free I, and HNO, by 
heating to 450°. This was carried out in an 
evacuated train which is fully described. 

Preparation of pure todine——Detailed di- 
rections are given. 

Occlusion of oxygen by glass, porcelain and 
copper was studied in order to determine the 
best material for the apparatus. 


2. On K. S. magnet steel. K. Honda and S. 
Saito; Physical Review, 16, 495-500, De- 
cember, 1920. 


ABSTRACT 


K. S. magnet steel (C 0.4-0.8, Co 30-40, 
W 5-9, Or 1.5-3 per cent).—This remarkable 
new alloy steel possesses, when tempered, an 
extremely high coercive force, 226-257 gauss, 
and a strong residual magnetism, varying from 
620 to 920 C.G.S. units for different specimens. 
The effect of repeated shock was to reduce 
these values by only 6 per cent. The hysteresis 
curves for a magnetizing force of +1300 
gauss show for the hardened steel] an energy 
loss of 900,000 ergs per cycle. Tempering is 
best effected by heating to 950° C. and quench- 
ing in heavy oil. This treatment applied to 
annealed specimens increases the Brinell 
hardness number from 444 to 652 and makes 
the microstructure finer grained. 

§ 

8. The structure of the helium atom. Irving 

Langmuir; Physical Review, 17, 339-353, 
March, 1921. 


ABSTRACT 


Helium atom models—(1) Bohr’s model is 
unsatisfactory because it gives too great a 
value for the ionizing potential and is not in 
accord with some of the optical and mag- 
netic properties of helium. Since the chem- 
ical evidence suggests that each electron in 
an atom has its own orbit, separated from the 
other orbits but closely interrelated with them, 
two new models are considered. (2) In the 
double circle model the two electrons are as- 
sumed to move in two circular orbits, separate 


SEPTEMBER 30, 1921] 


but parallel. This model, however, is unstable, 
for the ionizing potential computed by apply- 
ing the quantum theory, comes out negative. 
Another objection to this model is that the 
magnetic moment is not zero. (3) In the 
semi-circular model each electron is assumed 
to oscillate back and forth along an approxi- 
mately semi-circular path in accordance with 
classical mechanics, each being brought to 
rest at each end of its path by the repulsion 
of the other. Assuming the maximum angu- 
lar momentum of each electron equal to h/2z7 
the absolute dimensions come out such as to 
give a total energy 0.9618 times that of the 
Bohr model, and the computed ionizing po- 
tential, 25.62 volts, agrees closely with the 
experimental value. The magnetic moment is 
zero. 

Application of the quantum theory to 
coupled electrons.—The success of the semi- 
circular model of helium suggests that in the 
case of coupled electrons the quantum theory 
should be applied not to the momentum of the 
individual electrons according to the relation 
[pdq=h/2n, but rather to the momentum 
which by being relayed from one electron to 
another, passes in each direction around the 
nucleus. 


4. Studies on inbreeding. IV. Effects of in- 
breeding on the growth and variability in 
body weight of the albino rat. Helen D. 
King; Jour. Exp. Zool., 29, No. 1 (1919). 


ABSTRACT 


Effects of inbreeding on the growth and 
variability in body weight of the albino rat.— 
In continuation of previous work, data are 
given concerning over 600 rats belonging to 
the sizteenth to twenty-fifth generations of a 
strain bred brother to sister from the same 
litter only. Allowing for the effect of certain 
unfavorable conditions, determined by control 
rats, the results confirm previous conclusions 
and show that close inbreeding continued for 
25 generations has not produced any deteriora- 
tion in the stock as regards the growth curve, 
the body weight, the variability of body weight 
for various ages, and the relative behavior of 


SCIENCE 


293 


the sexes in these respects. Selected rats were 
used as the parents of each generation. If 
there is any tendency to deterioration it was 
counteracted in these experiments by the se- 
lection employed. 

Effect of nutrition on the growth and varia- 
bility in body weight of the albino rat.—Rats 
are particularly sensitive to food conditions. 
Alfalfa, cottonseed and linseed meal were 
found to be injurious. A change from a satis- 
factory diet to one less suitable resulted in a 
marked increase in variability of body weight 
both for inbred and stock rats. 

Sex ratio in the albino rat.—By selection 
the inbred strain has been separated into two 
lines, one with a high, the other with a low, 
sex ratio; but the effect of selection seems to. 
be limited. The two strains are alike in body- 
weight, growth curve and variability of body 
weight. 


It will be noticed that each of the one or 
more paragraphs of each abstract begins with 
an italicized paragraph title. In some cases 
words or phrases within a paragraph are also 
italicized. This is not done for emphasis but 
to associate them with the paragraph titles 
which they supplement and complete. Para- 
graph titles and italicized words and phrases 
will collectively be called subtitles. If the 
reader will run through the sample abstracts, 
skipping all but these italicized subtitles, he 
will get in each case a descriptive index of 
the information in the article. For example: 


ABSTRACT NO. 1 
Atomic weight of iodine. 
Pentoxide method. 
Determinations. 
Iodine pentoxide. 
Preparation, purification. 
Decomposition with heat. 
Preparation of pure iodine. 
Occlusion of oxygen by glass, porcelain and 
copper. 
ABSTRACT NO. 3 
Helium atom models. 
(1) Bohr’s model. 
(2) Double circle model. 
(3) Semi-circular model. 


294 


Application of the quantum theory to 

coupled electrons; suggestion. 

The subtitles, then, form in each case an 
index of the abstract. By glancing through 
them a reader can tell with assurance whether 
the article deals with anything of interest to 
him. It is well known that one can not rely 
upon the author’s title alone, for many articles 
contain incidental information or a variety 
of information which a short title can not 
fully describe. The first and last articles ab- 
stracted above are good instances of this fact. 
On the other hand, the subtitles of this type 
of abstract, since they may be as numerous 
as is necessary, can give in all cases the pre- 
cise scope of the information contained in the 
article; in particular they can call attention 
to incidental results whose presence would not 
be suspected from the title, such as the data 
relating to the occlusion of oxygen given in 
the article on the atomic weight of iodine. 

Besides providing a complete index in the 
form of subtitles, the abstracts are required 
to describe the new information with sufficient 
precision and to summarize the results with 
sufficient completeness and in sufficient de- 
tail to satisfy the needs of the great majority 
of readers. Each abstract should be a care- 
fully prepared report on the contributions to 
scientific knowledge set forth in the article, by 
a scientist who feels his responsibility to his 
scientific colleagues to make it complete and 
accurate. 

But why go to the trouble of preparing such 
abstracts? Why not let each reader glance 
through each article and determine what it 
contains for himself? Because for each scien- 
tist to do his own abstracting, as this would 
amount to, is as wasteful as for each to pre- 
pare his own indexes of the reference books 
he uses; it means not only an unnecessary du- 
plication of effort but, worse still, a poor 
quality of abstracting, in most cases. Then 
there is the waste involved in the simultaneous 
abstracting cf each article by several abstract 
journals to be considered. Efficiency demands 
that a good preliminary abstract be provided 
with each article, so that all readers may bene- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1396 


fit by the careful work of one abstracter and 
none need abstract that article again. 

Anyone may readily convince himself of 
the value of preliminary analytic abstracts if 
he will turn to one of the longer articles in 
the Astrophysical Journal since January, 1920, 
and, after spending three to five minutes in 
abstracting the article for himself by glancing 
through it, will compare the information he 
thus gains with what he might have obtained 
in an equal time from the abstract. 

There can be no doubt, then, that good pre- 
liminary abstracts would save much time for 
scientists as readers, investigators and ab- 
stractors. But is this of any importance? 
Before the War many would have said, No. 
Research was generally regarded as a hobby. 
Now it is more generally realized that the 
research output of the country is a matter of 
national concern and is an important factor 
in national progress. 

The number of scientists actively engaged 
in research work is relatively small. Their 
research time is correspondingly valuable, es- 
pecially as it is further limited by the fact 
that most of them have teaching or executive 
duties which take much of their energy. Of 
this time the larger the part devoted to se- 
curing the necessary foundation of scientific 
information, both current and past, the less 
the part available for actual research. There- 
fore, everything possible should be done to 
make it as easy as practicable for each inves- 
tigator to obtain the information he needs; 
that is, our whole scientific information serv- 
ice, including original scientific journals, ab- 
stract journals, handbooks, tables, etc., should 
be made in its parts and as a whole, as efficient 
as possible. All this is self-evident. In this 
note we are considering merely the scientific 
journals. Their part is to provide preliminary 
abstracts. And since this can be done at very 
small additional expense to each and since the 
saving of time for scientists would be in the 
aggregate considerable, surely there can be 
no question as to the advisability of the adop- 
tion of this policy by every scientific journal. 

What obstacles stand in the way? The ad- 
ditional expense is, as just stated, small. The 


SEPTEMBER 30, 1921] 


abstract would be less than five per cent of 
the article on the average, and if the sum- 
mary usually placed at the end were omitted, 
as could well be done because its function 
would be served by the abstract, the increase 
in length of the article would be little or noth- 
ing. But, on the other hand, the addition of 
abstracts would undoubtedly considerably in- 
crease the burdens of the already overburdened 
editors, and one would shrink from suggesting 
that they add to their labors the drudgery as- 
sociated with securing and editing the ab- 
stracts if it were not clear that the gain to the 
many investigators would be many times the 
cost to the few. 

At present, in addition to the Astrophysical 
Journal, Physical Review, and Journal of the 
American Ceramic Society, which require ana- 
lytie abstracts, the following fourteen scien- 
tific and engineering journals give preliminary 
abstracts: The group of biological journals 
published by the Wistar Institute of Anatomy 
and Biology—American Journal of Anatomy, 
American Anatomical Memoirs, Anatomical 
Record, Journal of Comparative Neurology, 
Journal of Experimental Zoology, and Journal 
of Morphology; Physiological Researches; 
Proc. of London Physical Society, Trans. of 
American Electrochemical Society, Trans. of 
American Institute of Electrical Engineers, 
Trans. of American Society of Civil Engineers, 
Trans. of American Society of Mechanical En- 
gineers, Trans. of Society of Automotive Engi- 
neers, and Trans. of American Foundrymen’s 
Association. The abstracts now being provided 
by these journals are prepared as a rule by the 
authors and vary greatly in quality. It would 
be relatively easy for those journals whose ab- 
stracts are not as useful as is desirable to 
change their rules so as to require abstracts of 
the quality of analytic abstracts. 

The directions and rules which have been 
formulated for the guidance of authors in the 
preparation of analytic abstracts may be found 
in current numbers of the Astrophysical Jour- 
nal and also, somewhat abbreviated, in those 
of the Physical Review and of the Journal of 
the American Ceramic Society. With slight 
modification they would serve for any science. 


SCIENCE 


295 


But while some authors will take the trouble 
to master the technique and prepare satisfac- 
tory abstracts, a uniformly high standard can 
not be maintained unless all the abstracts for 
each journal are checked and revised by a 
competent abstractor. Therefore, after decid- 
ing to require analytic abstracts, the first 
step taken by a journal should be the selec- 
tion of a suitable man as abstract editor. If 
the man appointed should care to get in touch 
with me, I should be glad to give any assis- 


“tance I can in getting the new policy started. 


In conclusion, attention should be directed 
to the fact that those journals which provide 
analytic abstracts may easily combine an in- 
dex of the subtitles in the abstracts with the 
usual index of author’s titles, and thus greatly 
increase the completeness and precision of 
their subject indexes and hence the value of 
the journal for reference purposes. 

It may not seem of much importance whe- 
ther any particular journal provides efficient 
abstracts or not. Yet it is clearly the duty of 
each to do so. For when all have adopted this 
policy and the abstract journals promptly 
reprint all the abstracts and completely index 
them, we shall have gone far toward making 
our scientific information service really effi- 
cient. And because of the cooperation in- 
volved, it will require less effort to maintain 
than our present much less efficient service. 


Gorpon S. FuLcHER 
CoRNING GLASS WORKS 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 


THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON MATHEMATI- 
CAL REQUIREMENTS 


Tue National Committee on Mathematical 
Requirements on September 5 held its last 
meeting under its present form of organiza- 
tion. The manuscript of a summary of the 
final report of the Committee has been sent 
to the U. 8S. Bureau of Education for publica- 
tion. This summary, which will constitute a 
bulletin of some eighty pages, virtually pre- 
sents the first part of the complete report. 
It contains the following chapters: 


I. A Brief Survey of the Report. 


296 
II. Aims of Mathematical Instruction—General 
Principles. 
III. Mathematies for Years Seven, Hight and 
Nine, 
IV. Mathematics for Years Ten, Eleven and 
Twelve. 
V. College Entrance Requirements in Mathe- 
matics. 
VI. List of Propositions in Plain and Solid 
Geometry. 
VII. The Function Concept in Elementary Mathe- 
matics. 
VIII. Terms and Symbols in Elementary Mathe- 
matics. 


Tt will also include a brief synopsis of the 
remaining chapters of the complete report. 
It is expected that this summary will appear 
late in November or early in December. 

It was the original intention of the Com- 
mittee to publish its complete report also 
through the U. S. Bureau of Education. It 
was found, however, that this would involve 
a delay of two or three years in view of the 
fact that it would have been necessary for the 
Bureau of Education to issue the report in 
parts extending over a considerable period of 
time. It is hoped at present that sufficient 
funds will be obtainable to print the report 
during the winter and to distribute it free of 
charge to all who are sufficiently interested to 
ask for it. The complete report will consti- 
tute a volume of about five hundred pages. 
In addition to the chapters listed in the sum- 
mary, it will contain an account of a number 
of investigations instituted by the Committee. 
Among these may be mentioned: 

The Present Status of Disciplinary Values in 
Education. 

A Critical Study of the Correlation Method 
Applied to Grades. 

Mathematical Curricula in Foreign Countries. 

Mathematics in Experimental Schools. 

The Use of Mental Tests in the Teaching of 
Mathematics. 

The Training of Teachers of Mathematics. 
There will also ‘be included an extensive 
bibliography on the teaching of mathematics. 


HENRY WOODWARD 


WE regret to record the death of Dr. Henry 
Woodward, F.R.S., which occurred on Sep- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1396 


tember 7 at his home in Bushey, England. 
Dr. Woodward was in his ninetieth year 
and in his long life had achieved very great 
distinction for his labors in the sciences of 
geology and paleontology. Dr. Woodward 
spent the early years of his life in business, 
but in 1858 he entered the British Museum, 
and in 1880 was made keeper of geology, a 
position which he held for 25 years. Though 
he was a profuse writer on various geological 
and paleontological subjects, his special inter- 
est lay in the study of the fossil crustacea, 
and perhaps his most keenly analytical work 
was in the field of the fossil merostomes. He 
was the president of the Paleontographical 
Society and had been the president of the 
Royal Microscopical Society as well as of the 
Geological Section of the British Association 
for the Advancement of Science and of the 
Geological Society of London. He was the 
president and founder of the Malacological 
Society and had been the president of the 
British Museums Association. In 1862, with 
the late Professor T. Rupert Jones, he 
founded the Geological Magazine, of which 
he remained the editor until the time of his 
death. 

Doctor Woodward kept his intellectual 
vigor and his interest in his science up to 
the last and passed away peacefully after a 
very brief illness. 


J. M. C. 


PROFESSOR PAWLOW 


Proressor W. B. Cannon, of the Harvard 
Medical School, writes to the editor of the 
Journal of the American Medical Association 
as follows: 


In The Journal, September 3, there is a letter 
from Budapest, dated July 12, 1921, in which it 
is stated that Pawlow, the great Russian physi- 
ologist, had died in January, 1921. You may 
know that several years ago there was a rumor 
that he had died, which proved to be incorrect. 
Apparently the statement from Budapest is like- 
wise incorrect. I have a copy of a letter from Dr. 
Edward W. Ryan, commissioner of the American 
Red Cross to western Russia and the Baltic States, 
written from Riga, March 23, 1921, to Col. Robert 
E. Olds, commissioner of the Red Cross in Europe. 


SEPTEMBER 30, 1921] 


Dr. Ryan declares that the Red Cross was sending 
Professor Pawlow food and states that Pawlow’s 
two sons, Victor and Vsevolod Ivanovitch, had not 
been heard from for two years and that he was 
very desirous of obtaining information regarding 
them. Again, April 24, Dr. Ryan reported that he 
had been able to send to Pawlow certain definite 
supplies which are listed. Furthermore, I have 
a letter from Professor Carl Tigerstedt of Hel- 
singfors, Finland, dated July 30, 1921, in which 
he acknowledges the receipt of money collected 
from friends of Pawlow in the United States and 
sent to him for Pawlow’s aid. The Finns have 
official representatives in Petrograd. Dr. Tiger- 
stedt reports that he has been sending a consign- 
ment of food of all kinds twice monthly to Paw- 
low through the Finnish commission, and that he 
is thus not suffering any more from lack of nour- 
ishment. Nevertheless, I am sending to Dr. Tiger- 
stedt the report from Budapest and asking for 
specific information regarding Pawlow’s welfare. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 

Dr. C. S. Suerrimerton, professor of phys- 
jology at Oxford University and president 
of the Royal Society, will be elected president 
of the British Association for the meeting to 
be held at Hull in 1922. It is expected that 
the meeting of 1923 will be at Liverpool and 
the meeting of 1924 at Toronto. 


Tue International Eugenics Congress has 
been holding a successful meeting in New 
York City. We hope to publish next week 
the addresses given at the opening session by 
Dr. Henry Fairfield Osborn, Major Leonard 
Darwin and Professor Charles B. Davenport. 

THE thirteenth course of lectures on the 
Herter Foundation at the Johns Hopkins 
University will be given by Sir Arthur Keith, 
F.R.S., conservator of the Museum and Hun- 
terian professor of the Royal College of Sur- 
geons, England. The lectures will be given on 
October 5, 6 and 7, the subject being “ The 
differentiation of modern races of mankind 
in the light of the hormone theory.” 

At the recent meeting of the American As- 
tronomical Society, held at Middletown, Conn., 
Professor C. V. L. Charlier was elected an 
honorary member. Professor J. C. Kapteyn 
and Sir Frank Dyson are the only other liv- 
ing astronomers who have been thus honored. 


SCIENCE 


297 


Proressor Ropert W. Heener, of the de- 
partment of medical zoology, school of 
hygiene and public health, Johns Hopkins 
University, has been elected a fellow of the 
Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and 
Hygiene, London, England. 


Dr. Heser W. YouNnGcKEN, professor of 
botany and pharmacognosy in The Phila- 
delphia College of Pharmacy and Science was 
elected chairman of The Scientific Section 
of The American Pharmaceutical Associa- 
tion at its sixty-ninth annual convention 
held in New Orleans, from September 5-9. 


Wiuiarp Rouse Jinuson, director and state 
geologist of the Kentucky Geological Survey 
with offices at Frankfort, Kentucky, received 
the doctorate of science from Syracuse Uni- 
versity at its fiftieth commencement last 
June. 


Proressor J. J. THornsper has been ap- 
pointed director of the Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station of the University of Arizona, 
at Tucson, and began his work on September 
1. Professor Thornber has completed twenty 
years’ continuous service as head of the de- 
partment of biology in the College of Letters, 
Arts and Sciences, University of Arizona, and 
henceforth will devote his time to admini- 
strative work and investigation. 


Proressor R. J. Terry, of the department 
of anthropology of Washington University, 
Saint Louis, has been appointed anthropolo- 
gist to the Barnes Hospital and Saint Louis 
Children’s Hospital. 


Dr. Micusrt F. Garpner has been ap- 
pointed chief of the Bureau of Preventable 
Diseases and director of the bacteriological 
laboratory of the U. S. Public Health Service. 


Tue Fixed Nitrogen Research Laboratory, 
together with about a half million dollars from 
the original appropriation made for the in- 
vestigation of nitrogen fixation, was trans- 
ferred on June 30 from the jurisdiction of the 
War Department to the Department of Agri- 
culture. The laboratory is now an independent 
unit of the Department of Agriculture, under 
the direction of Dr. Richard C. Tolman, who 
has the assistance of an advisory committee 


298 


made up of a representative of the War De- 
partment and representatives of the agricul- 
tural bureaus which are directly interested in 
the fixation of nitrogen. It is expected that 
the present allotment will maintain the labor- 
atory for about two years. 


Tue Sections of Eastern and Western Areal 
Geology in the U. S. Geological Survey have 
* been merged into one section under the direc- 
tion of Mr. Sidney Paige. 

Upon nomination of the French Govern- 
ment, the Harvard University corporation has 
appointed Emile F. Gautier, professor of 
geography in the University of Algiers, as the 
French exchange professor at Harvard this 
year. He will lecture at Harvard during the 
second half-year. Professor Maurice DeWulf, 
who was one of the Louvain University (Bel- 
gium) teachers invited to Harvard after the 
destruction of the university by the Germans 
in 1914, has now been invited to return on a 
permanent appointment as professor of phi- 
losophy. 

M. J. Cavauier, professor of metallurgy in 
the University of Toulouse, has arrived in 
New York City to take up his work as French 
exchange professor at Columbia University. 
He will be at Columbia from October 1 to 
October 30. Professor Cavalier, rector of 
Toulouse University, known as an authority 
on metallurgical chemistry, comes to America 
as the result of arrangements for an annual 
exchange of professors of engineering and 
applied science between French and American 
universities. Professor Cavalier will divide 
his time among Columbia, Harvard, Yale, 
Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Massachusetts Insti- 
tute of Technology and the University of 
Pennsylvania. 

Proressor Reematp A. Daty and Professor 
Charles Palache of Harvard University are 
members of the Shaler Memorial Expedition 
to South Africa. A large part of Dr. Daly’s 
work will be conducted by Dr. Eliot Black- 
welder, chief geologist of the Argus Oil Com- 
pany at Denver. 

Tue British Tropical Disease Prevention 
Association is sending out a mission under Dr. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1396 


Claude H. Marshall, a senior medical officer 
in Uganda, whose services are being lent by 
the government of Uganda for that purpose, 
to investigate certain methods of treating 
trypanosomiasis. 


Proressor S. Kato, Keio University Med- 
ical College, Japan, plans to visit colleges and 
laboratories in Germany, Austria, Denmark, 
Belgium, France and England. He expects to 
return to Japan by way of America. He ex- 
pected to leave Japan on September 30. 


Mr. F. W. L. Suapen, the well known author- 
ity on bees, and author of “The Humble- 
Bee,” was accidentally drowned at Duck 
Island, Lake Ontario, on September 10. Mr. 
Sladen was carrying on research work in bee 
breeding on this island. 


In memory of the late Dr. Susumu Sato, 
who devoted his life to the progress of med- 
ical science in Japan, a laboratory will be con- 
structed at a cost of 800,000 yen, for the Yun- 
tendo Hospital, the largest private hospital in 
Japan. Courses in every branch of medical 
science will be offered under the presidency of 
Dr. Susumu Nukada, and clinics will also be 
held in the institution. 


We learn from the Journal of the Washing- 
ton Academy of Sciences that at the invita- 
tion of Mr. Northeott, owner of the Luray 
Caverns, Virginia, Dr. Ales Hrdlicka of the 
National Museum has visited the caverns for 
the purpose of examining and removing cer- 
tain bones, enclosed in stalagmite, which were 
believed to be human. After considerable diffi- 
culties, the entire deposit containing the bones 
was taken out in pieces which showed the re- 
mains of most of the parts of a human skele- 
ton; but no trace remained of the skull with 
the exception of a portion of the lower jaw. 
The specimens have been given to the museum 
for further study. 


Ir has been finally decided to hold the 
International Congress for Comparative Pa- 
thology at Rome, beginning on September 20, 
1922, under the presidency of Professor Per- 
roncito. The Riforma Medica of August 18, 
1921, gives the list of twenty subjects ap- 
pointed for discussion, and communications 


SEPTEMBER 30, 1921] 


on other subjects are invited by Professor 
Perroncito, whose address is R. Universita 
di Torino. 


The British Medical Journal reports that 
at the second Congress of the History of Medi- 
cine in Paris last July it was agreed that the 
third Congress, to be held in July, 1922, should 
take place in London. There will be a meet- 
ing for business purposes towards the end of 
this year in Paris, which will be attended by 
Dr. Charles Singer, president of the Section 
of the History of Medicine of the Royal 
Society of Medicine, when the permanent 
organization of the congress will be dis- 
cussed. A meeting of the Section of the 
History of Medicine will be held on October 
5, to forward the arrangements for the Lon- 
don Congress of 1922. 


Tue Journal of the American Medical As- 
sociation reports that the purpose of the 
Belgian University Foundation, which was 
established by law, July 6, 1920, is the ad- 
vancement of science and learning: (1) by 
granting to young Belgians who are gifted 
but are without financial resources loans that 
will allow them to take up university studies; 
(2) by granting financial aid to scientists 
and to young men who are planning to teach 
higher subjects or to undertake scientific re- 
searches, and (3) by encouraging scientific 
relations between Belgium and other coun- 
tries. With the last mentioned aid in view, 
the foundation will aid physicians engaged 
in medical instruction in foreign countries. 
It will keep in close touch with the Associa- 
tion pour le développement des relations 
médicales de la faculté de médecine de Paris, 
the Office national des universités francaises, 
the Universities Bureau of the British Em- 
pire, the American University Union and the 
Junta para ampliacién de estudios de Madrid. 


Ir is announced in Nature that the Ministry 
of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Royal 
Horticultural Society have arranged to hold 
an International Potato Conference in Lon- 
don on November 16-18 next. During the 
conference, which will take place at the hall 
of the Royal Horticultural Society, Vincent 


SCIENCE 


299 


Square, the National Potato Society will hold 
its annual show, at which it is expected that 
most British varieties of potatoes will be ex- 
hibited. An exhibit dealing with the scienti- 
fic aspect of potato problems is also being 
arranged, and it is hoped that workers en- 
gaged on potato problems in all parts of the 
world will cooperate. The proceedings will 
open with Sir A. Daniel Hall’s presidential 
address on the morning of November 16. 
Papers on the breeding and selection of pota- 
toes in Great Britain and the United States, 
and on wart disease, potato blight, and other 
diseases which are botanically and economic- 
ally important, will be read, and time has been. 
allowed for their discussion. Invitations to 
attend the conference have been extended to 
the Dominions and Colonies and to foreign 
countries, and it is hoped that the meeting 
will be throughly representative from both 
the scientific and the commercial aspects. 

Wirt the approach of cold weather renewed 
activity in the radio market news service is 
planned by the Bureau of Markets and Crop 
Estimates, United States Department of Agri- 
culture, for the eight months beginning Octo- 
ber 1. Atmospheric conditions are unfayor- 
able to radio communication in warm weather, 
and many amateurs and experimenters discon- 
tinue their operations during the summer. It 
is expected, however, that with the coming of 
autumn the interest in radio activity will in- 
crease. Many states have shown keen interest 
in the development of radio news service cover- 
ing market, crop and weather reports. State 
cooperation is planned by the bureau and will 
be taken up with the various states within 
range of the radio stations. The states that 
cooperate will be asked to determine the agency 
or agencies that are to work with the federal 
bureau in order to prevent duplication of 
effort. The handling of news matter will nec- 
essarily vary with the different states, depend- 
ing on administrative organizations, geograph- 
ical position, climate, and other factors. 

Corn that grew in Tennessee in pre-historic 
times was unearthed recently by W. E. Meyer, 
of the Bureau of American Ethnology, and sent 
to the United States Department of Agricul- 


300 


ture for identification. During recent excava- 
tions in Davidson County, Tenn., Mr. Meyer 
came upon a number of stone slab graves con- 
taining mortuary vessels. Some of these held 
specimens of charred maize in fairly good con- 
dition. From the size and shape of the grains 
it was possible to identify the variety as Many- 
Rowed Tropical Flint, a form about half way 
between true flint and popcorn. The same type 
of Indian corn occurs in the West Indies, and 
there appears to have been a very early commu- 
nication between the West Indies and North 
America. Not only corn but beans, squashes, 
pumpkins, and tobacco are of tropical and sub- 
tropical origin. These staples, now so import- 
ant throughout both hemispheres, found their 
way into North America and were cultivated 
beyond the Great Lakes in Canada long before 
the discovery of America. There is abundant 
evidence of communication between the West 
Indies and Florida, and up the Mississippi and 
its tributaries. 


Tue Brazil Medico announces that Dr. 
Cleef, professor of chemistry at Bello Hori- 
zonte, reports the discovery in Minas Geraes 
of a mineral substance hitherto unknown 
which possesses great radioactive properties. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 


Yate University has begun the construc- 
tion of the new Sterling Chemical Labora- 
tory. It is hoped that this building will be 
ready for the use of the department of 
chemistry in October, 1922. 

New members of the faculty at the Uni- 
versity of North Carolina, at the beginning 
of the fall term include G. M. Braune, pro- 
fessor of civil engineering; H. B. Anderson, 
associate professor of pathology; H. F. 
Janda, associate professor of highway en- 
gineering; F. ©. Vilbrandt, associate pro- 
fessor of industrial chemistry; H. W. Crane, 
associate professor of psychology, and E. 
L. Mackie, assistant professor of mathematics, 


Miss Evita Nason, Ph.D., Yale, 1921, has 
been appointed an instructor in organic 
chemistry at the University of Illinois. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1396 


Mr. Henry R. Henze, who received his 
Ph.D. degree from Yale in June, 1921, has 
become adjunct professor of chemistry in the 
medical school of the University of Texas 
at Galveston. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
A NEW DEFINITION OF PURE MATHEMATICS 

During the present year there appeared a 
volume of the Acta Mathematica, volume 38, 
which was dedicated to the memory of H. 
Poinearé, the noted French mathematician 
who died in 1912. This volume opens with 
an account of his own works by Poincaré in 
which he deals briefly with his own contribu- 
tions to the advancement of various subjects. 
This is followed by a report on the theory of 
groups and the works of E. Cartan, which 
Poincaré read before the council of the faculty 
of sciences of the University of Paris on the 
eve of the operation resulting in his death. 
The rest of the volume is devoted to letters 
and to various articles written by others but 
relating to Poincaré and his works. 

In the present note we desire to direct at- 
tention to the second article mentioned above, 
which seems to be one of the last articles, if 
not the last article, written by Poincaré, and 
contains some remarkable statements in re- 
gard to the theory of groups. One of these 
is as follows: “The theory of groups is, 
so to say, entire mathematics, divested of its 
matter and reduced to a pure form.” The in- 
terest in this statement should be increased 
by the fact that it may be regarded as a new 
definition of pure mathematics, the skyscraper 
among scientific structures. One of the best 
known other definitions is due to B. Peirce, 
who stated that “mathematics is the science 
which draws necessary conclusions.” It 
should, however, not be inferred that the lat- 
ter definition has been generally accepted as 
an entirely satisfactory one, nor do we want 
to ereate the impression that the former is 
likely to be universally adopted. 

It may, however, be a matter of wide in- 
terest to see what Poincaré meant by the 
statement quoted above. Such an insight can 
probably be best gained by reading his own 


SEPTEMBER 30, 1921] 


preliminary remarks, which are, in part, as 
follows: 


The preponderant role of the theory of groups 
in mathematics has been unsuspected for a long 
time. Eighty years ago even the name of group 
was unknown. It was Galois who first had a clear 
notion of it, but it is only since the works of 
Klein, and especially of Lie, that one has begun 
to see that there is almost no mathematical theory 
in which this notion does not occupy an important 
place. . . . It is necessary to give the same name 
to different things, but on condition that these 
things are different as to matter but not as to 
form. What is the cause of the mathematical 
phenomenon so often constant? And, on the other 
hand, of what consists the community of form 
which subsists under the diversity of matter? It 
is due to this that every mathematical theory is, 
in the last analysis, the study of properties of a 
group of operations, that is to say, of a system 
formed by certain fundamental operations and of 
all the combinations which can be made therefrom. 

If, in another theory, one studies other opera- 
tions which combine according to the same laws 
one will naturally see a set of theorems, having a 
one to one correspondence to those of the first 
theory, unfold themselves, and the two theories 
may be developed with a perfect parallelism; an 
artifice of language like those of which we just 
spoke, suffices to make this parallelism manifest 
and to give almost the impression of a complete 
identity. One says then that the two groups of 
operation are isomorphic, or that they have the 
same structure. If then one divests the mathe- 
matical theory of this which appertains to it only 
by accident, that is to say, its matter, there will 
remain only the essential, that is to say, the form; 
and this form, which constitutes, so to say, the 
solid skeleton of the theory, will be the structure 
of the group. 

G. A. MitiEr 


UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


GALL EVOLUTION: A NEW INTERPRETATION 


Practicauuy all gall students to date have 
regarded cecidia as responses to specific stimuli 
relating specific differences causally to the 
plant bearing the gall. 

Basing his ideas on Kiister’s logical classifi- 
eation of galls (structurally considered) into 
“kataplasmas ” (galls of indefinite character ; 
ex. oak knot gall, Andricus punctatus Bass.) 


SCIENCE 


301 


and “ prosoplasmas” (galls of definite charac- 
ter; ex. oak apple, Amphibolips inanis O. S.) 
together with Cook’s recognition of the influ- 
ence of the animal in gall formation, the 
writer has developed a new theory of gall evo- 
lution. 

The new interpretation holds that phylo- 
genetically prosoplasmas have been derived 
from kataplasmas. Further, kataplasmic evo- 
lution involves progressive inhibition of the 
normal differentiation of the plant part until 
homogeneity is reached. Not until kataplas- 
mic evolution has been completed is it possible 
for prosoplasmic evolution to begin its course 
in which fundamentally new tissue orienta- 
tions and forms are produced. Thus from the 
standpoint of the plant’s differentiation we 
have first a regressive movement (kataplasmic) 
and then a progressive one (prosoplasmic) but 
from the standpoint of the animal the series 
should be regarded as progressive throughout. 

A corollary of the above interpretation is 
the striking situation that an animal may not 
only inhibit the expression of a plant’s char- 
acters but may introduce new ones, or in other 
words the evolution of the animal induced 
galls (zoocecidia) is primarily or fundamen- 
tally related to the animal. The initiating 
changes producing the different gall types 
probably occur in the germ plasm of the ani- 
mal. This means that the evolution process 
carried out in the animal comes to expression 
in the plant, an interesting situation to say 
the least. 

The evidence for the above theory drawn 
from the fields of comparative morphology and 
embryology appears to the writer to be over- 
whelming. 

The writer has presented this thesis at 
greater length in the May, 1921, number of the 
Botanical Gazette. 

B. W. WELLS 


NortH CAroLINA STATE COLLEGE 


ON SOUNDS ACCOMPANYING AURORAL DIS- 
PLAYS 


To THe Epiror or Science: The existence 
of sounds in connection with manifestations 
of the aurora is regarded by many as still a 


302 


moot point, cf. the remarks at the close of the 
article on the subject in the Encyclopedia 
Britannica. 

Several observers have reported hearing 
such sounds during the very brilliant auroral 
display of May 14. I could not detect any 
such sounds on this occasion, doubtless owing 
to the proximity of a large city from which 
the volume of sound, even at 3 a.M., is quite 
noticeable. 

I desire to place on record, however, certain 
earlier experiences under almost perfect con- 
ditions of isolation and quiet. While in 
charge of the Labrador station of the Lick 
Observatory-Crocker Eclipse Expeditions of 
1905, much of the work of adjusting the 
instruments was necessarily done at night. 
The station was located at Cartwright (lati- 
tude -+53° 42’), and auroral displays were 
frequent and bright during July and August. 
On several nights I heard faint swishing, 
erackling sounds which I could attribute only 
to the aurora. There were times when large 
faintly luminous patches or “curtains” 
passed rapidly over our camp; these seemed 
to be close and not more than a few hundred 
feet above the ground, though doubtless much 
higher. The faint hissing and crackling 
sounds were more in evidence as such lumi- 
nous patches swept over us. 

Heser D. Curtis 

ALLEGHENY OBSERVATORY, 

August 10, 1921 


LAWRENCE’S WARBLER 


To tHe Epiror or Science: It may be 
worth while to record the presence of the 
rare Vermivora (Helminthophila) lawrence 
(Herrick) in Lexington, Virginia, on May 
14. The warbler was observed sitting on a 
telephone wire less than ten yards from the 
porch of a house just on the outskirts of 
town, and its conspicuous black throat patch 
and white wing bars served to fully identify 
it, and differentiate it from V. pinus and V. 
chrysoptera, of which it is supposed to be a 
hybrid. Chapman speaks of it as much rarer 
than Brewster’s warbler, V. leuwcobronchialis, 
the other supposed hybrid of these species, and 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1396 


says that less than a dozen specimens have 
been recorded. 


Jas. Lewis Hows 
WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY, 
LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA 


QUOTATIONS 
CHEMISTRY IN WAR 

Two distinguished chemists have recently 
made pronouncements, identical on _ the 
material side, divergent on the moral side, 
on the use of posion gas in war. It is a 
question on which civilization will have to 
come to a decision or to live under lasting 
and increasing menace. Sir T. Edward 
Thorpe, in his presidential address to the 
British Association, at Edinburgh, told his 
audience that the Germans, between April, 
1915, and September, 1918, had used no fewer 
than eighteen different forms of poison— 
gases, liquids, and solids—in their military 
operations. Reprisals became inevitable, and 
for the greater part of three years the leading 
nations of the world were flinging the most 
deadly products at one another that chemical 
knowledge could suggest and technical skill 
contrive. Sir William Pope, an equally 
eminent English chemist, speaking at Mon- 
treal a few days before, said that by the 
Armistice the Allies had sufficient supplies 
of mustard gas to “have enveloped the Ger- 
mans knee deep, and had discovered a new 
vapor against which respirators would be of 
no avail, so strong that it would stop a man 
if it were present in the atmosphere in the 
proportion of one part in five millions.” The 
President of the British Association admitted 
that warfare had now definitely entered on 
a new phase. But in passionate words he 
deplored the prospect on the part of science 
and of humanity, and hoped that, through 
the League of Nations or by some other 
form of international agreement, it might be 
averted. Sir William Pope, on the other 
hand, claimed that from the humanitarian 
point of view gas was more merciful than. 
high explosives, and stated his belief that 
chemical agencies would be the sole deciding 
factor in future wars. 


SEPTEMBER 30, 1921] 


Certainly even the eighteen poisons used 
by the Germans and the counter-efforts 
actually brought into operation by the Allies 
were the fumbling of experimental amateurs 
compared with what might follow a new 
outbreak of hostilities between great manu- 
facturing and scientific nations. Poison 
could suddenly extinguish all life over so 
many square miles of territory, over a walled 
city, or a navy in its harbor. Science could 
provide the formula, industrial chemistry the 
substance, and aeroplanes the means of dis- 
tribution. Were poison gas a specialized and 
secluded branch of chemistry there might be 
some hope that science might refuse to per- 
vert its high mission from the service to the 
destruction of mankind. But such a _ pos- 
sibility does not arise, because the discovery 
of noxious substances is an inevitable side 
issue of the pursuit of chemical knowledge. 
The world must either face and prepare for 
the future, or it must prohibit chemical war- 
fare by an international agreement supported 
by effective international sanctions.—The 
London Times. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF RELATIVITY 


THE great interest in any scientific or phils- 
sophie discovery generally calls forth semi- 
scientific and learned discussion, followed by 
a demand for literature, historical and recent, 
upon this particular subject. 

The literature of the theory of relativity is 
recent and more or less familiar to the sci- 
entist. Before 1905, the year in which Dr. 
Albert Einstein brought forward his funda- 
mental and special theory, the literature was 
scattered and bore indirectly upon the theory 
of relativity as we know it to-day. The litera- 
ture is quite extensive, however, from 1905 to 
the time of the British solar eclipse expedition 
in May, 1919, the results of which placed the 
theory of relativity in a more or less acceptable 
light, that is, the mathematical and physical 
aspects found verification in the astronomical 
interpretations. 

In view of the fact that the subject of rela- 
tivity will probably have great influence upon 


SCIENCE 


303 


future problems in physics and astronomy, due 
to its mathematical character, and that the 
history of this development can best be served 
when the literature is known and organized, 
a bibliography should prove of great value. 

The present note is to call attention to the 
fact that an extensive and as complete a 
bibliography as is possible, is in process of 
being compiled. And thus far the writer has 
collected approximately one thousand titles 
of books, pamphlets, articles and notes pub- 
lished in all languages to which it is possible 
to obtain access. The John Crerar Library 
seems the most logical place to form this bibli- 
ography due to its great collection of scien- 
tifie literature. The philosophical literature 
bearing upon this question (relativity) for- 
tunately falls within the scope of the library’s 
collection. 

It is hoped that each entry upon the type- 
written card will contain, besides the author, 
title, source, date, also a short abstract, note or 
review indicating just what the principal idea 
is that the author has conveyed. A mere 
author-title list is for current use and answers 
only half of what a true bibliography ought to 
be, and therefore is quite unsatisfactory. 
Over 90 per cent. of the titles represent 
material in The John Crerar Library, and it 
is planned to make the collection in the library 
as complete as possible, bearing upon rela- 
tivity. 

The question of publishing this bibliography 
is a difficult one, and at present no provision 
has been made for it. 

What form of bibliography will be most 
valuable for scientific purposes is an open 
question. There are as many types as there 
are demands for certain use. An alphabetical 
author-title list serves one certain demand, 
and a chronological author-title list serves 
another. One might be analytical and an- 
other synthetical in its aspect. A synthetical 
bibliography must be selective, critical and 
constructive!; add to this abstract, notes and 
reviews, and it would be a bibliography worthy 
of its name. 

1Dr. George Sarton, Isis, IIT., 159-170, No, 8, 
Autumn, 1920, 


304 


From the point of view of the future his- 
torian this would serve as a large labor-saving 
device, especially in view of the fact that 
human knowledge is ever becoming more 
specialized. 

It might be well to call attention to the 
fact that a bibliography of relativity has also 
been in progress in England,? namely, the 
International Catalogue of Scientifie Litera- 
ture, under the direction of Dr. H. Forster 
Morley. Dr. Morley has made a selected 
chronological bibliography of relativity and 
related problems from 1886 to the end of 
1920. 

The recent visit of Dr. Albert Einstein has 
not alone stimulated interest among scientific 
men, but he has strengthened his theory by his 
own clear presentation of relativity. 

Of course the theory has yet to receive its 
final verification, before the whole can be ac- 
cepted, and Dr. Einstein has expressed con- 
fidence in the final answer. 

Not since the doctrine of evolution was 
promulgated, has any advance of intellectual 
progress, either of philosophic or scientific im- 
portance, caused such profound interest, popu- 
lar or scientific, as the theory of relativity. 
And like all epoch-making ideas, the syn- 
thetical character of the theory of relativity 
will mark off a period of great importance in 
the history of science. Hence the value of a 
bibliography of a subject in relation to the 
history of science is in direct proportion to 
the importance of the subject itself. 

Freperick E. BrascH 

THE JOHN CRERAR LIBRARY, 

CHIcAGo, ILLINOIS 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
EINSTEIN’S COSMOLOGICAL EQUATIONS 


In two earlier notes published in ScrmncE 
(Vol. 52, p. 418, Vol. 53, p. 238) I gave certain 
geometrical theorems connected with Einstein’s 
original (1914) equations of gravitation, 
Giz—0 (Cin space free from matter). I shall 
now extend some of the results so as to apply 
to the modified equations employed in Ein- 

2Dr. H. Forster Morley, Nature, 106, 811- 
13, Feb. 17, 1921. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1396 


stein’s cosmological speculations. These he 
first wrote (1917) in the form, Giz—Agix 
=0; but more recently (1919) he has em- 
ployed the form G;,—+4g9i, G0, which in- 
eludes the previous form and which, when the 
energy impulse tensor 7, is introduced in 
the right hand member, has the advantage 
of being possibly applicable to the microcosm 
(atoms and electrons) as well as to the macro- 
cosm (the stellar universe). Here GG; is the 
contracted curvature tensor and G is the 
scalar curvature. 

For brevity we shall term any four dimen- 
sional manifold which obeys the last equaticns, 
a cosmological solution. 

I. The only cosmological solutions which 
have the same light rays as the euclidean or 
Minkowski world are those which have con- 
stant curvature in the sense of Riemann. In 
other words, if a cosmological world is to 
admit conformal representation on a euclidean 
world, it must be of spherical (or pseudo- 
spherical) character. This result is analogous 
to the earlier result for Gj;,==0, that the only 
manifolds having the Minkowski light equa- 
tion are flat (zero curvature). Both results 
are obviously valid also for geodesic represen- 
tation (same equation of orbits). 

II. Here we discuss four-dimensional 
curved manifolds which can be regarded as 
imbedded in a flat space of five dimensions. 
Our result is that for the cosmological equa- 
tions, there are two distinct possibilities. 

(a) In the first case at every point of the 
manifold the four principal curvatures are 
equal, that is K,—K,—K,—K,, so that 
every point is umbilical. The manifold is 
then simply a hypersphere. 

(b) In the second case K,—K,—=—K, 
=— K,, that is, the four principal curvatures 
are numerically equal, but two are positive 
and two are negative. Such manifolds may be 
regarded as a generalization of ordinary 
minimal surfaces (where K,—=—K,), and 
may be described as hyperminimal spreads. 
(It would be interesting to find an actual ex- 
ample in finite form of such a spread.) 

It will be recalled that for our previous dis- 
cussion of G;;,—0, no solution in five dimen- 


SEPTEMBER 30, 1921] 


sions existed, the simple case of the solar field 
being actually six dimensional,t as are also 
certain other physical solutions obtained by 
Weyl. 

III. The author has found all solutions of 
Giz—=0 of the orthogonal form ),dzx,? + 
A,dx,” + r,dx,°-+ r,dx,2 in which the four 
coefficients are functions of one variable say z,. 
An example of such a field is 


x dx? —a 4 (dx? + da? + dzx,?). 


All cosmological solutions which satisfy the 
same hypotheses are determined and can be 
expressed by elementary, algebraic and trans- 
cendental functions. 

The principal solution is 


ee 4dx2 
. ~ &(1 +4+212)2 

221 
+ (535 


where ¢ is arbitrary and a,, a,, a, obey the re- 
lations. 


a 
) [ seeades + xy2asdx32 + nade |, 


a2 +a3 +a, = 0, ana3 + azar + asa2 = — i, 


These fields can all be represented in flat 
space of seven dimensions. A paper on this 
subject has been sent to the Mathematischen 
Annalen. 

IV. If we require the quaternary form ds? 
to be the sum of two binary forms, that is 
the sum of the squared elements of two sur- 
faces, then the only cosmological solution 
(neglecting the trivial euclidean form) is 

ds? = 2 -? (da? +.dz,) + 2-2 (dx? + da). 
This represents a quartic manifold of four 
dimensions imbedded in a _ 6-flat. The 
finite equations are 


X24 X24 X21 X24 X24 X21. 


This is apparently the simplest solution of 
Einstein’s equations which has thus far been 
found, and the first one (beyond the obvious 
flat and spherical spaces) which in its finite 
form is algebraic. 
Epwarp Kasner 
CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, 
New York 


*See American Journal of Mathematics, Volume 
43 (1921), pp. 126-133, 


SCIENCE 


305 


THE PRODUCTION OF ENHANCED LINE SPEC- 
TRA BY A NEW METHOD 


THE ordinary spark spectrum differs from 
the are spectrum in that certain lines are 
weakened, others are enhanced and new lines 
appear. In general the more violent the 
stimulus of the source the more intense are 
the new enhanced lines as compared to the 
weakened lines. It is customary to refer to 
the lines which are the more prominent in the 
spectrum produced by an are as are lines, 
while those which are enhanced by the spark 
are known as spark lines and constitute the 
pure spark spectrum. 

Lorenser and Fowler, as well as Sommer- 
feld and Kossel, have shown that modern 
theories of atomic structure and radiation 
leave little doubt that the enhanced lines -in 
the spectrum are due to radiation from atoms 
that have lost an electron, 7.e., ionized atoms; 
and that are lines are due to radiation from 
the un-ionized or neutral atom. The varying 
facility of producing the enhanced lines of 
different elements depends, then, on the in- 
tensity of the forces which bind the electron 
to its nucleus and on the energy used in tear- 
ing the electron off. For example, no en- 
hanced lines of lithium have ever been pro- 
duced while the enhanced doublet of calcium, 
H and K, is strong even in the flame spectrum. 

In a study of the enhanced lines of the cal- 
cium spectrum begun by examining the spec- 
trum of calcium wires exploded by the An- 
derson method! it was found that as the 
size of the wires used was decreased, while 
the energy of the stimulus remained the same, 
the intensity of the enhanced lines increased. 
This increase in intensity indicated a more 
complete ionization of the calcium atoms. In 
seeking a way by which the amount of calci- 
um in the source could be still further re- 
duced a new source of light was developed. 

A fine asbestos fiber about three centimeters 
long was saturated-with an aqueous solution 
of some salt of calcium. The saturated fiber 
was fastened in place as the fine wires had 
previously been fastened and the charge of 
the high tension condensers thrown across it, 

1 Astro. J., 51, 37, 1920. 


306 


as before. The fiber was not injured by the 
discharge but could be saturated and used 
again and again. About the same number of 
discharges as had been employed with the ex- 
ploded wires produced satisfactory results. 
For convenience in discussion and because of 


its character this new light source has been - 


tentatively called the super spark. 

An inspection of the caleium spectrum thus 
produced showed a striking enhancement of 
the spark lines of calcium over the arc lines 
indicating that a large proportion of the 
emitting atoms were ionized. For the pur- 
poses of comparison a table is inserted show- 
ing for the present work with the exploded 
wire and super-spark and for the work of 
other observers with various sources—the 
relative intensities of the H and K lines of 
calcium, a prominent spark doublet, and the 
line 4227, a strong are line. The ratio of 
these intensities is, we believe, a fair index 
of the relative proportions of ionized and un- 
ionized emitting atoms in the source. 


THE RELATIVE DEGREE OF IONIZATION OF CA1WJIUM IN 
DIFFERENT SOURCES 


ive} n 
Bs | BR | Os 
na QD “h 
Source Sm 8 = 3 8 
Be eleyd| cae 

King’s electric furnace......... 55 1000 | 1:19 
Crew & McCauley arc......... 400 500 | 4:5 
Dockyer sparky sce. ise ely snes 500 400 | 5:4 
Loving vacuum arc........... 20 Si i5):2, 
Exploded wire................ 600 150 | 4:1 
SUDCIISDALKA Meri eiereie chee 700 70 | 10:1 
High chromosphere of sun..... 72 8 | 9:1 
ClassmBYistarshemmeiicnie cece 7 Ib ett 


This table indicates that there can be pro- 
duced in the laboratory the same degree of 
jonization as is shown to exist in the high 
chromosphere of the sun or in the spectra of 
the early (or hot) type B stars. The super 
spark seems to give a more highly ionized 
source than any yet produced in the labora- 
tory. 

The results of an extended study soon to be 
published of the super spark spectra of cal- 
cium and other metals may be briefly sum- 
marized here. For the metals studied in the 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1396 


groups one, two and three of the periodic table, 
an almost pure enhanced line or spark spec- 
trum has been produced. As might be ex- 
pected it has been impossible to get perfect 
ionization even in this source and the strongest 
lines due to the neutral atom still persist. A 
striking feature of the super spark is the amaz- 
ingly small amount of material required to 
produce spectra. By use of a dilute solution 
of calcium chloride for example there is pro- 
duced not only the calcium spectrum but also 
the spectrum of the other metals of the same 
group: Magnesium, barium, strontium, zinc 
and cadmium; and generally a few lines of 
other metals. These other metals could have 
been present only in minute amounts and yet 
their spectra rival in intensity that of the 
principal substance. Another striking charac- 
teristic is that practically only metallic lines 
are produced by the super spark,— the spectra 
of hydrogen, oxygen or of the acid radical of 
the salt used do not appear, and only the 
strongest air lines can be identified. 

The super spark, it will be seen, gives a 
method by which: a very powerful stimulus 
can be applied to any metal that can be 
obtained in the form of any of its partially 
soluble salts. It is not even necessary that 
the metal in question be the principal metal- 
lic constituent of the salt. Good results may 
be obtained for metals which appear only as 
minor impurities in the salt used. 

R. A. Sawyer, 
A. L. Becker 
PHYSICAL LABORATORY, 
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, 
August 11, 1921. 


THE IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 

Tue thirty-fifth annual session of the Iowa 
Academy of Science was held at Simpson College, 
Indianola, on April 29 and 30. At the opening 
meeting on Friday afternoon President Knight 
gave his presidential address on ‘‘ American 
science.’’ The Academy divided into sections of 
botany, zoology, geology, and physics for the read- 
ing of papers, and at 5 o’elock adjourned for an 
enjoyable auto ride given by the Indianola Cham- 
ber of Commerce. At 6 o’clock the sections met 
for group dinners and at 8 o’elock Dr. J. Paul 
Goode of the University of Chicago, addressed the 


SEPTEMBER 30, 1921] 


Academy on ‘‘Ameriea as a world power.’’ Fol- 
lowing the address President and Mrs. Hillman of 
Simpson held a reception for the visitors. 

On Saturday morning the sections concluded the 
reading of papers and the Iowa sections of the 
American Chemical Society and the Mathematical 
Association of America held their meetings. At 
the business meeting the constitution was revised 
to drop the classes of corresponding fellow and 
corresponding associate. Members are to be classed 
as honorary fellows, life fellows, fellows and asso- 
ciates. Six sections of the Academy are provided 
for and the chairmen of these, with the elected 
officers, constitute the executive committee. An 
editorial committee is provided for to assist the 
secretary in preparing manuscripts for publication. 
Officers were elected as follows: President, D. W. 
Morehouse, Drake University, Des Moines; Vice- 
President, R. B. Wylie, State University, Iowa 
City; Secretary, James H. Lees, Iowa Geological 
Survey, Des Moines; Treasurer, A. O. Thomas, 
State University; Presidents of Sections: Botany, 
R. B. Wylie; Zoology, Harry M. Kelly, Cornell 
College, Mount Vernon; Geology, A. C.'Trowbridge, 
State University; Physics, L. P. Sieg, State Uni- 
versity; Chemistry, P. A. Bond, State University; 
Mathematics, W. J. Rusk, Grinnell College, Grin- 
nell. 


The following program was presented: 
CHEMISTRY 


Further work in the study of free energy of 
aqueous solutions: J. N. Prarce and H. B. Hart. 


The effect of relative positions of the hydroxide 
and amino radicals in the migration of acyl from 
nitrogen and oxygen: L, CHARLES RAtrorpD and H. 
A, IDDLEs. 

A chemical study of dolomites: 
KNIGHT. 

Twenty-seven specimens were included in the 
investigation. They belonged to different parts of 
the United States and to a number of foreign 
countries. It was found that the term dolomite 
is rather loosely used, as the specimens ranged all 
the way from fairly typical dolomites to ordinary 
limestones. Indeed, some of the specimens proved 
to be quite pure sandstones. 

A brief review of the various methods of pro- 
ducing dolomite artificially was included in the 
paper. 


NICHOLAS 


GEOLOGY 


Three glacial tills at Ames, Iowa: JouHN E. 
SmirH. This illustrated paper treats of the char- 


SCIENCE 


307 


acter of these deposits and of their relations to 
each other. The observations were made in a 
large excavation opened to receive the foundation 
of Wesley Hall just south of the grounds of Iowa 
State College on Lincoln highway. At this place 
most of the Wisconsin till had been removed by 
erosion prior to the beginning of this work. A 
zone of red soil separates it near the top of the 
pit from the Kansan below. Beneath the Kansan 
which covers a rough, eroded surface, is a third 
till believed to be the Sub-Aftonian or Nebraskan. 


Lolian deposits in Webster county, Iowa: JOHN 
E. Smite. The location, distribution and origin 
of a deposit which overlies the Wisconsin till in 
this area is discussed in the paper. A typical 
section shows one foot or more of each of the 
following which are named in order of their occur- 
rence from the surface downward: Section: (1) 
Clay, gray, with no pebbles. (2) Soil, a black 
zone of humus with few pebbles. (3) Subsoil, 
brown, with glacial pebbles. (4) Glacial till, un- 
weathered. The principal question involved con- 
cerns the origin of number 1 of the section, which 
one authority holds to be free from glacial pebbles 
because of a postulated advanced stage of weath- 
ering. 


The existing stage of erosion in the United 
States: ArtHuUR C. TRowsRIDGE. Inspection of 
398 topographic maps published by the U. S. Geo- 
logical Survey since 1912, and representing 41 of 
the states of the Union, reveals no illustration of 
any considerable area of surface which has been 
reduced to old age of a cycle of erosion by the 
work of streams. Old valleys are fairly abundant 
but no general surface is found which can be said 
to have been baseleveled or even peneplained. This 
is interpreted to mean that the present time was 
so closely preceded by uplift and enlargement of 
land that there has not since been time for streams 
to reduce the surface beyond maturity, or at best, 
beyond early old age. Hither the Pleistocene per- 
iod was too short to permit land uplifted in the 
latest Tertiary to be greatly redueed—an explana- 
tion which seems unlikely to the writer—or there 
has been Pleistocene or post-Pleistocene uplift. 


Some north-south topographic profiles in the 
United States: ArTHur C, TROWBRIDGE and JOHN 
T, LonspaLe. That part of the surface of North 
America which was not covered by the Pleistocene 
ice sheets was, during the glacial period, subject 
to the ordinary processes by which land is de- 


308 


graded or renewed. On the contrary not only 
was stream degradation repeatedly interrupted in 
the glaciated area, but the surface there was re- 
peatedly eroded glacially, and as many times re- 
ceived glacial deposits. Thinking that these diff- 
erences in Pleistocene history between the glaci- 
ated and unglaciated parts of the continent might 
have resulted in profiles notably discordant at or 
near the drift border, a series of meridional topog- 
raphic profiles was drawn from the Canadian bor- 
der to the Gulf of Mexico. The results are nega- 
tive in that no topographic break is shown at the 
line separating the glaciated from the unglaciated 
area, but on the whole the surface near the drift 
border to the south is higher than that to the 
north. The paper consists of a presentation of 
these profiles and discussion of several possible 
interpretations of their meaning. 


Interglacial voleanic ash: CHARLES KEYES. 
During the progress of extensive street grading in 
the city of Des Moines, recently, there was dis- 
closed immediately under the Wisconsin till sheet, 
a white, claylike bed about a foot in thickness. 
It manifestly did not belong with the drift or the 
yellow loess beneath. Since the material was too 
incoherent to be true clay, and was finely gritty, it 
was examined under the microscope. It proved to 
be typical voleanic ash, composed of transparent, 
sharp-edged fragments of glass about one twentieth 
of a millimeter in average size. The thick loess 
deposit underneath is underlaid by the Kansan 
till. This occurrence probably fixes, within very 
narrow limits, the date of the voleanie outburst, 
and the age of similar ash beds reported in Ne- 
braska, Colorado and Wyoming. 


Erosion of high plateaux: CHARLES KEYES. 
The lofty, flat-topped mountain ranges of eastern 
Utah are usually treated as part of the great Cor- 
dilleran uplift. Curiously, they now appear both 
physiographically and tectonically to be wholly 
unrelated. Although the repeated uplifting and 
peneplanation which the Rockies have suffered are 
appreciably reflected in the Utah field the amount 
of erosion which the former has undergone enor- 
mously surpasses that of the latter. Notwith- 
standing the fact that both chains of mountains 
are characterized by remnantal summital flats, the 
latter seem to be nicely separated in point of 
time. On the one hand the summital plain of the 
Roekies appears to be ancient Comanchan pene- 
plain now being exhumed as the Dakotan sand- 
stone is being stripped off. On the other hand the 
terre pleins of the High Plateaux of Utah are re- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1396 


ferred to the regional planation of Miocene times. 
In the Cordilleran region these two horizons are 
stratigraphically separated by more than three 
miles of sediments. The Jurassic-Comanchan pene- 
plain of the Rockies is strongly reflected so far 
east as Iowa and Minnesota; as is also the Mio- 
cene peneplain of Utah. 


Crazing of mountain massifs: CHARLES KEYES. 
The central massif of the Sierra de los Cucaras, 
in Lower California, is a granitie type of rock not 
very unlike that of the Sierra Nevada. Its nat- 
urally blue-gray color darkens on exposure, thus 
bringing out in strong contrast the wonderful vein- 
ing, which is white. The veining in the vertical 
walls of the mountain canyons has the appearance 
of normal jointing set on edge, but on a colossal 
seale, the cross-planes being filled with pegmatitic 
materials to a thickness of two to six feet. To- 
wards the north end of the mountain range the 
titanic crazing is displayed in superb sections 1,500 
feet high, in the famous Carriso Gorge, near the 
United States boundary. 


Some Pleistocene sections at Des Moines: JAMES 
H. Legs. 


Some Carboniferous protozoa: Euta D. Mce- 


Ewan. 


The status of certain Rynchonellid Brachiopods 
from the Iowa Devonian: A. O. THOMAS and M. 
A, STAINBROOK. The Rynchonella alta Calvin from 
the upper Devonian beds at Bird Hill, Hackberry 
Grove, and elsewhere in Floyd and Cerro Gordo 
counties, has been much confused in the literature 
and in collections with a similar rhynchonellid shell 
from the State Quarry beds near Solon. In most 
cases in the Iowa reports the Solon species has 
been called Rhynchonella pugnus or Pugnaz pugnus 
(Martin). In some instances the two have been 
entered under the same specific name and in others 
the first has been made a varietal form of the sec- 
ond. A study of their internal structures by Mr. 
Stainbrook shows that each belongs to the genus 
Pugnoides. They are specifically distinct. The 
more robust but less acuminate State Quarry shell, 
with a variable number of plications on its fold 
and sinus, is made a new species, Pugnoides solon, 
and the Lime Creek species becomes Pugnoides 
altus (Calvin). Illustrations, 


A Cephalopod from the Coal Measures at Mystic, 
Iowa: A. O. THomas. A fine specimen of the 
goniatite, Gastrioceras excelswm Meek, was recently 
collected by Mr. Ben H. Wilson, a member of the 
Academy. The specimen came from the Appa- 


SEPTEMBER 30, 1921] 


noose formation at Mystic, Iowa, and is said to 
have been taken from a shale just below a coal 
seam at a depth of fifty to sixty feet. The type 
of this species and one or two other examples 
eame from the Pennsylvanian of Kansas; others 
are recorded from Arkansas; the specimen here re- 
ported is the first from Iowa. Illustrations. 


Some Oligocene Brachiopods from the Island of 
Antigua, B. W.I.: A. O. THomas. In the An- 
tigua limestone at Half Moon Bay, Antigua, there 
occurs an abundance of lepidocycline foraminifera, 
a number of sea-urchins, some corals, pelecypods, 
a few gastropods, and rarely some brachiopods be- 
longing to the genera Argyrotheca, Terebratulina, 
and Liothyrina. They appear to be new species 
though the Liothyrinas are close to those reported 
by Guppy from Trinidad over fifty years ago. 
These small forms have added interest since very 
little is known about the brachiopods of the Ameri- 
ean Oligocene. 

Note on a beaver tooth from the Pleistocene at 
Des Moines, Iowa: A.O. THOMAS. The specimen 
is an incomplete incisor tooth of the giant beaver, 
Castoroides ohioénsis Foster. It was found by 
Mr. B. A. Wickham in gravels of uncertain age 
while making an excavation near the west city 
limits. This is the third locality record from 


Iowa, the others being Turin and Oakland. TIllus- 
tration. 
Some proboscidean remains found in Henry 


county, Iowa: H. EK. JAQUES. 


The loess fossils of western Tennessee: B. 


SHIMEK. 
PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY 


A laboratory optical pyrometer: Notes on its de- 
sign and operation: WM. SCHRIEVER. 

(1) Measurements of the amplitude of vibration 
of the diaphragm of the Hewlett tone generator. 
(2) Determination of the minimum audible imten- 
sity of tones of high frequency: CLARENCE E. 
LANE. 


A low frequency acoustic wave filter: G. W. 
STEWART. 

(1) The effect of drawing on the crystal struc- 
ture of tungsten wires. (2) A note on Kater’s 
reversible pendulum: Li, P. Srea. 

The coefficient of rigidity, and Young’s modulus 
for hexagonal crystals of selenium: L. P. Stre and 
R. F. MILuer. 

The absorption of light passing through deep 
slits, as a function of the length and depth of the 


SCIENCE 


309 


slits and of the wave length of the light: L. P. 
Sree and A. T, Fanv. 


The tactual analogy of stroboscopy: L. E. Dopp. 
Scattering of X-rays in carbon: C. W. Hrw- 
LETT. 


A new loud speaking telephone receiver: C. W. 
HEWLETT. 


Hall effect in thin films: J. C. Svervperc. 
The Alpha lines in the ‘‘K’’ series tungsten 
spectrum: CHARLES CROFUTT. 


A note on Nova Cygni, No. 3: D. W. Mors- 
HOUSE. 


Review of solar observations at Alta, Iowa, dur- 


ing the past thirteen years, 1908-1920: Davw E. 
HADDEN. 


ZOOLOGY 


A study of the nesting habits of the Baltimore 
oriole: H. E. JaQuES and KATHERINE GILMORE. 


Nactarina in the United States: FRANK C. PEL- 
LETT. 


Corn oil cake meal for growing and fattening 
pigs: JoHN M. Evvarp. 

Notes on the mammals observed in Marshall 
county, Iowa: IrA N. GABRIELSON. 


Bird banding and incidental studies: Dayton 
STONER. 


Burrows and burrowing habits of the common 
mole: A, V, ARLETON. 


Some observations on certain Cladocera: FRANK 
A. STROMSTEN. 


Alcohols as factors altering fatigue processes 
in frog muscle: FRANCIS M. BALDWIN. 


Analysis of certain smooth muscle responses: B. 
M. Harrison and Francis M. BaLpwin. 


Notes on the differential viability in Gambusia: 
S. W. Geiser. Author presents evidence to show 
that in the shipment of Gambusia affinis, the com- 
mon mosquito fish, the males have a higher death 
rate than the females, both in winter and summer 
shipments. He shows by experiments that this 
higher death-rate is not due to warming of the 
water in the shipping can, but is owing to other 
causes. The male death-rate in warm weather ship- 
ments is much higher than that of those sent in cold 
weather; in the females, there is no corresponding 
increase in the death-rate. He combats the evidence 
brought forward (1921) by Barney and Anson to 
show a higher death-rate among the females in 
shipments of Gambusia. 


310 


The distribution of the European elm scale: 
ALBERT HARTZELL, 


Further studies of the relative position of the 
maxima contractions of the amphibian muscle when 
subjected to the various ranges in temperature: 
R. L. PARKER. 


Cytology of the large nerve cells of the crayfish 
(Cambarus) : L. S. Ross. 


The readjustment of the peripheral lung motor 
mechanism after bilateral vagotomy: T. L, Pat- 
TERSON. 


A new Trematode parasite of the Unionide: 
Harry M. KEwzy. 


Two insect pests on clover: H. E. JAQUES. 


Methods of teaching parasitology: Hrrpert R. 
WERNER. (Posthumous.) 


Insect parasitism with special reference to para- 
sitic Diptera: IvAN L. RESSLER. This paper is a 
review of the important publications which have 
appeared since 1602, on insect parasitism, when the 
exit of the Hymenopterous parasite, Apanteles 
glomeratus L., from the common cabbage butterfly 
was observed. Parasitism as a factor in insect 
control is discussed as well as other natural agen- 
cies of control. The various families of the Dip- 
tera are classified with reference to their preda- 
tory or parasitic characteristics. The biology of 
the Tachinide which is probably one of the best 
known of the parasitic Diptera, is discussed at 
length. 

BOTANY 


Notes on the genus Catherineain Iowa—I: Lucy 
M. CavanaucH. A discussion of variation in leaf- 
characters in this genus as represented in Iowa. 


The use of common names for plants: B. 
SuimmeK. A presentation of some objections to 
the use of ‘‘common names’’ for plants. 


A prairie grove in eastern Illinois: B. SHIMEK. 
A discussion of an isolated grove on the prairies 
at Royal, Illinois, and the evidence which it offers 
towards the solution of the problem of the tree- 
lessness of the prairies. 

Some noteworthy fungi from South Carolina: 
Guy WEST WILSON. 


Dr. Rudolph Gmelin and his collection of Min- 
nesota, Wisconsin and Iowa plants: R. I. Crarry. 
Dr. Gmelin lived for many years practicing his pro- 
fession as a physician and surgeon at Elkader, 
Iowa, and other points, and a brief biographical 
sketch and a list of plants collected by him is pre- 
sented. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1396 


Two additions to our list of Cruciferae: R. I. 
Crarry. A brief paper on Brassica juncea (L.) 
Cosson, the Indian mustard, and Lepidium perfo- 
liatum L., a recent emigrant from the old world. 

A brief survey of economic botany: L. H. Pam- 
MEL. 

Studies in the germination of some woody 
plants: L. H. PAMMEL and CHaRrLoTTe M, Kine. 


Some wound responses of foliage leaves: ROBERT 
B. WYLIE. 


Notes on phycomycetes: I. E, MELHUS. 


A list of some of the phycomycetes in Iowa: J. 
M. RAEDER. 

A key to the plant families of central Iowa: 
WINIFRED ELLSworTH and Henry 8S. CoNarD. 

Fossil plants and classification: HENRY S. Con- 
ARD. 

A study of the vegetation of Austin Bluffs, near 
Colorado Springs, Colorado: T, J. FITZPATRICK. 
An intensive study was made of this area during 
the summer of 1920. As the location occupies an 
intermediate position between that of the plains on 
the one side and the mountains on the other its 
flora is an interesting one. 


CHILD WELFARE 


Research in the field of mental and physical de- 
velopment of children: B. T. BALDWIN and LorLE 
I. STECHER. 


IOWA SECTION, MATHEMATICAL ASSOCIATION OF 
AMERICA 

Correlation between mental tests and grades im 
mathematics of freshman engineering students: 
Marta M. ROoBErTs. 

Playing with the sine and projection formulas: 
W. J. RUSK. 

Certain summation formulas: JOHN F. REILLY. 

Some properties of the function w=tanh 2: F. 
M. WEIDA. 

Derived solutions of differential equations: M. 
E. GRABER. 

The surface z= logyt: C. W. EMMONS. 

Circles mutually tangent and tangent to concen- 
tric circles at specific points: C, W. WESTER. 

A study of certain reports of the ‘‘ National 
Committee on Mathematical Requirements’’: Com- 
mittee Report. J. V. McKeEtvey, Chairman. 

JAMES H. LEES, 
Secretary 


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SCIENCE 


SS 
Frmay, Octosper 7, 1921 


The Second International Congress of Eu- 
genics: Address of Welcome: Dr. HENRY 
MATRETE LD OSBORNajaieeielafelshejessisienehetererst siete 311 


The Aims and Methods of Eugenical Societies: 


Magor LEONARD DARWIN............00205 313 


Frederick Morton Chamberlain: G. DALLAS 


Scientific Events: 
Movement of the Population in the German 
Empire; Accidents due to Eye Defects; The 
Yale Forest School; The American Public 


UTC QUEnyA SSOCLALION Weta yela steven ile sicleiciaye 324 
Scientific Notes and News.................- 326 
University and Educational News............ 329 


Discussion and Correspondence : 
The Grand Aurora of September, 1921: 
Proressor CHarLes F. Brooks. The Coc- 
cide of Ceylon: Dr. G. F. Frrris. A Method 
of Protecting Microscopic Sections from Me- 


chanical Injury: Proressor J. A. Lone... 329 
Quotations: 
The British Association. . 6. ei. sio cc ess ss 331 


Scientific Books :— 
Keen’s Surgery: Dr. Stuart McGuire..... 332 


Special Articles: 


A New Graphic Analytic Method: Dr. R. 
BV ON GEM UELN Ep ieee shivnetatsy eehete near eran EN raoe 334 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc.,intended for 
review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. 


ed 
THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL CON- 
GRESS OF EUGENICS 
ADDRESS OF WELCOME 


I poust if there has ever been a moment im 
the world’s history when an international con- 


ference on race character and betterment has: 


been more important than the present. Eu- 


rope, in patriotic self-sacrifice on both sides 
of the World War, has lost much of the 


heritage of centuries of civilization which 
never can be regained. In certain parts of 
Europe the worst elements of society have 
gained the ascendancy and threaten the de- 
struction of the best. At this moment we 
welcome the sound and highly trained judg- 
ment of Major Leonard Darwin, leader of the 
eugenics movement in Great Britain; of Dr. 
Lucien March, the leading statistical author- 
ity of France, also leader in the eugenics 
movement and senior representative of the 
eugenics movement there; of Dr. Lucien 
Cuénot, foremost student of the science of 
heredity in France; of Dr. G. V. de Lapouge 
of France, the leading authority on racial an- 
thropology and earnest exponent of practical 
eugenic measures by the government. Dr. 
Jon Alfred Mjgen of Norway is the leader in 
the vigorous movement of race hygiene in 
Scandinavia. Contributions are welcomed 
from other representatives of Great Britain, 
of France, of Italy, of the new Republic of 
Czecho-Slovakia, of our sister Republic of 
Cuba, and of South and Central America. 
The leading students of heredity, of statis- 
tics, of anthropology, and of eugenics in the 
United States are here to welcome their con- 
fréres from abroad. 

To each of the countries of the world, 
racial betterment presents a different aspect. 
To the five countries most closely engaged 
in the recent fratricidal conflict, the financial 
and economic losses of which we hear so much 
are as nothing compared with the spiritual, 


' 


312 


intellectual, and moral losses which each has 
sustained. In the Scandinavian countries, 
which kept out of the conflict, and to a large 
extent in the United States, the case is differ- 
ent. In Scandinavia, which I have recently 
visited, it is largely through the active efforts 
of leaders like Mjgen and Lundborg that 
there is a new appreciation of the spiritual, 
intellectual, moral, and physical value of the 
Nordie race, and that a warning is being 
given that it must not be too severely de- 
pleted by emigration. Nearly half that race 
is now in the United States. 

In the United States we are slowly waking 
to the consciousness that education and en- 
vironment do not fundamentally alter racial 
values. We are engaged in a serious struggle 
to maintain our historic republican institu- 
tions through barring the entrance of those 
who are unfit to share the duties and responsi- 
bilities of our well-founded government. 
‘The true spirit of American democracy that 
all men are born with equal rights and duties 
has been confused with the political sophistry 
that all men are born with equal character 
and ability to govern themselves and others, 
and with the educational sophistry that edu- 
cation and environment will offset the handi- 
cap of heredity. South America is examining 
into the relative value of the pure Spanish 
and Portuguese and of various degrees of 
racial mixture of Indian and Negroid blood 
in relation to the preservation of their re- 
publican institutions. 

In my recent tour through Belgium and 
all parts of France, I was deeply impressed 
with the very slight convergence produced by 
12,000 years of similar environment and a 
thousand years of similar education upon the 
three divergent races of which France is com- 
posed,—_the Mediterranean, the Alpine, and 
the Nordic. 

The constructive spirit of this Congress is 
to discover the virtues and the values of each 
of these minor divisions of the human species, 
as well as the needs of the major divisions, 
known as the Caucasian, the Mongolian, and 
the Negroid. The reason that these races are 
so stable and maintain their original charac- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. LIV. No. 1397 


ter so stoutly is that the most stable form of 
matter which has thus far been discovered 
is the germ plasm on which heredity depends. 
This outstanding fact of heredity will be 
brought out in the First Section of the Con- 
gress. As a paleontologist and geologist, as 
well as something of a biologist, I find no 
form of matter so stable in nature as that 
on which heredity depends—consequently the 
selection, preservation, and multiplication of 
the best heredity is a patriotic duty of first 
importance. In the selection of the best we 
should know no prejudice. If we extenuate 
nothing, we write down nothing in malice. 
The 500,000 years of human evolution, under 
widely different environmental conditions, have 
impressed certain distinctive virtues as well 
as faults on each race. In the matter of 
racial virtues, my opinion is that from biolo- 
gical principles there is little promise in the 
“melting pot” theory. Put three races to- 
gether, you are as likely to unite the vices of 
all three as the virtues. This opinion, how- 
ever, awaits the experimental proof or dis- 
proof which will be presented by researches 
such as those of Doctor Sullivan in the 
Hawaiian Islands. For the world’s work, give 
me a pure-blooded Negro, a pure-blooded 
Mongol, a pure-blooded Slav, a pure-blooded 
Nordic, and ascertain through observation 
and experiment what each race is best fitted 
to accomplish in the world’s economy. If the 
Negro fails in government, he may become 
a fine agriculturist or a fine mechanic. The 
Chinese and the Japanese have demonstrated 
in the history of their respective countries 
a range of ability in art, literature, and in- 
dustry quite equal to our own in certain 
arts, and greatly superior to our own in 
other arts, like ceramics. Let each race con- 
sider its own problems and demonstrate its 
own fitness. 

Our Fourth Section is devoted to the state. 
The right of the state to safeguard the charac- 
ter and integrity of the race or races on 
which its future depends is, to my mind, as 
incontestable as the right of the state to 
safeguard the health and morals of its 
people. As science has enlightened govern- 


OcroBER 7, 1921] 


ment in the prevention and spread of disease, 
it must also enlighten government in the 
prevention of the spread and multiplication 
of worthless members of society, the spread 
of feeblemindedness, of idiocy, and of all 
moral and intellectual as well as physical 
diseases. 

I would not anticipate the findings of any 
of the four sections into which the work of 
the Congress is divided, but I would express 
my opinion that the monogamous family, 2.e., 
one husband, one wife, is to be maintained 
and safeguarded by the state as well as by re- 
ligion as a natural and hence as a patriotic 
institution. In Doctor Lowie’s very able re- 
cent work, “Primitive Society,’ it is shown 
that in general the family is safeguarded; 
that the natural instinct so widely prevalent 
among all social lower orders of animals to 
preserve the family at all costs dominates 
the elementary morals of primitive races. It 
is not an exaggeration to say that many tend- 
encies in recent social development, as distin- 
guished from racial evolution, are against this 
natural mandate regarding the family. The 
wisdom of British biologists, expressed by 
Tennyson in his memorable lines: 


So careful of the type... 
So careless of the single hfe, 


has been transmuted into the fatal reverse 


So careful of the single life... 
So careless of the type. 


The closing decades of the nineteenth cen- 
tury and the opening decades of the twentieth 
have witnessed what may be called a rampant 
individualism—not only in art and literature, 
but in all our social institutions—an individu- 
alism which threatens the very existence of 
the family; this is the motto of individual- 
ism: let us obey our own impulses, let us 
create our own standards, let each individual 
enjoy his own rights and privileges—for to- 
morrow the race dies. In New England a 
century has witnessed the passage of a many- 
child family to a one-child family. The 
purest New England stock is not holding its 
own. The next stage is the no-child marriage 
and the extinction of the stock which laid the 


SCIENCE 


313 


foundations of the republican institutions of 
this country. 

It is questions of this kind which are being 
set forth before this Congress so that they 
may be disseminated among our people. Let 
us endeavor to discard all prejudices and to 
courageously face the facts. Recent works 
by Bury and Inge on human progress are 
regarded in some quarters as pessimistic. I 
do not regard them as pessimistic, because to 
my mind the pessimist is one who will not 
face the facts, and these writers, especially 
Inge, look at the worst as well as at the best. 
I regard an optimist as one who faces the 
facts but is never discouraged by them. The 
optimist in science is one who delves afresh 
into nature to restore disordered and shat- 
tered society. This was the constructive 
spirit of Francis Galton, founder of the 
science of eugenics. I trust it will be the 
keynote of this Congress. To know the worst 
as well as the best in heredity; to preserve 
and to select the best—these are the most es- 
sential forces in the future evolution of hu- 
man society. 

Henry FamrietD Ossorn 


THE AIMS AND METHODS OF EUGENI- 
CAL SOCIETIES 


INTERNATIONAL CONGRESSES are organized no 
doubt mainly with the object of enabling work- 
ers in the same field both to become personally 
acquainted with each other—a far-reaching 
benefit—and to exchange information and 
ideas. We who have just crossed the Atlantic 
have come to a land in which many notable 
institutions have long been engaged in the 
study of biology and genetics, these being the 
pure sciences on which the applied science of 
eugenics is based, and where human racial 
problems have also long been keenly investi- 
gated. So much has been done in all these 
directions here that when I was honored with 
an invitation to address you I felt great diffi- 
culty in selecting a subject which I could dis- 
cuss with any reasonable prospect of promoting 
our common aim, namely the improvement of 
the racial qualities of future generations. It 
is, however, not only scientific information 


314 


which we can now profitably exchange one with 
another, but also our actual experiences; and, 
as I have been for ten years president of a 
British society for the promotion of eugenics, 
it occurred to me that it might interest you to 
hear something about our aims, our methods 
and our difficulties. I look forward to the time 
when eugenical societies will exist in all popu- 
lous centers, their work being to strive to build 
up a social superstructure on the scientific 
foundations laid by central organizations en- 
gaged in biological and eugenical research. 
Whilst these much needed societies are passing 
through the period of their adolescence, we 
may be sure that» they will not be without their 
growing pains and their difficulties; and these 
difficulties will certainly be more easily over- 
come if clearly realized in advance. I hope, 
therefore, that existing societies will not 
scruple to air their troubles in public! 

When an association is being created with 
any social object in view, a demand is likely 
to be made for a clear and rigid definition of 
the policy which is to be promoted by it; and 
from such demands may arise not only the first 
juvenile ailments of eugenical societies, but 
also occasional internal inflammations later in 
life. Now I was recently asked to state once 
again in broad and general terms what are the 
aims of my society, such a statement being 
needed not so much for our own information 
as to enable us to make our position more clear 
to the general public. The main difficulty in 
replying to this request lay in the fact that 
experience has taught us that attempts to de- 
cide in detail exactly what may be advocated 
and what should be condemned by eugenists 
are more likely to do harm than good by un- 
duly restricting eugenic activities. A choice 
has always to be made between a smaller so- 
ciety with narrower aims and a larger society 
tolerating wider divergences of opinion; and 
although both plans have their advantages, yet 
in a young and growing subject like eugenics 
care should be taken not to injuriously hamper 
future liberty of action by too rigid definitions 
of policy. What seemed to me to be needed 
was a eugenic sign post, with arms pointing, 
not to every by-path, but to the various main 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1397 


roads along which our society should strive to 
advance; and the conclusions I then reached I 
now repeat in the hope that they may prove to 
be of some interest to a wider circle of friends. 

The first words which I uttered as the presi- 
dent of my society ten years ago were that 
heredity should be its guiding star, and in that 
opinion I have never faltered. A good deal of 
progress has been made since that date, and 
now the man who calls himself well educated 
is as a rule beginning to have some dim idea 
that all human beings are the product of two 
factors, heredity and environment, and that 
consequently to both of them some attention 
should be paid. Now if a eugenical society 
accepts only one of these factors, namely here- 
dity, as the foundation on which all its opera- 
tions ought to be built, its members should 
as individuals most clearly emphasize the fact 
that all those who are striving to improve 
human surroundings have their warm sym- 
pathy. Of course eugenists cannot approve of 
such measures as would injure mankind as a 
whole, the future as well as the present being 
taken into account; but, putting that possi- 
bility aside, we personally should give our 
blessing to many reforms which eugenical so- © 
cieties do not help to promote. We see as 
clearly as anyone that to take steps tending to 
produce in the future a race with the best pos- 
sible natural qualities would be a futile pro- 
ceeding unless we hoped that when such a race 
did appear great care would be taken to give 
to it good surroundings. If eugenical societies 
confine their attention exclusively to heredity, 
it is only because so many other societies think 
only of environment. 

It is true that sometimes it may be neces- 
sary to indicate that the high hopes entertained 
by reformers of to-day are not justified by past 
experiences. It may be said with only a micro- 
scopic divergence from the truth that all re- 
forms since civilization began have been based 
on attempts to improve human surroundings; 
and we may ask those who found their hopes 
for the future only on changes being made in 
environment to consider how much has thus 
been accomplished since history began. As to 
our highest moral ideals, is it not true that for 


OcToBER 7, 1921] 


the most part they have been promulgated in 
certain eastern countries ever since the dawn 
of civilization? How do we compare in intel- 
lect with the inhabitants of ancient Greece 
two thousand years ago? With a knowledge 
of the delights of country life, can we look on 
our slums with anything but shame? Do we 
not blush to talk of peace on earth and good- 
will towards men whilst remembering what has 
happened during the last seven years? And, 
in view of all this, have we any right to assume 
that improvement of environment will do more 
for mankind during the next two thousand 
years than it has done since the days of 
Plato? Reformers who look only to surround- 
ings should consider well the foundations on 
which their projects are based before pointing 
the finger of scorn at the believers in heredity. 
Eugenics has been called a dismal science, but 
it should rather be described as an untried 
policy. Eugenics indicates a new method of 
striving for human welfare which, if combined 
with an equal striving for improvements in 
human surroundings, more truly justifies a 
hopeful outlook than anything which has yet 
been tried in the whole history of the world. 
More hopeful, that is, if the roads to which our 
eugenic finger post is pointing are not as studi- 
ously avoided in the future as they have been 
in the past. 

The eugenie signpost which we wish to erect 
should, in my opinion, have three arms on it, 
pointing to three main lines along which an 
advance should be pressed forward. In the 
first place the public should be made to realize 
more and more fully what a potent influence 
heredity has on the fate of all nations. In the 
second place efforts must be made to ascertain 
and to make known the rules by which each 
individual ought to strive to regulate his own 
conduct in regard to parenthood in accordance 
with the laws of heredity in so far as they are 
now surely known. Lastly, the action which the 
state should take in order to stimulate and to 
enforce conduct productive of racial progress 
must be considered, a line of advance to be 
advocated, however, with great circumspection 
when compulsion is concerned. Our aim must 


SCIENCE 


315 


be to advance along all these three roads simul- 
taneously and continuously. 

The laws of natural inheritance supply a 
means of predicting in a measure the quali- 
ties of offspring when the qualities of their 
parents are known; and if any society ac- 
cepts heredity, not as its sole guide, but as 
a light ever to be held in view, it is in fact 
intending to rely to some extent on these 
laws of natural inheritance when attempting 
to forecast the results in the future of our 
actions of to-day. Genetics is the pure science 
which deals with heredity, and genetics is, 
therefore, the very foundation on which the 
superstructure of eugenics is being built. The 
students of genetics will, however, I am sure, 
all agree that a vast amount of research is 
needed before they will be able to rest satis- 
fied with the knowledge they have acquired, 
supposing it to be possible that such a state 
of contentment will ever be reached. Now 
it is impossible to conduct the needed breed- 
ing experiments on human beings, and gene- 
tic research must be largely concerned with 
the lower animals and with plants; whilst 
eugenics is primarily concerned with man 
alone. Then again eugenics must include 
the study of many social and economic prob- 
lems which lie quite outside the sphere of 
genetics. The pure science of genetics and 
the applied science of eugenics do, therefore, 
cover different fields, though the boundary be- 
tween them is ill defined and movable ; and 
in both fields further advances are urgently 
needed. For these reasons it seems to me— 
though here opinions may differ somewhat— 
that the main aim of eugenical societies 
should now be, whilst leaving geneticists to 
cultivate their own ground, to formulate a 
sound eugenic policy based on existing genetic 
knowledge, and then to promote the trans- 
lation of every advance in eugenic theory into 
general practise. If we eugenists rely on 
scientific experts for the laying of our scien- 
tific foundations, then we shall be able to 
devote our main energies to the advocacy of 
reforms tending to promote racial progress and 
to considering how wide may be the area over 


316 


which such reforms can be justifiably ex- 
tended. 

With regard to much of the research work 
which is so urgently needed, most eugenical 
societies will indeed have no option but to 
leave it to others or to leave it undone; be- 
cause in many lines of enquiry a well 
equipped laboratory and a highly skilled 
staff are essential for success. Certain in- 
vestigations, which need no special appara- 
tus, however, could be carried on anywhere. 
Moreover, the scientific material as received 
from geneticists often needs to be thoroughly 
discussed by eugenists in a scientific spirit 
before being applied to human affairs; and 
we must not rely wholly on genetic research 
for the supply of scientific material on which 
to build. Wealthy patriots in all countries 
will doubtless from time to time perceive 
that by their wealth they might help to pro- 
mote the acquirement of that knowledge on 
which racial progress must depend in the 
future. A strong central society might in 
such cases play a useful part in suggesting 
various directions in which, with their aid, 
advances of great value could at once be 
made; as well as being ready, if so desired, 
to act as agents by whom the investigator 
would be selected and employed, care being 
taken not to hamper him with undue control. 
The more liberal the benefaction the more 
fundamental and far-reaching might be the 
researches thus undertaken, and the greater 
the ultimate benefit to mankind. Your en- 
dowments in America are so magnificent that 
you may not fully perceive how much they 
are needed elsewhere. 

As to the first of the suggested lines of 
advance, namely, as to getting into direct and 
immediate touch with the public with the 
hope of spreading abroad a general knowledge 
of the laws of natural inheritance, this knowl- 
edge should form the basis of all the argu- 
ments brought forward at public lectures on 
eugenics, that is, at lectures not forming part 
of any extensive series. It is indeed in lay- 
ing this foundation of scientific truth that 
speakers on such occasions encounter their 
greatest difficulties; for many prejudices aris- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1397 


ing from ignorance have to be overcome. For 
example, those who do not acknowledge to 
themselves that men differ greatly from each 
other in their inborn qualities, cannot be made 


' to realize the extreme importance of paying at- 


tention to heredity in regard to social ques- 
tions; and the acknowledgment that we do not 
start even in the race of life will be hindered 
by a disinclination which we all feel both to 
regard any human disabilities as being in- 
curable and to own that other individuals 
may be greatly superior to ourselves. As to 
the facts on which the scientific theories of 
heredity are based, it is worse than useless 
to attempt to give them in detail at single 
lectures ; for lecturers should remember that on 
such occasions they cannot hope to do more 
than leave an enduring general impression on 
the minds of their audiences. Except in 
systematic courses of study, much must al- 
ways be both stated and accepted on author- 
ity; for to fully justify all the beliefs of 
eugenists would require months rather than 
days. “It is hardly possible,” so my father 
declared, “ within a moderate compass to im- 
press on the minds of those who have not 
attended to the subject, the full conviction _ 
of the force of inheritance which is slowly 
acquired by rearing animals, by studying 
the many treatises which have been published 
on the various domestic animals, and by 
conversing with breeders.”1 If this be so, 
the public can only learn how to give to 
natural inheritance its proper value by acquir- 
ing information at second hand; and yet to 
make any statement acceptable to audiences, 
it must be in some degree endorsed by their 
own reasoning powers. It is on this account 
that allusion to the breeding of domestic 
animals becomes almost a necessity in public 
lectures on eugenics, for the wisdom of attend- 
ing to breed in the case of cattle and dogs 
is universally admitted. Great care should, 
however, always be taken to indicate that, 
though our experiences 4n the stockyard en- 
able us better to understand the laws of 
natural inheritance, yet our reliance on these 


1‘‘Animals and Plants under Domestication,’’ 
Darwin I., pp. 447-448. 


OcroseR 7, 1921] 


laws carries with it no implication whatever 
that the methods of the animal breeder ought 
to be introduced into human society. It 
should in fact be most strongly emphasized 
that nothing which we advocate is contrary to 
the highest religious ideals. This is, however, 
rather a digression; for I am not here to in- 
struct lecturers how to lecture. All that I 
now wish to insist on is that, by means of 
lectures to audiences of all kinds, the en- 
deavor to spread abroad sound impressions 
concerning the force of natural heredity and 
the enormously important influence which it 
has in deciding the welfare and the destiny 
of nations should form a prominent part of 
the programme of all eugenical societies. 
The title selected for the British Society 
by its founders was the Eugenics Hducation 
Society, and certainly they had excellent 
reasons for thus emphasizing the educational 
aspects of the eugenic campaign which they 
were inaugurating in my country. No class 
of the community is more important to in- 
terest in racial problems than teachers of 
all grades; because the ideas of the youth 
of to-morrow will depend so largely on the 
opinions of the teachers of to-day. But 
teachers must be taught before they can take 
a thoroughly intelligent interest in racial 
questions; and for this reason it is of primary 
importance that biology should be given ade- 
quate recognition in the curricula of all col- 
leges where teachers are trained. Our edu- 
cational aspirations could not, however, be 
completely satisfied in this way; for to finally 
succeed in the first of our main aims, namely, 
the spreading abroad of a general knowledge 
of the laws of natural inheritance, natural 
science must be given a far more prominent 
place than at present in the courses of studies 
of all schools and colleges. No doubt there 
are many who now regard our efforts with 
great distrust; but those who feel thus should 
remember that the better and the more wide- 
spread the teaching of biology, the more cer- 
tain would it be that any eugenic errors 
would be detected and their harmful influ- 
ence prevented. Moreover, if we want prog- 
ress in scientific research to be both rapid 


SCIENCE 


317 


and on right lines, it is important that a 
considerable number of students should be 
thoroughly trained each year in genetics, or 
that more undergraduates should specialize 
in natural science at our universities than at 
present. Eugenics has a long struggle be- 
fore it, and all these methods of laying edu- 
cational foundations for future progress 
should certainly come within the scope of the 
efforts of eugenical societies. 

Passing on to the second of the main lines 
along which eugenical societies should strive 
to advance, what we want to know is the rules 
which ought to guide each individual in 
deciding on his own voluntary actions in all 
matters relating to racial progress. The at- 
tempt to ascertain the precepts by means of 
which each one of us should strive to regu- 
late his conduct in questions connected with 
parenthood obviously involves the consider- 
ation of a number of ethical, racial and econo- 
mic factors; for, in regard to any proposed 
line of conduct, we have to weigh in the 
balance as well as we can its moral effects, 
the immediate material advantages or dis- 
advantages to the family and to the state 
which are likely thus to arise, and the bene- 
fits or injuries which it will confer or inflict 
on the race in the future. Even if these prob- 
lems be approached in a calm and scientific 
spirit—and in this respect eugenical societies 
should strive to set a much needed example— 
even then it will be exceedingly difficult in 
most cases now to arrive at precise con- 
clusions. We must not attempt in the present 
state of our knowledge to lay down rigid 
rules of conduct, but only to suggest general 
guiding principles; though we may hope that 
with every advance of science it will be pos- 
sible more and more clearly to indicate what 
each individual ought to do and what he 
ought to avoid. As an illustration of the dif- 
ficulties involved in these problems, consider 
the case of a contemplated marriage when 
both families thus to be connected are charac- 
terized by some degree of ill health. Now it 
would only be persons endowed with high 
moral qualities who would be likely to obey 
any self-denying ordinance in regard to mar- 


318 


riage and whose fertility would, therefore, 
thus be diminished. Might we not, by con- 
demning marriage in such eases, tend to breed 
out the most valuable of all human attributes, 
namely, the desire to do right? Again if in- 
sanity were the family trouble in question, 
this being one of the most grievous of all hu- 
man ailments, we now know that it is some- 
times the result of disease and probably in such 
cases not heritable, whilst other types certain- 
ly do run in families. What are we to do in 
the face of such doubts and difficulties as 
these? Are we to admit our incapacity to 
meet the situation? Certainly not, for the 
history of scientific research clearly proves 
that what to-day appears like an impenetrable 
barrier to further progress will probably to- 
morrow be regarded rather as a useful step- 
ping stone for a further advance. Doubtless 
we have difficulties ahead of us, which must 
be faced with patience; but we should take 
note of these obstacles in our path mainly as 
emphasizing the need for societies where such 
guiding rules for voluntary conduct in re- 
lation to parenthood as are warranted by ex- 
isting knowledge and by present needs will 
be wisely and temperately discussed. 

A comparatively new subject like eugenics 
is apt to arouse prejudices and to give oppor- 
tunities for misapprehension ; and it sometimes 
seems that what is now most needed on the part 
of eugenical societies in regard to voluntary 
actions is that they should make clear what 
they are not recommending. We have been 
accused of wishing to abolish love altogether 
as a guide to conduct; but this is false. What 
we desire is rather to purify love, or to clear 
away all those harmful influences which so 
often attach themselves to it. Certain Amer- 
ican investigations indicate that the ideals 
which naturally dwell in the minds of young 
people in regard to the qualities of the mates 
to whom they would wish to be connected in 
marriage are on the whole fairly sound, and 
that these promptings if followed would gener- 
ally lead to unions beneficial to the race. But 
the desire for wealth, the wish to rise in the 
social seale, and, some would add, too great 
attention to personal appearances, often make 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1397 


the choice of a mate far worse than it would 
have been if these natural ideals had been 
given full sway. In passing I must, however, 
put in a racial plea for good looks on the 
ground that they are apt to be associated with 
good health; a plea which I hope does not 
spring from a mere masculine weakness on my 
part. Be that as it may, love is doubtless to 
a large extent aroused by advantageous moral 
and mental qualities; and, in so far as that is 
the ease, it forms the firmest foundation on 
which to base a eugenic policy. Much can be 
done to help to lay this foundation by promot- 
ing suitable opportunities for the meeting of 
young men and maidens; by judiciously en- 
couraging intercourse between our children 
and worthy friends of the other sex, from 
amongst whom worthy mates are not unlikely 
to be selected; by stimulating a pride of family 
in so far as dependent on character and per- 
formance; and, above all, by fostering the 
growth of all that is noble in the ideals of the 
adolescent. Never make a close friend of a 
person one can not respect is, I believe, not 
only a helpful rule of life, but also a useful 
way of setting an example to the rising gener- 
ation. But here a possible racial danger must 
be noted; for an injudicious pursuit of the 
policy here suggested might make the high- 
minded become too particular and therefore 
less likely to marry than their more ordinary 
companions, with obvious dysgenic conse- 
quences. Pure love between the sexes should 
be proclaimed as the noblest thing on earth, 
and the bearing and rearing of children as 
amongst the highest of all human duties. 
Some risks ought to be run in order to secure 
these joys and to fulfil these duties; and Cupid 
may well remain a little blind to all minor de- 
fects. To promote these ways of regarding 
sexual problems and to show how often the 
moralist unknown to himself is in effect striv- 
ing to better the racial qualities of future gen- 
erations come well within the scope of our 
endeavors. 

Though we have seen that as knowledge in- 
creases so the difficulties of deciding on rules 
of personal conduct will diminish, yet it is cer- 
tain that these difficulties will ever remain very 


OctoBER 7, 1921] 


formidable. We may now boldly assert that 
when the heritable defects of many members 
of a family are very serious, those belonging 
to it should not become parents; but how seri- 
ous must these defects be before being regarded 
as a bar to parenthood? It will never be pos- 
sible to draw as sharp a line of demarcation 
as that between sheep and goats when marking 
off from the general population those in whom 
sparenthood would be a moral offense. Because 
of this impossibility, it may come to be held 
that the size of the family should vary with the 
innate qualities of the parents; but how is this 
relationship between fertility and transmissible 
characteristics to be determined? Then, again, 
many who take no thought concerning racial 
questions now hold strongly that it is wrong to 
bring a child into the world without a reason- 
able prospect of its being able to live a life up 
to a certain standard of civilization. But what 
should be the standard adopted? In large 
numbers of cases the cause which has pre- 
vented the winning of a “standard” liveli- 
hood, however we may define that term, has 
been some inborn defect, or defect which would 
in a measure be passed on to the next genera- 
tion. Teach those not living up to standard to 
regulate their conduct with due regard to the 
welfare of any children who may or may not 
be born in the future, and many would limit 
their families on this account; with the results 
that these harmful innate defects would appear 
less frequently in future generations. Is it 
not, therefore, of great importance that some 
attempt should be made to ascertain what 
standard of living does justify parenthood? 
Again it is even more important that it should 
be widely felt that it is morally wrong to limit 
unduly the size of the family when parents are 
up to “standard” in all respects; for it is 
essential for the welfare of mankind that the 
seed of this good stock should not be lost to 
posterity. Eugenical societies should, in my 
opinion, steadily keep in view the necessity of 
trying to solve all these intensely difficult prob- 
lems; problems which need the joint consid- 
eration of the eugenist, the geneticist, and the 
economist for their solution. But as for our 
advice of to-day concerning personal conduct 


SCIENCE 


319 


in regard to procreation, we can say little more 
than that moral principles must always be kept 
in the foreground, and that, for the rest, trust 
must be placed in common sense and a wise 
doctor.? 

To whatever extent success may attend our 
efforts to lay down rules for personal conduct 
in regard to parenthood, to that extent we shall 
have succeeded in deciding on the directions 
in which we wish to advance in these matters. 
Such decisions will, however, prove to be but 
a very uncertain indication of the extent to 
which the state should endeavor to promote or 
to enforce obedience to these rules; this being 
the subject to which we must now turn our 
attention. By promoting uniformity of condi- 
tions and by checking individual initiative, the 
state often retards progress ; and, besides affect- 
ing those intended to be affected, governmental 
action nearly always produces on other persons 
various consequences which were unforeseen 
and which are never fully realized. Whatever 
may be our political opinions, we nearly all of 
us agree that these are dangers which must be 
taken into account when contemplating state 
control over the individual. These are, how- 
ever, large issues which some will regard as 
lying outside the proper scope of eugenic con- 
siderations; whilst the point which I especially 
wish to emphasize in this connection is one 
definitely related to the actions of eugenical so- 
cieties. In my opinion our societies ought to 
be ready to encourage discussion on all pro- 
posals for relevant reforms, whilst they should 
be cautious in the present state of our knowl- 
edge in actually recommending governmental 
interference. If discussion be not bold, prog- 
ress will be slow; for a nation can not grope 
its way quickly to the front in the darkness of 
ignorance. If action be too bold, progress will 
also be slow; for the wrong road will often be 
taken. In matters of conduct we should bal- 
ance the probability of good or evil arising 
from the action proposed to be taken, as 
against the magnitude of the good or evil if it 
does arise. The smaller the chances of failure, 
the smaller may be the benefits hoped to be 


2I assume that the doctor has studied genetics, 
which is unfortunately not always the ease. 


320 


attained. The probability of harm resulting 
from the mere discussion of any reform would 
usually be very small, even if that reform 
would be very harmful if adopted. On the 
other hand, the possibility of benefits arising 
from the discussion of reform is almost equally 
obvious whether the proposed legislation would 
in fact be beneficial or harmful. To take a 
single example, there are strong differences of 
opinion as regards sterilization; but all may 
hold that by open discussion true conclusions 
would most likely be reached. The advocates 
of sterilization of course wish to have this sub- 
ject brought to the notice of the public; whilst 
its opponents must admit that they will be 
more likely to promote than to retard its intro- 
duction by, as it were, burying their heads in 
the sand like the ostrich and by refusing to 
favor the creation of opportunities for openly 
stating their objections to it. It is indeed 
nearly true to say that every subject may be 
openly discussed with advantage provided the 
occasion be properly chosen; and it is in this 
spirit that eugenical societies should, in my 
opinion, conduct their proceedings. 

In all human affairs we are constantly being 
compelled to take opposing considerations into 
account and to adopt compromises, and I think 
that I ought not to be accused of inconsistency 
if I now turn round and show why eugenical 
societies ought not to be too timid in regard to 
legislation. As to your middle-aged Anglo- 
Saxon, and I am only speaking for my own 
country, there is hardly anything which he dis- 
likes so much as having to change his opinions; 
and from this weakness men of science are by 
no means exempt! Here is a barrier which 
will stop any half hearted advance on the part 
of eugenic reformers! To the students of 
natural sciences, at all events, we can suggest 
that Nature’s plan seems to have been to stamp 
out of existence all organisms which fail to fill 
the places she assigns to them, and this with- 
out regard to the sufferings thus caused or to 
the superiority in many respects of large num- 
bers of the individuals thus eliminated. By 
adopting rational methods in human affairs, 
much can be done and much ought to be done 
to prevent human beings from being enforced 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1397 


to sufferings similar to those which animals in 
the wild have to endure because of that strug- 
gle for existence to which they must submit; 
but nevertheless we should not be quite blind 
to the example set us by Nature in her 
readiness to sacrifice the individual for the 
sake of the race. Unfortunately it will be our 
politicians who will mainly settle how far the 
teachings of science shall be made to affect leg- 
islation; and this they will be apt to do with 
little reference to the opinions of experts and 
largely in the hope of catching votes. But the 
votes of future generations can not now be 
caught, and their interests will, therefore, be 
likely to receive but scant attention in all 
democratic countries. Governments which de- 
pend on the suffrages of the people are of 
necessity always somewhat timid in regard to 
unpopular reforms; and until eugenics be- 
comes popular—when will that be, I wonder !— 
there is not the slightest chance of eugenic 
reform moving forward with too rapid strides. 
Eugenists must lead the advance in racial 
questions, and our societies must remember 
that nothing is more fatal to leadership than 
a show of timidity. We should discuss long 
and freely, and when we do advance, advance 
boldly. 

Legislative reforms can seldom be effec- 
tively promoted or steadfastly maintained un- 
less they are sanctioned by the general opinion 
of the citizens concerned; and, on somewhat 
similar grounds, eugenical societies would be 
wise to avoid taking corporate action in re- 
gard to legislation unless the proposal in ques- 
tion has the nearly unanimous approval of 
their members. The neglect of such warnings 
has led to the disappearance of governments 
and to the disruption of societies! When 
legislation does not involve compulsory inter- 
ference with the liberty of the individual, 
there is comparatively little danger of in- 
ternal friction being caused by its advocacy; 
for unanimity in such circumstances is both 
more probable and less necessary than when 
compulsion is involved. As examples of 
legislation of general application producing 
beneficial racial effects, certain reforms in re- 
gard to taxation might be mentioned. My 


OctToBER 7, 1921] 


Society took an active part in the agitation in 
favor of such alterations in the assessment of 
income tax as would make the burden of tax- 
ation fall less heavily on parents of families 
and more heavily on bachelors and the child- 
less in the same stratum of society, the object 
being to increase the birth rate of a useful 
class of the community. As to legislation in- 
volving interference with individual liberty, 
here also unanimous support can be obtained 
if the racial advantages are sufficiently obvi- 
ous. For example, there was no dissension 
whatever in my society when we moved in 
favor of the Mental Deficiency Bill, a bill 
which authorized the segregation of the feeble 
in mind, that is to say, their detention in com- 
fort under carefully safeguarded conditions. 
But until unanimity in the ranks of a eugeni- 
cal society in regard to such compulsory meas- 
ures is obtainable, their discussion only is to 
be recommended. Personally I should like to 
see practical steps at once taken for lessening 
the fertility of habitual criminals, of hopeless 
wastrels, and of the grossly unfit generally, and. 
others doubtless wish to advance in other 
directions; but we must have patience. My 
object for the moment is not, however, to at- 
tempt to survey all the roads by which advances 
may be made in future, but rather to consider 
what should be the broad principles of strategy 
which should guide eugenical societies in the 
long fight before them in their attempts to pro- 
mote racial progress. 

Thus I have dealt with the objects which 
eugenical societies should strive to attain 
rather than with the methods of attaining the 
ends desired, the reason being that I have little 
novel to suggest in regard to methods. With 
the view to the advancement of scientific 
knowledge and the elucidation of eugenic prob- 
lems, my society holds periodical meetings at 
which addresses are delivered or questions de- 
bated. In our Review these addresses are often 
published, and we there also try to give im- 
partial accounts of current eugenic literature. 
We maintain a library, and give advice to 
readers. We keep in touch with foreign so- 
cieties, and it has been an especial pleasure to 
us to give all the assistance in our power to the 


SCIENCE 


321 


American committee which has so admirably 
organized this Congress. As to activities defi- 
nitely undertaken for the purposes of propa- 
ganda, the following may be mentioned: the 
delivery of lectures to audiences of various 
types, including social clubs, debating societies, 
educational conferences, summer schools for 
teachers, and, during war times, soldiers in 
camp and barracks; the organization of sum- 
mer schools dealing largely with eugenics; the 
sending of deputations to government depart- 
ments; and of letters to the press. To take one 
example in detail, after a thorough enquiry 
concerning the incidence of our income tax, a 
letter was written to all members of Parlia- 
ment, and at a later stage amendments to the: 
Finance Act were proposed by members at ow 
suggestion, and were rejected! The next step, 
a direct result of this agitation, was the ap- 
pointment by the government of a royal com- 
mission on the income tax before which I gave 
evidence on behalf of my society. Several of 
the recommendations of that commission, rep- 
resenting a step forward in the direction de- 
sired, were subsequently adopted and became 
law. Thus by steady persistence on well 
thought out lines a society may be able to 
produce material effects in many directions. 
As a last word about the doings of my own 
society, I must be allowed to mention a dinner 
followed by an address, held on February 16 
in each year. In this way we yearly remind 
ourselves on the birthday of Sir Francis Gal- 
ton that to him we owe the opening of the 
eugenics campaign in England. 

What I have tried to do in my address to- 
day has been to give some indication of the 
difficulties likely to be encountered by youth- 
ful eugenical societies; difficulties which, we 
have seen, may come from many quarters 
and in many shapes. Questions connected 
with both sex and personal liberty have to be 
dealt with by eugenists, and these are topics 
especially liable to give rise to strong feel- 
ings. Even when the opposition thus aroused 
is quite unreasonable, we should, however, 
always remember that the sentiments under- 
lying this opposition are often in many re- 
spects highly commendable, and that to openly 


322 


acknowledge where others are in the right is 
often the best way of getting a hearing for 
ourselves. The most formidable foe we have 
to meet is ignorance; and here again it is 
wise to admit that the ignorance is not all 
on one side. With every growth in our knowl- 
edge of biology and sociology we shall be 
able safely to enlarge our programme, and 
we should make it clear that our discussions 
of to-day are often tentative and do not always 
indicate the directions in which we shall ad- 
vance to-morrow. As to the ignorance of our 
opponents, it can only be overcome by pa- 
tience, perseverance and above all by never 
concealing such doubts as are still felt. Un- 
fortunately it must be admitted that even per- 
fect knowledge, however widely held, would not 
make our path quite smooth, human nature 
being what it is; for the want of attractive- 
ness of our programme is largely due to the 
fact that we are looking to human welfare in 
the more or less distant future and not to 
present-day comforts. Most men in their 
march through life are hoping either for per- 
sonal distinction as a reward for their exer- 
tions or for quick returns on their invest- 
ments; and neither of these benefits is to be 
obtained in the eugenic market. You can 
easily enough get your forests cut down and 
the timber sold for an immediate profit; but 
the planting of slow growing trees, which will 
not be worth felling till most of us are dead, is 
a less attractive venture, though more benefi- 
cial to the nation. The reforms which the 
eugenist wishes to plant would certainly bear 
excellent fruit in due course, even though 
much of it would only be gathered by our chil- 
dren and our children’s children. Then again 
your business men not seldom try to sell their 
goods by running down the wares produced by 
their rivals, an inexcusable proceeding in so 
far as merely an outcome of greed and jeal- 
ousy. Now this same competitive spirit is far 
too much felt in social work, and I fear we 
eugenists have often aroused opposition by 
unnecessarily running down reforms depend- 
ent on changes in environment. Let us rather 
strive to show that there is plenty of open 
ground over which reformers of all kinds can 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1397 


strive to advance simultaneously and harmoni- 
ously; and let us all recognize that jealousy 
is one of the commonest and probably the most 
insidious of all human failings. The claims of 
this generation and of posterity are doubtless 
sometimes antagonistic, and the genuine diffi- 
culties thus arising must be openly faced and 
often met in a spirit of wise compromise. The 
main obstacles to be overcome by eugenists 
are, however, dependent on moral failings, and 
what we have to show is that we are engaged 
in a moral campaign, with human welfare in 
the highest sense as the goal for which we are 
striving. 

Eugenics aims at increasing the rate of mul- 
tiplication of stocks above the average in heri- 
table qualities, and at decreasing that rate in 
the case of stocks below the average. But if 
the banner under which we are to fight should 
only have inscribed on it some such arid defi- 
nition of policy as this, our defeat would be 
certain. We must prove that we are under the 
guidance of a noble ideal. We of this genera- 
tion are responsible for the production of the 
next generation and, therefore, of all mankind 
in the future; and all in whom this sense of 
racial responsibility acts as a deep-seated sen- 
timent, greatly affecting their action and their 
policy, are in truth guided by the eugenic ideal. 
The belief that man has been slowly developed 
from some ape-like progenitor came towards 
the close of the last century to be nearly uni- 
versally held by thoughtful persons; this belief 
gave rise to a new hope that this upward march 
of mankind might be continued in the future; 
and out of this new hope sprang the eugenic 
ideal. This growing understanding of the past 
history of the world has led us to see that, if 
we are to imitate Nature in her methods, we 
must be content to advance by means of a 
long succession of small steps; just as rain 
falling in drops on the earth has slowly carved 
out mighty valleys in the hardest rocks. With- 
out constructing wild Utopias, we must be con- 
tent if some little racial progress can be en- 
sured as each generation succeeds another; for 
to work in this spirit is to work in harmony 
with the knowledge which gave birth to the 
eugenic ideal. Progress on eugenic lines will 


OctToBER 7, 1921] 


make mankind become continually nobler, hap- 
pier, and healthier; whilst those who imagine 
that our sole aim is to make man a stronger 
animal or a better beast of burden are utterly 
ignorant of the meaning of the eugenic ideal. 
But science, whilst giving us good grounds for 
hope, also issues a grave warning concerning 
the danger of national deterioration resulting 
from the unchecked multiplication of inferior 
types. In the past many nations of the first 
rank, when apparently advancing without 
check on the path of prosperity, have begun 
to decay from unseen causes, and have in time 
so fallen from their high estate as to cease to 
count as factors making for progress. <A de- 
termination that such a downfall shall not be 
the fate of his nation is a sentiment felt by 
every man who is animated by the eugenic 
ideal, an ideal to be followed like a flag in 
battle without thought of personal gain. 
Lronarp Darwin 


FREDERICK MORTON CHAMBERLAIN 


Freperick Morton CHAMBERLAIN died on 
August 17, 1921, in a hospital in Oakland, 
California, after a long and sometimes hopeful 
fight against tuberculosis. He became seri- 
ously ill in July, 1918, while on the Pribilof 
Islands, and although he partially regained his 
health for short periods, he was at no time 
thereafter able to resume his usual activity. 
The U. S. Bureau of Fisheries has thus lost 
one of its most faithful employees, one whose 
clear, keen mind and charming personality 
will long be mourned by his associates. 

Mr. Chamberlain was born in Indiana, June 
29, 1867. He graduated at the State Normal 
School at Terre Haute in 1894, the State Uni- 
versity at Bloomington in 1896 and the George 
Washington School of Law in Washington, 
D. C., in 1913. A close friendship began at 
the Indiana colleges with (then) Professor 
Barton Warren Evermann with whom later he 
was associated in many scientific investiga- 
tions. 

In the fall of 1896 he followed Dr. Ever- 
mann to the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries (then 
the United States Fish Commission) with 
which he was connected throughout the re- 


SCIENCE 


323 


mainder of his active career. In 1897 he and 
Dr. Evermann carried on fishery investiga- 
tions in some of the southern states. Later 
in the same year he joined the Fisheries 
Steamer Albatross and accompanied her to 
Alaskan waters for a season of work in the 
fisheries. The two following years the investi- 
gation of salmon in the streams of California 
occupied his attention. In this he was asso- 
ciated with Cloudsley Rutter. In 1900 and 
1901 he was back on the Albatross engaged on 
Alaska fishery problems, and in 1902 he 
worked in Hawaii. 

During the summers of 1903, 1904 and 1905, 
a work on the life history and young stages of 
Alaskan salmon was completed. The report 
which was published in the Report of the Com- 
missioner of Fisheries for 1906, marks the be- 
ginning of an epoch in the study of these im- 
portant food fishes, and its importance has 
only lately come to be realized in fish-culture. 
The clear, concise language shows the hand 
of the master workman, and the thoroughness 
with which each problem was attacked is the 
chief mark of the true scientist. His health 
failed in 1905, while he was in the field on 
these investigations, but apparent full recovery 
was made after a short stay in Arizona. 

The Albatross sailed on a winter cruise to 
the south Pacific for Alexander Agassiz dur- 
ing the winter of 1904 and 1905 and Mr. 
Chamberlain accompanied the vessel as natu- 
ralist. The summer of 1906 was spent with 
the ship in north Pacific and Japanese waters, 
while from 1907 to 1910 he was in the Philip- 
pines. The last cruise closed his connection 
with this famous vessel. During her most 
active period Mr. Chamberlain was aboard and 
attended to the preparation of a great many 
thousand specimens of marine animals for 
later examination of specialists. The imper- 
sonal manner in which the records of the 
Albatross must necessarily be kept is regret- 
table. Thus some pieces of iron, fastened 
together in the form of a ship and named after 
a bird will live for centuries in the annals of 
science but the guiding hand which caused the 
machinery to produce the treasures of the deep, 
passes to oblivion, unmourned except by his 


324 


circle of personal friends. Mr. Chamberlain 
was instrumental in the bringing to the sur- 
face many hundreds of strange new mollusks, 
erustaceans and echinoderms, yet apparently 
his name has not been bestowed upon a single 
one. Two fishes and an Alaskan bird, how- 
ever, have been named for him. 

During the seasons of 1911 and 1912, Mr. 
Chamberlain filled the position of Alaska sal- 
mon agent and worked in the northern terri- 
tory. In 1913 he was appointed naturalist 
of the Fur-seal Service and reached the Pribi- 
lof Islands just three days before the severe 
attack from which he never fully recovered. 
He was conveyed to the states, desperately ill, 
and the climate of Arizona again helped to 
only a partial recovery. 

G. Datias Hanna 


MusEUM, 
CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 


MOVEMENT OF THE POPULATION IN THE 
GERMAN EMPIRE 

During 1919 and 1920, according to data 
recently published by the government sta- 
tistical bureau and quoted in the Journal of 
the American Medical Association, the num- 
ber of marriages in the German empire ex- 
ceeded, by a considerable margin, the figures 
for the prewar period. In the five years from 
1914 to 1918, inclusive, almost half a million 
marriages less were contracted than would 
normally have been the case. However, this 
notable falling off in marriages during the 
years of the war was compensated for, in 
the main, during 1919 and 1920; for in 
these two years the number of marriages 
reached the high figures of 842,787 and 851,- 
508, respectively. Whereas in 1913 there were 
only 7.7 marriages to 1,000 inhabitants, in 
1920 there were 14.8. Normally, forty mar- 
riages to 1,000 inhabitants could have been 
expected during the five years of the war, but, 
instead, only 25.1 marriages were entered 
upon. Nighty-two per cent. of the decrease 
has been made up during the last two years. 

In 1914, the number of children born was 
1,830,892. In 1915 it had fallen to 1,040,209 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1397 


and in 1917 to 939,938. In 1918 the number 
had risen again to 956,251. In place of the 
normal 8,950,000 births in the period from 
1914 to 1918, we find only 4,550,000 recorded, 
which signifies a loss of 4,400,000 due to the 
war. In 1919 the total number of children 
born was still about 400,000 below normal. 
Not until 1920 was the number of births again 
about normal, the records showing 1,512,- 
162 births, or 27.1 to every 1,000 inhabitants, 
as compared with 1,707,834 births, or 28.5 
per thousand inhabitants in 1913. The num- 
ber of deaths in 1920 was 888,795, 16.3 deaths 
to every 1,000 inhabitants, the mortality for 
1919 having been 16.1 per thousand. The 
last year before the war (1913) showed a 
mortality of 924,919, or 15.8 per thousand 
inhabitants. Especially during the first three 
months of 1920 the mortality rate was very 
high. More particularly, diseases of the respi- 
ratory organs and influenza exacted many 
victims during this period. In Berlin, more 
than a third of all deaths, namely, 37.7 per 
cent., were due to diseases of the respiratory 
organs, whereas during the first quarter of 
1913 only one seventh of all deaths in Berlin 
were ascribable to such causes. During the 
last three quarters of 1920, the mortality rate 
fell considerably, having been 14.9, 14.5 and 
15.4 per thousand inhabitants, as against mor- 
tality rates of 19.9, 22.0, 19.7, 20.8 and 25.1 
for the five-year period from 1914 to 1918, 
inclusive. The year 1919 showed a slight ex- 
cess of births over deaths and the year 1920 
a still greater excess. 


ACCIDENTS DUE TO EYE DEFECTS 


Ture Committee on Elimination of Waste 
in Industry of the American Engineering 
Council has made public a report on 
accidents due to eye defects. The total num- 
ber of industrial blind in the United States 
is given as 15,000 or 13.5 per cent. of the 
total blind population, this type of injury 
being the leading causative factor of blind- 
ness, according to the report, which was pre- 
pared by Earle B. Fowler. The eye is in- 
volved in 10.6 per cent. of all permanently 
disabling accidents. 


OcropEr 7, 1921] 


The report stresses the importance of cor- 
recting subnormal vision among employees, 
saying that excess eye fatigue results in con- 
ditions which must produce a time labor loss 
from reduction in quantity and quality pro- 
duction. Substandard vision was found to 
be of great frequency. One investigation 
showed that out of 2,906 garment workers 
only 743 or a little over 25 per cent. had 
bilateral normal vision, 17 per cent. having 
normal vision in one eye, with the other de- 
fective. The highest percentage of defective 
vision was in the class of workers who made 
the greatest use of their eyes. 

An examination of more than 10,000 em- 
ployees in factories and commercial houses 
found 53 per cent. with uncorrected faulty 
vision. Of 675 employees in a typewriter 
company, 58 per cent. were found to be in 
need of correction by glasses. Of the re- 
jections in the National Army, 21.7 per cent. 
were because of eye trouble. An examination 
of the vision of 3,000 employees in a paper 
box factory in Brooklyn, N. Y., showed that 
the percentage of normal was only 28. In 
every group of workers examined there were 
a large number who fell below the line and 
this number becomes appreciably greater if 
those who have subnormal vision are taken 
into account. The report continues: 


As in the correcting of other factors of oceupa- 
tional hygiene, standards have been set, so, after 
further study, visual acuity standards will have to 
be determined for each grade of workers and read- 
justments made, with alterations in our methods of 
testing acuity to suit conditions, until these stand- 
ards give us the necessary minimum for each kind 
of work. As examinations are made at present, 
any set level would exclude workers shown by prac- 
tical test to be very efficient producers. 

Many subnormal eyes will work well even for 
fairly trying work if conditions are good. There- 
fore, it is first of all urgent to bring the working 
conditions up to the best, on the basis now under- 
stood. 

Even the most superficial survey of lighting con- 
ditions reveals that in the majority of plants there 
is much improvement possible, in spite of the actual 
increase in production quantity and quality when 
poor illumination is corrected to standards now con- 


SCIENCE 


325 


sidered satisfactory. There seems to be no question 
of loss due to faulty conditions. 


One estimate, the report stated, placed the 
loss due to faulty conditions in this country 
as above the entire cost of illumination. In 
446 plants investigated only 8.7 per cent. 
were found to be in excellent condition, the 
other ratings being: Good, 32 per cent.; fair, 
29.1 per cent.; poor, 18.8 per cent.; very 
poor, 3.5 per cent.; partly good, partly poor, 
7.8 per cent. 


THE YALE FOREST SCHOOL 


SrupEnts from twenty-four universities and 
colleges, including four foreign countries, will 
attend the Yale Forest School at New Haven 
this year. Twenty-one men are candidates 
for the degree of Master of Forestry. The in- 
stitutions represented in this attendance in- 
clude the state universities at Cornell and 
Syracuse, N. Y., Maine, Minnesota, Montana, 
Washington, California, Pennsylvania, Mis- 
souri and Michigan. The foreign students 
come from the University of Christiania, 
Norway, Melbourne University, Australia, 
South African College, Capetown, South 
Africa, and University of Nanking, China. 
Yale continues to equip Chinese  stu- 
dents to carry on the work started by former 
graduates—this year two will be in attend- 
ance. The students from Australia and 
South Africa are sent by their respective gov- 
ernments. 

Owing to the growth of the school, new 
quarters were needed, and these will be se- 
cured through the recent gift of $800,000 
from William H. Sage, B.A., Yale, 65, of 
Albany, N. Y., which will be devoted to the 
erection of a forest school building in mem- 
ory of his deceased son, DeWitt Linn Sage, 
of the class of 1897. 

During the fiscal year 1920-21, graduates 
of the Yale Forest School were chosen to 
fill 49 positions in forestry, including 10 in 
government work, 9 in state forestry depart- 
ments, 11 as teachers in other schools of for- 
estry, 11 as managers of forest estates or for 
corporations owning forest land, 5 with lum- 
ber companies, 2 in forest products and 1 in 


326 


city forestry. Among these positions was that 
of chief inspector of forests for New Zealand, 
consulting forest engineer for the government 
of India, chief of the timber section of the 
Income Tax Bureau, forester for the province 
of Shantung, China, state forester of Con- 
necticut, commissioner of forestry for Maine, 
deputy commissioner of forestry for Penn- 
sylvania, forester for Illinois, professor of 
forest engineering, Syracuse, special investi- 
gator, in tropics, for Western Electric Com- 
pany, and many other positions in national, 
state and private forestry, lumbering, wood 
products and kindred lines. 

Recognition of the versatility and training 
of graduates of Yale in forestry has caused 
a demand for their services which the school 
has been unable to supply, and an increasing 
field is opening up in commercial lines, ‘in 
the handling of lumber sales, tropical prod- 
ucts and by-products. At the same time the 
jnereasing interest in forestry by state and 
private land owners is giving rise to a de- 
mand for foresters in increasing numbers to 
fill these positions. 


THE AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH 
ASSOCIATION 

Tue fiftieth annual meeting of the Ameri- 
ean Public Health Association will be the 
oceasion of a Health Fortnight. From No- 
vember 8-19, New York City will be the 
scene of activities connected with this event, 
and the publicity with its slogan, “Health 
First,” will stimulate interest throughout the 
country. Health Fortnight will include three 
major divisions—a Health Institute from No- 
vember 8-11; a Health Exposition, Novem- 
ber 14-19; the Fiftieth Annual Meeting of 
the American. Public Health Association, No- 
vember 14-19. 

The Public Health Exposition will be con- 
ducted under the joint auspices of the De- 
partment of Heaith of the City of New York 
and the American Public Health Association. 
Already allotments of space indicate that at 
least two entire floors of the Grand Central 
Palace will be occupied by the exhibitors. 
The exhibits will include those of educational 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1397 


and philanthropic organizations and those of 
commercial houses producing approved ar- 
ticles of health value. The profits from the 
sale of tickets, after the cost of the Exposi- 
tion and the Convention are defrayed, will 
be devoted to establishing nutritional clinics 
for the benefit of undernourished children. 

The Health Institute from November 8-11 
will present to visitors an opportunity to see 
the operations of established methods applied 
to various phases of public health work. About 
forty demonstrations have been planned. 

Following the week of the Institute and the 
observance of Health Sunday, will come the 
opening of the scientific sessions, the meet- 
ings of the American Public Health Associa- 
tion in celebration of its semi-centennial. 
The sessions will begin on November 14 and 
the headquarters will be at the Hotel Astor. 
The scope of the meetings is indicated by 
their division into the following: General 
Sessions, Public Health Administration, 
Child Hygiene, Public Health Publicity and 
Education, Laboratory Section, Vital Statis- 
ties Section, Industrial Hygiene Section, and 
Food and Drug Section. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Dr. Livineston Farranp will be installed 
as president of Cornell University on October 
20. 


Ow1ne to a severe illness from which he is 
slowly recovering, Dr. Ernest Fox Nichols is 
unable at present to take up the work of the 
presidency of the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology. 


Dr. Auexis Carrey has been elected a na- 
tional associate of the French Academy of 
Medicine, of whom there are only twenty. 


Tue College of Physicians of Philadelphia 
has awarded the Alvarenga prize to an ex- 
perimental study of the “Selective Bacterio- 
static Action of Gentian Violet,” by Dr. 
John W. Churchman. 

Dr. Mart M. Lone has been appointed 
head of the department of child hygiene of the 
city health department, Memphis, Tennessee. 


Proressor G. W. O. Howe, of the City 


OcToBER 7, 1921] 


and Guilds (Engineering) College, has been 
appointed superintendent of the electrical de- 
partment of the British National Physical 
Laboratory. 


Mr. J. Barr, head of the textile analysis 
department of the City of Bradford Con- 
ditioning House, has been appointed manager 
of the new yarn-testing bureau at University 
College, Nottingham. 


Dr. WittiAM Water Cort, associate pro- 
fessor of helminthology in the school of hy- 
giene and public health of the Johns Hop- 
kins University, has returned after spending 
four months studying hookworm larve in 
Trinidad, West Indies. He was director of 
the expedition sent out for that purpose by the 
International Health Board of the Rockefeller 
Foundation. 


Mr. Joun Rircum, associate editor of the 
American Journal of Public Health since 
1918, has relinquished this position on the 
removal of the journal from Boston to New 
York. 


Dr. Epwarp A. Sprrzka has been appointed 
chief of the Medical Rating Section in the 
New York Office of the U. S. Veterans’ Bu- 
reau, at 23 West 43d Street. 


Dr. THomas S. Ropers, professor of or- 
nithology and associate curator of the zoolog- 
ical museum of the University of Minnesota, 
gave a lecture on Itasca Park, on Sep- 
tember 23, in the lobby of the Mayo Clinic. 
The lecture was under the auspices of the 
Mayo Foundation Chapter of Sigma Xi and 
the Rochester Unit of the Minnesota General 
Alumni Association. 


We learn from Nature that the death took 
place on September 11, at the age of seventy- 
one, of Mr. R. E. Baynes, senior student of 
Christ Church, Oxford, and Lee’s reader in 
physics. 

Mr. G. W. Waker, F.R.S., known for his 
work in physics and seismology, died on Sep- 
tember 6 at the age of forty-seven years. 


Tue annual conference of Potato Growers 
was held from October 4 to 6 at the Uni- 
versity of California Farm School at Davis. 
The production and marketing of potatoes 


SCIENCE 327 


was presented in lectures, discussions and 
demonstrations at the University Farm Gar- 
dens. These lectures were given by mem- 
bers of the staff of the College of Agriculture 
of the University of California and the State 
and Federal Department of Agriculture. The 
meetings of the first two days were at Davis 
and the meetings of the third day at the Uni- 
versity of California campus at Berkeley. 


AN institute of hydrology and climatology, 
containing laboratories, a museum, and a li- 
brary, was inaugurated recently at the College 
of France. Lectures in hydrology will be 
given, and courses will be held to train special- 
ists for watering-places and thermal and cli- 
matic stations. 


Ir was recently reported in Science that 
Baron Edmond de Rothschild had contrib- 
uted 10,000,000,000 franes for the endowment 
of an institute for scientific research. The 
foundation will be administered by a scientific 
council, composed of delegates from scientific 
institutions devoted to the study of physics 
and .chemistry. It will include two repre- 
sentatives of the Academy of Sciences—one, 
each, from the sections of chemistry and 
physies. The Collége de France, the Museum 
d Histoire Naturelle, Ecole Supérieure des 
Mines, the Faculté des Sciences de Paris, the. 
Faculté de Pharmacie, Ecole Normale Su- 
périeure, the Conservatoire National des Arts 
et Métiers and l’Ecole Polytechnique will each 
have one representative. There will also be 
several members elected by the council itself, 
so that the total number of members in the 
council will reach approximately twenty-five. 
The foundation will have at its disposal each 
year 600,000 franes to be distributed among 
investigators. In accordance with the terms 
of the endowment 300,000 francs must be dis- 
tributed in small amounts; the balance may 
be bestowed in the form of one or more lump 
sums for costly researches of great impor- 
tance. Educational establishments and gov- 
ernment laboratories will not share in the 
grants offered by the foundation, as these will 
be reserved exclusively for the use of inde- 
pendent investigators in the field of physics 
and chemistry. 


328 


Tuat Chile possesses certain agricultural 
products which may prove of great economic 
benefit to California is the belief of J. W. 
Gilmore, professor of agronomy at the uni- 
versity, and for the year 1921-22 exchange 
professor at the University of Santiago, Chile. 
Professor Gilmore has found a self-propa- 
gating bamboo tree which grows on dry lands, 
yet affords abundant forage for cattle during 
the summer months when other fodder is 
searce. He also tells of two new beans that 
he has found, one of which is grown among 
the Indians of Chile, and the other a species 
which is suitable for higher elevations. He 
is collecting samples of all beans grown in 
Chile, and expects that some of them will 
prove to be better than those we already have. 
Another discovery which has been made by 
Professor Gilmore is a new white-seeded 
vetch, which he says should be a good cover 
crop for our orchards. Yet another is a new 
raisin grape grown in the dry lands of 
northern Chile which is exceptionally rich 
in sugar and which produces raisins of high 
quality. : 

The Journal of Terrestrial Magnetism re- 
ports that, according to information received 
from Dr. C. E. Adams, government astron- 
omer and seismologist of New Zealand, a New 

. Zealand Astronomical Society was recently es- 
tablished, and it is proposed as soon as pos- 
sible to incorporate the society under an Act 
of Parliament. It is further hoped “that the 
Astronomical Society will be able to establish 
branches of the International Astronomical 
Union and the International Geodetic and 
Geophysical Union.” The members include 
Dr. Adams, Dr. C. GC. Farr, Professor E. 
Marsden, and practically all the astronomers 
and physicists of New Zealand. 

Tur Journal of the Washington Academy 
of Sciences states that scales for the measure- 
ment of length are now being constructed 
directly from the fundamental wave lengths 
of light without the use of any intermediary 
standard such as the standard meter bars. 
For example, the Bureau of Standards has 
recently completed the rulings on a 6-inch 
standard scale for a manufacturing concern, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1397 


using light waves from a neon tube as the 
length. 

Nature states that after an interval of 
seven years the Geological Society of London 
has been able to resume the issue of its 
annual index to “ Geological Literature Add- 
ed to the Geological Society’s Library,” 
which is a complete work of reference, both as 
to subjects and as to the output of individual 
authors. The present part brings the matter 
down to the close of 1913. 

Forrcasts of the wheat yield in the north- 
ern hemisphere issued by the International 
Institute of Agriculture show that it will be 
approximately 50,200,000 tons, compared to 
51,300,000 in 1920, according to a press dis- 
patch from Rome. The crop in Europe, leav- 
ing out of consideration Great Britain, France 
and Germany, is estimated at 12,000,000 tons, 
compared to 10,500,000 last year. The United 
States and Canada are expected to produce 
28,500,000 tons, against 28,600,000 tons in 
1920, and India, Japan, Algeria, Morocco 
and Tunis will, it is said, yield 9,400,000 
tons, against 12,000,000 harvested last year. 
The rye yield is computed at 8,200,000 tons, 
as against 6,700,000 tons in 1920, while barley 
shows an increase of 2.4 per cent. Oats, how- 
ever, have suffered from the drought, and 
show a decrease of 12.38 per cent. The maize 
yield, based upon returns for the United 
States, shows a decrease of 6.2 per cent. 

The New York City branch of the Alumni 
Association of the University of Wisconsin has 
established an annual scholarship of the value 
of $700 to be known as ‘‘ The Zona Gale Schol- 
arship ”’—named in honor of a distinguished 
graduate of the university—to be awarded to 
a student who has shown that he possesses 
special talent of an unusually high order, and 
who wishes to spend all his time in the uni- 
versity in pursuing courses which he thinks 
will develop his special talent, without being 
required to complete studies in which he has 
little or no interest. The holder of the scholar- 
ship will not be required to satisfy the regular 
entrance requirements if he is deficient therein. 

This scholarship is open to any person in 
any part of the country who has given evidence 


OctoBER 7, 1921] 


of exceptional creative ability in any field of 
human interest and activity. Nominations for 
the scholarship may be made to the registrar 
of the university by superintendents or prin- 
cipals of schools, by teachers, or by any one 
else. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 


Yate University has received gifts and 
pledges for the $2,000,000 additional endow- 
ment required to meet the terms of the con- 
ditional offer of $3,000,000 made at com- 
mencement in 1920 by “an anonymous friend 
of the university.” No definite statement has 
been made of the manner in which the en- 
dowment will be used, but it is said that the 
Sterling bequest of $18,000,000 and the Hark- 
ness gift of about $6,000,000 had bestowed 
upon the university building facilities without 
provision for professorships, for which addi- 
tional endowment is urgently needed. 


AppraIsaL of the estate of the late William 
F. Armstrong, of New York, shows that he 
left property valued at $1,822,192. Public 
bequests exceeding $1,000,000, include a be- 
quest of $100,000 and the residuary estate, 
amounting to $726,786, to Wesleyan Uni- 
versity. 

Dr. Grorcr W. Pierce has been. appointed as 
Rumford professor of physics at Harvard Uni- 
versity, to succeed Dr. Edwin H. Hall, who 
has retired from active teaching, and Dr. 
Theodore Lyman has been appointed Hollis 
professor of mathematics and natural phi- 
losophy, the chair successively held by the 
late Benjamin Peirce and Wallace C. Sabine. 


App:Tions have been made to the senior 
staff in chemistry at the University of Illinois 
as follows: Drs. H. A. Neville, and C. D. 
Hurd, of Princeton; Dr. Edith H. Nason, of 
Yale; and Dr. T. E. Phipps, of California, in 
the division of inorganic chemistry; Dr. B. 
L. Souther, of Harvard, in the division of 
organic chemistry; Dr. G. F. Smith, of the 
University of Michigan, in the division of 
analytical chemistry; Dr. E. K. Carver, of 
Harvard, in the division of physical chem- 


SCIENCE 


329 


istry; Dr. M. J. Bradley, of Illinois, in the 
division of industrial chemistry, and Dr. R. 
E. Greenfield, of Illinois, in the division of 
sanitary chemistry and water analysis. 


Juuian D. Corrineton has resigned the po- 
sition of curator in the department of zo- 
ology of Cornell University, to accept the 
appointment of associate professor of biology 
in the University of South Carolina, Colum- 


bia, S.C. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


GRAND AURORA OF SEPTEMBER 1-2, 1921 (AT 
SILVER LAKE, N. H., LAT. 43.9° N.) 

AN unusual aurora was seen at Silver 
Lake, N. H. (lat. 43.9° N.), on the night of 
September 1-2, 1921. Auroral glow was first 
noted at about 8 p.m. (75th mer. time). At 
9 it was a bright arch with some streamers, 
and at 9:30 stretched from about NW. to 
NE., was double and locally knotty, and from 
time to time showed some motion when faint 
streamers reached up to a height of 30° above 
or down to the horizon under the general 
arch. Towards 10 the lights seemed to be 
getting fainter. At 2 a.m. I was awakened to 
see the sky filled with enormous flashing cur- 
tains. The whole family turned out onto the 
lake. No lights were needed and the pulsa- 
tions were sufficient to be readily apparent in 
the house without looking at the sky. Viewed 
from the calm, “streaming ” lake the sky was 
magnificent. Great folds of perhaps a dozen 
whitish curtains covered the sky except for 
a segment about 15° high in the south. Here 
and there a reddish tinge showed at the base 
of brighter folds. Waves of light rapidly 
traversed the sky upwards to the magnetic 
zenith, where some of the filmy curtains met 
in solid light traversed with beautiful curved 
lines. The stars, which were brilliant, at- 
tracted the attention of the small children 
nearly as much as did the sheets of light that 
“winkled.” The youngest, 15 months old, 
gazed steadily for several minutes at the bright 
flickerings in the NW. at 2:30. The display 
slowly faded, but at 2:45 there were still 
some lights in the zenith and to about 30° 
south of it. The aurora, flashing all the time 


330 


continued bright at least in the NW. till 3:45 
A.M., and probably later till the dawn blotted 
it out. Auroral pencils and sharp streamers 
being notably absent there was nothing to 
detract from the splendor of the great cur- 
tains. 

On the following two nights there may 
have been auroras behind the clouds. On that 
of the 4th a moderate display with some 
pretty streamer action at about 3 A.M. was 
visible all night from Mt. Washington. The 
following two nights were cloudy. Then an- 
other display occurred. At 7:42 p.m. on the 
‘th a smooth auroral arch covered most of the 
sky up to the pole-star (45°) at Carter Notch, 
but by 7:57 there was but a low arch. The 
maximum with some streamers occurred ap- 
parently at about 10:30 p.w. The aurora was 
visible at other times throughout the night. 
On the evening of the 8th a faint arch broken 
by streamers in the NNW. was visible; and on 
the following evening there seemed to be a 
faint arch. 


Cuarues F. Brooks 
Sinver Laks, N. H. 


THE COCCIDZ OF CEYLON 


EntToMo.ogists are indebted to Mr. E. E. 
Green for by far the most ambitiously con- 
ceived and most admirably executed contri- 
bution to the knowledge of the Coccide or 
scale insects that has ever been made—the 
“Coecide of Ceylon.” This work, which is 
still incomplete, has been issued in parts and 
the final part would have appeared long ago 
but for the interference of the war. I am 
informed by Mr. Green that as matters now 
stand the long-hoped-for appearance of this 
final volume seems indefinitely postponed be- 
cause of the enormously increased costs of 
printing. The only hope that he may be able 
to proceed with its publication at all lies in 
the possibility of obtaining adequate assur- 
ance that the entire issue can be sold. 

It may at first appear that a work which 
deals with but a limited aspect of the fauna 
of a comparatively remote island such as Cey- 
lon can have but little interest for Americans. 
Yet such is decidedly not the case with this 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1397 


work. Many of the species included are prac- 
tically cosmopolitan and the ever present pos- 
sibility of the spread of others through the 
agencies of commerce makes desirable any 
information that can be obtained concerning 
them. The Coccide of Ceylon is indispensable 
to any one who is at all seriously interested in 
the seale insects. Its completion is a matter 
in which all students of the Coccide should 
take a personal interest. 

The price of the final part has been set at 
3 pounds, which is the actual cost of publi- 
cation, and of the entire series of five parts 
at 8 pounds. To those who are familiar with 
the work the price will not seem in the slightest 
degree excessive. Mr. Green says: 

If I could get definite promises of support from 
a considerable number of prospective purchasers, 
I should feel justified in going ahead at once. 

It is sincerely to be hoped that these prom- 
ises may be forthcoming. Correspondence 
should be addressed to Mr. E. E. Green, Way’s 
End, Camberley, Surrey, England. 

G. F. Ferris 
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIF. 


A METHOD OF PROTECTING MICROSCOPIC 
SECTIONS FROM MECHANICAL INJURY 

THosE who have to deal with classes using 
chiefly microscopic slides, especially of em- 
bryos, will appreciate the fact that most of 
the damage to sections comes not from break- 
ing of the slide but as the result of pressure 
on the cover glass. Such damage would not 
be possible but for the fact that most of the 
balsam remains fluid, even after many years, 
and consequently offers no firm support to 
delicate structures. If only some firm trans- 
parent substance could be found in which the 
sections might be imbedded the defect result- 
ing from the fluid nature of the balsam might 
be counteracted and the tissues kept in per- 
fect condition for successive classes. 

Celloidin sections fulfill most if not all of 
the mechanical requirements, but are unsuit- 
able because of the great amount of time re- 
quired for cutting and mounting serially. 
However, these considerations led to the de- 
velopment of the following process which com- 
bines all of the advantages of the paraffine 


OctopER 7, 1921] 


method with some of those of the celloidin 
technique. 

From ordinary series of paraftine sections the 
parfline is removed in xylol, the slides being 
transferred with great care to 100 per cent. 
alcohol and then to 1 per cent. parlodion from 
which they are removed slowly one by one 
and placed in 80 per cent. alcohol, an old 
method for securing sections to the slide espe- 
cially for preventing embryonic membranes 
from floating about. After staining by any 
method and dehydrating, the slides are re- 
moved singly from 100 per cent. alcohol, 
placed in a horizontal position, and the sec- 
tions quickly and evenly flooded with 2 per 
cent. parlodion. About 10 to 14 drops, from 
an ordinary 2 ¢.c. pipette, placed in two rows 
and allowed to stand one to two minutes un- 
covered were found to form a film of very uni- 
form thickness and of sufficient firmness to 
be hardened without wrinkling when slipped 
into 80 to 90 per cent. alcohol. The proper 
degree of drying is indicated by a minute 
rippling of the surface of the celloidin. The 
slide is again dehydrated, care being taken 
not to use alcohol strong enough to dissolve 
the celloidin; and then cleared in a mixture 
of 40 per cent. beechwood creosote in xylol, 
followed by plain xylol. Creosote alone clears 
quite as well but does not flow as readily as 
the mixture which, moreover, clears from 95 
per cent. alcohol. Such slides may be thor- 
oughly drained in the air for several minutes 
before covering in the ordinary way with 
balsam and a cover glass. 

It should be noted that the parlodion must 
be applied evenly so that the balsam will dry 
without the formation of large air bubbles. 
The latter can be entirely avoided. Further- 
more, thinner films suitable for use with oil 
immersion objectives can be obtained by using 
a solution of parlodion somewhat more dilute 
and less in quantity. 

By this method sections of the most delicate 
structures are imbedded in and under a per- 
fectly transparent, unstained layer of celloidin 
so tough and resistant that sufficient pressure 
may be applied to the cover-glass to crush it 
without the least injury to the tissue. Slides 


SCIENCE 


ool 


so treated can not be distinguished from or- 
dinary slides. J. A. Lone 
ZOOLOGICAL LABORATORY, 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, 
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 


QUOTATIONS 
THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION 


Tue Edinburgh meeting of the British 
Association for the Advancement of Science 
came to a successful end yesterday. It was 
the largest in numbers for many years; and 
although the deficit on the accounts of last 
year made it impossible to devote money from 
current funds to research, there is a better 
prospect for the immediate future. Thirteen 
sections sat concurrently during the greater 
part of the week. It can not be pretended that 
all the proceedings conformed with the nor- 
mal definition of science. Humor in school 
children, episcopal opinions on citizenship, 
the relative merits of Latin and Esperanto, 
and the history of Old Edinburgh are worthy 
occupations of the human mind, but lie some- 
what uneasily with sterner subjects. The 
general committee showed a marked reluc- 
tance even to consider the advantages of a 
stricter definition of the scope of the asso- 
ciation, and the adherents of sections more 
loosely attached to experimental science very 
naturally opposed proposals which they feared 
might lead to their extinction. On the other 
hand, the policy of the Council in arranging 
intersectional discussions on topics of wide 
interest was warmly approved in theory. In 
practise it led to some of the largest audi- 
ences in the history of the association. It 
was possible to give in our columns only 
slight indications of the general purport of 
the discussions on the structure of molecules, 
the age of the earth, and instinctive behavior; 
but our special correspondent laid stress on 
the wide interest taken by the members of the 
association in these deeper problems. 

Sir Edward Thorpe, the president, was un- 
fortunately prevented by illness from all but 
a formal attendance on the last two days 
of the meeting. But his opening address, read 
for him by the principal of the university, 


332 


dealt with the central point of contemporary 
scientific interest. Critical phases occur in 
the evolution of knowledge of such a kind that 
they seem to be revolutions in thought. The 
new vision of the atom as an ordered system, 
a macrocosm of energy in microcosmic space, 
is one of the greatest of these stages in the 
history of man’s conquest of Nature. Doubt- 
less, as the president explained, the discovery 
was reached along many converging paths of 
theory and of experiment. It was even pre- 
dicted, fifty years ago in a presidential ad- 
dress, also at an Edinburgh meeting of the 
association, when Kelvin summed up the pro- 
gram of the past and suggested the lines 
along which future research must move. Sir 
James Dewar, at a dinner given by the Royal 
Society of Edinburgh last Tuesday, recalled 
even earlier predictions. But its attainment 
has led to results almost overwhelming in 
their importance. It has reconciled physics 
and chemistry in a higher unity. It has given 
a clock by which the age of the earth may 
be told. It has allowed astronomers to ex- 
plain the pulsations of the distant stars. It 
has opened up prospects of a new and in- 
exhaustible source of power for the practical 
uses of mankind. The Edinburgh meeting 
of the British Association will long be re- 
membered as that at which the new atomic 
age was made known to those outside the in- 
ner ring of science-—The London Times. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 
KEEN’S SURGERY 


The first six volumes of Keen’s “ Surgery ” 
recorded the progress of surgery down to 
1913. In the preface to the additional volumes 
Dr. Keen states that the general purpose is 
to make available the lessons of the war for 
the surgery of peace and to set down every 
worth while surgical achievement since the 
war; and both of these objects have been 
accomplished in a masterful way. The two 
volumes consist of a series of monographs 
written by authors of international reputa- 
tion and comprise 1800 pages with 996 illu- 
strations, 29 of them in color. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1397 


The editor counts it “a crowning privilege 
of his long life to be associated with such a 
distinguished company of authors.” The 
distinguished authors also doubtless count it 
as an inspiring privilege to have been as- 
sociated in the production of the work with 
such an enthusiastic student and able teacher. 

In the two new volumes the names of many 
former contributors are absent and new names 
are added. There has also been some shifting 
of subject matter. The editor has added many 
footnotes of great help to the reader, and has 
made many cross references to statements of 
the different authors of the various chapters. 
Typographical errors are few and there is 
evidence of careful editing and proofreading. 

Much space in the two volumes is devoted 
to the organization of the medical depart- 
ments of the Army and Navy. The chapters 
by Colonel Ashford of the U. S. Army, by 
Captain Bell of the U. S. Navy and by Lieut. 
Commander Stephens of the British Navy 
occupy 183 pages, including many photo- 
graphs, drawings, diagrams and lists of 
furniture and equipments. Much informa- 
tion is given of value in civil practise, such 
as the treatment of shock, burns and suffoca- 
tion by fumes and smoke. 

The chapter on Gas Gangrene by Sir Cuth- 
bert Wallace is complete and most beautifully 
illustrated. Some qualification seems neces- 
sary for the statement it contains that “suture 
of the main artery is recommended as a 
prophylactic measure against massive gan- 
grene.” 

The chapter by Cannon on Traumatic 
Shock, although occupying only 19 pages, is 
exceedingly valuable, being not only authori- 
tative and scientific, but practical as well. 

Sir William Thorburn in his contribution 
on Injuries of the Spine and Spinal Cord 
emphasizes the treatment of the patient as 
a primary principle. The importance of the 
management of the bladder for example is 
stressed by the remark that “the bladder 
holds the key to life or death for the patient.” 
In his chapter on Injuries to the Peripheral 
Nerves the author fails to mention the work 


OcToBER 7, 1921] 


on the suture of nerves by certain Americans, 
especially Hober, Dean Lewis and Frazier. 

Military Surgery of the Vascular System 
by Matas is a scholarly contribution. It is 
a pity that much of it is in fine print. In 
the treatment of gunshot wounds of the large 
vessels Matas defends the opinion so long 
held by him that when possible large blood 
vessels should be sutured and not ligated. 

Surgery of the Head, previously con- 
tributed by Cushing, has been written for 
Volume VIII. by Neuhoff. It is a splendid 
résumé of the subject but no mention is made 
of Frazier’s method of osteoplastic repair of 
cranial defects. 

The Relation of the Dental Surgeon to the 
Treatment of Fractures of the Jaw is de- 
seribed by Darcissae of Paris. 

Chevalier Jackson’s contribution upon La- 
ryngoscopy, Bronchoscopy and Esophagoscopy 
is a monument to the technical achievements 
and teaching ability of this great man. 

Surgery of the Thorax by Heuer of Balti- 
more is a scolarly contribution occupying 80 
pages and referring to 118 literary contribu- 
tions. The enormous progress made in the 
surgery of the thorax during the war could 
searcely be recorded in less space than this. 
The compliment paid to one of the younger 
surgeons of America by including him among 
the list of authors is amply justified by his 
contribution to the system. 

Crile’s chapter on Surgery of the Abdomen 
and Pelvis is a concise one-man contribu- 
tion. 

There is a short chapter by Mayo and Bal- 
four on Surgery of the Gall Bladder and the 
Biliary Ducts, which deals principally with 
injuries and repair of the hepatic ducts. 

Deaver and Pfeiffer have taken the place 
of the lamented Murphy in discussing ap- 
pendicitis. The chapter is a short statement 
of Deaver’s personal opinions based upon the 
experience that this surgeon has had with 
the disease. It is a great comfort to learn 
on page 443 that he is finally converted to the 
belief that morphine may be useful “to in- 
duce sleep if necessary, as well as to allay 
anxiety.” The case report on page 441 also 


SCIENCE 


330 


indicates that he has seen some cases of ap- 
pendictis with peritonitis in which it is wise 
to delay operation. His remarks on the 
abuse of purgatives on page 449 should be 
widely read by general practitioners. 

The chapter on the Bladder and Ureters 
by Bransford Lewis is well illustrated by 
pictures of the many instruments devised by 
the author and the text of the subject is 
brought up to date. 

Surgery of the Prostate by Hugh Young 
oceupies 76 pages and includes a description 
of the operation recently devised for the cure 
of recto-urethral fistula. 

Physiotherapy in Surgical Treatment has 
made enormous advances as a result of the 
war and has come to be thoroughly appreci- 
ated. This chapter by McKenzie is an 
admirable presentation of the subject in its 
practical value to surgeons in civil life. 

Four chapters are devoted to the diagnostic 
and therapeutic usefulness of various biologie 
sera and vaccines and chemico-therapy in 
surgical diseases; the status of radium in 
surgery; the diagnostic and therapeutic uses 
of the X-ray; and electro-desiccation and 
electro-coagulation methods in surgery. It is 
a question if it would not be more satis- 
factory to include the essentials of this knowl- 
edge in their proper place in studying diseases 
for which they are employed rather than in 
separate chapters. 

The Surgery of the Infectious Diseases by 
George E. Armstrong, is a very practical 
chapter. The work by Keen many years ago 
in calling attention to the great frequency of 
surgical complications during typhoid fever 
has been of inestimable service in saving lives 
through the recognition and cure of surgical 
complications of the disease. The recent 
epidemic of influenza and the experiences in 
the camps with epidemics of measles, mumps 
and pneumonia have shown the great im- 
portance of being constantly on the lookout 
for surgical complications of affections hither- 
to regarded as purely medical. 

The chapters dealing with ether and nitrous 
oxide anesthesia have been rewritten. Har- 
ris’s supplemental chapter on local anesthesia 


304 


is -full and authoritative. 
regards spinal anesthesia as having a place 
in surgery. 

The chapter on Poison Gas in warfare is 
not solely of historic interest, because surgeons 
on ambulances and those connected with in- 
dustrial plants and chemical laboratories will 
find much of practical importance. : 

The final chapter on a most successful 
method of dressing an artificial anus prepared 
by the editor himself is in the form of a case 
report and is the type of literature which is 
of the greatest practical use to surgeons and 
patients. 

The index of the system consists of four 
“keys” ; first, each volume as it stands upon 
the shelf carries a conspicuous label of the 
general subject matter it contains; second, as 
we open the book the table of contents is 
quite complete; third, each volume has a 
separate index; and finally, the complete index 
of the entire eight volumes occupies 182 
pages in the form of a desk volume and makes 
it perfectly easy for one to find any reference 
he may desire. Sruart McGuire 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
A NEW GRAPHIC ANALYTIC METHOD 


1. THE graphic methods which deal with a 
treatment of two or three variables are com- 
monly based on a relation of the variables to 
a system of rectangular cartesian coordinates. 
If the equation is known the laws may be ex- 
pressed in the customary way by the methods 
of analytic geometry. 

If, however, we are confronted with a sys- 
tem of two or more equations which are so 
related to each other that the growth of one 
will influence the growth of another (in a 
negative and positive sense) the following 
method will furnish a means of expressing 
such movements in a concise form and in a 
manner well adapted for the purpose of anal- 
ysis. 

Suppose we have three general equations: 
=f (a), y=f (6), #=f (ce), 
where the change of a will affect 2 as well 
as y and the change of 6 will affect y as well 


SCIENCE 


Hugh Cabot still. 


[N. 8S. Von. LIV. No. 1397 


as z and if further f (a), f (b) and f (c) 
are quotients expressed: 


a a db, 
Beg Se ee 
we have then: 
CN dee, I NY ha ite 
RD Oi Tan Da We 


and notice that each quotient or independent 
variable is related to the other independent 
variable by the possession of one of its alge- 
braic members. 

If a number of equations which have a re- 
lationship of this nature is brought into a 
system of positive coordinates as shown in 
Fig. 1, the four quadrants and the coordinates 


forming them may be named in the following 
manner: 
I. Quadrant a b 
II. Quadrant ac 
III. Quadrant ¢ c 
IV. Quadrant c b 


Therefore the ordinates of each quadrant will 
have two different coordinates or scale values 
with the exception of the third or neutral 
quadrant which axes have the same scale val- 
ues ¢ and are acting in a translative sense ro- 
tating the value c 90° to bring it in the third 
and last relationship with value b, in the 
fourth quadrant. 


Ocroser 7, 1921] SCIENCE 335 


2. In such a system the growth (negative 
and positive) of a variable may be observed 
by connecting the plotted points of each quad- 
rant which satisfy their respective equation 
with the points of each equation in the other 
quadrants, thereby obtaining for each set of 
three points a cycle line A, A,, A, (as shown 
in Fig. No. 2). These points not only repre- 
sent the actual values of zx, y, z, but their lo- 
cation in reference to their respective axes 
represents the quotients expressed by the 
equations. 


For example, Point A would represent by 
its location the quotient of certain values of a 
and b; or A, would represent by its location 
the quotient of certain values of a and c, and 
so on. 


The application of the method may be illus- 
trated by an actual example. Suppose we have 
the statistical data shown in the table given 
below. These data may be advantageously an- 
Fig. 2. alyzed as outlined (Fig. 3). 


Do.tAPAs PER WEEK PEP MAN TATE PEP HOUR 


3} 


REUTER @ EBBER CO. MCW YORK. HO, 2966 


HOURS PEP? WEEK PEP AAV 


336 
The a scale representing the number of dollars 
paid. 
The 6 scale representing the number of hours 
worked. 
The c¢ scale representing the number of men 
working. 
— p= = 
No. Dollars No. Hours No. Men 
Paid Worked Working 
Ist week .... 469 675 18 
2d week .... 425 464 17 
3d week .... 393 485 19 
4th week .... 325 400 19 
5th week .... 350 500 12 
6th week .... 300 400 14 


The quotient a/b will represent the hourly 
rate paid. The quotient a/c will represent the 
amount paid per man. The quotient b/c will 
represent the hours worked per man. 


The radiant lines starting from the point 
of origin of the coordinate system are the 
equations of lines which represent a constant 
quotient. The location of the points given by 
the actual values of the table with reference 
to the radiant lines of each quadrant therefore 
determines graphically the actual value of each 
quotient. 

For example, in the sixth week we observe 
the location of point 6 in the first quadrant 
between a rate of $.70 and $.80 per hour 
(actual value 300/400 =$.75). 

In the second quadrant (as connected by the 
cycle line) the location of point 6 is between 
$20 and $25 a week (actual value 300/14 
= $21.42) and nearer to the $20 line. 

In the fourth quadrant (as connected by the 
cycle line) the location of point 6 is near the 
30 hours per week line (actual value 400/14 = 
$28.57 hours). 

Tf a longer period and a greater number of 
values are under observation, a moving aver- 
age could be calculated and plotted in a simi- 
lar way. There are a great number of data 
which have a similar relation to each other and 
may be presented and analyzed by this method. 

Furthermore empirical data obtained by ex- 
periment may be subjected to this method and 
a possible positive or negative correlation of 
their respective movements determined. 


R. von Hunn 
New York City 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1397 


THE AMERICAN PHILCSOPHICAL 
SOCIETY 1 


The etiology, prophylaxis, and serum treatment 
of yellow fever: Hiprvo Nocucut. Leptospira 
icteroides was first isolated in 1918 from cases 
of yellow fever in Guayaquil; later the organ- 
ism was obtained from yellow fever cases in 
Merida, Yucatan (1919) and in northern Peru 
(1920). The finding has also been confirmed in 
Mexico by Dr. Perez-Grovas, who transmitted yel- 
low fever from cases of yellow fever in Vera Cruz 
in 1920 and obtained cultures. The most recent 
confirmation has come from Dr. Le Blane of the 
Rockefeller Institute staff, working in Vera Cruz. 
The killed cultures of Leptospira icteroides were 
first used for protective inoculation against yellow 
fever in Guayaquil in 1918, where 427 vaccinations 
were carried out. The results were so encouraging 
(the morbidity rate among vaccinated and unvacci- 
nated during the same period being 11 and 110 per 
thousand, respectively) that a vaccine several hun- 
dred times stronger has been made in large quanti- 
ties and employed in Mexico and various Central 
and South American countries, the total number of 
non-immune persons reported vaccinated being 
about eight thousand. The development of protec- 
tion is slow, requiring about 10 days for comple- 
tion, and persons exposed to yellow fever just be- 
fore vaccination or immediately afterwards are not 
protected by vaccination. Excluding such instances, 
however, there has been no case of yellow fever 
among the eight thousand vaccinated in the various 
localities, while among unvaccinated persons during 
the same period and in the same areas there have 
been about seven hundred cases of the disease. The 
use of vaccine furnishes a rapid method of elimina- 
tion of non-immune persons from areas where yel- 
low fever is epidemic. By the application of sani- 
tary measures to eliminate the mosquito carrier and 
vaccination in the meantime to cut off the supply 
of non-immune material from the infected mos- 
quito, a threatening epidemic of yellow fever in 
Guatemala and Salvador in 1920 is reported to have 
been checked within one month from the appearance 
of the first cases, that is, before a second set of 
eases had developed. The value of vaccination as 
an emergency measure does not, however, minimize 
the importance of the anti-mosquito operations, the 
elimination of both factors—the non-immune human 
being and the infected mosquito—being essential 


1 Abstracts of papers presented at the annual 
meeting, Philadelphia, April, 1921. 


OcToBER 7, 1921] 


to the eradication of yellow fever. A therapeutic 
serum is also available for treatment of yellow 
fever. It has already been employed in 152 cases, 
and persons treated before the third day of illness 
have almost invariably recovered, the exceptions 
being those cases in which the quantity of serum 
used was too small to have any effect. By the 
fourth day of illness the injuries to organs are so 
great as to be irreparable in severe cases of yellow 
fever. The usual mortality in yellow fever, 50 to 
60 per cent., has been reduced to 9 per cent. by the 
use of the serum. The records of vaccination and 
serum treatment presented here comprise the work 
of a number of observers. The initial vaccination 
experiments in Eeuador were carried out with the 
cooperation of Dr. Pareja and the Direccion de 
Salubridad of Guayaquil; the statistics from Cen- 
tral America cover the work of Lyster, Bailey, and 
Vaughn; for the records of Mexican cases I am 
indebted to the Consejo Superior de Salubridad 
(Drs. Vasconcelos and Casasus), to the Junta de la 
Sanidad de Yueatan (Dr. Hernandez), and to Dr. 
Le Blane; the work in Peru was done with the co- 
operation and assistance of Dr. Kligler and the 
Peruvian health authorities. 


Hereditary influences bearing on the resistance 
to tuberculosis: Pauu A. Lewis. Certain inbred 
strains of guinea pigs, which have been maintained 
for a number of years at the Bureau of Animal In- 
dustry, Washington, D. C., have been tested by us 
as to their resistance to tuberculosis. It is found 
that these strains differ appreciably in the length of 
life after a standard inoculation. The differences 
between the strains are more considerable than dif- 
ferences due to other factors, such as sex, age, 
weight, ete. That the differences observed among 
the strains have a hereditary basis is also empha- 
sized by the influence on resistance observed in 
erosses among these strains. 


Signs of sanity: Stewart Paton. Probably the 
most important question in the world to-day is 
whether man is capable of directing intelligently 
the civilization he has created and organized. In- 
ternational as well as industrial peace can only be 
attained in proportion as we are capable of under- 
standing and controlling human nature. Following 
the outburst of insanity in 1914, which plunged the 
world into war, no attempt has been made by 
statesmen or diplomatists at the peace conference 
to discriminate between the signs of sanity and in- 
sanity. In order to understand the nature of sanity 
one must use two methods of investigation: (1) 
analytical, (2) synthetical. Man has paid a heavy 


SCIENCE 


337 
price for neglecting the latter. He has studied 
parts of the human machine, but has made little 
effort to notice the behavior of the entire machine. 
Judging sanity and insanity is a biological and 
not a psychological problem; it is not a question 
of body and mind, but of body-mind. The organi- 
zation of the body-mind in sanity: (1) provides 
channels for discharge of energy in action; (2) 
assists individual to face squarely problems of 
actual life and (3) rewards effort by definite sense 
of achievement and feeling of adequacy. Bolshe- 
vism, radicalism and the tendency to think in terms 
of class distinction are defense reactions of inade- 
quates afraid of facing their own personal prob- 
lems. Success of individual, future of democracy 
and the fate of our civilization depend upon the 
recognition of these biological principles and the 
cultivation of mental processes favorable for sane 
thinking and acting. 

Grass rusts of the Andes (based on collections 
by Mr. and Mrs. Holway): J. C. ArrtHur. The 
grass rusts form a peculiar group of minute para- 
sites of great interest to the botanist on account of 
their curious and varied forms and of equal in- 
terest to the agriculturist and economist on account 
of the injury they do to crops, especially cereals. 
The Andean region embraces a strip rarely more 
than a hundred miles in width of elevated plateaus 
and high mountains extending along the whole 
western border of South America through Colom- 
bia, Eeuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile. The cereal 
crops and forage grasses are of economic import- 
ance throughout the region, but a study of the rusts 
affecting them had made little progress until the 
exploration undertaken by the Holways. Barely a 
score of forms had previously been reported, but 
the number is now more than double, and includes 
some that are new to science. Much critical knowl- 
edge has also been secured. 


The action of bases and salts on biocolloids and 
cell-masses: D. T. MacDouecau., The strong metal- 
lie bases, potassium, sodium and calcium are found 
to exert a limiting effect in concentrations of 0.01M 
on agar, when applied as hydroxides or chlorides, 
but this action is reversed when solutions diluted to 
0.001M or 0.0001M are used, in which concentration 
they may occur in living matter. A similar acceler- 
ating action for hydrochloric acid at 0.0001 normal 
was found. Biocolloids of agar and gelatine showed 
specialized and accelerated hydration in similar 
solutions. No connection could be established be- 
tween the hydrogen ion concentration and swelling 
as agar shows exaggerated swelling at Py values 


338 


from 4.2 to 11. Effects as of balanced solutions 
were obtained with agar, and suggestions of sim- 
ilar action with agar-gelatine-salt mixtures. The 
incorporation of nutrient salts in agar and biocol- 
loids in minute proportions such as might occur 
in plants increased the swelling capacity of some 
mixtures, in contradiction to earlier announcements 
by the author. Roots of various plants showed 
special effects in swelling, and also variations 
according to the ecological type of these organs. 
Such differences are determined by the composition 
of the cell-colloids. Finally the facts confirm an 
earlier statement to the effect that all substances 
known to facilitate growth of plants accelerate 
hydration of growing tissues, and of biocolloids 
simulating their protoplasm when used in low con- 
centrations equivalent to those in which they are 
usually encountered by living matter. 


Growth of trees: D. T. MacDoucaLt. Extended 
measurements of the growth of many trees of a 
number of species have been made by the use of 
the newly designed dendrograph, which makes a 
continuous record of changes in diameter, and the 
recently perfected dendrometer, which registers 
total change in circumference, It is found that the 
period during which growth takes place even in 
equable climates with indeterminate seasons does 
not extend over more than two or three months, 
and that growth is not rhythmical in any sense, 
but depends upon food-supply, temperature, mois- 
ture and other environmental conditions. Awaken- 
ing of buds, formation of leaves and flowers, and 
elongation of branches may occur many days or 
even weeks before trunks begin to enlarge. The 
leaves of a beech tree in Baltimore began to unfold 
April 10, 1919, and enlargement of the trunk began 
about May 18. Daily equalizing variations by 
which a tree may be actually smaller in mid-after- 
noon than at sunrise are greatest in the ash, pine, 
spruce, fir and walnut, and least in poplars, syca- 
more, beech and oak trees. Accurate measurements 
of the changes in trunks internal to the growing 
layer show that these variations are directly con- 
nected with the mechanism of the ascent of sap and 
are explainable upon the assumption of a rigid 
water column in a trunk composed of wood-cells 
and vessels capable of some shrinkage and expan- 
sion. Orudely expressed the trunk behaves like 
a heavy hose feeding from a pressure system to a 
fire engine. When the engine tends to take water 
faster than supplied, the hose tends to collapse; 
when the engine slackens its action, the hose swells. 


Fishes of Ecuador and Peru: CarL H. EIGEN- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vor. LIV. No. 1397 


MANN. The fishes of the Guayas basin on the 
Pacific slope of Ecuador and those of the rivers 
of Chile are completely different in species. Even 
the genera with the exception of the mountain eat- 
fish Pygidiuwm are all different. Excluding the 
marine fishes even the families and orders of fishes 
in the two areas are largely different. The differ- 
ences between the two faunas are so great there is 
not a shadow of a doubt that in the main their 
origins were different. The Chilenian fishes came 
from the south. The Guayas fishes came from the 
Amazon. The Pacific slope of South America be- 
tween Panama and Patagonia varies in width from 
a few yards in Colombia, west of the Atrato river, 
to a hundred miles or more. The slope is extremely 
wet in Panama and Colombia, varies from wet in 
the north of Ecuador to dry in the south of 
Ecuador. The slope varies from dry in northern 
Peru to very dry in southern Peru, and almost if 
not absolutely dry in Chile, south of Copiapo. The 
Guayas basin drains the area between a coast range 
and the Cordilleras of central Ecuador. The 
Guayas has the distinction of being the only river 
with a flow in the main parallel to the Andes. All 
the other Pacific slope rivers between the equator 
and Cape Horn (with the exception of the Rio 
Santa) flow direct from the Andes westward to 
the Pacific. The Guayas basin is the largest river 
basin draining into the Pacific between the equator 
and southern Chile. The rivers grow smaller south 
of Heuador to northern Chile. A stretch of over 
500 miles in northern Chile is crossed by but one 
river, the Loa. The first river south of the great 
desert of Atacama is the Rio Copiapo. I fished 
from Copiapo southward through central Chile over 
a stretch nearly a thousand miles long. The gen- 
eral conclusion reached is that the fauna of Chile 
is at its height between Concepcion and Valdivia. 
Going north from Valdivia one genus after another 
disappears. Aplochiton, a trout-like genus of Aus- 
tralia and Chile and Galaxias, another genus of 
Australia and Chile, reach their farthest north in 
the Bio Bio. The peculiar catfishes Dyplomyste 
and Nematogenys reach their farthest north in the 
Maipo. Percichthys reaches the Aconcagua. North 
of the Aconcagua in the region of the extinct or 
dying rivers but three species of the Bio Bio fauna 
remain: a ‘‘ peje rey,’’ Basilichthys, the ubiquitous 
catfish Pygidium and Cheirodon. The little Cheiro- 
don whose ancestors have come from tropical Brazil 
I caught as far north as Vallenar. In the Copiapo 
I caught no native fishes. The peje rey extends all 
the way to Lima, Peru. 


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=a>— 


MAGNETIC SUSCEPTIBILITIES 1 


A. Classification of Bodies, Magnetically. 
1. Let us assume that we have at our disposal 
a uniform magnetic field whose intensity, H, 
and direction we can vary at will. H will 
be expressed in Gauss and may be graphically 
represented by drawing through a unit area 
a number of parallel lines numerically equal 
to H. Into such a field of force we may intro- 
duce any substance we wish and study the 
effects which that substance may produce on 
the number of lines of force which thread 
through the space we call the magnetic field. 
Experimentally we find that any substance 
when brought into a uniform magnetic field 
causes a perturbation of the lines of force, 
the character of which separates all substances 
into two classes, viz., dia- and paramagnetic 
bodies. The lines of induction are a con- 
tinuation of those of the field, but in the case 
of a paramagnetic substance are more closely 
packed together, while in a diamagnetic body 
they are further apart. Ferromagnetic sub- 
stances are special cases of paramagnetism 
of which the lines of induction are, relatively, 
very closely packed together. A comparison 
with the electric currents would make this 
idea more precise. 

Suppose a sphere of metal introduced into a 
mass of mercury traversed by a uniform current: 
the lines of flow which were originally parallel 
would tend to pass in greater number through the 
sphere if it were a better conductor than the 
mercury, and, on the contrary, in smaller number 
if it were a worse conductor. The words con- 
ductivity for lines of flow and permeability for 
lines of magnetic induction thus correspond to 
analogous ideas. 

If we let B represent the number of lines 
of induction threading through unit area in 

1 Read before a joint meeting of the American 
Physical Society and Section B of the American 


Association for the Advancement of Science, De- 
cember, 1920. 


340 


the substance, placed in a magnetic field of 
strength, H, then we have the relation exist- 
ing between these quantities given by the 
equation 
Devish te coil, (1) 
The number of lines of force which thread 
out from a magnetic pole is 47m. In equation 
(1) B is less or greater than H as I is nega- 
tive or positive. That is to say, there is 
developed at opposite ends of the specimen 
placed in the magnetic field, H, a polarity 
which in case of paramagnetic substances is 
additive to H and makes B greater than H 
while in diamagnetic substances an opposite 
polarity is -developed whose field subtracts 
from H and makes the resultant lines of 
induction further apart than the lines in the 
field of force. J, therefore, may be defined 
as the pole strength per unit area of the pole 
developed in the specimen, or it is the in- 
tensity of magnetization of the material ex- 
amined. More frequently I is defined as the 
magnetic moment per unit volume, for if we 
take a cylinder of any material and place it 
in a magnetic field, then AJJ=WM, the 
magnetic moment of the cylinder, where A is 
the crossection and 1 is the length of the 
cylinder. I—M/AI=M/V, or the magnetic 
moment per unit volume. It is assumed that 
the poles are at the ends of the cylinder. 
Next divide equation (1) by H and we get 
1+ 4rk, (2) 
where pz is called the permeability, and k the 
susceptibility. »==B/H is a measure of the 
power the substance has for increasing the 
external field. This is a quantity in which 
the electrical engineer is particularly inter- 
ested. Further, k—I/H seems also to be a 
factor due to properties inherently bound up 
with the substance introduced into the magne- 
tic field. This factor & is called the magnetic 
susceptibility per unit volume. In order to 
get the susceptibility per unit mass we must 
divide the volume susceptibility by the 
density of the substance. As & is negative or 
positive so is a substance dia- or paramag- 
netic. It is a property in which physicists 
must be vitally concerned in building up a 
magnetic theory and developing comprehen- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1398 


sively the architectural design of the atom. 
Before we have finished this discussion we 
must ask the question, where does the property 
of susceptibility lie—in the electron, atom, 
molecule or aggregation of molecules? 

9. Next let us work with a non-uniform 
magnetic field such as one has between the 
conical pole-pieces of an electromagnet and 
let us give definite shape to the samples of the 
various materials investigated, viz., ellipsoidal 
form. This time we will observe the behavior 
of the specimens as the magnetic field is ap- 
plied to them. Experimentally, we discover 
that here again all substances divide them- 
selves into two groups; one class turns in the 
magnetic field so as to set the greatest length 
normal to the lines of force of the magnetic 
field and the other class with major dimen- 
sions parallel to the field. Not only that but 
those substances which set themselves normal 
to the field are just those which we call dia- 
magnetic in our first experiment and those 
which turn with greatest length parallel are 
the paramagnetic elements, which also include 
the ferromagnetic substances. Thus we have 
another way in which to distinguish dia- from 
paramagnetic substances. It is to be noted 
that in a uniform magnetic field all elongated 
bodies set themselves parallel to a magnetic 
field. The reason for the orientation cited 
above for diamagnetism is because the poles 
of the substance tend to move from stronger 
to weaker fields.1# 

3. As a third experiment let us work with 
a non-uniform magnetic field in which the 
variation of the field along any direction is 
known. Introducing our samples in the form 
of spheres into this field we note that they all 
tend to move in one direction or the other in 
the field, either from a point of large field 
intensity to one of lower or vice versa. As in 
our previous observations there are two classes 
and we find that diamagnetic substances 
always move from higher to lower field in- 
tensities and paramagnetic are urged in the 
opposite direction. Ferromagnetic bodies 


1a Poynting and Thomson, Elec. and Maa., p. 
258, 1914. 


OctoBEer 14, 1921] 


distinguish themselves by their energetic para- 
magnetic action in the magnetic field. 
The foregoing may be summed up by the 
following: 
TABLE I. 
Diamagnetic substances, « less than unity, k nega- 
tive and does not vary with H. 

Paramagnetie substances, » small but greater than 
unity, & positive and does not vary with H. 
Ferromagnetic substance, « greater than unity and 
varies with H, k positive and a complicated 

function of H and T. 


This is practically the state of knowledge in 
which Faraday, Pliicker, Becquerel and others 
left this field of knowledge fifty years ago. 

B. Modern Theories of Dia-, Para- and 
Ferromagnetism.—The electron theory forms 
the basis of the modern theories of magnetism 
which took their rise from an extensive in- 
vestigation made on the magnetic properties 
of bodies by Professor Curie,2 whose name 
is mainly associated with the discovery of 
radium. Yet in this field, which we are 
discussing, Curie’s name must always stand 
forth as one of the pioneers. 

Based largely on Curie’s work Langevin*® 
has built up a theory of dia- and paramagnet- 
ism which has been extended to ferromagnet- 
ism by Weiss. These theories have been 
of value in that they have led to new experi- 
mental evidences concerning the behavior of 
substances magnetically, so that in our discus- 
sion these three names, naturally, will receive 
more attention than others, although the con- 
tributions of others are exceedingly important. 
Among others to be mentioned are Honda, K. 
Onnes, Dewar and Fleming, Oosterhuis, 
Paseal, Oxley, Kunz and Owen. 

In a long and careful series of investiga- 
tions, Curie observed the behavior of various 
substances when placed in a non-uniform mag- 
netic field, in which the observations were ex- 
tended over a wide range of field intensities 
and temperatures. Figures illustrating the 

2 Curie, Ann. de Chim. et de Phys., 5, 289, 1895. 

3 Langevin, Ann. de Chem. et de Phys., 4, 70, 
1905; Jour. de Phys., 4, 678, 1905. 

4 Weiss, Jour. de Phys., 6, 661, 1907; Comp. 
Rend., 152; 79, 187, 367, 688, 1911. 


SCIENCE 


341 


apparatus used will be found in the original 
articles. The range of field strengths was 
from about 25 to 1,500 cg.s. units and of the 
temperature from about 22°C. to 1850° C. 
His results are generally expressed in terms 
of mass susceptibility where & is positive 
when the substance moves toward more in- 
tense field strengths and negative when op- 
positely drawn. Curie examined a series of 
substances in each of the three groups, dia-, 
para- and ferromagnetic materials. 

1. Diamagnetic Substances——Rock salt, 
quartz, water, KCl, K,SO,, KNO,, 8, Se, L 
Br, Te, P, Bi, and Sb were the substances 
studied. Special attention was paid to water 
in order to determine k& absolutely as a 
standard of reference. Bismuth showed 
remarkable properties as it passed through its 
melting point. In every case k was indepen- 
dent of H and with the exception of three 
all gave a value of k independent of tempera- 
ture and of physical state. 

2. Paramagnetic Substances.—Air, 
dium, FeSO, in aqueous solution, oxygen, 
glass and porcelain were the subjects investi- 
gated. Glass and porcelain were studied 
because they were used as the material for the 
container in which to test gaseous and other 
forms of materials. The other four paramag- 
netic substances were found to have a sus- 
ceptibility independent of field strength and 
satisfied the condition that k varies as 1/T. 
Beside the work on FeSO, in water Curie 
tried also the magnetic salts of Co, Mn and 
NiSO,. The first two fitted in with the 
general law but NiSO, showed too rapid a 
change in its susceptibility for the inverse 
temperature law. The second law of Curie 
that & varies as 1/7’ may be expressed by say- 
ing that k7’—a const. which has become 
known as Curie’s constant. 

3. Ferromagnetic Substances-——Curie in- 
vestigated nickel, soft iron, magnetite and 
east iron. He paid particular attention to 
soft iron, studying the variation of J with T 
when H was maintained constant and again 
the variation of I with H when T was kept 
constant. For a certain range of temperature 
above the critical temperature of magnetic 


palla- 


342 


transformation, the substances just listed 
behaved as paramagnetic materials in that 
T was independent of H and koc1/T. As the 
temperature falls there is continuity in pass- 
ing from the paramagnetic state to the fer- 
romagnetic state. No such continuity, how- 
ever, seems to exist when one passes from the 
paramagnetic to the diamagnetic state, which 
suggests that the causes underlying the two 
states are quite different. So far this dis- 
cussion has been largely historical and is 
given to serve as a background for a further 
discussion of the theories of Langevin and 
Weiss which have grown out of the researches 
of Curie. 

Curie’s work seemed to indicate that para- 
magnetic substances would give infinite sus- 
ceptibility at absolute zero. This phase of 
the subject has been very extensively studied. 
Dewar and Fleming® found for solid MnSO, 
and liquid oxygen that it did hold down to 
—186° C. On the other hand the work of K. 
Onnes and Perrier,® Oosterhuis? and Honda® 
and Owen® seemed to show that Curie’s 
second law is not at all true for the majority 
of paramagnetic substances and that further- 
more a great many diamagnetic elements 
disobeyed the first law, viz. that they did 
not maintain a constant susceptibility as the 
temperature changed. Tables X. and XI. in 
the excellent paper of Dushman?® show these 
discrepancies in a very striking way. These 
results have led Kunz!! to remark that, 

It seems to me not justified to maintain Curie’s 
tule, as there are many more exceptions than con- 
firmations. The same is true for diamagnetism. 

5 Dewar and Fleming, Proc. Roy. Soc., 60, 57, 
1897; 63, 311, 1898. 

6 Onnes and Perrier, Comm, No. 139a, Phy. Lab. 
Leiden. (See article Oosterhuis, Koninklyke Akad., 
Amsterdam, 16, 892, 1913-14.) 

7 Oosterhuis, Proc. Amsterdam Acad, Sci., 16, 
432, 1913-14. (Look up bibliography contained in 
this volume of the Proceedings.) 

8 Honda, Ann. d. Phys., 32, 1910. 

9 Owen, Ann. d. Phys., 37, 657, 1912. 

10Dushman, Reprint, Gen’l, Elec. Rev., May, 
Aug., Sept., Oct. and Dec., 1916. 

11 Kunz, Eighth Internat, Cong. App. Chem., 22, 
187, 1912. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1398 


... There are only very few elements which do 
not vary within the whole temperature range. 
This weakens the foundation on which Lange- 
vin and Weiss build their theories for dia-, 
para- and ferromagnetism. The multitudin- 
ous works of those already mentioned with a 
host of others make it all too apparent that 
the phenomena of magnetism are exceedingly 
complicated. We must not, to quote Strad- 
ling,!2 expect too much of any explanation 
in view of the apparently contradictory facts. 
The theoretical and experimental investiga- 
tions of Langevin and Weiss have been very 
productive of further experimental work and 
theory so that they must hold a very im- 
portant place in the future development of 
magnetic theories. I can do no better than 
use the method of presentation given in the 
excellent résumés of the work of these two 
men which have been made by various English 
and American writers. 

1. Langevin’s Theory of Diamagnetism.— 
To begin with it is to be recalled that Row- 
land first demonstrated the fact that a moving 
charge created a magnetic field; if the charge 
moved in a circular orbit a magnetic field 
was produced normal to the plane of the path 
in which the charge moved. This forms a 
picture of electronic orbits which we suppose 
to exist in the flame for the Zeeman effect. 
If a magnetic field is thrown on to a group 
of such revolving charges, differences in period 
of revolution will be produced, in some cases 
decreasing and in others increasing the period. 
This gives rise to the double and triple lines 
which we see in the field of view of the 
spectroscope. This behavior of electronic 
orbits lies at the foundation of Langevin’s 
and Weiss’s theories. Thus according to 
Langevin if we introduce a substance into the 
magnetic field which is diamagnetic accord- 
ing to the tests we have already described, 
then the electronic orbits which we suppose 
surround every atom will be affected in the 
way we have just described them as being 
influenced in the Zeeman effect: some will 
have their periods decreased and others in- 

12 Stradling, Journ. Franklin Inst., 180, 173, 
1915. 


OcToBER 14, 1921] 


creased. If the atom is built so that there 
are a number of electronic orbits so oriented 
that their resultant magnetic moment is zero 
then there will be no tendency for the atom 
as a whole to rotate, but on the application of 
the magnetic field there will be a tendency 
to alter the magnetic moment of each electron- 
ie orbit and no matter in which direction 
the electron is revolving the effect of the 
magnetic field is to create a polarity opposed 
to that of the applied field. If the magnetic 
moment of one electronic orbit is positive 
the effect of the external field is to decrease 
it and if the magnetic moment of another 
orbit is negative the external field acts to in- 
crease it so that the total effect is the same 
as that which we get from Weber’s!* theory 
of diamagnetism which assumes that there are 
no revolving electrons present to begin with 
but when a diamagnetic substance is exposed 
to a magnetic field, currents are set up in the 
atoms or molecules which develop magnetic 
fields having an opposite polarity to that of 
the inducing field. If the orbits of these 
circuits are resistanceless the currents will be 
maintained until the magnetic field is with- 
drawn again. It is to be noted that in the 
case of diamagnetic substances a finite mag- 
netic moment is developed in the elementary 
unit with which we are dealing and which 
ought to have a corresponding tendency to 
rotate in a magnetic field. This point does 
not seem to be emphasized in the theory of 
diamagnetic substances, but as we shall see 
later on it is stressed in paramagnetic bodies. 
We know that an elongated portion of a dia- 
magnetic substance does orient itself very 
definitely in a magnetic field. From the 
standpoint of the theory of diamagnetism 
just reviewed, diamagnetism must be almost 
a universal property of matter because we 
find the Zeeman effect in nearly all spectral 
lines of nearly all substances. We believe 
that the hydrogen atom has only one electron- 
ic orbit. Its diamagnetism is difficult to ex- 
plain by Langevin’s theory. 


13 Dushman, Gen’l Elec. Rev., p. 20 of reprint 
from May, Aug., Sept., Oct., and Dee. issues, 1916. 


SCIENCE 


343 


2. Langevin’s Theory of Paramagnetism.— 


We have seen that in all cases the creation of an 
exterior magnetic field modifies the electronic orbits 
by polarizing diamagnetically all the molecules. 

If the resultant moment is not zero, upon the 
diamagnetic phenomena is superimposed another 
phenomenon due to the orientation of the ele- 
mentary magnets by the external field. The sub- 
stance is then paramagnetic if the mutual action 
between the elementary magnets is negligible, as 
in the case of gases and of solutions and ferro- 
magnetic in the case where the mutual actions play 
the essential roles. As soon as the paramagnetism 
appears it is, as a rule, enormous in comparison 
with the diamagnetism and therefore completely 
conceals it. This explains the discontinuity be- 
tween paramagnetism and diamagnetism; para- 
magnetism may not exist; but if it does, it hides 
completely the diamagnetism. 

Therefore, substances whose atoms have their 


_ electrons in revolution in such a way that their 


effects are additive, are paramagnetic. The atoms 
of such substances may be looked upon as elemen- 
tary magnets. 


If we think of the elementary magnets at 
ordinary temperatures as being in a state of 
agitation then the tendency of the elementary 
magnets to orient themselves in a magnetic 
field will be opposed by the thermal agitation 
of the elementary magnets and they will settle 
down under a state of statistical equilibrium. 

3. Weiss’s Theory of Ferromagnetism.— 
Langevin has given a theory of dia- and para- 
magnetism and largely assumes ferromagnet- 
ism as a special case of paramagnetism. That 
ferromagnetism is a special case of paramag- 
netism will, I think, be conceded by all, but to 
explain more completely the phenomena at- 
tendant on ferromagnetism, Weiss has ex- 
tended the theory somewhat by saying that to 
explain the varied phenomena as we find them, 
there must be associated with the turning of 
the elementary magnets something which acts 
like an extra magnetic field in addition to the 
external field applied. After considering all 
phases of the problem, however, and showing 
that he can explain many of the existing 
phenomena by means of this extra or intrinsic 
molecular field he is forced to admit that this 
“molecular field must be attributed to the 


344 


action of forces whose nature is still un- 
known.” What must be the nature of these 
forces between elementary magnets? Weiss 
argues that they are neither magnetic nor 
electrostatic. These are questions to be left 
to the reader. 

An attempt to correlate the many researches 
which have followed in the wake of Curie, 
Langevin and Weiss leaves the reviewer with 
a feeling of utter helplessness. The experi- 
mental work, in many cases, might well serve 
as examples of the highest type of modern 
physical research, but, when it comes to the 
various theories advanced, one must confess 
to a feeling that it is a good guessing contest 
in which one is as good as the other. 

Out of Weiss’s work, however, has grown 
a conception that seems destined to have some 
real meaning as we learn more concerning 
magnetic phenomena, that is, the magneton. 
Just as we have found that the electron seems 
to be the unit out of which we build all 
other electrical charges so here Weiss finds 
a similar analogy in that the magnetic mo- 
ment per gram molecule of various substances 
seems to be small multiples of a common mag- 
netic moment, equal to 1,132.5. Since we 
think of magnetic fields as due to moving 
charges can the magneton ever be so funda- 
mental a concept as is the electron? 

C. Seat of Magnetic Powers—As we go 
over these various theories one is impressed 
by the recurrent words, orientation, rotation, 
revolution, change in magnetic moment, 
electronic orbits, ete., and then one begins to 
wonder as to how much magnetic phenomena 
really depend on these phases of the subject. 

1. When a piece of iron, nickel or cobalt 
is placed in a magnetic field, what grounds 
have we for saying that the molecules, atoms 
or elementary magnets of the specimen are 
actually turned in situ by the external mag- 
netic field? Does our affirmation of this 
question_rest upon the fact that Ewing! 
once on a time pivoted a number of little 
magnets on needle points and showed how 

14 Ewing, Magn. Induc, in Iron, ete., p. 348 
et seq., 3d ed. 


SCIENCE 


LN. S. Von. LIV. No. 1398 


they behaved in a magnetic field and said 
this is the picture of a group of elementary 
magnets? Small magnets will turn on axes 
as Ewing showed they would and the logic is 
that the elementary magnets will also, but 
note that Ewing would have found hysteresis 
and B-H curves even if his little model mag- 
nets had not turned at all. Ewing’s magnets 
did turn and the logic of the argument has 
tremendous confirmation in the work of 
Swinburne?® who predicted as a consequence 
of Ewing’s theory that if a piece of iron is 
rotated in a very strong magnetic field and 
the elementary magnets are held in alignment 
steadily as the iron cylinder is rotated there 
will be no changing from one configuration 
to another which may be unstable and thus 
dissipate magnetic energy into vibrational 
energy; consequently there will be a suppres- 
sion of hysteresis. This was experimentally 
confirmed. Another verification is found in 
the experiment of Waggoner and Freeman+® 
on the suppression of hysteresis by a longi- 
tudinal A.C. magnetic field, where the same 
kind of explanation as Swinburne’s might be 
applied. This suppression of hysteresis seems 
to be closely associated with a certain degree 
of freedom to rotate, as for instance Rosen- 
hain!’ points out that when an element whose 
atomic volume is greater than that of iron 
with which it is alloyed, the effect of the 
added element is to decrease the hysteresis. 
The increased atomic volume, from a me- 
chanical viewpoint, makes larger interstices 
between the elementary magnets which per- 
mits of greater freedom to swing. If we have 
a theory to explain dia-, para- ferromagnet- 
ism then that same theory, in order to be a 
comprehensive magnetic theory, must explain 
all magnetic phenomena. At this point an 
outline might be introduced as an aid to keep- 
ing one’s bearing when dealing with general 
magnetic phenomena. 

15 Swinburne, Baily, Phil. Trans., 187, 715, 1896. 

16 Waggoner and Freeman, Gen’l Elec. Rev., 
p. 143, Feb., 1918. 

17 Rosenhain, ‘‘Introdue. to Phys. Metallurgy,’’ 
p. 110, 1915. 


OcropER 14, 1921] 


TABLE II 


I. Induction Effects. 

1. Relation between field strength and mag- 
netic induction, permeability, suscepti- 
bility, coercive force, retentivity, hyster- 
esis, ete. 

. Dia-, para- and ferromagnetism. 

. Terrestrial magnetism. 

. Alternating currents. 

. Inductive effects as influenced by tem- 

perature, mechanic strains, aging, ete. 
6. Relation between susceptibility and chem- 
ical properties. 

II. Mechanical Effects. 
(a) Reaction effects between magnetic fields, 

1. Attraction and repulsion of mag- 
netic poles, 

2. Motion of electric conductors, sol- 
ids, liquids and gases, carrying 
currents when placed in a mag- 
netic field. 

3. Hall effect and its reciprocal rela- 
tions. 

(b) Magnetostrictive Effects, 

1. Joule effect. Its reciprocal rela- 
tions. 

2. Villari effect. 

3. Wiedemann effect. 
relations. 

4. Volume change. Its 
relations. 

5. Change in resistance due to a 

magnetie field. 
. Production of sound. 
. Piezo- and pyromagnetism. 
. Magne erystallie action. 
. Effect of magnetic field on thermo- 
electric phenomena. 
III. Magneto-optical Effects. 
1. Faraday effect. 
2. Kerr effect. 
3. Zeeman effect. 
4. Magnetie double refraction. 


oy eB ow pO 


Its reciprocal 


reciprocal 


COoaonNnn 


Naturally one might question some points 
in this classification. Certainly changes 
would be made if we knew more about the 
subject. Whatever the arrangement of sub- 
jects a complete magnetic theory must ex- 
plain all of the above phenomena. This is a 
real task. In particular, the present magnetic 
theories sidestep those phenomena listed 
above as magnetostrictive effects, which as 


SCIENCE 


345 


the outline indicates is about half of the 
various magnetic effects. If the rotation of 
the elementary magnets due to an external 
magnetic field explains ferromagnetism then 
one may properly ask if the rotation of the 
elementary magnets might not also explain 
the magnetostrictive effects because these 
effects appear in ferromagnetic substances. 
Poynting and Thomson?’ have called atten- 
tion to the fact that these magnetostrictive 
effects are yet to be explained on the molecular 
hypothesis. They state, 

It would obviously require some further as- 
sumptions as to molecular grouping or as to 
molecular dimensions in different directions. 


The latter assumption has been a suggestive 
one and some progress has been made along 
this line, many of the magnetostrictive effects 
may be explained as being due to the orienta- 
tion of elementary magnets whose dimensions 
vary in different directions. The work of 
Barnett,!® Einstein2° and deHaas and J. Q. 
Stewart?! favors the idea of an orientation of 
the elementary magnet. Indeed our evidence 
seems very strong that rotation of the elemen- 
tary magnets due to an external field is a 
part at least of all ferromagnetic phenomena. 

The brilliant and highly significant work 
of the two Comptons?? and their co-laborers?? 
on the problem of the ultimate magnetic 
particle has a very important bearing on this 
phase of our discussion. Their interpreta- 
tion thus far seems to argue against any- 
thing turning due to an external field unless 
it be something inside of the atom. If it is 
something inside of the atom it would seem 
difficult to explain the Heusler alloys or that 
bulk iron is ferromagnetic; while ferrous 
sulphate is paramagnetic and potassium fer- 

18 Poynting and Thomson, ‘‘Elec. and Mag.,’’ p. 
201, 1914. 

isBarnett, Phys. Rev., 6, 240, 1915. 

20 Hinstein and deHaas, Verh, d. deutsch. Phys. 
Ges,, 17, 152, 1915. 

21 Stewart, Phys. Rev., 11, 100, 1918. 

22 Compton and Trousdale, Phys. Rev., 5, 315, 
1915. 

23 Compton and Rognley, Phys. Rev., 16, 464, 
1920. 


346 


rocyanide is diamagnetic. No cataclysm of 
the atom has occurred in these chemical 
changes. On the other hand if we turn to 
magnetostriction for help in interpreting the 
work of the Comptons and explain magneto- 
striction as due to the orientation of the 
elementary magnets it would appear that 
their negative results may be due to the fact 
that they worked at only one field strength, 
whose value is not given in their papers, and 
at that field strength the orientation had not 
proceeded far enough to give measurable 
effects. For instance, in the case of an iron 
rod, as the magnetic field strength is increased 
from zero upwards, the rod first elongates 
and then shortens, becoming shorter at high 
field strengths than in its virgin state. At 
that field strength where the length once 
more becomes equal to the original length, 
at that point one would expect negative results 
in the work of the Comptons. In iron this 
field strength is about at the point where 
From the magnetostric- 
tive viewpoint the Comptons should find 
maximum effects at those field strengths 
where maximum changes in length occur. The 
Comptons used magnetite which is quite dif- 
ferent from iron in the manner in which its 
length changes in a magnetic field. Yamada 
found that at several hundred Gauss tield 
strength, it was still increasing its length and 
no maximum attained. The question may 
legitimately be raised as to whether the orien- 
tation of the elementary magnets had been 
carried on sufficiently to give the Comptons 
the effects they were looking for. A further 
study of the Joule effect in magnetite is 
being started to throw more light on this 
subject. 

2. Would negative electrons revolving in 
orbits or negative electrons rotating, a la 
Parson, alone suffice as a picture of the ele- 
mentary magnet? The theories we have so 
far discussed seem to convey the idea that 
they would. Why not attribute magnetic 
phenomena to a positive nucleus spinning on 
its axis? Barnett’s work indicates the nega- 
tive charge as the portion of the elementary 
magnet which is in motion. This does not, 


saturation occurs. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1398 


however, debar the positive nucleus from con- 
tributing some part of that property which 
we know as susceptibility and which we have 
been discussing. In other words induction 
may be a part of the property of the nucleus 
and we shift at least a part of that property 
from the mass to the elementary magnet.** 
What is it that gives magnetic characteris- 
ties? These are questions which our general 
subject of susceptibility raises. There are a 
number of items which, as it seems, bear upon 
these queries. Maurain?® deposited thin films 
of iron and nickel and found he had to have 
a certain thickness of film before he obtained 
definite magnetic properties. For iron this 
was 8.3 10-em. and for nickel, 20 10° 
em. Wilson? in measuring the magnetic 
fields in a rotating iron cylinder arrives at 
the size of a magnetic particle as 10 & 10-8 em. 
which checks fairly well. Hull,?7 working on 
the X-ray analysis of iron and nickel finds 
of 247 and 2.50 10° cm. 
respectively as the distance between nearest 
atoms. These values seem to be commensu- 
rate. As already pointed out the spacing of 
the atoms seems to play a very important 
part in magnetic phenomena. Hull ealls 
attention to the fact that it might be antici- 
pated that ferromagnetic substances would 
have the same crystal structure. This is not 
true for iron and nickel are different accord- 
ing to Hull’s observations. It is evident that 
ferromagnetism does not depend upon any 
particular arrangement of atoms but more 
probably upon distance between atoms which 
would explain the fact that this property is 
lost when the temperature is increased beyond 
a definite value. A center cubic arrange- 
ment may be more favorable to ferromagnet- 
ism, but is not a principle or essential factor. 
Arnold and Hicks?® state: 


the distance 


The elements giving iron high permeability and 


24 Phys. Rev., abstract, Feb., 1911. Phys. Rev., 
34, 40, 1912. 

25 Maurain, Jour. de Phys., 1, 151, 1902. 

26 Wilson, Proc. Roy. Soc., 69, 435, 1902. 

27 Hull, Phys. Rev., 14, 540, 1919. 

28 Arnold and Hicks, Nature, Apr. 17, 1902. 


OctToBER 14, 1921] 


low coercive force are those which cause it to 
crystallize in large crystals. 


Aston*® also says: 


It seems true, other things being equal, that 
the heat treatment which will give to pure iron a 
coarseness of crystallization, and above all a uni- 
formity and regularity of such structure will be 
accompanied by a low coercive force, and the 
effect of heat treatment is augmented by the ad- 
dition of silicon or analogous elements, as arsenic 
or tin, all of which increase the coarseness of crys- 
tallization of the material. 


It seems to be generally conceded that 
manganese is the essential constituent in the 
Heusler alloy. We don’t know the mag- 
netic properties of manganese any too well but 
its being associated so closely with iron, 
cobalt and nickel in the periodic system indi- 
cates the possibility of its possessing latent 
magnetism which under favorable conditions 
becomes active. Ross suggests that the pres- 
ence of the other metals beside manganese 
exerts a helpful influence in making the 
manganese elementary magnets farther apart 
and so increasing its magnetic activity by the 
removal of the intense intermolecular forces 
which are supposed to act in the metal man- 
ganese. This point of view is further cor- 
roborated by the fact that the susceptibility 
of copper containing minute quantities of 
iron is far greater than that calculated from 
the amount of iron present. One of the most 
thorough researches undertaken on a phase of 
this subject was by Perrier and Onnes?° who 
studied the susceptibility of a liquid mixture 
of oxygen and nitrogen and the influence of 
the mutual distane* of the molecules of oxy- 
gen upon paramagy ism. In this work the 
oxygen at the lo  cemperature is paramag- 
netic and inasmuch as the nitrogen did not 
enter into chemical combination with the 
oxygen it was possible to separate the oxygen 
molecules as much as desired by making the 
percentage of nitrogen larger. Their general 
results may be summed up by saying: 

29 Aston, Trans. Faraday Soc., Vol. 9, July, 1913. 

30 Perrier and K. Onnes, Proc. Roy. Acad. Am- 
sterdam, 16, 901, 1914. 


SCIENCE 


347 


The specific magnetization coefficient of oxygen 
becomes considerably greater, in proportion as the 
concentration diminishes. 


There is much to be investigated along this 
line. 

This discussion leads inevitably to the 
question as to where we shall locate the origin 
of the property of susceptibility? Will a 
group of electronic orbits account for mag- 
netic phenomena or must we have added to 
their effect that which arises from the positive 
nucleus?) Could we have a group of small 
coils to replace the group of little magnets 
with which Ewing once worked and obtain 
results such as he did? J have been working 
on this problem the past two years and so far 
have not been able to realize experimentally 
what Ewing did. It must be emphasized 
again that Ewing in his classical experiments 
worked with elementary magnets in which 
each elementary magnet itself showed all the 
properties which the group did. An attempt 
to explain the magnetostrictive effects on a 
molecular hypothesis makes it look very much 
as though one needed another factor to add 
to the electronic orbit to explain that particu- 
lar field of magnetic phenomena. 

Space forbids to give all the reasons why 
one is led to think of the atom as the seat 
of the phenomena we meet with in magnet- 
ism, or that the atom is the elementary mag- 
net. The classical argument against this 
point of view is that the iron atom is fer- 


romagnetic, ferrous sulphate is paramagnetic 


and potassium ferrocyanide is diamagnetic. 
Tron is a constituent of all three. Why this 
wide divergence of property? From preced- 
ing arguments it would appear that inter- 
stitial relations might answer the question. 
Oxley?! put it another way by saying, in 
speaking of diamagnetism, that the molecular 
structure is distorted by the near approach of 
the other molecular structures so that the 
self induction of the electronic orbits is af- 
fected. The magnetic theories of Langevin 
and Weiss are essentially atomic theories and 
that the susceptibilities of the elements is 

31 Oxley, Phil. Trans., 214 (A), 109, 1914.—215, 
A, 79, 1915. 


348 


related to the atomic numbers in a definite 
manner is brought out by the curve which 
Harkins’? has worked out and in a more 
striking fashion the curve given by Dush- 
man?3 relating the logarithms of the suscepti- 
bilities of the elements to the atomic numbers. 
The curves showing these relations indicate a 
very definite tie between them and yet there 
seems to be no other properties associated with 
atomic numbers which are definitely related 
+o the susceptibilities of the elements. May 
not this fact also emphasize the importance 
of placing some of the magnetic properties 
of the elements in the nuclei? 

To come back to the field of magnetostric- 
tion it would appear from its teaching that 
in addition to electronic orbits, to explain 
magnetic susceptibility, there must be given 
to the positive nucleus of the atom a proper- 
ty of induction just as Ewing had in his ele- 
mentary magnets, and, for ferromagnetic sub- 
stances at least, thease nuclei ought to have 
different dimensions in different directions, 
capable of being rotated by means of an ex- 
ternal field. 

Helmholtz once said, 

The disgrace of the nineteenth century is our 
ignorance concerning magnetism. 


What shall we say of the twentieth century? 
S. R. WiLuiaMs 
OBERLIN COLLEGE, 
OBERLIN, OHIO 


FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES ESTAB- 
LISHED BY RECENT SOIL IN- 
VESTIGATIONS 


INTRODUCTION 


Tue following is a brief review of the 
fundamental principles established by modern 
methods of soil investigation in the Bureau 
of Soils in the past twenty or thirty years: 


TRXTURE OF SOIL, 
The first step taken established the fact of 
the general influence of the texture of the 


32 Harkins and Hall, Journ. Amer, Chem. Soc., 
38, 210, 1916. 
33 Dushman, l. ¢. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1398 


soil and its water-holding capacity on the 
distribution of the great classes of crops; that 
is, the general relation between the sand, 
fine sand, silt and clay soils and the general 
distribution of areas devoted to the produc- 
tion of truck crops, corn, wheat, hay and other 
heavy farm crops. This together with field 
studies of origin, mode of formation, and ob- 
servable physical differences led to the map- 
ping of soils, or the soil survey, which has 
been extended over a considerable part of the 
United States. 

With the wide field experience it became 
evident that differences existed between dif- 
ferent soil types or in the same soil type 
that were not to be explained by differences 
in texture or in water-holding capacity, but 
that yields vary with the practise of the 
farmer or from other causes, as was fully 
known and commented upon by the early 
Roman writers, that would need to be ex- 
plained before the practise of agriculture, the 
application of fertilizers, and the handling of 
soils could be put upon a truly scientific 
basis. 

ORGANIC CHEMISTRY OF SOILS 

The study of some notably infertile soils 
and of very productive soils of the same type 
which had been held under what we call 
“better systems of farming” revealed the 
presence of certain toxic organic compounds 
in the one which were not present in the 
other. This led to a study of the organic 
chemistry of the soils. Finally we succeeded 
in separating from soils some 35 definite 
organic compounds, some of which were bene- 
ficial to certain crops and some of which were 
toxic to certain crops and nontoxic to others. 
It was also found that soils under a certain 
condition of aeration would -yield certain 
organic products and under other conditions 
of aeration other organic products. It was 
found that the compounds separated from the 
soil were of the same nature as the compounds 
in the digestive system and in the blood of 
man and animal and it was finally realized 
that the soil has a digestive system as it were 
and breaks down organic materials such as 
the proteins, carbohydrates, and fats much 


OorosrR 14, 1921] 


as they are broken down in the digestive 
system of animals. The soil has the same 
kind of bacterial, enzymatic and oxidation 
processes as are common to the animals. It is 
evident that soil through these digestive 
agencies will take care of the excreta of 
plants and the organic matter that accumu- 
lates in the soil from various causes, redu- 
cing the organic matter to lower and lower 
forms of oxygenated bodies until they ap- 
proach the hydrocarbon type of compounds in 
our humus, which are stable, innocuous and 
form the sewage disposal of the soil. 

In the animal under abnormal functional 
conditions the too great accumulation of prod- 
ucts of metabolism causes a fatigue of the 
muscles or if the system can not eliminate 
them the death of the animal. So under 
abnormal conditions in the soil brought 
about by adverse methods of cropping, of 
tillage, of the selection of crops, or improper 
methods of crop rotation the soil, as the 
French put it. becomes fatigued and the plant 
is unable to function. 

The second stage of soil investigations 
therefore has developed the fact that the soil 
has a digestive system and is liable to fatigue 
or exhaustion as regards its power to produce 
crops and is dependent for its efficiency upon 
normal conditions, much as the animal is 
dependent upon normal functional activities 
to maintain life energy. This is a great field 
opened up for the organic and physiological 
chemist and bacteriologist. It may be stated 
more concisely that the chemistry of the soil 
is running parallel to the chemistry of the 
animal. 

Some of the organic compounds isolated 
from soils and identified are as follows: 


Acrylie acid, Hentriacontane, 
Adenine, Histidine, 

Agroceric acid, Hypoxanthine, 
Agrosterol, Lignoceric acid, 
Arginine, Lysine, 

Creatinine, Mannite, 

Cytosine, Monohydroxystearie acid, 


Nucleic acid, 
Oxaliec acid, 
Paraffinic acid, 


Dihydroxystearic acid, 
Glycerides, liquid, 
Guanine, 


SCIENCE 


349 
Pentosan, Saccharic acid, 
Pentose, Salicylic aldehyde, 
Phytosterol, Succeinice acid, 
Picoline carboxylic acid, Sulphur, 
Resin, Trimethylamine, 
Resin acids, Trithiobenzaldehyde, 
Resin esters, Xanthine. 


Rhamnose, 


MINERAL CHEMISTRY OF THE SOIL SOLUTION 


The mineral particles that make up the 
structure of the soil are bathed with a solution 
containing both inorganic salts and organic 
compounds. The circulation of this solution 
is similar in purpose to the circulation of the 
blood and it is upon this nutrient solution 
that the plant depends for its nourishment. 
It is particularly desirable, therefore, that the 
constitution of this nutrient solution be under- 
stood. By handling large quantities of soil 
in our laboratories it has been possible to 
obtain large quantities of this soil solution 
in dilute form. This solution, if allowed to 
evaporate quietly at ordinary temperatures 
yields successive crops of crystals which are 
found to be analogous to the salts found in the 
Stassfurt deposits of Germany and to the in- 
land lake and sea deposits throughout the 
world. Silvite, kainite, and carnalite, the 
three important potash salts of Stassfurt, are 
commonly present in the nutritive solution 
of our soils, and, when we come to think of 
it, it appears to be the simplest thing in the 
world to understand that the salts that we 
value so highly in our mines are formed in 
our soils, transported through the oceans, and 
crystallized out ‘again when the waters 
evaporate. 

Our chemists have been expressing the re- 
sults of their analyses in simple conventional 
terms of single salts. This work shows that 
the soil solution is most complex and that 
there are besides single salts, double salts and 
triple salts. In a complex salt solution 
changes of temperature or additions of ma- 
terial have a profound effect upon the charac- 
ter of the double or triple salts especially. 
No correlation has yet been made between 
these different complexes and the production 
of crops, or between these different complexes 


350 


and the effect of soluble fertilizer materials, 
or between these different complexes in dif- 
ferent soil types, but the way has been opened 
for chemists now to study the soluble mineral 
compounds in the nutritive solution of the 
soil as never before. 

The following list of salts has been identi- 
fied in soils, or obtained from soils through 
the quiet evaporation of the dilute extracts 
until crystals appear. 


Aphthitalite, Leonite, 
Aragonite, Loweite, 
Blodite, Magnesite, 
Borax, Mirabilite, 
Calcite, Natrolite, 
Carnallite, Northupite, 
Dolomite, Picromerite, 
Epsomite, Soda niter, 
Gaylussite, Sodium carbonate, 
Gypsum, Sulphohalite, 

. Halite, Sylvite, 
Hanksite, Thenardite, 
Kainite, Thermonatrite, 
Kieserite, Tri-sodium phosphate, 
Langbeinite, Trona, 

Vanthoffite. 


COLLOIDAL CHEMISTRY—THE ULTRA CLAY 


This brings us down to the fourth great 
fundamental line of research which completes 
the outline of the problems to consider in 
future soil investigations and the most diffi- 
eult of all to understand. 

Always in our study of the texture of the 
soil, we have realized that there was some- 
thing which modified the texture, something 
that bound the grains of soil together making 
certain soils very plastic when wet and very 
hard compact when dry and making other soils 
more friable and even incoherent when dry. 
It took us a long while to determine the cause 
of this plasticity. It was something that went 
obviously into solution but did not have the 
properties of a true solution. Finally’ we 
were able to separate it and found that it was 
a colloidal solution. From this we have pre- 
pared and collected the colloid itself, to which 
we have given the name ultra clay. The ex- 
amination of this material leads us into the 
realm of colloidal chemistry which is a most 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1398 


difficult field to investigate because of the ex- 
tremely inert nature of all materials in.a 
colloidal state. 

This ultra clay when dry will absorb as 
much as 200 times its volume of ammonia 
gas, from 20 to 40 per cent. of its weight of 
water vapor in a closed space over free water 
at 30° C. and in a wet state will absorb from 
10 to 30 per cent. of its weight of certain 
dyes. By heating the ultra clay or an ordin- 
ary soil to 900 to 1000° C. this absorptive 
power is practically completely killed. By 
measuring the absorption of water vapor, of 
ammonia, and of certain dyes in the original 
soil, in the killed soil, and in the ultra clay 
separated from the soil, we have been able 
to estimate the amount of ultra clay in soils. 

This ultra clay is as strong in its power to 
cement sand grains as is Portland cement, 
but when a dry briquette cemented by ultra 
clay is put into water it goes to pieces while 
a similar briquette of Portland cement holds 
its shape and crushing strength. When soil 
is heated to 900 or 1000°-C. it loses almost 
completely its binding power when formed 
into a briquette, but if the amount of colloid 
estimated to be present by the methods 
already referred to is added to the killed 
soil the original plasticity is restored and the 
crushing strength of the dry briquette is 
about the same as in the original soil. 

This colloidal material is disseminated 
through the soil as a film over the mineral 
grains, giving plasticity to the soil when wet, 
and hardness to the soil when dry, and is the 
medium for the absorption of gases, of 
organic, and of mineral matters. Physically 
it is analogous to the muscles and tendons 
of the animal body, which permits the articu- 
lation and motion of the skeleton and its 
fleshy covering in the animal; chemically it 
is analogous to the lining of the stomach and 
other digestive and respiratory organs of the 
animal and of the protoplasmic content of 
the vegetable cell. It appears to be essential- 
ly a silicate of aluminum and iron. We 
have not as yet been able to determine whether 
the small amount of lime, magnesia, potash, 
and soda present are a part of its constitution 


Ocroser 14, 1921] 


or whether they are held there in colloidal 
form. The material is so inert in its chemi- 
eal affinities that we have not yet been able 
to kill it or to control it in any material 
way except by heating. This is a matter of 
the greatest importance in the cultivation of 
the soil and is a matter of profound impor- 
tance in road building as it appears to be 
the main cause of the deterioration and the 
breaking down of the modern road surfaces. 
Mitton WHITNEY 
BuREAU OF SOILS, 
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 


THE COUNCIL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN 
CHEMICAL SOCIETY 

From the report in the Journal of Indus- 
trial and Engineering Chemistry we learn 
that Rumford Hall, Chemists’ Club, was the 
gathering place on September 6, of the largest 
Council Meeting in the history of the society. 
President Edgar F. Smith was in the chair, 
and one hundred and sixteen councilors were 
present in person or by proxy. The business 
of the day consisted in large part of matters 
concerning the internal policies of the society, 
a complete report of which will appear in the 
proceedings in the October issue of the Jour- 
nal of the American Chemical Society. 

Two matters of national policy were dis- 
cussed at length. The society’s committee 
on patents and related legislation submitted 
a report on the Stanley Bill, now before the 
congress. The following resolution was un- 
animously passed: 

While the council is disposed to accept the views 
of its committee on patents, nevertheless it is felt 
that a constructive suggestion should be made by 
the committee as to legislation which would prevent 
the utilization of our Patent Office by foreigners 
for the suppression of the development of indus- 
tries such as was so clearly apparent in the organic 
chemical industry upon our entrance into the war 
in 1917. The committee is therefore urged to con- 
sider this problem immediately and to report to the 
committee on national policies. 


President Smith outlined the present legis- 
lative situation with regard to the organic 


SCIENCE ool 


chemical industry, whereupon it was moved 
that resolutions urging the passage of a 
limited embargo on synthetic organic chemi- 
cals be prepared for presentation to the gen- 
eral meeting on the following day. 

It was decided to hold the annual meeting 
in September, 1922, at Pittsburgh, Pa. It 
will be remembered that this section relin- 
quished its lien upon the September, 1921, 
date to permit the international gathering to 
be held in New York City. The spring meet- 
ing will be held in Birmingham, Ala., early 
in April, 1922. 

The secretary presented an ad interim re- 
port of the finance committee and gave statis- 
tics regarding the paid and unpaid member- 
ship. It is estimated by the directors that the 
actual expenditures for the year 1921 will ex- 
ceed the receipts by approximately $10,000. 

The president of the Chemists’ Club, John 
E. Teeple, presented a suggestion that the 
society take over the Bureau of Employment 
now run by the club, or establish a bureau 
to replace this organization. In accordance 
with the Council vote, the President ap- 
pointed a committee consisting of H. P. Tal- 
bot, Edward Bartow, and A. C. Fieldner, to 
consider this question and report at the spring 
meeting. 

Dr. Smith told of the work of the Priestley 
Memorial Committee, describing the Priest- 
ley portrait, and outlining the plans of the 
committee to establish a Priestley Medal fund. 
Plans are also under way for the restoration 
of the Priestley home at Northumberland, 
Pa., and President Smith spoke of his wish 
that the society might celebrate its fiftieth 
anniversary with a meeting at Northumber- 
land in 1925. 


THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 


Tue fourth annual meeting of the Optical 
Society of America will be held in Rochester, 
New York, on October 24, 25, and 26. A 
large number of important papers dealing 
with all branches of optics will be presented. 
Several of the papers on the program will 
deal with the various phases of physiological 
optics. At this meeting a section on vision 


302 


will be formed to bring together in one so- 
ciety the workers in different fields on the 
various phases of physiological optics. In 
this way, better cooperation will be obtained 
between the physicist, physiologist, psycholo- 
gist, and the artist. This year is the centen- 
ary of the birth of von Helmholtz and one 
session of the meeting will be devoted to com- 
memorating his work in the fields of optics, 
sound, and electricity. An address on “ Per- 
sonal Recollections of von Helmholtz” will 
be given by Dr. M. I. Pupin. Visits have 
been arranged to the plants of the Bausch & 
Lomb Optical Company and the Eastman 
Kodak Company. 


THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE— 
SOUTHWESTERN DIVISION 

THERE are being given this autumn under 
the auspices of the Southwestern Division of 
the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science a series of lectures on the his- 
tory of the Southwest. They are being under- 
taken at the special request of the Frontier 
Scoutmasters’ Association, with the approval 
and support of the El Paso Council of the 
Boy Scouts of America. The lectures are as 
follows: 


October 5—The Ancient History of the South- 
west as represented by the geological forma- 
tions of the region: Professor W. H. Seamon, 
Professor of Geology at the Texas School of 
Mines. 

October 12—The Ancient History of the South- 
west as represented by ruins, stone implements, 
pottery and other remains: E. A. J. Seddon. 

October 19—The Spanish Exploration of the South- 
west: Mrs. M. D. Sullivan. 

October 26—American Oceupation of the South- 
west: Dr. F. H. H. Roberts, principal of the 
El] Paso High School and president of the Junior 
College. 

November 2—History of the Mining Industry of 
the Southwest, from the earliest days: Lew 
Davis, of the El Paso Times. 

November 9—History of Irrigation in the South- 
west, from the earliest days on: T. H. Claus- 
sen, of the U. S. Reclamation Service. 

November 16—History of Transportation in the 
Southwest: G. A. Martin, of the El Paso Herald. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1398 


November 23—The Indian Wars in the Southwest: 
Alvin E. Null. 

November 30—The Present and Future of the 

' Southwest: H. D. Slater, of the El Paso Herald. 


The second annual meeting of the Southwest 
Division will be held in Tucson in the latter 
part of next January. It is expected that the 
meeting will be largely attended. There will 
be four scientific sections, instead of three, as 
at the last meeting. The Stewart Astronomical 
Observatory will be completed by that time, 
and Dr. Douglass hopes to dedicate it then as 
a special feature of the meeting. 


Exuiotr C. Prentiss, 
Chairman Executive Committee 


THE TORONTO MEETING OF THE AMERICAN 
ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCE- 
MENT OF SCIENCE 

THE engineering section of the American 
Association is arranging an important pro- 
gram for the Toronto meeting which will oc- 
cur from December 27 to 31, 1921. The 
arrangements for the engineering sessions 
are in charge of Mr. J. B. Tyrrell, min- 
ing engineer, of Toronto. The programs aim 
to present the application of science to the 
solution of engineering problems. Many of 
the addresses will deal especially with the 
recent accomplishments of scientific engi- 
neering in Canada. It will be shown how 
scientifically trained men have developed some 
of the natural resources of the Dominion 
and the means by which this has been accom- 
plished. Addresses already arranged are on 
the work accomplished by the Hydro-Electric 
Power Commission of Ontario; on the mines 
and mining plants of Canada including an 
account of prospecting in the northern wilder- 
nesses; on the explorations for oil carried out 
in the valley of the McKenzie River by the 
Imperial Oil Company, and on the work of 
the Toronto Harbor Commission in improy- 
ing the Toronto harbor for the accommoda- 
tion of ships of ocean draft. All of them, and 
especially those dealing with exploration in the 
far north, will be of interest not only to en- 
gineers but also to geographers and to every 
one interested in the out-of-doors. These ad- 


OctToser 14, 1921] 


dresses will generally be accompanied by illus- 
trations and in many cases by motion pic- 
tures. Other topics will be announced later. 


An exhibit of scientific apparatus will be 
a prominent feature of the forthcoming To- 
ronto meeting of the American Association. 
Preparations for the exhibit are in charge of 
a special committee, resident in Toronto, con- 
sisting of Professor E. F. Burton, chairman, 
Mr. L. E. Westman, secretary, Professor F. 
B. Kenrick and Professor R. B. Thomson. 
The University of Toronto will provide space 
for the exhibits, and exhibits of non-com- 
mercial institutions and private individuals 
will be exempt from a small charge made to 
commercial organizations to cover expenses. 
Those who contemplate taking part in this 
feature of the Toronto meeting should com- 
municate with the secretary of the special 
committee. 


REDUCED RAILROAD FARES for those attend- 
ing the annual meeting of the American As- 
sociation for the Advancement of Science at 
Toronto have been granted by four of the 
large passenger associations, which offer a 
rate of a fare and one-half, on the certificate 
plan, for the round trip. The railroad as- 
sociations that have granted the reduced rates 
are: The Canadian Passenger Association, 
which includes practically all of the Canadian 
railroads; The New England Passenger As- 
sociation, which includes the states of Maine, 
New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, 
Rhode Island and Connecticut; The Trunk 
Line Association, which includes the states 
of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New 
Jersey, Delaware, Virginia (in part), West 
Virginia (in part) and the District of Colum- 
bia; and The Central Passenger Association, 
which includes the states of Ohio, Indiana, 
Michigan and Illinois. Effort is now being 
made to secure reduced rates from the other 
passenger associations. A complete list of 
railroads offering reduced rates will be given, 
together with instructions regarding the pur- 
chase of tickets on the certificate plan, in the 
preliminary announcement of the Toornto 
meeting. 


SCIENCE 


303 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Dr. E. D. Bawn has resigned as assistant sec- 
retary of agriculture. He will remain at the 
department as director of scientific work. 


Proressor Mortimer Enwyn Cooney, dean 
of the college of engineering and architecture 
of the University of Michigan, has been elected 
president of the American Engineering Coun- 
cil of the Federated American Engineering So- 
cieties. 


Sm Wii1aM Pops has been elected an honor- 
ary fellow of the Canadian Institute of Chem- 
istry. 

Dr. Dwicut C. Barpwetr has left Berkeley, 
Cal., where he received his Ph.D. at the Uni- 
versity of California, to accept a position as 
assistant physical chemist at the Rare and 
Precious Metals Station of the U. S. Bureau 
of Mines at Reno, Nevada. Dr. Bardwell will 
work under Dr. S. C. Lind on research prob- 
lems presented by the radium at this station. 


James K. Ives has resigned his position as 
research associate and lecturer in physics at 
Clark University to become a physicist in the 
office of industrial hygiene and sanitation of 
the United States Public Health Service. His 
headquarters will be in Washington, D. C. 


Gurenn K. Matruews has accepted a position 
as research chemist in the photographic depart- 
ment of the Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, 
Ie Y% 


Dmector H. Foster Barn of the Bureau of 
Mines has appointed a board of engineers, con- 
sisting of Mr. M. H. Roberts, Dr. R. CG. Tol- 
man and Professor W. L. DeBaufre, to study 
the production of helium in Texas. 


Dr. Louis A. Bauer, director of the depart- 
ment of terrestrial magnetism of the Carnegie 
Institution of Washington, sailed from New 
York on October 5 to join the magnetic survey 
vessel, the Carnegie, at Balboa, Canal Zone. 
He will remain with her until the completion 
of the present cruise at Washington about the 
middle of November. Some special investiga- 
tions are to be undertaken in the Caribbean 
Sea and Atlantic Ocean during the homeward 
trip. 


354 


Director A. A. Jounson, of the New York 
State Institute of Applied Agriculture, who 
was in Armenia to study conditions for the 
establishment. of industrial and. agricultural 
schools, and later went to Moscow by the re- 
quest of Secretary Hoover to take charge of 
the food administration of the surrounding 
famine area, has completed his mission and has 
sailed for New York to resume his work. 


Dr. Stepuen S. VisHER, a Bishop Museum 
fellow of Yale University, is studying hur- 
ricanes and their effects on man and on the 
distribution of life in the Pacific. He is now 
in the Fiji Islands. : 


We learn from Nature that an expedition 
‘to Sumatra, under the leadership of Mr. C. 
Tockhart Cottle, is to sail towards the end 
of the year for the purpose of making zoologi- 
cal and museum collections. A special effort. 
will be made to obtain particulars of the life- 
history of the orang. 

Accorpine to the Journal of the American 
Medical Association, Dr. August Hermeier 
Wittenborg, professor of anatomy in the 
medical department of the University of Ten- 
nessee, has been refused citizenship in the 
United States. Failure to register for service 
in the war was given as the reason for the 
withdrawal of Dr. Wittenborg’s petition for 
naturalization. Dr. Wittenborg is a German 
by birth, but has resided in this country for 
several years. 


Dr. C. R. Stocxarn, professor of anatomy, 
Cornell University Medical College, will de- 
liver the First Harvey Society Lecture at the 
New York Academy of Medicine on Saturday 
evening, October 22, 1921, at eight-thirty. His 
subject will be “The Significance of Modifi- 
cations in Body Structure.” 


Tue first meeting of the Physics Club of 
the Bureau of Standards for the season will 
be held on October 17. The speaker will be 
Dr. A. L. Day, whose subject will be “The 
Study of California: Earth Movements.” This 
is to be the first of a series of about ten lec- 
tures on the general subject of physical 
measurements pertaining to the earth. Meet- 
ings of the Physics Club are held on consecu- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1398 


tive Monday afternoons at 4:30 in the as- 
sembly room of the east building of the 
Bureau of Standards and are open to all 
who may care to attend. 


Mr. J. H. Jeans, secretary to the Royal 
Society, has been appointed Halley lecturer 
for 1922, at Oxford University. 


Tue following lectures have been arranged 
for delivery at the Royal College of Physici- 
ans: The Mitchell lecture, on “The Rela- 
tions of Tuberculosis to General Conditions 
of the Body and Diseases other than Tubercu- 
losis,” by Dr. F. Parkes Weber, on November 
1; The Bradshaw lecture, on “ Subtropical 
Esculents,” by Dr. M. Grabham, on Novem- 
ber 3; and the Fitz-Patrick lecture, on “ Hip- 
pocrates in Relation to the Philosophy of his 
Time,” by Dr. R. O. Moon, on November 8 
and 10. 


Dr. Arno Benr, a well-known industrial 
chemist, Perkin Medalist and charter mem- 
ber of the American Chemical Society, has 
died-at his home in South Pasadena, Cal., in 
his seventy-fifth year. 


As has been noted in Science the board of 
curators of the University of Missouri has 
voted to establish a four year course in medi- 
cine as soon as hospital facilities can be pro- 
vided for clinical instruction. 
of years the medical course at the state univer- 


For a number 


sity has consisted of two years. We learn from 
the Journal of the American Medical Associa- 
tion that the extra session of the legislature, 
recently adjourned, appropriated $250,000 for 
the erection of a state hospital at Columbia for 
the purpose of providing clinical material for 
the medical students. It is expected that a 
similar sum will be appropriated at each ses- 
sion of the legislature until $1,000,000 has been 
appropriated for hospital facilities. The legis- 
lature also appropriated $200,000 for the eree- 
tion of a new building for State Hospital No. 
2 at St. Joseph. 


On September 22, President Harding by 
public proclamation accepted and added to the 
present Muir Woods National Monument, Cali- 
fornia, 128.14 acres of land, a gift to the 


OcroseR 14, 1921] 


United States from Mr. and Mrs. William 
Kent, of California, and from the Muir Woods 
and Mt. Tamalpais Railroad. The Muir Woods, 
a notable grove of redwood trees, became the 
property of the United States on June 9, 1908, 
when Theodore Roosevelt accepted 295 acres 
from Mr. and Mrs. Kent and proclaimed the 
area a national monument. Situated on the 
south slope of Mt. Tamalpais about seven miles 
in a direct line across the bay from San 
Francisco, it contains numerous redwood trees, 
reaching to a height of 300 feet and having a 
diameter at their base of 18 or more feet. 


Nature states that a joint research commit- 
tee has been formed by the National Benzole 
Association and the University of Leeds which 
will take over the direction of research in the 
extraction and utilization of benzole and sim- 
ilar products in England. The National 
Benzole Association is concerned with the pro- 
duction of crude and refined benzole, and, 
according to its constitution, one of its objects 
is to carry on, assist, and promote investiga- 
tion and research. The term “ benzole ” is used 
in its widest sense, so the field of activity of 
the association embraces carbonization and 
gasification processes, by-product coke-oven 
plants, gasworks, ete., but at the present time 
it is concerned mostly with the promotion of 
home production of light oil and motor spirit. 
Success in this direction is thought to rest 
largely with chemical investigations into the 
possibilities of the various processes concerned, 
and it is with this object that cooperation with 
the university is sought. The joint committee 
which has been formed consists of equal num- 
bers of representatives from the university and 
the association, and the initial membership is 
as follows: Professor J. W. Cobb, Professor J. 
B. Cohen, Professor A. G. Perkin, Professor 
Granville Poole, Professor A. Smithells, Mr. 
W. G. Adams, Dr. T. Howard Butler, Mr. S. 
Henshaw, Mr. S. A. Sadler, and Dr. E. W. 
Smith. Research work undertaken will be car- 
ried out under the supervision of Professor 
Cobb, and reports embodying the results will 
be published at intervals. 


Tue British Medical Journal writes: “ At 


SCIENCE 


395 


the request of the Surgeon-General of Trini- 
dad, made through the American consul in 
that island, the surgeon-general of the United 
States Public Health Service has, with the con- 
sent of the Treasury Department, undertaken 
to send to Trinidad a quantity of the chaul- 
moogra oil preparation used by that service for 
the treatment of leprosy. The amount to be 
supplied will be sufficient for 500 treatments. 
The courtesy of the United States government 
departments concerned must be freely acknowl- 
edged; but the fact that the government of the 
United States was applied to by the medical 
authorities of an important British colony for 
this assistance appears to show that there is 
something lacking in the relations between the 
colonial medical authorities abroad and at 
home, and in the cooperation between the dif- 
ferent British government departments, more 
particularly as the researches on the therapeu- 
tics of chaulmoogra oil in leprosy have been 


- largely carried out by distinguished officers of 


the Indian Medical Service.” 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 


THE General Education Board has given 
Vassar $500,000 to increase the salaries of the 
faculty. Toward this sum $100,000 has been 
promised by Mrs. Edward S. Harkness on 
condition that $1,500,000 more be raised within 
two years. 


Tue new medical building of the University 
of Alberta has now been completed. The sup- 
port of the people of the province has made pos- 
sible the establishment of a well-manned and 
well-equipped medical school, which together 
with several closely allied hospitals can under- 
take the thorough education of medical and 
dental practitioners. 

Dr. Joun Lee Coutrer has been elected 
president of the North Dakota Agricultural 
College. He takes the place occupied by Dr. 
E. F. Ladd, who was elected to the United 
States Senate last March. 

Dr. P. W. Wurrine, of St. Stephens Col- 
lege, Annandale-on-Hudson, N. Y., has re- 
signed to take up work as associate research 


356 


professor of eugenics in the child-welfare re- 
search station of the State University of Iowa. 


Dr. Ratepp F. Suaner, for several years 
connected with the department of anatomy of 
the Harvard Medical School, has entered on 
his work as assistant professor of anatomy in 
the University of Alberta. 


_ Dr. D. Burns, Grieve lecturer on physio- 
logical chemistry in the University of Glas- 
gow, has been appointed professor of physi- 
ology in the University of Durham College of 
Medicine, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in succes- 
sion to the late Professor J. A. Menzies. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


THE CAUSES OF WHITENESS IN HAIR AND 
FEATHERS 


My attention has recently been called to a 
statement by W.D. Bancroft? to the effect that 
white hair and feathers owe their color to the 
entrance of air into their structure. Similar 
statements have appeared elsewhere at vari- 
ous times, and this conception appears to be 
widespread. 

No one, to my knowledge, has ever present- 
ed any real evidence that either hair or 
feathers have any more air in them when 
white, than when colored. Furthermore it 
is quite unnecessary for them to have more 
air. J have never been able to see any 
difference in the structure of white hair and 
feathers as compared with colored hair and 
feathers, except for the presence or absence 
of pigment. 

In 1904, I made the statement, in an ad- 
dress, that hair and feathers are white for 
the same reason that powdered ice or glass 
and other transparent substances in a fine 
state of division appear white.? 

Hair consists of numerous cornified epi- 
thelial cells more or less incompletely fused 
together. In the case of human hair, most 
of the structure is cortical. These cells 
furnish a vast number of external and in- 


1 Applied Colloid Chemistry, 1921, p. 198. 

2See abstract in Biol. Bull., 1904, Vol. VI., No. 
6, p. 3811, for remarks about white feathers, See 
also Anat. Rec., 1918, No. 1, p. 52, for discussion 
of white hair. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1398 


ternal reflecting surfaces, as can be seen 
easily by placing a white hair on the micro- 
scope stage with no mounting fluid. When 
pigment is present, the incident light is more 
or less extensively absorbed, according to the 
amount of pigment, before reaching the deeper 
cells. The amount of undispersed light re- 
flected, of course depends on the number of 
internal reflecting surfaces not screened by 
pigment. There is always some reflection of 
undispersed light by the hair cuticle, no 
matter how much pigment is present. 

The white of feathers is produced mostly 
by the barbules which are of microscopic 
size and consist of single columns of cells. 

Hair and feathers have many times the 
surface, external and internal, provided by 
small bodies of similar mass but less intricate 
structure. According to a well-known law, 
the surface of a cube varies relatively to the 
volume inversely as the diameter. Thus a 


. cuboidal cell one tenth of a millimeter in 


diameter has ten times as much surface, rela- 
tively, as a body one millimeter in diameter. 
Furthermore, the amount of reflecting surface 
is increased by the irregular contour of the 
hair and feather elements. The total area of 
the vast number of facets in a single, unpig- 
mented hair or feather which are in a posi- 
tion to reflect light to the eye is relatively 
very great. 

White in hair and feather structures is due 
to failure or absence of pigment formation in 
the follicle before cornification takes place. 
I know of no critical evidence that either 
hair or feather structure can become white in 
any other way. The process is therefore slow, 
and the time required for a change to white 
is determined by the rate of growth. 

Similar views are expressed in an article 
by Stieda? where a discussion of the origin 
of the notion that hair may suddenly become 
white is discussed in detail. 

R. M. Strone 


LoyoLa UNIVERSITY ScHOooL oF MEDICINE, 
CuicaGo, ILL. 


3Verh. der Gesellsch. Deutscher Naturforsch. 
und Aerzte., 1910, Bd. 81, 8. 222-224; also Anat. 
Hefte, 1910, Bd. 40, H. 2. 


OcToBER 14, 1921] 


SIDEWALK MIRAGES 

To THE Eprror or Science: A number of 
communications, published in Science during 
the past year, on “ Sidewalk mirages” having 
recently come to my attention, I would like 
to add my experience with this phenomenon to 
those which have been related. I have driven 
over a stretch of road, part asphalt and part 
concrete, daily for the past two years, and 
have looked for mirages under every condi- 
tion of the weather. Over the distance of 
the three miles of roadway I have marked 
every spot where the mirage occurs. 

The nature of the road surface seems im- 
material, but the effect of a “water surface” 
can be obtained wherever the level of the 
eye approaches that of the road surface. The 
mirage is not visible in cold winter weather 
and it is best during the very hot days in July 
and August. I believe that the intensity of 
the effect is unquestionably a function of the 
temperature of the road surface and the air 
immediately above it. That one observes a 
true mirage in this phenomenon and not a 
simple reflection can be demonstrated by the 
fact that an object “ mirrored ” on one of these 
surfaces will show an angle of incidence of 
probably 45° or greater, whereas the angle 
of reflection is, as stated previously by another 
observer, very small, approximating a few de- 
grees only. 

Mirror-like effects on asphalt roads are com- 
mon, but have not the clarity of the images 
seen in a mirage, nor can mirror effects, due 
to reflection simply, be seen on a concrete road, 
so far as I have observed. 

The position of the sun is of no influence, 
as mirages have been observed at the same 
spot at all times of the day. 

AuLan F. ODELL 

Carngey’s Point, N. J. 


DISCOVERY OF A PREHISTORIC ENGRAVING 
REPRESENTING A MASTODON 


To rue Epiror or Science: It may be of 
interest to you to learn of the recent reex- 
amination of Jacobs’ Cavern, a prehistoric 
rock-shelter located in extreme southwest 
Missouri, some three miles from Pineville, 
county seat of McDonald County. This 


SCIENCE 


357 


cavern was examined by Dr. Charles Peabody 
and Mr. Warren K. Moorehead, of Phillips 
Academy, in 1903, report of their examina- 
tion appearing in 1904 in Bulletin No. 1, 
“ Exploration of Jacobs’ Cavern.” 

Subsequent periodical and amateur investi- 
gations carried on by the writer, who now 
owns the land upon which this cavern is 
located, have resulted in the discovery of a 
number of very interesting artifacts. Chief 
among these are bone and horn awls, flint 
implements, engraved and polished imple- 
ments of stone, and shaft straighteners and 
smoothers. Portions of an adult human skele- 
ton, accompanied by an engraved sandstone 
pipe, have also been found. 

The latest discovery was made on April 17, 
1921, when the writer and Mr. Vance Ran- 
dolph exhumed several engraved, perforated, 
and otherwise ornamented bones. These were 
apparently firm and sound but as a precaution- 
ary measure pen drawings were made im- 
mediately. Nevertheless, upon being examin- 
ed a few weeks later, it was found that the 
bones were rapidly disintegrating. Immediate 
preservative treatment was resorted to but 
was so limited by local conditions that it was 
found impossible to save more than the most 
important specimen. 

In many respects this bone is very inter- 
esting. One side bears an engraving which 
prominent archeologists have agreed seems to 
resemble a mammoth or mastodon. The re- 
verse side bears two rows of parallel zigzag 
lines, lengthwise of the bone, the design cor- 
responding closely with those found on the 
sandstone pipe. This design is also ac- 
companied by another evidently intended to 
represent some member of the deer family. 

The writer felt that Phillips Academy was 
naturally entitled to priority rights of reex- 
amination of the cavern. However, Mr. 
Moorehead found it impossible to visit the 
cavern and recommended that Dr. Clark Wiss- 
ler, of the American Museum of Natural 
History, make the examination. Dr. Wissler 
is now on the ground for that purpose. 

Photographs of the most important speci- 
mens are in process of preparation and a 


358 


detailed report of operations will be made 
public as soon as practicable. 


Jay L. B. Taytor 
PINEVILLE, Mo. 


SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR PHOTOGRAPHING 
FOSSILS 

For some time the writer, when photograph- 
ing fossils, has used the whitening process con- 
tributed by Professor S. H. Williams, but, 
with many others, he has found it not al- 
together satisfactory. In order that the 
whitened specimen should contrast with a 
white background it has been necessary to 
over-expose or over-develop the prints. Be- 
cause of this, many of the minor details of fos- 
sils, have been lost in reproduction, and the 
pictures, as a rule, have seemed flat and “ life- 
less.” In addition, it is usually the practise 
to opaque the background of the negative as an 
aid in determining how far to carry the de- 
velopment of the print. This process is pains- 
taking and slow at best. 

Some time ago, the writer, with the assis- 
tance of Mr. Parke Bryan, developed a slight 
variation in the photographing of whitened 
fossils that seems to be a decided improve- 
ment. The time required is materially short- 
ened, in that the negative requires no 
opaquing, and the results are so gratifying in 
the way of improved reproductions that it 
seems worth while to outline briefly the 
method. 

The method is a combination of the com- 
mon lighting arrangement used in portrait 
photography, and the whitening process of 
Professor Williams. The specimen is mounted 
on a slender stick with modeling clay and then 
coated with a thin film of white. A dull white 
background, placed some distance behind the 
specimen, is turned at an angle such that it 
receives the full light but does not reflect it 
toward the camera. After the photographing 
table is orientated so as to give the conven- 
tional light direction and the desired light- 
shade contrast to the relief features, a screen 
is placed between the specimen and the source 
of light so as to intercept the direct rays. The 
sereen consists of one or more thicknesses of 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1398 


cheesecloth sewed on a wire frame, the num- 
ber of thicknesses depending on the intensity 
of the light. Every feature of the fossil now 
shows clearly on the ground glass of the 
camera, although the specimen appears dark 
against a pure white back. 

It has been found that the shadows on the 
under side and away from the light source are 
more intense than the image on the ground 
glass indicates, and except in the case of rela- 
tively flat specimens it has been necessary to 
use a slight back reflection. A sheet of dull 
finish white cardboard held at the proper 
angle has in every case been’sufficient for this 
purpose. If an actinometer is used to deter- 
mine the time of exposure, it is obviously the 
light of the shaded specimen that is to be 
tested. 

Maurice G. Menu 

DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY, 

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Vitamines: Essential Food Factors. By BEn- 
JAMIN Harrow, Ph.D. New York, E. P. 
Dutton & Oo., 1921. Pp. 219. Price $2.50. 
The author of this book has been at great 

pains to popularize a subject which the laity 
will certainly be glad to have so clearly pre- 
sented. About half the volume is prelimin- 
ary to the specific topic; it is a general 
account of nutrition and the story is well 
told. One is disposed to wonder whether 
readers who require such a very elementary 
introduction will appreciate the later chap- 
ters which are of necessity more difficult. 
However, a rare degree of order and sim- 
plicity is maintained to the end. The writer 
has a judicial attitude; he does not assert 
opinions of his own but quotes others with 
fairness and has evidently been in corre- 
spondence with the leading investigators that 
he may accurately express their views. 

Of course not much space can be devoted 
to controverted matters in a book of this 
character. But a dogmatic tone is avoided. 
It should be plain to the reader that many 
problems await solution. Among the ques- 
tions not fully settled may be mentioned the 


Octoser 14, 1921] 


following: whether rickets is due to lack of 
Fat Soluble A, whether there is an antiscor- 
butie vitamine (Water Soluble C), and in 
what sense pellagra may be rated as a defi- 
ciency disease. All the material is handled 
in a cautious and modest way with the result 
that no encouragement is given to faddists 
of any kind. 
Percy G. Stes 


EXPERIMENTS ON THE RECORDING 
AND REPRODUCTION OF CAR- 
DIAC AND RESPIRATORY 
SOUNDS 


We have recently conducted experiments 
at the Bureau of Standards in which perma- 
nent records of cardiac and respiratory sounds 
have been made and reproduced by the use of 
a telegraphone. The records have also been 
made audible throughout the room with the 
aid of audion amplifiers and a loud-speaking 
telephone. 

A carbon telephone transmitter of ordinary 
type with a rubber adapter substituted for the 
mouthpiece was used for the stethoscope. 
The currents from the telephone transmitter 
were amplified by means of a five-stage audion 
amplifier which was connected to the record- 
ing element of a steel wire telegraphone. The 
magnetic records of the cardiae and respira- 
tory sounds thus obtained were made audible 
by connecting telephone receivers to the 
telegraphone in the usual manner. The tele- 
graphone currents were also amplified by 
means of a three-stage audion amplifier 
which was connected to a loud speaking tele- 
phone. In this way the sounds were made 
audible throughout the room. 

This method of obtaining permanent rec- 
ords of cardiac and respiratory sounds and 
of reproducing them offers interesting pos- 
sibilities in the study of normal and patholog- 
ical conditions of the heart and lungs and 
their demonstration to an audience for pur- 
pose of instruction. 

Frankun L. Hunt 

BUREAU OF STANDARDS 


Maenus J. Myres 
MEpIcaL Corps, U. S. A. 


SCIENCE 


359 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


THE SEPARATION OF THE ELEMENTS CHLO- 
RINE AND MERCURY INTO ISOTOPES 


In Scrmence of March, 1920, Harkins and 
Broeker reported that they had obtained a 
separation of chlorine into isotopes by dif- 
fusing hydrogen choride gas. The separation 
at that time amounted to an increase of 
atomic weight equal to 0.055 unit, or a 
change of density amounting to 1,550 parts 
per million. This separation has been defin- 
itely confirmed by Dr. Anson Hayes and the 
writer, who have secured an increase of 0.04 
unit of atomic weight in a larger quantity 
of material. Elaborate purifications have been 
resorted to, and definite evidence has been 
secured to show that the increase in density 
found is actual, and not due to impurities. 
The details of this work were supposed to 
have been printed in the August number of 
the Journal of the American Chemical So- 
ciety. However, since the date of publication 
of this number is doubtful on account of the 
printers’ strike, it seemed advisable to answer 
here the considerable number of inquiries as 
to whether we have secured definite evidence 
of the separation. 

About six months after our notice of the 
separation of chlorine into isotopes had been 
published, Bronsted and von Hevesy pub- 
lished a notice in Nature indicating that they 
had separated mercury into isotopes. How- 
ever, since the extent of the density change 
reported by them was only about one thirtieth 
of that previously obtained by us in the case 
of chlorine, it seemed to us that the evidence 
for this separation of mercury was incon- 
clusive, since a change of 50 parts per million 
in density might be due to minute amounts of 
impurities. In order to see if they could con- 
firm these results, Dr. R. S. Mulliken and the 
writer have vaporized mercury at low pres- 
sures. The mercury was carefully purified 
by five fractional distillations in air at low 
pressures, and one in a high vacuum, after 
initial purifications with nitrie acid. The 
increase in density obtained amounts to 69 
parts, and the decrease to 64 parts or a total 


360 


change of density of 133 parts per million, 
or 0.027 unit of atomic weight. 

The evidence that a separation has actually 
been obtained rests in the quantitative agree- 
ment between our results and those of Bron- 
sted and von Heyvesy, with respect to the rate 
of separation (efficiency of process). If we 
consider the efficiency of our more ideal ap- 
paratus as 100 per cent., that of the other 
investigators is 75 per cent. while that of our 


less ideal apparatus used in the greater part. 


of the work in order to save the expense of 
carbon dioxide as a cooling agent, was 93 
per cent. when the vaporization was slow, and 
as low as 80 per cent. for a rapid vaporiza- 
tion. We have obtained evidence that there 
is a slight separation of isotopes produced 
when mercury is distilled slowly at a sufli- 
ciently low pressure. 

The rate of separation of two isotopes 
varies as the square of the difference of their 
atomic (or molecular) weights, and the prod- 
uct of their mol fractions, as the logarithm 
of the cut, and inversely as the atomic (or 
molecular) weight. 

A diffusion coefficient has been calculated 
to represent the relative separation of isotopes 
attained in terms of the atomic weight change, 
when a definite cut is made. The values are 
0.00843 for neon, 0.00868 for magnesium, 
0.00450 for lithium, 0.00758 for nickel, while 
the experimentally determined coefficient for 
mercury is 0.00570. For chlorine the coeff- 
cient is 0.00950 for hydrogen chloride, 0.00690 
for methyl chloride, 0.00494 for chlorine, 
0.00413 for methylene chloride, 0.00295 for 
chloroform, and 0.00229 for carbon tetrachlo- 
ride. 

It is of interest to note that there are 9 
isotopic forms of MgCl, (or more if there 
is a chlorine of atomic weight equal to 39), 
7 of C,Cl,, and if mercury consists of 6 
isotopes, there are 63 isotopic forms of 
Hg,Cl,. In addition to this most of the 
isotopic forms of C,Cl, consist of a number 
of space isomers. 

Wituiam D. Harkins 


UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, 
August 30, 1921 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1398 


AN ARTIFICIAL NERVE 


PuysioLocists are keenly interested in all 
attempts to discover an explanation or an 
analogy for the passage of the nerve stimulus. 
Most enlightening suggestions have recently 
been presented by Lillie! in his studies of 
passivity phenomena in pure iron wires. It 
seems that the transmission of the momen- 
tary wave of activity which occurs in a pas- 
sive iron wire on activation in 70% nitric 
acid is closely analogous both chemically and 
electrically to the passage of the nerve im- 
pulse. 

The general similarity of the two phenom- 
ena was apparently first noticed by Wilhelm 
Ostwald and subsequently elaborated by his 
student Heathcote.2 In a paper published in 
1907 under the caption “ Transmission along 
a nerve” (p. 909) Heathcote writes as fol- 
lows: 


In 1900, then, Prof. Ostwald called our attention 
to the possibility of nerve transmission being a 
process akin to the transmission of activity... . 
It is to be expected . . . that transmission of ac- 
tivity would be slower immediately after the first 
transmission owing to products of reaction around 
the iron. This has been confirmed by direct ex- 
periments in the case of iron in nitric acid. An 
effect of this kind in a nerve would explain the 
nature of ‘‘fatigue’’ so far as it concerns nerves. 


After discussing the small amount of energy 
consumption in both transmissions Heathcote 
summarizes his conclusions as follows: 


There is nothing in the structure of nerve which 
renders it impossible to regard transmission as 
occurring in a way which is analogous to the 
transmission of activity along passive iron... . It 
appears possible too that the network in proto- 
plasm may be a layer capable of transmitting 
changes in a similar way and which manifest them- 
selves aS an essential part of the mechanism of 
irritability. 


It is not surprising that Heathcote’s paper 
should have escaped the attention of physiolo- 

1 Lillie, R. S., 718, Scmnce, 43, 51; 720, J. 
General Physiol., 3, 107. 

2 Heathcote, H. L., ’07, J. Soc. Chem. Indus- 
tries, 26, 899. 


Octosrer 14, 1921] 


gists. Lillie’s independent rediscovery of 
this analogy, however, and his detailed studies 
and analysis strengthen the probability of a 
fundamental relation subsisting between the 
two phenomena. 

The passage of the wave of activation over 
the surface of a short wire is so rapid, that 
it is not easily demonstrated to a large group 
of students. The simple arrangement here 
described is clearly visible at a considerable 
distance and has been used successfully as a 
lecture table demonstration. 

Nine and a half meters of a ten-meter piece 
of number 20 piano wire are wound by hand 
on a machine lathe into a spring small enough 
to slip easily into a 100cc. burette. After 
stretching the spring sufficiently to insulate 
the individual turns, a glass tube is inserted 
in the spring and the remaining half meter 
of wire is returned through this tube. When 


SCIENCE 


361 


set into the burette the upper end of this tube 
should just reach the burette top (Fig. 1). 
The two free ends of the piano wire are now 
connected through thin iron. wires with a 
demonstration galvanometer or voltmeter 
which registers both positive and negative 
variations. After filling the burette three 
quarters with 70 per cent. cp. nitric acid 
(by volume) the spring coil is lowered into it 
until about an inch of the lower end of the 
coil is submerged in the acid. The submerged 
inch of wire immediately begins to dissolve 
but if the coil is held in this position until 
chemical action ceases, the entire wire may 
be lowered into the acid without further 
action. In other words by passifying one end 
of a wire and then slowly lowering the re- 
mainder of that wire into acid the entire 
piece is passified. To prevent activation the 
wire must be lowered slowly and _ steadily. 
The coil is now ready to be tested at intervals 
with a zine or copper “stimulus” applied 
just at the surface of the nitric acid at the 
top of the burette. After a somewhat variable 
latent period the entire spring becomes 
activated. The wave of activation passes 
down the coil and back through the return 
wire registering a diphasic “action current” 
on the galvanometer. 

In its passage down the spring the activa- 
tion wave sets free a shower of minute bub- 
bles which change the color of the acid suf- 
ficiently to make the wave of activity clearly 
visible even at some distance from the prepar- 
ation. This preparation recovers rapidly at 
room temperature and may be used repeated- 
ly to demonstrate mechanical, chemical and 
electrical stimulation as well as the time re- 
quired for the passage of a single activation 
wave over a distance of ten meters. At the 
close of the demonstration the coil should be 
removed from the burette, thoroughly rinsed 
in slightly alkine water and alcohol and 
rubbed briskly with a rough cloth. With 
these precautions it may be used repeatedly. 


Reynoup A. SPAETH 


THE PHYSIOLOGICAL LABORATORY, 
ScHooL or HYGIENE AND PUBLIC HEALTH, 
JOHNS HopKINS UNIVERSITY 


362 


THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL 
SOCIETY 
II 

Propylene glycol dinitrate: CHARLES E. MUNROE. 
During the Great War not only was the demand for 
glycerine for use in making nitroglycerin greatly 
increased, but, as glycerine is normally produced 
from fats and oils which grew in demand for use 
in food, there was a special shortage in the supply. 
A promising substitute, though not a full equiva- 
lent for this, was found in propylene glycol dini- 
trate. Propylene glycol dinitrate is a nitric ester 
produced by the nitration of one of the isomeric 
forms of propylene glycol, which latter is the sec- 
ond member of: the group of dihydroxy alcohols or 
glycols. The nitration of the glycol to produce this 
explosive is carried on in the same manner and with 
the use of the same acids as that of glycerine to 
produce nitroglycerine and the product has a simi- 
lar appearance to the latter. The results of tests 
reported show that this propylene glycol dinitrate 
may be used as nitroglycerine is in the manufac- 
ture of dynamites and blasting gelatins. It is 
found to be less sensitive, to have a lower freezing 
point, to be decidedly more volatile, and to develop 
less strength than nitroglycerine, but in an emer- 
gency it may be efficiently used as an explosive, 
especially in mining and other industrial operations. 


Further investigations concerning the relations 
between terrestrial magnetism, terrestrial elec- 
tricity, and solar activity: Louis A. BAurr. The 
following chief facts have resulted from the present 
investigation: (1) The earth’s average intensity of 
magnetism, as well as the strength of the electric 
currents circulating in the earth’s crust, decreases 
with increased solar activity. The change between 
minimum and maximum sunspot activity in the case 
of the former may amount to six per cent. and 
more and in the case of the latter one hundred per 
cent. and more. (2) The atmospheric potential- 
gradient, or the deduced negative charge on the 
surface of the earth, increases with increased solar 
activity, the range in the variation between mini- 
mum and maximum sunspot activity being about 15 
to 20 per cent. The electric conductivity of the 
atmosphere, on the other hand, shows but little, if 
any, systematic variations during the sunspot cycle. 
Accordingly, since the vertical conduction-current 
of atmospheric electricity is derived from the prod- 
uct of the potential-gradient and the electric con- 
ductivity, it is found that this vertical current 
increases in strength with increased solar activity; 
the range of the variation between the minimum 
and maximum sunspot activity is about 20 to 25 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1398 


per cent. It would thus appear that atmospheric 
electricity, like terrestrial magnetism, is controlled 
by cosmic factors. These new results have an im- 
portant bearing upon theories of atmospheric elee- 
tricity. (3) Regarding the daily and monthly flue- 
tuations in terrestrial magnetism, earth currents, 
and atmospheric electricity, as measured by the 
quantity, H R, where # is the intensity of the field 
and & the range in the element during the period 
considered, it is found that while in general, the 
magnetic and earth-current fluctuations increase 
with increased solar activity, the electric fluctua- 
tions, as shown by potential-gradient observations, 
apparently decrease with inereased solar activity. 
(The latter result, however, should be regarded as 
but a preliminary one and it is receiving further 
investigation.) (4) Instead of using the sunspot 
numbers direct for comparison with magnetic and 
electric variations, it is found that a more satisfae- 
tory measure of solar activity may be based upon 
the monthly range of sunspot frequency, or upon 
the average numerical departure of the daily sun- 
spot numbers from the mean of the month. In 
brief, there is indicated that a better measure of 
the radiations and emanations affecting the earth’s 
magnetie and electric conditions is some quantity 
measuring the variability, or rate of change, in the 
sunspot numbers, rather than the numbers them- 
selves. By measuring in this manner the variations 
in solar activity, and adopting a similar measure 
with regard to the solar constant values obtained 
by the Smithsonian Institution at Calama, Chili, for 
the two years 1919 to 1920, a good agreement, on 
the whole, is found between the two sets of meas- 
ures of solar activity. 


On mean relative and absolute parallaxes : KEIVIN 
Burns. This paper shows that the mean parallax 
of a group of stars, distributed at random, is 3.56 
times the mean total proper motion divided by the 
mean total (uncorrected) radial velocity. By this 
formula the mean parallax was computed for the 
bright stars of each spectral class. The results are 
in good agreement with those obtained by Camp- 
bell, who used radial velocities freed from the 
motion of the sun and the tau components of 
proper motion. The newer method is much less 
laborious. 

The mean parallax for those stars whose relative 
parallax has been observed was computed and the 
correction to reduce to absolute was derived. This 
was found to be 0.010. This correction is the mean 
parallax of the comparison stars, which is in fair 
agreement with the value derived from the mean 
proper motion of these stars. 


SCIENC 


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SCIENCE 


ae 
Frmay, Octosrr 21, 1921. 


The Direction of the Evolution of Science and 
the Place of Sigma Xi in such Evolution: 


PROFESSOR Ross AIKEN GORTNER ......... 363 
The Relation of Chemical Training to Indus- 

try: DR. WALTER H. COOLIDGE ............ 367 
Anthropology in the Medical Curriculum: Dr. 

RABENNEDTIBEAN eye ceciierece rises clerlcee 371 
Scientific Events: 

The Film Photophone; Radium for Eng- 

land; Biology in South China; Committee of 

the U. S. Department of Agriculture on 

Land Utilization; The Director of the Mellon 

! EDTSGTTIONS MACLS HMO iaD Inia pity Ea inate t eH amen Be 373 
Scientific Notes and News .................- 376 
University and Educational News ........... 377 
Discussion and Correspondence: 

An Ideal Host: Dr. Rrynotp A. SPAETH. A 

Remedy for Mange in White Rats: Dr. 

ARTHUR PHA SMUT EG Mest iste ti-titiersisieiter ei): 377 
Quotations: 

The Technicians in Industry .............. 378 
Scientific Books: 

Choulant’s History and Bibliography of 

Anatomic Illustration: Proressor F. T. 

Lewis. Morse’s Observations on Living Gas- 

teropods of New England: Paut Bartscu.. 379 
Venomous Spiders: Proressor ALBERT M. 

TREE SHA eictovaysiags theta esac ees teeter alles 382 
Special Articles: 

Prevalence and Distribution of Fungi In- 

ternal of Seed Corn: Dr. T. F. MANNS AND 

IDG 1) AIS So oN son pbb sebooaeie 385 
The General Meeting of the American Chemical 

Society: Dr. CHARLES L. PARSONS ........ 387 
The American Philosophical Society ......... 389 


MSS. intended for ‘publication and books, etc.,intended for 
review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. 


———— 
THE DIRECTION OF THE EVOLUTION 
OF SCIENCE AND THE PLACE OF 
SIGMA XI IN SUCH EVOLUTION 1 


I ReEcENTLY read Professor Conklin’s book 
“The Direction of Human Evolution” and 
his thesis so impressed me that I wish to 
apply his methods of analysis to-night to 
the subject of the evolution of science. 

Dr. Conklin believes that the direction 
which human evolution will travel can be 
more or less accurately predicted by studying 
the path that evolution has already traveled 
and analyzing such knowledge so as to arrive 
at the basic laws which have governed the 
evolution of the past and presumably will 
govern the evolution of the future. Let us 
therefore apply his methods to the general 
field of science and view in retrospect the 
past and attempt to postulate the future. 

When science actually began will probably 
never be known. It probably began in a rudi- 
mentary form soon after man evolved into 
a more or less intelligent being, for the dis- 
covery of the art of making fire was a scien- 
tific discovery of exceedingly great value to 
the human race. The recording of scientific 
observations probably goes back nearly to the 
beginning of written history, and when one 
contemplates the contributions of some of the 
earlier workers to science, one wonders whether 
or not we ourselves have actually progressed 
very far. We are accustomed to ascribe to 
Copernicus and his school the belief that the 
earth was not flat but a sphere and that it 
revolved about the sun and yet 1800 years 
before Copernicus was born Heraclites of 
Pontus (about 875 B.c.) stated that the earth 
revolved on its axis from west to east once 
in twenty-four hours and that the earth, 
Mercury and Venus revolved about the sun. 
Aristarchus of Lamos (about 270 B.o.) found 

1 Presidential address, University of Minnesota 
chapter of Sigma Xi, June 13, 1921. 


364 


that the poles were not fixed but oscillated 
in a circle and he fixed the diameter of that 
circle and the period of revolution so ac- 
curately that only the most modern instru- 
ments can detect the small amount that he 
was in error. 

Perhaps the most noteworthy of: the ancient 
scientists was Hipparchus of Rhodes (about 
146 B.c.). He discovered the procession of the 
equinoxes due to a slight progressive shifting 
in the equinoxial points where the celestial 
equator and the ecliptic meet, and predicted, 
with almost modern exactness, the period in 
which the plane of the earth’s excentric orbit 
would shift from maximum to maximum. He 
determined the length of the year within six 
minutes. He established the Tropics of Capri- 
corn and Cancer within twenty-four miles of 
their present location and in order to do 
this he invented the science of trigonometry. 
Surely many a modern worker would have 
rested on his laurels after such a feat. Never- 
theless he was not content to rest here but 
prepared a star catalogue of more than 1,000 
stars, his list of constellations being the basis 
of the one used at present. One can but 
wonder what such a genius would have ac- 
complished had he had modern instruments 
and libraries. 

The few old manuscripts that are extant 
tell a wonderous story of science under Egypt 
and early Greece and we can only wonder 
how many more of the modern “ discoveries ” 
were known to the ancients. Conklin believes 
that human evolution reached its crest in the 
Golden Age of Greece, for he states that 
Greece produced more great geniuses in that 
period of 200 years than have ever been pro- 
duced in a like period before or since. He 
believes that eugenically the Greeks at that 
time were a superior race and that inbreeding 
with their captive races and later with their 
conquerors has lowered, as it inevitably would, 
their potentialities for genius. 

But modern science is not derived from the 
knowledge of the ancients. At no time in 
the ancient order of things was education the 
prerogative of every man. Knowledge was 
rather held to be the property of a secluded 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1399 


few and was passed on from the master to a 
few chosen disciples, so that with the advent 
of the Dark Ages the light of science soon 
died out until only a few sparks were left 
here and there. Meanwhile those nations 
which had stood foremost in the ancient learn- 
ing became the vassals of other and less en- 
lightened powers. The Alexandrian Museum, 
the repository of all the ancient lore, had been 
burned by the Turks, and many of the surviv- 
ing manuscripts had been destroyed by the 
order of the Church. Consequently with 
the revival of learning men did not turn to 
existing knowledge as found in written form, 
but they began to construct anew the story 
of the earth and its natural wonders. We 
have thus two cycles of evolution from which 
to chose in drawing our analogy as to what 
the future may hold. Because of the fact 
that we know only fragments of the earlier 
story, it seems best to ignore it entirely and 
to draw our conclusions as to the future from 
the evolution of science since the Dark Ages. 

One can not but wonder, however, whether 
such a catastrophe as the Dark Ages will ever 
again occur—whether our present knowledge 
will again be lost in fanaticism and bigotry. 
We hope and trust that such can never be, 
but when we think of what has happened in 
Russia within the past five years, when we 
read in Scrence of only last week how the 
foremost scientists of Russia are dying of 
hunger, cold and disease; how all scientific 
progress in that great nation has stopped, 
we can not be assured that another dark age 
will never come—we can only hope the tide 
will not sweep over the rest of the world. 
Had any one prophesied the present condition 
of Russia fifteen years ago he would have been 
laughed at as a dreamer, and we must re- 
member that the Dark Ages of 400-1000 a. p. 
extended over a territory measured in square 
miles scarcely greater than that covered by 
the present scientific blanket of 1921. Only 
the wide expanse in which science holds sway 
at present has prevented a second “ Dark 
Age.” 

The Revival of Learning following the Dark 
Ages was a slow and tedious process. The 


OcTosER 21, 1921] = 


search for the Philosopher’s Stone and the 
Elixir of life retarded rather than furthered 
its progress, for the element of secrecy was 
all important upon such a quest, and science 
can not forge ahead under such a handicap. 
The scientist who prosecutes his studies from 
a selfish motive may personally succeed, but 
he can never hope to be listed among those 
names which are revered in later’ generations. 
When we think of the illustrious names which 
stand out in scientific history there is a 
remarkable unanimity in the fact that almost 
without exception they were pushing forward 
the field of knowledge purely for the joy that 
it gave them and not for fame or pecuniary 
reward. : 
The first great class of men to whom 
science owes an incalculable debt are the 
“naturalists””—men like Linneus, Darwin, 
the Agassizes, Humboldt, who were at home in 
almost any field, and who have recorded 
observations on almost every subject. Dr. 
Woodward, former president of the Carnegie 
Institution of Washington, once said that 
science must pass through five stages: 


1. The bug hunting, rock naming: stage, 2.e., 
the observational stage. 

2. The classification stage in which existing 
knowledge is put in order. 

3. The experimental stage in which new con- 
ditions are imposed and new facts 
gained. 

4. The theorizing stage in which the results 
of observation and experimentation 
are drawn together in the form of laws, 
and lastly 

5. The mathematical stage—the expression of 
these laws of nature in mathematical 
formule. 


The naturalists belonged largely to the 
first and second of these stages. To them 
we owe a considerable part of our present 
knowledge of the nature of the earth and its 
flora and fauna. 

We can all appreciate the relative simplicity 
of the science of their time if we contemplate 
what they were able to do. Is there any one 
among you who would be willing to act as 


SGimnce (x OC] 321921 “4 


365 


geologist, — mineralogist, \\ botanist, zoologist, 
meteorologist, anthropologist, archeologist, 
ete., on an expedition into an unknown land 
and who would guarantee that on the com- 
pletion of the expedition you would undertake 
to write up the scientific results in such a 
form that the work would be a classic in all 
respects? I dare say not, and yet that was 
what the naturalists did. Science was in its 
infaney—almost every observation was new— 
and a genius could be authority in many 
fields. The day of the naturalist, in the 
sense that J am using it, has passed. Science 
is too complex. 

We then pass to the experimental stage. 
Only a few years ago this was a new field 
of work. We began to tear down, to dissect, 
to study, to build up, and how much we have 
accomplished. In 1828 Wohler prepared urea, 
the first “ organic” compound to be artificial- 
ly synthesized. The “organic” compounds 
were supposed to be created only by “ organ- 
ized” life. Since that time at least 150,000 
organic compounds have been synthesized in- 
eluding the alizarine, which wiped out the 
cultivation of the madder in France, indigo, 
which threatened for a time to bring starva- 
tion to thousands in India because of the 
destruction of the indigo plantations, and 
even the “purple of Tyre,” secreted by a 
molluse, and which dyed the royal robes of 
ancient Asia Minor, has yielded its secret to 
the chemist, 1.5 grams of 6.6 di brom indigo 
being obtained from 12,000 shellfish. It can 
now be purchased in pound lots from chemi- 
cal firms. 

During this period of evolution science be- 
came more complex. The field of knowledge 
in which one could become proficient became 
more narrow. We have scientists who were 
authority only on chemistry, or on zoology, or 
on physics, or on botany, ete., but each had a 
very wide and complete knowledge of his 
chosen branch. To be sure when a professor 
was appointed to a chair in a university dur- 
ing this period he might be expected to 
lecture in a related or nearly related field. 
For example, the chemist might be expected 
to lecture on geology, mineralogy or crystal- 


366 


lography, the botanist to lecture on zoology, 
and the mathematician on physics or astrono- 
my. Nevertheless specialization was _ be- 
ginning, science was growing. 

To some of the younger members present, 
this period may seem to be long passed. Just 
as an illustration I may say that I received 
my first lectures in chemistry, geology, 
mineralogy and crystallography from one pro- 
fessor, and my physics and mathematics from 
another. 

The next period succeeded in rapid succes- 
sion—a professor was expected to be expert 
in only one science, but a chemist must know 
inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physi- 
eal chemistry, analytical chemistry, assaying, 
etc., and what is more he was expected to 
teach all of these branches with equal facility 
and authority. The botanist must know 
morphology, taxonomy, cytology, bacteriology, 
physiology, ete. not only of one group of 
plants, but of all groups and teach and direct 
research workers in all branches, and so on for 
the other sciences. This period is rapidly 
passing and will soon be gone. 

To-day we have narrowed our field. The 
mass of facts and theories in any branch of 
science has accumulated so rapidly, the 
scientific workers have so multiplied, that in 
a few years we will be fortunate if we can 
claim authority in a narrow branch of a 
special field. The evolution of the scientific 
journals is proof of this evolution. We have 
colloid journals for the colloid chemist, physi- 
cal-chemical journals for the physical chemist, 
organic-chemical journals for the organic 
chemist, food journals for the food chemist, 
biological journals for the biological chemist, 
cereal-chemical journals for the cereal chemist, 
and so on ad infinitum. There is no end— 
there can be no end if science is to continue 
The same situation holds for 
They have their physiological 
and ecological journals. The physicist has 
those journals which specialize in radio 
activity, electricity, etc., and in the medical 
field there is possibly an even greater range 
of specialization than in any other. 

Such is the situation to-day—where is it 


its evolution. 
the botanist. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1399 


to end? It is not to end! As scientific work- 
ers increase in number, as the mass of scien- 
tific knowledge increases while the mind of 
man remains limited in the amount of infor- 
mation which it can properly assimilate, we 
must more and more become a group of 
specialists centering our intensive study upon 
a narrower and narrower field. The special- 
ization that we have seen in medical science 
is only a special instance of the future of all 
science. The university of the future will 
have a professor of radium, a professor of the 
structure of the atom, and another professor 
of the a particle or the atomic nucleus,— 
yes, even a professor of the electron. 

The time of the naturalist has passed, the 
time of the broad scientist is passing, the day 
of the specialist is dawning—has, in some 
instances, actually arrived. Science is sweep- 
ing forward with tremendous strides, and I 
do not envy the young candidate for the 
Ph.D. degree who 100 years hence will be 
required to search through the literature and 
compile a monographic history of the problem 
which he presents as his dissertation. 

So much for my vision of the future. How 
is mankind to utilize to its best advantage 
the knowledge of these specialists fifty or 
one hundred years hence? How are the great 
problems of the world to be solved by men 
who can see only isolated trees in the great 
forests of nature? Probably the answer is 
cooperation. A problem will be attacked not 
by one worker but by ten, twenty or one 
hundred workers, who will pool their knowl- 
edge, their individuality, their selfishness and 
who will all work together for the glory of 
science and the good of mankind. Dr. 
Crocker, the director of the new Thompson 
Institute for Plant Research, recently said 
to me that he believed the day was not far 
distant when five or ten men would be per- 
mitted to present a single dissertation for 
the Doctor’s degree, a masterpiece of research 
worked out in cooperation by the group, and 
into which each had put the best of his effort 
and manipulative skill. He has already so 
far convinced the graduate school of the Uni- 
versity of Chicago that in one or two instances 


Octroprr 21, 1921] 


one dissertation has been presented by two 
men working together. The big problems 
of biology are already too large for individual 
attack. We must have biologists, chemists, 
geneticists, statisticians, bacteriologists, path- 
ologists—all working together to adequately 
solve them—and how much more rapidly 
science would advance if we could secure 
such cooperation! A specialist for every phase 
rather than a “Jack of all sciences” attack- 
ing the problem alone. And what part is 
Sigma Xi to play in it all? Sigma Xi if it 
is to play any part must yield to the proc- 
esses of evolution or be passed in the race. 

Sigma Xi was founded because scientists 
felt the need for a bond to draw them to- 
gether and to propagandize in favor of sci- 
ence in the universities. In that day Latin, 
Greek, the languages and literature, history 
and philosophy, were the recognized collegi- 
ate courses. Science had not come into its 
own. What part Sigma Xi played in the 
establishment of science courses will probably 
never be accurately determined, but the day 
is already past when science needs any assist- 
ance in establishing its proper place in a uni- 
versity curriculum. Science has arrived! 
And with the evolution of science I am 
afraid Sigma Xi is being left behind. We 
no longer get together in scientific meetings 
to discuss the individual researches of sci- 
ence workers. Science has become too special- 
ized. Many a university now has its chemical 
society, its pathological society, its society of 
clinical medicine, its physical society, its 
mathematical society, its botanical society, its 
physiological society, etc., ete. To be sure 
we call them seminars in many instances, 
but the result is the same. There are like- 
wise new “ Honorary ” societies being formed, 
such as Phi Lambda Upsilon for chemistry, 
which have a special attraction for a special 
group. Where then is Sigma Xi’s place in 
this new order of things? 

If Sigma Xi is to live to fulfill the hopes 
of its founders it must meet the challenge 
of the new order with a definite mission. I 
believe that there is a place for Sigma Xi in 
the new order. It was created to foster sci- 


SCIENCE 


367 


ence—why should its new mission not be to 
coordinate science, to foster cooperation, to be 
the guiding hand in establishing an esprit de 
corps among science workers, to attract to 
the universities noted lecturers in special 
branches of science, especially those branches 
which are the weakest in the university in 
question, to assist in the securing of the 
formation of special scientific bodies within 
the university, especially the honorary scien- 
tific societies of the special groups? For 
after all, it is the specialist, not the scatterer, 
who brings fame to a university. In short, 
Sigma Xi should be the keystone of the scien- 
tifie structure and should devote all of its 
energies to those means which will advance 
the special sciences and which will draw 
scientific workers into a union so that they 
may attack the great problems of the future. 


Ross AIKEN GORTNER 
Division oF AGRICULTURAL BIOCHEMISTRY 
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA 


THE RELATION OF CHEMICAL TRAIN- 
ING TO INDUSTRY 1 


Tue relation of chemical science to edu- 
cation and industry is no new problem. Dur- 
ing the last few years a quantity of opinion 
and advice has been offered to us and, as ona 
result at least, the fact stands out that there 
is need of adjustment between educational 
institutions training scientific men and the 
industries which these men are to serve. 

Looking back historically, it seems evident 
that the present misunderstanding between 
the two great parties concerned arose be- 
cause of the different points of view as to how 
(a) the results of scientific discovery, and (b) 
the young graduates in science prepared at 
our colleges and universities could best be 
utilized in industry. The teachers of science 
are often unfamiliar with the needs of in- 
dustry in regard to the nature of the problems 
to be solved and in regard to the kinds of 
scientists needed in our highly organized 
commercial enterprises. On the other hand, 
manufacturers are often at a loss as to how 

1 President’s address before the Kentucky Acad- 
emy of Science, Lexington, May 14, 1921. 


368 


scientific men and discovery can best be 
utilized in industrial development and are 
apt to discount university research because it 
deals with pure science, the employer being 
unable to see the practical advantage to him 
of such work. 

That this question is fundamental there is 
no doubt. One has but to glance over the 
advances made in any of our leading in- 
dustries during the last twenty years to note 
and appreciate the importance of the scien- 
tifically trained man in, and his services to, 
our commercial organizations. In fact, when 
we mention coal and coal gas, dyes, ex- 
plosives, cellulose, rubber, cement, pottery, 
photography, food, brewing, ete., our minds 
immediately refer to the great progress 
achieved recently in the industries because 
of the scientific worker. During the past few 
years scientific development of warfare has 
brought the pure and applied scientist to- 
gether to an extent which was before deemed 
impossible, and this is a happy augury as to 
the future collaboration between these classes. 
The old isolation is now impossible and yet 
the question remains, as before, as to the best 
methods of training our graduates in science 
to fit them for industrial work. In other 
words, how can we best get team-work be- 
tween the scientific producer and the scien- 
tific user? It has been said? that “the two 
fundamental essentials to successful team- 
work are an intelligent mutual understand- 
ing and a real spirit of give and take cooper- 
ation.” The first of these will come with 
time, experience and education; the second 
may be discussed under the two following 
heads: 

First, Industry and the College Graduate — 
From opinions expressed by leaders in the 
industrial field, and from the questionnaires 
sent out by them concerning applicants for 
employment, it seems that the character, 
initiative and resourcefulness of the young 
graduate are valued by industry equally with 
technical knowledge. In many eases scien- 
tific training is considered the less important 
of the above characteristics. If this be true, 

2H. P. Talbot, J. I. and Eng. Chem., Oct., 1920. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1399 


it necessarily follows that an increased amount 
of time must be spent by the student in de- 
veloping wide academic relationships. In 
other words a wide, basic training to de- 
velop observation, reasoning, imagination and 
character in general is essential. The fact 
that, in our educational processes, we are 
getting farther and farther away from this 
idea of a wide, basic training, does not need 
discussion. This is literally an age of intense 
specialization. The question asked by college 
graduates is not “what work will give me 
the best and broadest education ” but “ what 
courses will enable me to get the best paid 
job as soon as I graduate?” It seems to the 
writer. that specialization in the secondary 
schools and the first two years of the college 
course should be reduced to a minimum and 
be devoted to a broad, basic education. Even 
when specialization is begun a knowledge of 
fundamentals and principles, together with 
an ability to apply them to any concrete 
problem, is of much greater value to the 
student than the possession of an endless 
chain of facts. Very happily this idea is 
becoming more and more popular with writers 
of chemical text-books and our courses, even - 
in elementary chemistry, are less and less 
descriptive as time goes on. The same con- 
ception may profitably be applied to a selec- 
tion of courses as well as to the material in 
any one course. Gas analysis is simply an 
application of quantitative analysis, and the 
student who has mastered the principles of 
the larger subject should be able to apply 
them to the former without taking a formal 
course in that subject. A knowledge of 
English grammar is more important to him 
than a course in water analysis if he has to 
choose between the two. Unfortunately, this 
point of view has been grasped neither by the 
student nor by many employers, though the 
results have shown the argument to be a 
sound one. In this connection it is inter- 
esting to note that one of our prominent 
eastern universities intentionally omits such 
subjects as water analysis from its courses 
required of men specializing in chemistry, 
stating that the time thus saved may be 


OcrosEr 21, 1921] 


better devoted to other subjects such, for ex- 
ample, as instruction in the use of a chemical 
library. There is no doubt but that many of 
our graduates do not fully appreciate the fact 
that the final source of chemical knowledge 
is the chemical literature and they are not 
over familiar with methods for its use which 
assume a reading knowledge of scientific 
French and German together with required 
courses in chemical literature such as ‘are now 
being given at the University of Pittsburgh. 
Surely such training can rightly be, and is, 
demanded of educational institutions by in- 
dustry. Industry asks further that the college 
graduate be so trained that he can quickly 
comprehend the essential points in any 
research problem and separate the significant 
from the unessential. He should have a 
good grasp of experimental technique and 
detail and, paradoxical as it may seem in con- 
nection with commercial’ work, be able to 
work with small quantities as well as with 
large amounts of material. Since the success 
of most industries is dependent upon physical 
factors such as pressure and temperature, 
the research worker should be trained to watch 
for and detect the variable factors which are 
present and entering into his experiments. 

It is not an easy matter to place the blame 
for the fact that the graduate does not meet 
the requirements stated above. The second- 
ary school must be held accountable for some 
and the college for others. The secondary 
school does not sufficiently train the senses, 
so necessary to the scientist, but tends to 
develop the memory. Furthermore, the boy’s 
curiosity is dulled even though this charac- 
teristic and the all important imagination go 
hand in hand. In college, often, the memory 
training continues instead of developing 
reasoning ability. The student relies implicit- 
ly and blindly on his text-book; without it 
he is lost. He is unable to stand on his 
own feet and replies, when given a reasoning 
question, that “it is not in the book.” This 
is not a plea for the lecture system but is 
directed against the all too popular custom 
of memorizing printed pages. The technical 
school, also, is open to criticism because 


SCIENCE 


369 


technical courses are often taught by those 
not in touch with industry. 

The remedies for these conditions suggest 
themselves and no further comment on most 
of them is necessary except to state that 
even routine laboratory work may be made 
of value for research training by considering 
each preparation by itself as a research 
problem and treating it accordingly. Theories 
and principles may well be emphasized to the 
exclusion of some descriptive matter and their 
industrial application in many fields be pointed 
out. 

To meet the objection that graduates have 
had no practical experience in industry the 
so-called cooperative courses of study have 
been organized in several institutions, notably 
the University of Cincinnati and the Mas- 
sachusetts Institute of Technology. Under 
this plan the student divides his time between 
the university and some industrial plant, 
securing the theory at ‘the former and the 
practical experience and handling of industri- 
al apparatus at the latter. These courses are 
of five years’ duration ordinarily and, being 
open only to students of ability, are fulfilling 
their mission successfully. This is one ex- 
ample of real cooperation between industry 
and educational institutions which is of direct 
advantage to the former. Another phase of 
this matter is that commercial organiza- 
tions could, to their own benefit at a later 
date, employ high-grade college students dur- 
ing the summer vacation. These men, often 
of high ability, are many times prevented 
from graduating because of financial difficul- 
ties. Employment during the summer would 
furnish the necessary means for completion 
of the university work and the graduate 
would, upon taking his place in industry, more 
than repay it for the assistance rendered him. 
Thus the Standard Oil Company not only 
gives selected students employment during the 
summer months but, after the college course 
is completed, places them on salary in special 
schools where training for the future work 
is secured. Other large organizations have 
adopted the same plan with benefit resulting 
to both parties concerned. 


370 


Second, Industry and College Instructors. 
As in the past, the research interest of the 
college instructor will always be in pure or 
abstract science and there can be but little 
doubt that this position is the correct one. 
Looking back over the development of in- 
dustry it seems clear that research in pure 
science is the forerunner and always precedes 
industrial application. Though an investiga- 
tion in abstract science may, at the time of 
its completion, be of no practical use to hu- 
manity, there is no reason to suppose that 
the time will not come when this research 
may be so utilized; in fact we have number- 
less examples of just such cases. Research 
in our educational institutions should be en- 
couraged as much as possible, first, by the 
endowment .of research laboratories and, 
second, by relieving as much as possible 
the research staff of an institution from 
teaching engagements in order that its 
members may have the maximum of time 
for investigation. When industrial problems 
arise which are in need of immediate solu- 
tion, such institutions as the Mellon Institute 
of Industrial Research may be utilized in 
which a research problem of direct interest 
to an industry may be prosecuted, the firm 
deriving all of the benefits of the investiga- 
tion and defraying its expenses. Commercial 
organizations may show their appreciation of 
research by endowing scholarships and fellow- 
ships in educational institutions and thus 
help to place this phase of educational work 
upon a firm, enduring footing. Industry 
ultimately benefits by research and therefore 
can logically be called upon to support it. 
An encouraging start has been made in this 
direction, many of our universities being the 
recipients of scholarships endowed by com- 
mercial organizations, thus assuring the 
research teacher of assistance and means to 
carry on his work. The question as to how 
the instructor can best keep in touch with 
industrial operations is not one easy of answer. 
He might well devote a part of his time to 
the solution of technical problems, thus 
gaining practical experience that would be 
of great assistance to him in his teaching. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1399 


There are, however, at least two objections 
to this: (1) The results of such an investi- 
gation could necessarily not be published, be- 
cause, as long as there is commercial competi- 
tion, technical investigation will be conducted 
secretly and (2) there is danger of converting 
an educational laboratory into an adjunct to 
a commercial enterprise. This last is obvious- 
ly an impossible situation and a misuse of 
public and private endowment given for edu- 
cational use. Whether or not it will be pos- 
sible to strike a happy medium only time can 
tell. 

In conclusion, the report of a committee 
of the American Chemical Society? dealing 
with this subject is of interest. Briefly sum- 
marized it runs as follows: 

“ (1) The most important contribution which 
the universities can make to the industries 
of this country is to supply them with suf- 
ficient numbers of men thoroughly and broadly 
trained in the principles of chemistry. 

“(2) Because of the tendency to draw men, 
effective in research work, away from uni- 
versities into industrial work by the payment 
of higher salaries, it seems evident that, un- 
less a considerable increase in salaries of 
teachers can be secured, the next generation 
of chemists is likely to be trained by a set 
of mediocre men. 

“(3 and 4) Fellowships leaving the teacher 
and student free to select the topic of research 
as well as those designed to promote the solu- 
tion of some industrial problem are both 
desirable. The results of the latter should be 
published and not be the property of any one 
firm. 

“ (5) Fellowships designed for the benefit 
of a single firm should be subject to very 
careful restrictions. The firm should pay for 
the services of the instructor as well as the 
fellow, and for the use of the laboratory 
facilities. The results should be published 
within two years after the expiration of the 
fellowship. Fellowships preparing men for 
specific industries are desirable provided the 
industry is a large one and the character of 
the training is left to the discretion of the 

3 J. Ind. and Eng. Chem., May, 1919. 


OctosBer 21, 1921] 


department. Emphasis should be placed on 
the broadest theoretical training. The holder 
of the fellowship should be free (not under 
contract) at the end of his period of study. 

“(6) In passing on candidates for the 
degree of Ph.D., emphasis should be put on a 
thorough training in the fundamental princi- 
ples of chemistry and upon high attainment 
in research, rather than upon period of study.” 

This is the present opinion on the question. 
Whether time will modify it we can not tell, 
but the suggestions outlined above, if rigor- 
ously carried out, will tend to bring about a 
closer cooperation between chemical science 
and industry than now exists. 

Water H. Cootmcr 
CENTRE COLLEGE, 
DANVILLE, KENTUCKY 


ANTHROPOLOGY IN THE MEDICAL 
CURRICULUM 


THE problem of human types is one that 
has baffled the ages, but it is at present in a 
fair way toward solution. The temperaments 
as depicted by Albrecht Diirer in the forms 
of four apostles, and as taught at the School 
of Salernum, based upon the four elements and 
upon the four humors of Hippocrates, and 
known as the melancholic, choleric, phlegmatic 
and sanguine, may not be generally accepted, 
and the phthisical and plethoric may have a 
greater significance, but until the physical and 
psychical types are studied upon a more exact 
and scientific basis the types of man may 
remain as myths to the laity as well as to the 
medical profession. 

Manouvyrier was the first to place the types 
of man as found among the Europeans upon 
an exact basis by actual measurement, and his 
classification into brachyskele, mesatiskele and 
macroskele, or broad, medium and long skele- 
ton, is working its way into medicine. Godin 
has applied the methods of Manouvrier to 
children in the evaluation of growth with il- 
luminating results. Others have utilized the 
same methods in the differentiation of races 
and in the segregation of types within the 
race. 

The best means of differentiating human 


SCIENCE 


37v1 


types is by anthropometry and inspection. 
The type may be decided by a-careful inspec- 
tion of the external form of the ear, nose, face, 
head and body form after one has become fa- 
miliar with the types by prolonged experience. 
It is possible by the ear form alone to deter- 
mine differences of 10 feet in the length of the 
small intestine, of 500 grams in the weight of 
the liver, of differences in the size of the brain, 
cerebellum, heart, kidneys and spleen, of the 
position and shape of the viscera; thus an- 
thropology becomes the handmaid of anatomy 
in the medical curriculum, an essential ad- 
junct in teaching medicine. Different human 
types represent different forms of intellect and 
different immunities and susceptibilities to 
disease, hence psychology and pathology be- 
come associated with anatomy and anthro- 
pology. 

Adult human types probably represent the 
end products of chemical reactions that have 
been continuously at work throughout the 
life of the individual, or at least a large part 
of the life. It is only fair to assume that the 
net result of this activity will be easier to per- 
ceive than the chemical reaction at any par- 
ticular moment. It may be fruitless to attempt 
to determine or differentiate chemical types, 
although the serum reactions may be so deli- 
cate that they will suffice to make clear minute 
differences. 

Such a piece of work as that published in 
L’Anthropologie by Dr. L. and Madame H. 
Hirschfeld may interest physiologists, pathol- 
ogists and internists. Serum tests were made 
during the Great War on about 500 soldiers 
in each of many national groups of Europe, of 
Asia and of Africa, and differences were found 
that amounted to more than 50 per cent. The 
tests were so acute and positive that individual 
heredity could be determined, the parentage of 
any child verified. 

Dr. Goldthwait, in the Shattuck Lecture for 
1915, presents the types of man as a basis for 
diagnosis and treatment, as do Percy Brown 
and Bryant. There is also an editorial in the 
number of the Boston Medical and Surgical 
Journal which has the Shattuck Lecture, 
wherein, with prophetic vision, the editor 


372 


states that some medical school will give a 
course in anatomy based upon human types, 
others will follow until the custom becomes 
universal. This has been done for the past 
ten years by the writer at Tulane or Virginia, 
and at both Western Reserve and Washington 
University, St. Louis, anthropology is a part 
of the medical curriculum in anatomy. 

Human types have been studied in relation 
to medicine until physicians and surgeons are 
becoming familiar with their varied mani- 
festations. Bryant, following Treves and 
others, calls the types carnivorous and herbiv- 
orous, as determined by the functions of the 
alimentary canal and diet. Chaillon divides 
the types into four from the physiological and 
clinical standpoint: digestive, respiratory, 
muscular and cerebral. Mills has two types 
of visceral form as determined through the X- 
ray by position, tonus and motility: asthenic 
and hyperstheniec, each with subdivisions. It 
is not difficult to see the differences between 
the carnivorous and herbivorous types of Bry- 
ant, Treves and others; between the narrow- 
back and broadback of Goldthwait; between 
the longskeleton and broadskeleton of Manou- 
vrier; between the cerebral and digestive of 
Chaillon; between the asthenic and the hyper- 
sthenic of Mills; and between the hyperphylo- 
morph and mesophylomorph of Bean; and it 
may be easy to demonstrate that all the couples 
are practically the same; but the psychologist, 
the physiologist and the pathologist must as- 
sociate or dissociate the mental, the functional, 
the pathological and the physical. 

The clinician may ultimately become fa- 
miliar with human types by a process of as- 
similation through experience, but the neces- 
sity for the teaching of both race and type 
differences to medical students becomes more 
and more imperative. The proper place for 
the teaching of these subjects is in a labora- 
tory of physical anthropology as a part of the 
medical course. At the beginning short practi- 
cal courses in anthropometry and methods of 
inspection may be offered as optional work in 
connection with gross anatomy until such time 
as more complete courses may be given which 
should ultimately be offered as required work 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1399 


in a department of anthropology on a par with 
the courses in physiology, pathology or an- 
atomy. 

The physical and the psychical sides of man 
in relation to diagnosis, prognosis and treat- 
ment have been too much neglected in the 
medical curriculum, due in part to the enor- 
mous exacerbation of interest in germ diseases 
following the brilliant studies of Pasteur as to 
the réle of bacteria in the production of dis- 
ease. It is unnecessary to entail a discussion 
of the varying share of incitor and host in the 
production of disease, or upon the degree of 
immunity or susceptibility of the individual 
due to the physical or mental type or state. 
Once recognize the equal importance of the 
man and the germ, once understand the full 
value of the physical and psychical type and 
state, then follows as night the day the intro- 
duction of departments of anthropology and 
psychology into the medical curriculum. 

Furthermore there are constitutional dis- 
eases, diseases of the blood and nervous sys- 
tem, and disorders of the mind not due to 
animal or vegetable parasites or germs of any 
kind, that need to be studied in relation to ~ 
the physical and psychical type and state. The 
application of such knowledge is a field for the 
future in medicine. 

Another field in which anthropology is po- 
tent is in that of growth. There is great need 
for studies in growth of races and of types, 
although Godin has blazed the trail in that 
direction, and these studies should lead the 
medical student to a thorough knowledge of 
the laws of growth, of the curves of growth of 
the organs, of the long bones, of the teeth and 
of the parts and structures of the body. A 
knowledge of the critical periods in the growth 
of structures is vital in medicine. This should 
be taught from the standpoint of race, and of 
type within the race. 

We can not hope that anthropology will come 
into its own immediately as a separate depart- 
ment in the medical curriculum, which is al- 
ready overcrowded, but let us hope that the 
study of the types of man will be pursued dili- 
gently in many directions, and that a place 
and time will be found in the medical curricu- 


OcrosEr 21, 1921] 


lum ultimately as the need and demand be- 
come imperative through the diffusion of 
knowledge. 
f R. Bennett Bean 
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 
THE FILM PHOTOPHONE 1 

THE announcement in the Times of Sep- 
tember 24 of the successful synchronization 
of speech and action in kinematography by 
means of photographic films bearing suitable 
sound records is the natural outcome of the 
work expended on this problem in numerous 
different countries. Sweden, through MM. 
Bergland and Frestadius, has apparently been 
fortunate enough to reach success first. It is 
indeed surprising that the achievement has 
been so long delayed. Speaking-films, apart 
from synchronization, have been in existence 
for a long time, having been first made by 
Ernst Riihmer about 1900, and called by him 
the “ photographophone.” Riihmer made his 
films by photographing upon them the fluc- 
tuating light proceeding from a “speaking 
are,” and the reproduction was effected by 
making use of the well-known property of 
selenium of controlling a telephonic current 
when actuated by variable illumination. More 
recently Professor A. O. Rankine has made 
speaking-films by a different method, in which 
the voice imposes fluctuations of intensity on 
a beam of light issuing from a constant 
source, the reproduction from the film record 
again being by means of selenium. The whole 
problem is closely related to telephony by 
light. In photo-telephony the speech is 
transmitted by light and reproduced immedi- 
ately; in speaking-films a photographic record 
is made for future reproduction. The Times 
article does not make quite clear by what 
process M. Bergland makes the sound-film, 
but it probably does not differ fundamentally 
from those previously used. The novelty of 
M. Bergland’s work appears to be the success- 
ful realization of synchronism between the 
picture-bearing and the sound-record-bearing 
films. . This has been ‘done by the obvious 


1From Nature. 


SCIENCE 


373 


method of running the two films on the same 
shaft, both during the taking of the double 
record of action and speech and during re- 
production. In addition, sufficient valve 
amplification to actuate a loud-speaking tele- 
phone has been successfully applied to the 
selenium-controlled currents. 


RADIUM FOR ENGLAND 


Dr. Freperick Soppy, professor of chem- 
istry in Oxford University, travelling as a 
King’s Messenger, has arrived in London 
from Prague, bringing with him the largest 
quantity of radium, valued at about £70,000, 
ever brought into England. The consign- 
ment consists of two grams and is the first: 
to be received under the terms of the recent: 
agreement between the Imperial and Foreigm 
Corporation of London and the Czecho-Slova- 
kia Government. The radium was deposited 
at the Foreign Office and will remain there 
for the time being, its exact future, accord- 
ing to Professor Soddy, being a matter for 
negotiation. 

Professor Soddy is reported in the London 
Times from which we obtain this information 
to have said that while on holiday with his 
wife in Czecho-Slovakia he visited the Joa- 
chimsthal mines and was given every facility 
for inspecting them and the various processes 
by which the radium was extracted from the 
uranium obtained in the mines. The agree- 
ment mentioned above having been concluded, 
he was asked by the Corporation, to whom 
he is the expert scientific adviser, to make 
arrangements for the transport of the radium 
to England, a task of considerable responsi- 
bility and some danger, in view of its malig- 
nant penetrative properties. The two grams 
were distributed in nine glass phials, packed 
in a lead case 3 in. thick and weighing about 
701b. This was contained in an ordinary 
Foreign Office dispatch-bag, which was finally 
sealed by an official of the Ozecho-Slovakia 
Government. 

“T am sure,” Professor Soddy added, 
“that this radium will be an enormous help 
to British science and medicine. It is of ex- 
ceptionally pure quality. The cry of the 


374 


medical profession has hitherto been, ‘We 
can not get enough.’ The greatest amount 
I have so far ever had to work with has been 
30 milligrams. There will be more ship- 
ments of radium from Czechoslovakia, but 
not necessarily to England.” 

It was explained that the radium will be 
lent freely for hospital purposes, and rented 
out to private practitioners. It will also be 
used for the production and sale of radio- 
active water in bottles, for use at radio-sani- 
toria, the production and sale of radio-active 
fertilizers, and for its by-products, such as 
polonium. The company expects to derive its 
first profits from the renting out of the radium 
emanations contained in capillary tubes, the 
price for the use of which at present is six 
guineas for 24 hours. One gram of radium 
supplies 4,500 of such tubes. 

The Czecho-Slovak Legation in London 
has made public the following in regard to 
the contract entered into by the Czecho- 
Slovak Government, as the owners of the 
Radium State Mines in Jachymov (Joa- 
chimsthal), and the Imperial and Foreign 
Corporation of London: 

Under this contract the Radium Corporation of 
Czecho-Slovakia, a private limited company, has 
been established, the Czecho-Slovak state and the 
Imperial and Foreign Corporation holding equal 
interests. The Radium Corporation will obtain the 
loan for a period of 15 years of the radium pro- 
duction of the state mines, less a certain portion 
which is to be reserved for public use, especially 
for curative and scientifie purposes. The radium 
so lent to the Corporation will remain the property 
of the Czecho-Slovak state. 

The contract does not contain anything relative 
to the working of the radium mines, which will be, 
as before, exploited by the Czecho-Slovak state. 


BIOLOGY IN SOUTH CHINA 


Frienps of Charles W. Howard, according 
to a report in The Cornell Alumni News, 
have lately received an account of the work 
in biology which he and his associates are 
doing in the Christian College at Canton, 
China. The work began in 1917 with a one- 
year course in introductory botany and zo- 
ology, taken by eleven students. By 1920-21 


SCIENCE - 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1399 


these had increased to 163 in seven courses, 
including plant physiology, plant pathology, 
evolution and heredity, economic zoology 
(entomology and parasitology) sericulture, 
and bacteriology. 

The students taught are of three classes: 
those in arts and general science; those in 
agriculture; and those in medicine. All are 
required to take a course in general biology, 
which is popular and suited to the needs of 
those who will not go on. This is followed 
by a more technical course in botany, zoology 
and other branches as a foundation for fur- 
ther special work. : 

It has been the policy of the staff to keep 
as close as possible to research work and the 
practical applications of biology, for this is 
the way to make the students in the highest 
degree useful to their country. Much is yet 
to be learned about the insect pests and 
fungus diseases of crops in China. And 
Chinese farmers will soon be anxious for 
this information and ways of fighting their 
pests. 

During the vacation trips the staff have 
begun a biological survey of the Canton Delta 
region. About a thousand species of insects 
have been collected, some of which are of 
economic importance. A herbarium of South 
China plants begun in 1916 by students of 
agriculture has been turned over to the de- 
partment and is now one of the most import- 
ant projects under its direction. While the 
herbarium has already over four thousand 
specimens, including more than twelve hun- 
dred species, only a beginning has been made. 
Expeditions must be made into the interior, 
and the whole of south China must be covered. 
Funds are needed for larger equipment. 

Another line of work which has fallen to 
the department is sericulture. Silk is the 
largest industry of South China, forming 
forty per cent. of the export trade. Many 
things have held back the development of the 
industry. The filatures did not reel the raw 
silk in skeins of a size suitable for foreign 
manufacture. This has now been changed 
and modern methods have been introduced. 

Later the department hopes to effect im- 


OctoBER 21, 1921] 


provements in methods of beekeeping, fish 
culture, ete. It will strive constantly to 
meet the demands for the economic applica- 
tion of the branches of science it represents. 


COMMITTEE OF THE U. S. DEPARTMENT OF 
AGRICULTURE ON LAND UTILIZATION 

SECRETARY WALLACE has appointed a com- 
mittee of six scientific men of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture to consider the entire 
problem of land utilization, especially with 
respect to the country’s future requirements. 

In appointing the committee Secretary 
Wallace suggested that as the basis of the 
work to be undertaken careful consideration 
should be devoted to the country’s present 
crop production, home consumption and for- 
eign demand, relating the land now under 
cultivation to present and near future de- 
mands. It seems to the secretary that this 
study should be followed by a more careful 
survey and classification than has yet been 
made of lands which can be brought under 
cultivation in the future, and the conditions 
necessary to make it profitable under the 
plow. 

The suggested survey would include the 
arid lands of the West suitable for irrigation, 
swamp lands which can be reclaimed by 
drainage, and the cut-over timberlands of the 
various sections. In studying the cut-over 
lands consideration will be given to their pos- 
sibilities both for cultivation and for re- 
forestation. 

The personnel of the committee of six is as 
follows: 

Dr. L. C. Gray, agricultural economist, Office of 
Farm Management and Farm Economies, chairman. 

C. V. Piper, agrostologist in charge forage crop 
investigations, Bureau of Plant Industry. 

Dr. G. M. Rommel, chief, Animal Husbandry 
Division, Bureau of Animal Industry. 

C. F. Marbut, in charge, soil survey investiga- 
tions, Bureau of Soils. 

E. E. Carter, assistant forester, Forest Service. 

S. H. MeCory, chief, Division of Agricultural 
Engineering, Bureau of Public Roads. 

At the present time a little less than half 
the total national area is in farms, and only 
about one-quarter of the total area is im- 


SCIENCE 


375 


proved land. Many persons, deceived by 
these facts, assume that there is an unlimited 
reserve supply of farm land. Such is not the 
case, however; by far the greater part of the 
1,000,000,000 acres not yet in farms probably 
can never be used for the growing of crops, 
and plans must be made to use this land for 
the benefit of the nation. 
THE DIRECTOR OF THE MELLON 
INSTITUTE 

ANNOUNCEMENT has been made by the board 
of trustees of the University of Pittsburgh of 
the appointment of Edward Ray Weidlein as 
director of the Mellon Institute of Industrial 
Research. Mr. Weidlein has been acting 
director since the recent resignation of Dr. 
Raymond Foss Bacon, and prior to that time, 
since 1916, he served as associate director. 
Dr. Bacon, who left to engage in consulting 
chemical practise in New York, succeeded 
Dr. Robert Kennedy Duncan, the first direc- 
tor and formulator of the institute’s system 
of practical cooperation between science and 
industry, upon the latter’s death in 1914. 

Mr. Weidlein was a student of Dr. Duncan 
and later became an industrial fellow of the 
Mellon Institute. He has been associated 
intimately with the Industrial Fellowship 
System since 1909, and since 1916 has been 
a member of the administrative staff of the 
institute. He has had much experience in 
the supervision of industrial research and en- 
joys a national reputation as a specialist in 
the systematic investigation of the problems 
of chemical and physical technology. 

Edward Ray Weidlein was born at Au- 
gusta, Kansas, on July 14, 1887. He was 
graduated at the University of Kansas with 
the degree of bachelor of arts in the year of 
1909; in 1910 he received the degree of master 
of arts. He engaged in a study of cam- 
phor, under the direction of the late Dr. 
Robert Kennedy Duncan, and he carried out 
a comprehensive study of the ductless glands. 
From 1912 to 1916 Mr. Weidlein was a 
senior fellow in the Mellon Institute of In- 
dustrial Research, having supervisory charge 
of the institute’s investigations on the metal- 
lurgy and hydrometallurgy of copper, and 


376 


having direction of the experimental plant 
at Thompson, Nevada. In connection with 
this work, Mr. Weidlein developed a process 
for the use of sulphur dioxide in hydrometal- 
lurgy. 

In 1916 Mr. Weidlein went to the Mellon 
Institute as assistant director and was later 
appointed associate director. He became 
acting director in 1918, during the leave of 
absence of Colonel Raymond F. Bacon as 
chief of the Technical Division of the Chemi- 
cal Warfare Service. In 1918 Mr. Weidlein 
was appointed chemical expert for the war 
Industries Board. The forty-eight industrial 
fellowships for scientific investigations of 
problems of manufacturing in operation at 
the Mellon Institute cover a wide range of 
problems in chemical and mechanical technol- 
ogy, and Mr. Weidlein maintains a constantly 
active supervision over these researches. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Dr. Stmon Fiexner, the director of The 
Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, 
was elected honorary foreign member of the 
Academie Royal de Médicine in Brussels, 
Belgium, on June 25. ; 


At a meeting of the board of directors of 
the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, held on 
September 26, Rear Admiral William C. 
Braisted, former Surgeon General of the U. 
S. Navy, and formerly president of the Ameri- 
can Medical Association, was reelected presi- 
dent of the college. 


Ar the meeting of the Rochester Medical 
Association, held on October 3, at Rochester, 
under the presidency of Dr. Loron W. Howk, 
Dr. George H. Whipple, dean of the new 
medical school, University of Rochester, was 
entertained at dinner. In his speech he out- 
lined the plan of the new school which was 
made possible by the gifts of the Rockefeller 
Foundation and of Mr. George Eastman. 


Dr. L. L. Camppett, head of the physics 
department of Simmons College, Boston, has 
been elected a fellow of the. American. Acad- 
emy of Arts and Sciences. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1399 


Dr. A. D. Bevan, past president of the 
American Medical Association, has received 
the title of Officer of the Legion of Honor 
for services rendered to medical science and 
education and as president of the American 
Medical Association during the war. 


Dr. Errore Marcutava, known for his re- 
searches on malaria, has been nominated an 
emeritus professor at Rome. 


Tue Sultan of Egypt has conferred the 
Order of the Nile (second class) upon Mr. 
Owen Richards, director of the School of 
Medicine, Cairo, in recognition of valuable 
services rendered. ; 

Dr. Norman MacLzop Harris, formerly as- 
sistant professor of hygiene and bacteriology 
in the University of Chicago, has accepted the 
position of chief of the division of medical 
research in the Department of Health of the 
Dominion of Canada, at Ottawa. 


Dr. Wittiam C. Kenpatt, scientific assistant 
and ichthyologist of the U. S. Bureau of Fish- 
eries at Washington, has resigned his position 
after thirty-three years of service, to accept the 
position of ichthyologist in the Roosevelt Wild 
Life Forest Experiment Station of the New 
York State College of Forestry at Syracuse. 
He takes the position made vacant by Profes- 
sor T. L. Hankinson, who has accepted an 
appointment in the Michigan State Normal 
College, Ypsilanti. 

H. L. Russeuy, dean of the college of agri- 
culture in the University of Wisconsin and 
director of the Wisconsin Experiment Station 
and Agricultural Extension Service, has been 
appointed a member of the committee to man- 
age the agricultural loan agency of the district 
for the War Finance corporation. 


Dr. Joun Dewey, professor of philosophy in 
Columbia University, has returned to New 
York after having spent three years in the 
Orient, having been oceupied as educational 
adviser to the Chinese government. 

Dr. Aubert H. Wricut, of the department of 
zoology of Cornell University, spent a large 
part of the summer making a study of the 
animals, birds, and fishes in the Okeefinokee 
Swamp, lying between Georgia and Florida. 


Octoper 21, 1921] 


Dr. James E. Ackert, parasitologist at Kan- 
sas State Agricultural College Experiment: Sta- 
tion, has resumed his work at Manhattan, after 
spending four months in hookworm investiga- 
tions in Trinidad as a member of the expedi- 
tion of the International Health Board of the 
Rockefeller Foundation. 


Dr. N. J. Vavinov, professor of farm crops 
in the Petrograd Agricultural College and 
director of the bureau of applied botany and 
plant breeding is now in the United States 
on leave of absence to study methods fol- 
lowed in his field of work by American col- 
leges and universities. 


J. W. Ricuarps, professor of metallurgy at 
Lehigh University, died suddenly on October 
12, at the age of fifty-seven years. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 

A BEQUEST of $200,000 to Harvard Univer- 
sity, the income to be devoted to the investiga- 
tion of the origin and cure of cancer, is con- 
tained in the will of the late Hiram F. Mills, 
the hydraulic engineer of Hingham, Mass. 
After numerous public and private bequests, 
including $10,000 each to the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology and Rensselaer Poly- 
technic Institute, the residue of the estate is 
to be used to establish a fund for charitable 
purposes among mill workers in Lawrence and 
Lowell. 


THE Journal of the American Medical Asso- 
ciation states that the foundations have been 
laid for the new University of Jerusalem, to 
which the Jewish physicians in the United 
States are giving $1,000,000 to build the med- 
ical college, of which the inside will be fur- 
nished in accord with American standards, with 
white tiled operating rooms, while the exterior 
will conform to the general plan of the univer- 
sity. Dr. Albert Einstein will be dean of the 
university, and an American surgeon, assisted 
by an American staff, will be at the head of the 
medical department. Patrick Geddes, professor 
of botany of the University of Edinburgh, has 
drawn up the plans for the building, which will 
be open to students from all countries. 


SCIENCE 


377 


Dr. Laurence J. Earty has been appointed 
associate professor in bacteriology, and Dr. 
Perey Lawrence DeNoyelles assistant professor 
in pathology at the Albany Medical College. 


Dr. Lester S. Hint, of the University of 
Montana, has been appointed associate profes- 
sor of mathematics in the University of Maine. 

G. Ross Ropertson has completed his gradu- 
ate study at the University of Chicago and 
has been appointed instructor in the Southern 
Branch of the University of California, at Los 
Angeles. While in Chicago Mr. Robertson also 
assisted Dr. Stieglitz in his Public Health 
Service work, as junior chemist. 


Mr. C. A. Gunns, formerly zoological tech- 
nician with the late Professor Sedgwick, of 
Cambridge University and the Imperial Col- 
lege of Science, London, and for the past five 
years in the same position with Professor Mce- 
Bride of the latter institution, has become zoo- 
logical technician in the Department of Zool- 
ogy, Kansas State Agricultural College. 


Dr. Davi Hepsurn, professor of anatomy 
and dean of the medical faculty, University 
College, Cardiff, has been appointed dean of the 
faculty of medicine in the University of Wales. 


Proressor O. NAcrei has succeeded Profes- 
sor Kichhorst in the chair of clinical medicine 
at Ziirich. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
AN IDEAL HOST 


To tue Epriror or Science: The following 
observation on the symbiotic relation between 
a large hammerhead shark and a_ shark 
sucker (Ramora) seems worthy of record. 
On July 5, 1911, a hammerhead shark ten feet 
two inches long and two feet seven inches 
across the head was taken in the Bureau of 
Fisheries trap in Buzzards Bay at Woods . 
Hole, Mass. The shark was towed by the tail 
to the stone shark pool at: the Fisheries 
wharf. After this strenuous trip from the trap 
my curiosity was aroused at seeing a small 
ramora about sixteen inches long clinging to 
the side of the shark. So far as I could dis- 
cover no one had seen the ramora either in 


378 


the trap or in the shark pool. Mr. Vinal 
Edwards tried to catch the ramora with a dip 
net whereupon, to our surprise, it swam 
quickly towards the shark’s head and, with 
a peculiar twist of the tail, entered the pos- 
terior gill slit on the right side of the head 
and disappeared, presumably into the shark’s 
mouth. It seems possible that the ramora 
made the trip from the trap in the same way. 
In this case therefore the shark offered free 
transportation, food and shelter, making him 
practically an ideal host. 
Reynoip A. SPAETH 
Woops Hotz, Mass. 


A REMEDY FOR MANGE IN WHITE RATS 


Everyone who has kept a colony of white 
rats under laboratory conditions has doubtless 
been confronted with the necessity of dealing 
with the mange-like skin disease which affects 
the edges of the ears, the nose, tail and the 
skin of the body. The organism is one of the 
species of Notoedres, the itch and scab mite. 

The conventional remedy in this laboratory 
has been a mixture of sulfur and vaseline but 
I have had no success with it. Recently, 
Kennedy! reported the use of cedar oil for 
this disease but cautioned care because of its 
anesthetic properties. 

T have had satisfactory results with a 2 per 
cent. solution of chloramine-T. The crusty 
scabs on the ears, tail and among the hair on 
the shoulders are rubbed vigorously with cot- 
ton soaked in the solution and usually yield 
to such daily treatment in less than a week. 
The peculiar long horny growths on the nose 
are best treated by cutting close with a sharp 
scissors and treating the resulting lesion daily 
with the antiseptic. Routine sterilization of 
cages is desirable in any case. 

After surgical operations the rats often in- 

gist on removing the sutures with their teeth. 
Treatment of the wound twice daily with chlo- 
ramine-T solution will give satisfactory clo- 
sure in a very short time. 
Artuur H. Sito 
SHEFFIELD LABORATORY OF PHYSIOLOGICAL 
CHEMISTRY, YALE UNIVERSITY 
Kennedy, Science, N. S., 53,364, 1921. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1399 


QUOTATIONS 

THE TECHNICIANS IN INDUSTRY 

Tue Society of Technical Engineers has 
just published a journal in which its position 
and policy are for the first time clearly de- 
fined. This society represents a movement 
of great interest, which has for some time 
been quietly advancing, but has attracted very 
little attention, either general or official. It 
has not escaped the notice of employers or of 
trade unions, who regard it with mingled feel- 
ings, and intelligent students of industrial 
affairs have carefully noted its rise; but since 
it has made no stir the public have heard 
nothing of it and official circles have turned 
a blind eye on it. Yet it marks a large change 
in the evolution of industry. The techni- 
cians, as represented by the Society of Techni- 
cal Engineers, are not only engaged in in- 
dustry, but are an essential factor in its 
largest branches, and one continually and 
rapidly advancing in importance with the 
development of applied science. More than 
any other element, they hold the key to the 
economic future in the field of practical 
operations. In a sense, this has been recog- 
nized by the immense amount of attention 
devoted to technical education in recent years. 
The backward state of technology in this 
country and the wonderful superiority of our 
industrial rivals were incessantly pressed upon 
British manufacturers before the war, but the 
importance attached to technical training 
was not extended to those who receive and 
apply it in practice. They have been taken 
for granted as part of the industrial appa- 
ratus. This was conspicuously shown during 
the war. Employers and labor leaders were 
constantly taken into council, and distinc- 
tions have been lavished on both, but the 
technicians, who had far more to do with 
the actual business of producing munitions 
than either, were wholly ignored. So, too, 
they are habitually overlooked in industrial 
inquiries, conferences, disputes and con- 
ciliation machinery. In the discussion of in- 
dustrial relations and economic problems the 
old categories of Capital and Labour, never 
adequate and now quite out of date, are still 


= 


OcToBER 21, 1921] 


used. It is not perceived that a class has 
arisen which fits into neither, but is equally 
important, and, indeed, less easily replaced 
than either. 

It is overlooked because it has not asserted 
itself. Now that this society has given a 
lead by settling its policy and position, the 
movement may be accelerated. It has de- 
cided not to join either employers or trade 
unions, but to occupy an independent and 
intermediate position, and, while protecting 
its own interests, to cooperate with both in 
promoting the advancement of British en- 
gineering industries. This decision is iof 
great interest from several points of view. It 
will not please employers or trade unions, but 
we believe that it is sound and to the public 
advantage. An independent organization, 
powerful from the indispensable part in in- 
dustry played by its members, and standing 
between employers and workmen, in intimate 
touch with both, may come to possess a deci- 
sive influence in holding the balance between 
them. The engineers, in particular, have a 
unique position which differentiates them 
from the clerical blackcoats, who do not come 
in contact with the manual workers. At the 
Engineering Conference held last July Mr. 
John Brodie, President of the Institution of 
Civil Engineers, referred to this in connection 
with industrial disputes, and suggested that 
the engineers, as a technical body, were pecu- 
liarly fitted by their knowledge of workmen 
and impartial standpoint for the investiga- 
tion and judicial treatment of differences. 
This is a promising line of development.— 
The London Times. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


History and Bibliography of Anatomic Illus- 
tration in its Relation to Anatomic Science 
and the Graphic Arts. By Lupwia CHovu- 
tant. Translated and edited, with notes and 
a biography, by Mortimer Frank, B.S., M.D. 
With a biographical sketch of the translator 
and two additional sections by Fielding H. 
Garrison, M.D., and Edward C. Streeter, 
M.D. The University of Chicago Press, Chi- 
eago, Illinois. xxvii, 435 pages. 


SCIENCE 


379 


In 1852 Dr. Ludwig Choulant published his 
indispensable history of anatomical illustra- 
tion. Although neither an anatomist nor artist, 
being a professor of medicine addicted to 
bibliography, he made both anatomy and art his 
debtor, even at the cost of some impairment of 
character. For, adoring the antique, he became 
the outspoken opponent of new doctrines in 
medicine, ridiculing the sound methods of 
physical examination, and was, in the words of 
his biographer, “the foe of progress.” Although 
like all before him he deprecated book-wisdom 
and authority-worship in others, yet his own 
career shows the danger of these siren studies 
—of regarding, for example, the thirteenth the 
greatest of centuries, or of unwisely inquiring, 
““ What is the cause that the former days were 
better than these?’ However, Dr. Choulant 
does not extol the past in his impassionate his- 
torical record, and it is quite possible that his 
biographers, from whom we have quoted, have 
dealt with him unkindly. 

In the preface he sets the limits of his work. 
It is not intended to be a history of anatomy, 
or of anatomists, or even of anatomical dis- 
covery, but merely of anatomical illustration, 
following two lines—that of scientific anatomy 
and that of artistic anatomy. The study is 
further restricted to the anatomy of man in its 
most obvious features. Many of the illustra- 
tions are of the human skeleton, and most of 
the others show the superficial muscles or 
general disposition of the viscera, so that 
the frontier of anatomy alone is entered. 
From Choulant’s viewpoint, perhaps, Dr. Gar- 
rison writes that “ anatomical illustration was 
neglected through the growth of histology, 
morphology, and embryology.” 

The author proceeds, in a historical intro- 
duction, to define three stages and seven periods 
of anatomical drawing. Although this chapter 
contains much interesting exposition, the pro- 
posed stages and periods are chiefly of academic 
interest. It is followed by a very brief account 
of ancient and medieval illustrations, with a 
superb chromo-lithographie reproduction of 
miniatures from a manuscript of Galen’s Opera 
varia. After this the anatomist-artists and 
artist-anatomists together are presented chrono- 


380 


logically, with terse comments and compact 
data on as much of their work as is relevant. 
This involves tireless research and great biblio- 
graphic resources, and is an instance of what 
we like to regard as typical German scholar- 
ship. The illustrations were supplied by a pub- 
lisher, Rudolph Weigel, personally devoted to 
the graphic arts, who “ came to love this enter- 
prise.” They are well executed woodcuts, copied 
from important and generally rare originals, 
and since the pages are usually foxed, the book 
itself, though not old, has the flavor of an- 
tiquity. That it would suffer from an artistic 
standpoint in‘ an American edition would be 
expected, and such is indeed the case. The 
miniatures in color and the red-chalk drawing 
are replaced by gray half-tones, many more of 
which with their muddy backgrounds and occa- 
sional obscurity of essential details have been 
introduced. The woodcut facsimiles in Chou- 
lant appear as “process” line-drawings, since 
jt was recognized that this would give better 
results than photographic copies from worn 
and library-stamped originals. 

Dr. Mortimer Frank has made a very able 
translation, rendering into English not only 
the German text, but Latin, Italian and other 
quotations. He has expanded greatly the 
accounts of certain authors, increasing that 
of Mondino, for example, by seven pages; and 
owing to Sudhoff’s researches he could supple- 
ment Choulant’s brief treatment of early 
manuscript illustrations by a large and sep- 
arate chapter, which becomes discursive and 
quite different from Choulant’s work. It raises 
the question whether the Alexandrian school 
of anatomy produced anatomical drawings, now 
lost, which were the source of the crude figures 
found in Provengal, Persian and Thibetan 
manuscripts. These figures have in common, 
among other things, a sitting or straddling 
posture; all of them may have come, according 
to Cowdry’s recent publication, from still 
earlier Chinese sources, but the drawings which 
he has found to substantiate this show little 
more of anatomy than a strange posture. It 
seems probable, however, that anatomical illus- 
tration had a long history before the renais- 
sance, little of which may ever be known. The 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. LIV. No. 1399 


medieval pictures show further that Jacobus 
Sylvius was not without some justification in 
making his great mistake, namely that because 
the physician must, as he said, view and handle 
the body, anatomical pictures would always be 
a hindrance “serving only to gratify the eyes 
of silly women.” + Thus one very able anato- 
mist lost a place in any history of anatomic 
art, but it seems unnecessarily severe to de- 
scribe his pupil’s achievements as “ tremend- 
ous and limitless”; nor should the anatomist 
Mare’ Antonio Deila Torre, who employed 
Leonardo for making illustrations, be lost in 
the effulgence, when Leonardo “steps to a 
place of intolerant central glory.” 

Great anatomists who neither made pictures 
nor had them made for them, are rigidly de- 
barred; whereas others of relatively slender 
attainments but given to pictorial illustration 
appear of magnified importance. None more 
so than Casserius, whose ornate drawings of 
the vocal organs of all creatures from sheep to 
crickets, in folio plates with floral festoons and 
turnip embellishments, mark the beginning of 
the “ fourth period.” Count is made, however, 
from his work on general human anatomy. 
Concerning the Casserian plate chosen by Dr. 
Frank to replace an immodest selection in 
Choulant, Dr. Garrison writes as follows: 

It represents an eviscerated female figure, of 
lovely proportions, apparently floating in mid-air, 
in the rapt, ecstatic attitude of some transfigura- 
tion scene of Raphael or Corregio. In sheer beauty, 
this figure is comparable with the robust goddesses 
in the Aurora Fresco of Guido Reni in the Rospi- 
gliosi Palace at Rome. i 

A comely woman, surely, but one attached to 
earth though her feet are below the limit of 
the picture! On the whole we prefer the de- 
scription of these plates by Holmes, written 


- with his poetic license‘and abandon: 


In the giant folio of Spigelius lovely ladies dis- 
play their viscera with a coquettish grace implying 
that it is rather a pleasure than otherwise to show 
the lace-like omentum, and hold up their appen- 
dices epiploice as if they were saying, ‘‘ these are 
our jewels.’’ 


‘1Dr. Frank Baker, in the Johns Hopkins Hos- 
pital Bulletin, Vol. XX., 1909, p. 332. 


OcTOBER 21, 1921] 


In Chirurgeon Browne’s “ Compleat Treatise 
of the Muscles,” 1681, which is not mentioned 
by Frank or Choulant, these same plates appear, 
strangely metamorphosed. Dissected gentle- 
men, wearing wigs of the period, are placed 
like dancing statues on absurd pedestals, and 
one lacerated creature has been transferred 
from the bare ground to a bed. 

Much graver omissions are inevitable in a 
book of such wide scope, but it is thankless to 
refer to them in view of all that the authors 
have accomplished. It is a pleasure to see a 
reproduction of Wirsung’s very rare first pic- 
ture of the pancreatic duct, even though it 
probably has suffered much in reduction and 
printing. This, we believe, is the only figure 
of an original plate illustrating an important 
anatomical discovery which the volume con- 
tains. 

The three appendices introduced in this edi- 
tion are a fragmentary treatment of Chinese 
anatomy by Choulant, an interesting treatise 
on sculpture and painting as modes of anatom- 
ical illustration by Drs. Garrison and Streeter, 
and ten pages by Garrison, chiefly an anno- 
tated list of books, concerning anatomical illus- 
tration since the time of Choulant. 

The whole volume is designed as a memorial 
of Dr. Mortimer Frank, who died at the early 
age of forty-four—a kindly, modest and able 
student of medical history whose work is of 
permanent value. 


F. T. Lewis 


Observations on Living Gastropods of New 
England. By Epwarp S. Morss, Peabody 
Museum. Pp. 1-29, pls. I.—IX. 


There are so few papers describing and figur- 
ing even the external features of the animals 
of mollusks, that all students and lovers of this 
group will hail with pleasure the paper whose 
title is given above. It is a companion piece to 
the one published two years ago by the same 
author, “Observations on Living Lamelli- 
branchs of New England.” In the present 
paper 46 species are figured in 118 sketches 
gathered on 9 plates. The first 22 pages are 
given to a discussion of the anatomic struc- 
tures figured, while the last 7 are devoted 


SCIENCE 


381 


to an arraignment of modern nomenclatorial 
methods. 

There is only one criticism that we have 
found covering the first 22 pages and plates, 
in fact this has been discovered by Professor 
Morse himself, as stated in a letter to me by 
him. This concerns figure 18 which shows an 
appendage in A porrhats occidentalis. This rep- 
resents an abnormality and should have been 
eliminated or designated as such. 

Some may criticize the doctor for retaining 
an ancient nomenclature and may even go so 
far as to say that had he spent as much time 
in revision as he. did upon the preparation of 
pages 28 to 29 he might have saved some one 
else the task of bringing the names up to date 
and rendered his observations more readily 
available to the general public. I have gone 
over the revisional work and shall publish the 
results in the Nautilus. In so doing, I may say 
that I have been greatly aided in disposing of 
some of the questions of identity of West 
Atlantic with East Atlantic species by the ana- 
tomie data presented in this paper. 

Finally, we would fail did we. not remind 
Professor Morse that he was one of the pioneers 
who by his careful studies, so long ago, showed 
that some of the large groups then in use, were 
complexes requiring the splitting which he 
fearlessly bestowed upon them. He should not 
forget the shock delivered to no less a celebrity 
than the elder Agassiz when he pointed out 
that Brachiopods were not Mollusks, as here- 
tofore held, but animals more nearly akin to 
certain worms. These, however, were conclu- 
sions based upon structural characters and 
merited that recognition and welcome which 
such discoveries will ever find accorded to 
them. The lamentable nomenclatorial changes 
are those which are occasioned by preoccupa- 


‘tion. I have frequently wished that some or- 


ganization could be prevailed upon to under- 
take the preparation of a card catalogue of 
scientific names, generic and specific, beginning 
with Linnzus, giving in addition to the name 
and citation of publication, the family to which 
a given genus belongs, and the type locality for 
each species. In the case of secondary combi- 
nation, a cross reference card should be pre- 


382 


pared for filing under the proper places. Such 
a work carefully executed would eliminate at 
once almost all the changes in nomenclature 
due to priority only, the names, that seem to 
irritate most grievously the men who are not 
actually engaged in revisional work. 

The reviser usually has only one aim, or 
should have only one aim in mind, and that is 
to achieve stability by applying the rules of the 
international code consistently, no matter how 
much he may dislike to do so. No nomencla- 
torial stability can be achieved if each of us 
follows an independent method. A catalogue of 
the kind above referred to would make a quick 
reyision possible, the main points of which 
would stand for a long time to come, and 
the minor shift could easily be kept current 
by the small force that should prepare the 
eards for the new things published year by 
year. I wish to heartily recommend this 
undertaking to the National Research Coun- 
eil. I am sure that the whole zoological 
fraternity, yes, not only zoological but botani- 
cal fraternity, would be grateful for such a 
work. 

It is to be hoped that Professor Morse will 
continue this work and will find time to give 
us the results of his efforts. 


Paut Bartscu 


VENOMOUS SPIDERS 


My attention having recently been called to 
the death of a man, apparently from the bite 
of a spider (which case will be described be- 
low), I have brought together some of the 
literature upon this much debated question, 
and I shall quote from several authorities 
upon the subject. 

Comstock, in “The Spider Book,” makes 
the following statements in discussing the 
venomous character of spider bites: 


During my study of spiders I have collected 
thousands of specimens and have taken very many 
in my hand but have never been bitten by one 
(p. 213). 

Several of the more prominent arachnologists, in- 
eluding Mr, Blackwall, of England, and Baron 
Walckenaer and M. Duges, of France, have made 
experiments to determine the effect on man of the 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1399 


bite of spiders. Each of these experimenters caused 
himself to be bitten by spiders; and all agree that 
the effects of the bites did not differ materially 
from those of pricks made the same time with a 
needle (p. 214). 

I have given considerable attention to this ques- 
tion with the result that I firmly believe that in the 
North at least there is no spider that is to be 
feared by man. 

Although we have in the North no spider that is 
to be feared, it is quite possible that in the South 
it is different. I confess that I should not like to 
be bitten by one of the larger tarantulas of that 
region, although I know of no well-authenticated 
case of a person being bitten by one, 

The spiders of the genus Latrodectus, of which 
we have a common representative in the South, are 
feared wherever they occur, and it is possible that 
they are more venomous than other spiders... . 

This genus, as has been well stated by F. P. 
Cambridge, comprises those very interesting 
spiders which, under various local names, have been 
notorious in all ages and in all regions of the 
world where they occur on account of the reputed 
deadly nature of their bite. It may be added that 
this belief is not shared by students of spiders... 
(p. 357). 

This species (Z. mactens) is very common and 
widely distributed in the South. It is found under 
stones and pieces of wood on the ground, about 
stumps, in holes in the ground, and about out- 
buildings ... (p. 358). _ 

Although it is essentially a southern species, it 
occurs in Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hamp- 
shire and doubtless other of the northern states. 
. .. It also occurs in California (p. 358). 

An apparent inconsistency is seen in the 
above quotations. He states in one place 
“that in the north at least there is no spider 
that is to be feared by man.” A little later 
he says: 

Although it (Latrodectes) is essentially a south- 
ern species, it occurs in Indiana, Ohio, Pennsyl- 
vania, New Hampshire, and doubtless other of the 
northern states... . 

Since he reports Latrodectes from Pennsyl- 
vania and New Hampshire it is obviously not 
an entirely southern species. 

Long before the publication, in 1912, of 
“The Spider Book,” in Vol. 1, 1889, of Insect 
Life, the editors, Riley and Howard, discussed 
in two articles, the question of spider bites. 


Ocroser 21, 1921] 


In the first of these, “ A Contribution to the 
Literature of Fatal Spider Bites,” various 
cases are reported, one of which was fatal in 
fourteen hours. They call attention to the 
fact that the genus Latrodectes, under various 
local names, in widely separated parts of the 
world, has the reputation of being poisonous; 
it is even classed, in this respect, with the 
rattlesnakes, by some Indian tribes. This very 
widespread reputation would seem to be fair 
evidence in favor of the view that this spider 
has marked poisonous characters. 

After discussing the above-mentioned cases, 
the authors make the following statement: 

. it seems to us, after analyzing the evidence, 
that it must at least be admitted that certain 
spiders of the genus Latrodectes have the power to 
inflict poisonous bites, which may (probably ex- 
ceptionally and depending upon exceptional con- 
ditions) bring about the death of a human being 
(p. 211). 

In a later communication, “The Spider 
Bite Question Again,” in the same volume of 
Insect Life, the editors quote a letter from Dr. 
E. R. Corson, of Savannah, Georgia, in which 
four cases are described in detail of supposed 
bites from spiders, though in no case was the 
animal actually captured or seen. Two of 
these cases were adult colored men; one was 
a very strong, healthy white man; the fourth 
was a two-year-old boy. None of these 
victims died, though some of them were most 
seriously affected, the symptoms being prac- 
tically the same in each case as those to be 
described below for the two cases under dis- 
cussion. As in these two, and _ practically 
every case recorded, the victims were bitten 
on the penis while using an outdoor closet. 

U. L. Kellogg? in an article entitled “ Spider 
Poison” discussed the subject of bites from 
Latrodectes in a most interesting manner. 
He quotes the same statement from Comstock, 
given above, in regard to the skepticism of 
students of spiders as to the serious nature 
of their bites; and he says 

To this I may in turn add that at least one stu- 
dent of spiders, though incomparably less experi- 

1 Journal of Parasitology, Vol. 1, 1915, pp. 107- 
112. 


SCIENCE 


383 


enced than Comstock, does share the belief in the 
unusually poisonous nature of Latrodectes mactens. 


The chief case cited by Kellogg is one that 
he quotes from one of his former students, 
Dr. Coleman. It will be noted that in this 
case the spider was captured and identified as 
I. mactans. The case is as follows, in Dr. 
Coleman’s words: 

Patient B came to my office one morning at 8.15 
o’clock, showing signs of an acute poisoning of 
some sort. 

The glans of the penis had been bitten by a 
spider while the patient was sitting in an out- 
closet. The only thing felt wasa sharp sting. (The 
spider was captured, so there is no doubt as to the 
species; it was a female of Latrodectes mactens.) 
In about ten minutes there appeared dizziness and 
weakness of the legs, followed by cramps in the 
abdominal muscles. 

The patient left the field where working and 
started to walk to town, a distance of a little over 
amile. The pains grew worse and the penis started 
to swell and turn red. When the office was reached, 
the pains, of a ecramp-like character, in the ab- 
domen, were intense, also around the heart and 
thighs. Physical examination showed the heart to 
be running at a rate of 40 per minute, of small vol- 
ume but regular, The respiration was labored. 
The pupils were dilated and the face very red and 
congested. The penis was swollen to a great size, 
fully three inches in diameter at the glans, and the 
color was a mottled purple. The contractions were 
clonic in character, giving the greatest pain in the 
chest and abdomen. There were no pains below 
the knees or elbows. 

The treatment consisted of hypodermic injections 
strychnin 1/40, followed in ten minutes by nitro- 
glycerine 1/100. Local applications to the site of 
bite of the erystals of potassium permanganate. 
The heart went as low as 27 beats to the minute. 
After three hours’ work, using repeated injections 
of strychnin, the heart-rate was increased to 45. 
The pains were not quite so severe and the patient 
was taken home. The administration of strychnin 
was stopped and the use of brandy hypodermic- 
ally injected was substituted, a dose of 10 mm. be- 
ing given every hour. Heat was applied to the 
feet and back. At 5 P.M., or about nine and one 
half hours after the first symptoms, the heart-rate 
had been raised to 55 and then as the pains were 
still severe, a 4 morphin with 1/150 atropin was 
given. The pains eased up and the patient dropped 


384 


The next morning a fine rash appeared all over 
the body, accompanied by some itching. The penis 
had returned to nearly normal size. The heart- 
tate was 60, the respiration was 18 and deep, tem- 
perature 100. The rash disappeared in four days. 
The patient was troubled with insomnia for sev- 
eral days, and a stubborn constipation that took a 
very active purge to affect... . 


Dr. Coleman also tried various experiments 
with spider poison, both upon himself and 
upon lower mammals; two of these are as 
follows: 


Several experiments were tried on rabbits and 
eats with very interesting results. 

1. The dissected glands of one female Latro- 
dectes containing the virus. The virus was 
macerated in 10 drops of distilled water. The 
same was injected subcutaneously into the abdomen 
of a cat about 8 months old. In about five min- 
utes a series of convulsions set in of a clonic type, 
quickly followed by tonic spasm and in ten min- 
utes the animal was dead. 

3. A quantity of the eggs of Latrodectes was 
macerated in 20 gtts. of water and diluted up to 
10 ee. The injection of this solution produced the 
same typical symptoms and death to a cat 8 months 
old in about three minutes. A rabbit was killed in 
about two and one half minutes.... ~° 


It will be noted that the spider poison or 
“arachnolysin ” is not confined to the poison 
glands but is found in the body fluids and 
tissues as well. Kellogg says: 

A diadem spider of 1.4 gr. contains sufficient 
poison to destroy completely all the corpuscles in 
2.5 liters of rabbit blood. This puts arachnolysin 
in the class of strongest kinds of blood poisons. 

He says also: 

Probably with Latrodectes, as with other animal 
poisons, the physiological idiosyncrasies of the 
particular man bitten play an important part in 
determining the degree of seriousness of the 
trouble produced. 


The most recent case brought to my atten- 
tion, by the sister of the victim, occurred in 
Oklahoma in the summer of 1920. The victim 
was a strong healthy man of thirty-eight; he 
died about thirty-two hours after being bitten, 
in spite of the efforts of three physicians. All 
three of the doctors were written to for details 
of the case, but only one Dr. E. W. Reynolds, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1399 


responded. His description of the case, so far 
as he knew it, follows. 


I was called on the case shortly after Mr. L, was 
bitten. He had gone to the toilet and while sitting 
on the stool felt something like a pin stick him but 
did not look until he was bitten again and then 
discovered a little black spider which he killed... . 

He was bitten on the end of the penis and I 
could not see any marks or swellings which prob- 
ably meant that he received the poison directly 
into a small blood vessel. 

When I saw him he was in great agony. The 
pain traveled up the penis through the cords to one 
group of muscles and another, shifting about all 
the time. The usual amount of narcotic had no 
effect at all. I was with him about one hour but 
did not get to see him again. He could not lie 
still, and when I left he was some easier and not 
depressed. When I left I expected to have to go 
back later and give him another hypo but wanted 
to wait awhile to see what effect it already had. 

For some reason later other doctors were called 
but I understand were unable to help him in any 
way. 


It will be noticed that in this case also the 
victim was bitten on the penis while using a 
toilet, and that a “little black spider” was 
killed. 

It would seem worth while for the public in 
general, especially in the rural districts, to 
become familiar with this rather formidable 
little animal, whose colors and markings make 
it easy to recognize. 

Since writing the above I have received 
from Dr. V. L. Casto, the father of one of 
my students, the following history: 


On the 30th day of last October I was called to 
see Andy Coon, age 48, farmer and American, who 
about two hours previous to my visit was bitten 
by a small spider, black in color: he had been husk- 
ing corn and had noticed several small black spi- 
ders in the fodder and one of them seemed to get 
tangled in his underwear and bit him four times, 
about five inches above the left ankle. 

I found him in the following condition: suffer- 
ing excruciating pain radiating from the place of 
the bite to the top of his head; the leg swollen, a 
severe pain around the heart, pulse 140 per minute, 
and in about 30 minutes the pain passed to the 
opposite side and the left leg and thigh began to 
swell and he began to swell over the region of the 


Ocrosrr 21, 1921] 


kidneys; at this stage he began to vomit and went 
into collapse and broke out into a cold and clammy 
sweat, remaining this way for two hours. 

He continued to swell for 12 hours, when it 
stopped, and it was 48 hours before the swelling 
began to leave and six weeks after the bite the 
patient still complains of soreness in his legs and 
some pain around his heart, yet he is able to re- 
sume his work on the farm. 


Also, since writing the above, an article 
has appeared in the Journal of the American 
Medical Association for January 8, 1921, 
page 99, by Dr. D. J. Lewis of San Juan, 
Coahuila, Mexico, entitled “ Black Spider 
Poisoning; a.Report of Four Cases.” In 
this article he briefly describes the cases of 
three men, aged respectively 31, 32, and 33 
years, and of one woman, aged 28, all of whom 
were bitten while asleep in bed at night. Dr. 
Lewis states that gauze wet with saturated 
solution of magnesium sulphate kept on the 
bitten area “relieves the pain, reduces the 
swelling and prevents the progress of the 
disease.” He also gave iodine, calomel and 
magnesium sulphate internally, but he does 
not state in what doses. The patients were 
able to resume work in from five to ten days. 


Aubert M. Reese 
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


PREVALENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF FUNGI 
INTERNAL OF SEED CORN 


THE importance of root, stalk and ear rot 
fungi in decreasing yields of field corn has 
received considerable attention in recent 
years on the part of investigators. Results of 
investigations so far reported indicate more 
or less agreement in, the various disease 
symptoms manifested. However, some differ- 
ence of opinion exists concerning the im- 
portance of the causal organisms. The speci- 
fic determination of the fungi has not been 
fully emphasized nor the method by which 
they are carried in the seed. 

The following account presents in part the 
results of our investigations in determining 
the species of fungi associated with seed corn. 


SCIENCE 


385 


Our studies were initiated to ascertain the 
losses and prevalence of infection in Delaware 
and the importance of the seed in carrying 
infection. While our observations and studies 
have been confined principally to the corn 
crop in this state we feel that careful in- 
vestigations will reveal the presence and im- 
portance of the same pathogenes in other 
states but no doubt in varying degrees of 
prevalence. 

Disinfection experiments followed by cul- 
tures soon indicated to us that certain para- 
sitic fungi were carrying internal of the ker- 
nel and that a brief surface sterilizing with a 
strong disinfectant, followed by proper cul- 
ture methods proved an efficient means of 
determining the amount of such internal in- 
fection. 

We have found that an efficient test for 
determining the presence of fungi internal of 
seed corn and one which at the same time 
readily permits of the identification of the 
fungi, is carried out by disinfecting and 
planting the kernels or crushed kernels in 
sterile culture medium in Petri dishes. Fif- 
teen or more kernels are disinfected in a 
test tube 150 * 20mm. for one minute in a 
solution of 50 per cent. alcohol containing 1 
gram of bichloride of mercury in each liter. 
Following this treatment the kernels are 
washed in the same tube with two successive 
washings with 20 ¢«.c., each of sterile water 
and immediately ten kernels are removed 
aseptically with sterile forceps and placed 
with germ side down on 20 «c., of nutrient 
glucose agar in a sterile culture dish. Fur- 
ther, five of the remaining kernels are each 
placed in a sterile culture dish and with a 
sterile scalpel the point of the kernel which 
is the portion that contains most of the in- 
ternal infection is cut off one sixth to one 
fifth inch from the end; then with a strong 
sterile forceps each point is placed in the mouth 
of a heavy-walled tube (it requires a strong 
tube and strong forceps, as crushing is not 
easy) 150 20mm. containing 10 ce, of 
sterile nutrient glucose agar medium at 
43° ©.; the point is thoroughly crushed and 
shaken down into the medium, then well 


386 


mixed and poured into the sterile culture dish 
containing the remaining part of the kernel. 
(These methods were used extensively by 
the senior writer in his studies on fungi in- 
ternal of flax, 1901-1904, and wheat, 1909.) 
In this manner a greater distribution of the 
mycelium or spores is possible and allows for 
accurate interpretation in instances where 
more than one fungus is being carried. 

In most of the cultural plate work a 
dextrose peptone agar of the following com- 
position was used:—tap water 1000 ce., 
dextrose 10 grams, peptone 1 gram, agar 15 
grams. Twenty cubic centimeters of medium 
were used in all cultural plates in which ten 
kernels of corn were placed for germination. 

A careful study of the anatomy of seed 
which showed heavy infection after a steriliz- 
ing treatment, readily indicated how these 
parasitic fungi were escaping the disin- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1399 


pathogenes were not inhibiting germination, 
the fungi had gained entrance only to the 
cavity under the “cap”; or had penetrated 
but short distances under the pericarp. This 
was true of each of the fungi Cephalosporium 
sacchari, Gibberella saubineti, Fusarium mo- 
niliforme and Diplodia zee. Whenever any 
of these pathogenes became established in the 
tissue comprizing the embryo the vitality was 
either destroyed or greatly inhibited. Ob- 
servations thus far made indicate as a result 
of cultural and germinator tests that in 
order of importance of inhibiting germination 
Diplodia zew stands first, followed in order 
by Gibberella saubinetit, Fusarium monili- 
forme and Cephalosporium sacchari. 

The samples submitted for this survey from 
states other than Delaware were not neces- 
sarily representative. The studies show at 
least the general occurrence of these fungi. 


fectant. In most cases where the internal The establishment of C. sacchari as a para- 
DISTRIBUTION AND PREVALENCE OF PARASITIC FUNGI INTERNAL OF SEED CORN 
3 ao) 
2 g 
g B § ~% ry Germination! 
o 
State is al = = Fe § 3 
a oa Sm S$ S) RN 
° fo} oe Qe 8 8 ay 
PAE ce pen (EE |e 
| ce 88 373 § 5 S 
g FS ese Pes | 8k ls 
a a S ics) & Q Strong | Weak | Dead 
IDA Mus a Asiitota ea Rene EEA AG 219 3,285 39.54 5.95 19.92 5.69 86.35 9.56 4.09 
BAT Ces ty ieee sy chonenrshnissay Mone 15 225 22.00 1.33 35.33 3.33 66.00 26.66 7.34 
Gorrie areet a ators 12 180 16.66 25.83 41.66 84.16 14.16 1.68 
ATE eae Rees eyradey i kataaets 25 375 2.00 12.40 7.20 82.80 16.00 1.20 
JBI BoSiNiy vata nae mon pitas 17 255 4.70 4.70 96.44 3.56 
Ty Soar ae meena ola! 34 510 3.82 4.11 17.94 4.85 59.70 15.59 24.71 
a COE eh Mar a 12 180 11.66 30.00 88.33 11.67 
1 TIE is Sas a a 1 15 80.00 100.00 
Mass sitar ics geteere ioe 5 75 12.00 10.00 8.00 85.00 6.00 9.00 
No eee eeAke NB epee Sich RGICee eae 10 150 46.00 7.00 12.00 14.00 65.00 35.00 
Minna eerie ie 10 150 10.00 12.00 43.00 37.00 55.00 8.00 
Misses Sibt fase sabe ster 16 240 38.13 40.00 3.12 74.37 25.00 63 
INGb ee tean ia nee arias 14 215 22.85 20.00 1.42 85.71 4.28 10.01 
INGO elanensce ciate 10 150 38.00 2.00 48.00 86.00 14.00 
INE Dalkai hoi Sua ane a 25 375 -40 -80 85.60 1.20 13.20 
IN Esper orale acta Oued bio B 10 150 24.00 21.00 17.00 2.00 79.00 21.00 
Ns OR eI a 6 90 3.33 96.67 3.33 
Ohio ge ee Uae en 11 165 10.90 22.72 1.82 12.73 49.09 50.91 
Bae eats cede hace teers 14 210 5.71 7.87 89.57 3.57 6.86 
RS COC Eanes aiient ac 7 105 14.28 71.42 2.85 21.42 78.58 
SWiSs crea istthis corte neat 7 105 20.00 2.85 10.85 97.14 2.86 


1 All data reported in terms of per cent. 


OctoBER 21, 1921] 


site of corn is here reported for the first time 
to our knowledge in this country. This 
fungus was first described by Butler and Kahn 
(1913) as a parasite of sugar cane in India. 
A detailed report on these studies will ap- 
pear in the February issue of the Journal 
of Agricultural Research. 
T. F. Manns, 
J. F. Apams 
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, 
UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE, 
May 10, 1921 


GENERAL MEETING OF THE AMERI- 
CAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 


THE sixty-second general meeting of the Ameri- 
ean Chemical Society was called to order at Colum- 
bia University, New York City, on Wednesday 
morning, September 7, 1921, with President Edgar 
F. Smith presiding. The weleoming address was 
delivered by Dr. John E, Teeple, chairman of the 
New York Section, to which Dr. Smith responded 
in behalf of the Society. 

The address of Hon. Francis P. Garvan on 
‘< Chemistry and the State ’’ roused the audience 
to a high pitch of feeling regarding the present 
critical situation which chemistry in America is 
facing. The address of Sir William J. Pope on 
‘« Chemical Warfare ’’ and of Professor R. F. Rut- 
tan on ‘‘ Organization of Industrial Research in 
Canada ’’ were also received with enthusiasm. The 
addresses in full will appear in the October issue 
of the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chem- 
istry. 

Dr. Smith read the following telegram of greet- 
ing from President Harding, which had been orig- 
inally received as the visiting guests crossed the 
border into the United States at Niagara Falls on 
Monday, September 5, 1921: 

It is a pleasure to extend greetings to the gath- 
ering of American, Canadian and British Societies 
representing the chemical sciences and industries 
meeting on American soil. Probably none of the 
materialistic sciences holds promise of so great con- 
tributions to human welfare in the coming genera- 
tions as that which your organization represents. 
The developments of applied chemistry involve both 
a possibility of vastly increased horrors in human 
conflict and alternately inestimable benefits to a 
peaceful civilization. Let us hope that a science so 
fraught with either good or vicious possibilities 
may be turned, through the wisdom of the nations, 
to the benefit and advancement of mankind. 

WARREN G. HARDING 


The telegram was received with enthusiasm and 


SCIENCE 


387 


the Society requested President Smith to express 
its appreciation in a suitable reply. 

In accordance with the nominations of the coun- 
cil, Sir William Pope and M. Paul Kestner were 
elected honorary members of the society. Sir Wil- 
liam responded in a delightful vein and expressed 
the extreme regret of M. Kestner at his inability 
to attend these meetings. Dr. Robert F. Ruttan, 
president-elect of the Society of Chemical Industry, 
and Dr. Ernst Cohen of the University of Utrecht 
were presented to the audience and heartily re- 
ceived. 

The Committee appointed by the Council consist- 
ing of Messrs. H. T. Clarke, F. R. Eldred, and Chas. 
H. Herty submitted the following resolution, which 
was unanimously adopted: 


Believing in the incalculable peace-time benefits 
which accrue from the development of the science 
of organic chemistry and its application in medi- 
cine, agriculture and the industries connected with 
foods, fuels, textiles and dyes. 

Realizing the great réle that organic chemistry 
has played in the development of chemical warfare, 
we call the attention of this nation to the grave 
erisis which threatens our organic chemical in- 
dustry. 

In spite of the tremendous strides made during 
the past five years in the United States, this im- 
portant industry is still centered in Germany. 
Other nations have already sought to safeguard its 
future in their countries by appropriate legislation. 
America stands hesitant. Progress has been checked 
and indeed the very industry is threatened with 
destruction. Two agencies will be determinative in 
averting this disaster, the approaching Interna- 
tional Conference on Disarmament and the Congress 
of the United States. 

Resolved, therefore, 

First, that we urge upon the American delegates 
to the Disarmament Conference most serious consid- 
eration of the broad question of chemical disarm- 
ament as affected by the development and main- 
tenance of the chemical industries in the several 
nations. 

Second, that we urge upon Congress the necessity 
of including in the permanent tariff bill a selective 
embargo for a limited period against importation 
of synthetic organic chemicals, and we express the 
confident hope that in view of the important bear- 
ing of such action on economical development and 
on national defense, our representatives regardless 
of political affiliations will support this legislation, 


The fiftieth anniversary of Sir James and Lady 
Dewar’s marriage having been recently celebrated, 
on August 8, it was moved that a congratulatory 
message be transmitted from the American Chem- 
ical Society. 

On Tuesday evening a complimentary smoker, 
with nearly one thousand members present, was held 
at the Waldorf-Astoria, and an interesting program 


388 


consisting of music, vaudeville entertainment, car- 
toons, ete., was enjoyed by all. 

At the International Meeting on Thursday after- 
noon, after an organ recital by Professor Samuel 
A. Baldwin in the grand hall of the College of the 
City of New York, which was greatly enjoyed by 
all, the following addresses were given: 


Chemistry and Civilization: Dr. Epcar F, Smita, 
provost emeritus, University of Pennsylvania, in 
the chair. 

Science and Civilization; The Role of Chemistry: 
Dr. CHAS. BASKERVILLE, director of the labora- 
tories, College of the City of New York; chair- 
man, International Committee. 

Energy; Its Sources and Future Possibilities: Dr. 
ArtHuR D. LirTLe, chemical engineer and tech- 
nologist, Boston. 

The Engineer; Human and Superior Direction of 
Power: Dr. Lro H. BAEKELAND, honorary pro- 
fessor of chemical engineering, Columbia Uni- 
versity, 

Chemistry and Life: Str WituiAM J. Pops, pro- 
fessor of chemistry, Cambridge University. 

Theories: Dr. Wintis R. WHITNEY, head of re- 
search department, General Electric Company. 

Research Applied to the World’s Work: Dr. C. E. 
K. Mess, head of research department, Eastman 
Kodak Company. 

Problem of Diffusion and Its Bearing on. Civiliza- 
tion: Proressor Ernst CoHEN, professor of 
chemistry, University of Utrecht. 

Catalysis: The New Economic Factor: PRoressor 
Wiper D. BANcrort, professor of physical chem- 
istry, Cornell University. 


On Thursday evening the banquet hall at the 
Waldorf-Astoria was crowded at one of the so- 
ciety ’s delightful gatherings, and on Friday night 
the members listened to the annual presidential ad- 
dress of Edgar F. Smith, entitled ‘‘ Progress in 
Chemistry.’’ This address was preceded by the 
unveiling of the Priestley portrait, which is to be 
placed in the National Museum, the unveiling being 
accompanied by a description of the life and work 
of Priestley, by Dr. C. A. Browne. 

The following Divisions and Sections met: Divis- 
ions of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Biolog- 
ical Chemistry, Chemistry of Medicinal Products, 
Dye Chemistry, Fertilizer Chemistry, Industrial and 
Engineering Chemistry, Leather Chemistry, Organic 
Chemistry, Physical and Inorganie Chemistry, Rub- 
ber Chemistry, Sugar Chemistry, Water, Sewage, 
and Sanitation Chemistry, and Sections of Cellu- 
lose Chemistry, Chemical Education and Petroleum 
Chemistry. 

At the meeting of the Division of Biological 
Chemistry a Committee was appointed, consisting 
of A. D. Emmett, chairman, Alfred Hess, E. V. 
McCollum, L. B. Mendel, and H. C. Herman, to 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1399 


recommend methods for vitamine study. 
Officers were elected as follows: 

DIVISION OF AGRICULTURAL AND FooD CHEMISTRY: 
Chairman, T. J. Bryan; Secretary, C. S. Brinton. 

DIvISION OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY: Chairman, H. 
B. Lewis; Secretary, J. S. Hughes; H#xecutive 
Committee, R. D. Swain, R. A. Dutcher, H. C. 
Sherman, H. F. Zoller, A. D. Emmett. 

DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY OF MEDICINAL PRODUCTS: 
Chairman, E. B. Carter; Secretary, E. H. Vol- 
wiler; Executive Committee, A. D. Hirschfelder, 
Charles E, Caspari. 

Division oF DyE CHEMISTRY: Chairman, W. J. 
Hale; Vice-chairman, L. A. Olney; Secretary- 
“Treasurer, R. Norris Shreve; Hxecutive Commit- 
tee, B. A. Ludwig, R. E. Rose. 

Division OF FERTILIZER CHEMISTRY: Chairman, F. 
B. Carpenter; Secretary, H. C. Moore. 

Division oF INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEM- 
IstRY: Chairman, W. K. Lewis; Vice-chairman, 
D, R. Sperry; Secretary, H. E. Howe; Asst. Sec- 
retary, H. M. Billings; Executive Committee, W. 
F. Hillebrand, Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr., F. M. 
DeBeers, Alexander Silverman, H. R. Moody, C. 
E. Coates. ; 

DIvISIoN OF LEATHER CHEMISTRY: Chairman, J. A. 
Wilson; Vice-chairman, J. S. Rogers; Secretary, 
A. W. Thomas; Executive Committee, Frank L. 
Seymour-Jones, R. McKee. 

DIVISION OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY: Chairman, H. T. 
Clarke; Vice-chairman and Secretary, F. C. 
Whitmore. 

DIVISION OF PHYSICAL AND INORGANIC CHEMISTRY: 
Chairman, S. E. Sheppard; Secretary, R. E. 
Wilson; Haxecutive Committee, Wm. Blum, Joel 
Hillebrand, J. H. Mathews, L. C. Newell, H. B. 
Weiser, E. C, Bingham, G. S. Forbes. 

Division or RUBBER CHEMISTRY: Chairman, C. W. 
Bedford; Vice-chairman, H. E. Simmons; Secre- 
tary, A. H. Smith; Executive Committee, W. B. 
Wiegand, W. W. Evans, J. B. Tuttle, D. F. 
Craner, F, G. Breyer. 

Division oF SuGaR CHEMISTRY: Chairman, S. J. 
Osborn; Vice-chairman, F. W. Zerban; Secre- 
tary-Treasurer, F. J. Bates; Executive Commit- 
tee, C. A. Browne, C. E. Coates, W. D. Horne, 
W. B. Newkirk, H. 8S. Paine, H. E. Zitkowski. 

Division OF WATER, SEWAGE AND: SANITATION: 
Chairman, A. M. Buswell; Vice-chairman, F. R. 
Georgia; Secretary-Treasurer, W. W. Skinner; 
Executive Committee, W. R. Copeland, W. D. 


Collins. CHARLES L. PARSONS, 


Secretary 


OcrosEr 21, 1921] 


THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL 
SOCIETY 


(Concluded) 


Measurement of star diameters by the interfer- 
ometer method: F. G. PEASE, Stephan, in 1874, fol- 
lowing a suggestion of Fizeau’s, made an attempt 
at measuring the angular diameter of the brighter 
stars by the interferometer method and rightly 
found that his telescope was too small. Michelson 
in 1890 devised a periscopic attachment, which, 
when placed upon the end of the telescope greatly 
increased its equivalent aperture; with it he meas- 
ured the diameter of the satellites of Jupiter, A 
similar instrument upon the great 100-inch Hooker 
telescope on Mount Wilson enabled Michelson and 
Pease in 1920 to obtain a successful measure of the 
angular diameter of q Orionis. 

A brief outline is given of the principles under- 
lying the method of interferometer measurement, 
and of its application to use with the telescope. 
Pencils of light from the star passing through two 
small apertures in a screen covering the telescope, 
produce ‘‘ interference fringes ’’ which appear 
superposed on the regular diffraction image of the 
star. When the apertures are close together the 
‘¢ visibility ’’ of the fringes is said to be 100 per 
cent. As the apertures are separated the visibility 
is reduced, the fringes become weaker and at a 
still further separation they vanish. The relation, 
a= 1.22 \/b existing between the angular diameter 
of a star, the effective wave length of its light and 
the distance apart of the two outer mirrors when the 
fringes vanish enables one to determine the star’s 
angular diameter. The linear diameter of the star 
ean then be ealeulated if its parallax is known. 
The interferometer attachment is described to- 
gether with the method of operating it. It consists 
of a fabricated steel beam 21 feet long, carrying 
four 6-inch mirrors, inclined at 45°, the two inner 
ones being fixed and faced downwards, the two 
outer adjustable and facing upwards. It is placed 
on the end of the telescope and observations made 
at the Cassegrain focus, which has an equivalent 
focal length of 134 feet. An auxiliary optical de- 
vice, consisting of a movable wedge of glass and a 
plane parallel compensator enables the observer to 
equalize the two pencils of light and obtain the de- 
sired fringes. Two additional pencils passing over 
the ordinary path in the telescope, form a compari- 
son image with ‘‘ zero ’’ fringes superposed; both 
interferometer and comparison images are viewed 
simultaneously with an eyepiece. When the seeing 


SCIENCE 


389 


is poor it is difficult to be certain that the fringes 
have actually vanished; a weakening of the zero 
fringes, however, at the same time furnishes the 
observer with a check in the matter. 

On December 13, 1920, the interferometer fringes 
vanished for a Orionis when the distance between 
the mirrors was about ten feet. The seeing was 
good and the instrument adjustments were verified 
on check stars both before and after the observa- 
tion. Assuming a wave-length of 5.75 x 10-5 em. the 
approximate angular diameter is 07.047. Using a 
value. of 0.020 for the parallax, the linear diam- 
eter is roughly 218,000,000 miles. 

Definite decrease in visibility of the fringes has 
been observed by the writer with the 20 foot inter- 
ferometer, for a Tauri, a Bootis, a Seorpii and B 
Geminorum. The diameter of 8 Geminorum is 
smaller than can be measured with this interfer- 
ometer. Additional observations will be necessary to 
definitely determine the diameter of the others. The 
work will be continued until all the brighter stars 
have been examined. 


Atomic theory and ideal numbers: LEONARD 
EuGENE Dickson. On the basis of close analogies 
with the molecular and atomic theories, it is pos- 
sible to give a clear insight into the nature of ideal 
numbers, which play such an important réle in the 
mathematical world to-day. This special importance 
is due to the fact that only after the introduction 
of ideal numbers do the laws of divisibility, valid 
in arithmetic, hold also for algebraic numbers. 
Without ideal numbers the situation in regard to 
algebraic numbers is most chaotic. The restoration 
of order out of chaos by the invention of ideal num- 
bers is one of the chief mathematical triumphs of 
our century. 


A general catalog of stellar distances: FRANK 
SCHLESINGER. This paper deals with a review of the 
various methods for determining stellar distances 
and deseribes the methods that have been employed 
to mold the observations into a homogeneous whole. 


Intermittent vision at low intensities: HERBERT 
EH. Ives. An experimental study of the phenomena 
of flicker at low intensities where twilight or rod 
vision prevails. Blue light was used, reduced in 
intensity until all sensation of color disappeared. 
Under these conditions the speed of alternation of 
light and dark at which flicker disappears, becomes 
independent of changes of intensity, unlike its be- 
havior at high intensities where it increases or de- 
creases as the intensity is raised or lowered. The 


390 


principal object of the study was to find the effect 
on flicker of various ‘‘ wave-forms ’’ of light dis- 
tribution throughout the intermittent cycle. Rota- 
ting dises were used, cut to various simple shapes 
and openings, and rotated in such relation to a light 
source that the illumination of the observing target 
could be interrupted gradually, abruptly, partially, 
or for varied fractions of the total cycle or period 
of intermittence. The speeds were found at which 
the sensation of flicker disappeared (‘‘ critical 
speeds ’’). These vary in a systematic manner with 
the change of wave-form, but in a different manner 
from their course at high intensities. A strikingly 
simple mathematical expression has been found to 
represent the critical speed-wave-form data. If the 
wave-form is represented by its expansion in a 
Fourier series, the critical speed is directly propor- 
tional to the logarithm of the coefficient of the first 
periodic term of the expansion, divided by the aver- 
age value. 


The effect of tension on the electrical resistance 
of some of the more unusual metals: P. W. Bripe- 
MAN. In this investigation those metals have been 
examined which are abnormal in that their electrical 
resistance increases under hydrostatic pressure. It 
is normal for the resistance of a metal to increase 
under tension. The point at issue was whether the 
metals which are abnormal in their pressure coeffi- 
cients would also be abnormal in their tension coeffi- 
cients. Five metals are known whose pressure 
coefficients of resistance are abnormal; these are 
bismuth, antimony, lithium, calcium, and strontium. 
It was found in this investigation that the tension 
coefficients of only two of these, namely bismuth 
and strontium, are abnormal, whereas that of the 
other three are normal in that the resistance in- 
creases under tension. Taken in conjunction with 
the view of the nature of metallic resistance which 
I have developed recently elsewhere, these facts are 
taken to indicate that the mechanism of conduction 
in lithium is by a passage of electrons between the 
atoms, whereas in bismuth the conduction is mainly 
by the passage of electrons through the atoms, In 
strontium it is probable that both types of conduc- 
tion are present, in calcium that the conduction is 
mainly of the first type, and in antimony mainly of 
the second. The alloys manganin and ‘‘ therlo,’’ 
whose pressure coefficients are abnormal, have also 
been investigated, and their tension coefficients 
found to be normal. This is also in accord with the 
theory. 

The conductivity of mixtures of nitrogen and 
chlorine in a flaming arc: W. A. Noyes. For about 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1399 


seven years the author of the paper and his assist- 
ants have attempted to secure the direct combina- 
tion of nitrogen and chlorine by methods similar 
to those which are used in the preparation of the 
oxides of nitrogen by the use of the electric dis- 
charge. Some of the early experiments seem to 
indicate that nitrogen and chlorine combine in the 
electric are, but after a very careful elimination of 
every trace of oxygen and of moisture from the 
apparatus no combination could be established. 
Less than 0.3 of a milligram of combined nitrogen 
was found in an experiment which was conducted 
for 51 hours. When air was subjected to the same 
conditions several grams of the combined nitrogen 
were obtained. 


Rose Atoll, Samoa, in its relation to recent change 
in sea level: ALFRED G. Mayor. This rarely visited 
atoll proves to be composed of lithothamnion rather 
than coral. The atoll rim was once about 8 feet 
higher than at present, and has been cut down 
nearly to present sea level after the ocean subsided 
to this extent in recent times. The extreme isolation 
of the atoll is shown by the fact that there are only 
three species of plants upon the island; a Pisonia 
forming a beautiful grove of trees, a small yellow- 
flowered Portulaca, and a creeping pink-flowered 
Boerhaavea, A rat allied to a Malayan form, and 
widely distributed over Polynesia is the only 
mammal on the island. It is interesting to see that 
all the islands of American Samoa indicate that the 
sea was once at least 8 feet higher than at present, 
and Rose Atoll leads us to infer that the climate 
was tropical when the sea level was highest, for 
fossil corals and lithothamnion are found in the 
atoll rim above present sea level. 


-** Turtle Oreodon Layer ’’ or ** Red Layer,’’ a 
contribution to the stratigraphy of the White Rwer 
oligocene (results of the Princeton University 1920 
expedition to South Dakota: W. J. Stncuarr. This 
paper describes the lowest member of the Oreodon 
beds in the Big Badlands of South Dakota, a 
pinkish gray clay with several zones of rusty no- 
dules at its top. Although it has supplied abundant 
fossil bones to collectors for over seventy years, 
very little has been published about it, and the 
present paper endeavors to give some details re- 
garding its nature, the origin of the sediments, con- 
ditions under which they were laid down and so on, 
and to tie up certain of the changes both in sedi- 
ments and faunas to a climatic factor. The first 
fresh-water algal limestones to be identified in any 
of our continental tertiary formations are described. 


SCIENCE 


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More than 200 valid species, including 
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SCIENCE 


Sasa =a, 
Fripay, Ocroper 28, 1921. RESEARCH IN EUGENICS1 
Pa Le Man is studying all phenomena. He has 
Joel Asaph Allen: H. E. ANTHONY.......... SOI at wlastucomette study himself. Not his dis- 


Research in Eugenics: Dr. CHARLES B. DAVEN- 
ON ph bol odockconoseM Fs ena S Soe a UMMIbiBio dG 397, 

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Discussion and Correspondence : 
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IMC OLENDON Ise sictoisncishevsvaiayaiaigeoe clea a reese oe 408 
Scientific Books: 
Ranson’s Anatomy of the Nervous System: 
Proressor C. JUDSON HERRICK............ 409 
Special Articles : 
A Simple Apparatus for Micro-manipulation 
under the Highest Magnifications of the 


Microscope: Dr. Ropert CHAMBERS. Chro- 
mosome Relationships in Wheat: Dr. Karu 
PSP Sea bic borin be tas epee ae AIG) UA 411 


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MSS. intended for publication and books, etec.,intended for 
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eases, not his language, not his customs merely, 
but also his more intimate self. Man is study- 
ing man as an animal, who varies in his traits, 
who selects his mates for better or worse, who 
has a larger or smaller number of children 
that are more or less healthy and live for a 
varying period. The races of man are being 
studied not merely to list their differences, but 
to find how those differences arose and how 
they are transmitted to progeny and how they 
intermingle. We are studying the laws that 
govern the distribution of traits in the family; 
we are studying the consequences of combina- 
tions of these traits in the instincts, interests 
and behavior of individuals. At last we are 
studying man as the product of breeding and 
as the subject of an evolutionary process. And 
we are studying the human germ plasm, its 
composition, its mutations and its mixtures. 

And why do we investigate? Is not enough 
known to warrant propaganda; and should we 
not better organize for a campaign to change 
what needs changing? Alas! we have now 
too little precise knowledge in any field of 
eugenics. We can command respect for our 
eugenic conclusions only as our findings are 
based on rigid proof, a proof that is either 
statistical or experimental. Only as we are 
able to base our statements on scientific, quan- 
titative data can we hope to carry conviction 
and not arouse contrary opinion. People do 
not have heated discussions on the multipli- 
cation table; they will not dispute quantitative 
findings in any science. 

It is largely due to the extraordinary vision 
of Mrs. E. H. Harriman, the founder of the 
Eugenics Record Office, that in this country 
eugenics is more a subject of research than of 


1 Address at the opening session of the Interna- 
tional Congress of Eugenies. 


392 


propaganda. She maintained that we should 
be more concerned with knowing than with do- 
ing. Ascertained facts do not require propa- 
ganda. 

It is sometimes asserted that research in 
eugenics belongs to the realm of applied 
science, and much of it does. But not all. 
There are fields of eugenical research, es- 
pecially in human genetics, that are pure re- 
search in as much as they are devoted to in- 
vestigations that can not be carried out so well 
on any other material. For example, inherit- 
ance of psychological traits, of temperament 
and of sense perception. 

In so far as eugenics may lay claim to being 
a science, it has not only a subject matter—but 
also a method of its own. In studying the 
genetics of the lower animals, we proceed by 
the method of control of matings. Now this 
method is obviously not applicable to man in 
modern civilized countries. It has to be re- 
placed by the collection of the history of ma- 
tings that have been already made and a study 
of their progeny. We replace the experimental 
mating of the geneticist with the principle 
that every fertile human mating is an experi- 
ment in genetics, and it is for us to record the 
result of the experiment. Some day, we may 
hope, human matings will be carried beyond 
the stage of experiment. 

At present, then, the student of human 
genetics must collect data on human matings 
and their outcome. Of course, he must know, 
as thoroughly as he can, the genetic nature of 
the matings; so that he can give the probable 
genetic composition of the gametes. This 
means that he must know for the mated pair, 
the parents, uncles and aunts and their chil- 
dren. He can then check his findings by study- 
ing the traits of the children. Since the 
capacity of one man for collecting by himself 
is very limited, it is necessary to train ob- 
servers to collect data. Hence has arisen the 
profession of eugenical field worker whose 
function it is to study through three or more 
generations and as analytically as possible all 
the members of an inter-generating group so 
that their probable genetic composition may 
be known. By gathering together in one de- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Von. LIV. No. 1400 


pository a large quantity of carefully ascer- 
tained family data, the basis is laid for human 
genetical studies. 

The history of the development of the 
method of eugenical field workers is not a long 
one. Dr. Alexander Graham Bell was one of 
the first to use it extensively in this country. 
He employed such field workers in his study 
of deaf mutes especially those of Martha’s 
Vineyard, in the early eighties. The Rever- 
end Oscar McCulloch made use of field work- 
ers in his study of the Ishmaelites in the 
nineties, and at the Vineland Training School 
such workers were employed before 1910. A 
large number of eugenical field workers 
(about 200) have been trained by the Eugen- 
ics Record Office since its beginning in 1910. 

Besides trained field workers, numerous 
volunteers are in a position to contribute data. 
Thus, in 1884, Francis Galton distributed his 
questionnaires called “‘ Record of Family Fac- 
ulties,” and over 150 persons volunteered to 
fill them out and return them to him for study. 
The Eugenics Record Office has made use of 
a similar questionnaire called “Record of 
Family Traits,” of which 4,000, of varying de- 
grees of excellence, have been deposited in that 
office. Some of these “ Records” are excep- 
tionally valuable. It appears that many per- 
sons show the capacity for and interest in fill- 
ing out such schedules excellently. A few 
others will take the pains to make a still more 
detailed analysis of the individuals of their 
families. Many of these records have to be 
considered as finders merely; as guides to 
further inquiries. 

Additional records that are often of value 
are the printed genealogies and town histories, 
of which so many have been printed in this 
country, especially for the northeastern section. 
In addition, biographies, especially sets of bio- 
graphies relating to members of a single 
family, will yield to the analyst of human 
traits data of the greatest importance. Finally 
all records—those of field workers, of volun- 
teers and the printed records—must be indexed 
by name, place and trait so that their contents 
shall be readily available. 

In inquiries into human genetics it is de- 


OcroBER 28, 1921] 


sirable, where possible, to breed experimentally 
mammals, if any are available, which show the 
same trait that we are studying in humans. 
This is often possible, and such study will 
afford a control of results gained on man. 
Thus have been studied hare-lip in dogs, fecun- 
dity in sheep, instincts in dogs, polydactylism 
in fowls. 

In other studies the method employed will be 
that of accumulation of statistics, their tabu- 
lation and analysis. Thus we investigate 
mate selection, the relative fecundity and 
relative mortality of the various stocks and 
the effect on the germ plasm of a country of 
the different immigrant races. 

Some of the results of analytical study of 
these eugenical data are fairly well established. 
A few clearly simple Mendelian traits have 
been found. Such is eye color in which brown 
is dominant over its absence. It is possible 
that in some cases additional factors may be 
present, but the rule serves as a first approxi- 
mation. Dominant, also, appears to be curli- 
ness of the hair as contrasted with recessive 
straight. And there are various diseases and 
defects that appear either as simple dominants 
or recessives, such as abnormalities in number 
and form of fingers and toes, which are mostly 
dominant over the normal condition; various 
defects of the eye such as cataract, certain 
types of congenital deafness, various abnormal- 
ities of skin, and hair and nails. 

Other, and probably many other, traits are 
due to multiple factors—so often this is true 
as to suggest the hypothesis that in mammals, 
as contrasted with insects, traits are genetically 
relatively complex. Thus stature and build 
and proportions of parts and pigmentation of 
hair and skin are dependent on multiple fac- 
tors. Indeed, there seems to be evidence that 
negro skin color is dependent upon two pairs 
of factors which merely reinforce each other. 

Other traits are associated with sex in the 
remarkable fashion called sex-linked. That is, 
they are usually found only in the male sex 
and are inherited through the mother, though 
she, herself, is not affected. In such cases one 
usually finds male relatives of the mother who 
are affected. Such are color blindness, hemo- 


SCIENCE 


- 'T5 to 99 per cent. 


393 


philia and atrophy of the optic nerve. The 
facts of sex-linked heredity bring home, even 
to the layman, the lesson that heredity is a 
matter of the gametes; and that bodily appear- 
ance often gives no hint of the nature of the 
particular germ-cells carried and, in so far, of 
what the inheritance shall be. The parents of 
an albino may have pigmented hair and skin, 
but both carry gametes which lack the capacity 
of forming pigment. 

Our knowledge of the inheritance of these 
physical traits is sufficiently precise to be ap- 
plied practically in cases of doubtful parent- 
age. If the child, the known mother and both 
of the putative fathers can be seen, and some 
inquiry be made as to family stock of the three 
adults a decision can generally be rendered 
with a high degree of certainty ranging from 
For usually there will not 
be one critical trait merely but several traits 
whose combined evidence will be overwhelm- 
ing. Already the Eugenics Record Office has 
been asked to answer certain questions about 
the inheritance of traits in a case of a claimant 
who maintained that he was the son of a 
wealthy man who died without known heirs. 
As lawyers get more used to the idea of utiliz- 
ing the advances of knowledge for evidence, it 
is probable that eugenical knowledge will be 
more and more called upon. 

Not only of the physical traits referred to 
above but also of those of behavior we are 
learning the hereditary basis. It appears prob- 
able, from extensive pedigrees that have been 
analyzed, that feeble-mindness of the middle 
and higher grades is inherited as a simple re- 
cessive, or approximately so. It follows that 
two parents who are feeble-minded shall have 
only feeble-minded children and this is what is 
empirically found. It has been urged against 
this finding that it is improbable that so com- 
plicated a thing as full mentality depends upon 
only one factor. On the other hand, a consid- 
eration of the effect of internal secretions, of 
thyroid, of hypophysis and others leads to the 
conclusion that a brain with well differentiated 
intellectual centers may fail of complete de- 
velopment because of the absence of proper 
developmental impulses of glandular origin. 


394 


Two persons whose brains are thus under de- 
veloped may differ greatly in their mental 
capacities, because they have fundamental 
nervous differences, just as seedlings of differ- 
ent species, while all alike under-developed, 
differ in certain specific traits. Apparently 
one group of hereditary mental defectives is 
such because those who belong to it lack a 
single factor for an adequate developmental 
impulse. 

Epilepsy, of the ordinary juvenile, dement- 
ing type, seems to be due, like feeble-minded- 
ness, to a single developmental defect. Also, 
dementia precox has been found by several in- 
vestigators to be due to a similar cause. 

But not only mental but also emotional 
states have a hereditary basis. The prevail- 
ing depressed mood appears to be due to a 


glandular condition that is determined by a. 


certain developmental defect; and a prevailing 
excitability appears to be determined by a 
hereditary condition, which may be a tendency 
to excessive secretion of the suprarenal glands. 

Moreover, the quality of our senses has a 
clear hereditary basis, as the still unpublished 
work of Dr. Hazel Stanton on musical families 
clearly shows. It appears from these studies 
that not only have great musicians an innate 
capacity for discriminating between closely 
similar qualities of pitch, intensity, time and 
for tonal memory but they belong to families 
with these innate capacities. Also, it has been 
shown that these capacities are not improvable 
by training; they depend upon our very consti- 
tution. Now we have evidence that persons 
who have these capacities enjoy exercising 
them. Those in whom the capacities are 
slightly developed get no pleasure from exer- 
cising them. We conclude that the reason why 
musical people are such is primarily because 
of their possession of inborn musical capaci- 
ties. The musician is born, not made. From 
these principles certain deductions seem natur- 
ally to flow. A great color artist is one in 
whom the innate capacity for color discrimi- 
nation is well developed and his family shows 
other examples of colorists. The sculptor has 
the hereditary capacity for form discrimina- 
tion and that is why he finds his highest pleas- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1400 


ure in the art. The author is one whose ver- 
bal machinery is especially perfect. The sailor 
is one who finds his greatest pleasure in the 
beauty of form of the vessel, or perhaps in 
broad horizons and distant lands; he is neither 
claustrophil, nor domestic. In general, our 
vocations, or at least our avocations, are deter- 
mined by our sensory structure and this is 
hereditary. 

The fact that not only our physical but also 
our mental and temperamental characteristics 
have a hereditary basis has certain important 
social bearings. It leads us to regard more 
charitably the limitations of our fellow men. 
The false doctrines of human equality at birth 
and of freedom of the will have determined 
a line of practise in the fields of education and 
criminology that, it seems to me, is not pro- 
ductive of the best results. In education we 
must know the child’s native capacities before 
we can properly train. In dealing with delin- 
quents we must know the hereditary, mental 
and emotional make-up before we can get an 
explanation of the bad conduct and before we 
can intelligently treat the delinquent. Organ- 
ized society is too prone to “pass the buck” . 
of its own shortcomings to the hypothetical 
“)bad-will ” of the offender against the mores. 
We should do better if we treated the misde- 
meanant as we treat a puppy whose actions 
displease us. Either train him carefully, if 
he is trainable; otherwise, put him in a posi- 
tion where the exercise of his instincts will not 
offend us. 

The relation of the glands of internal secre- 
tion, commonly known as endocrine glands, to 
human development and human behavior is be- 
coming daily more obvious. Stature, build, 
proportions; details of development of bone, 
teeth, nails, hair, skin; intelligence, emotional 
control, all these things can be shown to be in- 
fluenced by endocrine secretions. Indeed, it 
seems naturally to follow that the hereditary 
differences between people are due to heredi- 
tary differences in the activity of these glands. 
Now these glands, as is well known, secrete 
substances called “ hormones ” which regulate 
our physical, mental and temperamental con- 
stitution. The special quality and quantity 


OcroBER 28, 1921] 


of these hormones is determined by the idio- 
synerasies of the enzymes of the germ cells. 
The hormones that determine our personality, 
constitute the bridge that connects this person- 
ality on the one hand, with the specific enzymes 
packed away in the chromosomes of the germ 
cells, on the other. You and I differ by virtue 
of the difference of atomic structure and atomic 
activity of the enzymes and hormones which 
make up that part of the stream of life-yeast 
which has got into and is activating our proto- 
plasm and will activate that of the fertilized 
egg that results from us and our consorts. 
Thus each is what he is in his physique, in 
his thoughts and in his reactions largely by 
virtue of the peculiar properties of those ex- 
traordinary activating substances, which are 
specific for him and other members of his 
family and race or biotype. The future of 
human genetics lies largely in a study of these 
activities, and the origin of differences or 
mutations in them. 

The study of human genetics leads into 
numerous fields of the physiology of human 
reproduction. Of these one of the most signifi- 
cant is that of twin-production. This topic 
has many aspects. As is well known twins are 
of two types. Two-egg twins come from two 
eggs simultaneously ovulated and one-egg 
twins arise by a division into two embryos of 
a single young embryo. The two children 
which thus arise from one egg are often so 
marvellously similar that they are called 
“identical twins.” Now these identical twins 
give a measure of the relative importance of 
heredity and environment, as Francis Galton 
pointed out. It is, indeed, marvellous to see 
how such twins, even though living far apart, 
retain their initial resemblaney, experience at 
almost exactly the same time similar dis- 
ease and emotional disturbances. Even the 
thoughts, as measured by the so-called “ asso- 
ciation” tests and the finger prints are mar- 
vellously similar. The dissimilarity of envi- 
ronment has had little effect on altering the 
rhythm of development, which is controlled 
by an internal mechanism. The two-egg twins 
are merely ordinary brothers and sisters who 
are born simultaneously and though the in- 


SCIENCE 


3995 


trauterine environment and that of early years 
is as nearly identical as possible, yet they are 
as dissimilar as brothers and sisters are apt 
to be. 

Though human heredity is the leading 
branch of eugenical research, yet it is only 
one. A fascinating branch of the subject is 
that of mate selection, including a study of 
those external and internal conditions that 
control in this phenomenon. While propin- 
quity is often considered the all-sufficient basis 
of mate selection, yet statistical research re- 
veals such facts as these; that there is a selec- 
tion of mates of corresponding divergence from 
the mean in stature; that red-haired persons 
do not marry as frequently as expected on a 
random basis; that persons of opposite tem- 
peraments tend to marry with each other. 

Research on fecundity, especially the differ- 
ing fecundity of peoples having dissimilar so- 
cial values in the population has not received 
the attention it deserves; still we know some- 
thing of the fractions of sons and daughters 
of college men and women and have some 
facts available towards a study of fecundity 
of the socially inadequate. Always, however, 
it is not to be forgotten that it is the residuum 
of surviving children of a marriage that counts 
in the race and the children of the less so- 
cially adequate strains are permitted a larger 
selective death rate than are those of the more 
efficient strains. That is one reason why from 
the less developed strains, vigorous and effect- 
ive progeny are occasionally arising; while 
some lines of the more effective and prosper- 
ous families end in weak and lethal descend- 
ants. Modern surgery has done much to keep 
alive weak and defective individuals, but little 
to improve racial qualities. Selection and its 
effects, including those of war, have been all 
too little studied. 

But fecundity of stocks is only a part of 
the problem in a country which, like ours, has 
in a single year, added about as much to the 
population by immigration as by birth. Prob- 
ably never before in the world has such a 
migration of all sorts of races in such num- 
bers, over so great a distance, taken place. 
Here in America we have watched the process 


396 


with misgivings, and felt a lack of sufficient 
knowledge to direct our action. The present 
policy of selecting immigrants is a reasonable 
one, certainly; and every one who recognizes 
the effect of quality of the germ-plasm on 
national life, hopes it will be continued and 
extended until we know something of the 
family, as well as individual performance, of 
each applicant for entry into the United 
States. The best, as well as the most recent 
study of the effect of a mixture of races 
upon a country is Mr. Charles W. Gould’s 
-€ America: A Family Matter,” and his con- 
clusions are not encouraging. But the student 
of human genetics hopes to put this marvel- 
lous mixture of races to account in his study 
of human inheritance. The greatest oppor- 
tunity in the world is offered for the study, 
since nearly all the races of mankind can be 
found in New York City alone, in consider- 
able numbers, talking the one language and 
making mixed marriages, which are often 
strikingly diverse. This is a field that is ex- 
tremely alluring and which has been little 
worked. 

But I fear I tire you with this prolonged 
discussion of the results and the future of 
eugenical research. No doubt there are many 
who are inquiring “ But where does environ- 
ment come in?” And there are others who 
would urge that the great problem for investi- 
gation is that of the relative importance of 
heredity and environment. It seems to me 
that we should not formulate the problem 
in this manner. There is no heredity with- 
out environment and few environmental effects 
which are not dependent also upon hered- 
ity. Schooling is good for those who are not 
feeble-minded; moral training yields excellent 
results in the case of such as have normal in- 
hibitions; musical education is valuable if the 
elements of musical capacity are present; 
painting lessons are fine if the pupil be not 
color blind. Certainly every child deserves the 
greatest possible opportunities; but the same 
conditions will be an opportunity to him who 
is able to take advantage of them, and no 
opportunity to him whose hereditary limita- 
tions do not enable him to use them. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1400 


And finally, what are some of the practical 
applications that we may expect to be made of 
eugenical research? One, certainly, is a higher 
estimation of the importance of hereditary 
capacities in human behavior. This may save 
us from disregard of innate differences— 
capacities which lead us on the one hand to 
adjudge all men equally capable of acting in 
accordance with the mores; and, on the other, 
to explain all offences as due to poor environ- 
ment. Both false views neglect the fact of dif- 
ferences in inborn capacities. 

Again, there will come a realization of the 
importance of heredity in marriage matings. 
Young persons to whom marriage is so seri- 
ous a matter, will be led to stop and consider, 
when they feel they are falling in love, and 
inquire concerning consequences to offspring. 
Already there is being developed a well-de- 
fined conscience in the matters of cousin mar- 
riages, and of matings into families with 
grossly defective members. This is shown by 
the extensive correspondence that the Eugenics 
Record Office has been obliged to enter into 
with persons who are contemplating marriage. 
They are quite willing to submit an extensive 
account of their family traits; and they write 
to learn what is known about the inheritance 
of some family weakness or defect. The peo- 
ple who make these inquiries are often un- 
usually intelligent and not at all radical; some 
of them stand high in the social world. It is 
a high idealism and a forward looking one 
which leads them to seek thé desired knowl- 
edge and one can only respond to these re- 
quests, telling what is known, or highly prob- 
able, in respect to the recurrence of the family 
defects in the offspring. Whether the conclu- 
sions that one is able to give are always very 
valuable or not, at least the custom of consid- 
ering children and their inheritance of familial 
traits is one to be encouraged. Normal per- 
sons marry to beget normal children and it is 
natural for them to seek information concern- 
ing heredity of particular traits. 

And again, it may be hoped that the study 
of racial characters will lead men to a broader 
vision of the human race and the fact that its 
fate is controllable. We may hope that reason- 


OctToBER 28, 1921] 


able persons will consider the progress of man- 
kind, not by the years of generations merely, 
but by centuries or millenia. We may learn 
by the history of mankind in the last 20,000 
years how near it has come to extinction; and 
we must recognize that it will take only a 
little interference with natural instincts and 
a little interference with natural selection 
during a few generations to bring the species, 
or one race of it, rather abruptly to an end, 
just as other human races have come to an end 
in historical times. The human species must 
eventually go the way of all species of which 
we have a paleontological record; already there 
are clear signs of a wide-spread deterioration in 
this most complex and unstable of all animal 
types. A failure to be influenced by the find- 
ings of the students of eugenics or a continu- 
ance in our present fatuous belief in the 
potency of money to cure racial evils will 
hasten the end. But if there be a serious sup- 
port of research in eugenics and a willingness 
to be guided by clearly established facts in this 
field, the end of our species may long be post- 
poned and the race may be brought to higher 
levels of racial health, happiness and effective- 
ness. 
Cuarues B. Davenport 


JOEL ASAPH ALLEN 


Turovuen the death, on August 29, 1921, of 
Dr. Joel Asaph Allen, science has lost a 
pioneer and a most devoted servant. A 
memorable career, filled with achievement and 
marked by years of unflagging application 
and energy, has been closed in its eighty- 
fourth year. 

Joel Asaph Allen was born in Springfield, 
Massachusetts, July 19, 1838, of New Eng- 
land parentage. Through his father, Joel 
Allen, he traced his descent back to an Allen 
who came to the Colonies about 1630, while 
the maternal line of descent was from John 
Trumbull who -settled in Massachusetts in 
1639. The eldest of five children, his early 
life was spent on the paternal farm in an 
atmosphere of puritanical strictness. His 
schooling began with attendance at the rural 
school, generally in the winter only, because 


SCIENCE 


397 


of the demands of the farm for the summer 
months. The boy very early displayed an in- 
tense love of nature and a keen interest in 
all its manifestations. While this did not 
meet with the wishes of his father there was 
no active or unkind opposition, and from his 
mother he met only sympathy. 

Dependent at first solely upon his own ef- 
forts, without the aid of books or the ac- 
quaintance of naturalists, the boy showed a 
great determination to interpret the life about 
him. Later, when his attendance at Wilbra- 
ham Academy led up to Cambridge and the 
opportunity of studying under Louis Agas- 
siz, he was prepared to make the most of 
every opportunity. However, this zeal for 
the constant study of nature, in addition to 
the work necessary in helping on the farm, 
resulted in the overtaxing of his strength and 
the impairment of his health, a condition 
which gave him much trouble throughout 
his lifetime and finally put an end to all 
field work. 

His association with Agassiz began when 
he entered Cambridge as a special student 
and lasted until the latter’s death. Among 
his associates in these classes conducted by 
the. great teacher, were men destined to be- 
come famous, authorities in their special 
fields. The names of Alpheus Hyatt, E. S. 
Morse, A. S. Packard and A. E. Verrill are 
to be found on the rosters of. those days at 
Cambridge. 

The story of his schooling at Wilbraham 
Academy and later at Cambridge is that of 
a young man anxious for knowledge, but es- 
pecially eager for the subjects bearing upon 
the natural sciences. With an ardent desire 
to do editorial work, young Allen found dif- 
ficulty in composition and set himself to ac- 
quire this facility by keeping a daily journal, 
among other items making note of current 
weather conditions. When a summary of 
these weather reports were handed in as a 
composition at the academy, the boy was de- 
lighted to discover that Professor Marcy, his 
instructor, thought them worth publication. 
The summary came out in the New England 
Farmer and was the first of a long series from 


398 


the young naturalist, then about eighteen or 
nineteen years of age. Thus was begun the 
literary career that has produced such bounti- 
ful results and the youth who forced himself 
to acquire facility in a daily journal de- 
veloped into the editor of not one, but several, 
of the foremost publications of natural sci- 
ence. 

At the Lawrence Scientifie School, at Cam- 
bridge, Allen was the pupil of men whose 
names stood high—Louis Agassiz, Asa Gray, 
Lovering and Wyman. At this school his 
curriculum was heavily inclined toward the 
natural sciences and he learned the value of 
accurate and painstaking observation. Be- 
cause of poor health and weak eyes, the stu- 
dent was compelled to take instruction ir- 
regularly and to suffer many obstacles in his 
struggle for education. 

In 1865, Agassiz invited Allen to accomp- 
any him on a collecting trip to Brazil. The 
party numbered sixteen and all during the 
voyage south Professor Agassiz gave a series 
of lectures to the members of his party. They 
landed at Rio de Janeiro and different trips 
were planned. Allen was assigned to a party 
which was to visit the northern provinces. 
They set out on June 9, and after delays and 
difficulties with their native assistants reached 
Lagoa Santa on July 18. This is the locality 
made famous by the researches of Lund and 
the scientists explored the caves of the region 
for several days. The route necessitated long 
hard travel, partly by river, partly by pack 
train. Allen’s health had broken down by 
the end of the third month of this trying life, 
and he was forced to leave the others and 
strike out for Bahia, which he reached by the 
end of November, after an overland journey 
of nearly 600 miles. His voyage northward 
wag not soon to be forgotten, because his ship 
which ran into gales off Cape Hatteras, was 
driven off her course and only narrowly 
escaped foundering. Approaching the Cape 
a second time, she was again met with storms 
and eventually reached Boston ninety days 
out from Bahia. 

In the attempt to build up his constitu- 
tion, Allen severed connections with the Mu- 


SCIENCE 


"[N. 8. Von. LIV. No. 1400 


seum of Comparative Zoology and returned 
to the farm, but, with the partial return of 
strength, found the call of nature to be ir- 
resistible and made a collecting trip into the 
Middle West, 1867. This trip was successful 
in every way and when a summer had been 
spent out of doors and Allen felt equal to 
museum work once more, he wrote to Agas- 
siz, who welcomed him back. The next 
eighteen years were spent at Cambridge, 
where he was in charge of the department 
of mammals and birds. 

The winter of 1868-1869 was spent in East 
Florida where valuable material and experi- 
ence was gained. Nine months were spent on 
a collecting trip to the Great Plains and the 
Rocky Mountains, in 1871-1872. Work was 
begun at Leavenworth. At this time there was 
trouble with the Indians and the small party 
had to exercise caution in their movements. 
Near Fort Hays they went on a buffalo hunt, 
and Allen had his first extensive experience 
with the mammal which was to be one of his 
favorites and the subject of a large mono- 
graph. Their itinerary took them through 
Denver and South Park, Cheyenne, Green 
River and Fort Fred Steele. The results of 
the expedition were most satisfactory and a 
large number of specimens were secured. 

The next year, 1873, Allen made his last 
important field trip. He accompanied a party 
of railroad surveyors who were to locate the 
Northern Pacific Railroad westward from 
Bismark. It was during a period of Indian 
troubles, and a large military escort under 
General Custer went with the party. This 
was a historic trip, marked by skirmishes 
with the Indians, and by many other novel 
experiences. While opportunities for collect- 
ing specimens were not of the best, much of 
the territory traversed was zoologically un- 
known and much valuable information was 
brought back. 

From 1876 to 1882, Dr. Allen served as a 
special collaborator of the United States 
Geological Survey, devoting most of his time 
to original research, publishing among other 
papers, “The American Bisons, Living and 
Extinct,” and monographs of various families 


OcroBER 28, 1921] 


of the North American Rodentia, the latter 
in cooperation with Dr. Elliot Coues. At 
this time his interest was drawn to marine 
mammals and after he published a “ History 
of North American Pinnipeds” he took up 
the Cetaceans, but illness checked the work 
before it was finished and the results never 
were printed. A short trip to Colorado was 
taken, upon the advice of a physician, in the 
attempt to throw off this illness, but a nerv- 
ous breakdown resulted and it was months 
before active work could be resumed. 

In 1885, the financial resources of the Mu- 
seum of Comparative Zoology were so re- 
stricted as to cut down opportunities for the 
staff, and Dr. Allen accepted a curatorship 
in the American Museum of Natural History 
in New York City. He took over his duties 
on May 1, 1885, and served thirty-six years in 
that capacity, as curator of the department 
of ornithology and mammalogy. Later this 
department was divided into the department 
of mammalogy and the department of orni- 
thology, Dr. Allen retaining the curatorship 
of the former department. In 1921, he was 
made honorary curator in order to give him 
entire freedom for research work. 

At the time he took over the department, 
the collections were very small with no re- 
search facilities, and no study collection to 
serve as the basis for original work. During 
his tenure, the department entered upon a 
period of growth and expansion of marvelous 
proportions. At first he was alone, without 
any assistants, but in 1888, he was given his 
first assistant, Mr. Frank M. Chapman, and 
later others joined the department until at 
the time of his death, the scientific staff of the 
two departments which were formerly his de- 
partment, numbered ten, besides non-staff 
assistants and field collectors. Collections 
were brought in, first from the United States, 
Mexico and British Columbia; and then the 
scope of activities was enlarged to take in 
South America, Africa and the Orient. In 
1921, his department had parties in the field 
and plans for work in Asia, Africa, Australia, 
North America, South America and the West 
Indies. 


SCIENCE 


399 


Coincident with the vast accumulation of 
research collections, which grew from practi- 
cally nil, in 1885 when the new curator took 
charge, to a total of about 50,000 specimens 
of mammals in 1921, there has been a cor- 
responding increase in the number of mam- 
mal groups placed upon exhibition in his de- 
partment. There has been a transition from 
the hall filled with a heterogeneous assem- 
blage of mounted individuals to halls given 
over to carefully planned habitat groups 
which tell a story. Publications from the 
department of mammals may be said to be- 
gin with Dr. Allen’s curatorship and the 
total number of scientific papers written by 
him in this capacity is a surprisingly large 
number. 

While Dr. Allen devoted his later years 
almost exclusively to research in mammalogy, 
the sum total of his endeavors discloses work 
in many other branches of natural science. 
The bibliography, published in the volume 
also containing the autobiography", contains 
the following large numbers of titles: papers 
on mammals, 271; on birds, 966; on reptiles, 
5; on zoogeography, 9; on evolution, 22; on 
nomenclature, 35; on biography, 184; miscel- 
laneous, 20; a grand total of 1,433 titles pub- 
lished up to 1916. Since 1916 many other 
papers have appeared and a great deal of 
manuscript has been prepared which has not 
been published. When it is considered that 
each one of these publications is a well 
thought out piece of work, in most eases 
necessitating days spent in the study of 
material, and that many of them are papers 
of length, such as his monographs on the 
bison, the seals or the musk ox, which con- 
tain several hundred pages of text, then one 
is foreed to marvel at the amount of mental 
labor involved and the tireless energy that 
drove the man. 

His youthful yearnings for editorial work 
were realized to the full. Beginning with 
the year 1874, when he edited a volume of the 
Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural 


1‘* Autobiographical Notes and a Bibliography 
of the Scientific Publications of Joel Asaph Allen.’’ 
American Museum of Natural History in 1916. 


400 


History, he served continuously as the editor 
of one or more scientific publications until 
1918, when he was forced to give up editorial 
work because his advancing age demanded 
that he restrict his activities. For forty-four 
years he acted in editorial capacities and 
some of these publications ranked with the 
foremost in natural science. From 1884- 
1911, he was editor of the Auk, A Quarterly 
Journal of Ornithology, the publication of 
the American Ornithologists Union, during 
which time twenty-eight volumes appeared. 
As a testimonial to the esteem in which his 
tenure was held by his fellow ornithologists, 
Witmer Stone, the succeeding editor of The 
Auk, wrote: 


Beginning with the initial volume of the Bulletin 
of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, and continuing 
to the present year, Dr, Allen has, without inter- 
mission, guided the course of this journal and its 
successor The Auk; and the series of thirty-six 
volumes stands as a perpetual monument to his 
ability, and his painstaking devotion to the cause 
of ornithology and the interests of the American 
Ornithologists’ Union. There have been few con- 
tinuous editorships of equal length in the history 
of scientific periodicals. 


An even longer editorial service was ren- 
dered to the Bulletin of the American Mu- 
seum-of Natural History, for beginning with 
the first volume, 1886, he directed the ever 
lengthening series until 1918, a total of 
thirty-two years. From the standpoint merely 
of routine accomplishment, this would stand 
ag an editorial achievement to be envied, but 
with Dr. Allen, editorial duty meant more 
than that and each contribution was read as 
painstakingly and given the same attention 
as he gave to his own personal contributions. 

Nor was he content to rest his editorial 
laurels upon these two terms of service but 
edited the zoological numbers of the Mem- 
oirs of the American Museum of Natural 
History from 1893 to 1918, and was the 
editor, or a joint editor, of the two editions 
of the “ Check-List of North American 
Birds,” 1895 and 1910, “Supplement to the 
Code of Nomenclature and Check-List of 
North American Birds,” 1889, and “ The Code 


SCIENCE . 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1400 


of Nomenclature” adopted in the American 
Ornithologists Union, 1908. 

Among his first papers are many of a phi- 
losophical nature, such as articles on the geo- 
graphical variation in mammals and birds, 
the geographical distribution of mammals and 
the laws that govern the distribution of ani- 
mal life, the genesis of species, the instinct 
of migration, ete. It is quite likely that his 
inclination in this direction would have led 
to many other papers along similar lines, but 
when material from the field began te come 
into his department at the American Mu- 
seum, it became necessary for him to devote 
his entire time to the building up of the de- 
partment and the identification of species. 

His philosophical papers show the result 
of close observation and keen analysis and 
some of his deductions are recognized today 
as natural laws. In 1876, in his “ Geographi- 
cal Variation among North American Mam- 
mals” he set forth the following: 


In a general way, the correlation of size with 
geographical distribution may be formulated in the 
following propositions: 


1. The maximum physical development of the 
individual is attained where the conditions of envi- 
ronment are most favorable to the life of the species. 
Species being primarily limited in their distribu- 
tion by climatie conditions, their representatives 
living at or near either of their respective lati- 
tudinal boundaries are more or less unfavorably 
affected by the influences that finally limit the 
range of the species. .. . 

2. The largest species of a group (genus, sub- 
family, or family, as the case may be) are found 
where the group to which they severally belong 
reaches its highest development, or where it has 
what may be termed its center of distribution. In 
other words, species of a given group attain their 
maximum size where the conditions of existence for 
the group in question are the most favorable, just 
as the largest representatives of a species are found 
where the conditions are most favorable for the ex- 
istence of the species. 

3. The most ‘‘ typical ’’ or most generalized rep- 
resentatwes of a group are found also near its 
center of distribution, outlying forms being gener- 
ally more or less ‘‘ aberrant ’’ or specialized: Thus 
the Cervide, though nearly cosmopolitan in their 
distribution, attain their greatest development, both 


OcTOBER 28, 1921] 


as respects the size, and the number of species, in 
the temperate portions of the northern hemisphere. 
The tropical species of this group are the smallest 
of its representatives, Those of the temperate and 
cold temperate regions are the largest, where, too, 
the species are the most numerous. ... The pos- 
session of large, branching, deciduous antlers forms 
one of the marked features of the family. These 
appendages attain their greatest development in the 
northern species, the tropical forms having been re- 
duced almost to mere spikes, which in some species 
never pass beyond a rudimentary state... . 


A paper published in 1871 “On the Mam- 
mals and Winter Birds of East Florida, with 
an Examination of certain assumed Specific 
Characters in Birds” brought forth the fol- 
lowing comment from Coues: 


The article, gained the Humboldt Scholarship, 
and is one of the most important of American orni- 
thological works. 


His work in taxonomy covered almost the 
entire mammal fauna of the world, from 
marsupials to monkeys, from shrews to whales, 
while his field of research has been at times 
in every one of the continental areas. The 
greater number of his papers are systematic 
taxonomic reports and the descriptions of 
new forms. He is the author of nearly seven 
hundred new mammal names, and fifty-three 
bird names. 

Some of the most important of the ac- 
complishments of Dr. Allen have been his 
labors in the field of scientific nomenclature, 
a field where authoritative workers are scarce 
because of the exacting demands of the prob- 
lems. His knowledge of scientific literature 
was so deep, his memory for authors and 
dates so unusual, that he took particular de- 
light in the solution of the weightest nomen- 
elatural problems. His opinions command 
respect from scientists the world over and this 
fact has long been recognized in the positions 
held by the doctor on committees on nomen- 
clature of both national and international 
organizations. It is in this field that the 
loss of his contributions will be most keenly 
felt. 

He was a member of the Commission on 
Nomenclature of the International Congress 


SCIENCE 


401 


of Zoology since 1910 and attended the meet- 
ing in Monaco in 1913. 

A man of extreme modesty and retiring 
temperament, indeed. bashful, he strove for no 
titles, sought for no publicity. Honors, how- 
ever, came to him unasked. In 1886 he was 
granted the degree of Ph.D. by Indiana Uni- 
versity; in 1903, he was awarded the Walker 
Grand Prize, Boston Society of Natural His- 
tory, and in 1916 the Medal of the Linnzan 
Society of New York. He was a fellow or mem- 
ber of no less than thirty-three scientific socie- 
ties in the United States and abroad. 

He held high positions in many scientific 
organizations, the more important being that 
of president of the American Ornithologists 
Union, 1883-1891; an incorporator of the (first) 
Audubon Society for the Protection of Birds, 
1886; a Founder and Director of the Audubon 
Society of the State of New York, 1897-1912; 
Vice-president of the New York Academy of 
Sciences, 1891-1894; President of the Linnean 
Society of New York, 1890-1897; ete. 

Dr. Allen possessed to a rare degree the 
faculty of concentration and devotion to his 
work, Not content with the amount of work 
done at his office in the museum, he carried 
books and material home with him, and his 
ideal vacation was one where he might take 
some special subject away with him where he 
could study unmolested. In brief, he lived for 
his work and to the psychology of this devotion 
may possibly, in part, be attributed his ripe 
age, attained in spite of long periods of ill 
health. 

No one associated with Dr. Allen could fail 
to be impressed, not only with the very evident 
scholarly attainments of the man, but with his 
sincerity and simplicity. From a profound re- 
spect for his work, one passed readily to a love 
for the man, and an association with him in 
any work could be counted, not only as a most 
valuable mental training, to be prized in later 
years, but as a friendly contact no less to be 
remembered. 

Dr. Allen married, in 1874, Mary Manning 
Cleveland and a son, Cleveland Allen was born 
to them. His wife died in 1879 and for seven 
years the doctor remained single. In 1886 he 


402 


married Susan Augusta Taft, who with his son 
Cleveland survives him. Dr. Allen’s home life 
was idyllic and to this inspiration he was wont 
to attribute the achievements of his later life 
and the activity of his older years. 

With the passing of Dr. Joel Asaph Allen 
the world has lost an earnest and sincere stu- 
dent, natural science has lost the power of an 
able pen backed by the searching analysis of 
level judgment, while his personal friends will 
mourn the loss of all this and more, for they 
have known him as a man. 

H. E. AntHony 

AMERICAN MusEuM oF NaTuRAL HISTORY 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 
THE DANISH DEEP-SEA EXPEDITION 


WE find in Nature an account of the Dan- 
ish Deep-Sea Expedition, which left Copen- 
hagen on August 30 on board the new research 
steamer Dana. It plans to spend about ten 
months in the temperate and tropical parts 
of the North Atlantic. The object of the ex- 
pedition is to carry out deep-sea investiga- 
tions in accordance with a scheme which was 
su’ mitted by the leader of the expedition, 
Dr. Johs. Schmidt, to the International Coun- 
ceil for the Exploration of the Sea during 
their meeting at Copenhagen in July last. 

The Dana, of the Lord Mersey trawler type, 
was bought in England by the Danish Govern- 
ment to replace the old research steamer 
Thor, which was sold some years ago. The 
Dana has been equipped for marine research 
work at the Royal Dockyard, Copenhagen. 
She has a length of about 140 ft. between per- 
pendiculars, and is 325 tons gross register. 
She earries a 600-h.p. triple expansion engine, 
giving her a speed of 9 knots. A large deck- 
house has been constructed, which contains 
two laboratories—a larger biological labora- 
tory with accommodation for five workers, 
and a smaller one for hydrographical work 
with room for two—together with a mess- 
room for the scientific staff, and a cabin for 
the leader of the expedition. 
the cabins of the scientific staff, and store- 
rooms for the various instruments, fishing 
gears, collections, ete. The winches are 


SCIENCE 


Below deck are. 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1400 


worked by steam. A big trawl-winch placed 
forward has two drums, the smaller carrying 
4000 meters of steel wire 14 mm. in diameter 
for trawling at moderate depths, and the 
larger, carrying 10,000 meters of steel wire 
tapering from 14 mm. to 7 mm. in diameter, 
to be used for greater depths. The three 
winches for vertical hauls (water-bottles, 
plankton nets, and sounding) are placed on 
the port side of the ship; one works the Lucas 
sounding machine and a drum carrying 6,000 
meters of phosophor-bronze wire; another is 
a small hand-winch to be used for the surface 
layers; and the third works a big drum carry- 
ing 10,000 meters of steel wire 4 mm. in diam- 
eter. The steel-wire ropes have been sup- 
plied by Messrs. Craven and Speeding Bros., 
Sunderland, and the hydrographical instru- 
ments by the Laboratoire Hydrographique, 
Copenhagen, of which Professor Martin 
Knudsen is director. 

The personnel of the expedition is as fol- 
lows:—Dr. Johs. Schmidt, leader of the ex- 
pedition; Dr. J. N. Nielsen (Meteorological 
Institute, Copenhagen), hydrographer; P. 
Jespersen and A. V. Taaning (Danish Com- 
mittee for the Study of the Sea) ; K. Stephen- 
sen (Zoological Museum, Copenhagen); J. 
Olsen (Polytechnic College, Copenhagen), as- 
sistant hydrographer. N. ©. Anderson, ship’s 
doctor, will also take part in the investiga- 
tions. Professor C. H. Ostenfeld expects to 
join the expedition later on during its stay in 
West Indian waters. 


THE FIFTH AVENUE HOSPITAL OF 
NEW YORK 

Tue Fifth Avenue Hospital Association is 
making an urgent plea for contributions to 
complete the construction of the new building 
at 105th Street and Fifth Avenue. The insti- 
tution will combine the present Hahnemann 
Hospital and the Laura Franklin Free Hos- 
pital for Children. Dr. Wiley E. Woodbury, 
director of the hospital, has made a statement 
for the New York Evening Post in which he 
says: 

There is an enormous waste in the administra- 
tion of the free ward, which is not realized by any 


OcrosEer 28, 1921] 


except those who have had direct experience with 
it. This waste will be eliminated to a large extent 
by housing patients in separate single rooms. And 
the keynote of the whole thing will be the flexi- 
bility of the service. 

In the first place, it is the business of a hospital 
to eure people. No one will say that noise, con- 
fusion and unsightliness are conducive to cure. 
A separate room for each patient together with 
other provisions for privacy and comfort in this 
new hospital will eliminate noise, confusion, and 
unsightliness—and with them, fear. What that will 
save in energy and worry to doctor and nurse and 
patient is inealeulable. 

Next, the single-room system will save the 
nurse’s time. In the ordinary ward all the sup- 
plies are kept at the end of the ward, and the 
nurse has to travel its entire length to get what 
she requires every time she goes to any one of the 
beds. We shall have each patient’s equipment at 
the patient’s bedside and save the nurse’s time and 
strength. 

Every bed will be working 100 per cent. We 
shall not be troubled by the necessity for sex segre- 
gation or disease classification. 

With the ward system there is often a waiting 
list for the women’s surgical ward, while several 
beds are empty in the men’s ward. This means 
that two things happen: People who urgently need 
surgical treatment are denied it and empty beds 
add their quota to the overhead without working 
for it. 

Again, in the classification of diseases, the ma- 
ternity ward of the old type hospital may be half 
empty and the surgical and medical wards full. 
Yet it is impossible to put surgical and medical 
eases into a maternity ward, for fear of infection. 
That means more beds wasted, also heat and light 
and service. It is equally wrong to put children 
with adults. But in a wardless hospital in case of 
an epidemic among children the children can easily 
be put into adults’ rooms. 

Pneumonia and typhoid patients should never be 
put in open wards at all, because it is impossible 
to control the source of infection. These cases 
need varying temperatures; some, moreover, are of 
a virulent form and some are not; and some may 
be fairly safe at the start and develop into virulent 
cases later and infect others. 

I have often seen a fifteen-bed ward occupied 
by only two patients. Of course, in cases like this 
it would be cheaper to put the patients into single 
rooms and close the wards; but frequently there is 


SCIENCE 


403 


no single room vacant, and all the heat and service 
and light and equipment needed for fifteen people 
have to be expended upon two. 

On the other hand, when a single room is unoccu- 
pied the lights are put out, the heat is turned off, 
the door is locked—and that room costs nothing 
for upkeep until it is occupied again. 

Occupants of wards are invariably distressed by 
the rigid rules concerning visiting hours. These 
rules are necessary. People who are critically ill 
and those who are convalescent are all together in 
the same ward. Their requirements, of course, are 
different—those who are recovering need to he 
amused, to see their friends; and this is sure to 
disturb the critically ill even during a very limited 
visiting period. When all are in separate rooms, 
visiting hours will be limited only by the physician 
in charge. 

The advantages in respeet to ventilation and 
other conditions which should vary with varying 
types of illness are obvious. A pneumonia patient 
and one recovering from an operation need totally 
different conditions, and only by separating them 
can the greatest comfort be secured for each. 


THE EMPLOYMENT OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 
IN ENGLAND 

Accorpine to the British Medical Journal, 
the special schools after-care committee of the 
City of Birmingham Education Committee 
has the duty of keeping a record of the subse- 
quent history of former pupils in the special 
schools for the mentally defective. The total 
number of cases included in its records has 
increased from 2,282 in the year 1919 to 
2,504 during the past year, males numbering 
1,503 and females 1,001. These figures indi- 
eate very clearly the ratio of three boys to 
two girls, which is frequently found in the 
various special schools for the mentally defec- 
tive. Of the 2,504 cases in last year’s records, 
969 are doing remunerative work, 913 of these 
earning wages which average 30s. 10d. per 
week, while 56 are soldiers. The general 
depression in industrial and trade conditions 
has naturally had an effect upon the mentally 
defective cases in employment, and, while 
the number of men and youths under review 
this year has increased from 1,380 to 1,503, 
the number in employment has only risen 
from 630 to 655; the number of women and 


404 


girls in employment has actually decreased 
from 320 to 314, although the total number of 
cases reported on has grown from 902 to 1,001. 
During the war, and for some time after- 
wards, no difficulty was experienced in pro- 
curing situations for such mentally defective 
persons as were capable of employment, but 
under the present conditions of industry con- 
siderable difficulty arises. The earnings of 
those, however, who have remained in em- 
ployment show the general upward tendency 
which wages had during 1920, and three men 
are each reported as able to earn £5 per week, 
while two others in business on their own ac- 
count are reported to be making comfortable 
livings. The percentage of cases in institu- 
tions again decreased last year, and the com- 
mittee says it finds that institutional accom- 
modation for the mentally defective continues 
to be deplorably inadequate throughout the 
country as a whole. 


BUREAU OF SPECIAL EDUCATION IN OHIO 


Tue eighty-third General Assembly of 
Ohio appropriated $10,000 “for the training 
of teachers for subnormal and delinquent 
children.” One sentence in an appropriation 
bill provided that this sum should be trans- 
ferred to one of the state colleges of educa- 
tion “to be designated by a committee com- 
posed of the director of juvenile research, 
the president of Ohio University, the presi- 
dent of Miami University, the superinten- 
dent of Bowling Green State Normal School, 
and the superintendent of Kent State Normal 
School for such purposes.” On December 30, 
1920, the committee decided to place the work 
under the administration of Miami Univer- 
sity. Practically all the initial appropria- 
tion was used for the purchase of psychologi- 
eal, anthropometric and medical apparatus, 
intelligence and educational test blanks, office 
and classroom furniture and equipment, 
material for special class work, a piano, a 
victrola, a portable projector, a Burroughs 
adding machine, ete., and the payment of 
salaries up to the end of the fiscal year, July 
1, 1927. 

Instruction was first offered in the summer 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1400 


session under the temporary direction of Dr. 
J. E. Wallace Wallin, who has been director 
of the psycho-educational clinic and special 
schools in St. Louis during the past seven 
years, and who during the preceding four 
years was director of laboratories of clinical 
psychology and anthropometry in the State 
Village for Epileptics in New Jersey and the 
University of Pittsburgh, and who has offered 
courses for the training of teachers and ex- 
aminers of abnormal children during the last 
eleven years in the Vineland Training School, 
the Universities of Pittsburgh, Iowa, Calli- 
fornia and Montana, and the Harris Teachers 
College of St. Louis. 

Dr. Wallin has been retained as permanent 
director of the department, which is known as 
Bureau of Special Education. The present 
staff includes, in addition to the directors, one 
assistant to the director, one stenographer on 
part time, and two critic teachers, a part of 
whose salaries is paid by the local school dis- 
tricts in which are the observation and prac- 
tise centers. The main practise center during 
the present year is in Hamilton. It is hoped 
to locate the bureau eventually in a large . 
city, which will afford, in connection with the 
public-school system, ample opportunities for 
observation and practise teaching in many 
kinds of special classes and which will also 
afford superior clinical advantages. 


A FOREST EXPERIMENTAL STATION AT ASHE- 
VILLE, NORTH CAROLINA 


THE continued steady depletion of the timber 
supply in the Appalachian region has led the 
Forest Service of the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture to establish a new forest 
experiment station at Asheville, North Caro- 
lina. This is the first organization of its kind 
to be established in the eastern United States. 

The staff will be engaged mainly in silvicul- 
tural research to secure information greatly 
needed for the proper management of forest 
lands in order to insure a continuous supply 
of timber and other forest products. E. H. 
Frothingham has been appointed director. 
He comes to the station with a background 
of over twelve years of investigative work 
with the Forest Service throughout the east- 


OcroBEer 28, 1921] 


ern United States. The other members of 
the staff are E. F. McCarthy, for nine years 
a member of the teaching staff of the New 
York State College of Forestry at Syracuse 
University and recently research specialist 
with the Canadian Conservation Commis- 
sion; OC. F. Korstian, at one time a member 
of the staff of the Fort Valley Forest Experi- 
ment Station and recently in charge of research 
in the Intermountain District of the U. S. 
Forest Service, Ogden, Utah; and F. W. 
Haasis, until recently a member of the in- 
vestigative staff of the Fort Valley Forest 
Experiment Station near Flagstaff, Arizona. 


THE INSTALLATION OF PRESIDENT FARRAND 
AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 


Dr. Livincston Farranp was inaugurated 
president of Cornell University on October 20. 
Chief Justice Frank H. Hiscock of the New 
York State Court of Appeals made an intro- 
ductory address as chairman of the board of 
trustees of the university, Acting President 
Albert W. Smith, formerly dean of Sibley Col- 
lege of Engineering, delivered the seal and 
charter of the university to President Farrand. 

President Farrand then gave his inaugural 
address, which was on the world situation fol- 
lowing the war and the service that the univer- 
sities should offer. 

Following President Farrand’s address Dean 
William A. Hammond spoke for the faculties 
of the university and Mr. Foster L. Coffin for 
the alumni. 

President A. Lawrence Lowell of Harvard, 
President M. L. Burton of Michigan, and Pres- 
ident R. L. Wilbur of Leland Stanford, Jr., 
brought the greetings from the universities of 
the East, Middle West, and West respectively. 
President Harry W. Chase of the University 
of North Carolina, who was unable to be 
present, telegraphed the greetings of the South- 
ern colleges. 

Finally Governor Miller presented greetings 
from the State of New York. 

At the dinner in the evening in addition to 
President Farrand the speakers included Presi- 
dent James R. Angell of Yale University, Sir 
Robert Falconer, president of the University 
of Toronto, and Dr. Liberty Hyde Bailey. 


SCIENCE 


405 


Coincident with the inauguration of Dr. 
Farrand came the disclosure that the anonym- 
ous benefactor who gave $1,500,000 to Cornell 
for a new chemical laboratory is Mr. George 
F. Baker, chairman of the board of directors 
of the First National Bank of New York. 
Mr. Baker attended the exercises and laid the 
corner stone of the laboratory. 

Professor E. L. Nichols made an introduc- 
tory address, which was followed by the main 
address of the day by Dr. Edgar Fahs Smith, 
provost emeritus of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania and president of the American Chemical 
Society. Mr. Charles M. Schwab, a trustee of 
Cornell University, spoke for Mr. Baker. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Dr. Grorcr S. Crampton was elected presi- 
dent of the Society of Illuminating Engineers 
at the recent Rochester meeting. 


Proressor Henry S. Jacosy, for thirty-one 
years a member of the college of civil engineer- 
ing of Cornell University and for twenty-one 
years head of the bridge engineering depart- 
ment, will retire from active service at the 
close of the college year. 


Rosert Stanisuaus Grirrin, for more than 
eight years head of the Bureau of Engineering 
of the Navy Department and engineer in chief 
of the U. S. Navy, has retired from active 
service. 


Tue Morris Liebman Prize, the cash award 
made each year by the Institute of Radio Engi- 
neers to that member of the institute who is 
considered to have made the most important 
contribution to radio art during the preceding 
twelve months, has been awarded to R. H. 
Heising, of the engineering laboratory of the 
Western Electric Company, “for his analysis 
of vacuum tube action and his research work 


on modulation systems.” 


Tue first award of the Marcel Benoist Prize 
of 20,000 franes has been made to M. Maurice 
Arthus, director of the Institute of Physiology 
at Geneva. The prize was founded by M. 
Benoist of Paris, who bequeathed his whole for- 
tune to the Federal Council of Switzerland in 
recognition of the care and attention which he 


406 


received in that country. An award will be 
made annually to the man of science who, hay- 
ing been domiciled in Switzerland for five 
years, is judged to have made the most note- 
worthy contribution to science, particularly in 
relation to human life, during the preceding 
year. 

Proressor GuISEPPE Tomasst has been ap- 
pointed director of the Royal Institute for 
Agricultural Chemistry in Rome. 

Proressor Henry Louis has been elected 
honorary secretary of the Institute of Mining 
and Mechanical Engineers of the north of Eng- 
land. 

Tue Kindborn Prize of the Swedish Acad- 
emy of Sciences at Stockholm has been divided 
equally between Professor Sven Oden for his 
work on precipitation and C. Lénnquist for 
his investigation on the temperature of the in- 
terior of the earth. 

WE learn from Nature that the Committee 
of Privy Council for Medical Research has ap- 
pointed Sir F. W. Andrewes and Sir Cuthbert 
Wallace to fill the vacancies on the Medical Re- 
search Council caused by the retirement of 
Mr. C. J. Bond and Professor W. Bullock, in 
accordance with the provisions for rotation 
made in the Royal Charter under which the 
council is incorporated. 

Mr. D. Prat, agriculturist, Nyasaland, has 
been appointed to be senior district agricultural 
officer in Tanganyika Territory; Mr. H. A. 
Dade to be assistant mycologist in the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, Gold Coast; and Mr. J. 
A. Robotham to be assistant agricultural 
superintendent, St. Kitts-Nevis. 

Tue American School in France for Pre- 
historic Studies has completed its first term’s 
work in Charente, Dordogne, Corréze, and 
the French Pyrénées. Professor George 
Grant MacCurdy of Yale University, director 
of the school, has returned to Paris for the 
winter term. 

Arter two years spent as adviser to the food 
minister of Poland, E. Dana Durand, pro- 
fessor of economics in the University of Min- 
nesota, has returned to the United States, and 
has been appointed chief of the eastern Euro- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vor. LIV. No. 1400 


pean division of the Bureau of Foreign and 
Domestic Commerce. 


Dr. C. Eucene Rices, president of the Min- 
nesota State Medical Association, gave a 
Mayo Foundation lecture at Rochester, Minn., 
on October 4. Dr. Riggs repeated his presi- 
dential address, ‘‘ Minnesota medicine in the 
making; personal reminiscences,’ which he 
gave at the meeting of the Minnesota State 
Medical Association, in Duluth, on August 
24. Dr. Cyrus Northrop, ex-president of the 
University of Minnesota, delivered a Mayo 
Foundation lecture on general education on 
October 11. 


Proressor Engar JAMES Swirt, head of the 
department of psychology and education in 
Washington University, has been invited to 
give three lectures before the student officers 
of the Post Graduate School of the U. S. 
Naval Academy at Annapolis. The first lec- 
ture, “The Psychology of Managing Men,” 
was given October 8; the second, “ Thinking 
and Acting,” will be given January 28, and 
the third, “The Psychology of Testimony 
and Rumor,” April 8. 


Tue Harveian Oration before the Royal Col- 
lege of Physicians of London will be delivered 
by Dr. Herbert Spencer on October 18. The 
Mitchell lecture by Dr. Parkes Weber, on the 
relation of tuberculosis to general conditions 
of the body and diseases other than tubercu- 
losis, will be given on November 1. Dr. Michael 
Grabham will deliver the Bradshaw lecture, on 
subtropical esculents, on November 3. The 
Fitzpatrick lecture, on Hippocrates in relation 
to the philosophy of his time, will be given by 
Dr. R. O. Moon, on November 8. 


Tue following public lectures were given 
during October at University College, Lon- 
don: Beginning October 10 Professor Eliot 
Smith gave the first of three lectures on The 
Beginnings of Science; on October 12 Dr. 
A. Wolf began a series of lectures on the 
general history and development of science; 
and October 14 Dr. J. C. Drummond began 
a course of eight public lectures on nutrition. 


Tue fourth annual Streatfeild memorial 
lecture was delivered at the Finsbury Techni- 


Ocroser 28, 1921] 


cal College, London, by Mr. W. P. Dreaper, 
on October 20. The subject was “ Chemical 
Industry a Branch of Science.” 


THe death is announced of Dr. Albert 
Sidney Leyton, professor of pathology at the 
University of Leeds, Great Shelford, Cam- 
bridge, aged fifty-two years. His death is 
said to be directly due to his war service. 
He was a major and served as bacteriological 
consultant to the Northern Command, and it 
was during his investigations of trench fever 
that he developed the malady from which he 
died. 


Tue British Association has marked its 
appreciation of the plan for establishing the 
Brent Valley Bird Sanctuary as a perma- 
nent nature reserve in memory of Gilbert 
White by making a contribution through the 
Selborne Society towards the upkeep and en- 
dowment fund. 


To mark the recent centenary of James 
Watt, the Institution of Shipbuilders and En- 
gineers has founded two new chairs in Glas- 
gow University—a James Watt Chair of 
Electrical Engineering, and a James Watt 
Chair of the Theory and Practise of Heat. 


Proressor Epwarp Hyer, professor of 
organic chemistry in the University of Hel- 
singfors and at one time Finnish ambassador 
at Berlin, died on July 2 at the age of sixty- 
six years. 


Ir is announced that the annual meeting for 
1922 of the British Medical Association will 
be held at Glasgow on July 21-29. 


WE learn from the Journal of Industrial and 
Engineering Chemistry that the appointment 
of the permanent chief of the Bureau of Chem- 
istry has been delayed because of the impos- 
sibility of finding a properly qualified chemist 
who is willing to take the position at the $5,000 
salary attached to it. As a result of this situa- 
tion, an increase in appropriation to $7,500 will 
be asked, but under present conditions no con- 
gressional action is likely before the middle of 
next year. 


Tue Knud Rasmussen expedition left God- 
thaab, on the southwest coast of Greenland, 


SCIENCE 


407 


on September 7. The London Times states 
that the motor schooner Sea King during 
August had been to Thule (northwest Green- 
land) and brought back the Eskimo members 
of the expedition, four men and three women, 
as well as 72 dogs, sledges and furs which 
excel anything previously known. Part of 
the clothing sent from Denmark and _ lost 
in the shipwreck of the Bele has been re- 
placed, and the expedition starts with as good 
an outfit as possible. In regard to personnel, 
the expedition unfortunately is less lucky. 
First Peter Freuchen’s Eskimo wife Navarana, 
who was going to follow her husband, died at 
Upernivik on August 3, and during their south- 
ward journey the Cape York Eskimos caught 
cold which developed into pneumonia. After 
their arrival at Godthaab they were taken to 
hospital, where one, the huntsman Iggian- 
guak, who had taken part in some of the pre- 
vious Thule expeditions, died. The others 
had so far recovered that the doctor per- 
mitted them to rejoin the expedition. The 
Sea King will first go to the coast of Labra- 
dor, where M. Lindow, one of the Green- 
land trade inspectors, will carry on scientific 
investigations. It will then proceed with Ras- 
mussen’s party to Lyon inlet, in the Melville 
Peninsula. Captain Pedersen will afterwards 
take the vessel to St. John’s, Newfoundland, 
from which the next report will be sent. The 
object of the expedition is to explore and map 
the archipelago between Greenland and the 
American continent, and also to investigate 
the migrations of the Eskimo, their folk-lore, 
and cognate subjects. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 


By the will of the late Jonathan M. Par- 
menter, of Wayland, Mass., a trust fund of 
over $250,000 is left to Harvard College for 
the establishment of scholarships. 


Dr. Joun Leet Counter has been elected 
president of the North Dakota Agricultural 
College. He takes the place oceupied by Dr. 
E. F. Ladd, who was elected to the United 
States Senate last March. 


408 


Dr. K. G. Marueson, president of the 
Georgia School of Technology since 1906, has 
resigned to become president of Drexel Insti- 
tute. Dr. Matheson will go to Drexel next 
spring, probably April 1. Until then the 
institute will continue to be directed by the 
administrative board, which took charge upon 
the recent retirement of Dr. Hollis Godfrey. 


Dr. Frankuin Stewart Harris was in- 
stalled as president of Brigham Young Uni- 
versity at Provo, Utah, on October 17. Dr. 
Harris, who was formerly director of the 
Utah Agricultural Experiment Station, suc- 
ceeds President George H. Brimhall, who 
becomes president emeritus. 


Dr. FranK Pierrepont Graves, formerly 
head of the school of education of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, who succeeds Dr. 
John H. Finley as commissioner of education 
of New York State, and president of the Uni- 
versity of the State of New York, was. in- 
ducted into office on October 20. 


Dr. Harry W. Orang, assistant professor 
of psychology at Ohio State University, has 
been called to an associate professorship in 
psychology at the University of North Caro- 
lina. He will also act as psychiatrist to the 
State Board of Public Welfare. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF AMERICAN LANGUAGES 
NORTH OF MEXICO 


Tr is clear that the orthodox “ Powell” 
classification of American languages, useful 
as it has proved itself to be, needs to be super- 
seded by a more inclusive grouping based 
on an intensive comparative study of morpho- 
logical features and lexical elements. The 
recognition of 50 to 60 genetically inde- 
pendent “stocks” north of Mexico alone is 
tantamount to a historical absurdity. Many 
serious difficulties lie in the way of the task 
of reduction, among which may be mentioned 
the fact that our knowledge of many, indeed 
of most, American languages is still sadly 
fragmentary; that frequent allowance must 
be made for linguistic borrowing and for the 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1400 


convergent development of features that are 
only descriptively, not historically, com- 
parable; and that our persistently, and rather 
fruitlessly, “ psychological” approach to the 
study of American languages has tended to 
dull our sense of underlying drift, of basic 
linguistic forms, and of lines of historical 
reconstruction. Any genetic reconstruction 
that can be offered now is necessarily but an 
exceedingly rough approximation to the truth 
at best. It is certain to require the most seri- 
ous revision as our study progresses. Never- 
theless I consider a tentative scheme as pos- 
sessed of real value. It should act as a 
stimulus to more profound investigations and 
as a first attempt to shape the historical 
problem. On the basis of both morphological 
and, in part, lexical evidence, the following 
six great groups, presumably genetic, may be 
recognized: 
I. Eskimo-Aleut 
f Algonkin-Wiyot-Yurok 
II. Algonkin-Wakashan Kootenay 
Wakashan-Salish 
III. Na-dene (Haida; Tlingit-Athabaskan) 
CalifornianPenutian 
Oregon Penutian 
Tsimshian 


IV. Penutian 


f Yuki 
Hokan 
Coahuiltecan group 
Keres 
Tunica group 
Siouan- Yuchi-Musko- 
gian 
[ Troquois-Caddoan 
Uto-Aztekan 
Tanoan-Kiowa 


V. Hokan-Siouan 


VI. Aztec-Tanoan { 


This leaves the Waiilatpuan-Lutuami-Sahap- 
tin group, Zufii, and Beothuk as yet unplaced. 
The lines of cleavage seem greatest between 
IV. and V., and between ITI., on the one hand, 
and I. and II., on the other. Group V is 
probably the nearest to the generalized “ typi- 
cal American” type that is visualized by 
linguistic students at large. 
EK. Sarr 
CANADIAN GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, 
OTTAWA 


OctosER 28, 1921] 


THE USE OF VITAMINE FOOD-TABLETS AS AN 
AID TOWARD CONSERVING THE FOOD 
SUPPLY 1 


In the conservation of food, it is necessary 
to remove the vitamines from certain staple 
products. Wheat flour can not be conserved 
for a long period unless it is bolted, thereby 
removing all of the vitamines. Cane sugar 
is perfectly stable, but this stability is due to 
the fact that any protein or vitamine that 
may have been in the cane juice has been re- 
moved. The hydrogenated fats are about the 
most stable of the fats, and yet the vitamine 
content is zero. It is, therefore, highly de- 
sirable to have vitamine preparations to com- 
plete the dietary. Fresh vegetables and fruits 
may be had in season, but their transportation, 
storage and marketing are very expensive, and 
usually accompanied by enormous waste. 
There are many families who do not, under 
the present system, receive sufficient vitamines 
in their food. Therefore, some addition seems 
necessary, but this is clearly considered as an 
addition, and not as a substitute for anything. 
These additions may be in the form of dehy- 
drated products. Many of the vegetables and 
fruits may be dehydrated and consumed in 
a form which will furnish the consumer with 
considerable vitamine, and yet not necessitate 
a change in the methods of preparation of 
foods by the family. Those dehydrated vege- 
tables may contain vitamines A and B, and 
dehydrated fruits may, under certain circum- 
stances, contain in addition some vitamine—@. 
The dietary habits of various persons, how- 
ever, form an obstacle to the consumption of 
sufficient vitamines. There are also many per- 
sons who ean relish fresh foods (spinach, for 
instance) when they can not stomach dehy- 
drated foods (spinach). The peel of citrus 
fruits, and some other fruits, is very rich in 
vitamines, yet no one eats them. For those 
persons who do not relish certain vitamine- 
containing vegetable products, the use of tab- 
lets containing these products, that may be 
swallowed whole, seems desirable. Orange 
peelings ground in a meat chopper, dried and 

1 Contribution from laboratory of physiological 
chemistry, University of Minnesota, 


SCIENCE 


409 


ground in a coffee mill may be made into 
tablets by the addition of dehydrated orange 
juice acting as a binder. Such tablets con- 
tain vitamines A, B and (@. Ground spinach 
may be similarly made into tablets with orange 
juice. I have tried these preparations on ani- 
mals and determined their effectiveness in 
regard to vitamine content. Many workers 
may be engaged in determining the exact 
vitamine content of many of these prepara- 
tions? and I do not wish to compete with their 
work in this paper, but merely wish to advyo- 
cate the method of swallowing this vitamine 
food whole, in order to avoid the censorship 
of the palate. 


J. F. McCienpon 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


The Anatomy of the Nervous System from the 
Standpoint of Development and Function. 
By SrepHEN WaALTer Ranson, Professor of 
Anatomy in Northwestern University Med- 
ical School. 395 pages, 260 illustrations. 
Philadelphia, W. B. Saunders Co., 1920. 

A certain professor in an American uni- 
versity, through whose laboratory there an- 
nually pass between one and two hundred stu- 
dents of the anatomy of the neryous system, 
has been heard to remark, “ Nobody ever 
learned any neurology out of a book,” mean- 
ing, of course, that only by actual laboratory 
contact with neurological materials can one 
hope to master the baffling complexity of brain 
structure. No printed description, no pictorial 
illustration, not even the laboratory demonstra- 
tion of elegant dissections and brilliantly 
stained microscopic sections, can take the place 
of the kinesthetic experience which each must 
acquire for himself by personal study, manipu- 
lation, and dissection of the tissues. 

Of course, to this it may be answered that 
nobody ever learned much neurology without 
the aid of good books. And until relatively re- 
cent times the lack of suitable student manuals 
was probably one of the factors responsible for 
the futility of much of the teaching of the 


2 Cooper, Ethel, 1921, Proc. Exp, Biol. Med., 
XVIII, 343. 


410 


structure of the brain, particularly in the med- 
ical schools, where the net result of the stu- 
dent’s best efforts was too often the acquisition 
of a jargon of Greek and Latin polysyllables 
without meaning or interest except to the anti- 
quarian—and the examining board. Other fac- 
tors in the recent improvement in teaching this 
subject are students of better caliber and train- 
ing and better teachers. Without advancement 
in these two directions the publication of ade- 
quate text-books could not greatly improve the 
situation, for the students of former days could 
not have used the books of to-day, and the 
sume is probably true of not a few of their 
teachers. 

The study of the brain is intrinsically difi- 
cult. The medical student, in particular, must 
master and remember a vast amount of ex- 
tremely intricate anatomical detail before he is 
prepared to diagnose his first neurological case. 
Since the student can be expected to acquire 
at best only a very small part of the known 
details and to remember still less, it is essen- 
tial that a selection be made for him by his 
teacher. And the success of the instructor will 
be determined as much by what he leaves out 
of the course as by the skill with which he 
organizes the irreducible minimum which he 
does attempt to present. 

A student who is directed or permitted to 
memorize a long list of the absurdly ‘eumber- 
some names which have been given to the 
visible parts of the brain without gaining a 
definite idea of their functional significance 
and interrelationships has a real grievance. 
And the chief pedagogical difficulty lies in just 
this point that the parts are so inextricably 
interrelated, both anatomically and physio- 
logically, that one can not know anything of 
value about one of them until he knows a little, 
at least, about a good number of others. It is 
like learning a new language; the beginner 
must know something of its grammatical 
structure and vocabulary before he can read. 
When I began the study of Latin I was re- 
quired to spend an entire year in memorizing 
Harkness’ Grammar before I was permitted to 
read a line of a Latin author. I understand that 
languages are not taught by that method any 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1400 


more. The teacher of neurology, as of Latin, 
is faced with the problem of making the struc- 
tural elements dynamic, of giving them func- 
tional values, as early in the course as possible. 

The successful text-book on the nervous sys- 
tem, accordingly, must lay down certain gen- 
eral principles of the relations of structure and 
function, illustrate these by a judicious selec- 
tion of examples, proceed in an orderly way to 
an examination of the gross features of the 
central nervous system, accompanied by an ex- 
position of a few significant microscopic details 
of each part and an analysis of its functional 
connections with the periphery and with other 
centers, and finally these elements must be knit 
together, the related parts being woven into 
working systems of conduction pathways and 
cerebral centers, each of which has a definite 
part to play in the complex web of bodily 
adjustments. Not until the anatomical con- 
figuration and normal action of each of these 
several functional systems has been clearly con- 
ceived, the topographical relations of the an- 
atomical pathways to each other in various 
parts of their courses visualized, and the func- 
tional patterns in which they may be combined | 
determined, is it possible intelligently to inter- 
pret the clinical pictures presented by nervous 
disorders or to make any diagnosis of a neu- 
rological case by other than rule-of-thumb 
methods. 

Dr. Ranson’s book very satisfactorily meets 
these severe requirements. The learner is skil- 
fully guided from the start in his selection of 
topics and the order in which to take them up 
by an analysis of the physiological factors in 
the organization of the nervous system which 
is simplified as far as the intricacies of the sub- 
ject permit. The presentation is clear, logical, 
and accurate. The illustrations are judiciously 
chosen, many of them are original drawings 
which are important additions to the literature, 
and they are beautifully executed. The pub- 
lishers, too, have done their work admirably, 
text and figures are well printed, typography 
clear, and misprints very few. Most of the 
figures are based on the human nervous sys- 
tem, but there are included excellent drawings 
of the brains of the dogfish and sheep which 


OcroBerR 28, 1921] 


are of especial value for those laboratories in 
which these types are used to supplement 
human material. 

The unavoidable difficulties of the study of 
the nervous system are further increased by an 
unnecessarily cumbersome nomenclature. Ran- 
son has followed in the main the B. N. A. sys- 
tem of terms, wisely using English forms of the 
names in most cases. This system has at least 
the merit that it is possible to find out exactly 
what its names mean. Like nearly all other 
recent anatomical writers, he departs from this 
system in some respects (e.g., dorsal and ven- 
tral for posterior and anterior. Pending the 
international revision of the B. N. A., which 
is perhaps more urgently needed in neurology 
than elsewhere, it is desirable that certain 
other changes be widely adopted. The “ pons” 
of the B. N. A. is a hybrid monster, for 
whose continued existence there is no justifi- 
cation, anatomical, physiological, embryologi- 
eal or comparative. Other similar infelicities 
might be mentioned. 

As indicated at the beginning of this review, 
the serious study of the nervous system can not 
proceed far without practical work, and Ran- 
son’s book is so organized as to follow the 
natural sequence of laboratory study. A brief 
laboratory outline is included in the final 20 
pages. 

The author has attempted to include within 
the covers of one book all that the medical stu- 
dent requires for his guidance in a first course 
on the anatomy of the nervous system, and this 
task has been well done. That this plan is very 
acceptable to the student, there can be no ques- 
tion, but in the reviewer’s experience this is not 
an unmixed benefit. With a manual of this sort 
in his hands it is the very exceptional student 
who ean be induced to consult the atlases and 
larger works of reference and the periodical 
literature which he must learn to use if he 
would win an adequate preparation and the 
proper outlook for successful work in neu- 
rology. The question may be raised whether 
from the pedagogical standpoint the symmetry 
and completeness of this work are, after all, 
really advantageous. 

C. Jupson Herrick 


SCIENCE 


411 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
A SIMPLE APPARATUS FOR MICRO-MANIPU- 
LATION UNDER THE HIGHEST MAG- 
NIFICATIONS OF THE MICROSCOPE 


THE microdissection and microinjection of 
marine ova and of animal and plant cells have 
hitherto been carried out by means of 
Barber’s! pipette holder, an instrument pri- 
marily intended for the isolation of bacteria. 
Barber’s instrument had the big advantage 
over other similar mechanisms in that it 
enabled one to manipulate needles in a drop 
hanging from a coverslip suspended over a 
moist chamber. This eliminated all obstacles 
between the objective and the coverslip, there- 
by permitting the use of high-power objec- 
tives. 

The method of making the glass micro- 
needles and pipettes is described in full in 
Barber’s various papers dating from 1904 to 
1914 and in a paper of mine? in which the 
application of the method to microdissection 
is given. 

The principle involved in Barber’s appara- 
tus 1s a carrier pushed along a groove by a 
screw at one end. By having a series of three 
carriers built up on one another, each travel- 
ling in a different direction, movements in any 
one of three dimensions may be imparted to 
a needle clamped on the top carrier. It is 
difficult to construct this instrument in such 
a way that each movement can be maintained 
in a precise focal plane. Even when skilful- 
ly made, wear and tear in time renders the 
movements jerky and undependable. 

The instrument described in this paper 
has the following advantages over Barber’s: 
(a) simple construction, (b) absence of any 
lost motion no matter how long the device 
is used, (c) accurate and constant control of 
the movements of the needle or pipette tip 

1 Barber, M. A., 1904, ‘‘A new method of 
inoculating microorganisms,’’ Jour. Kans, Med. 
Soc., IV., 487; 1914, ‘‘The pipette method in the 
isolation of single microorganisms and in the inocu- 
lation of substances into living cells,’’ The Philip. 
Jour. Se., See. B, Trop. Med., IX., 307. 

2Chambers, R., 1918, ‘‘The microvivisection 
method,’’ Biol, Bull., XXXIV., 121, 


412 


under the highest magnification of the micro- 
scope, (d) maintenance of the needle tip in 
one focal plane while it is being moved back 
and forth in any of the three directions. The 
basic principle of the instrument consists of 
rigid bars which are screwed apart against 
springs. The movements imparted are in ares 
of a circle having a radius of from three to 
four inches. The ares produced by the two 
lateral movements lie in one _ horizontal 
plane so that the needle tip does not drop out 
of focus during these movements. The curva- 
ture of the are is unnoticeable as the extreme 
range of movements of the fine adjustments 
is only 8mm. In the microscopic field no 
movement over one millimeter is ever re- 
quired. 

A full description of this instrument with 
photographs and diagrams is being published 
in the Anatomical Record and, possibly, in the 
Journal of Bacteriology. The principle on 
which the instrument depends is in the process 
of being patented. 

The principle is demonstrated on consider- 
ing the mechanism for the movements in one 
plane only (Fig. 1). This consists of three 


Fig. 1 


bars of rigid metal connected at their ends 
to form a Z-like figure by resilient metal act- 
ing as a spring hinge. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1400 


By the action of certain screws the bars 
can be forced apart; on reversing the screws 
the bars return to their original position 
owing to the spring action at the ends of the 
bars. By these means are movements may be 
imparted to the tip of a needle when placed in 
the proper position, and these movements are 
fine and steady enough to be under perfect 
control when viewed under the highest powers 
of the microscope. 

The needle or any instrument the tip of 
which is to be manipulated is held in a ecar- 
rier fastened to the free end of a bar A at X. 
The needle is made to extend so that its tip 
is at the apex of an imaginary triangle at D. 

In order to obtain two movements at right 
angles to one another in the horizontal plane 
the tip of the needle must be at the apex D 
of a right-angled isosceles triangle, the base 
of which is a straight line joining the centers 
F and F of the springs holding the three bars, 
A, B and C, together. The shank of screw G 
passes through a large hole in bar C and is 
screw-threaded in bar B. Turning screw G 
spreads bars B and A apart thus imparting 
an arc movement to the needle tip at D. The 
other screw H is screw-threaded in bar (C. 
Turning it spreads apart bars C and B and 
imparts an arc movement to the needle tip 
at D at right angles to that procured by 
turning screw G. 

The movement in the vertical plane at 
right angles t» the afore-mentioned move- 
ments is procured by screw I (Fig. 2), which 


is screw-threaded in a rigid vertical bar J 


OcroBEer 28, 1921] 


and abuts against a vertical extension K of 
the bar @. The extension K is parallel to the 
bar J and is connected to it at its top by 
means.of a solid spring hinge. Turning screw 
TI spreads apart bars J and K and lifts the 
whole combination (A, B and C) and imparts 
an are movement in the vertical plane to the 
tip of the needle at D. To procure a vertical 
movement the tip of the needle at D must 
lie in the same horizontal plane Z—D with the 
spring fastening K and J together. When 
screw I is turned the needle tip will then 
move in an are Y to Z more nearly vertical 
than any other arc on the same circumference 
of which the point D is the center. 

The rigid bar J can be attached directly to 
the stage of the microscope, or it may consist 
of a pillar rising from a metal base. In 
the latter case the microscope is clamped to 
the base alongside the pillar. In both cases 
the needle carrier X (Figs. 1 and 2) is ar- 
ranged to allow the needle to project over the 
microscope stage with its tip in the field of 
the microscope objective. 

This instrument can be used singly for one 
needle or with a companion when two needles 
or a needle and a pipette are to be used si- 
multaneously. When a pair is to be used, one 
is a left-handed and the other a right-handed 
instrument. 

There are two models of the micro-ma- 
nipulator, a simple and a more elaborate form. 
Both are identical in the accuracy and ex- 
tent of the fine movements. The advantages 
of the elaborate over the simple form are 
(1) great steadiness, (2) independence of the 
microscope from the apparatus and (3) spe- 
cial features for the preliminary adjustments 
of the needle or pipette. 

In the elaborate form the manipulator is 
fastened on a pillar independent of the micro- 
scope. The pillar is screwed into a heavy 
base to which the microscope is clamped. 
This ensures great steadiness. The micro- 
scope can be removed at any time, thus 
facilitating greatly the exchange of needles 
and the preparation of the apparatus for 
micro-injection. Also the coarse adjustments 
are controlled by screws which aids greatly 


SCIENCE 


413 


in the preliminary adjustments of the needle 
or pipette when bringing it into the focal 
field of the microscope. 

The simple form is more compact and can 
be clamped directly to the stage of the micro- 
scope. Its steadiness, therefore, depends upon 
the steadiness of the microscope stand. The 
preliminary coarse adjustments of the needle 
depend upon sliding movements which are 
operated by hand. They are, therefore, less 
readily performed than in the case of the 
elaborate form. However, the essential fea- 
ture of the instrument is in the fine adjust- 
ments and these are identical in their accu- 
racy in both forms. 

A very convenient combination is a left- 
handed needle manipulator of the elaborate 
type including the base and a right-handed 
manipulator of the simple type. On the 
other hand, the simple form either singly or 
with both a right- and a left-handed ma- 
nipulator, is very serviceable. 


Roser? CHAMBERS 


CorNELL MEDICAL COLLEGE, 
New York City 


CHROMOSOME RELATIONSHIPS IN WHEAT 


In 1917 the writer found the chromosome 
number of Triticum durum to be 28 in the 
fertilized egg cell. Since the number of chro- 
mosomes in wheat had been previously reported 
as 8 by a number of other investigators a sys- 
tematic study of the chromosome number of 
the species of wheat was undertaken, together 
with a study of sterility in interspecific crosses 
already in progress. This work has been in- 
terrupted and in the meantime Sakamura! and 
Kihara? have published short accounts of the 
chromosome numbers in wheat. Their work 
seems to have received little attention, possibly 
due to the lack of convincing illustrations. 

The writer has found the same chromosome 
numbers as reported by Sakamura. Einkorn 
has % haploid chromosomes; the Emmer group, 
consisting of 7. dicoccum, T. durum, T. tur- 
gidum and T’. polonicum, has 14 haploid chro- 

1 Bot. Mag. Tokyo, Vol. 32, 1918. 


2 Bot. Mag. Tokyo, Vol. 33, 1919, and Vol. 35, 
1921. 


414 


mosomes, and the Vulgare group, consisting 
of T. vulgare and T. compactum, has 21 hap- 
loid chromosomes. 

A study of the sterility relationships of spe- 
cies crosses has already been completed and is 
of considerable interest in connection with the 
chromosome number. Einkorn with 7 chro- 
mosomes crossed with members of the Emmer 
group with 14 chromosomes or with members 
of the Vulgare group with 21 chromosomes, 
results in almost totally sterile F, plants. 
Members of the Emmer group crossed with 
members of the Vulgare group result in only 
partially sterile F', individuals. Species within 
each group are inter-fertile. 

A review of the wheat crosses made reveals 
the fact that practically the only hybrids of 
economic importance are crosses within the 
Vulgare group. The Emmer group possesses 
many valuable characters such as drouth and 
rust resistance, and certain varieties are heavy 
yielders under some conditions. Many crosses 
have been made between the members of the 
Emmer and Vulgare groups, but very few, if 
any, of the segregates have combined the de- 
sirable characters of both parents.. It is pos- 
sible that all F, gametes containing approxi- 
mately half Vulgare chromosomes and _ half 
Emmer chromosomes are sterile and only 
gametes containing , nearly all Vulgare or 
nearly all Emmer chromosomes survive. East* 
has suggested that such behavior may occur 
in certain Nicotiana hybrids which are par- 
tially sterile. Work now in progress makes 
this conclusion rather doubtful for wheat hy- 
brids. An analysis of six characters involv- 
ing 80 F, individuals of a cross of T. durum 
 T. vulgare does not indicate that there is 
greater sterility in the intermediates than in 
seregates resembling the parents. 

There is a rather striking correlation be- 
tween chromosome number and adaptability 
among the species of wheat. Einkorn with 
only 7 haploid chromosomes is of practically 
no economic value. In the United States it 
is grown only for experimental purposes. In 
the Emmer group with 14 haploid chromo- 
somes, 7’. durum is the only species grown 

* Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc., Vol. 54, 1915. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1400 


commercially in this country. The durum 
wheats are for the most part limited to the 
plains of the Dakotas and Montana. The Vul- 
gare group with 21 chromosomes is in general 
the most adaptable of the three groups of 
wheat. It is grown in practically all parts 
of the United States from Maine to Califor- 
nia, in humid sections of the central states, 
and on the semiarid plains of the western 
states. There is certainly a high degree of 
correlation between chromosome number and 
adaptability of the species of wheat,. but it 
would be difficult to prove that adaptability 
is due primarily to differences in chromosome 
number. 

The fact that the chromosomes are in 
multiples of 7 suggests that the species hav- 
ing 14 and 21 chromosomes are the result of 
reduplication of the 7 chromosomes of Ein- 
korn or wild wheat. There is some evidence 
that the larger chromosome numbers are due 
to reduplication rather than fragmentation. 
If we assume that the size of a given cell 
is dependent on the chromosome content, 
the relationship of the three groups of wheat 
species becomes clearer. We have found that. 
the volume of the mature pollen grains, meas- 
ured in thousands of cubie microns, is about 
72 for Einkorn, 94 for the Emmer group, and 
114 for the Vulgare group. The differences 
in chromosome numbers of the three groups 
of species are closely associated with corre- 
sponding differences in size of pollen grains. 

In the reduction divisions of the F, 
hybrids of crosses between members of the 
Emmer and Vulgare groups we find addition- 
al evidence that the larger chromosome 
numbers are the result of reduplication rather 
than fragmentation. When the chromosomes 
pair for the reduction division we find only 
14 pairs of chromosomes and 7 single chromo- 
somes on the heterotypic plate. The members 
of the paired chromosomes separate and pass 
to the poles leaving the 7 single chromosomes 
on the equatorial plate. These single chro- 
mosomes ultimately divide and pass to the 
poles. If the 21 chromosomes of the Vulgare 
group are the result of fragmentation we 
should expect that homologous segments 


OcrTosrr 28, 1921] 


segments of the 14 chromosome group and 
that no single unpaired chromosome would 
be present in the reduction divisions. 

Tf the 14 and 21 chromosome species are the 
result of reduplication we might expect a 
considerable number of characters in the Em- 
mer and Vulgare groups to be dependent on 
multiple factors. Although many characters 
of these groups are apparently dependent on 
single factors there are a number of charac- 
ters dependent on two or more factors. The 
red color of grain may be determined by one, 
two or three factors, and pubescence of chaff 
and color of chatt have also been found to be 
dependent on several factors in some cases. 
A comparatively large number of multiple 
factors affecting the same qualitative charac- 
ters are reported in wheat. 

If the Vulgare group, the Emmer group, 
and Einkorn differ only in chromosome com- 
bination of 7X38, 72, and 7X1, why 
should the different groups result in sterile 
or partially sterile F, plants and why should 
the different groups vary so greatly in morpho- 
logical characters? Morgan has suggested 
that for similar cases in other plants that 
changes may occur in the individual chromo- 
somes in the course of time so that the 
original chromosomes would come to differ 
in many factors. If the 14 and 21 chromo- 
some species have originated by reduplication 
of the 7 chromosome group such changes must 
have occurred. The species within each group 
overlap considerably, but each group is rela- 
tively distinct in morphological characters. 

Kart Sax 

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, 

May. 6, 1921. 

ASTRONOMICAL MEETING AT THE 
POTSDAM ASTRONOMICAL 
OBSERVATORY 

Tue following is an abstract of a German 
press report of the international astronomical 
meeting held at Potsdam, August 24-27 
last. 

After a lapse of eight years the Astronomical 
Society met again at Potsdam, under the presidency 
of Professor Stromgren of Copenhagen. Represent- 
atives from sixteen nations were present. About 
two hundred attended the meeting; from Scandi- 


SCIENCE 


415 


navia, Professor Bohlin, Stockholm; Professor v. 
Zeipel and Amanuens Askloff, Upsala; Professor 
Strémgren and assistant Miss Vinter-Hansen, Co- 
penhagen; from Christiania, observer Lous, and 
from Finland Furuhjelm; from Holland Professor 
Kapteyn as well as Van Rhejn and Father Esch; 
from England Professor Eddington, also Father 
Cortie, S.J.; among others were Professors Bausch- 
inger, Hartwig, Einstein, Grossman, Nernst, Runge, 
Schorr, Wiechert, Prey, and Kienle. 

Professor Strémgren in his address referred to 
the continuance of the communication of astron- 
omie phenomena during the years of stress through 
the instrumentality of the Copenhagen observatory, 
instead of from Kiel. Copenhagen served also as a 
medium for the exchange of astronomic and scien- 
tifie literature. 

The scientific program contained many papers 
showing the progress which astronomy has made of 
recent years into details of which we can not here 
enter. However, from Father Hagen we learn of 
the immense masses of dark nebule; from Kihl 
(Munich) explanation was given of many hitherto 
unexplained astronomical phenomena shown in the 
telescope as well as on the photographie plate; from 
Zeipel we learn of the determination of the masses 
of the stars in the globular clusters and that they 
obey the same laws as the molecules in a so-called 
ideal gas. 

Rosenberg reported on the improvement of the 
photo-electric method for the determination of 
brightness of stars. The accuracy of measurements 
approaches the 10,000th of a magnitude. v, Tamm 
(Sweden) surprised the meeting with an ingenious 
and simple method for the determination of the 
color of stars photographically with a single ex- 
posure. Professor Oppenheim (Vienna) presented 
an interesting theory on the movement of the stars. 
Dr. Moll of Utrecht spoke of a new micropho- 
tometer for the measurement by means of a thermo- 
pile of the distribution of brightness in stellar 
spectra. 

A committee was appointed in connection with 
an expedition for observing the solar eclipse next 
year in the Dutch East Indies. It is intended to 
repeat the experiment of Professor Eddington in 
connection with the theory of relativity. 

A visit was paid to the observatories in Potsdam 
and Neubabelsberg. They were shown also the 
Einstein tower, a new structure to further test the 
effect of relativity, the details of which were ex- 
plained by Professor Freundlich. Professor Guth- 
nick has been appointed director in succession to 
would pair with entire chromosomes or larger 


416 


the lamented late Professor Struve. The observa- 
tory at Potsdam was shown by Professor Luden- 
dorff, who recently has been appointed director of 
the Astrophysical Observatory. 

A visit was paid also to the Geodetic Institute. 
At the wireless station the guests had the oppor- 
tunity of listening to the wireless time signals from 
Annapolis. 

One afternoon was devoted to an excursion on 
the Havel to the Wannsee and Nikolskee. At a 
tea in the library an opportunity was afforded for 
viewing Professor Darmstadter’s collection of let- 
ters of celebrated naturalists and autographs of 
noted astronomers, 

A feature of the meeting was the gathering in 
the large dome of the Potsdam Observatory, where 
refreshments were served and a social evening 
spent, the success of which was in a large measure 
due to the ladies of the observatory staff and others, 

The four-days sessions are said to have passed 
without a jarring note and all parted with satisfac- 
tion at the scientific results that had been brought 
forth at the meeting and at the pleasure of having 
again renewed old friendships together with grati- 
tude for the hospitality extended to them at Pots- 
dam. The next meeting is to be held at Copenhagen. 


AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY 

THE twenty-eighth summer meeting of the Amer- 
jean Mathematical Society was held at Wellesley 
College, September 7-9, 1921, in conjunction with 
the meeting of the Mathematical Association of 
America. The attendance included ninety-one mem- 
bers of the Society. Eleven new members were 
elected, and thirty applications for membership 
were received. 


Two joint sessions were held with the Mathe- 
matical Association of America, at which papers 
were read by Professor James Pierpont, on Some 
mathematical aspects of the theory of relativity; 
and by Professor A. C. Lunn, on The place of the 
Einstein theory in theoretical physics. The follow- 
ing papers were read at the regular sessions of the 
Society: 

Einstein static fields which admit a continuous 
group G, of transformations into themselves: L. P. 
EISENHART. 

On the class of a certain type of Einstein 
spreads: JOHN HIESLAND. 

The solar gravitational field and certain other 
fields completely determined by light rays: EDWARD 
KKASNER. 

Prime-power groups containing only one invariant 
subgroup of every index which exceeds this prime 
number: G. A, MILLER. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1400 


General mean value relations: G. D. BIRKHOFF. 

On plates of variable thickness: G. D. BIRKHOFF. 

Application of least squares to the problem of 
apportionment: E. V. HUNTINGTON. 

The summation by series by means of generating 
functions: I. J. ScHwatr. 

The expansion of any power of a multinomial: 
I. J. ScHWATrT. 

The operator (r(d/dr)) on F(r): I. J. ScHWAtt. 

Geometric characterization of special singly infi- 
nite families of heat curves: EUGENIE C. HAUSLE. 

On the stability of a bicycle with a light frame: 
J. L. SYNGE. 

Note on the definition of a linear functional: 
C, A. FIscHER, 

Certain theorems concerning simple closed and 
open curves: J. R. Kuine. 

A theorem concerning connected sets which be- 
come totally disconnected upon the removal of a 
single point: J. R, Kuine. 

Concerning connectedness im kleinen and a re- 
lated problem: R. L. Moore. 

The probability function for the sum of certain 
functions, with applications to the theory of errors: 
E. L. Dovp. 

On power series with positive real part in the 
unit circle: T. H. GRONWALL. 

Some theorems on transformations with invariant 
points: J. W. ALEXANDER. 

Theorem on the interior of a simply connected 
closed surface in three-space: J. W. ALEXANDER. 

A fundamental class of geodesics on closed sur- 
faces of genus greater than unity: H. M. Morse. 

On the problem of steering an automobile around 
a corner: A. G. WEBSTER. 

On the principles of mechanical integrators for 
differential equations, especially those of exterior 
ballistics: A. G. WEBSTER, 

On the Fourier’s series of non-integrable func- 
tions: C. N. Moore. 

A generalization of Laguerre’s rule of signs: C. 
F, GUMMER. 

The functions analogous to Lebesgue constants 
for a series of Hermite polynomials: R. E. GIuMAN. 

Theory of invariant elements: O. E. GLENN. 

On the location of the roots of the jacobian of 
two binary forms: J. L, WALSH. 

The power of a modern gun and of thunder: J. 
E. Rowe. 

Spurious correlation applied to urn schemata: J. 
R. MUSSELMAN. 

The significance of the partial correlation coeffi- 
cient in the comparison of ordered statistical series 
possessing rectilinear trends: W. L. Crum. 

A tentative substitute for the standard deviation 
in the examination of the dispersion of an ordered 
statistical series: W. L. Crum. 

The value of a sample. Second paper: B. H. 
Camp. 

A form of series for potential problems: Nor- 
BERT WIENER. 

Some hydrodynamic aspects of group theory: 8. 
D. ZELDIN. 

Two-way series for Lebesgue integrals: M. B. 
PORTER. 

R. G. D. RicHARDSON, 
Secretary 


SCIENCE 


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SCIENCE 


oo 


Frmay, November 4, 1921. 


The Engineer; Human and Superior Direction 
of Power: Dr. L. H. BAEKELAND.......... 417 


Herbert Haviland Field: PRoressor HENRY B. 
AVAL eater ls ec ae 424 


Scientific Events: 
Winthrop Ellsworth Stone ; Mortality Statis- 
tics for 1920; The Mount. Everest Expedi- 
tion; The Laboratory of the Miami Aqua- 
rium Association; The Toronto Meeting of 


the American Society of Zoologists......... 428 
Scientific Notes and News.................. 431 
University and Educational News............ 435 


Discussion and Correspondence : 


Aerial Observation of Physiographic Fea- 
tures: PROFESSOR DouGLAS JOHNSON. Scien- 


tific Literature in European Countries: Pro- 

Fessor T. D. A. COCKERELL............... 435 
Scientific Books: 

Sturtevant’s Notes on Edible Plants: Pro- 

FESSOR! Jj CS PARTHUR! 2 sjfae le eich sieiae sie aise iett 437 
Special Articles : 

The Displacement Method for obtaining the 

Soil Solution: Dr. F. W. PARKER.......... 438 


The American Astronomical Society: PROFES- 
SOR) JOELISTEBBINS seein Mce iels os ce 440 


The American Chemical Society: Dr. CHARLES 
TEP PARSON SRA tended ieee eee seat taa eel 44) 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc.,intended for 
teview should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y- 


See 


THE ENGINEER; HUMAN AND SU- 
PERIOR DIRECTION OF POWER? 


Tue forces of nature are the most enduring 
wealth of mankind. To know their laws and to 
learn how to apply them has made of a puny 
little being of about 130 to 200 pounds of flesh 
and bone—three fourths of which is merely 
water—a giant of which Gulliver’s tales have 
no equal; and compared to which the largest 
and most muscular animals of present or 
former geological periods are merely drowsy, 
clumsy creatures. All this has been accom- 
plished by his few grams of better brain-matter, 
which permitted him to gather scientific knowl- 
edge and thus to wield powers akin to those 
attributed to some of the gods of antiquity. 

But the forces of nature, in wrong hands, can 
be diverted from their very highest purposes 
into the basest demoniacal utilization. 

During the late war, one of the nations re- 
puted for its scientific knowledge, staggered 
history by the wholesale, unscrupulous utiliza- 
tion of science and engineering in attempting 
to extend and perpetuate an anachronistic and 
domineering system of government. The other 
nations, in trying to withstand this onslaught 
upon right and decency, were in their turn 
compelled to enlist the talent of scientists and 
engineers alongside the efforts of soldiers and 
sailors. 

And now, thank God, we chemists can turn 
again to the sphere of action where we truly be- 
long. We can try anew to become apostles of 
construction instead of destruction; soldiers of 
progress, of peace and happiness. 

Unfortunately, this does not mean to say that 
all which all chemists accomplish is always dic- 
tated by such lofty motives; no more than liter- 


1 Address presented at the joint meeting of the 
American Chemical Society and the Society of 
Chemical Industry (of Great Britain), New York, 
September, 1921. 


' 


418 


ature, or art, or religion is never debased by low 
aims. 

Whatever else this war has brought forth, it 
has at last taught the ignorant multitude that, 
in our modern complex civilization, chemists 
are as indispensable as engineers, notwithstand- 
ing the fact that the lawyer-politician still 
holds the floor. 

Nor should the public be blamed too much. 
The work and purposes of the chemist are not 
easy to understand to the average man or 
woman, too often devoid of even rudimentary 
scientific knowledge, although in some cases 
they are the bearers of a college degree earned 
by a one-sided exclusively literary education. 

What appears even less obvious, even to the 
better informed classes, is the relation of the 
chemist to the chemical engineer. It is less 
known that a man may be a scientific star of 
the first magnitude and yet be incapable of 
utilizing his science in the industries, or of 
applying it in the many other ramifications 
of the economics of our civilization—not to 
speak of the recent applications of science in 
war. It does not seem obvious to many that 
there is the same difference between a good 
‘grammarian or philologist and a successful 
writer, be the latter a novelist, an essayist, a 
journalist or a playwright; that a learned 
botanist will not necessarily make a success- 
ful farmer, no more than a mathematician 
will surely prove a good accountant, nor a 
good accountant an able business man, nor 
a philosopher a successful statesman. 

In the same way, explorers frequently make 
unsuccessful settlers. The true scientist is an 
explorer in the broadest sense of the word. He 
explores the laws of nature. By direct observa- 
tion or experiment, and aided by theoretical 
reasoning, he tries to correlate the observed 
facts until he believes that he is warranted to 
generalize thereon. He thus helps to discover 
new truths or laws of nature. These, in their 
turn will permit him to predict facts in advance 
until further observations or experiments either 
support him or point out that his generaliza- 
tions or theories were based on insufficient re- 
search or faulty interpretation of the recorded 
data. Whenever this occurs, he is compelled to 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1401 


turn back on his steps and gather additional 
knowledge and try better theories. Thus are 
the methods of science and research. But be- 
fore any such laboriously gathered knowledge 
can be utilized, there is a vast amount of 
further methodic work to be performed. 

After a geologist has revealed and surveyed 
a body of ore in the mountain, the mining engi- 
neer and the metallurgist know very well that 
this does not necessarily mean a paying mine, 
or a successful smelting works. 

So it is in chemistry. The experience of 
many a scientist has been confined exclusively 
to laboratory work, or to purely chemical sub- 
jects. This is frequently the reason of his weak- 
ness in dealing with practical matters, when he 
is inclined to concentrate his point of view too 
much on only a part of the subject with which 
he is confronted. He is apt to neglect other 
considerations which although seemingly unim- 
posing from a scientific standpoint, frequently 
carry with them the very elements of success or 
failure in practical applications. 

When, during the war, the problem came up 
to start the manufacture of optical glass for 
gunsights and other instruments used in our 
army or navy, it was easy enough to take care 
of the chemical side of this subject after raw 
materials of sufficient purity had been obtained 
and as long as the glass was produced merely 
in quantities of a few ounces where the mass 
could readily be melted in platinum crucibles. 
But when it came to produce tons of homogene- 
ous optical glass for real wholesale use, then the 
most tantalizing problem resided in the proper 
construction and handling of large clay cruci- 
bles; this for the simple fact that the molten 
glass dissolved the clay of the pots and got 
spoiled by taking up impurities, in the same 
way as water would dissolve a container made 
-of sugar or of dried mud. 

Many a chemical reaction brilliantly success- 
ful in the laboratory as long as the operation 
could be limited to small quantities and carried 
out in glass, porcelain or platinum vessels, has 
been doomed to failure when attempts were 
made to run it on a permanent commercial 
scale. It needs quite some experience and a 
good deal of common sense to know when it is 


NOVEMBER 4, 1921] 


cheaper to simply burn up sawdust waste in- 
stead of trying to distill it or convert it into 
paper pulp, and to know when it is cheaper, 
for this purpose, to buy expensive wood in the 
shape of clear logs. It requires quite an effort 
of good judgment to know when it is less ruin- 
ous to burn waste flax straw from our linseed 
fields than to try to spin or weave it; to know 
when it is less injurious to one’s bank account 
to leave natural soda and potash salts in lake 
water instead of obtaining them by the usual 
processes. That Boston clergyman of about 
twenty years ago may have had correct chem- 
ical information when he started that com- 
pany for extracting the limitless tons of gold 
naturally contained in sea water, but if he had 
been just a little of a chemical engineer, he 
might readily have concluded that it was 
cheaper to leave all that gold in the ocean than 
to try to extract it by methods which cost more 
than the value of the gold. 

Then again, there are cases where even the 
best of chemists committed errors of judgment 
and failed to solve problems because they 
lacked the daring of the engineer. 

Sir Humphry Davy, one of the greatest 
chemists of his age, showed his lack of qualifi- 
cations as a chemical engineer when he re- 
ported unfavorably on the project to use coal 
gas for the illumination of the City of London. 
One of his most emphatic objections was that 
it would require a gas holder as large as St. 
Paul’s Church dome, and even after this was 
constructed, it would blow up at the first oppor- 
tunity. 

As an opposite example, I should cite the 
great Belgian engineer, Solvay, who revolution- 
ized the manufacture of soda, one of the chem- 
icals most indispensable to civilization and 
used in enormous quantities. His success was 
mainly due to the fact that he was more of an 
engineer than a chemist. In developing his 
process, he was unaware that this reaction was 
not new; that it was so old and so well known 
that several patents on this very subject were 
already on record and that, furthermore, the 
process had been tried commercially about half 
a dozen times in several countries, and had 
invariably been unsuccessful. Fortunately, all 


SCIENCE 


419 


this discouraging information reached him 
only after his keen engineering talent had 
already demonstrated that this elusive chemical 
process could be controlled in the hands of an 
engineer and made to operate so successfully as 
to throw in the scrap heap the older processes 
used until then. 

The pure chemist, confined by the walls of his 
classroom, his laboratory, or his library, some- 
times fails to exercise sufficiently the sense of 
proportion. 

Nor are the engineers, as a class, free from 
being carried away by a one-sided point of 
view, although their way of reasoning and 
grappling a problem is more along quantitative 
considerations. 

The ways of thinking and acting of a chemist 
and that of an engineer are often along de- 
cidedly different points of view. Yet, if these 
points of view can be compromised, or harmo- 
nized, they bring forth good chemical engineer- 
ing. Nor is this always an easy task. Too often 
I have seen cases where the engineer, regardless 
of well-established chemical facts of which he 
was conveniently ignorant, diligently went on 
designing the most elaborate and ingenious 
equipment, giving minute attention to every 
structural and mechanical detail, and then 
handed plans and specifications to the chemist 
to leave the “ chemical details” of the prob- 
lem to the latter. These “ details ” consisted in 
specifying a material about as strong as steel, 
resisting strong acids or other very corrosive 
agencies, extreme heat, and which should, 
furthermore, be furnished at a price about that 
of steel or bronze. When the chemist meekly 
answered that he knew of no material that 
would answer the purpose except platinum, 
iridium, or possibly gold, the information was 
received with a look of contemptuous disap- 
pointment on the part of the engineer. 

In another case, a laboratory chemist had 
been carrying out a chemical process where he 
heated corrosive liquids under high pressure in 
sealed hard glass tubes of about half an inch in 
diameter. In the meantime, he hoped that any 
engineer forthwith would build him an appa- 
ratus with which to perform the same operation 
in ton lots. 


420 


Simple as it sounds, it requires quite some 
experience, quite some common sense before the 
chemical engineer knows when to specify stone- 
ware instead of lead, or other metals, or vice 
versa, or to learn how to alter the design of an 
equipment so as to make it adaptable for each 
of these different structural materials. I well 
remember the look of disgust of an engineer 
who had drawn his specifications of heavy 
stoneware to within one sixteenth inch of mar- 
gin, to find out when the apparatus was finally 
delivered, at the end of several months drying, 
and baking and waiting, that the dimensions 
had warped several inches and did not fit with 
the other parts of the equipment. That very 
day he learned that it pays to order his stone- 
ware a long time in advance and to wait for its 
delivery before adjusting the final designs of 
the adjacent equipment according to what he 
got from the pottery. I am glad to see that dur- 
ing the competition of the last few years, stone- 
ware manufacturers have made much progress. 

In another case, a chemical engineer made a 
success of a different problem of pumping a 
corrosive liquid where delicate pumps made of 
expensive alloys or stoneware were most of the 
time out of order, until he superseded them by 
home-made pumps made of cast iron or cement. 
They corroded very fast, but their construction 
and replacement were so simple and inexpen- 
sive that he could afford to replace them rapidly 
with much less trouble or cost. 

In many chemical industries, after once the 
initial chemical problems have been overcome, 
the manufacturing problems resolve themselves 
to cost of operation and mass production. No 
wonder then that in such industries the engi- 
neer’s problems seem to dwarf those of the 
chemist to such an extent that sometimes the 
manufacturers seem to be astounded when one 
reminds them that after all their enterprise is 
essentially chemical. This is of little conse- 
quence in so-called “ prosperous ” times, when 
orders are abundant, profits considerable, and 
when the main problem is one of output. In 
times of keener competition the unchemically 
trained directors of such enterprises are some- 
times unpleasantly reminded that they need 
clever chemists as well as good engineers and 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1401 


business men and that, while they were asleep 
on this subject, their keener competitors have 
been improving their industries along chemical 
lines. 

Steelmakers or smelters, for instance, are apt 
to forget that metallurgy is, after all, a very 
chemical industry where most of the great 
strides were made through chemical considera- 
tions. The same can be said of sugar, glass and 
soap manufacturing. 

To the wide-awake manufacturer, the present 
industrial depression should be an incentive to 
engage more chemists, to do more chemical re- 
search work, instead of laying off the men of 
their chemical staff, as has happened in too 
many instances since we got out of that fool’s 
paradise of so-called “ prosperity.” 

Most of our industries badly need “ fertiliz- 
ing” and fertilizing is better done while the 
land lies fallow than during planting or har- 
vesting time. 

Whenever I see such shortsightedness which 
is bound to stunt our industrial efficiency for 
the future, then I wonder whether some of the 
financial or business men at the head of large 
industrial enterprises are not occupying their 
position on an assumed and unearned reputa- 
tion. 

Some of our industries are more particularly 
adapted to our country on account of an excep- 
tionally abundant supply of the raw materials 
they employ; this gives them at once a distinct 
advantage over other countries which have to 
import these raw products. But precisely in 
some of these industries, the chemical point of 
view has been much neglected, except in minor 
details. 

For instance, we have that enormous indus- 
try of petroleum refining. Ever since petro- 
leum was first discovered, the processes of 
rectification have not varied much from the 
general methods of fractional distillation by 
which different compounds are separated by 
order of volatility in light hydrocarbons of the 
gasoline type, somewhat higher boiling liquids 
of the kerosene type, then lubricating oils, vase- 
line or petroleum jelly, and the least volatile 
and hardest of all, paraftine. 

It is true that in this general process of dis- 


NovemMBer 4, 1921] 


tillation, improvements have been introduced 
from time to time. For instance, the interme- 
diate treatment with sulphuric acid, then later 
the destructive distillation at higher tempera- 
tures or the so-called “cracking” processes 
which break up the more complex hydrocarbon 
molecules of the heavier distilling liquids and 
thereby increase the yield of the lighter and 
more valuable gasoline. 

Nevertheless, the fact remains that aside 
from a relatively small proportion of lubri- 
cants, the bulk of raw or refined petroleum is 
burnt as a fuel. This burning may be done 
directly in oil burning furnaces, or as refined 
kerogene in our lamps, or as gas from our gas 
works, or by a much more efficient way, in our 
internal combustion motors, varying from the 
smallest motorcycle engine to the heaviest 
Diesel generators. 

There was a time when coal also was exclu- 
sively used as a fuel until the chemists suc- 
ceeded in converting one of its least attractive 
by-products, coal-tar, into a series of the most 
startling syntheses, which opened an entirely 
new field in chemistry. These coal-tar deriva- 
tives include not only an endless variety of 
dyes, but the many other valuable synthetic 
substances used in the art of healing and sani- 
tation, as well as the newer synthetic resinous 
products which have opened new possibilities in 
electrical insulation and numerous other indus- 
tries, and the chemicals which are used in the 
art of photography. Nor should I omit to men- 
tion the new explosives obtained from the same 
source, and which are safer and easier to handle 
than dynamite or gunpowder, and which find 
greater and more lasting applications in mi- 
ning, agriculture and engineering than in war. 
Agents of foreign interests had long ago started 
a propaganda campaign among our teachers of 
chemistry as well as among our congressmen 
and manufacturers, making them believe that 
the United States was not suited for this in- 
dustry of coal-tar products, and that Germany 
eould better supply us. But the war awakened 
us from our torpor when we were confronted 
by the fact that the coal-tar derivatives were 
the indispensable key to many of our most im- 
portant industries and that the war could not 


SCIENCE. 


421 


be won without them, and that Germany had 
lulled us into inaction until, in experience, we 
were a full generation behind her. By supreme 
efforts, our chemists and business men over- 
came this fearful handicap; this achievement 
remains one of the most brilliant pages of our 
national history. And now it looks as if short- 
sightedness and politics were about to destroy 
what has been raised after so much effort. 

But let us return to the subject of the petro- 
leum industry: The abundant existence of this 
raw material, as well as natural gas, in America 
is mainly due to the special geological history 
of this continent. Geological changes here have 
been less violent, less metamorphie than in 
Europe or most other countries, so that the 
geological deposits or stores of these rather 
fugitive materials have been less disturbed, less 
broken up by subsequent upheavals. 

Especially in natural gas do we possess a raw 
material which almost exclusively belongs to 
this country. When we reflect, however, that 
this raw material cannot readily be trans- 
ported, we should seek methods to convert it 
into other commodities which lend themselves 
to easier transportation. 

If we have acted as spendthrifts with our 
coal and petroleum, we have behaved as barbar- 
ians with our natural gas resources until there 
is little left of it. Yet natural gas contains 
valuable substances which under the hand of 
the chemist may be used as a starting point for 
syntheses perhaps more valuable than what has 
been accomplished with coal-tar. While the 
period of brutal waste is not yet ended, the 
dawn of a more enlightened utilization seems 
to be in sight. I learned recently that at least 
one of our more progressive and better organ- 
ized industrial enterprises has undertaken the 
problem of more methodical use of natural gas 
along scientific and chemical lines. From the 
results already obtained, there is good hope that 
some day our natural gas resources may pro- 
vide us with new synthetic products which may 
open entirely new possibilities in various other 
industries. I should add that the company in 
question, notwithstanding the present busi- 
ness depression, has not discharged its research 
chemists. On the contrary it has recently added 


422 


considerably to its research staff and equip- 
ment, although endeavoring to cut unnecessary 
expenses in other directions. 

Industrial alcohol is another chemical indus- 
try in the United States which seems suscep- 
tible of an incomparably wider development as 
soon as it is less hampered by fanaticism in a 
more efficient commercial production and easier 
distribution. The ignorant multitude does not 
class aleohol as a chemical industry. Most peo- 
ple can not see in alcohol anything but its use 
or abuse as a beverage. 

And yet, outside of such uses, there is hardly 
a chemical susceptible of wider and more bene- 
ficial application in the arts, the industries and 
the household economics. Its value as a sol- 
vent, its use in varnishes, artificial leather, 
smokeless powder, is well known among chem- 
ists. But a much more extended use is possible 
as a liquid fuel. The fact that-it is far less 
volatile than gasoline and mixes readily with 
water, makes it not only cleaner, but incom- 
parably less dangerous, whether it be used in 
the household for heating or illuminating pur- 
poses, or whether it be used on a motor ear or 
a motorboat, or stationary engine. 

Furthermore, its sources of supply embrace 
all inexpensive starch- or sugar-containing 
vegetables, as well as the waste of our sugar 
refineries, all products of which this country 
has a prodigious supply. 

Converting our perishable farm products into 
products like aleohol, which can be stored in- 
definitely and of which the transportation and 
handling are easy, is one of the ways of equal- 
jzing the uncertain fluctuations of the yield of 
our crops. 

Long after every drop of petroleum or gaso- 
line will have been extracted from our wells, 
every yearly agricultural crop will insure us a 
new supply of this valuable liquid fuel obtained 
by fermentation of starch- or sugar-containing 
liquids. I know of no country where there is 
such an abundant source of supply, as well as 
the industrial opportunities in conjunction 
with an extensive market within easy reach, 
provided industrial aleohol can be furnished to 
the consumer at a low enough price. 

But unintelligent application of the Pro- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1401 


hibition Act will offset all this, whatever good 
effects it may try to accomplish in other direc- 
tions, by putting unnecessarily exaggerated re- 
strictions or handicaps upon the manufacture 
or distribution of industrial alcohol. 

Few people realize that the price at which 
aleohol can be delivered to the consumer at a 
profit is considerably influenced by whatever 
unnecessary red tape impedes manufacture, 
transportation or distribution. The well-inten- 
tioned manufacturer who is endeavoring to 
lower the cost of production, feels his efforts 
rather futile when they are wiped out at the 
selling and distributing end. 

There is opportunity for considerable im- 
provement in the technical end of this industry 
in the United States. In this respect, France 
and Germany were able to furnish better and 
cheaper alcohol than we were, because in those 
countries the industrial alcohol situation has 
always been more considered on its own merits. 
So has it come to pass that this branch of chem- 
istry or chemical engineering has attracted 
fewer of our better scientists or engineers in 
the United States than in other countries. 
Justly or unjustly, this whole industry has been 
under the ban of social prejudice on the part 
of people who, in their zeal, can not discern 
between the drink evil and an indispensable 
chemical industry. 

Yet, no less a man than the great Pasteur 
counts among the many illustrious chemists, 
biochemists and engineers, who have con- 
tributed to the development of the alcohol in- 
dustry. It was Pasteur, while he was professor 
of chemistry at the University of Lille, who by 
undertaking to correct irregularities in the fer- 
mentation processes of a local distiller, discov- 
ered the fundamental truths relating to the 
phenomena of fermentation. Under his genius, 
the knowledge gained thereby became the start- 
ing point not only of radical improvements in 
the manufacture of fermentation processes, but 
they brought forth a veritable revolution in 
sanitation, surgery, and medicine. All this has 
sowed broadcast inestimable benefits on man- 
kind, and has made the name of Pasteur 
sacred to every one who is not too ignorant to 


NovEMBER 4, 1921] 


know something about what he has done for 
humanity. 

If every annual crop of starch- or sugar- 
containing plants can furnish us an abundance 
of liquid fuel and solvents under the form of 
aleohol, we may look at this from another point 
of view and call it simply the stored-up energy 
of the sun. The photochemical action of the 
sun rays under the influence of the chlorophyl, 
or green matter of the plant leaves, brings 
about the most subtle creative chemical synthe- 
sis. Carbon dioxide, a product of combustion, 
one of the ultimate destruction products of 
plant or animal life, combines with water under 
the action of sunlight. Dead matter reenters 
the process of life. The first, or one of the first 
products of this synthesis is formaldehyde; the 
latter, in its turn, inaugurates a succession of 
further chemical syntheses which result in the 
formation of sugars, starch, cellulose, and other 
carbohydrates. No sun, no photochemical syn- 
thesis, no crops—no life! So that, after all, the 
whole living world is dependent upon a delicate 
photochemical reaction. Starvation, on one 
hand, or abundance of crops and foodstuffs, 
on the other, all within the range of photo- 
chemistry. 

In the same way, our vast coal beds and our 
petroleum wells and our natural gas, are merely 
the result of light energy stored up from the 
plant or animal life of former geological 
periods. This, in itself, ought to impress us 
with the enormous possibilities of photochem- 
ical synthesis. And yet, here is a field where the 
scientist or engineer has accomplished next to 
nothing. In the utilization of this marvelous 
energy, we have not gone much beyond the art 
of making photographs. 

So here is a power, an energy, which has been 
much neglected by scientist and engineer alike. 
Where is the Faraday, the Ampére, the Leon- 
ardo da Vinci, where is the Archimedes who 
shall show us how to use the sun rays for charg- 
ing our electrical storage batteries, or who 
will teach us how to handle the photochemical 
action of sunlight, or to emulate nature in her 
synthesis of plant life? Who will utilize this 
delicate method instead of our hitherto brutal 
processes of synthesis. Nature in her methods 


SCIENCE. 


423 


of plant life synthesis does not treat with boil- 
ing solutions of alkalies or strong acids; she 
uses no high temperatures nor strong electric 
currents. If we want to be successful in this 
direction, we shall have to utilize equipment 
possessing large exposed surfaces similar to 
the leaves of plants. We may have to operate 
in rather dilute solutions instead of the con- 
centrations which are ordinarily used in our 
present methods. We may have to find means 
for rapidly separating the formed products as 
fast as they accumulate. We may be compelled 
to work within narrow ranges of temperature, 
perhaps not exceeding those outside of which 
plant life stops. 

But who knows what surprises are in store 
for us and how we may simplify all this after 
the subject once begins to receive enough atten- 
tion. 

In the past, scientists have taught the engi- 
neers how to transmute the forces of nature, 
but this took a very long time. About a cen- 
tury and a half ago, Lavoisier, by his memor- 
able work in chemistry, got as far as to ex- 
claim: “In Nature nothing is created, nothing 
is lost, there are only transformations.” But 
he was thinking of matter as such. It took 
almost a century more before Mayer and Joule 
proclaimed the same truth in physics as far as 
forces of Nature or energy are concerned. Our 
present conception of the conservation and 
transformation of energy are of rather recent 
date. Nor were these fundamental truths 
readily accepted without opposition. Since 
then, progress has been rapid. Scientists and 
inventors alike have taught the engineer how 
to transmute the forces of Nature. 

Let us take, for instance, a well-known chem- 
ical reaction—the oxidation of carbon and 
hydrogen; whether this oxidation be accom- 
plished simply by the burning of coal, gas, or 
oil in furnaces under a steam boiler, or by the 
internal combustion in any variety of a gas 
engine, it gives heat which in turn is trans- 
formed into motion or motive power, which 
runs our factories, our ships, our trains, our 
automobiles, our flying machines. Or, in- 
versely, motion can be turned into an equiva- 
lent amount of heat by friction or otherwise, as 


424 


every one knows who ever operated an air com- 
pressor or had to deal with a badly lubricated 
axle. 

But motion, whether it be furnished by water 
rushing from a waterfall, or by a steam or gas 
engine, or by a windmill, can be made to turn 
a dynamo and produce electrical energy. The 
latter, in turn, can be changed into motion, 
heat or light. Or again, we can bridge directly 
that jump between a chemical reaction and 
light by simply burning oil, gas, acetylene, or 
magnesium, and thus produce any range of 
even the most intense light. Or, in other cases, 
we use heat or electricity to decompose the 
most refractory substances in their elements, 
and some of our largest electro chemical indus- 
tries in Niagara Falls are based on this. Or 
we may use either one of these forms of energy 
in chemical reactions which build up; which, 
in other words, bring about chemical synthesis. 

But when it comes to transforming light 
energy into chemical synthesis, we have left 
thus far the monopoly of this agent to Nature; 
we have been acting as Rip Van Winkles. 

In the museum of the Franklin Institute in 
Philadelphia exists an electrical machine which 
was used by Benjamin Franklin for his experi- 
ments. It was one of the very best electric 
machines of his day. Yet, at that time, it was 
a mere clumsy toy. When the weather was not 
too damp and all other conditions were propi- 
tious, the operator, after turning that glass 
globe until he was red in the face, could draw 
some insignificant sparks, or charge a Leyden 
jar, or give a harmless shock to the person who 
touched it. All this was not so very long ago. 
Yet that toy was the forerunner of our enor- 
mous electrical industries, and all the astound- 
ing modern applications of electrical energy; 
our electric generating stations which give us 
light, power and transportation, which move 
our trains, our ships, our factories, which gen- 
erate power far beyond anything which un- 
scientific man of antiquity, or of a few years 
ago, was able to dream of. That same elec- 
tricity which gave us wireless telegraphy and 
the wireless telephone; which has made the 
world bigger, and, at the same time, smaller, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1401 


by rendering every nook and corner more acces- 
sible. 

Let those who at present lay off their re- 
search chemists, their physicists, their research 
engineers, remember that the tremendous gap 
between that toy electric machine of Franklin 
and the present electrical industry, would never 
have been bridged but for research, invention 
and good engineering. 

L. H. BarkELANnD 

CoLuMBIA UNIVERSITY 


HERBERT HAVILAND FIELD 


On April 5 there died in Zurich, Switzer- 
land, from heart failure following influenza, 
one to whom science and especially zoology 
owes a great debt. Herbert Haviland Field 
was not only a man of marked ability and 
personal charm but he also possessed unusual 
breadth of vision as well as the power to 
make his visions realities. By virtue of 
these traits he made contributions of funda- 
mental and permanent value to the progress 
of science though he was known to relatively 
few because of his modesty and self-elimina- 
tion. 

Born in Brooklyn, N. Y., April 25, 1868, 
of Quaker ancestry which included some of 
the prominent citizens of that municipality 
a century ago, young Field had his early 
education in that city, was graduated from 
the Brooklyn Polytechnic and went to Har- 
yard. There he took his bachelor’s degree in 
1888 and kept on until he had won his M.A. 
in 1890 and his Ph.D. in 1891. His doctor’s 
thesis, a masterful study of the early develop- 
ment of the urogenital organs in Amphibia, 
gave him at once a high place in the esteem 
of workers in zoology. 

On going to Europe in the following year, 
he met a cordial reception at the Universi- 
ties of Freiburg in Baden, Leipzig, and Paris, 
at each of which he was given the doctor’s 
degree. Even at the start of his studies he 
was impressed with the failure of investiga- 
tors to give due attention to the work of the 
past and recognized that this neglect was due 
in large part to the lack of means for ob- 
taining an adequate record of the volumi- 


November 4, 1921 | 


nous and widely scattered literature. As he 
studied this problem in various countries, the 
need grew upon him and the thought he had, 
even in student days, of some agency to 
handle the material in broad and comprehen- 
sive fashion took form gradually in the great 
Concilium Bibliographicum which he con- 
eeived, founded, and organized, an enter- 
prise which testifies eloquently to his suc- 
eessful efforts for the advancement of science 
and the assistance of his coworkers in biol- 
ogy. 

Dr. Field was a fine-looking man. Of 
large size and good figure, with dignified 
bearing, he attracted attention in any group 
even though in later years he had manifested 
a tendency to increase in weight which was, 
in fact, a trait inherited from his father. 
Two physical defects are worthy of note. He 
suffered from a constantly recurring migraine 
of great intensity. In the early days his 
friends and associates noted a marked ten- 
dency to stammer which became painful at 
times when he was involved in a vigorous 
argument. He studied the situation imten- 
sively to rid himself of the defect and it did 
largely disappear. It was, however, striking 
to those who had noted this peculiarity, to 
find that his conversation in other languages 
was entirely free from the difficulty. He 
spoke withal in an easy, flowing style which 
was vivid and sparkling, commanding the at- 
tention of the listener and carrying convic- 
tion to those with whom he was conversing. 

His gift of tongues was indeed extraordi- 
nary, for in his college days he utilized Latin, 
German, French, Italian, Dutch, and Russian 
with apparently equal ease, and he is said to 
have been accustomed to write his diary in the 
last-named language. When the seventh 
International Zoological Congress met in 
this country it held a session at Cold Spring 
Harbor, and the delegates were received at 
Sagamore Hill by then President Roosevelt. 
At that time Dr. Field, who had known most 
of them for years, was called upon to intro- 
duce the foreign delegates to the President. 
He conversed readily with those whom he 
did not know, addressing each in his own 


SCIENCE 


425 


language and telling Mr. Roosevelt about 
them. His exceptional memory was conspicu- 
ous to every one who came into contact with 
him, but most of all, perhaps, to those of us 
who were his associates day after day in the 
laboratory at the Museum of Comparative 
Zoology. He would not only repeat para- 
graph after paragraph from various lectures 
but would dazzle us by a record of scientific 
facts from papers and references to out-of- 
way publications with a completeness and 
precision that were remarkable in fields out- 
side of the particular territory in which he 
was doing his own work. J have been told 
that his musical memory was even more 
remarkable. It is said that he would listen 
to a symphony concert and on returning 
home would play on any sort of a musical 
instrument not only the motif and its numer- 
ous variations but also whole sections of the 
composition even though he had just heard it 
for the first time. 

Combined with this fine endowment of a 
precise and retentive memory was a sense of 
order and system that was equally conspicu- 
ous because of its contrast with the habits 
of the ordinary man. He was fond of system 
and had remarkable power for outlining and 
installing a plan, to organize any given 
material; this was coupled with unusual 
power in following out the system and apply- 
ing it in detail to complex series of data. It 
must be confessed that in his own work he 
was not always so systematic. In the labora- 
tory at the Agassiz Museum he worked with 
the greatest pertinacity and concentration, 
often not even stopping for lunch. But 
after some days of such effort, he might 
absent himself for two or three days at a 
stretch and would be found visiting or read- 
ing at home with equal intensity. Further- 
more, he sometimes manifested that absent- 
mindedness, which some attribute to genius 
and which affects the little things of every- 
day life that seem of importance to a smaller 
man. He would lose one object or another 
and, after failing to find the thing for which 
he was looking, would exclaim: “ Never mind! 
I think I left it on the train,” or somewhere 


426 


else, and go on with the main object of life 
at that time with absolute unconcern. In 
this, he manifested the calm that may rightly 
be regarded as an inheritance from his Quaker 
ancestry ,and that undoubtedly carried him 
through many difficult and awkward situa- 
tions with an unruffled mind. His exactitude 
of action was labelled by some as a tendency 
to procrastinate for he would always turn up 
just at the moment when a train was leaving 
or was even already in motion. Such precise 
punctuality resulted in unfortunate failure 
sometimes when circumstances beyond his 
control resulted in minor delays on the way. 

His dogged determination is well illu- 
strated by a comment made in personal cor- 
respondence from Dr. C. B. Davenport, who 
was an intimate friend of Field’s and to 
whom I am indebted for great assistance in 
preparing this sketch. Dr. Davenport writes: 


An exceedingly valuable trait was his pertinacity. 
I have occasion to remember that, having put my 
hand to the plow of civil engineering, I was loathe 
to turn back; but Field had set his heart on my 
coming to Harvard and he was irresistible. I owe 
my entrance into biology as a profession to him. 
This pertinacity showed itself in the way he upheld 
the Concilium through many dark years and de- 
elined alluring invitations to continue his work else- 
where under more favorable auspices. None of 
these suggestions or appeals seemed to make any 
impression on him, if they involved a relinquish- 
ment of his well-thought-out plans. 


Field’s greatest work, and the one for which 
he will always be remembered and through 
which science has incurred to him an obliga- 
tion that never can be discharged, was, of 
course, the Concilium Bibliographicum. To 
it he devoted his energies with intensity and 
rare persistence in the face of apparently in- 
surmountable difficulties. Indeed, it would 
not be in the least an exaggeration to say 
that the load, which he had been carrying, 
especially in these months since the end of 
the war when it seemed as if the project 
might be put upon a permanent basis, even 
though it met opposition in some quarters 
and indifference in others, laid a tremendous 
burden upon his shoulders. In fact, his in- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1401 


timates had noticed for some months con- 
spicuously that he was overworked even 
though they had not suspected the collapse 
which came so suddenly. 

While a graduate student at Harvard under 
the leadership of Professor E. L. Mark, Field 
became deeply impressed with the need for 
the systematic rearrangement of the scientific 
publications where, in the field of zoology, a 
multitude of articles in hundreds of scattered 
periodicals were unknown even by title to the 
workers in the field and could be brought to- 
gether only at an entirely unreasonable out- 
lay of time and energy. It was computed at 
one time that there appeared annually up- 
wards of ten thousand notes and articles, 
distributed through at least fifteen hundred 
periodicals in different languages. The un- 
systematic condition of the literature and the 
delays he saw in work repeated and in time 
and energy wasted in hunting out the records 
of the student’s predecessors in order that 
the investigator might start at least on a 
level with those who had gone before, pro- 
voked in his mind the insistent inquiry as to 
the means for the improvement of the situa- 
tion and the elimination of this waste. I 
think there is no doubt that he was stimu- 
lated also by the general development of 
systematic bibliography in the United States. 
He planned to reorganize the field of zoology 
and related sciences and to apply the decimal 
system of classification, then recently de- 
veloped and published by Dewey. Further- 
more he felt that the arrangement of records 
of the literature in book form fell short of 
the best plan available, and he proposed: to 
substitute for it an analytical card catalogue 
through which every new publication would 
naturally and promptly drop into its proper 
place, and the student thus be able in a 
moment’s time to gather together all of the 
publications on a given topic instead of hunt- 
ing for them through volume after volume of 
an annual catalogue. Every zoologist is 
familiar with the splendid way in which this 
idea was developed and the unparalleled suc- 
cess with which the literature of the subject 
was indexed, for the Concilium cards have 


NovEMBER 4, 1921] 


included a much larger percentage of refer- 
ences in the literature of zoology than has 
ever been brought together by any other 
agency. Furthermore, this record has been 
furnished with a promptness that stands in 
striking contrast with the leisurely appear- 
ance of other bibliographic information. 
With the rapidly growing literature in this 
field, it was inevitable that the catalogue, 
especially in its full form with special cross 
references, began to assume considerable 
size, and some critics failed to recognize in 
this the true condition—the inevitable advance- 
ment of a growing field—and commented on 
the space required as if it were a defect of the 
system employed. 

I recall vividly hearing Field on one oc- 
easion respond to such a comment by saying 
that despite its increase, the catalogue would 
not in a century reach the dimensions neces- 
sary to house a mounted elephant and yet no 
museum would hesitate to devote much more 
than that space to the representation of that 
single species. Field was not only the first 
to develop these ideas in a practical way, but 
he assumed the even greater burden of con- 
verting the unbelievers and the indifferent, 
and of securing adequate moral and financial 
support for the project. He visited the 
leaders in this country and abroad, secured 
the unqualified and enthusiastic endorsement 
of such men as Dohrn in Naples, Carus in 
Leipsic, Arnold Lang in Zurich, and, especi- 
ally, of the French zoologists. In connection 
with the Institut International de Biblio- 
graphie in Brussels, he undertook to carry 
out part of the plan to utilize the Dewey 
system in the entire range of bibliography, 
until in the Third International Zoological 
Congress in Leyden at the instigation of the 
delegate of the Société Zoologique de France 
approval and support were enthusiastically 
pledged to the foundation of the Concilium 
Bibliographicum to be located at Zurich under 
his directorship. Subventions were given it 
officially by Switzerland, the canton and city 
of Zurich, and by several European govern- 
mental and institutional agencies, so that 
finally in the fall of 1895, Field took up his 


SCIENCE 


427 


residence in Zurich and officially opened the 
work of the Concilium. An American can not 
view with any large degree of pride the at- 
titude of this country towards the enterprise. 
While it was receiving vigorous official and 
personal support in Europe and Field was 
himself devoting all of his time and a very 
considerable amount from moderate means to 
its maintenance, financial cooperation was un- 
fortunately exceedingly limited here. It was 
a cause of constant regret to Field as his 
friends knew by his personal communica- 
tions that so rich and generous a country, 
which he was always proud to claim as his 
own, had contributed in such a meager degree 
to an international enterprise, organized and 
led by one of its own citizens. 

At first, Field was the entire Concilium. 
He did all its work, cared for its interests, 
sought out and developed its support, and 
carried its burdens. Gradually it grew de- 
spite indifference and opposition until it had 
its own printing press and staff of expert 
workers. Zoologists were forced to recognize 
the efficiency of the organization and the suc- 
cess of its work. The indomitable energy of 
its leader, his supreme confidence in its value, 
and his ability to present its claims in clear 
and convineing fashion, overcame every ob- 
stacle, and year by year it grew to be more 
extensive and more indispensable until, 
finally, the war broke. Then all such enter- 
prises were thrown aside and the activities of: 
the Concilium were temporarily suspended. 
It is worthy of mention that during this 
period, Field turned with equal energy and 
devotion to the solution of the problems that 
presented themselves in the social world and 
performed important services for his native 
country and for the mountain republic in 
which he had found his home. With the 
close of the war, however, he went back with 
the greatest eagerness to the work of the 
Concilium, and in 1920, made a visit to the 
United States for the purpose of arousing 
again the interest in the project and secur- 
ing the necessary financial support. Encour- 
aged by his reception, he returned to Switzer- 
land confident that a new era of opportunity 


428 


for himself and the Concilium had opened. 
But though his sudden and unexpected death 
has taken him away from this work, no one 
can believe that men of science will be so 
lacking in foresight and so blind to their own 
interests that the great work which he did 
and the institution which he founded will be 
permitted to perish. 

Field displayed constantly a deep devotion 
to principles and while easy to work with and 
ready to yield where the matter in question 
was only a difference of opinion, he stood like 
a rock when what he regarded as fundamental 
issues were at stake. When the project of 
preparing a general bibiography of science 
was developed by the Royal Society of Lon- 
don, backed with large subsidies and immense 
prestige through its official governmental af- 
filiations, the directorship was offered to Field 
through Sir Michael Foster. It was, how- 
ever, set as a condicio sine qua non that the 
decimal system of notation should be aban- 
doned in favor of another employing Latin 
titles. After careful consideration, Field 
felt that this was a step backward and would 
introduce confusion. Consequently, he de- 
clined the post despite its alluring features. 
It is interesting to note that despite the im- 
mense resources at the disposal of the Royal 
Society it never published an annual biblio- 
graphy anything like as complete as that is- 
sued by the Concilium and the references 
came regularly also a year late. So de- 
termined was the opposition to his project, 
however, that pressure was brought upon uni- 
versities abroad to bring them to cancel sub- 
scriptions to the Concilium, and representa- 
tions were even made to the Smithsonian 
Institution and to private foundations in this 
country that the Royal Society regarded it as 
an unfriendly act to extend help to the Zurich 
enterprise. In England, Manchester Univer- 
sity protested against this attitude and with 
characteristic independence the Manchester 
Guardian came out in vigorous defense of 
the Concilium. In this country, Professors 
Henry Fairfield Osborn, E. L. Mark, C. B. 
Davenport, and G. H. Parker were vigorous 
in their defense of the methods and results 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1402 


of the work done by the Concilium. The 
American Association for the Advancement 
of Science made for many years a contribu- 
tion to the work of the Concilium which, de- 
spite the doubts of some members, was taken 
from the research fund at the urgent request 
of a large body of working zoologists who as- 
serted emphatically that this institution and 
its work were the most valuable single ad- 
junct to investigation at the command of the 
American investigator. 

His work won recognition for Field from 
many sources. He was honorary assistant 
of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at 
Cambridge, Mass., trustee of the Interna- 
tional Institute of Bibliography at Brussels, 
Belgium, editor of the Bibliographia Zoolo- 
gica, fellow of the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science, and had been 
elected to honorary membership in a long 
list of prominent scientific societies. 

He was married in 1903 in London to Nina 
Eschwege, who with their four children is 
still living in Zurich. Two brothers and a 
sister are residents of Brooklyn. 

Few men have devoted themselves so in- 
cessantly and unselfishly to the service of 
others. If he had withdrawn in his own lab- 
oratory and had concentrated on his individual 
researches his unusual mental endowment 
would unquestionably have produced con- 
spicuous results. He chose rather to devote 
himself to the improvement of conditions for 
his fellow workers. He threw himself into 
this work with all the powers at his command 
and what he accomplished has been of in- 
estimable service to a multitude of workers. 


Henry B. Warp 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 
WINTHROP ELLSWORTH STONE 


Tue Associate Alumni of the Massachu- 
setts Agricultural College through their ex- 
ecutive committee has adopted the following 
minute: 

Winthrop Ellsworth Stone, an honored member 
of the class of 1882 of the Massachusetts Agri- 
cultural College and since 1900 President of Pur- 


NOVEMBER 4, 1921] 


due University, lost his life while scaling Mount 
Eon, a virgin peak in the Canadian Rockies, July 
47, 1921. 

The Associate Alumni of the Massachusetts Ag- 
rieultural College, through its executive commit- 
tee, desire to express and record their appreci- 
ation of the fruitful service which Dr. Stone has 
rendered to education, chemical science and sei- 
entific agriculture. 

With natural abilities of a high order, he 
brought to his work scientific training obtained as 
an undergraduate and graduate student at this 
sollege under the guidance of Goessmann, Clark 
and Stockbridge, as plant pathologist at the noted 
Valentine Farm, New York, and as a student at 
the University of Gottingen, where he took his 
doctorate with Tollens and Victor Meyer. Re- 
turning to America in 1888, he became chemist 
to the Tennessee Experiment Station, a year 
later accepting a call to the chair of chemistry 
at Purdue University. It was during this period 
that he made his principal investigations in the 
field of agricultural chemistry. After serving for 
a time as vice-president, he succeeded Dr. Smart 
as president on the retirement of the latter in 
1900. Under his wise and able administration 
Purdue has attained a leading position among 
the educational institutions of the country. 

He was a lover of manly sports, especially of 
mountain climbing, the favorite recreation of his 
later years, and one in which he achieved notable 
distinction by his ascents of difficult peaks. 

Modest and unassuming, yet resolute and re- 
sourceful, of unflinching courage, zealous for truth 
and inspired by lofty ideals, as an educator he 
stands preeminent among the sons of the college. 
He will be remembered with high regard, pride 
and affection by those whose lives were enriched 
by his friendship, and as one who shed luster on 
his alma mater. 


MORTALITY STATISTICS FOR 1920 


Tue Department of Commerce announces 
that the Census Bureau’s annual report on 
mortality statistics, which will be issued 
shortly, shows 1,142,578 deaths as having oc- 
curred in 1920 within the death registration 
area of continental United States, represent- 
ing a death rate of 13.1 per 1,000 population 
as compared with 12.9 in 1919, which was 
the lowest rate recorded in any year since 
the registration area was established in 1900. 

The death registration area (exclusive of 


SCIENCE 


429 


the Territory of Hawaii) in 1920 comprised 
34 states, the District of Columbia and 16 
registration cities in nonregistration states, 
with a total estimated population on July 1 
of 87,486,718, or 82.2 per cent. of the esti- 
mated population of the United States. The 
state of Nebraska was added to the registra- 
tion area in 1920, so that at present the only 
states not in the area are Alabama, Arizona, 
Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Nevada, 
New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, 
South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, and 
Wyoming. The figures for the territory of 
Hawaii will appear in the report, but they 
are not included in this summary. 

The death rate from pneumonia increased 
from 123.5 per 100,000 in 1919 to 187.3 in 
1920. For chronic diseases of the heart the 
rate increased from 131.0 to 141.9; for cancer, 
from 80.5 to 88. Some of the other diseases 
for which the rate increased are whooping 
cough, measles, cerebral hemorrhage, con- 
genital debility and malformations, puerperal 
fever, scarlet fever and appendicitis. The 
fatalities caused by automobile accidents and 
injuries show an increase from 9.4 per 100,- 
000 in 1919 to 10.4 in 1920. 

A marked decrease is shown in the death 
rate from tuberculosis, which was 114.2 in 
1920 as compared with 125.6 in 1919; also 
in the death rate from influenza, 71.0 in 
1920 as against 98.8 the year before. The 
death rate from suicide declined from 11.4 
in 1919 to 10.2 in 1920. There was a de- 
cline also in the rate for typhoid fever and 
in that for accidental drowning. 


THE MOUNT EVEREST EXPEDITION 


Tue British Mount Everest Committee has 
communicated to the London Times the fol- 
lowing telegram, dated October 10, at Phari 
Dzong, from Colonel Howard Bury: 


The route to the summit of Mount Everest by 
the northeast aréte has been found to be prac- 
ticable. 

On September 22, six members of the expedition, 
with 26 coolies, arrived at the col at the head 
of the Kharta valley, camping at 22,500 feet. 

On the following day, Mallory, Bullock and 


430 


Wheeler encamped on the glacier below the north 
eol. 

On the 24th they ascended the north col, con- 
necting Everest with the north peak, to 23,000 
ft., finding the northeast aréte quite possible, but 
they were driven back by a furious northwesterly 
gale, lasting four days, with intense cold, and 
making all climbing impossible. 

All the party are in good health. The recon- 
aissance of Mount Everest is now completed. 


The Times writes: 


The expedition started from Darjeeling on May 
18 and 19, and, taking its way through the switch- 
back mountains of Sikkim, entered Tibet and then 
made westward to Tingri Dzong—north-north- 
west of Everest, which place was made the base 
for the exploration of the north and northwestern 
faces of the mountain. The utmost care had 
been taken in the fitting out of the expedition, but 
transport difficulties soon developed, for the mules 
supplied by the Indian Government broke down 
completely. Fortunately, Colonel Howard Bury 
was able to supply this deficiency locally. 

The work of exploring the northwest approaches 
to Everest began on June 23, and on July 3 
Messrs. Mallory and Bullock succeeding in climb- 
ing a peak over 23,000 ft. high. But means of 
ascent of Everest itself on this side proved utterly 
lacking—terrible precipices, descending 10,000 ft. 
on to a huge glacier, blocked the way. Even 
supposing that the rock summits at 20,000 ft. were 
gained—which seemed just possible—hard rock- 
climbing for the remaining 4,000 ft. was out 
of the question at that altitude. 

As the north and west approaches had proved 
impracticable, camp was moved up Kharta at the 
end of July, and August devoted to reconnoitering 
the east side of the mountain. Here, again, dis- 
appointment awaited the climbers, for, as on the 
north and northwest, the eastern approaches were 
found to be guarded by huge precipices. 

As a last resort the climbers then determined 
to follow up the Kharta-Tsangpo, a glacier stream, 
to its source, and it is in this direction that suc- 
cess has at length been obtained. A reconaissance 
early in August had shown the climbers a hitherto 
unknown valley which seemed to offer a practical 
route, and they reached a col nearly 23,000 ft. 
up looking on to the north ridge of Everest. The 
weather, however, had broken, and the climbers 
had to return to Kharta for a rest. They left 
Kharta again on August 31, and the telegram 


SCIENCE 


LN. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1401 


teceived to-day from Colonel Howard Bury tells of 
the happy ending to their endeavours. 

Apart from this discovery of a way up the 
mountain, over 9,000 square miles of new terri- 
tory have been surveyed. 


THE LABORATORY OF THE MIAMI AQUARIUM 
ASSOCIATION 


Srupents of marine life and especially those 
interested in fishes will be gratified to know of 
the establishment of a seaside laboratory by the 
Miami Aquarium Association at Miami Beach, 
Florida. The laboratory occupies the second 
floor in the south wing of the aquarium build- 
ing and has accommodations for about ten in- 
vestigators. It is provided with running fresh 
and salt water, with the usual laboratory out- 
fit, and with reagent and photographic rooms. 
Materials for study are abundantly supplied 
from the large stock of the aquarium and from 
the neighboring waters. The aquarium runs 
a fleet of collecting boats including gasoline 
launches and three sea-going vessels: the Alli- 
sont, moved by sail and gasoline, provided with 
live wells, and adapted to cruises of several 
days’ length; L’ Apache, a seventy-foot cruiser ; 
and the Sea Horse, an eighty-five-foot, high- 
power cruising yacht just put into commission. 
In this way collecting trips may be made to the 
shoals in Biscayne Bay, the reefs in the open 
ocean, the Gulf Stream three miles distant, 
and to the Florida Keys and the Bahamas. 

During a sojourn at the laboratory from the 
latter part of last May till the middle of July 
a great variety of interesting forms were met 
with. Physalia, the Portuguese man-of-war, 
with its symbiotic fish Nomeus, was abundant 
in the shore waters. During the latter part of 
June it was actively reproducing. At the same 
time the large rhizostomous jelly-fish Stomolo- 
phus was to be seen in great numbers off the 
coast. On the bank in Biscayne Bay the 
spiny sea-urchin Diadema and the giant conch 
Strombus were common. Spiny lobsters were 
always obtainable in great numbers. During 
July the eggs of the loggerhead turtle were 
hatching and sets of these were brought into 
the laboratory and studied there. But above 
all the region is immensely rich in the great 
variety of its highly colored, tropical fishes. 


NoveMBER 4, 1921] 


These include the various kinds of angel-fishes, 
parrot-fishes, snappers, trunk-fishes, morays, 
barracudas, sea-horses, etc., and are most beau- 
tifully exhibited in the tanks of the aquarium. 
But muc. remains to be done in ascertaining 
what is available in the local fauna, and the 
director of the aquarium has already taken 
steps to carry out a preliminary biological sur- 
vey of the region about Miami. 

The aquarium is situated on the bay side of 
Miami Beach at the east end of the new cause- 
way connecting the beach with the city of 
Miami. A line of electric cars crosses the 
causeway and makes the run in either direction 
in about twenty minutes. Hence a person 
working at the laboratory may reside either in 
Miami, the fourth largest city in Florida, or at 
Miami Beach, where sleeping apartments and 
bungalows may be had and where there are 
ample restaurant accommodations. Those who 
want particular information about the labora- 
tory should apply to the director, Mr. L. L. 
Mowbray, Miami Aquarium, Miami Beach, 
Florida. 

G. H. Parker 


HARVARD UNIVERSITY 


THE TORONTO MEETING OF THE AMERICAN 
SOCIETY OF ZOOLOGISTS 


THE executive committee of the American 
Society of Zoologists has decided to present 
at the meeting of the society at Toronto, 
Canada, December 28-80, 1921, a symposium 
program on the general subject of ‘“ Ortho- 
genesis,” broadly interpreted, the object be- 
ing to bring into the discussion as many of 
the newer aspects from the varied fields of 
the natural and physical sciences as may be 
feasible. The speakers the committee have 
invited to address the society and the sub- 
jects of each speaker are as follows; several 
are still in the tentative stage, as indicated: 

Professor L. J. Henderson, Harvard University, 
“Orthogenesis from the standpoint of the bio- 
chemist ;’’ speaker to suggest an opener for the 
discussion. The speaker who has been invited 
is at present abroad. 

Professor C. B. Lipman, University of Cali- 
fornia, ‘‘Orthogenesis in bacteria;’’ speaker to 
suggest an opener for the discussion. 


SCIENCE 


431 


Professor M. F. Guyer, University of Wiscon- 
sin, ‘‘Orthogenesis in serological reactions. ’’ 
Professor Wm. Bateson, of England, discus- 
sion by Dr. O. C. Riddle, Cold Spring Harbor, 
Long Island, New York. Title not yet received. 
Professor W. M. Wheeler, Harvard University, 
‘‘Orthogenesis in ants;’’ discussion by Professor 
H. C. Crampton, Barnard College, New York City. 
Professor H. F. Osborn, Columbia University, 
New York City, ‘‘Orthogenesis as observed from 
paleontological evidence beginning in the year 
1889;’?’ discussion by Dr. J. C. Merriam, Car- 
negie Institution, 
Cuartes A. Koron, 
President 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Tue autumn meeting of the National Acad- 
emy of Sciences will be held at the University 
of Chicago on November 14 and 15. 


Tue thirty-ninth stated meeting of the 
American Ornithologists’ Union will convene 
in Philadelphia, at the Academy of Natural 
Sciences, from November 8 to 10. 


Tue Berzelius medal has been conferred on 
Professor E. Abderhalden, director of the 
physiological institute of the University of 
Halle, for his research on the defensive fer- 
ments and in other lines of biologic chemistry. 


Mr. A. CroMMELIN, assistant astronomer of 
the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, has been 
awarded the Ponthecoulant Prize of the Paris 
Academy of Sciences in recognition of his gen- 
eral astronomical work. 


PreswenT Harpinc has appointed Dr. John 
Glover South, of Frankfort, former president 
of the Kentucky State Medical Association, as 
minister to Panama. 


James A. Crawrorp left his position with the 
Buffalo Botanic Gardens on October 1 to accept 
an appointment as assistant curator at the New 
York Botanical Garden. 


Grorcre M. Rommen, now chief of the divi- 
sion of animal husbandry of the Bureau of 
Animal Industry,. United States Department 
of Agriculture, became editor-in-chief of the 
publications of the American International 
Publishers of New York, beginning on Novem- 
ber 1. These include The Field Illustrated; 


432 


System on the Farm; El Campo Internacional, 
and The Field Year Book. 


Mr. Atrrep OHaAsTon CHapman, F.R.S., 
president of the Institute of Chemistry of 
Great Britain and Ireland, has been appointed 
a member of the British Royal Commission on 
Awards to Inventors, in the room of Sir 
James Johnston Dobbie, D.Se., F.R.S., re- 
signed. 

It is announced that the Colonial Office of 
Great Britian is organizing an expedition 
for research on the serotherapy of sleeping 
sickness in Africa. The research is to in- 
elude both men and animals, and plans for a 
two years’ stay. The expedition is in charge 
of Drs. Marshall and Bassolo of the Uganda 
Public Health Service, with two assistant 
physicians and two veterinarians. 


THE University of Toronto through its de- 
parment of biology is developing a plan for 
the systematic study of the inland waters of 
Ontario. The work will be chiefly economic 
in outlook and will be under the supervision 
of Professor B. A. Bensley. A field party in 
charge of Professor W. A. Clemens spent the 
past summer on Lake Nipigon. 

Dr. R. P. Hrparp, associate professor of 
plant physiology at the Michigan Agricul- 
tural College and plant physiologist at the 
Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, 
has been granted leave of absence for the 
current year in order to accept a Johnston 
scholarship in the Johns Hopkins Univer- 
sity. He is engaged in research in the labora- 
tory of plant physiology. 

Tue first meeting for the session 1921-1922 
of the Chicago Institute of Medicine was held 
October 21, when the Pasteur lecture was de- 
livered by Dr. Theobald Smith on “ Theories 
of Susceptibility and Resistance in Relation 
to Methods of Artificial Immunity.” 

Dr. René Lepoux Lesarp, of Paris, ad- 


dressed the historical section of the New York 
Academy of Medicine on October 13. The 


subject of his paper was “ Color Print Illus- _ 


tration of Medical Books up to the Year 
1800.” 

Sm Harorp J. Strives, of Edinburgh, de- 
livered the Wesley M. Carpenter Lecture be- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1401 


fore the New York Academy of Medicine on 
the evening of October 20. His subject was 
“Surgical Tuberculosis in Children and Its 
Relation to the Milk Problem.” On Octo- 
ber 14 he delivered a Mayo Foundation lec- 
ture, “The history of medicine in Edin- 
burgh.” 


Proressor CHARLES BasKERVILLE, of the 
College of the City of New York, lectured 
on “Science and Civilization; the Réle of 
Chemistry,” at the joint meeting of the 
Technical Societies and the Rhode Island 
Section of the American Chemical Society, 
at Providence on October 18. 


Sm W. J. Pops, president of the British 
Society of Chemical Industry, lectured be- 
fore the Congress of Industrial Chemistry 
recently held in Paris on the future of or- 
ganic chemistry, with special reference to the 
advantages which France and Britain might 
derive from their tropical possessions. Sir 
William Pope spoke at the annual dinner of 
the British Society of Chemical Industry 
when he referred to the recent visit of dele- 
gates of the society to Canada and the United 
States. 


Nature states that Charles Darwin’s birth- 
place, known as The Mount, Shrewsbury, situ- 
ated in that part of the town known as Frank- 
well, has been purchased by H. M. Office of 
Works. The house was built about 1800, and 
at the time when Sir Francis Darwin wrote, in 
1887, “ The Life and Letters of Charles Dar- 
win,” it had undergone but little alteration. It 
was “a large, plain, square, red-brick house, of 
which the most attractive feature” was “the 
pretty greenhouse, opening out of the morning- 
room.” 


Proressor ALEXANDER GRAY, director of the 
school of electrical engineering at Cornell Uni- 
versity, died at his home in Ithaca on Octo- 
ber 13. 


Tue death is announced of Dr. M. H. Fus- 
sell, professor of applied therapeutics in the 
University of Pennsylvania and a member of 
the committee on revision of the U. S. Phar- 
macopeial Convention. 


NOVEMBER 4, 1921] 


Tue death is announced of Emile Houzé, 
professor of anthropology at the University of 
Brussels and at the Ecole d’Anthropologie of 
that city. 


WE regret to record the death of Seymour C. 
Loomis, Esq., who while practicing law at New 
Haven long served the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science as secretary 
of the section of social and economic sciences. 


Tue 111th regular meeting of the American 
Physical Society will be held in Chicago, at 
the Ryerson Physical Laboratory, on Saturday, 
November 26. If the length of the program 
requires it, there will also be sessions on Fri- 
day, November 25. Other meetings for the 
current season are as follows: December 27-— 
31, Toronto: annual meeting. February 25, 
New York. April 22, Washington. 


A PUBLIC meeting under the auspices of the 
New York sections of the four national engi- 
neering societies on the subject of “ the St. 
Lawrence Ship Canal and Power Project ” will 
be held in New York City on November 14. 


TuE annual meeting of the American Phil- 
osophical Association will be held on December 
28, 29, and 30, at Vassar College, Poughkeep- 
sie, N. Y. The meeting will open with an in- 
formal smoker on Wednesday evening. On 
Thursday morning and afternoon and Friday 
morning the sessions will be devoted to the 
reading and discussion of papers. The annual 
dinner, followed by the address of the presi- 
dent, will be held on Thursday evening. 


We learn from Nature that the number of 
ordinary scientific meetings of the London 
Chemical Society to be held during the coming 
year has been increased with the object of 
affording greater facilities for papers to be read 
before the society. The first meeting was held 
at Burlington House on October 6. Follow- 
ing the custom of the last few years, the coun- 
cil has again arranged for the delivery during 
the session of three special lectures which, by 
the courtesy of the council of the Institution 
of Mechanical Engineers, will be held in the 
lecture-hall of that institution. The first, en- 
titled “ The genesis of ores,” will be delivered 
by Professor J. W. Gregory on December 8. 


SCIENCE 


433 


On February 9, Sir Ernest Rutherford will 
lecture on “ Artificial disintegration of ele- 
ments”; while the last lecture, by Dr. H. H. 
Dale, entitled “Chemical and physiological 
properties,” will be given on June 8. 

Tue Journal of the American Medical As- 
sociation reports that an appropriation of 
$16,000,000 for the construction of additional 
hospital facilities to provide medical, surgical 
and hospital services for former service men 
is contained in a bill introduced by Repre- 
sentative Langley of Kentucky, chairman of 
the House Committee on Public Buildings 
and Grounds. The money is supplementary 
to the $18,500,000 appropriated at the last 
session of Congress, the total of which has 
already been disbursed with the exception of 
$1,339,000. In the new Langley measure 
$15,500,000 will be used for hospitals and ex- 
tensions to present facilities to be distributed 
under the supervision of the Secretary of the 
Treasury. The other $500,000 carried by the 
bill will be assigned to the purchase of ad- 
ditional land and for the erection of new 
buildings at the Mount Alto institution. 
Representative Langley presented his bill 
after extensive conferences with representa- 
tives of the Treasury Department and with 
officials of the American Legion. 


THE prevalence of foot and mouth disease 
in some countries in Europe, in certain parts 
of Asia and Africa, as well as in South 
America, has caused the United States De- 
partment of Agriculture to institute special 
quarantines against the importation of live 
stock from these places. Any one who wishes 
to import eattle, sheep, goats, swine or other 
animals from any country, except Canada or 
Mexico, must first obtain from the Secretary 
of Agriculture a permit, to be presented to 
the American consul at the port from which 
the animals will be shipped. No permits are 
issued for shipment from countries where 
rinderpest, surra, foot and mouth disease, or 
contagious pleuro-pneumonia exist. Foot 
and mouth disease prevailed to a serious ex- 
tent in England during the last two years, 
but recently has been abated to the extent 
that horses from both England and Ireland 


434 


are now-allowed to enter the United States 
if certain restrictions regarding feeding and 
care are observed. ‘ 


Tue 158th meeting of the Washington Acad- 
emy of Sciences was held at the Public Library, 
October 20. The meeting was devoted to a dis- 
cussion of popular and readable books in 
science. After informal talks by Dr. G. F. 
Bowerman, librarian of the Public Library, and 
by several members of the committee appointed 
to select the list of “ one hundred popular books 
in science,” an opportunity was given to ex- 
amine the books themselves and to discuss 
them informally. In addition to the selected 
list of 100, there was a second exhibit consist- 
ing of books suggested for the popular list, but 
not used, and the members of the committee 
were invited to criticize their choice and sug- 
gest substitutions or additions, in order that 
the best possible list might be prepared for dis- 
tribution by the librarian. A third exhibit con- 
sists of readable manuals or information-books 
which workers in one branch of science can 
recommend to workers in other branches or to 
readers seeking general information on a given 
subject. Suggestions as to improvements and 
additions to this list were also invited. 


Tue department of botany of the State Col- 
lege of Washington has increased its herbarium 
by the acquisition of the recent collections of 
Mr. James R. Anderson, the veteran Canadian 
botanist of Victoria, B. C. His herbarium 
comprises 2,600 mounted sheets of the higher 
plants, coming from all over British Columbia. 
The majority of the specimens are from Van- 
eouver Island, but there are also considerable 
numbers from the humid coastal strip of the 
mainland, others from the dry belt east of the 
Cascades, and others from the high Rockies. 


Tue Towa Child-Welfare Research Station 
at the State University has organized a Lab- 
oratory in Child Psychology for experimental 
work with children from two to four years of 
age. A new four-room building has been 
constructed, and 24 children are now in attend- 
ance daily, in two sections from 9 to 12 o’clock. 
The laboratory is under the immediate direc- 
tion of Dr. Bird T. Baldwin, research profes- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV, No. 1401 


sor in psychology, and Dr. Lorle I. Stecher, 
research assistant professor, with graduate stu- 
dent assistants. 


Tue Polish National Museum of Natural 
History has been formed by a union of the 
Branicki Zoological Museum and the Zoolog- 
ical Museum of the University of Warsaw. 


Tue New York Zoological Park has made a 
presentation of a number of reptiles to replace 
those in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, which 
had to be destroyed during the war. The gift 
includes two boa constrictors, six alligators, 
and sixteen turtles. 

A prize of £20,000 is being offered by the 
French Aeronautic Propaganda Committee to 
the constructor of a motor for commercial avia- 
tion which shall best satisfy the tests of a 
special competition, including durability, regu- 
larity and simplicity. 


A sprctaL faculty research committee has 
been organized at Oberlin College to cooperate 
with the “ National Research Council.” Dr. S. 
R. Williams, head of the department of physics, 
is chairman, while other members of the com- 
mittee include members of the departments of 
mathematics, sociology, psychology, chemistry 
and geology. 

Dr. Wa. Curtis Faranen, president of the 
American Anthropological Association, has re- 
turned to his work at the University of Penn- 
sylvania. During the summer he attended the 
Centennial Celebration at Lima, Peru, as one 
of the special mission appointed by President 
Harding. The Lima Scientific Society held a 
special meeting in Dr. Farabee’s honor and 
elected him a corresponding member. All 
members of the Mission were elected to the 
ancient order “ E] Sol de Peru.” The commis- 
sion, composed of the Honorable Albert Doug- 
las, General Hunter Liggett, Admiral Hugh 
Rodman, Colonel Wm. Boyce Thompson, Hon- 
orable Wm. Heimke and Dr. Wm. Curtis Fara- 
bee, sailed from New York on three U. S. bat- 
tleships, the Arizona, Oklahoma and Nevada, 
under command of Admiral John McDonald. 


Mr. Grorcre D. Hupparp, professor of geol- 
ogy at Oberlin College, has returned from a 


NoveMBeEr 4, 1921] 


year of travel and study in the Hawaiian 
Islands, Japan, Korea and China. He spoke at 
the government colleges for teachers in Peking, 
and at other schools in China. The report of 
his work, which is the most detailed study made 
to date, of the valley of the Min river in the 
borderland of Thibet, some 300 miles beyond 
Cheng Tu, will be published by the government 
geological survey of China. Mr. Hubbard is 
also preparing papers on the copper mines near 
Cheng Tu worked by the Chinese, on the anti- 
mony mines at Kwang Tung, near Canton, on 
the physiographic history of the Yang Tse 
river, and on the geography of some of the 
Chinese rivers. The copper mines at Asieo, 
Japan, will be the subject of a paper. Mr. Hub- 
bard is planning two books based on the year’s 
study; a book on the development of the min- 
eral resources of China, and a book on the 
geography of China for use in Chinese schools. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 

Dean Henry P. Tatsot, of the department 
of chemistry of the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology, and Dr. William H. Nichols, 
of New York, made addresses at the dedica- 
tion of the new Steele Chemistry Building 
at Dartmouth College, on October 29. 


Proressor Artuur M. Greene, Jr., head 
of the mechanical engineering department at 
Rensselear Polytechnic Institute, at Troy, 
N. Y., has been appointed dean of the School 
of Engineering of Princeton University. 


Proressor A. V. Minuer, associate profes- 
sor of drawing and descriptive geometry, has 
been appointed assistant dean of the college 
of engineering of the University of Wiscon- 
sin to take the place of Professor J. D. Phil- 
lips who is now acting business manager of 
the university. 


At the Detroit College of Medicine and 
Surgery Dr. Donald Beaver, formerly of the 
pathologic department of the University of 
Minnesota has been appointed assistant pro- 
fessor of pathology, Dr. Paul Wooley, former 
professor of pathology in the University of 
Cincinnati, associate professor of pathology 


SCIENCE 


435 


and pathologist to the Herman Keiffer Hos- 
pital, Detroit. 


Dr. Sercius Moreunis has been appointed 
professor of bio-chemistry and Dr. George 
A. Talbert assistant professor of physiology 
in the College of Medicine, University of 
Nebraska, Omaha. 


Dr. M. J. Dorsry, for ten years in charge 
of the section of fruit breeding of the depart- 
ment of horticulture of the University of 
Minnesota, has been elected head of the 
department of horticulture of the West Vir- 
ginia University and the West Virginia Agri- 
cultural Experiment Station, to succeed Pro- 
fessor J. H. Gourley. 


Henry Scumirz anp C. Epwarp Benre, of 
the school of forestry, University of Idaho. 
have been advanced, respectively, to the rank 
of associate professors of forest products and 
of lumbering. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
AERIAL OBSERVATION OF PHYSIOGRAPHIC 
FEATURES 
Tue article on “ Aerial observation of 
earthquake rifts” published by Professor 
Bailey Willis in Science for September 23, 
1921, prompts me to add a word to his inter- 
esting discussion. During the war I had oc- 
casion to make a short aeroplane flight over 
the harbor of Valona for the purpose of 
studying the natural topographic defenses of 
that strategic key to the southern Adriatic 
Sea. The ascent was made in the late after- 
noon, when strong shadows brought out most 
distinctly the relief of the terrain. It was to 
me a matter of some surprise to find that 
physiographic features which were so poorly 
represented on the inadequate maps of the 
region as scarcely to betray their presence, 
or at least their true character, appeared with 
surprising distinctness when seen from the 
plane. In particular, certain abandoned 
shorelines, now left some distance inland by 
the prograding of the shore, and which I had 
failed to observe in brief excursions by auto- 
mobile about the harbor, suddenly stood out 
with all the clearness of a diagram. The es- 


436 


sential characteristics of the mountain ranges 
of this part of Albania were much more 
easily observable than from the ground, while 
something could also be determined about the 
form of the seaward extension of the land 
under the shallow marginal waters of the 
Adriatic, especially as to the submarine ex- 
tension of delta and beach deposits. 

In an aeroplane flight from Paris to Lon- 
don this past summer I was again impressed 
with the potential value of the aeroplane in 
physiographic reconnaissance. The surface 
of northern France is of very moderate re- 
lief, yet when flying low it was much easier 
to observe many critical features and to note 
their broader relationships than would have 
been the case from selected points on the 
ground. The excellent topographic maps of 
this region render aerial observation less 
necessary than in countries where maps are 
poor in quality, or wholly lacking; but there 
can be no doubt of the value of such observa- 
tion in supplementing map studies and ordin- 
ary field work on the ground. On both the 
French and English shores of the English 
Channel shoreline phenomena such as cliffs, 
beaches, dunes, deltas, and submarine bars not 
only were remarkably distinct, but their rela- 
tions to surrounding features appeared with a 
clearness observable in no other manner. 
Certainly the large scale British maps of the 
Dungeness foreland, excellent as they are, 
give no such vivid impression of the evolu- 
tion of that wonderful series of beach ridges 
as comes to one who looks down on the fore- 
land from an aeroplane flying at an altitude 
of a few thousand feet. In the late afternoon 
the unroofed dome of the Weald had all the 
distinctness of a relief model, with the 
oval pattern of its infacing cuestas or hog- 
backs readily distinguishable. 

In the detailed work of tracing specific 
peneplane levels across mountainous country 
one not infrequently encounters the difiiculty 
that in critical areas where observations are 
much needed the only effective viewpoints are 
rendered useless by a dense forest cover; or 
one may climb a selected peak only to find 
that it is not at the proper elevation to give 


SCIENCE 


LN. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1401 


the best results. Good field observations may 
be of vital importance, not merely as a check 
on profile studies based on topographic maps, 
but also because the limitations of the pro- 
file method are such that not infrequently 
proper field observation alone can settle 
doubtful points. It has occurred to me that 
in studies of this nature either the captive 
balloon or aeroplane could be used to good 
effect. Map studies, where possible, will de- 
fine the limits of the problems to be settled 
in the field, and indicate the places where 
evidence of decisive value can most probably 
be secured by satisfactory observations. A 
few hours in captive balloon or aeroplane 
under these conditions might prove of more 
value than weeks of inconclusive work on the 
ground. 
Doucias JOHNSON 
CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE IN EUROPEAN 
COUNTRIES 


Tue lead taken by the Biological Club of the 
University of Minnesota should certainly be 
followed by many other scientific groups or 
individuals, according to their ability. Such 
arrangements as Dr. Barker describes not only 
promote the interests of science, but also aid 
materially in bringing about that international 
good-will and cooperation which this world so 
sorely needs. After a visit to Europe one re- 
turns with the conviction that if the psycholog- 
ieal difficulties could be overcome, it would not 
take very long to restore material prosperity. 
Could Europe somehow be endowed with a 
genuinely scientific spirit, combined with gen- 
eral good will, the fearful situation which now 
exists might well give way to a new epoch com- 
pared with which the past would seem like a 
bad dream. 

During the winter I was in Portugal and the 
Madeira Islands, I found that the escudo, 
formerly having the value of a dollar, was 
rapidly diminishing in exchange value. On 
arriving in Madeira in December, I got 28 for 
an English pound. When I left, in March, the 
exchange was fluctuating between 45 and 50 to 
the pound. I met a very able and enthusiastic 


NovEMBER 4, 1921] 


naturalist in Funchal, who was handicapped at 
every turn by the lack of literature. He had 
purchased what he could, but at present prices 
were prohibitive. The Madeira Islands are ex- 
traordinarily interesting to the biologist, and 
every encouragement should be given to those 
who would study the fauna, flora or geology. 
Why should not we place a good series of 
American publications in the public library 
(Biblioteca Municipal) of Funchal, where they 
would be available to students? Anything 
sent there, care of the librarian, Sign. A. C. 
de Noronha, will be appreciated. There is, 
however, another very important way in which 
we can render assistance. That is by subserib- 
ing to European scientific journals, or joining 
scientific societies. In doing this, we enrich 
ourselves. The gallant way to which the scien- 
tific home fires have been kept burning in cer- 
tain quarters would command our admiration 
if we knew the facts. Take for instance the 
Annals and Magazine of Natural History, the 
leading zoological journal of England. It 
appeared regularly all through the war, though 
the staff of the printing office (Taylor and 
Francis) was reduced to a minimum. It pub- 
lishes zoological papers more promptly and 
accurately than any journal in America. Not 
long ago I presented a paper on fossil insects, 
with over 50 figures, and it appeared within a 
few months. I was not asked to pay for the 
euts, as one often is in America, sometimes at 
fancy prices. The obvious comment would be, 
that the Annals must be a prosperous concern, 
quite unlike our poor American journals. On 
the contrary, I happen to know that it is losing 
heavily, but it carries on. There are many such 
eases, I do not doubt. 
T. D. A. CocKkERELL 
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

Sturtevant’s Notes on Edible Plants. Edited 

by U. P. Heprick. Report of the New York 

Agricultural Experiment Station for the 

year 1919, II. Albany, J.B. Lyon Co., State 

Printers, 1919. 4to. Pp. i-vii, 1-686, with 

portrait. 

A work of more than usual note has been 


SCIENCE 


437 


made available to students of agricultural 
botany by the publication of a selected portion 
of the data on edible plants brought together 
by Dr. E. L. Sturtevant, first director of the 
New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 
Over six hundred quarto pages comprise the 
body of the volume, to which are added 
bibliography, index, biographical sketch of Dr. 
Sturtevant by Dr. Hedrick, editor’s preface, 
Director W. H. Jordan’s letter of transmit- 
tal, and a full-page portrait. The entries are 
arranged alphabetically under the Latin name 
of the plant to which reference is made. The 
first entry is here reproduced to give an idea 
of the manner in which the material is pre- 
sented. 

Aberia caffra Harv. & Sond. 
APPLE. Kau APPLE. Ket APPLE. 


South Africa. The fruits are of a golden-yellow 
color, about the size of a small apple. They are 
used by the natives for making a preserve and are 
so exceedingly acid when fresh that the Dutch set- 
tlers prepare them for their tables, as a pickle, 
without vinegar. Jackson, J. R., Treas. Bot. 
2: 1255. 1876. 


Bizineae. Kat 


The closing citation is not attached to the 
paragraph as shown here, but is dropped to the 
bottom of the page, taking the form of a foot- 
note. When mention of a synonym is required 
it follows the citation at the bottom of the 
page. Many of the entries are only of a few 
lines each, some of them range up to a page or 
two, while about two dozen entries occupy 
more space. About three pages each are given 
to Lima bean, English bean, pea, egg plant. 
cucumber, watermelon, kale, parsley, and 
wheat; four pages each to artichoke, carrot, 
onion, and radish; five pages each to banana, 
currant, cabbage, turnip, tomato and musk- 
melon; six pages each to beet, common or field 
bean, potato and pepper; eight pages to straw- 
berry; and twelve pages to squash and pump- 
kin, and to corn. To secure the data, Dr. 
Sturtevant, who had a good reading acquaint- 
ance with Latin, Greek, French and German, 
and some knowledge of other languages, accu- 
mulated an extensive library, especially rich in 
pre-Linnaean works, and abounding in rare 
issues. 


438 


The underlying idea of the work is to sup- 
ply data on the history of edible plants 
whether accounted of little or much value, and 
especially regarding their early uses in all 
parts of the world by primitive peoples and 
others, and to trace their introduction into cul- 
tivation, and their expansion into varieties as 
known at the present time. In these respects 
he has greatly added to the knowledge avail- 
able in DeCandolle’s “Origin of Cultivated 
Plants,” Pickering’s “ Chronological History of 
Plants,” and other standard works on the his- 
tory of esculents. 

The wealth of material brought together may 
to some extent be judged from the fact that 
DeCandolle’s work, generally considered the 
best available on the history of cultivated 
plants, treats scarcely of 250 kinds, while the 
present work embraces nearly 3,000 kinds. The 
work is, moreover, only the choicest part of a 
vast storehouse of information secured by Dr. 
Sturtevant, which he would undoubtedly have 
elaborated into a still more extensive work, had 
it not been for his premature death. The ex- 
tent of the research involved, a specially valu- 
able portion being the knowledge obtained from 
rare and obscure writings, can be inferred from 
there being upwards of 6,000 citations, refer- 
ring to some 500 publications. 

But the work is not simply that of a biblio- 
phagist and collector of data, for Dr. Sturte- 
vant was a life-long student of constancy and 
variation in both plants and animals. As joint 
proprietor with his brothers of Waushakum 
Farm and Director of the New York Agricul- 
tural Experiment Station he possessed great 
opportunities for direct observations, which his 
keen and richly endowed mind combined with 
energy and initiative utilized to fullest degree. 
This practical knowledge has insured the omis- 
sion of improbable travellers’ tales and fanci- 
ful myths, and made the entries as scientifi- 
eally historical and accurate as is possible. 

Large credit must be given for preparing 
and issuing this volume to the broad-visioned 
director of the station at Geneva, Dr. W. H. 
Jordan, who authorized its preparation, and to 
the editor, Dr. U. P. Hedrick, who has shown 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1401 


in the arrangement of its contents a fine knowl- 
edge of the subject, rich scholarship and un- 
flagging zeal. It was necessary for Dr. Hed- 
rick to select the material from a vast amount 
of manuscripts, notes, and card catalogue items 
that had lain in the station library for twenty 
years, and to verify and complete the long list 
of citations. He has also supplied a very full 
and sympathetic account of Dr. Sturtevant’s 
scientific career. The writer of this notice was 
associated with Dr. Sturtevant during the 
larger part of his directorship, and can there- 
fore more fully realize the extent and value of 
the original material and of the labor ex- 
pended upon it by the editor. 
J.C. ArTHUR 
PURDUE UNIVERSITY, 
LAFAYETTE, INDIANA 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


THE DISPLACEMENT METHOD FOR OBTAINING 
THE SOIL SOLUTION! 

TuerE have been several methods proposed 
for obtaining the soil solution. Among the 
most promising of the methods are those 
which depend upon the principle of the dis- 
placement of the soil solution by another 
liquid. Schloesing? was probably the first 
to use the displacement method, using water 
as the displacing liquid. Istcherekov? used 
ethyl alcohol as the displacing liquid and 
obtained results indicating that the true soil 
solution was secured. Morgan‘ has modified 
the displacement method, using a heavy oil 
as the displacing liquid and applying pressure 
to force the oil into the packed soil. 

The present investigation was suggested by 
the work of Istcherekov, and the procedure 
followed was essentially the same as used by 
that investigator. Several displacing liquids 
were tried, including those miscible and non- 
miscible with water. The most satisfactory 
results were secured by use of ethyl alcohol. 

The method consists of packing the moist 

1 Published with the permission of the Director 
of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station. 

2 Compt. Rend. Acad Sci. Paris, 63, 1007 (1866). 

3 Jour. Exp. Landw. (Russia), 8 (1907). 

4 Mich. Agr. Exp. Sta. Tech. Bul. 28 (1916). 


NovEMBER 4, 1921] 


soil in a cylinder provided with an outlet at 
the bottom. The ethyl alcohol is then poured 
on top of the soil column and as it penetrates 
the soil it displaces some of the soil solution 
which forms a zone of saturation below the 
alcohol. This zone increases in depth as it is 
continually forced downward by the alcohol. 
‘When the saturated zone reaches the bottom 
of the soil column the soil solution, free of 
alcohol, drops from the soil as gravitational 
water. 

The only apparatus required is a cylinder 
in which to pack the soil. Brass soil tubes or 
glass percolators were used for this purpose. 
The diameter of the tube and the height of 
the soil column determine the rate and time 
required for displacement. 

The soil was packed in the cylinders by 
means of a short wooden rod. No difficulty 
was experienced in obtaining uniform pack- 
ing. The degree of packing required for the 
best results is determined by the kind of soil 
and its moisture content. Sands and peats 
ean be packed very firmly, but with heavier 
soils care must be taken that they are not 
puddled in packing, in which ‘case displace- 
ment is exceedingly slow or entirely pre- 
vented. To prevent puddling it is best to use 
the heavier soils at moisture contents slightly 
below their optimum for plant growth. After 
a little experience one can readily determine 
the proper degree of packing for any soil at 
a given moisture content. 

The time required for displacement varies 
widely depending on the moisture content of 
the soil, the degree of packing, the soil type, 
and the height of the soil column. In most 
cases it is possible to complete the displace- 
ment in one day, often in a much shorter 
time, if the soil column is not over twelve to 
fifteen inches in height. However, in some 
cases it required several days to complete the 
displacement. 

It is practicable to obtain 35 to 45 per cent. 
of the soil solution by this method. However, 
it is possible to displace a much larger per- 
centage of the soil solution than this. Using 
a silt loam soil at a moisture content of 23.3 
per cent. a 75.6 per cent. displacement has 


SCIENCE 


439 


been secured. Istcherekov reports that with a 
soil at saturation it is possible to displace 
about 95 per cent. of the soil solution before 
the appearance of alcohol. 

The method has been successfully used on 
a number of soils including sands, loams, 
clays and peats. The results obtained indi- 
cate that the true soil solution is secured. 
Successive portions of the displaced solution 
have the same composition as is indicated 
by total salt and freezing point determina- 
tions. It is probable that the solution obtain- 
ed is a true aliquot of the entire soil solution, 
that is, the displaced solution is of the same 
composition as the portion remaining in the 
soil. A comparison was made of the amount 
of total salts and nitrates obtained by the dis- 
placement method and by a 1:5 water ex- 
traction of the soil. The results given in 
Table I. shows that the two methods give ap- 
proximately the same amount of total salts. 
The results for nitrate nitrogen are the same 
within experimental error. 


TABLE I 


Total Salts and Nitrate Nitrogen in the Dry Soil 
as determined by the Two Methods 
NO, Total 


P.P.M. Nitrogen P.P.M. Salts 
Water Displace- Water Displace- 


Kind of Soil Extract ment Extract ment 
Clay loam...... 71.5 75.2 796 747 
Clave sreemeceracrs 29.4 24.7 370 306 
Sanderyeccssisict: 18.7 22.4 205 275 
Sand ase es 57.0 61.2 1,400 1,512 
Silt} loamy i... 10.8 9.7 223 161 
Silt loam. 79.8 71.0 732 648 
Silt loam...... 48.3 54.5 506 512 


Although the displacement method has re- 
ceived only slight recognition, the writer be- 
lieves it has many possibilities. It seems to 
offer an opportunity for a more careful study 
of the concentration, composition, and reac- 
tion of the soil solution. A more complete 
knowledge of the changes that take place in 
the soil solution should aid in the solution of 
many of the problems of the soil fertility, 
plant nutrition, and related subjects. 

F, W. Parker 


UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 


440 


THE AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL 
SOCIETY 

THE twenty-sixth meeting of the society was held 
from August 30 to September 1, 1921, at Wesleyan 
University, Middletown, Connecticut. The attend- 
ance was the largest in the history of the society, 
more than one hundred members and guests being 
present. The visitors were housed in the college 
dormitories and had meals in common in one of the 
fraternity houses, Among the social events were a 
reception at the Van Vleck Observatory by Dr. and 
Mrs. Frederick Slocum, tea at the home of Presi- 
dent and Mrs. Shanklin, a motor ride, hike, and a 
boat trip on the Connecticut River. 

The sessions on three days were taken up by the 
reading of papers and committee reports. The 
eclipse committee gave complete information in re- 
gard to possible sites for the total solar eclipse 
in Australia on September 21, 1922, and reported 
progress on investigating the conditions for the 
eclipse in lower California and Mexico on Septem- 
ber 10, 1925. There is promise that opportunity 
will be taken at both of these eclipses to verify 
the Einstein effect which was first observed at the 
eclipse in 1919. 

Twenty new members were elected to the so- 
ciety, bringing the total membership of the society 
up to 370. The society elected to honorary mem- 
bership Professor C. W. L. Charlier of the Univer- 
sity of Lund. 

Officers for the ensuing year are as follows: 


President—F rank Schlesinger. 

Vice-presidents—Otto Klotz and John A. Miller. 

Secretary—Joel Stebbins, 

Treasurer—Benjamin Boss. 

Councilors—Philip Fox, Caroline E. Furness, A. 
O. Leuschner, Henry Norris Russell, V. M. Slipher, 
Frederick Slocum. 


In view of the increasing interest taken in the 
gatherings of the society, it was decided to have 
two meetings during the next year, the first to be 
held in Christmas week in 1921 at a place not 
yet determined. 

The program of papers was as follows: 


On the correlation of wave-length with spectral type 
and absolute magnitude: SEBASTIAN ALBRECHT. 

The number and distribution of nove: 8. I. BAILEY. 

New measures of solar activity and the earth- 
effect: Louis A. BAUER. 

Notes on the early evolution of the reflector: LEwIs 
BELL. 

On the real motions of the stars: BENJAMIN Boss, 
Harry RayMonD, and RaLpH E. WIiison. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1401 


The Trojan group of asteroids: ERNEST W. Brown. 

Peculiar spectra in the large Magellanic cloud: 
ANNIE J. CANNON. 

Gilbert’s bombardment hypothesis: 
CooLinGe. 

The amplitude of the light-variation of 8 Cephei: 
RaupuH H. Curtiss. 

The spectrum and radial velocity of Comet 1913 f 
(Delavan) : RaueH H. Curtiss and DEAN B. Mc- 
LAUGHLIN. 

The parallax of Nova Aquilae No. 3: ZaccHEUS 
DANIEL. 

Spectroscopic measurements of the solar rotation in 
1915: RaupH E. De Lury and JEAN EDOUARD 
BELANGER. : 

Displacements of lines in spectra of spots situated 
at various distances from the center of the solar 
disc: RaupH E. De Lury and J. L. O’Connor. 

Dark nebule in the Orion and Sagittarius regions 
photographed with the 100-inch Hooker tele- 
scope: JOHN C. DUNCAN. 

Note on the parallaxes of stars with large proper 
motion: F. W. Dyson. 

The mass of Neptune: W. S. EICHELBERGER and 
ARTHUR NEWTON. 

The probable absence of a measurable electric fieia 
in sun-spots: GEORGE E. HALE. 

Mars 1920: Grorce HALL HAMILTON. : 

The spectroscopic system of o Scorpii: F. HENRO- 
TEAU. 

Some remarks on Cepheid variables: FRANK C. 
JORDAN, 

A remarkable meteor trail: FRANK C. JORDAN and 
KEIVIN BURNS. 

Approximate orbit and absolute dimensions of 8 
Antlie: ALFRED H. Joy. 

Some recent results in photographic photometry : 
Epwarp 8. KInG. 

Notes on observations of nebule: C. O. LAMPLAND. 

A computation of the solar motion from the radtal 
velocities, proper motions, and spectroscopically 
determined parallaxes of 762 stars: E. 8. Man- 
SON, JR. 

The orbit of § Centauri. Preliminary note on v 
Sagittari: ANToNIA C. Maury. 

Progress in radial velocity observations of long- 
period variables: PAUL W. MERRILL. 

Parallaxes of seventy-three stars: JOHN A. MILER. 

The new electric driving clock of the photographie 
telescope of the U.S. Naval Observatory: GEORGE 
HENRY PETERS. 

Preliminary parallax of the Pleiades: JoHN H. 
PITMAN. 


JunIaAN L. 


NoveMBER 4, 1921] 


The intensity distribution in the solar spectrum: 
H. H. PLASKETT. 

The spectroscopic orbit and dimensions of TV Cas- 
siopeie: J. 8. PLASKETT. 

The radial velocities of 594 stars: J. 8. PLASKETT, 
W. E. Harper, R. K. Youne, and H. H. Puas- 
KETT. 

A probable influence of the earth on the formation 
of sun-spots: Luis Rop&s. 

The relation between the diameter of a photo- 
graphic star image and its magnitude: FRANK E. 
Ross. 

Systematic corrections and weights of catalogs. An 
addition to Appendix III of Boss’s Preliminary 
General Catalog: ArtHuR J. Roy. 

Orbits of three spectroscopic binaries: R. F. San- 
FORD. 

Phenomena in connection with our transit of the 
plane of Saturn’s rings in 1920-1921: EH. C. 
SLIPHER,. 

Further notes on spectrographic observations of 
nebule and clusters: V. M. SuIPHER. 

Some recent results of plate tests at the Harvard 
Astronomical Laboratory: HARLAN TRUE STET- 
SON, 

The diurnal variation of clock rates: R. H. TUCKER. 

The Elgin Observatory: FRANK D. URIE. 

Progress in the chronographic registration of radio 
time signals: FRANK D. URIE. 

The San Diego Radio Time Signals: FraNK D. 
URIE. 

Internal motion in four spiral nebule: ADRIAAN 
VAN MAANEN. 

Atomic structure: FRANK W. VERY. 

Solar hot-box studies: FRaNK W. VERY. 

Observations of 12 Lacertw, 1919, 1920, 1921: R. 
K. Youne. 

Orbit of the spectroscopic binary Boss 5442: R. K. 
YOUNG. 

JOEL STEBBINS, 
Secretary 


NEW YORK MEETING OF THE AMERI- 
CAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 


DIVISION OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 


Arthur W. Dox, Chairman. 
Howard B. Lewis, Secretary. 
Symposium on Vitamines 


The antineuritic vitamine: CASIMIR FUNK. 
Experiments on the isolation of crystalline anti- 
neuritic vitamine: ATHERTON SEIDELL. 


SCIENCE. 


441 


The antiscorbutic vitamine: A. F. Huss. 


Factors influencing the vitamine content of food 
materials: R, ADAMS DUTCHER. 


Standardized methods for the study of vita- 
mines: A.D, EMmMetr. In view of the great stress 
that is being placed upon vitamines with respect 
to the etiology of certain deficiency diseases and 
to the relative content of various products and 
foods, it would seem almost imperative to follow 
a more definite method of procedure than is now 
used in carrying out the biological tests. Other- 
wise, it is quite conceivable, due to the many pos- 
sible variables that may easily enter, that the 
results obtained by the workers from different lab- 
oratories may be contradictory or even misleading 
at times. 

It is suggested, as a step in correcting this con- 
dition of affairs, that it would be well to outline 
definitely and in detail the various stages of the 
procedure so that there can be provisional methods 
to refer to as standards. If these are established 
and followed, they will serve as a guide from and 
to which it will be possible to correlate the results 
obtained when the animal diets or rations are varied 
in accord with the needs of the individual projects 
and make it easier to conclude with more definite- 
ness the significance of the results. 


Standardized methods for the study of vita- 
mines: A, D, EMMETT. 


Vitamines from the standpoint of structural 
chemistry: R. R. WILLIAMS. 


Vitamines from the standpoint of physical chem- 
istry: V. K. LA Merr. 


General Discussion—KATHERINE BuuNT, G. H. 
A. Cowles, and others. 


The influence of the vitamine content of a feed 
on the nutritive value of the milk produced: J. S. 
Hueuss, J. B. Fircu, and H. W. Cave. Four 
calves were started on the experiment; two were 
from cows which had received a food low in vita- 
mine during the entire gestation period, the other 
two were from cows which had received normal 
feed. During the first week the two calves from 
the experimental cows received their mothers’ milk. 
At this time one of these cows died and her ealf 
was then given the other experimental cow’s milk. 
The two calves from the cows receiving normal feed 
were fed on herd milk exclusively. All four calves 
wore muzzles so they could get no other feed. All 
the calves seemed to be normal for the first five 
weeks, at which time one of the calves receiving the 


442 


experimental milk became blind. It died when it 
was forty-two days old, showing nervous symptoms 
very much like an animal with beri beri. The other 
experimental calf became blind when seventy-eight 
days old and died nineteen days later with symp- 
toms like the first. A calf from a cow receiving 
normal feed was placed on the experimental milk at 
the time the first ealf died. It did not become 
blind but died at the end of nineteen weeks. The 
two calves receiving the herd milk are still normal 
after a period of eight weeks. 


The influence of excessive oxidation upon the 
nutritive and antiscorbutic properties of cow’s 
milk: R, ADAMS DuTCHER and CLIFTON W. ACKER- 
son. Hight guinea pigs, used as controls, were fed 
a diet of oats ad libitum and 30 c.e, (daily) of 
fresh raw milk from the university dairy herd. Ten 
guinea pigs were fed oats and milk powder (pre- 
pared from the herd milk). The milk powder was 
diluted back to the same composition as the origi- 
nal raw milk and 30 e¢.c. were fed daily to each 
animal. The milk powder was prepared at inter- 
vals of 2 to 5 days by spraying the milk into a 
blast of hot air in a cell four feet square. Each 
quart of milk came in contact with approximately 
1,400 cubic feet of hot air. The air in the cell was 
kept at a temperature of 115° C, while the tem- 
perature at the spray nozzle never exceeded 100° C. 
The milk powder was allowed to remain on the floor 
of the cell during the drying process (2-3 hours). 
No attempt was made to approximate commercial 
conditions. The entire group of guinea pigs receiv- 
ing the milk powder died with pronounced scurvy 
lesions in periods ranging from 16 days to 42 days. 
At the end of 42 days all of the control animals, 
which had consumed their daily ration of raw milk, 
were living and in much better physical condition 
than the group receiving the dried milk. 


The relation between the vitamine content of 
feed and hatchability of the eggs produced: J. S. 
Hueues, L. F. Payne, and F. E. Fox. 


A comparison of the yeast and bacteria growth 
promoting vitamines: LOUIS FREEDMAN. It was 
found experimentally that beef and beef-heart in- 
fusion, peptone and autolyzed yeast contain sub- 
stances which are equally active for growth of 
hemolytic streptococci and yeast cells. This sub- 
stance was found present to a limited extent, in 
casein and other animal and vegetable proteins 
which were specially prepared and purified. The 
substance active for streptococci is of similar 
nature if not identical with the yeast growth pro- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1401 


moting vitamine present in autolyzed yeast. There 
is also present in beef heart another substance, asso- 
ciated with blood, which is necessary for growth of 
streptococci. The nature of this has not yet been 
determined. Further work on these problems is now 
in progress. 


The vital problem of vitamines—a plea for a 
vitamine institute, Food products rich in vitamines : 
B. Dass. Since the indication of the existence of 
vitamines some twelve years ago, this subject has 
been receiving increasing attention. The results of 
many investigations have proved beyond doubt the 
utmost importance of the presence of vitamines in 
foods and also have established the relative vita- 
mine content of the various articles of food. Now- 
adays there are in the market quite a few food 
products advertised to be rich in vitamines. The 
necessity of such products can not be overestimated 
provided they are truly rich in vitamines and at the 
same time reasonably low in price so as to be avail- 
able to the poorer classes of people who are, gener- 
ally speaking, the victims of diets deficient in vita- 
mine-content. 


The distributor of vitamines in natural food- 
stuffs: W. D. RICHARDSON. 


Some experiments with the vitamines of auto- 
lyzed brewer’s yeast. Preliminary communication: 
Harry E. Dupin and Casimir FuNK. Pigeon and 
rat experiments were conducted in order to test the 
influence of vitamine B and the substance (called 
provisionally ‘‘ vitamine D’’) promoting the 
growth of yeast. The above vitamines were ob- 
tained, one practically free from the other, from 
autolyzed yeast by means of fractional shaking 
with fuller’s earth. The results show clearly that 
pigeons require vitamine B while rats require vita- 
mine D for maintenance and growth. On vitamine 
D alone, after one month, pigeons have not devel- 
oped beriberi, although they have lost considerable 
weight. On vitamine B alone, rats have consistently 
lost weight and present a poor physical appearance. 
Both pigeons and rats thrive best on a mixture of 
vitamines B and D. 


Proof of the presence of lipase in milk and a 
new method for the detection and estimation of the 
enzyme: FRANK HE. Ricr and ALTON L. MARKLEY. 
(1) Lipases are defined as enzymes which split 
natural fats. (2) Methods for determining lipase 
are not satisfactory unless the fat-substrate is well 
emulsified in the suspension medium, and unless a 
preservative is used which prevents all bacterial 


NovemMsBeg 4, 1921] 


growth but does not check the action of the enzyme. 
(3) The following method is suggested: Boiled 
eream of high fat content is used as substrate. 
Cane sugar is added in sufficient quantity to form 
a saturated solution with all the water present. 
After addition of the enzyme, the mixture is titrated 
at the beginning and end of a digestion period. 
(4) It is proved that milk normally contains lipase. 
(5) Lipase doubtless is a factor in the development 
of rancidity in seed oils, butter and cheese. (6) 
Direct proof is offered that sweetened condensed 
milk becomes rancid on account of an admixture 
of raw milk, the lipase therein producing the 
phenomenon. 


A quantitative method for the determination of 
peroxidase in milk: FRANK E. Ricr, and T. Han- 
ZAWA. (1) The method of Bach and Chodat1 is 
modified for application to milk. It depends upon 
the oxidation of pyrogallol to insoluble purpuro- 
gallein with hydrogen peroxide, the reaction being 
catalyzed by peroxidase. (2) The milligrams of 
purpurogallein obtained per 10 ¢.c. of milk is taken 
as the ‘‘ peroxidase number.’’ (3) Since several 
days are necessary for the attainment of equi- 
librium air must be excluded from the reaction. (4) 
The dependence of the peroxidase number on the 
amount of peroxidase present was proved by making 
determinations on various mixtures of raw and 
boiled milk. 

Effects of certain antiseptics upon the activity of 
amylases: H. C. SHERMAN and MARGUERITE WAY- 
MAN. The influence of toluene, formaldehyde and 
copper sulphate upon amylases of both animal and 
vegetable origin was studied. Toluene had very 
little influence upon the activities of the amylases 
either in their natural or purified condition. For- 
maldehyde even in small amounts (0.00006 molar 
and less) was found distinetly injurious to all of 
the amylases studied, viz., commercial pancreatin, 
purified pancreatic amylase, saliva, malt extract, 
purified malt amylase, commercial takadiastase, and 
the purified amylase of Aspergillus oryz@. Taka- 
diastase was the least, and purified pancreatic 
amylase was the most, affected. All of these 
enzymes were also found to be very sensitive to 
copper sulfate. The percentage loss of enzyme 
activity under the influence of formaldehyde or cop- 
per was determined by the concentration of the 
antiseptic in the solution and not by the ratio of 
antiseptic to enzyme or to substrate. The results 
as a whole, in addition to their bearing upon the 
problem of quantitative distinction between organ- 


1 Ber. d. d. Chem. Ges., 37 (1904), 1342. 


SCIENCE | 


443 


ized and unorganized fermént action, are of inter- 
est in that they afford a new indication of the pro- 
tein nature of these typical enzymes. 


The influence of certain amino acids upon the 
enzymic hydrolysis of starch: H. C. SHERMAN and 
FLORENCE WALKER, Addition of glycine, alanine, 
pheylalanine or tyrosine caused an undoubted in- 
crease in the rate of hydrolysis of starch by puri- 
fied pancreatic amylase, commercial pancreatin, 
saliva, or purified malt amylase. Less marked re- 
sults were obtained with the less sensitive enzyme 
materials malt extract, takadiastase, and an Asper- 
gillus amylase product prepared in the laboratory 
from takadiastase. Each of the four amino acids 
here studied, as well as aspartic acid and aspara- 
gine previously reported, showed a similar favor- 
able influence upon the enzymic hydrolysis of the 
starch. The addition of a mixture of two of these 
amino acids produced no greater effect than would 
result from the same concentration of one of them. 
In these experiments the favorable effect of the 
added amino acid was not due to any influence upon 
hydrogen-ion concentration nor to combination of 
the amino acid with the product of the enzymic 
reaction. On the other hand, it is shown that the 
addition of one of these amino acids is a very 
effective means of protecting the enzyme from the 
deleterious effect of copper sulfate and may even 
serve to restore to full activity an enzyme which 
has been partially inactivated by copper. 

A study of the influence of arginine, histidine, 
tryptophane and cystine upon the hydrolysis of 
starch by purified pancreatic amylase: H. C. SHER- 
MAN and Mary L. CALDWELL. Arginine, histidine, 
tryptophane and cystine were tested as to their in- 
fluence upon the amyloclastie activity of a purified 
preparation of pancreatic amylase and it was found 
that arginine and cystine have a favorable influ- 
ence, while histidine and tryptophane do not, Since 
the conditions of the experiments were carefully 
controlled and were uniformly favorable as to 
hydrogen-ion concentration and kinds and amounts 
of salts present, the differences in results are due 
to the specific effects of the individual amino acids. 
That histidine and tryptophane should have a dif- 
ferent influence from all the other amino acids 
studied in this and the preceding investigations may 
be due either to their heterocyclic structure or to 
their position in the protein complex which doubt- 
less constitutes either the enzyme molecule itself or 
an essential part of it, or to both. The influence of 
chemical structure of added substances upon their 
effects on enzyme action is being studied further. 


444 


Concerning the nature of the toxic products of 
Bacillus botulinus: J. BRONFENBRENNER and M. J. 
ScuuEsincer. As a result of growth of Bacillus 
botulinus on appropriate medium rich in nitrogen, 
there can be demonstrated in the culture filtrate 
toxic products of two kinds. One is heat resistant, 
soluble in alcohol and acts without the incubation 
period. This toxie product consists of ammonia 
salts and is readily destroyed by the addition of 
strong alkali. The other possesses the properties of 
a true bacterial toxin. It is thermolabile, it acts 
only after a definite period of incubation, is not 
soluble in alcohol, has antigenic properties, and is 
neutralized by a specifie antibody. This toxin is 
quite distinct from other bacterial toxins in that 
(in its erude state) it is poisonous when taken by 
mouth, in addition to being poisonous by injection, 
as is also the case with other bacterial toxins. 
When purified, however, this toxin loses its toxicity 
by mouth, while its activity by injection remains 
unimpaired. When the fraction removed by purifi- 
eation is reunited with the purified toxin, the mix- 
ture recovers its toxicity by mouth, In addition to 
the properties already mentioned, this toxin ex- 
hibits other characteristics unobserved in connection 
with other bacterial toxins. For example it is not 
digested by either pepsin or trypsin. By a proper 
adjustment of the hydrogen ion concentration it 
ean be rendered as much as 1012 times more potent 
than other toxins. Unlike other toxins, it must be 
of a comparatively simple chemical composition, as 
its molecular weight is not more than 260 with only 
3 X 10-23 gms. of total nitrogen in one lethal 
dose for a mouse of 18 gms. It appears to be the 
most potent substance ever described. 


The internal factor in photosynthesis: H, A. 
SPOEHR. 

Comparative stability of alkylbarbituric acids as 
determined by availability of nitrogen for fungus 
cultures: A. W. Dox, LEsTER YoDER, and ADELIA 
McCrea. One of the criteria of synthetic hypnotics 
appears to be chemical stability. In the barbituriec 
acid series, hypnotie properties are confined to the 
5, 5-dialkyl derivatives, the 5-monoalkyl derivatives 
being physiologically inert. This difference may be 
due to a difference in chemical stability, since the 
monoalkyl derivatives contain a reactive hydrogen 
which might be a point of attack for biological 
oxidation. On this assumption, a difference should 
be expected in the utilization of the nitrogen by 
fungi. Cultures of Penicillium expansum were in- 
oculated into a synthetic medium containing M/50 
nitrogen in the form of alkylbarbiturie acid. The 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1401 


series included eight mono- and seventeen di-alkyl- 
barbiturie acids. A slight growth, far from normal, 
was obtained on all of the mono-alkyl derivatives, 
whereas the di-alkyl derivatives gave only germina- 
tion similar to the controls without nitrogen. 


The chemical composition of the body fluids of 
the sea-lion: R, E. Swain, and N. W. RAKESTRAW. 


The molecular weight and transition point of 
gelatin: E, T. OaKes, and C. HE. Davis. 


The non-protein nitrogen of the hen’s egg: J.S. 
HEPBURN. 


Biochemical studies of insectivorous plants: J. 8, 
HEPBURN, E. Q. St. JOHN, and FRANK M. JONES. 


Studies on the digestibility of proteins in vitro. 
III. On the chemical nature of the nutritional defi- 
ciencies of arachin: D. BREESE JONES, and HENRY 
C. WATERMAN. Estimations of the digestibility 
in vitro of variously treated preparations of arachin 
(the principal protein of the peanut, Arachis hypo- 
gea) by the method of Waterman and Johns indi- 
cate: (1) that this protein is incompletely diges- 
tible, and that this condition is not altered by 
boiling with water at ordinary pressure or by eook- 
ing under a steam pressure of 15 Ibs.; and (2) 
that the nutritional failure of arachin is due to the 
retention of a considerable part of one or more of 
the essential amino acids, the most conspicuous of 
which is histidine, in the indigestible complex. The 
total amino acid composition of arachin would 
almost certainly be quite adequate, if it were avail- 
able. The experiments indicate that the incomplete 
digestibility of arachin is not due to changes 
brought about by the treatment involved in its iso- 
lation, but is a native property of the protein. The 
high nutritional efficiency of peanut meal is there- 
fore to be attributed to the presence in the meal of 
sources of amino acids which supply essentials con- 
tained in an unavailable form in arachin. 


A chemical study of the proteins of the adsuki 
bean, Phaseolus angularis: D. B. Jones, A. J. 
Finks, and C. E. F. Gersporrr. Two globulins 
and a small amount of albumin have been isolated 
from the total proteins of the Japanese adsuki 
bean, Phaseolus angularis. The a globulin, ob- 
tained in 0.35 per cent. yield, was precipitated 
from a 5 per cent. sodium chloride extract of the © 
bean meal by making the extract 0.3 saturated with 
ammonium sulfate, dissolving the resulting precipi- 
tate in distilled water and dialyzing the solution 
in running, chilled water for 9 to 12 days. This 
globulin coagulated at about 88° C, Elementary 
analyses of several preparations showed them to 


NovEMBER 4, 1921] 


have the following average percentage composition: 
C 52.75, H 6.97, N 15.64, 8 1.21. Analyses by the 
Van Slyke method gave the following percentages 
for the diamino acids: Arginine 5.45, histidine 2.25, 
lysine 8.30; cystine 1.63. 

The b globulin was precipitated from the saline 
extract of the meal at 0.65 to complete saturation 
with ammonium sulfate. This globulin coagulated 
at about 97° C, which is 10° higher than that of 
the a globulin. It had the following average ele- 
mentary percentage compositions: C 53.57, N 6.79, 
N 16.46, S 0.40, and gave by the Van Slyke method: 
Arginine 7.00 per cent., histidine 2.51 per cent., 
lysine 8.41 per cent. and cystine 0.86 per cent. 
The bases were determined also by the absolute 
method of Kossel and Kutcher with the following 
results: Arginine 5.08 per cent., histidine 1.75 per 
cent. and lysine 4.17 per cent. A yield of 2.13 per 
cent. of tyrosine was also isolated. The most strik- 
ing difference between the two globulins lies in 
their sulfur content. Both gave a qualitative test 
for tryptophane, although faint and slow to develop 
in the ease of the a globulin. 


The hydrolysis of casein and deaminized casein 
by enzymes: Howard B. Lewis, and Max 8S. Dunn. 
A study has been made of the digestion in vitro of 
casein and deaminized casein by pepsin, trypsin 
and erepsin. Both proteins were readily digested 
by pepsin and trypsin, Erepsin digested casein 
readily, but attacked deaminized casein only after 
the preliminary action of pepsin or trypsin. In 
every case the digestion of deaminized casein pro- 
ceeded at a slower rate than the digestion of casein. 


Synthesis of glycocoll and glutamine in the 
human body. C, P. SHERWIN. 


Revision of Rosanoff’s diagram of the aldose 
sugars: J, J. WILLAMAN and CriarENcE A. Mor- 
row. Rosanoff’s diagram showing the structural 
and genetic relationships among the aldoses is modi- 
fied and extended. The objects of the revision 
are: (1) to include all aldoses so far prepared; (2) 
to rearrange the positions in the diagram so as to 
obtain geometrical perfection in showing the stereo- 
chemical progressions; and (3) to inelude in the 
diagram the following facts which were not in- 
eluded in the original: (a) the name of the sugar, 
(b) its specifie rotation, and (c) its occurrence, 
whether natural or synthetic. Besides these, the 
facts in the original are also retained: (d) the 
projection formula by means of a symbol, (e) the 
origina] Fischer designation of family relationship, 
whether d or 1, and (f) an index number, which, 
referred to a legend, gives the name of the aleohol 


SCIENCE 


445 


and the dicarboxyllie acid derivative of the sugar. 
The revised diagram simplifies the study of stereo- 
isomerism in the sugar group, and argues for the 
adoption of a rational system of nomenclature in 
this group. 

The constitution of inulin: J. J. WILLAMAN. 


Biochemistry of plant diseases. IV. Effect of the 
brown rot: Fungus on plums: J. J. WILLAMAN and 
F, R. Davison, Two varieties of plums resistant 
to brown rot, and two non-resistant, were picked at 
three stages of maturity, and subjected to analysis 
before and after rotting by Sclerotinia cinerea. 
The ash, nitrogen, CaO, ether extract, and crude 
fiber were consistently higher in the rotted samples, 
due no doubt to loss of dry matter by respiration. 
The resistant varieties contained much more crude 
fiber, but less of the other constituents than the 
non-resistant. The quality and quantity of the 
structural elements in the flesh are apparently im- 
portant factors in resistance properties. 

Rennet content of pancreatic extract—method 
for its isolation: ALBERT A. EpsTEIN. The pres- 
ence of this enzyme in the pancreas can be readily 
demonstrated in a number of ways: (1) By heat- 
ing the secretion or extract of the pancreas (in 
solution) to temperatures ranging from 50° to 
65° C. for a period of 10 to 15 minutes, the most 
favorable temperature being 60° C. At this tem- 
perature and those above it, flocculation oceurs and 
the ferment, which is soluble, remains in the fluid 
portion, (2) Treatment of the pancreatic ferments 
by means of colloidal iron and other precipitants 
such as uranium acetate, alcohol, and sodium sul- 
phate (to saturation), (3) Addition of peptone mix- 
tures such as those of gliadin and Witte’s to the 
pancreatic juice or extract liberates the rennet. 
(4) Serum of a rabbit immunized by intravenous 
injections of pancreatic extract when added to the 
pancreatic extract liberates the rennet. It is con- 
cluded from these experiments that rennet is con- 
stantly present in the pancreatic secretions and ex- 
tracts, not as a pro-enzyme but as an active enzyme 
admixed with substances which are antagonistic 
to it. 

The immunizing substance of the pneumococcus : 
WiuuiamM A. PERLZWEIG. The immunizing sub- 
stance of the pneumocoeccus was found to be at- 
tached to the protein fraction of the cell. Being 
resistant to the action of proteolytic enzymes, it can 
be detached from the proteins by subjecting the 
bacteria to prolonged tryptic action and further 
separated by extraction of the digest with an ex- 
cess of alcohol or acetone. The alcohol soluble 


446 


antigen is soluble in water, but it is not extracted 
from its aqueous solution by lipin solvents. It is 
heat stable in acid solution. The aqueous solution 
obtained from the alcoholic extract appears to pos- 
sess the complete immunizing properties of the 
original pneumococci when tested prophylactically 
upon white mice, inducing in the animals an active 
immunity of a high degree. The antigenic fraction 
of pneumococci appears to be associated with the 
vitamine fraction, 

Biochemical studies in pellagra: M. X. SULLIVAN. 
In the chemical studies of the patients at the Pella- 
gra Hospital, Spartanburg, S. C., no marked evi- 
dence of acidosis was noted, though the patients 
as a whole tended to minimum normal levels. In 
general the mixture afforded by the results of the 
biochemical study of patients in the active stage of 
the disease is that of malnutrition and low protein 
metabolism with in general a low total nitrogen ex- 
cretion, a heightened ammonia ratio with low uric 
and create a low area and a low ratio of urea nitro- 
gen to total nitrogen. The undetermined nitrogen 
in the active stage of the disease is much higher 
than normal and contains basic material. 


The chemical composition of decayed tomatoes: 
R. T. Batcu and I. K. Puetps. A chemical study 
of tomatoes decomposed by two molds that cause 
‘¢ soft rots,’’ namely, ‘‘ Rhizopus nigricans ’’ and 
‘¢ Oidium lactis ’’ showed a decrease in the sugar 
content, the acidity, the nitrogen, and to a slight 
extent the citric acid, There was always a forma- 
tion of ammonia. These determinations as well as 
those of the phosphorous in the insoluble solids, 
the nitrogen in the insoluble solids before and after 
treatment with 50 per cent. potassium hydroxide, 
the soluble protein nitrogen and the distribution of 
the soluble nitrogen would not serve as a means 
of detecting spoilage in tomato products, excepting 
in eases where a physical examination would suffice, 
for the following reasons: (1) The constituents 
of the tomato are variable. (2) The percentage 
composition of the tomato is not dependent upon 
the composition of the tomato alone but varies with 
the many different processes through which the 
product goes during its manufacture. (3) The 
small amount of spoilage that would probably be 
present would not materially change the composi- 
tion of the product. 

Energy expenditure in sewing: C. F. Lane- 
WwortHy and H. G. Barorr. The respiration cal- 
orimeter was used to measure the energy expended 
by a woman hemming by hand on various materials 
and at different speeds, and doing similar sewing 
on a machine driven by foot power and by elec- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1401 


tricity. Little variation was found in the energy 
required for hand hemming on fine handkerchiefs, 
cotton sheets, 8-ounce cotton duck, and army 
blankets, the energy required for the actual sew- 
ing ranging from 4.3 calories per hour in the case 
of army blankets to 5.8 calories in the case of 
handkerchiefs. When the speed of sewing was in- 
ereased, the energy output increased proportion- 
ately. Hemming sheets on a foot-driven machine 
required about six times as much energy per hour 
as doing the same work by hand, but the energy 
used per meter of sewing was hardly one half as 
great. When an electrically driven machine was 
used the energy required per hour was not quite 
twice that used for hand sewing and about one 
fourth that for the foot-driven machine; the energy 
per meter of sewing was about one fifth of that 
measured on the foot-driven machine and less than 
one tenth that of hand sewing. A three weeks’ 
attack of influenza during the progress of the ex- 
periments made it possible to compare the energy 
output of the subject before and after the infection. 
For five weeks after apparently complete recovery 
her energy expenditure per kilogram of body 
weight averaged nearly 4 per cent. lower than be- 
fore her illness, 

Loss of carbon dioxid from dough as an index 
of flour strength: 
WEIGLEY. Two groups of factors appear involved 
in determining baking strength of flour: (a) the 
rate of gas production and (b) gas retention in the 
dough. The former can be varied in the desired 
direction, while the latter is apparently related to 
the percentage and physical properties of the gluten 
proteins and is more difficult to control. A study 
of the rate of expansion, and the loss of carbon 
dioxid from doughs made with strong and weak 
flours indicates that weak flour doughs lose more 
carbon dioxid per unit increase in volume than do 
strong flours. The loss of carbon dioxid per unit 
volume increase is suggested as a useful criterion 
of comparative strength of flours. 

Studies of wheat flour grades. III. Effect of 
chlorine bleaching upon the electrolytic resistance 
and hydrogen-ion concentration of water extracts: 
C. H. Bamey and ArNoLD JOHNSON. Bleaching 
of flour with chlorine effects an appreciable in- 
erease in the conductivity and hydrogen-ion con- 
centration of its water extract. The modification 
of these properties is in direct ratio to the quantity 
of chlorine employed in treating the flour. 

Cuarues L. Parsons, 
Secretary 


C. H. Battey and MIpRepD » 


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—————— 
THE MESSAGE OF SCIENCE.1 


Ir is just forty years ago, at the York 
Meeting in 1881, that a committee was ap- 
pointed “to arrange for a conference of dele- 
gates from scientific societies to be held at 
the annual meetings of the British Associa- 
tion, with a view to promote the interests of 
the societies represented by inducing them 
to undertake definite systematic work on a 
uniform plan.” The association had been 
in existence for fifty years before it thus be- 
came a bond of union between local scienti- 
fic societies in order to secure united action 
with regard to common interests. Through- 
out the whole period of ninety years it has 
been concerned with the advancement and 
diffusion of natural knowledge and its ap- 
plications. The addresses and papers read 
before the various sections have dealt with 
new observations and developments of scien- 
tific interest or practical value; and, ag in 
scientific and technical societies generally, 
questions of professional status and emolu- 
ment have rarely been discussed. The port 
of science—whether pure or applied—is free, 
and a modest yawl ean find a berth in it as 
readily as a splendid merchantman, provided 
that it has a cargo to discharge. Neither the 
turmoil of war nor the welter of social unrest 
has prevented explorers of uncharted seas 
from crossing the bar and bringing their 
argosies to the quayside, where fruits and 
seeds, rich ores and precious stones have been 
piled in profusion for the creation of wealth, 
the comforts of life, or the purpose of death, 
according as they are selected and used. 

All that these pioneers of science have 
asked for is for vessels to be chartered to en- 
able them to make voyages of discovery to 

1 Address by Sir Richard Gregory, president of 
the Conference of Delegates of Corresponding So- 
cieties, given at the Edinburgh meeting of the Brit- 
ish Association for the Advancement of Science. 


448 


unknown lands. Many have been private ad- 
venturers, and few have shared in the riches 
they have brought into port. Corporations 
and governments are now eager to provide 
ships which will bring them profitable 
freights, and to pay bounties to the crews, 
but this service is dominated by the com- 
mercial spirit which expects immediate re- 
turns for investments, and mariners who 
enter it are no longer free to sail in any di- 
rection they please or to enter whatever creek 
attracts them. The purpose is to secure some- 
thing of direct profit or use, and not that 
of discovery alone, by which the greatest ad- 
vances of science have hitherto been achieved. 
When science permits itself to be controlled 
by the spirit of profitable application it be- 
comes merely the galley-slave of short-sighted 
commerce. Almost all the investigations 
upon which modern industry has been built 
would have been put aside at the outset if 
the standard of immediate practical value 
had been applied to them. To the man of 
science discoveries signify extensions of the 
field of work, and he usually leaves their ex- 
ploitation to prospectors who follow him. 
His motives are intellectual advancement, 
and not the production of something from 
which financial gain may be secured. For 
generations he has worked in faith purely 
for the love of knowledge, and has enriched 
mankind with the fruits of his labors; but 
this altruistic attribute is undergoing a 
change. Scientific workers are beginning to 
ask what the community owes to them, and 
what use has been made of the talents en- 
trusted to it. They have created stores of 
wealth beyond the dreams of avarice, and of 
power unlimited, and these resources have 
been used to convert beautiful countrysides 
into grimy centers of industrialism, and to 
construct weapons of death of such diaboli- 
eal character that civilized man ought to 
hang his head in shame at their use. 
Mankind has, indeed, proved itself un- 
worthy of the gifts,which science has placed 
at its disposal, with the result that squalid 
surroundings and squandered life are the 
characteristics of modern Western civiliza- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. LIV. No. 1402 


tion, instead of social conditions and ethical 
ideals superior to those of any other epoch. 
Responsibility for this does not lie with sci- 
entific discoverers, but with statesmen and 
democracy. Like the gifts of God, those of 
science can be made either a blessing or a 
curse, to glorify the human race or to destroy 
it; and upon civilized man himself rests the 
decision as to. the course to follow. With 
science as an ally, and the citadels of igno- 
rance and self as the objective, he can trans- 
form the world, but if he neglects the guid- 
ance which knowledge can give, and prefers 
to be led by the phrases of rhetoricians, this 
planet will become a place of dust and ashes. 

Unsatisfactory social conditions are not a 
necessary consequence of the advance of sci- 
ence, but of incapacity to use it rightly. 
Whatever may be said of captains of industry 
or princes of commerce, scientific men them- 
selves can not be accused of amassing riches 
at the expense of labor, or of having neglected 
to put into force the laws of healthy social 
life. Power—financial and _ political—has 
been in the hands of people who know nothing 
of science, not even that of man himself; 
and it is they who should be arraigned at 
the bar of public justice for their failure to 
use for the welfare of all the scientific knowl- 
edge offered to all. Science should dissoci- 
ate itself entirely from those who have thus 
abused its favors, and not permit the public 
to believe it is the emblem of all that is gross 
and material and destructive in modern 
civilization. There was a time when intelli- 
gent working men idealized science; now they 
mostly regard it with distrust or are un- 
moved by its aims, believing it to be part of 
a soul-destroying economic system. The 
obligation is upon men of science to restore 
the former feeling by removing their acade- 
mic robes and entering into social move- 
ments as citizens whose motives are above 
suspicion and whose knowledge is at the 
service of the community for the promotion 
of the greatest good. The public mind has 
yet to understand that science is the pituit- 
ary body of the social organism, and without 


NoveMBER 11, 1921] 


it there can be no healthy growth in modern 
life, mentally or physically. 

This Conference of Delegates provides the 
most appropriate platform of all those offered 
by the British Association from which a 
message of exhortation may be given. There 
are now 130 Corresponding Societies of the 
Association, with a total membership of about 
52,000, and their representatives should every 
year go back not only strong with zeal for 
new knowledge, but also as ministers filled 
with the sense of duty to inspire others to 
trust in it. In mechanics work is not con- 
sidered to be done until the point of applica- 
eation of the force is moved; and knowledge, 
like energy, is of no practical value unless 
it is dynamic. The scientific society which 
shuts itself up in a house where a favored 
few can contemplate its intellectual riches 
is no better than a group of misers in its 
relations to the community around it. The 
time has come for a crusade which will plant 
the flag of scientific truth in a bold position 
in every province of the modern world. If 
you believe in the cause of disciplined reason 
you will respond to the call and help to lift 
civilized man out of the morass in which he 
is now struggling, and set him on sound 
ground with his face toward the light. 

It is not by discoveries alone, and the 
records of them in volumes rarely consulted, 
that science is advanced, but by the diffu- 
sion of knowledge and the direction of men’s 
minds and actions through it. In these demo- 
cratic days no one accepts as a working social 
ideal Aristotle’s view of a small and highly 
cultivated aristocracy pursuing the arts and 
scierices in secluded groves and maintained 
by manual workers excluded from citizen- 
ship. Artisans to-day have quite as much 
leisure as members of professional classes, 
and science can assist in encouraging the 
worthy employment of it. This end can be 
attained by cooperative action between local 
scientific societies and representative organ- 
izations of labor. There should be close as- 
sociation and a common fellowship, and no 
suggestion of superior philosophers descend- 
‘ing from the clouds to dispense gifts to plebe- 


SCIENCE 


449 


jan assemblies. Above all, it should be re- 
membered that a cause must have a soul as 
well as a body. The function of a mission- 
hall is different from that of a cinema-house 
or other place of entertainment, and manifes- 
tations of the spirit of science are more up- 
lifting than the most instructive descriptive 
lectures. 

Science needs champions and advocates, 
in addition to actual makers of new knowl- 
dge and exponents of it. There are now 
more workers in scientific fields than at any 
other time, yet relatively less is done to cre- 
ate enthusiasm for their labor and regard 
for its results than was accomplished fifty 
years ago. Every social or religious move- 
ment passes through like stages, from that of 
fervent belief to formal ritual. In science 
specialization is essential for progress, but 
the price which has to be paid for it is loss 
of contact with the general body of knowl- 
edge. Concentration upon any particular 
subject tends to make people indifferent to 
the aims and work of others; for, while high 
magnifying powers enable minute details to 
be discerned, the field of vision is correspond- 
ingly narrowed, and the relation of the struc- 
ture as a whole to pulsating life around it 
is unperceived. 

As successful research is now necessarily 
limited for the most part to complex ideas 
and intricate details requiring special knowl- 
edge to comprehend them, very special apti- 
tude is required to present it in such a way 
as will awaken the interest of people familiar 
only with the vocabulary of everyday life. In 
the scientific world the way to distinction is 
discovery, and not exposition, and rarely are 
the two faculties combined. Most investiga- 
tors are so closely absorbed in their researches 
that they are indifferent as to whether people 
in general know anything of the results or 
not. In the strict sense of the word, science 
can never be popular, and its pure pursuit 
can never pay, but where one person will ex- 
ercise his intelligence to understand the de- 
scription of a new natural fact or principle 
a thousand are ready to admire the high pur- 
pose of a scientific quest and reverence the 


450 


disinterested service rendered by it to hu- 
manity. The record of discovery or descrip- 
tion of progress is, therefore, only one func- 
tion of a local scientific society; beyond this 
is the duty of using the light of science to 
reveal the dangers of ignorance in high as 
well as in low places. Though in most socie- 
ties there is only a small nucleus of working 
members, the others are.capable of being in- 
terested in results achieved, and a few may 
be so stimulated by them as to become just 
and worthy knights of science, ready to re- 
move any dragons which stand in the way 
of human progress, and continually uphold- 
ing the virtues of their mistress. 

Every local scientific society should be a 
training ground for these Sir Galahads, and 
an outpost of the empire of knowledge. The 
community should look to it for protection 
from dangers within and without the settle- 
ment, and for assistance in pressing further 
forward into the surrounding woods of ob- 
security. At present it is unusual for this 
civie responsibility to be accepted by a sci- 
entific society, with the result that local 
movements are undertaken without the guid- 
ance necessary to make them successful. A 
local scientific society should be the natural 
body for the civic authority to consult be- 
fore any action is taken in which scientific 
knowledge will be of service. It should be 
to the city or county in which it is situated 
what the Royal Society is to the State, and 
not a thing apart from public life and affairs. 
As an example of what a local society may 
usefully do, the action taken by the Man- 
chester Field Naturalists’ and Archeologists’ 
Society several years ago may be mentioned. 
The Society appointed a Committee for the 
purpose of promoting the planting of trees 
and shrubs in Manchester and its immediate 
suburbs. The idea commended itself to the 
Corporation, and the Committee obtained ad- 
vice as to the best trees for open spaces in 
the district, shrubs for tubs and boxes, and 
tree culture in towns generally. This is the 
kind of guidance which a scientific society 
should be particularly competent to give, and 
which the community has a right to expect 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1402 


from it. Many similar questions continually 
arise in which ascertained knowledge can be 
used for the promotion of healthy individual 
and social life, and if scientific societies are 
indifferent to them they neglect their best 
opportunities of playing a strong part in the 
scheme of human progress. 

When wisdom is justified of her children, 
and local scientific societies are no longer 
esoteric circles, but effective groups of en- 
lightened citizens of all classes, they will 
provide the touchstone by which fact is dis- 
tinguished from assertion and promise from 
performance. As the sun draws into our 
system all substantial bodies which come 
within its sphere of influence, while the pres- 
sure of sunlight drives away the fine dust 
which would tend to obscure one body from 
another, so a local scientific society posses- 
ses the power of attracting within itself all 
people of weight in the region around it and 
of dispersing the mist and fog which com- 
monly prevail in the social atmosphere. Thus 
may the forces of modern civilization, moral 
and material, be brought together, and an 
allied plan of campaign instituted against 
the armies of ignorance and sloth. The serv- 
ice is that of truth, the discipline that of 
scientific investigation, and the unifying aim 
human well-being. Kingsley long ago ex- 
pressed the democratic basis upon which this 
fellowship is founded. “If,” he said, “you 
want a ground of brotherhood with men, not 
merely in these islands, but in America, on 
the Continent—in a word, all over the world 
—such as rank, wealth, fashion, or other 
artificial arrangements of the world can not 
give and can not take away; if you want to 
feel yourself as good as any man in theory, 
because you are as good as any man in prac- 
tice, except those who are better than you in 
the same line, which is open to any and every 
man, if you wish to have the inspiring and 
ennobling feeling of being a brother in a 
great freemasonry which owns no difference 
of rank, of creed, or of nationality—the only 
freemasonry, the only International League 
which is likely to make mankind (as we all 
hope they will be some day) one—then be- 


NoveMBER 11, 1921] 


come men of science. Join the freemasonry 
in which Hugh Miller, the poor Cromarty 
stonemason, in which Michael Faraday, the 
poor bookbinder’s boy, became the compan- 
ions and friends of the noblest and most 
learned on earth, looked up to by them not 
as equals merely, but as teachers and guides, 
because philosophers and discoverers.” 

When Kingsley delivered this message 
artisans were crowding in thousands to lec- 
tures in Manchester and other populous 
places by leaders in the scientific world of 
that time. Labor then welcomed science as 
its ally in the struggle for civil rights and 
spiritual liberty. That battle has been fought 
and won, and subjects in bitter dispute fifty 
years ago now repose in the limbo of forgot- 
ten things. There is no longer a conflict be- 
tween religion and science, and labor can as- 
sert its claims in the market-place or council 
house without fear of repression. Science is 
likewise free to pursue its own researches and 
apply its own principles and methods within 
the realm of observable phenomena, and it 
does not desire to usurp the functions of 
faith in sacred dogmas to be perpetually re- 
tained and infallibly declared. The Royal 
Society of London was founded for the ex- 
tension of natural knowledge in contra-dis- 
tinction to the supernatural, and it is content 
to leave priests and philosophers to describe 
the world beyond the domain of observation 
and experiment. When, however, phenomena 
belonging to the natural world are made sub- 
jects of supernatural revelation or uncritical 
inquiry, science has the right to present an 
attitude of suspicion towards them. Its only 
interest in mysteries is to discover the natural 
meaning of them. It does not need messages 
from the spirit world to acquire a few ele- 
mentary facts relating to the stellar universe, 
and it must ask for resistless evidence be- 
fore observations contrary to all natural law 
are accepted as scientific truth. If there are 
circumstances in which matter may be di- 
vested of the property of mass, fairies may 
be photographed, lucky charms may deter- 
mine physical events, magnetic people dis- 
turb compass needles, and so on, by all means 


SCIENCE 


451 


let them be investigated, but the burden of 
proof is upon those who believe in them and 
every witness will be challenged at the bar 
of scientific opinion. 

We do not want to go back to the days 
when absolute credulity was inculeated as a 
virtue and doubt punished as a crime. It is 
easy to find in works of uncritical observers 
of mediwval times most circumstantial ac- 
counts of all kinds of astonishing manifesta- 
tions, but we are not compelled to accept the 
records as scientifically accurate and to pro- 
vide natural explanations of them. We need 
not doubt the sincerity of the observer 
even when we decline to accept his testimony 
as scientific truth. The maxim that “ See- 
ing is believing” may be sound enough doc- 
trine for the majority of people, but it is 
insufficient as a principle of scientific in- 
quiry. For thousands of years it led men 
to believe that the earth was the center of 
the universe, with the sun and other celes- 
tial bodies circling round it, and controlling 
the destiny of man, yet what seemed obvious 
was shown by Copernicus to be untrue. This 
was the beginning of the liberation of human 
life and intellect from the maze of puerile 
description and philosophic conception. Care- 
ful observation and crucial experiment later 
took the place of personal assertion and showed 
that events in Nature are determined by 
permanent law and are not subject to hapha- 
zard changes by supernatural agencies. When 
this position was gained by science, belief in 
astrology, necromancy, and sorcery of every 
kind began to decline, and men learned that 
they were masters of their own destinies. The 
late War is responsible for a recrudescence 
of these medieval superstitions, but if natural 
science is true to the principles by which it 
has advanced it will continue to bring to 
bear upon them the piercing light by which 
civilized man was freed from their baleful 
consequences. 

There is abundant need for the use of the 
intellectual enlightenment which science can 
supply to counteract the ever-present tend- 
ency of humanity to revert to primitive ideas. 
Fifty years of compulsory education are but 


452 


a moment in the history of man’s develop- 
ment, and their influence is as nothing in 
comparison with instincts derived from our 
early ancestors and traditions of more recent 
times grafted upon them. So little is known 
of science that to most people old women’s 
tales or the single testimony of a casual on- 
looker are as credible as the statements and 
conclusions of the most careful observers. 
Where exact knowledge exists, however, to 
place opinion by the side of fact is to blow 
a bubble into a flame. Within its own do- 
main science is concerned: not with belief— 
except as a subject of inquiry—but with evi- 
dence. It claims the right to test all things 
in order to be able to hold fast to that which 
is good. It declines to accept popular beliefs 
as to thunderbolts; living frogs and toads 
embedded in blocks of coal or other hard rock 
without an opening, though the rock was 
formed millions of years ago and all fossils 
found in it are crushed as flat as paper; the 
inheritance of microbic diseases; the produc- 
tion of rain by explosions when the air is 
far removed from its saturation point; the 
influence of the moon on the weather or of 
underground water upon a twig held by a 
dowser, and dozens of like fallacies, solely be- 
cause when weighed in the balance they have 
been found wanting in scientific truth. Its 
only interest in mysteries is that of inquir- 
ing into them and finding a natural reason 
for them. Mystery is thus not destroyed by 
knowledge but removed to a higher plane. 

Never let it be acknowledged that science 
destroys imagination, for the reverse is the 
truth. “The Gods are dead,” said W. E. 
Henley. 

The world, a world of prose, 
Full-crammed with facts, in science swathed and 
sheeted, 

Nods in a stertorous after-dinner doze! 

Plangent and sad, in every wind that blows 
Who will may hear the sorry words repeated :— 

‘« The Gods are dead.’’ 


It is true that the old idols of wood and 
stone are gone, but far nobler conceptions 
conceptions have taken their place. The uni- 
verse no longer consists of a few thousand 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1402 


lamps lit nightly by angel torches, but of 
millions of suns moving in the infinite azure, 
into which the mind of man is continually 
penetrating further. Astronomy shows that 
realms of celestial light exist where darkness 
was supposed to prevail, while scientific im- 
agination enables obscure stars to be found 
which can never be brought within the sense 
of human vision, the invisible lattice work of 
crystals to be discerned, and the movements 
of constituent particles of atoms to be deter- 
mined as accurately as those of planets around 
the sun. The greatest advances of science 
are made by the disciplined use of imagina- 
tion; but in this field the picture conceived 
is always presented to Nature for approval 
or rejection, and her decision upon it is final. 
In contemporary art, literature, and drama 
imagination may be dead, but not in science, 
which can provide hundreds of arresting ideas 
awaiting beautiful expression by pen and 
pencil. It has been said that the purpose of 
poetry is not truth, but pleasure; yet, even 
if this definition be accepted, we submit that 
insight into the mysteries of Nature should 
exalt, rather than repress, the poetic spirit, 
and be used to enrich verse, as it was by some 
of the world’s greatest poets—Lucretius, 
Dante, Milton, Goethe, Tennyson, and Brown- 
ing. With one or two brilliant exceptions, 
popular writers of the present day are com- 
pletely oblivious to the knowledge gained by 
scientific study, and unmoved by the mes- 
sage which science is alone able to give. Un- 
bounded riches have been placed before them, 
yet they continue to rake the muck-heap of 
animal passions for themes of composition. 
Not by their works shall we become “ children 
of light,” but by the indomitable spirit of 
man ever straining upwards to reach the 
stars. 

Where there is ignorance of natural laws 
all physical phenomena are referred to super- 
natural causes. Disease is accepted as Di- 
vine punishment to be met by prayer and 
fasting, or the act of a secret enemy in com- 
munion with evil spirits. Because of these 
beliefs thousands of innocent people were 
formerly burnt and tortured as witches and 


NoveMBER 11, 1921] 


sorcerers, while many thousands more paid 
in devastating pestilences the penalty which 
Nature inevitably exacts for crimes against 
her. In one sense it may be said that the 
human race gets the diseases it deserves; but 
the sins are those of ignorance and neglect of 
physical laws rather than against spiritual 
ordinances. Plague is not now explained by 
supposed iniquities of the Jews or conjunc- 
tions of particular planets, but by the pre- 
sence of an organism conveyed by fleas from 
rats; malaria and yellow fever are conquered 
by destroying the breeding places of mosqui- 
toes; typhus fever by getting rid of lice; 
typhoid by cleanliness; tuberculosis by im- 
proved housing; and most like diseases by 
following the teachings of science concerning 
them. Though the mind does undoubtedly 
influence the resistance of the body to inva- 
sion by microbes, it can not create the speci- 
fic organism of any disease, and the responsi- 
bility of showing how to keep such germs 
under control, and prevent, therefore, the 
poverty and distress due to them, is a scien- 
tific rather than a spiritual duty. 

The methods of science are pursued when- 
ever observations are made critically, recorded 
faithfully, and tested rigidly, with the ob- 
ject of using conclusions based upon them as 
stepping-stones to further progress. They de- 
mand an impartial attitude towards evidence 
and fearless judgment upon it. These are 
the principles by which the foundations of 
science have been laid, and a noble structure 
of natural knowledge erected upon them. A 
scientific inquiry is understood to be one un- 
dertaken solely with the view of arriving at 
the truth, and this disinterested motive will 
always command public confidence. It is 
poles apart from the spirit in which social 
and political subjects are discussed: it is the 
rock against which waves of emotion and 
storms of rhetoric lash themselves in vain. 
If political science were guided by the same 
methods it would present an open mind to 
all sides of a question, weighing objections 
to proposals as justly as reasons in support 
of them, whereas usually it sees only the 
views of a particular class or party, and can 


SCIENCE 


453 


not be trusted, therefore, to strike a judicial 
balance. The methods of science should be 
the methods applied to social problems if 
sound principles of progress are to be deter- 
mined. When they are-so used a statesman 
will be judged, as a scientific man is judged, 
by correct observation, just inference, and 
verified prediction; in their absence politics 
will remain stranded on the shifting sands 
of barter, concession, and expediency. 

Democracy may be politically an irrational 
force, but that is all the more reason why 
those who direct it should have full knowl- 
edge of the possibilities offered by science 
for construction as well as for destruction. 
In a chemical research an experiment is not 
the haphazard mixture of substances made in 
the hope that something good will come from 
it, but the deliberate test of consequences 
which ought to follow if certain ideas are 
true. So with all scientific experiment: 
reason is the source of action, and principles 
are tested by results. Social problems are 
perhaps more complicated than those of the 
laboratory, yet the only way to discover solu- 
tions of them is to apply scientific standards 
to the methods used and results obtained. 
Laws of Nature are merely expressions of 
our knowledge at a particular epoch, and they 
are more precise than those of political eco- 
nomy because they are investigated purely 
from the point of view of progress. If the 
general laws which constitute the science of 
sociology are to be discovered and accepted, 
their study must be as impartial as that of 
any other science. “The discovery of exact 
laws,” said W. K. Clifford, “has only one 
purpose—the guidance of conduct by means 
of them. The laws of political economy are 
as rigid as those of gravitation; wealth dis- 
tributes itself as surely as water finds its 
level. But the use we have to make of the 
laws of gravitation is not to sit down and 
ery ‘Kismet’ to the flowing stream, but to 
construct irrigation works.” 

Organized Labor has on more than one 
occasion pronounced a benison upon scien- 
tifie research, and urged that full facilities 
should be afforded to those who undertake it. 


454 


Not long ago the American Federation of 
Labor in convention assembled resolved ‘ that 
a broad programme of scientific and technical 
research is of major importance to the 
national welfare,’ and in a noteworthy docu- 
ment insisted upon its essential value in the 
development of industries, increased produc- 
tion, and the general welfare of the workers. 
The British Labor Party has also stated that 
it places the ‘advancement of science in the 
forefront of its political programme,’ but its 
manifesto refers particularly to the ‘ unde- 
veloped science of society’ rather than to the 
science of material things; and whatever 
labor may declare officially, it is scarcely too 
much to say that artisans in general show 
less active interest in scientific knowledge 
now than they did fifty years ago. Not by 
the study of science does a manual worker 
become a leader among his fellows but by 
the discovery of wrongs to be remedied or 
rights to be established, and by fertility of 
resource in disputations concerning them. 
This is natural enough, yet when we remem- 
ber that many of the greatest pioneers in the 
fields of pure and applied science were of 
humble origin it is surprising that labor 
makes no effort to keep men of this type with- 
in its lodges. 

If trades unions were true to their title, 
and not merely wage unions, their members 
would give as much attention to papers on 
scientific principles of their industry, crafts- 
manship, and possible new developments as 
they do to the consideration of the uttermost 


they can claim and secure for their members. _ 


Not a single labor organization concerns 
itself with actual means of industrial prog- 
ress, but only with the sharing of the profits 
from processes or machinery devised by others. 
Labor may express approval of scientific and 
technical research, but if it wishes to be a 
creative force it should take part in this work 
instead of limiting itself to getting the great- 
est possible advantage from the results. Under 
present conditions an artisan with original 
ideas or inventive genius has to go outside 
the circle of his union to describe his work, 
and he thus becomes separated from his 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1402 


fellows through no fault of his own. His con- 
tributions are judged by a scientific or tech- 
nical society purely on their merit and with- 
out any consideration as to his social posi- 
tion. Labor can never be great until it af- 
fords like opportunities to its own original 
men by accepting and issuing papers upon 
discoveries of value to science and industry. 
When it does this, and its publications oc- 
cupy an honored place among those of scien- 
tific and technical societies, it will be able 
to command a position in national polity 
which can never be justly conceded to any 
organization concerned solely with the rights 
and privileges of a single class in the com- 
munity. 

We know, of course, that few workmen can 
be expected to possess sufficient knowledge 
and originality to make developments im- 
portant enough to be recorded in papers for 
the benefit of science or industry generally, 
but every such contribution published by a 
trade union or other labor organization, 
federated or otherwise, would do far more to 
command respect than sheaves of pamphlets 
upon economic aspects of industry from the 
point of view of workpeople. If no funda- 
mental or suggestive papers of this kind are 
forthcoming, or if organized labor persists in 
its policy of letting its men of practical 
genius find elsewhere the people who know 
how to appreciate them, it is tacitly acknowl- 
edged that others are expected to provide the 
seeds of industrial developments while labor 
concerns itself solely with the distribution of 
the fruits derived from them. 

It is true that some of the leaders of the 
labor movement realize that close associa- 
tion with progressive science is essential to 
the expansion of industry and the conse- 
quent provision of wages in the future. What 
is here urged is that labor should itself take 
part in the scientific and industrial research 
which it acknowledges is necessary for exist- 
ence, and should show by its own contribu- 
tions that it possesses the power to produce 
useful knowledge as well as the dexterity to 
apply it. The machinery of trade unionism 
is capable of much more extensive use than 


NoveMBer 11, 1921] 


that to which it has hitherto been put, and 
when it is concerned not only with securing 
“for the producers by hand or by brain the 
full fruits of their industry,” but also with 
the creation of new plantations by its own ef- 
forts, no one will be able to doubt its fitness 
to exercise a controlling influence upon mod- 
ern industry. 

The Workers’ Educational Association has 
proved that very many artisans are ready to 
take advantage of opportunities of becoming 
familiar with the noblest works of literature, 
science, and art, with the single motive of 
enriching their outlook upon life. Many 
more attend classes in economics, and nearly 
all are in favor of extended .facilities for 
further education, though there is a differ- 
ence of intention between the Marxian ele- 
ment in labor and the more impartial sup- 
porters of the W. E. A. or of the Co-operative 
Education Union. “There is practically no 
limit,” says Mr. G. D. H. Cole in “ An Intro- 
duction to Trade Unionism,” “to what could 
be done if there only existed among the 
national and local leaders of Labor a clear 
idea of the part which education must play 
if the working-class is ever to achieve eman- 
cipation from the wage system.” To edu- 
cation should be added original research if 
labor is to signify something more than a 
class of hewers of wood and drawers of water. 
The Guild movement represents a step in 
this direction, but if it signifies merely a re- 
turn to the medieval system it can scarcely 
be so important a factor of general develop- 
ment as its advocates imagine, and it may 
mean the institution of caste in labor. Such 
a system no doubt leads to perfection of 
craftsmanship, and it is to be welcomed as an 
antidote to the deadening influence of spe- 
cialized industry; but a caste nation at last 
becomes stationary, for in each caste a habit 
of action and a type of mind are established 
which can only be changed with difficulty. 
What is wanted to make the race strong is 
cross-fertilization, and not inbreeding. 

Loeal scientific societies should provide a 
common forum where workers with hand or 
brain can meet to consider new ideas and 


SCIENCE 


455 


discuss judicially the significance of scienti- 
fie discovery or applied device in relation to 
human progress. At present such societies 


_are mostly out of touch with these practical 


aspects of knowledge, and are more interested 
in prehistoric pottery than in the living world 
around them. Most of those connected with 
the British Association are concerned with 
natural history, but all scientific societies in 
a district should form a federation to pro- 
claim the message of knowledge from the 
house-tops. Men are ready to listen to the 
gospel of science and to believe in its power 
and its guidance, but its disciples disregard 
the appeal and are content to let others 
minister to the throbbing human heart. 
Civilization awaits the lead which science can 
give in the name of wisdom and truth and 
unprejudiced inquiry into all things visible 
and invisible, but the missionary spirit which 
would make men eager to declare this noble 
message to the world has yet to be created. 

This is as true of the British Association 
itself as it is of local scientific societies. It 
seems to be forgotten that one of the func- 
tions of the Association is to inspire belief 
and confidence in science as the chief forma- 
tive factor of modern life, and not only to 
display discoveries or enable specialists to 
discuss technical advances in segregated sec- 
tions. Though members of the Association 
may be able to live on scientific bread alone, 
most of the community in any place of meet- 
ing need something more spiritual to awaken 
in them the admiration and belief which be- 
get confidence and hope. They ask for a 
trumpet-call which will unite the forces of 
natural and social science, and are unmoved 
by the parade of trophies of scientific con- 
quests displayed to them. It was the primary 
purpose of Canon W. V. Harcourt, the chief 
founder of this Association, and General 
Seeretary from 1831 to 1837, to sound this 
note for “ the stimulation of interest in science 
at the various places of meeting, and through 
it the provision of funds for carrying on re- 
search,” and not for “ the discussion of scien- 
tific subjects in the sections.” In the course 
of time these sectional discussions have taken 


456 


a prominent place in the Association’s pro- 
gramme, and rightly so, for they have pro- 
moted the advancement of science in many 
directions; but, while we recognize their 


value to scientific workers, we plead for some- 


thing more for the great mass of people out- 
side the section-rooms, for a statement of 
ideals and of service, of the strength of knowl- 
edge and of responsibility for its use. These 
are the subjects which will quicken the pulse 
of the community and convert those who hate 
and fear science and associate it solely with 
debasing aspects of modern civilization into 
fervent disciples of a new social faith upon 
which a lever made in the workshops of 
natural knowledge may be placed to move the 
world. RicHAaRD GREGORY 


A NOTABLE MATHEMATICAL GIFT 


As trustee of the Edward OC. Hegeler Trust 


fund Mrs. Mary MHegeler Carus, of La 
Salle, Illinois, recently promised to make 
the Mathematical Association of America a 
yearly contribution of twelve hundred dollars 
for five years to be used for the publication 
of mathematical monographs under the au- 
spices of this association. As is well known 
the publication of scientific literature has 
been much hampered in recent years by the 
greatly increased cost of publication. Hence 
this gift is especially timely and noteworthy. 

The letter confirming this gift was ad- 
dressed to Professor Slaught, of the Uni- 
versity of Chicago, and includes the follow- 
ing significant statement: 

If at the end of five years this project shall have 
proved successful it is my intention to then give to 
the Association a permanent endowment fund, and 
I will so direct my legal representatives, which will 
yield at least twelve hundred dollars annually. 


As the great success of the project seems 
practically assured in view of the wide and 
deep interest already manifested therein on 
the part of leading mathematicians the 
Mathematical Association of America seems 
to have good reasons for expecting a sub- 
stantial permanent endowment to aid it in 
the futherance of its great cause of improv- 
ing collegiate mathematics. 


SCIENCE. 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1402 


There are now three national mathematical 
organizations in America. The oldest of 
these is the American Mathematical Society, 
which was organized in 1888 as the New 
York Mathematical Society, but was reorgan- 
ized about six years later under its present 
name. This Society devotes most of its 
energies to mathematical research, and, to 
further this cause, Professor L. L. Conant, 
who died in 1916, bequeathed to it ten 
thousand dollars, subject to Mrs. Conant’s 
life interest, the income of which is to be of- 
fered once in five years as a prize for original 
work in pure mathematics. ‘ 

The Mathematical Association of America 
was organized in 1915 with a view towards 
supplementing the work of the American 
Mathematical Society along the line of col- 
legiate teaching. It has always collaborated 
with the Society holding joint meetings with 
it and having a large common membership. 
The gift announced above will make it pos- 
sible to collaborate still more effectively in 
promoting the interests of advanced mathe- 
matics in this country. The National Coun- 
cil of Teachers of Mathematics, organized in 
1920, is mainly devoted to the interests of the 
teaching of secondary mathematics and hence 
represents more distinctly a separate field, 
but it too has already begun to cooperate with 
the Mathematical Association of America. 

The latter organization took steps several 
years ago towards the publication of a modern 
mathematical dictionary and has a standing 
committee on this subject. It has, however, 
not yet been able to push this laudable enter- 
prise on account of lack of funds. The dif- 
ficulty of such a work is increased by the 
fact that at present there exists no good 
mathematical dictionary in any language, and 
henee most of the material for such a work 
has to be collected from original sources. 

G. A. MinLer 


UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


A NEW ALASKA BASE MAP 
Tue U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey of 
the Department of Commerce reports the 
completion of a new outline map of Alaska 
on the Lambert conformal conic projection, 


Novemser 11, 1921] 


scale -1/5,000,000; dimensions 17 X 263 in., 
price 25 cents. 

The map extends from the Arctic Ocean 
in the north to the State of Washington in 
the south, and includes all of the Aleutian 
Islands and a part of Eastern Siberia. It 
is intended merely as a base map to which 
may be added any kind of special informa- 
tion that may be desired. For this reason 
only national boundaries, the adjacent Cana- 
dian provinces, and the names of a few of 
the important towns are given. The shore- 
line is compiled from the most recent Coast 
and Geodetic Survey charts and in respect 
to southeast Alaska and westward to Kodiak 
Island, the coast-line is better represented 
than heretofore. The accumulation of the 
yearly surveys in the extensive and largely 
unsurveyed waters of Alaska as here em- 
bodied, presents a delineation of the coast- 
line in a more really true shape than hereto- 
_ fore and in this respect the map is more 
reliable than other existing maps of similar 
scale. 

In addition to this feature, the employ- 
ment of a more suitable system of map pro- 
jection adds to the general accuracy. On ac- 
count of the predominating east and west 
extent of Alaska, the Lambert conformal 
conic projection with two standard parallels 
offers advantages over other projections for- 
merly used in mapping this region. This is 
the system which came to prominent notice 
during the World War and was employed by 
the allied forces in their military operations 
in France. 

The parallels employed as standards are 
the latitudes 55° and 65°, and along these 
parallels the scale is true. Between these 
parallels the scale becomes too small by less 
than four-tenths of one per cent., which 
amount is insignificant. At Dixon entrance 
in southeast Alaska, the former general chart 
of Alaska on a polyconic projection was in 
error by as much as ten per cent. due to a 
system of projection which was unsuited to 
the shape of the area involved. In the new 
base map, the projection error in this local- 
ity is entirely eliminated. The maximum er- 


SCIENCE 


457 


ror of scale of the Lambert projection is only 
1 3/4 per cent. This is in the latitude of 
Pt. Barrow in the north where the scale is 
too large by this amount. The same amount 
of error appears in latitude 48° but this is 
considerably south of Alaska, whichis the 
subject of the map. The polyconic projec- 
tion had the effect of exaggerating areas in 
the most important part of Alaska whereas 
in the Lambert projection the maximum scale 
error is placed in the least important part 
of Alaska, and in amount is only one sixth 
as large as in the polyconic projection. 

For the measurement of distances and 
areas within the extent of the map, an ac- 
curacy is thus obtained that is well within 
the limits of draftsmanship, paper distortion, 
and our knowledge of this region as a whole. 

The selection of a suitable projection with 
a conformal grid system of one degree units, 
makes the new outline map a convenient base 
for the addition of special and useful infor- 
mation. The inclusion of the northwest 
part of the state of Washington serves as a 
connecting link with a similar Lambert con- 
formal base map of the United States which 


‘has already been published on the same scale. 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 


INVESTIGATIONS OF THE U. S. BUREAU OF 
MINES ON OZONE AND VENTILATION 

Tuer Pittsburgh Experiment Station of the 
United States Bureau of Mines, according to 
a bulletin of the bureau, is working in co- 
operation with the Research Bureau of the 
American Society of Heating and Ventila- 
ting Engineers on a number of problems which 
affect each individual in his home life, in his 
place of business, and especially in those 
places where many people congregate, as in 
churches, school-rooms and theaters. It is im- 
portant to ventilate such places with sufticient 
fresh air to make every one comfortable 
enough to be able to work at high efficiency. 
The circulation of excessive quantities of 
fresh air imposes a considerable cost on the 
heating system, therefore an efficiently de- 
signed heating and ventilating system intro- 
duces the least amount of cooled air con- 


458 


sistent with proper conditions for health. In 
this connection the use of ozone has fre- 
quently been proposed and actually tried in a 
number of places. The ozone is supposed to 
deodorize and purify the air by the oxidation 
of organic matter and possibly by killing 
bacteria. 

It is, however, a question as to whether 
ozone can be introduced in quantities large 
enough to kill bacteria without producing very 
serious irritation of the throat and lung tis- 
sues. It is also a question as to whether 
harmful oxides of nitrogen are not produced 
simultaneously with ozone. Definite informa- 
tion is needed on this subject. The first step 
in obtaining such information is to work out 
methods for accurately determining the per- 

_eentage of ozone and oxides of nitrogen pro- 
duced for different types of ozone machines 
and to develop suitable methods for determin- 
ing the very small quantities of ozone and 
oxides of nitrogen that may be present in air 
treated with such machines. Analytical work 
of the highest precision is required. The gas 
laboratory of the Bureau of Mines Pittsburgh 
Experiment Station is now engaged on this 
problem, working in cooperation with the Re- 
search Bureau of the American Society of 
Heating and Ventilating Engineers which is 
housed in the same building. 

After the chemists have worked out the 
methods of detecting and analysing these 
small quantities of ozone and oxides of nitro- 
gen, the next problem will be undertaken in a 
like cooperation of the two agencies just 
named working with the United States Public 
Health Service. Surgeons from this service 
are detailed to the Bureau of Mines for work- 
ing on health and sanitation problems. The 
work is being carried on under the joint gen- 
eral direction of A. C. Fieldner, supervising 
chemist and superintendent of the Pittsburgh 
Station of the Bureau of Mines, and Dr. R. 
R. Sayers, chief surgeon of the Bureau of 
Mines, by G. W. Jones, assistant gas chemist, 
W. P. Yant, assistant analytical chemist, and 
O. W. Armspach, engineer of the American 
Society of Heating and Ventilating Engi- 
neers. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1402 


THE PUEBLO BONITO EXPEDITION OF THE 
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY 

New M. Jupp, curator of American arche- 
ology in the U. S. National Museum, has 
returned to Washington from New Mexico 
where he has been engaged, during the past _ 
five months, as director of the National Ge- 
ographie Society’s Pueblo Bonito Expedition. 
This first summer’s explorations in Pueblo 
Bonito—one of the largest and best preserved 
prehistoric ruins in the United States—is re- 
ported to have been entirely successful and 
to have prepared the way for more intensive 
research next season. Over forty dwellings 
and five large ceremonial rooms were ex- 
cavated; a considerable collection of artifacts 
and much valuable data were recovered. 

As a unique feature of the National Ge- 
ographic Society’s newest expedition it is pro- 
posed to hold an annual symposium at Pueblo 
Bonito—a conference to which will be invited 
leaders in various branches of science. The 
first of these meetings, held late in August, 
was attended by several archeologists and ag- 
riculturists; geologists, botanists and soil ex- 
perts will be invited to the next conference. 
Through the willing cooperation of these spe- 
cialists, each expert in his own branch of 
science, it is hoped to gain a deeper under- 
standing of the conditions under which the 
ancient inhabitants of Pueblo Bonito carried 
on their numerous activities; 7.e., the geophys- 
ical conditions which obtained in their day, 
the source and extent of their water supply, 
their methods of agriculture, the character 
and variety of their foodstuffs, as well as an 
index as to their cultural attainments, through 
eareful examination of the archeological data 
recovered. This is the first instance, it is be- 
lieved, in which American men of widely 
differing fields of science have joined in solu- 
tion of a common problem. 


THE STEELE CHEMICAL LABORATORY OF 
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE 

Ar the dedication of the Steele Chemical — 

Laboratory, according to the account in the 

Boston Transcript, the assembly included Goy- 

ernor Albert A. Brown of New Hampshire, 

former Governor Pingree of Vermont, Dean 


NoveMBER 11, 1921] 


Henry P. Talbot of the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology, Dr. William H. Nichols of New 
York City, members of the board of trustees of 
Dartmouth College, and a number of promi- 
nent chemists of New England. Addresses 
were made by Dr. Nichols, who spoke of the 
late Sanford H. Steele, a former associate in 
the General Chemical Company, and an alum- 
nus of Dartmouth, whose bequest of $250,000 
made the new building possible, and by Dean 
Talbot, who reviewed the outstanding achieve- 
ments of the last fifty years in the study of 
chemistry. 

The Steele chemistry building, which has 
just been completed at a cost of half a million 
dollars, embodies the best features of over a 
score of laboratories inspected by the architects 
and members of the Dartmouth chemistry de- 
partment. Much of the apparatus of its equip- 
ment has been specially constructed according 
to designs of Dartmouth chemists. 

Nine laboratory rooms are contained in the 
building, varying from the large laboratory 
for beginners which will accommodate 144 men 
working at one time to the laboratory for ad- 
vanced organic chemistry which will accommo- 
date about fifteen men. Laboratories for quali- 
tative analysis, quantitative analysis, physio- 
logical chemistry, physical chemistry, organic 
chemistry and advanced courses in each of 
these studies are included. The new building 
also contains offices and laboratory suites for 
instructors and professors as well as a large 
library, lecture room, and conductivity rooms. 
Specially designed and constructed systems for 
ventilation, and distribution of gas, electricity, 
compressed air and distilled water have been 
installed. The building is Georgian in type, to 
harmonize with other Dartmouth buildings. It 
was designed by Larson & Wells of Hanover, 
and erected by the Cummings Construction of 
Ware, Mass. 

Members of the Ouroborus Club, a society of 
chemists, holding its fall meeting at Hanover, 
were guests at the dedication exercises and in- 
cluded Professors Talbot, Norris, Moore, Wil- 
liams, Smith and Lewis of the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology; Kohler and Lamb, of 
Harvard; Jennings and Zinn, of Worcester; 


SCIENCE 


459 


Hopkins, Doughty and Scatchard, of Amherst; 
Chamberlain and Morse of Massachusetts Agri- 
cultural College; Mears of Williams; Johnson 
of Yale; Hoover of Wesleyan; and Bartlett, 
Bolser and Richardson of Dartmouth. 


LECTURES ON PUBLIC HYGIENE AT THE 
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 


A second series of ten lectures on “ Public 
Hygiene” to be given under the auspices of 
the school of Hygiene and Public Health at 
the University of Pennsylvania is announced 
as follows: October 15. “The factors that 
determine disease and death.” Professor D. 
H. Bergey, School of Hygiene and Public 
Health, University of Pennsylvania. 

October 22. “The organization of com- 
munity anti-tubereulosis work.” G. T. Drol- 
et, Statistician, N. Y. Tuberculosis Commis- 
sion. 

October 29. “ The sanitary control of food 
and drink in Philadelphia.” Professor Sen- 
eca Egbert, School of Hygiene and Public 
Health, University of Pennsylvania. 

November 5. “The anti-venereal cam- 
paign.” T. C. Funck, Pennsylvania Depart- 
ment of Health. 

November 12. “Social service as a factor 
in public health activities.” Dr. H. R. M. 
Landis, director of the Clinical and Socio- 
logical Department, Henry Phipps Institute. 

November 19. “Infective diseases not 
caused by bacteria, their nature, spread and 
suppression.” Professor A. J. Smith, pro- 
fessor of pathology, University of Pennsyl- 
vania. 

November 26. “The administration of 
public health laboratories.” Dr. John Laird, 
director of the laboratory of Pennsylvania 
State Department of Health. 

December 3. “ Medical examination and 
classification of workmen as complementing 
the sanitary supervision of workplace.’ Dr. 
Frank Craig, Henry Phipps Institute. 

December 10. “The limitations of Eu- 
genics.” By Professor C. E. McClung, pro- 
fessor of zoology and director of the labora- 
tory of zoology, University of Pennsylvania. 

December 19. “On the training of public 


460 


health officials and the opportunities for 
using such training.” Dr. John A. Ferrell, 
International Health Board, Rockefeller 
Foundation. 


4 


THE LANE MEDICAL LECTURES OF 
STANFORD UNIVERSITY 

Dr. L. Emmett Hott, emeritus professor of 

pediatrics of the College of Physicians and 

Surgeons of Columbia University, will de- 

liver the Lane Medical Lectures in the 

Stanford University Medical School, San 

Francisco, from December 5 to 10. The lec- 

tures will take place daily at 8 p. mM. The 

topics will be as follows: 

I. The general subject of nutrition—its import- 
ance in relation to health and growth, to prog- 
ress in school, to resistance to infection and in 
the management of acute and chronic disease. 

II. The food requirements of the healthy child 
after infancy. 

III. The function in diet of fat, protein, carbohy- 
drate and mineral salts, and the conditions 
which determine the amounts needed. 

IV. Vitamines—Their function in nutrition and the 
new point of view which they have given re- 
garding food values. 

V. The practical problem of improving the nutri- 
tion of children including the prevention and 
treatment of malnutrition. 


Dr. Holt will also give a clinic on child- 
ren’s diseases on Wednesday, December 7, at 
11:30 a.m., at the Medical School. 


THE TORONTO MEETING OF THE AMERICAN 
SOCIETY OF NATURALISTS 

Tre thirty-ninth annual meeting of the 
American Society of Naturalists will be held 
in Toronto, Canada, on Thursday, December 
29, 1921, under the auspices of the University 
of Toronto. 

Headquarters of the society will be the 
King Edward Hotel, 37-55 East King Street, 
where the American Society of Zoologists and 
the Botanical Society of America will also 
have headquarters. Members desiring accom- 
modations at headquarters should make reser- 
vations early. Accommodations may also be 
obtained at other hotels and probably also at 
the dormitories of the university and near-by 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. LIV. No. 1402 


fraternity houses. Information concerning 
these accommodations will be given later in 
Science or in the final announcement in De- 
cember. 

On Thursday forenoon a limited number of 
short papers by members and invited guests 
will be given. Members desiring to present 
papers should send the titles to the secretary 
not later than November 24, giving estimated 
time of delivery, and requirements of lantern, 
charts, blackboard space, ete. It should be 
remembered that the primary interest of the 
society, as expressed in resolutions, is in evo- 
lution in its broadest sense. 

Thursday afternoon is.to be devoted to the 
annual symposium. The general subject in 
1921 is “The Origin of Variations,” and the 
following speakers have been secured: 


H.S. Jennings—Variation in Uniparental Repro- 
duction. 

A. F. Blakeslee—Variations in Datura due to 
Changes in Chromosome Number. 

H. J. Muller—Variation due to Change in Indi- 
vidual Genes. 

C. B. Bridges—The Origin of Variations in 
Sexual and Sex-Limited Characters. 

R. A. Emerson—The Nature of Bud Variations 
as Indicated by the Mode of their Inheritance. i 

M. F. Guyer—Serological Reactions as a Prob- 


able Cause of Variations. 


The naturalists’ dinner will be given on 
Thursday evening. The annual address of 
the president will follow. 

The American Association and most of the 
affiliated societies will meet in Toronto. At- 
tention is called to cooperation of the natur- 
alists with the Botanical Society of Amer- 
ica and the American Society of Zoologists, 
whereby the latter two societies list their 
papers on subjects of greatest interest to the 
naturalists on the day preceding the natural- 
ists’ program. 

Section G (Botany) of the American Asso- 
ciation will present on Wednesday afternoon 
a symposium on the “ Utility of the Species 
Concept,” in which the speakers are Charles 
F. Millspaugh, George H. Shull, R. A. Harp- 
er, Guilford B. Reed, and E. C. Stakman. 

The American Society of Zoologists has ar- 


NovemseER 11, 1921] 


ranged a symposium on “ Orthogenesis,” to be 
participated in by L. J. Henderson, C. B. Lip- 
man, M. F. Guyer, William Bateson, W. M. 
Wheeler and H. F. Osborn. This symposium 
will be given on Friday, possibly beginning in 
the forenoon. 
A. FRANKLIN SHULL, Secretary 
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, 
ANN ARBor, MICHIGAN 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Dr. Hartow Suapiry, formerly of the 
Mount Wilson Solar Observatory, has been 
appointed director of the Harvard College 
Observatory in succession to the late Edward 
C. Pickering. 

Dr. Joet Srespins has been appointed di- 
rector of the Washburn Observatory and 
professor of astronomy at the Univer- 
sity of Wisconsin, beginning on July 1, 
1922, to succeed Professor George C. Com- 
stock, who has been director of the observatory 
since 1889 and has reached the age of re- 
tirement. Professor Comstock will carry on 
his work as director of the observatory during 
the present academic year, while Dr. Stebbins 
will act as non-resident professor of astron- 
omy. Dr. Stebbins has been a member of the 
department, of astronomy at the University of 
Illinois since 1903 and director of the ob- 
servatory since 1913. Professor Comstock has 
been a member of the Wisconsin faculty since 
1887 and, besides being director of Washburn 
Observatory for 32 years, was dean of the Wis- 
consin Graduate School from 1906 to 1920. 


Dr. Epcar F. Smiru, provost emeritus of 
the University of Pennsylvania, has been 
elected an honorary member of the French 
Society of Chemical Industry, and also an 
honorary member of the Chemical, Metal- 
lurgical and Mining Society of South Africa. 


Witrrip Kirtan, professor of geology in the 
University of Grenoble in the Dauphiné, 
France, has been awarded the Gaudry gold 
medal, the highest distinction of the Société 
Geologique de France. 


At the opening of the annual meeting of 
the French Society of Chemical Industry on 


SCIENCE 


461 


October 10, the Dumas medal of the society 
and an illuminated address were presented by 
M. Dior, minister of commerce, to Sir Wil- 
liam J. Pope. 


Dr. Hiko Marsumoro, who until a few 
weeks ago was studying the Fayfim collection 
of Proboscidea in the American Museum, re- 
cently received the prize of the Imperial In- 
stitution of Science and Literature of Japan. 


Tue French Geological Society met, from 
September 14 to 20, in Savoie, under the presi- 
deney of M. G. Révil and with the assistance 
of MM. Morel, Le Roux and Kilian. A num- 


ber of excursions were made. 


Ar its 1921 meeting in New Orleans, the 
American Pharmaceutical Association award- 
ed the 1921-22 grant from the A.Ph.A. Re- 
search Fund to Dr. David I. Macht, of Johns 
Hopkins University, for pharmacological 
work on the benzyl compounds found in cer- 
tain galenicals. The first grant made in 
1919 was awarded to Dr. George D. Beal, 
of the University of Illinois, for work on 
alkaloidal assays, while the 1920 award was 
made jointly to Dr. Heber W. Youngken, of 
the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and 
Sciences, for work on aconite varieties and 
Dr. E. Kremers and Miss Lila Winkelblech, 
of the school of pharmacy of the University of 
Wisconsin, for work on derivatives of guaia- 
col. 


Dr. Kirttey F. Martuer, professor of ge- 
ology at Denison University, Granville, Ohio, 
lectured before the Geographical Society of 
Chicago on October 28. His subject was 
“Andine trails and jungle streams, the search 
for oil in Bolivia.” Dr. Mather spent the 
greater part of the year 1920 in exploration 
along the eastern front of the Andes in the 
central portion of South America. On his 
return he resumed his work at Denison Uni- 
versity. 


Proressor E. J. Conrn, of the University of 
Utrecht, Holland, was at the Ohio State Uni- 
versity for nine days in the early part of 
October. During this time he delivered 
three lectures on piezochemistry, two on the 


462 


metastability of matter and one on scientific 
work and education in Holland. 


Ture Thomas Hawksley lecture of the In- 
stitution of Mechanical Engineers for the 
present year was delivered on November 4, 
by Dr. H. S. Hele-Shaw, who took as his 
subject “ Power Transmission by Oil.” 

Dr. Jutius Hany, the distinguished meteor- 
ologist, long professor at the University of 
Vienna, died on October 18, at the age of 
eighty-two years. 

THE death is announced of Sir William Ed- 
ward Garforth, known for his pioneer work in 
connection with safety in coal mines. 


A course of lectures and _ discussions 
on problems of public health in relation 
to industirial hygiene will be delivered in the 
lecture theater of ‘the Royal Institute of 
Public Health, London, on Wednesdays from 
October 19 to December 7, 1921. 


Tue Imperial College of Science and Tech- 
nology, South Kensington, London, with which 
the Royal School of Mines is incorporated, 
is offering two research fellowships of £300 
a year each, tenable for one year, and possibly 
renewable for a second year, to aid in carrying 
out an investigation connected with mining, 
mining geology, metallurgy, or the technol- 
ogy of oil, which in the opinion of the com- 
mittee is of sufficient use or promise. 

Tur Board of Regents of the University 
of Michigan has established two fellowships 
for graduate students in the Museum of Zo- 
ology. Thesé will be known as the Edward 
C. Hinsdale fellowships, and will be sup- 
ported by a fund bequeathed to the university 
by the late Genevieve S. Hinsdale, of Detroit. 

Unper the directorship of Professor Frank 
Schlesinger, the Yale University Observatory 
has been opened to the public on two nights 
of each week, and one of the domes and tele- 
scopes has been fitted up for this purpose. To 
make use of these facilities, one must write 
to the director some weeks in advance, en- 
closing a self-addressed envelope, indicating 
the preferred date and stating how many there 
will be in the party. Tickets will then be 
forwarded, which are valid for that night. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1402 


Steps toward the expansion of research 
work at the Pennsylvania State College were 
taken at the recent conferences held at the 
college on the occasion of the inauguration of 
President John M. Thomas. Resolutions 
calling for the appointment of a general com- 
mittee to investigate agricultural research at 
the college and to recommend future work and 
its support, were adopted at the agricultural 
conference. Action taken at the conference 
for state leaders in the mining, metallurgical 
and ceramic industries approved the fostering 
of research work in those lines at the college 
school of mines. It was the recommendation 
of each conference that suflicient research 
funds should be provided by the state legis- 
lature in the interest of the people of the 
state. 


Mepicat treatment by specialists for per- 
sons of moderate means is now given at fees 
which cover merely the cost of service, with 
the opening on November 1 of a model “ pay 
clinic” at Cornell University Medical Col- 
lege. The clinic, the first of its kind to offer 
general medical service in New York City, is 
designed to meet the needs of persons unable 
to pay high specialists’ fees, but who, because 
they are not paupers, are unable to enjoy the 
advantages of the charity clinics. The pay 
clinie will occupy three floors in the wing of 
the college building formerly occupied by the 
dispensary. It will be open every afternoon 
from 1.30 until 4 o’clock, except Sundays and 
holidays. To serve those who can not af- 
ford absence from work in the afternoons, 
evening clinics will also be open on Tuesdays 
and Fridays until seven o’clock. The clinics 
will be under the direction of the Cornell 
medical faculty. Physicians in the pay clinic 
will be salaried and every effort will be made 
to preserve the atmosphere of dignity, privacy 
and consideration for patients, and the same 
feeling of personal relationship between phys- 
ician and patient that characterize private 
practise. The scientific equipment of the col- 
lege, its laboratories and x-ray facilities will 
all be used. The rates for treatment will be 
as follows: Each visit for examination and 


NovEeMBER 11, 1921] 


treatment, $1; medicine, laboratory tests, x- 
ray photographs and other supplies at cost; 
diagnosis of cases requiring special examina- 
tions and study, with group consultation of 
specialists and diagnosis, $10; thorough health 
examination to discover possible defects from 
diseases and to obtain advice regarding per- 
sonal hygiene, $2.50. 


THE next meeting of the International Geo- 
detic and Geophysical Union and of its various 
sections will be at Rome in 1922. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 

Unper the terms of the will of the late 
Hiram Francis Mills, A.M. (Hon.) ’89, of 
Hingham, $200,000 has been left to Harvard 
University for the study of the origin and 
cure of cancer. The fund is to be known as 
the Elizabeth Worcester Mills Fund in honor 
of Mr. Mills’s wife. 


Ow account of the increased enrollment in 
psychology courses in Purdue University, two 
additional instructors and an assistant have 
been appointed. The new instructors are: 
H. C. Townley, A.M. (Wisconsin ’21), Peter 
McCoy, A.M. (Columbia 714), and Dorothy 
Lee, A.B. (Indiana 721). The present enroll- 
ment in general and vocational psychology is 
approximately 500, of whom 845 are men. 
Changes in the engineering curricula at Pur- 
due make it possible for an engineering stu- 
dent to take two full years of work in psy- 
chology. 


At the University of Pennsylvania in the 
Medical School, Dr. Glen E. Cullen has been 
made an associate professor of research medi- 
cine. Dr. W. A. Jaquette has been made pro- 
fessor of oral surgery and director of the 
school of dental hygienists, and Dr. Samuel 
Goldschmidt has been made assistant profes- 
sor of physiology. 


Three associate professors in the Towne 
Scientific ‘School have been promoted to full 
professorships in chemistry. They are Dr. 
John Frazer, Dean of the Towne Scientific 
School; Dr. Thomas P. McCutcheon and Dr. 
Hiram S. Lukens. The trustees have also 


SCIENCE 


463 


elected Dr. George A. Piersol emeritus pro- 
fessor of anatomy. Dr. Piersol retired from 
the professorship of anatomy last spring. 
Wetton J. Crook has resigned as chief 
metallurgist to the Pacific Coast Steel Co. 
to accept an appointment as associate profes- 
sor of metallurgy in Stanford University. 


Miss Emma Francis, who resigned as head 
of the nutrition laboratory, Battle Creek San- 
itarium, last July, has been appointed assis- 
tant professor of chemical agriculture in the 
Experiment Station of Pennsylvania State 
College. 


Kennetuo H. Donatpson has been appointed 
instructor in ore dressing and mining at the 
Case School of Applied Science. 


Prorrssor F. E. Guyton, of the Ohio State 
University, has been appointed assistant pro- 
fessor of zoology and entomology at the Ala- 
bama Polytechnic Institute. 


E. Eugene Barker has returned from Porto 
Rico and has accepted a position as associate 
professor of botany at the University of 
Georgia. 

J. J. O’NeEm has been appointed acting as- 
sistant professor of geology at McGill Uni- 
versity during the absence of J. A. Bancroft. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
AN EXPLANATION OF LIESEGANG’S RINGS 


To THE Eprror or Science: Dr. McGuigan 
seems to be unaware of much recent work on 
banded precipitates (Scimncr, July 22). He 
has come to the conclusion, generally, that 
in some way, the chromate is attracted from 
the regions of the gel adjacent to the precipi- 
tate. So far this is in accordance with the 
theory proposed by myself in 1916 and con- 
firmed by a long series of experiments. But 
Dr. MecGuigan’s particular hypothesis will 
not bear examination in detail. He may be 
right in supposing the attractive force to be 
that between the silver and chromate ions. 
But this is not sufficient to explain why the 
bands form in gelatin. and not in agar. 
Neither is the assumption tenable that the 

1 Biochem. J., 1916, X., 169; 1917, XI., 14; 1920, 
XIV., 29, 474, 


464 


chromate of itself is unable to diffuse in the 
gelatin. The contrary is easily proved. More- 
over, there are a great many precipitates that 
give bands either in gelatin, agar, silicic acid 
or even in filter paper and sand. It can not 
be assumed, in every case, that one of the 
reagents is fixed. Further, the facts quoted 
by Dr. McGuigan in support of his hypothe- 
sis are inaccurate. Bands of lead chromate 
can be obtained in gelatin with the right 
concentrations of lead acetate and potassium 
dichromate, as also with silver nitrate in the 
gel and the dichromate in aqueous solution. 

Examination of a great many different 
kinds of precipitate in gels and other media 
shows that band formation occurs only when 
the precipitate is extremely finely divided, 
or, practically, in the colloid state. If the 
specific surface of the precipitate is insuf- 
ficient there is no banding. The experiments 
are made conveniently in test-tubes half 
filled with gel on which the liquid reagent is 
poured. As the specific surface increases, at 
first, bands of denser precipitate are formed 
in a diffuse column of precipitate extending 
down the tube. With further increase of 
specific surface, the bands become more 
marked, until, eventually, there may be no 
precipitate between. The formation of bands 
in a diffuse precipitate absolutely disproves 
the “supersaturation ”’ theory. 

The attractive force, the effect of which is 
well illustrated in Dr. McGuigan’s photo- 
graph, is that of adsorption. When the pre- 
cipitate is sufficiently finely divided it ad- 
sorbs the solute from the adjacent zone of 
gel. More solute diffuses into this zone from 
the regions of gel more remote, where the 
concentration of solute has not been dimin- 
ished. But the solute is adsorbed as fast 
as it arrives in the neighborhood of the pre- 
cipitate and is removed from solution by the 
excess of precipitating reagent. Thus a con- 
centration gradient is set up towards the pre- 


cipitate, and a considerable region of gel ~ 


adjacent to the precipitate becomes practically 
devoid of solute. If the rate of diffusion 
into the gel of the stronger reagent is suf- 
ficient, this reagent will be able to travel 


SCIENCE — 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1402 


through the exhausted zone until it reaches _ 
a further region of gel where there is suf- 
ficient solute to form another band of pre- 
cipitate. The increasing distances apart of 
the bands are due to the diminishing concen- 
trations both of the solute in the gel and of 
the reagent diffusing in. 

The specific surface of the precipitate is 
influenced by the concentrations of the re- 
action components, by the nature of the re- 
action medium and by the presence of elec- 
trolytes. Generally, it is determined by the 
value of N in von Weimarn’s somewhat in- 
definite formula 

N=K.(P/L), 


where P is the, excess concentration of the 
substance to be precipitated, Z its solubility 
and K is a factor representing the viscosity 
of the reaction medium and the physical 
and chemical complexity of the reaction 
components in solution. The formula is 
being investigated further. But it has 
been shown that the occurrence or non- 
occurrence, of bands of a given substance in 
different gels is due to the influence of the 
reaction medium, and that, by varying its 
specific surface, a substance can be obtained’ 
in the banded form, or not, as desired. For 
instanee, silver chromate and dichromate 
form bands in gelatin. In agar gel they oc- 
eur as black ribbon-like crystals up to 
several centimeters in length. By increas- 
ing the specific surface of the precipitate in 
agar, both salts have been obtained in a 
banded form even more beautiful than in 
gelatin. 


S. C. Braprorp ° 
THE ScreNcE Museum, 
SoutH KENSINGTON, 
Lonpon, S. W., 


SPECIALIZATION IN THE TEACHING 
OF SCIENCE 


To tHe Epiror or Scrence: It is somewhat 
amusing to note Professor Gortner’s reference 
to the settee of science as if it were a thing 
of the past, and then to find, on an earlier page 
of the same issue, an advertisement which calls 
for a professor of zoology and geology. 


NovEeMBER 11, 1921] 


As a matter of fact, it would not be difficult 
to find scores of just such mixed professorships 
and instructorships in colleges all over this 
country. I think it would be safe to assert that 
it is only in the larger universities, relatively 
few in number, that specialization has been 
carried to anything like the degree suggested. 

The cases of the colleges in this state may be 
cited as examples. In one, geology is taught 
by a professor of astronomy, in another by a 
professor of agricultural chemistry; in a third 
a professor of chemistry teaches mineralogy. 
And it is only fair to these several professors 
to say that in each ease the instruction given is 
excellent. 

That Maine is not unique in this respect is 
indicated by notices of vacancies in college 
faculties that have come to my attention dur- 
ing the past two years. In one ease an in- 
structor was needed in chemistry and geology, 
in another an associate professor in zoology and 
geology, in colleges one of which was near the 
Atlantic coast (not in Maine), and the other 
not far from the Pacific. 

In my own teaching experience I held for a 
number of years a position in which I was ex- 
pected, and did make a brave attempt, to teach 
chemistry, geology, botany and zoology, with a 
little physics thrown in for good measure; this 
in an institution which would be called a col- 
lege almost anywhere outside of New England. 

There are potent reasons why this condition 
of affairs exists still, and must go on existing 
for some time to come, whatever may be said as 
to its desirability; the most obvious being the 
limitations placed upon our colleges by lack of 
money. However, I am not altogether certain 
that the condition is undesirable. 

I realize, of course, that Professor Gortner 
and I are not thinking of exactly the same 
thing. His attention is, naturally, on the more 
advanced courses, in which students are, and 
should be, in charge of more or less narrow (I 
use the word in no derogatory sense) special- 
ists; mine is on the more general courses, in 
the conduct of which teaching ability and per- 
sonality are at least as important as erudition. 
There is still a large and important field for 
the old natural-history type of instructor, and 


SCIENCE 


465 


I for one sincerely hope that his species will not 
soon become extinct. 
Freeman F. Burr 
CENTRAL MAINE POWER CoMPANY, 
AUGUSTA 


SHARK AND REMORA 


To tHE Eprror or Scrence: The account by 
Dr. Spaeth in Sctence of October 21 of sym- 
biotic relations between a shark and a remora 
recalls some observations made by the writer 
in San Diego, Cal., in November, 1920. The 
head of a Tuna Shark, Jsuropsis glauca, had 
been cut off by the writer and carried to the 
laboratory of the Scripps Institution, at La 
Jolla. After some dissections had been made 
there was found on the table a small remora, 
three inches long, that had evidently taken 
refuge in the mouth or gill-chamber of the 
shark. 

H. W. Norris 


GRINNELL COLLEGE 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Life of Alfred Newton, Professor of Compara- 
tive Anatomy, Cambridge University, 1886- 
1907. By A. F. R. Wontaston. With a 
preface by Sm ArcuHipatp Gerken. , New 
York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1921. 332 pp. 


The loose organization of English University 
affairs, the lack of coherence in the scheme of 
the institutions, have had their advantages and 
disadvantages. When in Cambridge a number 
of years ago, I met an eminent writer whose 
original and heterodox ideas about religion 
had lately been published in a book. ‘“ What 
do the orthodox divines of the University 
think of him?” I asked a resident. “ They 
do not even know that he exists!” Perhaps 
that was a slight exaggeration, but the inde- 
pendence of the teachers is such that they do 
very nearly as they please, and wax or wane 
in reputation and even income according to 
their ability to command attention or win 
support. The centrifugal tendency has dom- 
inated the intellectual life of the place, in- 
creasing with the inevitable specialization of 
modern times. Each department is, as it 
were, at the end of a long lane, which no one 


466 


eares to explore unless particular business 
ealls him. 

We are now awaiting the report of the recent 
Government Commission, which visited Oxford 
and Cambridge during the last year. As a re- 
sult of the war, or perhaps we should say of 
a necessary process hastened by the war, the 
ancient universities need government support. 
With support must go responsibility of a new 
kind, and possibly some sort of unification of 
the system. Is it possible that definite stand- 
ards of equipment and teaching will eventually 
be required, enforced through some process of 
inspection? These are weighty matters for us 
here in America, for in many places we stand 
at the parting of the ways. The old freedom is 
difficult to maintain in the presence of a pop- 
ulation requiring to be educated en masse. It 
matters too much if things are badly or 
wrongly done. At all hazards, we must main- 
tain our intellectual integrity, but we neces- 
sarily sacrifice something of our independence. 
Does that mean that the best minds will gradu- 
ally be robbed of their originality, grown pre- 
maturely inelastic and old? England, the 
home of the independent worker, has pro- 
duced more original thinkers than America, 
whether we consider the sciences or the arts. 

There is another and opposite side to the pic- 
ture. The strong individuality of the leading 
English scientific men has had a profound in- 
fluence on their colleagues, and this has been 
accentuated by the smallness of the country 
and consequent ease of communication. Pro- 
fessor Alfred Newton, whose teaching in cer- 
tain of its aspects seemed so amazingly inade- 
quate, was a very center of light and learning 
for an ardent group of ornithologists, through 
whom his influence radiates to this day. His 
“Dictionary of Birds” has no real competitor, 
and is one of the indispensable books to stu- 
dents of the subject. Throughout the Biog- 
“raphy, here and there, we find a note of half 
regret that the Professor was so set in his ways, 
so peculiar, so amazingly conservative. Yet 
perhaps had he not developed freely in his own 
manner, his power would not have been so 
great. His old friend Dr. Guillemard thus 
sums up his impressions: 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1402 


Such strength of individuality I can not recall 
in any other person I have known. It ean safely be 
said that, having carefully envisaged his question 
and decided it, no human power could make him 
alter his mind. Yet one almost hesitates to say it, 
lest a wrong impression should be conveyed, for he 
was one of the most lovable of men, and inspired 
an unusual degree of personal affection in the many 
young men who frequented his rooms. The influence 
he exercised upon them was remarkable, not only 
upon the ornithologists, but upon men like Adam 
Sedgwick, Bateson, Frank Darwin, Lydekker, and 
a host of others in different fields. It would, I 
think, be correct to describe him as the founder of 
the modern Cambridge scientific school, developing 
the good seed sown by Henslow, who was to a 
former generation, I imagine, very much what New- 
ton was to mine. 


The statement about the modern scientific 
school applies of course only to the biological, 
or more specifically zoological, field. Even in 
the field of zoology Newton’s knowledge was 
quite limited, but it was extraordinarily exact. 
His interest in birds was so wide that it led 
him into various fields, as for instance that 
of philology. Thus he combined what might 
be considered narrowness with a remarkable 
breadth of view, which undoubtedly added 
greatly to his beneficial influence on his 
students. 

Sir Arthur Shipley, who was a student under 
Newton, gives a lively account of his lectures: 


Newton’s lectures were desperately dry and very 
formal. The Professor sat before a reading desk 
and read every word of the discourse from a writ- 
ten manuscript, written in his minute hand with a 
broad quill, so that all the letters looked the same, 
like the Burmese script. At long intervals there 
was drawn the outline of a tumbler. Whenever the 
Professor came to these outlines he religiously took 
a sip of water. Whether it was the time of day 
[ 1 p. m.] or whether it was that we students were 
all absorbed in comparative embryology and in 
morphology, the attendance was always small, I 
went during my second and third year, and at times 
was the sole auditor. Not that that made the least 
difference to the Professor. He steadily and relent- 
lessly read on—‘‘ the majority of you now present 
know,’’ ‘‘ most cf my audience are well aware,’’ 
and similar phrases left me in considerable doubt 


NovEMBER 11, 1921] 


as to what parts of me were ‘‘ the majority ’’ and 
which the ‘‘ most.’’ 

About the year 1884, Newton prepared 
courses of lectures on Geographical Distribu- 
tion and Evidences of Evolution. He was to 
lecture on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 
noon. He discovered, however, that the lec- 
tures, as written, would not stretch over a 
whole term, so he told the class that next Mon- 
day he would unfortunately not be able to lec- 
ture owing to urgent business, and this would 
continue throughout the term. 

Dr. Guillemard, in the passage quoted above, 
has referred to the difficulty of changing New- 
ton’s well-considered opinions. It must be 
added, however, that he was-able to keep an 
open mind on certain subjects of great import- 
ance to him. Thus he readily appreciated Dar- 
win’s theory at the time of its publication, and 
only four days after the publication of the 
Darwin and Wallace papers by the Linnean 
Society wrote a long letter on the subject to 
Canon H. B. Tristram. This led to the circum- 
stance that Tristram was the first zoologist of 
note to publish his adherence to the doctrine, 
though unfortunately he was reconverted to the 
old faith shortly after. He also came to see 
that the old classification of birds was faulty, 
and recognized the necessity for fundamental 
revision. 

Professor Newton was an ardent field nat- 
uralist, and in his earlier days visited the West 
Indies (St. Croix and St. Thomas), Iceland, 
Spitzbergen and other countries, always ma- 
king interesting observations. He did his best 
to discover the haunts of the great Auk in Ice- 
land, but although he talked with men who had 
seen it, it was apparently extinct before his 
visit. He left copious materials for a history 
of the great Auk, which he intended to publish 
had his life been prolonged a few more years. 

Newton died in 1907, his last wish being 
“may the study of zoology continue to flourish 
in the University.” Since then, much good and 
important work has been done, but there is 
great need for more room, more assistance, 
more apparatus, and adequate salaries for the 
staff. The whole British Empire is concerned 
in this matter, for in such centers must be 


SCIENCE 


467 


trained the men who go out to solve the in- 
numerable problems of the dominions and col- 
onies. Nor is it merely a matter of training 
specialists, for modern life requires that the 
leaders in all fields shall know something of 
biology. Thus, even if conditions in New- 
ton’s time could have been described as ade- 
quate (which they were not), they would no 
longer suffice for modern needs. 
T. D. A. CockERELL 


UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO 


ACOUSTICAL NOTES 


Musical Notation—The recent interesting 
letter in Scmnoe describing a new musical 
notation and proposing a new keyboard there- 
for, calls for a brief historical note, even 
though it should make two ingenious gentle- 
men “curse those who said our good things 
before us.” 

It is obviously true that the staff which best 
conforms to our chromatic scale of twelve 
equal steps to the octave, and best appeals. to 
the mind accustomed to grapho, is one of 
12 (18) equally spaced lines for an octave; 
or since it is difficult to distinguish among so 
many lines alternate lines may be omitted so 
leaving a 6-line or whole-tone scale. These 
facts are so obvious that both forms have 
been invented repeatedly, as is shown by 
patents long since expired. The earliest use 
found was by Joshua Steele in “ Melody in 
speech,” London, 1775. To distinguish be- 
tween the numerous lines he superposed the 
ordinary five lines and used some dotted lines. 
For many years I have found this notation 
very convenient for writing non-harmonic 
scales or music and have referred to it oc- 
casionally in print, but it seems never to have 
appealed to musicians. 

Modifications of this many-lined staff have 
been proposed; one uses only four or three 
lines, but any note, as ©, will come in the 
same position in all octaves; sometimes the 
note-heads are of different shapes. The most 
frequent modification is to retain only the five 
lines that correspond to the black keys of 
the piano—a scheme closely analogous in 
principle to the old tablatures. This was 


468 


advocated by Busoni who published a few 
pages of music written on what may be called 
the “black key staff.” 

Corresponding to the whole-tone staff the 
very logical whole-tone keyboard has likewise 
been proposed by several patentees and is most 
notably found in the Janko keyboard; this 
had considerable vogue in Germany and a few 
were built in this country some twenty years 
ago; but the instruments with this keyboard 
are so rare that the musician could scarcely 
afford the time to practise on it if he had 
access to one. 

A Question of Tuning.—One of the musical 
trade papers reported some months ago that 
a phonograph dealer in Chicago had two 
similar pianos tuned alike, except that in one 
of them one string belonging to each set of 
these unisons was tuned to give a slow beat 
with the other two. Then the public was 
asked which tuning it preferred; a large 
majority chose the one with the beat. This 
preference quite disconcerted the editor who 
reported it; “ What is the use,” he says, “ of 
trying to keep a piano in tune when a mis- 
tuned one is really liked better?” 

This does not seem to me to involve the 
question of being out of tune in the ordinary 
meaning of the term; if a chord is struck 
two thirds of the strings will sound together 
in the usual way, though the accuracy of 
tuning will be somewhat blurred or masked 
by the beats due to the other strings. 

But a similar even more marked effect 
has long been obtained in other ways and 
has often been proposed by inventors. It is 
akin to the tremolo which is familiar as a 
means of expression on many instruments and 
which in vocal music may be a sign of emo- 
tion or even weakness. On the violin a 
tremolo may come from the rolling of the 
player’s finger along the string, and on 
mechanical violins from intermittent pres- 
sure on the tail piece. Even more closely 
analogous to the effect in the piano experi- 
ment and long known are the results of the 
“ Celeste” stop on the reed organ that brings 
- into use two sets of reeds which beat slightly 
with one another; and in the pipe organ of 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1402 


the “Vox Celeste” or “Unda Maris” stop 
that brings on two sets of pipes which beat 
producing a very few waves per second. 

So the Chicago experiments seem to me to 
indicate, not that hearers object to having 
the notes of the piano in tune, but that they 
welcome a new way of introducing variety, 
vitality, into piano tone. After the key is 
struck there comes the loud thud characteris- 
tic of the piano sound and then the gradual 
dying away of the sound; the musician can 
do nothing with the tone but let it die away 
till he is ready to drop the damper. The 
player of most other instruments has consider- 
able control over the loudness of a continued 
sound and occasionally to some extent over 
its pitch and quality; this is obviously true 
of most orchestral instruments, and of the 
organ with its swell and the harmonium with 
its “expression”? due to pumping. 

This double control, of loudness and pitch, 
was realized in the old clavichord and was 
sought for in the “Steinertone” patented 
and built by the late Morris Steinert fifteen 
or twenty years ago. I have recently learned 
from the makers that in the reproductions 
built some years ago by Chickering & Sons: 
under direction of Mr. Dolmetsch “ the clavi- 
chord was tuned with one string of each note 
two or three waves sharper than the others, 
and on the harpsichord the second unison was 
slightly sharper than the first.” In the elec- 
trical “ Choralcelo” exhibited in Boston some 
years ago there was control both of loudness 
and quality while a note was sounding. 

So the Chicago experimenters and listeners 
are in good company. 

Of course the piano must have some great 
compensating advantages to lead the world 
to overlook so great a defect as this lack of 
variety, but they do not concern us now or 
here. 

The Tuning Fork.—In a recent article in 
a psychological journal the tuning fork is 
considered as composed of two bars each at- 
tached at one end to a solid block; in a cur- 
rent book for piano tuners a fork is illustrated 
as sending off a train of waves in one direc- 
tion, both prongs being bent in the same direc- 


NoveMBER 11, 1921] 


tion. These surprising disclosures led to an 
examination of a number of text-books, ete., 
on sound, from which it appeared that only 
rarely was there any reference to the true 
theory of the fork; even the Britannica sup- 
ports the view of the psychologist. So a note 
on the subject may not be superfluous. 

The theory of the fork is due to Chladni’s 
researches of a century ago. He had found 
that a horizontal straight uniform bar could 
vibrate when supported at points about 0.22 
of its length from the ends; obviously por- 
tions each side of these nodal points must at 
any instant be moving in opposite directions. 
Then he bent the bar a little and found that 
the nodes had moved toward the center, and 
when the fork-shape with long parallel prongs 
was reached, the nodes were near the base 
of the prongs. Assuming the prongs vertical, 
when they separated the intermediate part 
near the bends would of course rise a minute 
distance. -In any practical case the center 
portion is loaded by the stem which will 
therefore move up and down and deliver 
regular blows to a sounding board or reso- 
nance box on which it may be placed. Such 
an effect can not be accounted for by the 
crude theory that prompted this note. 

It will help to clear thinking to recall the 
curious fork shown by the Standard Scientific 
Co. at the exhibit of apparatus at the Bureau 
of Standards about. a year ago. This had 
a relatively large hole near the upper end of 
the stem, the effect of which was to make 
the pitch much lower than that of a similar 
fork unperforated. 

In this connection it may be added that 
measures I made some years ago showed that 
a Koenig’s fork of the middle octave on its 
box, when vibrating at an average amplitude, 
expended its energy at the rate of about one 
millionth of a horse power or less than a 
thousandth of a watt; of course only a small 
part of this produces sound and only a very 
minute fraction of this part could reach the 
ear of any one of the hundred who could 
hear the fork. 

Cuartes K. Wrap 

ANN Arzor, MICH, 


SCIENCE 


469 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


THE RELATION OF SOIL FERTILITY TO VITA- 
MINE CONTENT OF GRAIN 1 


Tus study was undertaken at the sug- 
gestion of Professor F. J. Alway, who has 
made a study of the relation of phosphate- 
hungry peat soils to the grain produced on 
them,? at Golden Valley, Minn. 

Burning of the peat rendered mineral mat- 
ter more available to the plant and increased 
the yield. It also increased the amount of 
phosphoric acid in the grain and, as we shall 
show, increased the vitamine. Two experi- 
ments were made, one with barley grown on 
untreated and on burned peat, and another on 
oats grown on peat soil as contrasted with 
ordinary mineral soil. The barley grown on 
untreated peat yielded 7.4 bushels per acre 
and the grain contained 0.5 per cent. P,O, in 
the dry matter, or 17.9 per cent. in the ash, 
whereas the barley grown on burned peat 
yielded 42.6 bushels per acre and contained 
1.06 per cent. P,O, in the dry matter and 
35.5 per cent. in the ash. The oats grown on 
untreated peat soil contained 0.52 per cent. 
P,O, in the dry matter and 17.9 per cent. in 
the ash. The oats grown on ordinary mineral 
soil in the same locality contained 1.1 per 
cent. P,O, in the dry matter and 32.4 per 
cent. in the ash. It was at first attempted to 
determine the vitamine content of these grains 
by the quantity necessary to prevent or cure 
polyneuritis in pigeons. It was very difficult, 
however, to feed these grains quantitatively to 
these pigeons, and they all died of polyneuritis 
before the end of the experiment. 

The next attempt was to feed the whole 
grains quantitatively to white rats, but this 
method failed also. 

The next method was to grind the grains 
and mix them to the extent of 5 per cent. in a 

1 Contribution from the laboratory of physio- 
logical chemistry, University of Minnesota Medical 
School. 

2B, J, Alway, ‘‘A phosphate-hungry peat soil,’’ 
Journal of the American Peat Society, Vol. 8, 
1920. 


470 


basic ration made of 10 per cent. pure casein, 
6 per cent. sea salt and 84 per cent. white 
flour. The rats were allowed to eat this ad 
libitum and were supplied with ordinary tap 
water in addition. At the end of the thirty- 
second day butter fat was added to the ration 
to the extent of 1 gram per rat per day. The 
experiment lasted 65 days. In the above ex- 
periment, two rats, both males and weighing 
65 grams each, and of the same litter, were 
taken and fed this diet. At the end of the 
65 days the rat getting the barley with 0.5 
per cent. P,O, weighed 108 grams, whereas 
the one getting barley containing 1.06 per 
cent. P,O, weighed 117 grams. This differ- 
ence of 9 grams is small, and yet, owing to 
the exact manner in which the experiment 
was performed and the fact that the rats were 
of the same sex, size and litter, this small dif- 
ference is significant. 

~ In the experiment with oats two female rats 
of the same litter were taken. These rats 
were practically the same weight. In fact 
they were of exactly the same weight (55 
grams) on the second day of the experiment. 
At the end of 65 days the rat receiving oats 
with 0.53 per cent. P,O, weighed 86 grams 
and the rat receiving oats containing 1.1 per 
cent. P,O, weighed 97 grams. It may be re- 
marked that the experiments with female rats 
are not always quite as uniform as those with 
male rats, but these female rats showed no 
peculiarities in the growth curves. These ex- 
periments are in harmony with those of a 
number of workers and show that the vita- 
mine content of milled grains is proportional 
to the content in P,O,. In the case of milled 
grains, however, the variation in P,O, is due 
to its partial removal in milling, whereas in 
experiments recorded in the present paper the 
variation is due to the amount of available 
phosphoric acid in the soil. Since butter fat 
was fed uniformly throughout the last half 
of the experiment, the difference in growth of 
the rats is due to difference in vitamine B. 

J. F. McCrenpon, 
A, C. Henry 


UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1402 


MOLD HYPHZ IN SUGAR AND SOIL COMPARED 
WITH ROOT HAIRS : 


To compare sugar with soil as a place for 
growing molds may at first sight be revolu- 
tionary, but to one who has studied molds in 
soil, the first glimpse of a moldy sample of 
sugar under the microscope compels the com- 
parison put forward in the title of this paper. 
Mold hyphz as seen in foods such as sugar 
and in soil strikingly resemble root-hairs as 
they develop in earth. Hyphe of fungi and 
root-hairs are analogous structures. Both be- 
long to the vegetative phase of a plant’s life 
cycle. Both are turgid, thin-walled cells. The 
elongating hypha pushes itself between sugar 
crystals or between soil particles in the same 
fashion as the elongating root-hair progresses 
in the soil. The elongating hypha, like the 
root-hair, is a feeding and growing portion of 
a plant, which is submerged in a substratum. 
The hyphal tip, as is commonly understood 
of the apex of a root-hair, follows between 
the sugar crystals or soil particles along the 
path offering the fewest obstacles. Such a 
path or course is at best winding, irregular, 
now wide and again extremely narrow. The 
mold hypha under suitable conditions grows 
between the faces of the sugar crystals or soil 
particles. As would the root-hair, it forces 
its way into a narrow passage, its shape con- 
forming to the space discovered. There may 
be a bulge on one surface of the hypha and a 
flattened area on the opposite surface, all de- 
pending on the space available for expansion. 
Attracted by the films of water and available 
solutes adhering to the sugar crystal or to the 
soil particle, the mold hypha grows over the 
face of a particle, conforming to the irregu- 
larities in the surface of the object. 

It is impossible to separate these bits of 
mold hyphz from the respective sugar crystals 
or soil particles in conjunction with which 
they are growing. It is commonly known that 
a separation, of. soil particles from root hairs, 
which are much grosser units than segments 
of mold hyphe, is impossible without injury 
to the root-hairs. 


NoveMBER 11, 1921] 


To one familiar alone with the easily stud- 
ied and regular structure of a root-hair de- 
veloped in a moist chamber, the root-hair as 
it grows in the soil is not recognizable except 
as it is traced to its point of attachment among 
the other epidermal cells of the root. Paral- 
lel to this statement it may be said that to 
one familiar alone with mold hyphe as they 
may develop with freedom in liquid or solid 
culture media such as agar or gelatine, the 
mold hyphe growing under natural condi- 
tions among sugar crystals or between soil 
particles are totally unrecognizable, neglected 
and passed over. No suitable bacteriological 
methods of making dry smears or stained prep- 
arations have yet been devised for demonstra- 
ting molds in such situations. These mold 
hyphe are enough larger than minute bacteria 
to be plasmolyzed and for their structure to 
be dried out beyond recognition by this ex- 
ceedingly harsh treatment. The best of objec- 
tives with high magnifications are required to 
demonstrate this close relation of mold hyphe 
either to sugar crystals or to soil particles. 
For this an oil immersion objective must have 
a long working distance to permit a mount as 
thick as a sugar crystal or soil particle to be 
examined with the mold hyphe attached. This 
has been possible with such a combination as 
a Zeiss 8 mm. N. A. 1.30 apochromatic objec- 
tive and a 12 X compens. ocular. Few other 
available combinations will give the necessary 
clarity of field, magnification and working dis- 
tance to demonstrate the intimate relationship 
existing between the mycelium of saprophytic 
molds and certain substrata. 

This intimate relationship between mold 
hyphe and the substratum explains why many 
have overlooked active growths of molds in the 
soil and others have denied it. It explains also 
in part the spoilage of certain foodstuffs such 
as sugar. Much damage can undoubtedly take 
place without macroscopic evidence of mold. 
Mold hyphe have just such an intimate rela- 
tionship to sugar crystals or soil particles as 
is well known to exist between root hairs of 
higher plants and the soil particles of the 
ground wherein they grow. 

Maraaret B. Cuurcn, 
CHarLes THom 


SCIENCE 


471 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 
(Continued) 
DIVISION OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 
Roger Adams, chairman. 
H. T, Clarke, secretary. 

Oxzimes: F, W. ATACK. 

Organo tellurium bases: A. Lowry AND R. F. 
DunBROOK. Aromatic bases and TeBr, react in 
ether or acetic acid solution to produce organo tel- 
lurium bases. The following complexes have been 
prepared and analyzed: 

(C,H,NH.)..TeBr, 
= Bi-aniline tellurium tetrabromide, 
[C.H;N (CH;) 22. TeBr, 
= Bi-dimethylaniline tellurium tetrabromide, 
(8-C,oH,NH:.)2.TeBr, 
= Bi-6-naphthylamine tellurium  tetrabro- 
mide, 
p-C,H,(NH.).. TeBr, 
= p-phenylenediamine 
mide, 
m-C,H,(NH:;)..TeBr, 
= m-toluylenediamine 
mide, 
(p-BrC,H,NH.)..TeBr, 
= Bi-p-bromoaniline tellurium tetrabromide, 
[(C.H;).NH ]..TeBr, 
= Bi-diphenylamine tellurium tetrabromide, 
H.NC;H,.C,H,.NH..TeBr, 
= Benzidine tellurium tetrabromide, 
[(CH3).N.C,H,],CH». TeBr, 
= Tetramethyl-diamino - diphenyl - methane 
tellurium tetrabromide. 
Alkaloids also produce complexes with Tebr,. 

The réle of acetic acid and ammonia as catalysts 
in the formation of acetamide from ammonia 
acetate: W. A. NOYES AND WALTHER GOEBEL. Dr. 
M. A. Rosanoff showed several years ago that aceta- 
mide may be prepared at atmospheric pressure by 
heating ammonium acetate with an excess of glacial 
acetic acid. He considered that the acetie acid is 
a eatalytie agent but, as he worked under condi- 
tions such that the water formed distilled away, he 
did not actually prove whether the acetic acid acted 
as a catalyst or whether it merely retained the 
ammonia and made it possible to heat the mixture 
to a higher temperature without the loss of much 
ammonium acetate by dissociation. By heating 
ammonium acetate in sealed tubes, alone, and again 
with acetic acid and in other experiments with 
ammonia, we have shown that either acetie acid or 
ammonia acts as a eatalyst and hastens the reac- 
tion. The liberation of ammonia by the addition of 
a little sodium hydroxide to the ammonium acetate, 
however, retards the reaction, probably because the 
acetate ions from the sodium acetate formed re- 
press the ionization of the acetic acid formed by 
the dissociation of the ammonium acetate. These 


tellurium tetrabro- 


tellurium tetrabro- 


472 


CH; COONH, & ole Pia NH 


H rcaoed, ae 


results point to the above mechanism for the reac- 
tion. 

If this is accepted, it would seem that acetic acid 
catalyzes the reaction chiefly through its hydrogen 
ions and ammonia through its amide, NH;, ion. 

Preparation of absolute alcohol: W. A. Noyes. 
Beilstein contains a statement that alcohol is dehy- 
drated commercially by means of calcium chloride 
but I have been able to find no other reference to 
the matter in the literature. A careful study has 
brought out the following: From strong alcohol 
containing somewhat more than one mol of calcium 
chloride for each mol of water present, alcohol of 
99 per cent. or stronger may be distilled. On con- 
centrating such a solution a solid aleoholate (not a 
hydrate) separates and there is an equilibrium be- 
tween the alecoholate and hydrate present. <A quite 
high temperature is required to expel the alcohol 
from this solid but if enough water is added so that 
about 5 mols are present for each mol of calcium 
chloride, the aleohol may be distilled away com- 
pletely at a temperature below 140°. The hydrate 
of calcium chloride which remains is liquid at 100°, 
or above, but solidifies at ordinary temperatures. 
On the basis of the facts given, 99 per cent. aleohol 
may be prepared, by means of calcium chloride, 
without loss of alcohol. The remainder of the water 
can then be removed by lime or by some other 
method. 

5, 8-diamino-dihydroquinine and 5, 8-diamino-6- 
methoxyquinoline, and their conversion into the 
corresponding amino-hydroxy and dihydroxy bases: 
Water A. JACOBS AND MICHAEL HEIDELBERGER. 
5, 8-diamino-dihydroquinine, obtained by reducing 
5-amino-8-p-sulfophenylazo-dihydroquinine (J. Am. 
Chem. Soc., 1920, xlii, 2281); decomposes at 125- 
40°, and yields a vermilion, crystalline tetrahydro- 
bromide and a brown crystalline sulfate deeompos- 
ing at 220-7°. 5-hydroxy-8-phenylazo-dihydroqui- 
nine (Lbid., p. 2280) yielded a crystalline double tin 
salt of 5-hydroxy-8-amino-dihydroquinine, the base 
and other salts being very unstable. Boiled with 
1:1 hydrochloric acid the diamino compound 
yielded the dihydroxy dihydrochloride, vermilion 
needles decomposing at 208-11° (anhydrous), also 
obtained from acid solutions of the amino-hydroxy 
compound on long standing. For comparison the 
series derived from 6-methoxyquinoline was also 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1402 


a CH, CONH, ee 39 


HOH 


ee 5, 8-diamino-6-methoxyquinoline forms 
golden leaflets melting at 163-4°; 5-hydroxy-8- 
amino-6-methoxyquinoline yellow crystals melting 
at 180-2°, and the 5, 8-dihydroxy compound yel- 
low erystals melting at 195-7°. The lability of 
the amino groups in these compounds as well as in 
the previously reported dyes is thus shown to 
be of a high order. 


pH 
< CH, COR 
NH, 


The hydrogenation of dihydrocinchonine, chin- 
chonine, and dihydroquinine: WALTER A. JACOBS 
AND MICHAEL HEIDELBERGER. By reducing dihy- 
drocinchonine with sodium in boiling amyl alco- 
hol and converting into the hydrochlorides two 
stereoisomeric hexahydro bases were isolated, in 
which the 2¥ alcoholic group had also been re- 
duced. These a- and (#-hexahydrocinchonanes 
(for terminology see J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1920, 
xlii, 1492) were crystalline, and yielded charac- 
teristic hydrochlorides, nitroso, benzoyl, and phen- 
lyazo derivatives, thus showing the properties of 
tetrahydroquinolines. From the mother liquors 
a small amount of hexahydrocinchonine dihydro- 
bromide was isolated. The a- and $-compounds 
were also obtained by reducing dihydrocincho- 
nane. Cinchonine yielded an a-tetrahydrocincho- 
nane, convertible into the a-hexahydro compound 
with Pd and H, while the mother liquors also 
reduced with Pd and H gave the a-, B-, and 
hexahydrocinchonine-compounds. Dihydroquinine 
yielded chiefly hexahydroquinine dihydrochloride, 
characterized by the nitroso and benzoyl deriva- 
tives. 


B 
A Ch, HCH.CH3 
We— Ch, —__a Shy 
Hz H 
Hy 
: Hexahydcocinchonane 


H 


A new series of cinchona-‘ike alkaloids: the 
dihydroquinicinols: MicHAEL HEIDELBERGER AND 
Water A. Jacops. Reduction of the quinicines 
(quinotoxines) with palladium and hydrogen 
gives rise to a new series of alkaloids with an 
asymmetric secondary alcoholic group, thus re- 
sembling the cinchona alkaloids themselves. Quini- 


NoveMBER 11, 1921] 


cine hydrochloride gave d-dihydroquinicinol ni- 
trate, which yielded the crystalline base and di- 
hydrochloride. Only the J-dihydrochloride could 
be obtained. N-methylquinicine dihydrochloride 
gave both d- and J[-N-methyl-dihydroquinicinol, 
which crystallized readily. The d-hydrobromide, 
dihydrochloride,' and methiodide were prepared, 
as well as the /-dihydrochloride and methiodide. 
Similarly, N-ethylquinicine hydrochloride gave the 
d-base, from which the mono- and di-hydrochlo- 
rides and methiodide were prepared. An I[-dihy- 
drochloride was also isolated. Ethyldihydrocu- 
preicine sulfate (optotoxin) gave the d-hydro- 
chloride, from which the base and dihydrochloride 
were obtained. Methyl and ethyl iodide yielded 
the corresponding crystalline N-alkyl bases. d- 
and [-dihydrocinchonicinol sulfate were also ob- 


tained. 
a 
E€—cH.cH, CH 
cro My ACH.CHy 
HE Hy 
R 
H 


an 
OCH, CH, — CH 
#! My 
7 iu 
R 


(R= He Alkyl) 


The action of ammonia on chlorobenzene and 
bromobenzene in the vapor state in presence of 
catalysts: A. Lowy ANp A. M. Howaup. Am- 
monia mixed with the vapor of a halogenated ben- 
zene compound was passed over various catalysts 
at elevated temperatures to determine the pos- 
sibility of replacing the halogen by the NH, 
group. Iron, nickel and cobalt were the only 
active catalysts. The optimum temperature for 
iron was 480° ©. and gave a yield of 7.35 per 
cent. of aniline. The catalysts used were rapidly 
poisoned. This substantiates previous experi- 
mental evidence that halogens have poisonous ef- 
fects upon catalysts. Several oxides, salts, ele- 
ments and alloys were also tried as catalysts. 

The effect of fullers’ earth on pinene and other 
terpenes: C. S. VENABLE AND EH. C. CROCKER. 

An investigation has been made of the effect, 
under various experimental conditions, of fullers’ 
earth on pinene and other terpenes. In the pres- 
ence of fullers’ earth, various terpenes react spon- 
taneously or upon a slight elevation of tempera- 
ture. In the case of pinene, the first effect is 
that of intermolecular rearrangement, the chief 
products being dipentine and terpinene. These 


SCIENCE 


473 


terpenes again react in the presence of fullers’ 
earth to give dipinene, boiling point 320° C. 
It is conceivable that the intermolecular rear- 
rangement and the polymerization take place si- 
multaneously. The local overheating of the 320° 
fraction in the presence of fullers’ earth results 
in a depolymerization with a formation of paraf- 
fin hydrocarbons, p-cymene, ete., and the 360° 
fraction. The course of reaction as thus shown 
is entirely different from that indicated by the 
work of Gurvich, J. R. P. C. S8., 1915-16. A 
similar set of reactions has been observed for 
dipentine, terpinene, camphene, beta pinene, active 
limonene, sabinene and terpineol. The reaction in 
the case of cineol is very slow; p-cymene does 
not give’a reaction. 


A study in yields in nitrating nitrotoluenes: J. 
M, BELL anp D, M. Carro.uu. 


Studies on nucleic acids: The reduction of 
uracil and cytosine by means of colloidal plati- 
num: TREAT B. JOHNSON AND ELMER B. Brown. 
The reduction of uracil leads to a quantitative 
production of hydrouracil, which can be hydro- 
lyzed quantitatively to B-alanine. Transformations 
can be brought about at low temperatures in the 
pyrimidine series by catalytic reduction which 
can not be accomplished by other means. 


Studies on nucleic acids: New color tests for 
the pyrimidine-thymine, applicable in the pres- 
ence of uracil, cytosine and sugars: Treat B. 
JOHNSON AND Oskar BavupiscH. Thymine is oxi- 
dized in the presence of ferrous sulphate with for- 
mation of urea, pyruvie acid and acetol. Both 
pyruvie acid and acetol can be identified by char- 
acteristic color tests, which serve for the indirect 
identification of thymine. The reaction is of im- 
mediate service in determining the constitution of 
nucleic acids. 


Hydantoin indigoids: ArtHuR J. HILL AND 
Henry R. Henze. (By title.) Nuclear aromatic 
aldehydes condense readily with the methylene 
(CH,) group of hydantoin and many of its de- 
rivatives. On the contrary, however, only three 
aliphatic aldehydes have been directly combined 
with hydantoin while there is no literature bear- 
ing on the behavior of the carbonyl group of ke- 
tones toward this type of compound. The writers 
have been able to effect condensation between cer- 
tain hydantoins, namely, 1-phenyl-2-thiohydantoin, 
1-phenylhydantoin and hydantoin, and the cyelie 
ketone isatin, and its chloride. Two types of con- 
densation products have thus been obtained, 


474 


namely, @-isatin derivatives from isatin itself, and 
a-derivatives from the a-chloride. 

These new products are all highly colored, and, 
in their molecular configuration, resemble the 
dyes of the indigoid group. The color of a-de- 
rivatives, which contain the true indigoid chromo- 
phore, 


as postulated by Claasz, is deeper than that of 
the corresponding p- Sag ralonaTe, 

Synthesis of the soporific nirvanol (4, iapeomh 
ethyl hydantoin) : Winu1aM T. REap. Nirvanol (4, 
4-phenyl ethyl hydantoin), a soporifie now exten- 
sively used in Europe, has been made in good 
yield by the following method. Phenyl ethyl ke- 
tone, prepared from propionyl chloride and ben- 
zene by the Friedel and Crafts reaction, is con- 
densed with ammonium cyanide in alcohol solu- 
tion. 


C,H,COC.H, +- NH,CN — C,H, (C.H,;)C(CN)NH.. 


The resulting a-pheny] a-aminobutyronitrile, or its 
hydrochloride, is treated with potassium cyanate 
in glacial acetic acid solution, whereby phenyl 
ethyl hydantoie nitrile is obtained. The nitrile is 
readily converted into 4, 4-phenyl ethyl hydantoin 
by boiling with hydrochloric acid. 


Oglig(CoHs )C( CN )NHCONE, KH —co 


TRS ! 
i 

CH 

ea ene 

C2H5 


The synthesis of B-chlorallylchloride from a, 7- 
dichiorhydrin: ArtHuR J. Hitn anp Epwin J. 
Fiscuer. A practical method for preparing chlo- 
rallylehloride is not described in the chemical lit- 
erature. A method has now been developed for 
the practical preparation of this chloride from 
dichlorhydrin by dehydration of the latter with 
phosphorus oxychloride. This chloride is of im- 
mediate interest and value 


CICH,. CHOH.CH.Cl — ClCH: CH.CH.Cl 


for the synthesis of new organic combinations of 
therapeutic and pharmacological interest. 


The action of ferrous hydroxide-peroxide on 
thymine, lactic acid and alanine: OSKAR Bav- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1402 


DISCH. Ferrous hydroxide-peroxide acts in a 
double capacity as an oxidizing and a reducing 
agent. From a biochemica] standpoint it be- 
haves like an enzyme. As a chemical reagent it 
has received hitherto very limited attention, but 
its marked activity at ordinary temperature due 
to the presence of iron in its molecule stimulates a 
special interest in a study of its action on bio- 
chemical products. 


The behavior of cystine to acid hydro-ysis: 
Watter F. HorrMan aNp Ross AIKEN GORTNER. 
Many authors agree that the amino acid, cystine, 
is destroyed by acid hydrolysis but no decompo- 
sition products have been isolated. In the present 
study a large quantity of cystine was boiled with 
20 per cent. hydrochloric acid for 196 hours, ali- 
quots being removed at intervals of 3, 6, 12, 24, 
48, 96, 144, and 196 hrs. Various possible chem- 
jeal changes were followed throughout this pe- 
riod. The authors find that (1) decarboxyliza- 
tion and deamination proceed very slowly, (2) 
that the sulfur is not markedly broken off by 
boiling, and (3) that the major change is the 
alteration of the cystine molecule into an ‘‘iso- 
meric’’ cystine with different crystal form and 
different solubilities, which forms different deriva- 
tives from ordinary cystine. Approximately 90 
per cent. of the original cystine was isolated as 
‘‘isomeric’’ eystine after boiling for 196 hrs. 


A comparison of certain derivatives of ‘‘pro- 
tein’’ cystine and the ‘‘isomeric’’ cystine formed 
by acid hydrolysis: Ross AIKEN GORTNER AND 
Water F. Horrman. Certain derivatives of 
the ‘‘isomeric’’ cystine noted in the preceding 
paper were compared with the corresponding de- 
tivatives of the natural 1. cystine. Protein eys- 
tine crystallizes in large hexagonal plates, the 
jsomeri¢ cystine in tiny microscopic prisms. The 
benzoyl derivative of 1. cystine erystallizes in 
needles, m. p. 180-181°. The ‘‘isomerie’’ ben- 
zoyl derivative crystallizes in diamond-shaped erys- 
tals, m. p. 168°. The phenyl isocyanates melt at 
148-149° and (isomeric) 181°, respectively. It 
was found impossible to prepare a phenyl hydan- 
toin from the phenyl isocyanate of the isomeric 
cystine, whereas a phenyl hydantoin melting at 
122-123° was easily prepared from the corre- 
sponding derivative of the normal 1. eystine. 
The cysteie acids were prepared and show dif- 
ferent properties and different crystal form. The 
study is being continued. 

CHARLES L. PARSONS 
Secretary 


SCIENCE 


solIaH + 


ee 
New SERIES FRip AY N OVEMBER 18 1921 SINGLE Copresy 15 Ors. G 
Vou. LIV, No. 1403 ’ ’ ANNUAL Sunséxthrro N (34,00 97 
q 


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No. 610 Model of the Atom 


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The atom consists essentially of a coil with an iron core mounted vertically, above which is a tray with 
electrodes so placed that when current is sent through mercury placed within the tray, the current flows radially 
toward or away from the center. This produces a magnetic field and a current at right angles and consequently 
there will be motion in the third direction and the mercury will rotate. 


The tray is connected to a storage battery. A carbon rheostat may be inserted in circuit to vary the current 
and it is advisable to have an ammeter to measure the current. The current should be from 2 to 5 amperes. 

The coil is best operated by connecting to a 110 volt lighting circuit with a bank of lamps for resistance and 
the ammeter may be inserted for measuring the current. This current should take from 2 to 5 amperes also. 

The amount of current necessary will depend on the adjustments and should be varied so as to get the best 
operative conditions. 

Two balls placed on the rotating surface alternately rotate in elliptical orbits about each other. 

Three balls rotate in ellipses about each other but the motion is more complicated and more difficult to follow. 

A larger number of balls form a ring which rotates as a fixed, stable form. 


Various stable forms, such as a ring with one or more balls in the center, or one or more rings may be formed. 
Other phenomena, such as, the breaking apart of a stable form by means of concentrating the lines of force through 
a ring outside and the illustration of radioactive matter, etc., may be shown. 


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SCIENCE 


_a—SSS===a 
Frmay, NovemsBer 18, 1921. 


CONTENTS 
What is the Matter with Physics Teaching?: W. 
Sh IB AMIMMEN Godadoboootocouboen ConA Nobo 
Requirements of a Monograph on the Chemistry 
of Cellulose: Louis EH. WISE............... 479 
Eugenics—The American and Norwegian Pro- 
grams: Dr, HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN...... 
Samuel Stockton Voorhees: Dr. W. F. Hinus- 
BRAND 
Scientific Events: 
Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers’ 
Association of the United States; The Edi- 
torship of the ‘‘ Journal of Industrial Chem- 
_istry;’’ Director of the Harvard College 
Observatory ; A Southern Forest Experiment 
Station; Organization for Research at the 
Pennsylvania State College; Sigma Xi Lec- 
tures at Vale University... cc. cca. cece 485 
Scientific Notes and News.............-0++0 488 
University and Educational News............ 490 
Discussion and Correspondence: 
Latitude and Vertebre: Dr. Davip STARR 
JoRDAN. Abstracts and Titles of Scientific 
Articles from the Librarian’s Standpoint: 
THE Late Eunice R. OBerbty. Longitudinal 
Electromagnetic Forces: Dr. CARL HERING. 
The Scientific Bureaus of the Government: 
Dr. CHartes D. WaLCOTT................ 490 
Quotations: 
Meeting of the American Association in 
Canada rs srersrest seperate psi kstee eke eke eafoie 493 
Scientific Books: 
Grabau’s Text-book of Geology: PROFESSOR 
ELSIE WEE ATR. CHIUD eyerereteteiaereteineicieiely-ie icicle <2, 494 
Special Articles: 
A Precision Determination of the Dimensions 
of the Unit Crystal of Rock Salt: Dr. 


482 


484 


WiEELERVE SD AVEC rrneyaeeri eric c a. 497 
The American Electrochemical Society: A. D. 

IS PITAL MCAIN Ga onolsserek eyes shorten stees eet ieee ere foses 498 
The Optical Society of America: Dr. Irwin G. 

WFREES TD icchepelal svevohercver str cetonstehctel stsfarceariclaieisio ore 501 


MSS. intended for ‘publication and books, etc.,intended for 
review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. 


ES 
WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH PHYSICS 
TEACHING?1 


THE recent appointment by the National 
Research Council and by the American Physi- 
cal Society of committees on the teaching of 
physics shows that our physicists who are 
primarily interested in research are begin- 
ning to see that something is the matter with 
the college teaching of physics. The question 
in everyone’s mind is “ Why the widespread 
dislike of physics by college students?” As 
a long-time member of this society I have 
had much intercourse with engineering teach- 
ers, and I have long had in mind an addi- 
tional question: “ Why. the widespread con- 
tempt of physics teaching among engineering 
faculties?” 

Before giving my answer to those ques- 
tions I must point out that there is one kind 
of contempt of physics teaching among en- 
gineering teachers which is to the discredit 
of engineering teachers themselves, namely, 
the contempt which many of them have for 
straight and accurate thinking which does 
not conform to their own careless ways. 
When I meet with this contempt, which is 
much too often, I am sorry to say, I always 
think of a phrase P. G. Tait used in a discus- 
sion he gave many years ago of the perennial 
question of elementary mechanics. “In de- 
fense of accuracy,” says Tait, “we must 
be zealous, even unto slaying.” It must be 
conceded that P. G. Tait’s ideas concerning 
elementary mechanics were and are abso- 
lutely correct as far as they go, and, after 
agreeing to use the word weight to designate 
the pull of the earth on a body, he never 
reverted to the usage of the grocer and the 
coal man. This is a thing many of our en- 

1 The opening of a discussion of physics teaching 
at the Orono meeting of the New England Section 
of the Society for the Promotion of Engineering 
Education; autumn, 1921. 


476 


gineering teachers do, and it is a thing many 
of us physics teachers never will do. 

Concerning physics teaching, my own opin- 
ion is that students dislike physics because 
they accomplish so little in the study of it in 
our elementary college courses; and I believe 
that they accomplish little because the simple, 
fundamental mathematical ideas and methods 
which constitute elementary physics are not 
sufficiently stressed in the class room and not 
set forth with clearness and brevity in our 
text-books. 

“The instantaneous acceleration of a body 
is the limit of the ratio Av/At as At ap- 
proaches zero, where Av is the change of 
velocity in time At”; but the limit of Av/At 
is unthinkable unless one knows the manner 
in which Av and Aft approach zero. Advanced 
students supply this deficieney, as they look 
backwards at such a definition, by thinking 
that they think of the so-called principle 
of continuity! But what is the principle of 
continuity to a beginner? And what is the 
beginner to do? The definition of instantane- 
ous acceleration can not be given either logi- 
cally or intelligibly except in terms of a spe- 
cific algebraic example where the manner in 
which Av and Aé approach zero is clearly 
evident. I mention this definition of instan- 
taneous acceleration because it is given as 
stated in nearly every physics text known to 
me; and yet we ask why students dislike 
physics. Many physics teachers maintain 
that it is the business of our mathematics 
teachers to clear up all mathematical difficul- 
ties; but I believe, most decidedly, that the 
main business of the physics teacher is to 
cooperate with mathematics teachers in this 
extremely important matter. I am here con- 
sidering mathematics largely as a method of 
thinking, and, surely, if all the difficulties 
in this method of thinking were cleared up 
by our mathematics teachers there would be 
but little left for us physics teachers to do. 

Let us consider another example. A fluid 
at rest pushes normally on an exposed sur- 
face, or the exposed surface pushes normally 
against the fluid. Most of our physics text- 
books attempt to explain this fact by stating 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1403 


that the shear modulus of a fluid is zero! 
Or by the following pseudo argument: “If 
the foree exerted on the fluid by an element 
of the surface were inclined to the surface it 
would have a component parallel to the sur- 
face, and this tangential force would set the 
fluid in motion; therefore, ete., etc.’ Now 
it is absurd to say what this tangential force 
will do to the small adjacent portion of the 
fluid without considering the forces exerted 
on the portion by the surrounding fluid. 
Many such pseudo arguments may be found 
in almost any of our physics texts, and I be- 
lieve they account in large part for the dif- 
ficulties our mathematics teachers have in 
the teaching of mathematics. Our physics 
teachers not only do not help in the impor- 
tant matter of mathematical training but they 
sometimes hinder this highly important busi- 
ness. 

But slovenliness in mathematics is not the 
only fault in our physics texts. Many a 
student comes from his boarding house to 
the class room to hear his physics teacher 
formalize about position and displacement, 
although not one of the formalities needs to 
be used, because the student’s already exist- 
ing knowledge of coming and going is fully 
sufficient for everything his physics teacher 
will give him. No wonder that a student 
never goes from the class-room to his study 
to read about position and displacement in 
his physics text, even if there should be the 
grain of a new idea mixed up with the in- 
tolerably stupid and immediately purpose- 
less discussion. 

A young man from the high school is ex- 
pected to be edified by the study in college 
of a physics text which discusses levers of 
the first, second and third classes, which gives 
all the old stuff about “simple machines”; 
and which contains little else that is clear and 
concise and correct and purposeful! 

In the technical school the student is 
scheduled to study such things as water 
wheels, and pumps, and engines, and yet he 
is expected to study a physics text in which 
all these things are set forth, but no more 
completely than in his high-school physics 


‘NovEMBER 18, 1921] 


text. This surely is a side-stepping proce- 
dure on the part of the physics teacher, be- 
cause the student’s burning need is to be 
trained in mathematical thinking, and it is 
absurd to waste time in any descriptive 
study unless it be with some immediate eae 
attainable analytical end in view. 

To illustrate faults of physics teaching be 
examples chosen from mechanics is compara- 
tively easy; but to illustrate by examples 
chosen from the equally important subject 
of electricity and magnetism is very difficult. 
One reason for this difficulty is, of course, 
evident; but, in my opinion, the chief reason 
of the difficulty is that the usual presenta- 
tion of the elements of electricity and mag- 
netism is so bad as to be beyond the range of 
intelligible illustration, so bad as to be actu- 
ally unthinkable! Here is an attempt at an 
example, and I might attempt a great many 
as unthinkable as this! Any wheelbarrow 
pusher may, if he chooses, think that when 
he stops a wheelbarrow he does not simply 
stop it, but he imparts to it an “ extra velo- 
city” in a backward direction. No one 
would quarrel with such a wheelbarrow pusher, 
much as one might be tempted to poke fun at 
him. But what of the text-book-writing phys- 
ics teacher who injects into a many-page 
discussion of self-induction the essentially 
useless idea of “extra current,’ and in a way 
which, when reduced to wheelbarrow lan- 
guage, is exactly equivalent to thinking that 
he thinks that the “extra velocity ” to be im- 
parted to a stopping wheelbarrow is a for- 
ward velocity! And yet we ask why students 
dislike physics. 

The above examples of unintelligible half- 
way mathematics, of fallacious argument, of 
purposeless formality, of tiresome repetition 
and of easy side-stepping have been chosen 
from the subject of mechanics, and the one 
attempt to illustrate the futilities which or- 
dinarily pass as the elements of electricity 
and magnetism has led us back again to me- 
chanics! Why? Because mechanics is the 
only branch of physics in which a real begin- 
ning has been made in the use of precise ideas 
by common men. 


SCIENCE 


477 


I know, from experience, that most of our 
students like physics when the teaching is 
directed insistently towards the development 
and use of precise ideas, and I know that the 
majority of our students can be carried a 
long way in this difficult but highly profit- 
able business. 

But the greatest difficulty in the teaching 
of physics is to persuade the student to study 
his text book, and in the face of this diffi- 
culty physics teaching has degenerated into 
interminable class-room coaching, making our 
teaching not only very exhausting but also 
frightfully expensive, and greatly weakening 
the morale of our students. What are we 
to do about it? 

President Hadley made a statement in a 
brief address before the New Haven Conven- 
tion of this Society in June, which alone 
would justify the Convention if it could be 
taken to heart by our teachers. He said that, 
although at one time, many years ago, books 
were used too much, at least, too slavishly, 
they are now used too little; and the most 
pressing present need in education work is 
to place more dependence on books. What 
are we to do about it? 

No one would wish a student to use a book 
unless he can be led to use it effectively, and 
the trouble, in physics, at least, is that our 
text-books can not be used effectively. I 
am, of course, familiar with what is usually 
considered to be an effective use of a physics 
text in our non-exacting college courses in 
physics which run largely to appreciation- 
stuff, but I do not consider such use to be 
effective, most emphatically I do not. 

I have discussed college physics teaching 
with a great many men, and when the dis- 
cussion has turned to the question of the 
text book I have always been struck by the 
tendency of those whom I have known to be 
the best of teachers to point out the contrast 
between what they say and do in the class- 
room and what stands in the text-book. 
Most of our physics teachers seem to think 
that a text should be a compendium of all 
the manifold allusions, suggestions, plausi- 
bilities, comparisons, analogies, cross-refer- 


478 


ences and explanations which enliven the 
recitation and lecture and which serve as 
nothing else can serve to stimulate the stu- 
dent’s imagination: but no student can work 


on such things, and the text-book must be 


something on which he can work. 

The idea is somehow widely prevalent 
among students, and also among teachers, 
that the understanding rather than the 
memory should function in the study of 
physics; but no one can understand any- 
thing until many things are fixed in the 
mind. The student should be required to 
burn into his memory all definitions, all 
statements of principles and laws, all ele- 
mentary proportions with their proofs and 
all important equations with their deriva- 
tions. When he does this he will get a hun- 
dred times as much as he can otherwise get 
from his lectures and recitations, the sum 
total of his effort will be reduced, and his 
worry will cease to exist. 

The most distressing idolatry the world 
has ever seen is the modern, popular, science- 
worship which pays no tithes and takes no 
pains. It is our Great Religion. Its cate- 
chism is science teaching which abhors exac- 
tions; its litany is the semi-serious wail of 
regret of our easier college graduates that a 
silver-spoon smartness was not transmuted 
by a pleasant college course into what they 
conceive the talents of its priesthood to be; 
and its beatitudes are the above-mentioned 
appreciation-stuff which imbues every easy- 
going dilettante with a false sense of under- 
standing the universe and encourages every 
would-be parasite to think exaltingly that 
science is the building of steamships to carry 
him where he has no need to go, of railways 
to bring him things he could do better with- 
out and of airplanes to carry quickly his 
letters which could not lose in meaning if 
their time of transit were to take a thousand 
years! 

Most people think of science in terms of its 
results, chiefly, indeed, in terms of results 
which facilitate joy riding of all kinds, in- 
cluding easy orgies of near-thinking; but 
science is Finding Out and Learning How, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1403 


its great gift to those of us who live inside 
of its frontiers is an understanding of the 
things which surround us and of the things 
we have to do, and its price is pains. 


SOME STATEMENTS CONCERNING THE TEACHING OF 
PHYSICS 


Arranged to Promote Discussion at the Orono 
Meeting of the New England Section 
of the S. P. HE. E. 


The teacher must not mistake the fixity of 
an idea as its raison d’étre. As relating to 
ideas fixity and reason are not the same thing, 
especially when it comes.to transmitting ideas 
to students. 

The teacher who mistakes fixity for reason 
does not, as a rule, exercise himself greatly in 
his teaching; and the teacher who does put 
energy into his teaching needs, above all things, 
to guard against what may be called the “ illu- 
sion of activity ” which is the feeling that one 
is doing a thing well when one is doing it with 
all one’s might! When a teacher does a lesson 
with all his might, the students may be doing 
nothing at all. 

It is not the teacher’s business to promote the 
use of the metric system, partly because any 
effort he may make in this direction is pretty 
nearly sure to be wasted, and partly because he 
has too much else to do. 

Let the teacher use familiar units wherever 
possible. In mechanics let him use English 
units and refer briefly to ¢.g.s. units. In elec- 
tricity and magnetism let him use the uniis 
of the volt-ampere-ohm system wherever these 
units can be used, and let him use the electro- 
magnetic ¢c.g.s. units where it is necessary to 
use them. 

Nothing in the teaching of physics is of 
greater importance than to frame numerical 
problems so that the data as given might be 
determined by actual laboratory test. The con- 
sistent following of this rule will do much to 
develop physical sense in the student; and 
neglect of this rule is sure to leave the student 
“up in the air.” 

Ask a student about the effect of an unbal- 
anced force on a body and he is apt to make the 


NovEMBER 18, 1921] 


following sounds in answer: eff equals emm 
aye! Do not tolerate the mere reading of an 
equation in answer to a physical question. 

Do not tolerate vague statements. It is 
physically meaningless to say, for example, that 

acceleration is gain of velocity divided by 
time.” The proper statement is that the aver- 
age acceleration of a body during a given time 
is equal to the velocity gained by the body dur- 
ing the given time divided by the time. It is 
meaningless to say that “density is mass 
divided by volume.” The proper statement is 
that the density of a body is equal to the mass 
of the body divided by its volume. 

Require the student to make every statement 
of definition, every statement of principle, every 
explanation of an equation, etc., as relating ex- 
plicitly to a particular condition or thing. 

The natural desire for brevity of statement 
is often allowed to go much farther than the 
elimination of the important element of ex- 
plicitness as above pointed out, and lead to 
complete obscurity of meaning as illustrated by 
the following example: A string 10 feet long is 
tied to a post and a force of 5 “ pounds” is ex- 
erted on the post by pulling the string. This 
force certainly “ acts through a distance of 10 
feet,” and, the work done is 50 foot-“ pounds ” 
because “work is done when a force acts 
through a distance.” This argument is found 
to be acceptable to about 60 per cent. of the 
men beginning a college course in mechanics! 
No! Work is done when a body on which a 
force acts moves in the direction of the force, 
and no dictionary ever defined the word through 
in a way to justify the use of the word to abbre- 
viate this 18-word statement as it is usually 
abbreviated in the study of physics (?) in 
school and college. Language has been devel- 
oped as a medium for dickering, quarreling and 
love-making, and language as used in precise 
physical specifications is always more or less 
awkward and more or less strained; but it is a 
serious mistake to obviate these things by 
using meaningless expressions and phrases. 

I have never talked with an electrical engi- 
neer who retained any helpful knowledge or 
understanding whatever from the study of elec- 
trostatics in his college course in physics; and 


SCIENCE 


479 


every electrical engineering teacher will tell 
you that he cannot count on any knowledge or 
understanding, even incipient knowledge and 
understanding, of electrostatics among stu- 
dents who have just finished their college 
course in physics. Won. S. Frank 
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 


REQUIREMENTS OF A MONOGRAPH 
ON THE CHEMISTRY OF CELLULOSE1 


In a seminar devoted exclusively to the 
chemistry of cellulose certain topical assign- 
ments were made to the students, who, after a 
careful and critical survey of, the literature, re- 
ported their findings. The course served to 
emphasize a number of sad facts that are un- 
doubtedly known to all students in the field 
of cellulose chemistry. We were impressed by 
the enormous number of undigested, uncorre- 
lated facts that had been amassed apparently 
as a result of technological studies. We were 
further impressed by the relatively small num- 
ber of fundamental studies (bearing the ear- 
marks of painstaking critique on the part of 
the investigator) that had a direct bearing on 
the constitution of cellulose, and by the amaz- 
ing method of presenting these facts in our 
best English text. It became quite evident as 
our course proceeded, that there was a lack of 
vision in the interpretation of noteworthy re- 
sults in the literature; that little attention had 
been paid to the methods employed or judgment 
exercised by investigators in the experimental 
portions of their work; that scant attention had 
been given to the correlation of isolated experi- 
mental data, and that little differentiation had 
been made between qualitative and quantitative 
data in the formulation of hypotheses. To pre- 
sent the case briefly—it became very apparent 
that a critical monograph in the English lan- 
guage was little less than a necessity. Since 
the close of our seminar, Heuser’s new “ Lehr- 
buch der Cellulose Chemie” has appeared, and 
this splendid work will receive further men- 
tion. 

A few examples will serve to illustrate the 
various points previously raised. Take the 

1 Read at the meeting of the American Chemical 
Society, New York, September 9. 


480 


ease of the scientific investigations stimulated 
by the mercerization reaction. Since 1850 (or 
thereabouts) a number of investigators includ- 
ing Gladstone,2 Vieweg?, Thiele,* Cross,> and 
others have assigned various formulas to the 
compound (or compounds) that had been 
formed between cellulose and sodium hydroxide 
when concentrated alkali acted upon cotton. 
The existence of such compounds was disputed 
by Hubner and Teltscher® and later by Leigh- 
ton.? From a hasty review it would appear that 
the existence of a definite compound between 
cellulose and sodium hydroxide had never been 
demonstrated, and that alkali cellulose may 
perhaps be attributed to adsorption phenomena. 
Nevertheless, Leighton’s work has not affected 
our interpretation of the constitution of vis- 
cose, which presupposes a cellulose alcoholate, 
(CcsH:O:ONa or some similar compound) which 
then reacts further with CS. to form at the out- 
set of the “ripening ” process sodium-cellulose- 
xanthogenate, which gradually hydrolyzes with 
the loss of NaOH and CS: until cellulose is 
regenerated. It remains possible of course that 
the xanthogenate reactions given in our texts 
accurately represent the formation of viscose— 
and yet, in the light of Leighton’s investiga- 
tions it is disconcerting to note the quiet as- 
surance and certainty with which this explana- 
tion of the xanthogenate reaction is generally 
accepted. 

A far more striking example of the lack of 
critic and indifference with which experimental 
details are treated in our modern cellulose lit- 
erature is to be found in the case of the hydro- 
lysis of cellulose to glucose. Our literature 
has been replete with confident statements that 
within the limits of experimental error, cellu- 
lose is quantitatively hydrolyzed to d-glucose: 


(C,H,,0,)n + nH,0 > nC0,H,,0,. 


Trvine and Soutar,’ however, have justly shown 


2 J. Chem. Soc., 5, 17 (1853). 

3 Ber., 40, 3876 (1907). 

4 Chemiker-Ztg., 25, 610 (1901). 

5 “¢ Cellulose,’’ p. 23. 

6 J. Soc. Chem. Ind., 28, 641 (1909). 
7 J. Physical Chem., 20, 32 (1916). 

8 J. Chem. Soc., 117, 1490 (1920). 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1403 


that this claim has always been made on the 
grounds of questionable or incomplete experi- 
mental evidence, and that in no case was dex- 
trose or a dextrose derivative isolated in any 
amount approaching the theoretical yield. 
There is no object in reviewing the work of 
Flechig,? Schwalbe and Schultz,?° Willstatter 
and Zechmeister,!! or Ost and his co-workers.12 
Such a review would either show indirect evi- 
dence or incomplete evidence regarding this 
very fundamental reaction. It is only within 
the past year that Irvine and Soutar them- 
selves’ have shown that the above equation is 
substantially correct and that at least 85 per 
cent. of dextrose is formed when cotton cellulose 
is hydrolyzed. They failed to account for less 
than 15 per cent. of the hydrolysis products. 
Irvine’s work is noteworthy in that he isolates 
his compounds in a state of analytical purity. 
His experiments are all quantitative and all of 
his products are definitely identified. The 
judgment and critique exercised throughout 
this study are remarkable, and the research 
must stand as a classical one. It presents a 
marked contrast to the previous investigations 
in the same field. It is furthermore interesting 
to note that whenever the cellulose-dextrose re- 
lationship has been brought into question, the 
question has not been raised as the result of 
some inyestigators’ lack of critique, but be- 
cause of certain reactions (like the bromo- 
methyl furfural reaction of Fenton and Gost- 
ling) which were themselves far from quanti- 
tative, and the mechanism of which was not 
fully understood. 

During the course of the myriad cellulose in- 
vestigations that have crowded our literature, a 
number of so-called ‘ compounds ” of cellulose 
have been isolated and characterized. Let us 
examine briefly the case of the “ oxycelluloses,” 
compounds obtained by the oxidation of cellu- 
lose. There is no necessity of reviewing the 
methods of formation, or the properties of these 
substances. If we accept Hibbert’s view of the 
constitution of cellulose, the oxidation of cellu- 

9 Z. physiolog. Chem., 7, 523 (1883). 

10 Ber., 43, 913 (1910). 

11 Ber., 46, 2401 (1913). 

12 Chem. Ztg., 34, 461 (1910). 


NovEMBER 18, 1921] 


lose might run the entire gamut of hydroxy- 
aldehydes, hydroxyketones, hydroxyacids, keto- 
acids, ete., that could result from a product 
having two secondary and one primary alcohol 
groups for each six carbon atoms. Since the 
oxidation reaction is not infrequently accom- 
panied by hydrolysis, the possible number of 
products is accordingly increased. We have 
here a limitless field for speculation, and can 
think of an indefinite number of oxycelluloses, 
depending upon the type of oxidizing agent, the 
conditions of oxidation, on the amount of ox- 
idation product adsorbed on the residual cellu- 
lose, and possibly on other factors as well. It 
is quite evident that we can hardly hope for a 
homogeneous substance, and it is obvious that 
oxycellulose is a very vague and illusive term. 
It has no particular chemical significance and 
yet it persists in our present-day text-books 
on cellulose. The term “ hydrocellulose” and 
“ cellulose hydrates” enjoy a similar distinc- 
tion. The former has been shown to be a mix- 
ture of hydrolytic degradation products of 
cellulose and cellulose itself. Whereas the lat- 
ter (in many cases at least) appears to be cellu- 
lose itself—changed physically it is true—but 
hardly meriting the term applied to it. 

I might continue further and point out the 
incongruities in our literature on lignocellulose 
and the other so-called “ compound celluloses,” 
or the ever-shifting meaning of the term cellu- 
lose itself when applied to a substance other 
than the seed hairs of the cotton plant. Further 
reference is unnecessary however. It is quite 
clear that we have certain chemically meaning- 
less but highly respected terms in our cellulose 
literature, that the results of numberless ex- 
periments remain uncorrelated with the prop- 
erties of the typical cellulose and that our 
cellulose literature is becoming increasingly 
unwieldy. I hasten to add, however, that in 
certain quarters this lack of critique and cohe- 
sion is rapidly being remedied—and it is in 
these quarters that our monographers should 
seek their inspiration. 

To my mind, the primary objects of any 
monograph on cellulose are: (1) to stimulate 
further research along scientifically profitable 
channels; (2) to present the literature in such 


SCIENCE 


481 


a way that the reader may have a reliable means 
of knowing whether or not previous statements 
can be accepted without reservation; (3) to 
present the data with a view towards giving the 
reader a comprehensive survey of the cellulose 
field without losing him in a maze of detail; 
(4) to pave the way for a more satisfactory 
definition of the term cellulose. 

To gain these objectives, the author should 
remain uninfluenced (whenever necessary) by 
the orthodox procedure of previous writers, and 
should approach his problem in an essentially 
modern spirit. He must effect a liaison between 
some of the hitherto isolated facts in cellulose 
chemistry. He should use the greatest critical 
ability at his command, and give weight to re- 
sults of those investigators who have used 
proper critique in their own work. Further- 
more, he should select his material in such a 
way that with slight revision and proper addi- 
tions, the work would remain a standard book 
of reference for a number of years to come. 

It is quite possible to cleverly compile into 
a scholarly treatise (or series of treatises) a 
mass of detailed information—but such a 
volume would hardly meet our requirements. 
We need a critical compilation—sugges- 
tively written—that will give due weight to 
important qualitative reactions of cellulose 
and to the results of quantitative studies as 
well. The danger of formulating hypotheses 
on the basis of purely qualitative reactions 
should be constantly kept in mind. Articles 
in which unwarranted conclusions have been 
drawn without sufficient data, or in which 
the critic of the investigator is questionable 
should be subordinated or entirely deleted. 
Many of the vague terms now in common 
usage in the cellulose literature should be re- 
defined or excluded. 

Technological aspects of cellulose chemistry 
deserve no place in such a monograph. Para- 
doxical as it may seem, such a volume should 
in the end prove more serviceable and sug- 
gestive to the cellulose industry than would 
one which is diluted with references to the 
technological processes. This is especially 
true since we are already in possession of 
some noteworthy monographs in which these 


482 
technological processes have been compiled 
with the greatest patience and industry. 

At the outset it would be advisable to pub- 
lish only one monograph dealing with cellu- 
lose chemistry. It would be unfortunate if 
the society published a series of separate 
monographs on such subjects as (let us say) 
cellulose hydrates or oxycellulose. If one 
monograph cannot be made the joint work 
of two authors (an organic and a physical 
chemist), it might be well to have two 
monographs, one on the “chemistry of cel- 
lulose,” and one on “cellulose as a colloid.” 
Needless to say these books should supple- 
ment each other. I can not help feeling that 
an extended series must lead us into the same 
difficulties that we have encountered in the 
past, and I do not think that such a series 
would prove a good investment. Certainly 
the details in a number of volumes of an ex- 
tended series would be obsolete in a compara- 
tively short time. A carefully written volume 
of 300-400 pages with a properly classified 
bibliography should serve our purpose better 
than would an entire series. 

I claim no originality for the ideas set 
forth nor are they Utopian. They form the 
basis of Heuser’s recent ‘“ Lehrbuch der Cel- 
lulose Chemie.” From the standpoint of the 
organic chemist, Heuser’s Lehrbuch is the 
best monograph in its field) Unfortunately 
it was published several months too early to 
include the results of Hibbert’s and Irvine’s 
work on cellulose and Haworth’s work on 
cellobiose, and it suffers accordingly. Heuser 
has written with a clear vision of the require- 
ments of a modern monograph on cellulose. 
His writing is singularly free from circum- 
locution and from perplexing detail. He de- 
velops his subject matter clearly and logic- 
ally. He has, however, omitted full reference 
to the modern work on the colloidal chemistry 
of cellulose, an oversight that should be cor- 
rected in any American monograph. 

Summary—(1) We require a monograph 
on the chemistry of cellulose that briefly and 
critically presents the most noteworthy re- 
sults in the cellulose field. (2) The mono- 
graph must be more than a painstaking com- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1403 


pilation. (38) It should carefully select the 
literature dealing with the most important 
reactions of cellulose as well as the results 
of the more recent researches on the physical 
properties of cellulose. (4) It should be 
written to stimulate fundamental research. 
(5) It should be free from inconsequential 
or meaningless terms and hypotheses. 


Louis E. WisE 


N. Y. Stare CoLLeGE OF FORESTRY, 
Syracusg, N. Y. 


EUGENICS—THE AMERICAN AND NOR- 
WEGIAN PROGRAMS 


Dr. Jon Atrrep Ms¢gen, recognized by the 
Norwegian Government as the leader in 
eugenic and hygienic reform, issued from the 
Winderen Laboratorium, May, 1908, the fol- 
lowing “ Program for Race Hygiene”: 


NEGATIVE RACE HYGIENE, (a) Segregation (neg- 
ative colonization system) for feeble minded, 
epileptics and similar physically and mentally erip- 
pled individuals, obligatory for drunkards, habitual 
criminals, professional beggars and all who refuse 
to work. (b) Sterilization. No compulsory steri- 
lization in general. Certain types of criminals who. 
wish to escape segregation should be given an 
opportunity to be sterilized. 

PosITIVE RACE HYGIENE. (c) Biological Enlight- 
enment. Education of women in school and univer- 
sity should be changed from the present masculine 
system to one adapted to the female intellect and 
mind. Biology (renewal of the family), chemistry 
(nourishment of the family), and hygiene (protec- 
tion of the family) should be chief subjects (obli- 
gatory), from the preliminary class in the boarding 
school to the university.—Race biology in school and 
university institute for genealogical research. State 
laboratory for race hygiene. (d) Tasz-, Wage- and 
Colonization-system in favor of families, maternity 


imsurance and other protective measures of prenatal 


kind. Positive colonization system. Regressive tax 
and progressive wage system for heads of families. 

PROPHYLACTIC RACE HYGIENE. (e) Combating 
racial poisons: industrial poisons, especially lead 
and lead compounds; pathological poisons, especially 
syphilis; narcotic poisons, especially alcohol. (1) 
Prophylaxis of race illnesses and race anomalies as 
a state function. (2) Health declaration before 
marriage. (3) Class-system and progressive taxa- 
tion for alcoholic liquors. (f) Crossings between 


NovEMBER 18, 1921] 


distant races should—until we have collected more 
knowledge—be avoided. 


Doctor Mjgen has requested the writer to 
add his comments and to epitomize the situa- 
tion in America. The writer has sent the 
following reply: 

In general I approve of the Program for 
Race Hygiene issued from the Winderen Labora- 
torium in May, 1908, under Dr. Jon Alfred Mjgen, 
but I would like to add that there are special as- 
pects of the problem as presented in America. 

(a) Education.—The aspect of the race hygiene 
or eugenics movement which interests us most with 
respect to the United States of America is popular 
education. Legislation, both positive and negative, 
in this country will be of little avail unless sup- 
ported by widespread popular knowledge and popu- 
lar sentiment. When we witness the amazing prog- 
ress that has been made in this country during the 
last twenty-five years regarding personal hygiene 
and especially the manner in which the discoveries 
of Pasteur, of Koch, of Lister, of Dakin, Carrel and 
others have become matters of common knowledge 
and practise among the people, we should not de- 
spair of creating similar widespread reform in 
family life through popular education. In fact an 
excellent beginning has been made in our schools 
and colleges towards both positive and negative 
race hygiene. Matters which were not considered 
proper even to mention twenty years ago are now 
simply and naturally spoken of as being of very 
great importance to the future of the race. 

(b) State Legislation—Many of the American 
state governments have become suddenly aroused to 
the fact that money which should be devoted to 
education, to public utilities, to sound and healthy 
amusement of our population, is diverted to the 
humanitarian care of members of society who are 
of no service to the state and who, unless cared for 
and segregated, are actually a menace to the state 
as well as a very serious economic loss. 

(c) Immigration—The American political prin- 
ciple that all men are created free and equal, while 
designed to indicate that all men should have equal 
rights before the law, has been interpreted to mean 
racial equality in intellectual, spiritual, moral, and 
physical endowment; investigations made during 
the World War struck a very hard blow to such 
American optimism. We discovered, for example, 
that our people, on the average, had lost two and a 
half inches in stature since the Civil War; that 
races like the English, the Irish, and the Scotch, 
coming from a similar geographic region, show 


SCIENCE 


483 


marked inequality in intelligence. At the very bot- 
tom of the list stand certain races from central 
Europe which have been coming to America in 
enormous numbers, It is facts of this kind, brought 
by anthropologists to the attention of the Ameri- 
can Congress, which have led to a very careful sur- 
vey and restriction of immigration. 

(d) The Outlook.—While we are aware that we 
are rapidly losing some of the best elements of our 
old American stock, which is being replaced in some 
regions by very inferior stock, we do not regard the 
outlook as discouraging, provided we act imme- 
diately, without prejudice, and openly, and make 
our strongest appeal to national sentiment. Amer- 
ica has shown over and over again that she can 
make any sacrifice, and make it very quickly, if she 
is assured that the sacrifice is necessary for the 
preservation of her institutions on which the com- 
mon safety and welfare depend. Consequently this 
is no time for discouragement, but the time for a 
very strong appeal to the patriotism of our people. 


At a meeting of the members of the Inter- 
national Commission, namely, Leonard Dar- 
win (President of the first Congress), Lucien 
March (representative of the French Govern- 
ment), Raymond Pearl (of Johns Hopkins 
University), Charles B. Davenport (of the 
Carnegie Institution of Washington, Cold 
Spring Harbor, New York), in consultation 
with ten leading representatives from other 
countries and from the United States, an 
ad interim committee was appointed to con- 
tinue the work of the Congress until a 
permanent American committee could be 
selected by the main International Commis- 
sion, which has its seat in London. In this 
connection the following letter was addressed 
by the writer to Professor Irving Fisher of 
Yale University: 

October the eleventh, 
Nineteen hundred twenty-one 


You will recall that the Congress authorized the 
appointment. of an ad interim committee to carry 
on the work in America prior to the appointment 
by the International Commission. I have consulted 
with Major Leonard Darwin and Dr. Jon Alfred 
Mj¢en on this subject and they agree with me that 
the wisest choice we could make of a Chairman is 
Professor Irving Fisher of Yale University. The 
ad interim committee will then be composed as fol- 
lows: 


484 


Irving Fisher, Chairman, of Yale University, 
Charles B. Davenport, Vice-Chairman, of the Car- 
negie Institution of Washington, Cold Spring 

Harbor, N. Y., 

Harry Olson, Judge of the Municipal Courts of 

Chicago, Illinois, 

Madison Grant, Chairman of the New York Zoo- 
logical Society, 

C. C. Little, Secretary, of New York, Secretary of 
the Second Eugenies Congress. 

We shall thus have different sections of the coun- 
try well represented; we shall profit by the legisla- 
tive experience of Mr. Grant and Judge Olson and 
the expert scientific knowledge of Drs. Davenport 
and Little. As soon as the Eugenics Exhibit closes 
at the American Museum, the offices may be trans- 
ferred to the American Eugenics Record Office at 
Cold Spring Harbor. 

The present executive committee will disband as 
soon as the costs of the Congress are adjusted and 
the publication of the volume of papers and pro- 
ceedings is arranged for. 

I have appointed the following Committee on 
Publication of the Proceedings of the Second Inter- 
national Congress: 

Charles B. Davenport, Chairman, 

Clark Wissler, American Museum of Natural His- 
tory, 

1s al "Laughlin, American Eugenics Record Office, 
Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y., 

Henry Fairfield Osborn, ex-officio. 


It is estimated that the publication will cost be- 
tween $5,000 and $10,000, and I am writing to each 
of the great Foundations, namely, Carnegie, Rocke- 
feller, and Commonwealth, asking for assistance, as 
the executive committee still has to raise a consider- 
able sum to cover the expenses of the Congress. 


According to the above terms it is proposed 
to actively disseminate the very valuable in- 
formation contained in the seventy scienti- 
fic papers and addresses presented to the con- 
gress by leading experts, also to provide for 
the continuation of the eugenics propaganda 
throughout the country. The writer retires 
from further active participation in this 
work in order to resume other duties. All 
inquiries should be addressed either to the 
Chairman, Vice-Chairman, or Secretary of 
the ad interim committee. 

Henry FarrrretD Osporn, 
President, Second International 
Congress of Eugenics 
New Yorx, 
October, 1921 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1403 


SAMUEL STOCKTON VOORHEES 


On the evening of September 23, at Portland, 
Maine, died Samuel Stockton Voorhees, Engi- 
neer Chemist of the Bureau of Standards, in 
the fifty-fifth year of his age. To a host of 
friends his passing brings personal sorrow be- 
cause of loss of one endeared to them by his 
genial and manly qualities and deep regret that 
the chemical profession should be prematurely 
deprived of the services of a man so well in- 
formed and broadminded, whose conduct was 
always guided by high ideals. 

Voorhees was born at Springfield, Ohio, 
January 15, 1867, his parents, of old American 
stock, being John Hunn and Elizabeth Aston’ 
(Warder) Voorhees. He studied at Lehigh 
University, in the class of 1888 without gradu- 
ating and then took a special course in chem- 
istry at Columbian (now George Washington) 
University, in Washington, D. C. He married 
in 1895 Laura Toucey Kase, of Danville, Pa., 
who with three daughters survive. 

His first professional services were with the 
Cambria Iron Company, at Johnstown, Pa., 
and the Pennsylvania Railroad, at Altoona, Pa. 
In the employ of the latter he had the good 
fortune to be associated with the lamented Dr. 
Charles B. Dudley, a past president of the 
American Chemical Society, whom he always 
held in grateful remembrance. He there also 
formed lasting acquaintance with men who 
have risen to prominence in the railroad world. 
It was with two of them and other friends that 
he undertook the vacation trip to the north 
woods of Maine, where an illness from which 
he had long suffered developed to such an ex- 
tent that he had to be removed under great 
difficulties to a hospital in Portland, where 
within a week he underwent two operations, 
from the second of which he was unable to 
rally. 

Voorhees’s railroad experience was continued 
during 1896 to 1899 with the Southern Railway 
Company at Washington, D. C., and Alexan- 
dria, Va., and from 1899 to 1901 with the New 
York Central and Hudson River Railroad, at 
Albany, N. Y. 

The fifteen years of practical knowledge 
acquired in industrial fields fitted him admi- 


NoveMBER 18, 1921] 


rably for the government service into which he 
now entered and in which he remained during 
the rest of his life. From 1901 to 1908 he was 
engineer of tests in the office of the supervising 
architect of the Treasury Department and con- 


tinued that work until 1910 after it was taken ‘ 


over by the Technologic Branch of the Geolog- 
ical Survey. In 1910 this service was trans- 
ferred to the Bureau of Standards, where it has 
since remained. 

Voorhees was at the time of his death a 
member of the American Chemical Society, the 
American Association for the Advancement of 
Science, the Washington Academy of Sciences, 
the Biological Society of Washington, the 
American Society for Testing Materials, and 
the International Association for Testing Ma- 
terials. He was long a member also of the 
Society of Chemical Industry. In the Amer- 
ican Society for Testing Materials he was most 
active, serving a term as vice-president and 
frequently on committees, participating in the 
preparation of many reports. It is upon these 
reports and the very many that he rendered in 
government service that Voorhees’s professional 
reputation chiefly rests. His long and varied 
experience in the fields of railroad and struc- 
tural supplies gave him a practical knowledge 
and a grasp of the applications of those ma- 
terials such as few men possess. 

Associated as I was with him for over eleven 
years at the Bureau of Standards, where he was 
in charge of a section of the chemistry division, 
I bear glad testimony to his intense loyalty to 
our government and to his unflagging zeal and 
industry on its behalf. To aid the government, 
the public and the industries was his constant 
aim. I also wish to acknowledge my own in- 
debtedness for the strong support and wise 
counsel that were ever at my service. His loss 
left a void in the Bureau of Standards that will 
be hard to fill. 

The social side of Voorhees was strongly de- 
veloped. He was an active member of the Cos- 
mos Club of Washington, enjoyed the company 
of others and contributed to their enjoyment, 
whether as genial entertainer or attentive lis- 
tener, always the courtly gentleman. His dis- 
position was most kindly, and any friend or 


SCIENCE 


485 


neighbor in trouble or sickness was sure of his 
solicitous attention. Voorhees was an ardent 
fisherman, and it was with evident anticipa- 
tions of a good time with the finny tribe that 
he set out on his trip to the Maine woods. His 
last note to me from camp, however, raised 
forebodings as he told of his inability to join 
in the sport he so enjoyed. Peace to the spirit 
of a fine man and a faithful friend. 
W. F. Hintesranp 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 
SYNTHETIC ORGANIC CHEMICAL MANUFAC- 
TURERS’ ASSOCIATION OF THE 
UNITED STATES 

REPRESENTATIVE manufacturers of synthetic 
organic chemicals met at Washington on Oc- 
tober 28 and 29 to effect a comprehensive na- 
tional organization of the several closely re- 
lated lines of manufacture included in this 
branch of chemical industry. 

The name of the new organization is Syn- 
thetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers’ As- 
sociation of the United States. Its purposes, 
as set forth in the Constitution adopted, are 

To advance the science of organic chemistry by 
encouraging the manufacture in the United States 
of all kinds of organic chemicals; to cooperate with 
ithe various agencies of the Government of the 
United States in its efforts to develop, improve and 
render serviceable a complete organic chemical in- 
dustry; to promote cordial relations between Amer- 
ican concerns and individuals engaged in the pro- 
duetion and use of organie chemicals; to afford 
means for the dissemination of scientific knowl- 
edge; to promote the highest scientific and business 
standards in relation to the industry; and generally 
to take such collective action as may be proper for 
the establishment and perpetuation of the organic 
chemical independence of the United States of 
America, 

The association is subdivided into four sec- 
tions—Dyestufts, Pharmaceuticals, Intermedi- 
ates and Fine Organic Chemicals—each sec- 
tion having a vice-president, a secretary and 
an executive committee. The administration 
of the association is in the hands of a board 
of governors, consisting of the president, the 
four vice-presidents, and ten members nomi- 
nated by the sections. 


486 


The following officers were elected: 


President: Chas. H. Herty, formerly editor of the 
Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. 

Vice-Presidents: C. N. Turner of the Dyestuff 
Section; Herman Seydell of the Pharmaceutical 
Section; S. W. Wilder of the Intermediate Section; 
B. T. Bush of the Fine Organic Chemical Section. 

Members of the Board of Governors: R. S. Bur- 
dick; R. C. Jeffcott; August Merz; M. R. Poucher; 
P. Schleussner and F. P. Summers. 


The remaining four members of the Board 
of Governors, one from each section, will be 
elected later. The president and the four vice- 
presidents are ex-officio members of the board 
of governors. 


THE EDITORSHIP OF THE “JOURNAL OF 
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING 
CHEMISTRY ” 

Mr. Harrison E. Howe has been elected to 
succeed Dr. Charles H. Herty as editor of the 
Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chem- 
istry and director of the A. C. S. News Serv- 
ice, which are conducted by the American 
Chemical Society. Dr. Charles L. Parsons, of 
Washington, secretary of the society, states 
that Mr. Howe has accepted the positions. 

Mr. Howe was graduated from Earlham 
College and the University of Rochester. As 
chief chemist of the Sanilac Sugar Refining 
Company, in like capacity with the Bausch 
and Lomb Optical Company of Rochester, 
New York, and as manager of the commer- 
cial department of A. D. Little, Incorporated, 
of Boston, and manager of the Montreal of- 
fices of that organization, he became familiar 
with the broadest phases of industrial chem- 
istry. In the war he was consulting chemist 
of the nitrate division of the Ordnance Bu- 
reau of the United States Army. Until his 
election to his present position Mr. Howe 
was at the head of the division of research 
extension of the National Research Council. 
He writes extensively for magazines on ap- 
plied chemistry and is the author of a re- 
cently published popular work, “The New 
Stone Age.” 

Dr. Herty resigned the editorship to which 
Mr. Howe succeeds to accept the presidency 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1403 


of the newly formed Synthetic Organic Chem- 
ical Manufacturers’ Association of the United 
States, which has opened offices on the 34th 
floor of the Metropolitan Tower at No. 1 
Madison Avenue. Dr. Herty’s career in chem- 
ical journalism has been varied by many pub- 
lic activities. By special appointment of 
President Wilson he went to Paris in 1919 as 
the representative of the United States in the 
matter of the distribution of German dyestuffs 
under the economic clauses of the Peace 
Treaty. Dr. Herty was also chairman of the 
committee of the American Chemical Society 
advisory to the Chemical Warfare Service, 
member of the dye advisory committee of the 
Department of State, and chairman of the ad- 
visory committee of the National Exposition 
of Chemical Industries. Before beginning this 
work, Dr. Herty had been a professor in chem- 
istry at the University of Georgia and at the 
University of North Carolina. In his new po- 
sition he will devote himself to the develop- 
ment of American synthetic organic chemical 
industry. 


DIRECTOR OF THE HARVARD COLLEGE 
OBSERVATORY 


As was noted last week in Screncn, Dr. 
Harlow Shapley, formerly of the Mt. Wilson 
Solar Observatory at Pasadena, Cal., and for 
the past eight months observer at the Harvard 
College Observatory, has been appointed di- 
rector of the Harvard Observatory. That post 
has been vacant since the death of Professor 
Edward C. Pickering in 1919. 

An article in the Harvard Alumni Bulletin 
states that Dr. Shapley was born thirty-five 
years ago at Nashville, Miss. He studied at 
the University of Missouri, and received the 
degree of Ph.D. at Princeton. From 1914 
until last spring, when he came to Harvard, 
he was attached to the Mt. Wilson Observa- 
tory. 

At Mt. Wilson he perfected methods of 
measuring star distances photometrically, and 
applied these methods to the problem of the 
distances and structures of the great star- 
clusters. His work has given a new percep- 
tion of the size of the stellar universe, and 


NovemBer 18, 1921] 


shown that it is at least a thousand times 
larger than it was thought to be before the 
distances to the clusters were measured. Dr. 
Shapley has discovered, furthermore, that the 
sun is not at the center of the sidereal uni- 
verse, as was formerly supposed, but several 
hundred quadrillion miles away from it. 

Dr. Shapley’s studies of the famous star- 
cluster in Hercules known as “ Messier 13” 
have proved that this cluster has a diameter of 
more than two and a half quadrillion miles, 
and contains probably more than 50,000 stars, 
each of them intrinsically brighter than the 
sun. His researches have also played a large 
part in establishing the fact that the great 
star-clusters are found only at immense dis- 
tances from the plane of the galaxy, or Milky 
Way, but appear to be falling into it. Dr. 
Shapley’s hypothesis is that the Milky Way 
itself may be composed of former star-clusters 
which have dissolved. 

Dr. Shapley is also known as an entomold- 
gist, and has done interesting work in investi- 
gating the ants of the California mountains. 
He discovered that the speed at which these 
creatures move depends on the temperature, 
and that for some species the time of run- 
ning through a “ speed-trap,” as shown by the 
stop-watch, gives the temperature of the sur- 
rounding air within one degree. He found 
that the ants went twelve times as fast at 100 
degrees as at 50 degrees. 

Professor Solon I. Bailey, who has been as- 
sociated with the Harvard Observatory for 
more than thirty years and has been Acting 
Director since the death of Professor Picker- 
ing, expects to leave Cambridge within a few 
months for Arequipa, Peru, to take charge of 
Harvard’s South American astronomical sta- 
tion there and place it again on a productive 
basis after a period of dormancy due to war 
conditions. He will resume his observations 
on the variable stars in southern clusters. 


A SOUTHERN FOREST EXPERIMENT 
STATION 
Durine July a new forest experiment sta- 
tion was established by the Forest Service of 
the U. S. Department of Agriculture, with 


SCIENCE 


487 


headquarters, for the present, at New Or- 
leans, La. Experiments will be conducted in 
the large and important timber region extend- 
ing from eastern Texas, through Louisiana, 
Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, 
Florida, to the Carolinas. Mr. R. D. Forbes, 
until recently superintendent of forestry for 
the Conservation Commission of Louisiana, 
has accepted the directorship of the station. 
Mr. Lenthall Wyman, formerly a member of 
the Forest Service in Arizona and Montana, 
and more recently in the State Forester’s of- 
fice in Texas, will be one member of the staff. 
Mr. W. R. B. Hine, a recent graduate of the 
Cornell School of Forestry, is the second mem- 
ber. One vacancy in the technical staff re- 
mains to be filled. 

The importance of this region, in which 
large areas of land are suitable only for grow- 
ing timber, makes the establishment of this 
station, to work out the best methods of 
producing, growing, and protecting the for- 
ests, particularly opportune. Such important 
and valuable species as longleaf, shortleaf and 
loblolly pines, and cypress amply justify a 
considerable outlay to insure their perpetu- 
ation and increase their production. 

The establishment of the Southern Forest 
Experiment Station was made possible by a 
small increase in the appropriation for the 
investigative work of the Forest Service for 
the present year. It is not sufficient to per- 
mit the construction of buildings and labora- 
tory facilities, and it is planned for the first 
year to concentrate on field work in the most 
urgent problems. 


ORGANIZATION FOR RESEARCH AT THE 
PENNSYLVANIA STATE COLLEGE 

THE members of the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science at the Penn- 
sylvania State College, State College, Pa., 
held a meeting on November 2. Dinner was 
served at the University Club to about thirty 
members. The speaker was Dr. L. R. Jones, 
professor of plant pathology of the Univer- 
sity of Wisconsin and chairman of the Di- 
vision of Biology and Agriculture of the Na- 
tional Research Council. His theme at this 


488 


meeting was “ Organization for Research,” in 
which he developed the idea of scientific re- 
search as a public service, not only in time 
of war but in time of peace as well, using the 
University of Wisconsin as an example of a 
state university functioning as a great public 
service institution through research work for 
the public good. He further showed how the 
modern state university is distinguished from 
the academy, the earlier type of educational 
institution, from the college, the modern in- 
stitution which has replaced the academy in 
the matter of instruction, and from the mod- 
ern endowed university, by the enlarged pro- 
gram of research for the public good which 
distinguishes the state university. Dr. Jones 
suggested as a means of fulfilling this public 
trust at state institutions the organization of 
“vesearch committees” and “faculty subject 
groups” which are formed without regard 
to collegiate divisions. These are definite 
means of promulgating throughout the insti- 
tution the relative importance of research as 
compared with other lines of activity and of 
emphasizing research as a much needed form 
of public service. 

At the meeting it was voted by the mem- 
bers to petition the national council for a 
charter to form a local branch to be known as 
the Pennsylvania State College Branch of the 
American Association for the Advancement 
of Science. The purpose of the organization 
is to promote and stimulate research in the 
institution. 


SIGMA XI LECTURES AT YALE 
UNIVERSITY 

AT a meeting on November 8 of the Yale 
Chapter of the Society of Sigma Xi, which 
was addressed by President James R. Angell 
of the University, announcement was made 
of a series of lectures to be given under the 
auspices of the Yale Chapter on the general 
topie of “The evolution of man.” The lec- 
turers, and their subjects are considered of 
such ‘general interest that it has been decided 
to hold the series this year in Lampson Ly- 
ceum, and to invite the public to attend the 
lectures without charge. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1403 


The first lecture of the series will be given 
on the evening of December 2, on “ The anti- 
quity of man,” by Professor Richard S. Lull 
of the university faculty. The following are 
the subjects of the succeeding four lectures, 


which will continue through the month of 
March: 


The natural history of man—Professor H. B. 

Ferris. 

The evolution of the nervous system of man—Pro- 
fessor G. H. Parker. 

Societal evolution—Professor A. G. Keller. 

The direction of evolution—Professor Edwin G@. 

Conklin. 

It is expected that the 1921-22 lectures un- 
der the auspices of the Society of Sigma Xi 
will, as in the past, be published by the Yale 
University Press. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


As a memorial to the late Edward C. Pick- 
ering, for forty-two years director of the 
Harvard College Observatory, it is proposed 
to erect near Cambridge an astronomical ob- 
servatory, whose work will be largely con- 
cerned with the study of variable stars. 


Dr. Harvey Cusuine, of Harvard Univer- - 
sity and the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, 
was elected president of the American College 
of Surgeons at its recent meeting in Phila- 
delphia. 


Tue Franklin Institute of Pennsylvania has 
awarded its Howard N. Potts gold medal to 
Dr. E. V. McCollum, professor of chemical 
hygiene in the School of Hygiene and Public 
Health of the Johns Hopkins University. The 
medal is awarded “for distinguished work in 
science or the mechanic arts,” and was pre- 
sented by the institute in recognition of a 
lecture on “ Nutrition and physical efficiency,” 
delivered before its members in 1920. 


Snr J. J. THomson succeeds Sir Richard 


Glazebrook as president of the Institute of 
Physics, London. 

THE Royal Society of Edinburgh has elected 
as president Professor F. O. Bower. The vice- 


presidents are Sir G. A. Berry, Professor W. 
Peddie, Sir J. A. Ewing, Professor J. W. 


NoveMBER 18, 1921] 


Gregory, Major-General W. B. Bannerman 
and Dr. W. A. Tait. 


WE learn from Nature that Professor Léon 
Fredericq is to be presented with a medallion 
in recognition of his distinguished services as 
professor of physiology for fifty years in the 
University of Liége. The presentation will 
take place this month, when his son will take 
the chair which Professor Léon Fredericq 
- has held so long. 


THE quinquennial prize for the best work 
in medical sciences, offered by the Brussels 
Academy of Medicine, has been awarded to 
Dr. A. Brachet, professor of anatomy and 
embryology of the University of Brussels, for 
his contributions to topographical anatomy. 


Tue Italian Society of Internal Medicine 
at its eighteenth congress in Naples on Oc- 
tober 26, celebrated the ninetieth year of 
Professor Cardarelli, and the fortieth year of 
Professor Maragliano’s work as teacher. These 
physicians are the directors of La Riforma 
Medica, one of the chief medical journals 
published in Italy. ° 


Proressor P. GuTHNICcK has been appointed 
director of the Babelsberg Observatory in suc- 
cession to the late Herman Struve. 


‘Ernest P. BickNELL, who has been repre- 
senting the Red Cross abroad, has been ap- 
pointed American National Red Cross Com- 
missioner for Europe. 


Dr. H. C. Dickinson, chief of the automo- 
tive investigations division of the Bureau of 
Standards, has been granted a leave of ab- 
sence to become director of research for the 
Society of Automotive Engineers. He will 
continue to assist in the work of the bureau 
in a consulting capacity. 


Secretary or Lazpor Davis has appointed a 
special committee to consider the welfare of 
immigrants coming through the principal 
ports of entry of the United States. The mem- 
bers are: Fred C. Croxton, chairman of the 
Ohio Council of Social Agencies; Miss Julia 
Lathrop, former head of the U. S. Children’s 
Bureau; Miss Lola D. Lasker, of New York. 


SCIENCE 


489 


Dr. Witrrep H. Oscoop has been appointed 
curator of the department of zoology in the 
Field Museum of Natural History. 


A qEoLocicaL party of four, consisting of 
Professors R. A. Daly and Charles Palache of 
Harvard University, Professor G. A. F. Molen- 
graaf of the University of Delft, Holland, and 
Dr. F. E. Wright of the Geophysical Labora- 
tory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, will 
spend the coming winter in southern Africa. 
in a geologic and petrologic study of the 
Bushfeld igneous complex in Transvaal. 


Tue council of the California Academy of 
Sciences announces the appointment of Dr. 
Barton Warren Evermann as director of the 
new Steinhart Aquarium. The duties of this 
position will be in addition to those of direc- 
tor of the Museum of the California Acad- 
emy of Sciences, which Dr. Evermann has 
held for many years. It was through Dr. 
Evermann’s interest in fishes and aquariums 
that the late Mr. Ignatz Steinhart was in- 
duced to give to the California Academy of 
Sciences $250,000 for the construction and 
equipment of a public aquarium building in 
San Francisco. The council has selected Mr. 
Alvin Seale to be superintendent of the 
aquarium. For several years Mr. Seale was 
director of fisheries of the Philippine Islands. 
He also planned the Manila Aquarium, of 
which he was director during his several years’ 
residence in the Philippines. He will be on 
duty throughout the period of construction 
and thereafter. The aquarium will be situ- 
ated in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, 
immediately adjoining the present museum of 
the academy. 


Manchester and 
was opened on 

It is the first 
used exclusively 


Tue new hospital of the 
District Radium Institute 
October 7, by Lord Derby. 
hospital in England to be 
for radium treatment. 


Bert Hormes Hire, chief chemist of the 
Virginia Experiment Station since 1895, pro- 
fessor of agricultural chemistry in the Uni- 
versity of West Virginia since 1898, has died 
at the age of fifty-five years. 


490 


Miss Eunice Rockwoop Osrrty, librarian 
of the Bureau of Plant Industry of the De- 
partment of Agriculture since 1908, whose 
knowledge of the organization and relations 
of phytopathological literature was probably 
unique, died suddenly at her home in Wash- 
ington on the morning of November 5. 

Joun AuGusTINE ZAHM died in Munich, Ba- 
varia, of pneumonia, on November 11. Dr. 
Zahm was born in Ohio and graduated in 
1871 from Notre Dame, with which university 
he was connected for many years as head of 
its scientific department, as curator of its mu- 
seum, and then as president of the board of 
trustees. He was the author of numerous 
books concerned largely with the relations of 
science to religion. 

Dr. Emm A. Bupps, the German electrical 
engineer, died recently at the age of eighty. 
He was president of the International Electro- 
chemical Commission, succeeding Dr. Elihu 
Thomson. 

TuHeE president and council of the Royal 
Society, London, announce that, in view of 
the economic condition of the country, the 
anniversary dinner of the society will not 
be held this year. 

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

NEWS 

Sm Epwarp ALLEN BrotuHerton, Bt., M.P., 
has given £20,000 to the University of Leeds 
for the development of bacterial study and 
research, more particularly in the interests 
of public health. 


A verpict of $25,000 damages has been ren- 
dered against Cornell University in the action 
brought by Louise Hamburger 720. In making 
his charge to the jury, Justice Kellogg said 
that the verdict to be given rested upon one 
point only, as to whether the university was 
negligent in employing a small boy in the 
chemistry stock-room. A motion for retrial 
has been made. 

R. 8S. Lowe, of the Nitrate Division of the 
Ordnance Department of the Army, has been 
appointed dean of the department of chemical 
engineering of the University of Cincinnati. 

C. R. Aunen, formerly dean of the school 
of engineering, Institute of Technology, 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. LIV. No. 1403 


Detroit, has accepted an appointment as dean 
of the college of engineering, Ohio Northern 
University, Ada, Ohio. 

Amone changes in the medical faculty at 
Yale are: Dr. Francis G. Blake appointed 
John Slate Ely professor of medicine; Dr. 
Edwards Albert Park, professor of pedi- 
atrics; Dr. Arthur M. Morse, professor and 
head of the department of obstetrics and 
gynecology; Dr. John T. Peters, Jr., associ- . 
ate professor of medicine and Dr. Albert T. 
Shoal, associate professor of pediatrics. Dr. 
Samuel C. Hardey, associate professor of 
surgery, has been placed in charge of the 
surgical department of the school. 

Dr. Lansinc S. WELLS, until recently a 
research chemist with the Barrett Company, 
Frankford, Philadelphia, Pa., has accepted an 
appointment as assistant professor of organic 
and physical chemistry, Montana State Col- 
lege, Bozeman. 

Proressor H. C. PLumMer, F.R.S., has been 
appointed professor of mathematics of the 
Ordnance College, Woolwich, England. 

At the opening of the winter session of 
St. Andrews University, Scotland, the newly 
appointed professor of chemistry, Dr. Robert 
Robinson, F.R.S., and the newly appointed 
professor of bacteriology, Dr. William J. 
Tullock, were inducted into their respective 
offices. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
LATITUDE AND VERTEBRE 


To THE Epitor or Science: In Scrence for 
December 26, 1919, is a suggestive note by 
Mr. A. G. Huntsman on the problem of 
“Latitude and Vertebre” among fishes, a 
problem of reality and importance which I 
have thus had mostly to myself, and to which 
I have failed to find a solution. As Mr. 
Huntsman observes, not only have the north- 
ern species a progressively increased number 
of vertebre, but a similar variation may occur 
within the limits of the species itself. In 
the flounder, Hippoglossoides platessoides, the 
northern examples have most vertebrx, while 
in the herring—Clupea harengus, the num- 
bers of vertebre decrease in passing from the 


NovemBeEr 18, 1921] 


open sea, dense, saline and cold, to the Baltic. 
For this reason Mr. Huntsman suggests that 
the density of the surface water in which the 
eggs develop may be a decisive element. 

In this connection, I may add a few addi- 
tional data. In the group of Rock Cod or 
Rose-fish (Sebastine), the northern genera 
(Sebastes, Sebastolobus) have twenty-nine to 
thirty-one vertebre, the tropical forms nearest 
related twenty-four, and the intermediate 
group of many species on both sides of the 
Pacific (Sebastodes and its allies) were sup- 
posed to have twenty-seven. 

In verifying this statement I find that four 
of the more primitive of these forms (Sebas- 
todes paucispinis, S. goodei, Rosicola pinniger 
and R. miniatus, have but twenty-five vertebra, 
while all the others examined have twenty- 
seven as supposed, and the metameres in the 
very young are also twenty-seven. 

Hitherto the extinct species of this tribe 
have remained unknown. I have, however, 
lately discovered three Miocene species, which 
ought to throw light on the problem. At any 
rate they show that the variation is of long 
standing. 

Two fossil species with thirteen dorsal 
species, Rixator porteousi and R. inezie, re- 
lated to Sebastodes goodei, have, like the 
latter species, twenty-four vertebre, besides 
the last one which supports the hypural. 
This is evidence so far as it goes that the 
smaller number (with greater individual de- 
velopment of the bones) is very ancient. 
Nearly all the spiny-rayed shore fishes of the 
present day have twenty-five. 

But another fish of this type—also Miocene 
(Sebastavus vertebralis), has thirty-two verte- 
bre. The relation of this species to existing 
forms is not close, nor is it well made out. 
All three of these Miocene species are found 
in deposits made in shallow, sheltered bays, 
in a temperate climate. As Mr. Huntsman 
observes, “A fruitful field for investigation 
is open in this direction.” It should appar- 
ently involve both embryology and paleontol- 
ogy, as well as the study of adult fishes and 
their distribution. 

Davin Starr JorDAaNn 


SCIENCE 


491 


ABSTRACTS AND TITLES OF SCIENTIFIC 
ARTICLES FROM THE LIBRARIAN'S 
STANDPOINT 

To tue Epitor or Scrnce: In his article 
on “Scientific Abstracting” in Somnce for 

~ber 30, Mr. Fulcher emphasizes the 
point that the time of research men should 
be conserved for their actual research by 
facilitating for them in every way the secur- 
ing of the scientific information already pub- 
lished. No one would dispute this statement, 
and its truth is becoming increasingly strik- 
ing as the mass of literature yearly accumu- 
lates, but it is suggested that from his list 
of the agencies contributing to this end as 
a part of what he calls “our scientific in- 
formation service” Mr. Fulcher has omitted 
a very necessary and important agency, 
namely, the scientific library. A library of 
a scientific institution has no other purpose 
than to collect and make available the litera- 
ture on the subjects of interest to that insti- 
tution, and anything which facilitates this 
work is ultimately of benefit to the investiga- 
tors. There is no one to whom abstracts 
such as those pled for by Mr. Fulcher would 
be of greater help than to the scientific libra- 
rian or bibliographer. As he points out, it is 
impossible to rely on titles alone to show the 
variety of information contained in an arti- 
ele, so that it is necessary for a librarian 
compiling a subject catalogue to glance through 
each article so that he may be sure it is 
entered under all the subjects of which it 
treats. Abstracts in the form described, with 
the italicized paragraph headings and sub- 
titles would suggest at a glance possible sub- 
ject headings, and in the case of articles in 
highly specialized subjects would frequently 
suggest headings which, without the abstract, 
only the specialist would recognize as being 
desirable. 

Speaking of this, the present writer has 
thought for a long time that it would be well 
for persons interested in increased economy 
and efficiency in the recording of scientific 
data to give the form cf titles for periodical 
articles careful consideration. No title can, 
of course, describe all the contents of an 
article, but many could easily be more de- 


492 


scriptive than they are and contain informa- 
tion essential to a cataloguer or investigator, 
frequently obviating the necessity of an ex- 
amination of the article itself to discover 
what it is really about. Take, for instance, 
titles like the following: “A spot disease of 
cauliflower,” “Known species of smut on a 
new host,” “A dangerous potato disease.” 
Each of these titles shows in a general way 
what the article in question is about, but no 
one of them gives information essential for 
assigning subject headings, yet in each case 
this might have been done, still keeping the 
title concise and short. The title “A spot 
disease of cauliflower” omits the very im- 
portant information that this is a new di- 
sease assigned to a new bacterial pathogene 
which is described in the paper, while “A 
spot disease of cauliflower caused by Bacter- 
ium maculicolum n. sp.” gives the essential 
information and is not objectionably long. 
The title “ Known species of smut on a new 
host” might much better be written “ Cin- 
tractia leucoderma on a new host, Cyperus 
gatesii,’ and “A dangerous potato disease” 
— “A dangerous potato disease due to Rhi- 
zoctonia violacea” or “A dangerous Rhizoc- 
tonia disease of potatoes.” 

Tt may -be difficult to assign satisfactory 
titles for articles on abstract subjects whose 
terminology is not definitely. fixed, but in 
cases such as those mentioned above it is a 
simple matter to compose a clear and definite 
title giving the specific facts dealt with in 
the paper. The more definite titles would 
save time in the library not only in catalog- 
ing and bibliographical work, but would fre- 
quently prevent the necessity of the library’s 
procuring a journal for an investigator on 
the chance that an article contained therein, 
whose title may have been seen in a catalog 
or list, may be on a subject in which he is 
interested. A clear and definite title shows 
at a glance whether the article should be read 
by an investigator working on a certain sub- 
ject, while an ambiguous or indefinite title 
puts him under the necessity of looking. up 
many articles only to find that they are not 
on his subject. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1403 


It would seem, therefore, well worth while 
for the National Research Council, or what- 
ever agency is formulating the directions and 
rules for the preparation of analytic ab- 
stracts, to include with these directions for 
the preparation of titles for scientific arti- 
cles. There are many points in addition to 
those which have been mentioned here, 
which should be considered, such as, for in- 
stance, the relation of the title of a prelimi- 
nary abstract to the title of the complete paper 
appearing later, giving the same article in 
different journals different titles, the publish- 
ing of different articles on the same subject 
with identical titles, or, the continuation of 
an article with a title different from that 
of the first installment. 

Eunice R. Operiy 

LIBRARY, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY, 

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 


LONGITUDINAL ELECTROMAGNETIC FORCES 
To tue Eprror or Scrence: Last spring the 
writer sent a note to one of our well-known 
and carefully edited scientific journals for 
its correspondence column, announcing briefly 
that there are a number of good reasons for 
concluding that the old belief (expressed by © 
Maxwell) that electromagnetic forces can act 
only perpendicularly to a conductor and 
never in the direction of its axis, seems to be 
wrong, and if so, it should be corrected. 

The “advisers” of the editor on subjects 
pertaining to physics, recommended that the 
note “ought not to be published” as it was 
“so subversive of long-established principles.” 
Five weeks later, the editor returned the note 
unpublished. 

Physicists who have a more progressive 
spirit and may, therefore, be interested in 
such “heresies,” and who are not hide-bound 
by beliefs whose chief qualification is the 
age of those beliefs, will find this subject 


"more fully discussed by the writer in an 


article in the Journal of the Franklin Insts- 
tute for November. This is also a carefully 
edited scientific journal, and one of its “ad- 
visers” on physical subjects (one of our lead- 
ing physicists) recommended that “it is well 
worth publishing.” 


NovEeMBER 18, 1921] 


Thirteen years ago, the writer described 
an experiment in which the result was the 
direct opposite to that called for by reading 
on it one of the most prominent of the laws 
stated by Maxwell. The proposed paper de- 
scribing it was rejected by one of our lead- 
ing societies on the ground that if true 
(which was very easily demonstrated) it was 
such a serious matter to refute one of Max- 
well’s laws that it ought to be kept a secret! 
It is needless to say that the writer published 
it; broad-minded electro-physicists have ac- 
cepted this correction of that law. 

Let us hope that our younger physicists 
will be more progressive and will develop 
the true scientific spirit of desiring to be 
corrected when it can be shown that what 
they teach their students is wrong. 


Cart Herine 


PHILADELPHIA, 
November 1, 1921 


THE SCIENTIFIC BUREAUS OF THE 
GOVERNMENT 

To THE Eprtor or Science: Since my re- 
turn to Washington from my summer’s field 
work my attention has been called several 
times to circulars which have been sent 
broadeast throughout the country by Mr. 
Arthur MacDonald, The Congressional, Wash- 
ington, D.C., recommending the reorganiza- 
tion of all of the government scientific 
bureaus under the direction of the Smith- 
sonian Institution. While the institution ap- 
preciates the confidence in it implied by his 
suggestion, I desire to point out that his 
scheme is entirely impracticable and was not 
suggested or authorized .by the Smithsonian 
Institution, with which Mr. MacDonald is 
not connected in any way. 

I shall be glad if you will have the good- 
ness to publish the above in Science, in order 
that your readers may understand thoroughly 
that the institution is im no way responsible 
for this propaganda. 

Cuartes D. Watcortt, 
Secretary 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 
November 5, 1921 


SCIENCE 


493 
QUOTATIONS 
MEETING OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 
IN CANADA 


Tue American Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science is to hold its annual 
meeting in Toronto this winter. The rules 
of the association, recently revised, give the 
term “ American” a Continental instead of 
a national connotation, so that the visit to 
Canada will be regarded as a normal rather 
than as an extra-territorial event. There is 
thus a departure from the constitutional pre- 
cedent of the British Association and of its 
French and German parallels. These bodies 
are national, although they weleome foreign 
guests, and have occasionally paid visits to 
foreign countries. Were the matter politi- 
eal, difficult questions might arise with re- 
gard to the proposed visit of the British As- 
sociation to Toronto in 1924. The former 
visits of the British Association to Montreal 
and Toronto, and later to South Africa and 
Australia, were regarded as not different in 
kind from visits to Edinburgh or to Bourne- 
mouth. The formation since then of a South 
African Association for the Advancement of 
Science would certainly not place any ob- 
stacle in the way of another British visit to 
the Cape. The inclusion of Canada in the 
American sphere similarly should not affect 
the prospects of future visits of the British 
Association. It is all to the good that science 
should prefer geographical to political fron- 
tiers. We confess to a feeling of envy, how- 
ever, when we read of the concessions made by 
American railways to science. The utmost ef- 
forts failed to extract from the British rail- 
ways such reductions in fare to members of the 
British Association going to Edinburgh as 
they readily concede to pleasure parties and 
week-end excursions. The railroads of Amer- 
ica are acting differently. Reduced rates for 
visitors to the Toronto meeting have been 
granted by all the railways of Canada and 
by those covering practically all the New 
England and Atlantic Coast States down to 
Virginia, and by those serving Ohio, Indiana, 
Michigan, and Illinois. Other concessions are 
expected, and so far as the railway journey 


494. 


is concerned, scientific men throughout the 
vast continent will be given every induce- 
ment to attend the Toronto meeting—The 
London Times. 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Text-Book of Geology. By Amapeus W. 
GraBau. Two volumes. Part 1, General 
Geology, 864 pages, 734 text figures; Part 
2, Historical Geology, 976 pages, 1980 text 
figures. D. C. Heath & Co. 


A text-book in science may be written, like 
other books, for name and fame; or to set 
forth new truth; or for desired remuneration 
(which may be in inverse ratio to value); 
or simply because the author can not help it. 
This latest ambitious addition to geologic 
literature is another expression of the mental 
activity and scientific industry of the author, 
as it is his third important and voluminous 
work within a few years. In 1909-1910 he 
published, in conjunction with H. W. Shimer, 
two handsome yolumes on “ North American 
Index Fossils,” covering only the inverte- 
brates, with 1762 pages and profusely illus- 
trated. In 1918 he produced another origi- 
nal work, “ Principles of Stratigraphy,” with 
1185 pages. This latest, if less original, work 
is even more voluminous. 

Facing the writer are several shelves filled 
with the antiques of English and American 
geologic literature, text-books and treatises 
dating back to the early part of the last cen- 
tury. The striking comparison between the 
old and new invites a brief homily on the 
development of American geology, as illus- 
trated by the text-books. 

These oldest books are amusing and piti- 
ful in their diminutive size, narrow scope, 
queer ideas, and their occasional illustra- 
tions of exceeding crudity. If Scrmnce ad- 
mitted pictorial illustrations a comparison of 
the old cuts with modern engravings of the 
same subjects would show the progress of 
graphic art. The older books antedate photo- 
graphy, which has been the greatest aid in 
study of nature. 

Many of the old bocks have a theologic 
flavor, and some close with a pious exhorta- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vor. LIV. No. 1403 


tion. Beginning with Leibnitz (1646-1716) 
the writers sought to harmonize the facts of 
the new science with ancient Hebrew phi- 
losophy, and in particular tried to prove that 
Moses really meant “day” when he wrote 
it (in English). While there are yet people 
who give to old Hebrew literature more 
credence than to modern science, the time 
has gone by when American authors of scien- 
tific works have to defer to superstition. 

Geology as a recognized branch of study 
in the schools is less than a century old. As 
a systemized branch of science and a part of 
general culture of the educated man geology 
began with Charles Lyell. His masterly 
writings (1830-1857) proved the continuity 

- 9gie processes and set the standard for 
geologic literature. Previous to about 1840 
American students relied chiefly on English 
works, or on American reprints. As late as 
1837 Edward Hitchcock republished Dela- 
Beche’s “‘ Researches in Theoretic Geology,” a 
small octavo of 842 pages and with no illus- 
trations. 

The oldest American text-book in this file 
is a little duodecimo of 122 pages, with 17 © 
pages of index and errata, by W. W. Mather, 
entitled “Elements of Geology for the use 
of Schools,” date 1833. This has a very few 
small diagrammatic illustrations. The writer’s 
copy has pasted in the front cover a printed 
commendation by B. Silliman, of date June 
18, 1834. 

Two other old books are “ Outlines of Geol- 
ogy,” 1837, 384 pages, by J. L. Comstock; 
“Elements of Geology,” by Charles A. Lee, 
1839, 375 pages. 

The second period of American geologic 
literature (1841-1860) began with Edward 
Hitcheock’s “Elementary Geology,” 1841. 
For two decades this was the American au- 
thority, and by 1860 it had run to the 30th 
edition, with 424 pages. The publication of 
a number of volumes by other authors sug- 
gests the stimulus to scientific study. Three 
of these had the favorite title “ Elements of 
Geology”; by Samuel St John, 1851 (334 
pp.); Justin R. Loomis, 1852 (198 pp.); 
Ayonzo Gray and ©. B. Adams, 1853 (354 


NovEeMBER 18, 1921] 


pp.). “A familiar Compend of Geology” of 
150 pages by A. M. Hillside ig dated 1859. 

The contents of these old books usually 
justify the modesty of their titles. 

The third period of text-book evolution 
(1860-1904) began with Ebenezer Emmons’s 
“Manual of Geology,” 1860. This had only 
297 pages, but included many illustrations. 
Indeed, this was the first book to make very 
large use of illustrations. 

But in a few years Emmons’s excellent work 
and the other books were displaced by the 
masterly “ Manual of Geology” by James D. 
Dana. This was true to its title, for that 
time. The first edition, 1862, had 798 pages 
and 984 illustrations. The fourth edition, in 
1895, had 1087 pages and 1575 illustrations. 
All the geologists of the period including the 
older geologists now living were “ brought 
up” on Dana’s Manual. To meet the de- 
mand for a small text Dana published in 
1863 his “ 'Text-Book,” which was revised in 
1897 by W. N. Rice. 

The most popular work during this period 
for class-room use and as a treatise for 
general reading was Joseph LeConte’s “ Ele- 
ments of Geology,” first published in 1878. 
In LeConte’s picturesque style, with profuse 
new illustrations, and emphasizing mountain 
structure and other features of the western 
part of the continent, it held the field for 
three decades, with several revisions; and it 
is yet in demand, although badly out of date 
on many topics. LeConte’s ‘“ Compend,” 
with 399 pages, appeared in 1884. 

During the later years of this period 
several smaller texts appeared; by N. S. Sha- 
ler, “ First Book in Geology,” 1884 (255 pp.) ; 
Angelo Heilprin, “ The Earth and Its Story,” 
1896 (267 pp.); R. S. Tarr, “ Elementary Ge- 
ology,” 1897 (499 pp.); W. B. Scott, “An 
Introduction to Geology,” 1897 (573 pp.). 
Some popular works or treatises were: Louis 
Agassiz, “Geological Sketches,” 1866; Alex- 
ander Winchell, “Sketches of Creation,” 
1870; “Sparks from a Geologist’s Hammer,” 
1870; “ World Life, or Comparative Geology,” 
1883; T. Sterry Hunt, “Chemical and Ge- 
ological Essays,’’ 1875; J. W. Dawson, ‘ The 


SCIENCE. 


495 


Story of the Earth and Man,” 18738; N. S. 
Shaler, “ Aspects of the Earth,” 1889. 

The year 1883 marks an epoch in American 
geology, in the organization of the Geologi- 
cal Society of America, and the beginning of 
a periodical devoted entirely to geology. The 
American Geologist was founded and con- 
ducted by N. H. Winchell and existed to 
1905, making 36 volumes. The Journal of 
Geology, published by the University of Chi- 
cago, began its excellent work in 1898. 

The next commanding work, in succession 
to Hitchcock, Dana and LeConte, was the 
three volumes of T. C. Chamberlin and R. 
D. Salisbury, in 1904-1906, aggregating 
2,000 pages. This may be regarded as intro- 
ducing the fourth and present period of 
American geologic literature. 

Other excellent text-books of later years are 
the following, omitting titles; J. C. Branner, 
(a syllabus) 1902; W. H. Norton, 1905; Eliot 
Blackwelder and H. H. Barrows, 1911; Cham- 
berlin and Salisbury (single volume), 1914; 
L. V. Pirsson and Charles Schuchert, 1915 
(1051 pp., 522 figures); W. J. Miller, 1916 
(covering only historical geology); H. F. 
Cleland, 1916. 

The above relates only to general geology, 
but the volume of earth-science literature has 
been increased by superior text-books in eco- 
nomic or industrial geology, and in physi- 
ography. The great mass of publication by 
the national and state surveys does not be- 
long in this review. 

Recurring now to the work in hand; it is 
in many respects an excellent presentation of 
geology to date. The writer has good liter- 
ary style, direct and lucid. Most topics are 
well handled and many are treated with full- 
ness and in a masterly way. This is especially 
true of sedimentation problems, of paleozoic 
stratigraphy, and of the historical part in 
general. 

The illustrations are profuse and usually 
pertinent. The portraits of eminent geolo- 
gists of former times will give the student a 
more lively human element. The paleogeo- 
graphic maps, in Part II., are drawn in clear 
outline, and interesting comparison will be 


496 


made with the maps by Schuchert, and by 
Chamberlin and Salisbury. Some of the old 
and crude woodcuts that have done service 
jin the literature for over half a century 
might be honorably retired; for example, 
Figs. 79, 128, 311, 593. 

The publisher’s part has been well done. 
More care in the matter of ink and press- 
work might improve the quality of the half- 
tones, some of which are poor. 

In the order of topics the author does not 
follow the usual practise of beginning with de- 
scription of geologic processes open to observa- 
tion, surficial geology, but uses the philosoph- 
ical or deductive order of cause and effect. 
Three short chapters on the nature and scope 
of the science are succeeded by chapters on the 
materials composing the earth’s crust, miner- 
alogic and chemic geology, and volcanism. This 
is discussed in the interesting preface. 

The many subjects in dynamic and struc- 
tural geology are covered in the remaining 14 
chapters of Part I.; the author’s more original 
matter being on saline deposits (Chapter 11); 
organic deposits (Chapters 12, 13); and on the 
deposition, classification and structure of the 
clastic rocks (Chapters 16-18). 

Historical Geology, Part II., does not offer 
much opportunity for any original treatment. 
The life history of the past is well emphasized. 

The author is strong on classification and 
terminology, and in consequence of his refined 
classification some topics are subdivided and 
treated under different heads. For example, 
glaciers are discussed in at least four places in 
the first volume. The student who wishes to 
find what the book contains on a subject may 
have to consult the index many times. 

A favorite subject of the author is the prob- 
lems of sedimentation; marine transgression 
and regression, overlap and offlap, origin of 
saline deposits, etc. He discusses these in a 
masterly way. But he does not clearly distin- 
guish between accepted fact and his own plaus- 
ible philosophy. An elementary text-book in 
science should contain very little beyond estab- 
lished fact and generally accepted principles. 
In a comprehensive work like this, intended for 
advanced students, new theories and perhaps 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1403 


even subjects under sharp discussion may be 
admitted, but such should be-distinctly stated 
as tentative. This matter needs to be specially 
guarded by an author who is active in scientific 
debate. It will be recognized as bad form for 
an author to use a text-book for propaganda. 
Students should realize that scientific truth 
comes by observation and experiment, not by 
mere thinking. Theorizing is helpful as it 
points the way for induction. Grabau’s discus- 
sion of sedimentation, especially as it relates to 
Paleozoic stratigraphy, will provoke debate and 
will be stimulating to advanced students. 

The work makes very large use of foreign 
material and of illustrations from foreign liter- 
ature. Indeed, on many topics the description 
of foreign features and phenomena is in excess. 
The work should be a satisfactory text for 
European students. But American students 
will be disappointed in the meager discussion 
and illustration of some interesting features of 
American geology. Some topics having very 
inadequate treatment, as noted in the rapid re- 
view, are: American geysers with only a few 
words, but four pages, including four cuts, of 
geysers in general; two pages on petroleum and 
rock gas; the glacial lakes and tilted shorelines 
in the basin of the Great Lakes and the Hud- 
son-Champlain valley receive only a few lines 
(page 695) ; only three pages on coal; only four 
lines to drumlins. 

What may be regarded as a defect in the 
work is the entire absence of references to the 
geologic literature. Some reference to the more 
important articles on topics only briefly dis- 
cussed in the work would be very useful to 
the reader. And for subjects on which other 
authorities may differ references to the litera- 
ture are necessary for impartial study. 

The work is too full and too large to be used 
as a text for beginners. The author evidently 
had laboratory use in mind. Only the test of 
actual use can prove its value in competition 
with other excellent works. The time has 
passed when all of geologic general science, 
even for our continent, can be usefully gath- 
ered into one or two volumes. That was fairly 
done by Dana, fifty years ago. Fifteen years 
ago Chamberlin & Salisbury had to make three 


NovEMBER 18, 1921] 


volumes. A present-day book for beginners 
should contain little more than the basal prin- 
ciples and the more striking and interesting 
facts and illustrations. For advanced work 
special treatises on separate branches of the 
science are desirable. Already the economic or 
industrial geology has been divorced from gen- 
eral study. The same is true for earth forms 
or physiography; and partially for paleon- 
tology. Further differentiation may cover 
dynamics and geophysics; surficial processes; 
sedimentation and structure; meteorologic and 
glacial geology; with perhaps later division of 
the historical. 

Grabau is now in China, as professor of 
paleontology in the University of Peking, 
and Paleontologist to the Chinese Geological 
Survey, and we may anticipate further en- 
richment of geologic literature from his proli- 
fic and facile pen. 

H. L. Famcuitp 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
A PRECISION DETERMINATION OF THE 
DIMENSIONS OF THE UNIT CRYSTAL 
OF ROCK SALT 

“ALL measurements of X-ray wave-lengths 
and of crystal structures depend upon the solu- 
tion of the atomic marshalling of some crystal 
and a calculation of the dimensions of the 
fundamental unit of that crystal in terms of its 
mass and density. The crystal most used in 
this connection is rock salt (NaCl). It is the 
purpose of this note to give the side of the unit 
cube of NaCl in terms of the most accurate 
data available. 

The NaCl crystal was early shown by Bragg 
to be a cube, alternate corners of which are 
occupied by Na, the remaining corners being 
occupied by Cl. Since one half of one Na and 
one half of one Cl are each associated with one 
unit cube, the mass of the unit must be 


1/2[ANa + Aci] m, 


where ANa is the atomic weight of Na, 
Ac is the atomic weight of Cl, 
m is the mass in grams associated with 
one unit of atomic weight. 
The 1919 International Table of Atomic 
Weights gives 


SCIENCE 


497 


ANa = 23.00 
Aci = 35.46 

If these values should be wrong by .01 the 
error would be less than .05 per cent. in each 
case. 

m is most easily found as e/F' where e is the 
charge on the electron, F is the Faraday 
constant in electrolysis. Millikan? gives e as 
4.774 10-29 Abs. E. S. units of charge with a 
maximum error of .1 per cent. 


This gives e— log? 19.20176 
= 1.591 * 10-18 absolute 
coulombs. 


Vinal and Bates,? of the Bureau of Stand- 
ards give 


F (Iodine) = 96,515 
(Silver) = 96,494 


Mean = 96,505 international coulombs. 


They have determined the absolute coulomb 
as being .004 per cent. greater than the inter- 
national coulomb, and recommend the value in 
absolute coulombs, 

F=96,500 


The maximum error is .01 per cent. 
From the above 


m = ¢/F = log-1 24.21723 
—= 1.649 x 10-24 gms. 


The density of NaCl is given by Zehnder 
(1886) as 2.188, by Retgers (1890) as 1.167, by 
Krickmeyer (1896) as 2.174 and by Gossner 
(1904) as 2.178. Gossner’s work? seems to have 
been done with special care. He measured 
eleven artificial crystals of NaCl, obtaining 
densities ranging from 2.171 to 2.175. His 
measurements on natural crystals gave 2.178. 
Taking these results in connection with those 
of Krickmeyer, we may assign to NaCl a den- 
sity of 2.173 + .002, thus giving a maximum 


1R. A. Millikan, ‘‘ A new determination of H, N, 
and related constants,’’ Phil. Mag., 84, 1917. 

2G. W. Vinal and S. J. Bates, ‘‘ Comparison of 
the silver and iodine voltameters, and the determi- 
nation of the value of the Faraday,’’ Bull. Bureau 
of Standards, 10, 425, 1914. 

3B. Gossner, ‘‘ Untersuchung polymorpher Kor- 
per,’’ Zeit. f. Kryst., 88, 132, 1904 


498 


error of .1 per cent. It should be understood 
that this density refers to measurements at 
room temperature. The coefficient of expansion 
of NaCl is given by the Smithsonian Tables as 
4010, so that a variation of 10°C. in 
either direction from normal room temperature 
would make an error of less than .05 per cent. 
in the side of the cube. 

The volume of the unit cube of NaCl is 
therefore 


Ma Berle '2!'53/34600 
— Density Hees ER 


= 22.182 X 10-24 ee. 
and the side of the unit cube is 
d= log-1 8.44867 

= 2.810 X 10-8 em. 


Even if all the values entering into this result 
were in error to the maximum amount, and all 
jn such a direction as to affect the final result 
in the same sense, the change in the value 
of d would be less than .1 per cent. 

For purposes of reference, the table below 
gives the logarithms of the interplanar dis- 
tances of a simple cube of side log-? 44867 and 
the actual distances to three decimal places. 
These lines are all found in the powder diffrac- 
tion pattern of NaCl. The additional lines of 
the face-centered cube of Cl ions (d = 5.620) 
are not included in the table as they are too 
faint to measure easily on a film and are there- 
fore useless for calibration purposes. 


V 


Plane Log Distance Distance 
TOON Noe eee eae 44867 2.810 
TPES SA Ros eer aru 29816 1.987 
TITIES ABS a es 21011 1.622 
IKON CDW senbancs aad eae 14764 1.405 
Ie A EAU ee 09919 1.257 
Oiseau .05960 1.147 
SLOMAN eat NEN aan 1.99713 993 

211 = 

100 (3) cts 1.97115 936 
BT Oe rag lain Ua 1.94867 .889 
STAY ReanN ROM SD EAU 1.92798 847 
al ary G2) yredeataar Mare aE 1.90908 811 
S2OW SR eta cated oe 1.89170 .779 
BOTH AR LAA MUA subs Seeman te 1.87561 751 
OOK CA) ae au ac Sree 1.84661 .702 

aoe hg tea aOR 1.83345 681 
{ ao ayes ae 7.82104 662 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1403 


BBN BO OE UC TENS 1.80930 645 
PAU ED ace dans adan sae 1.79816 628 
BOs ate NTL fd RPO ‘1.78756 613 
CSAS aM nukes wees UNS 1.77746 599 
CATT ODE SNA en 1.75857 574 

wa Gygeeeeesnseese 1.74970 562 


WHEELER P. Davey 
GENERAL ELEcTRIC COMPANY, 


ScHENEcTapy, N, Y. 


THE AMERICAN ELECTROCHEMICAL 
SOCIETY 


SOCIAL EVENTS, LECTURES 


It was generally conceded by all in attendance at 
Lake Placid that a most unique meeting place had 
been selected for a Fall meeting. Through the 
courtesy of the Lake Placid Club their recreation 
facilities were placed at the disposal of our mem- 
bers and afforded excellent opportunities for taking 
part in golf, tennis, motoring and mountain hiking. 

A great deal of the success of the meeting is due 
to Mr. W. M. Corse, who spared no effort as acting 
chairman of the arrangements committee. 

On Thursday, September 29, at 9 a.m., the 
fortieth General Meeting of the Society was called 
to order by President Acheson Smith, who then in- 
troduced Dr. Melvil Dewey, founder and president 
of the Lake Placid Club. Dr. Dewey cordially wel- 
comed our members and mentioned several points 
of interest that everyone should see while at Lake 
Placid. The reading and active discussion of 
papers followed this talk and were continued in the 
mornings of the next two days, the features of 
which were respectively the symposiums on Non-fer- 
rous Metallurgy and Electrodeposition. 

The boat ride, on Thursday afternoon, comprising 
a round trip on Lake Placid, was enjoyed by each 
of the 48 persons on board. 

A brief history of the Lake Placid Club was out- 
lined by Dr. Dewey in a short talk preceding the 
lecture on ‘‘ Chemistry and the Stars ’’ by Profes- 
sor Harlow Shapley. With the aid of lantern slides 
Professor Shapley presented a very interesting 
account of the stellar universe and of the work 
being done at the Mt. Wilson Observatory. 

Friday afternoon. A mountain hike up Mt. Mac- 
Intyre was a thrilling experience for all in the 
party. The club lodge at the base of this peak was 
reached by motor car through 10 miles of winding 
roads. An unusual rain storm prevailed before the 
party had reached the halfway mark, but this was 


NovEMBER 18, 1921] 


no obstacle in the way of seven or eight who finally 
succeeded in reaching the summit. 

On Friday evening Dr. Dewey gave a number of 
illustrations on ‘‘ How English can be made the 
world language by removing the chief obstacle in 
learning it.’’ This talk was followed by an illus- 
trated lecture on ‘‘ The practise of forestry on 
national forests,’’ by Col. T. S. Woolsey. Col. 
Woolsey has been connected with U. S. Forest 
Service and his various slides were very interesting. 

Mr. Arthur Delroy very cleverly explained how 
character is read from hands and handwriting, and 
gave illustrations of how the ‘‘ impossible ’’ or 
magic trick was performed on the stage. 

Later in the evening an informal dance closed the 
social events of the meeting. 


TECHNICAL SESSIONS 

Each of the three technical sessions was attended 
by a number of members and guests who took active 
part in discussing the papers presented. The result 
was that the proceedings, carried out according to 
schedule, were lively as well as interesting. 

The Thursday morning session was filled by read- 
ing and discussion of papers: 

Experiences with alkaline and alkaline earth 
metals im connection with non-ferrous alloys: 
CHARLES VICKERS. Sodium appears to have a 
negative value for copper, but seems to be superior 
to phosphorus in deoxidizing bronze. Calcium, of 
the alkaline earth metals, appears valueless in pro- 
ducing sound copper castings. As a deoxidizer, cal- 
cium is best adaptable when combined with an acid 
element, as silicon, and is further improved when 
combined with a third element. 

The electrolytically produced calciwm-bariwm-lead 
alloys comprising Frary metal: W. A. Cowan, L. D. 
SrmpxINs and G. O. Hirrs. This paper presented 
by Mr. Hiers described the development of Frary 
Metal and its production by electrodeposition from 
a mixture of calcium and barium chlorides over a 
bath of molten lead as cathode. The properties of 
Frary metal are compared with those of other bear- 
ing metals. As a bearing metal it has desirable 
hardness and strength at elevated temperatures. 

The electrolytic corrosion of lead-thallium alloys: 
Coury G. FinK and C. H. Expriper. Presented by 
Dr. Fink. Anodie corrosion losses in an acid cop- 
per sulfate electrolyte containing nitric and hydro- 
chloric acids are reduced by using lead-thallium 
alloys. A minimum loss of 1.2 Ib. per 100 Ib. of 
copper deposited resulted with a lead anode con- 
taining 10 per cent. Tl and 20 per cent. Sn. 


SCIENCE 


499 


A new theory of the corrosion of iron: J. NEw- 
TON FRIEND. An auto-colloidal catalytic theory, 
which postulates the corrosion as starting by the 
formation of colloidal ferrous hydroxide. This by 
contact with the air forms hydrated ferric hydrox- 
ide which in turn is alternately reduced by contact 
with iron and oxidized by contact with air, thus 
continuing the corrosion. 


Rust prevention by slushing: Haakon STyRI. 
An extended research which shows that for protec- 
tion against rust by greases a thorough cleaning of 
the steel parts by an aqueous solution is essential; 
an oil emulsion which leaves an oil film for short 
time protection is preferable. Such emulsions pro- 
tect against rust. 


Transformer oil sludge: C. J. RopMan. Of the 
three types of transformer oil sludge (asphaltic, 
soap and carbon), the asphaltic is the most general 
form and is the oxidation product of an attackable 
oil. It collects upon the active parts of trans- 
former. The soap sludge forms slowly and is diffi- 
cult to remove by filtration, The carbon sludge is 
caused by electrical breakdown. 


The electrolysis of organic compounds: RAYMOND 
FrEAS. The author endeavors to encourage further 
research of organic compound electrolysis. The dis- 
cussion, limited to electro-reduction processes, pre- 
sents the factors influencing the relative velocities 
of reaction, and despite their great number it is 
maintained possible to secure selective reduction 
electrolytically. A convenient experimental arrange- 
ment is described. 


Electrolytic oxidation of the leuco-base of mala- 
chite green: ALEX. Lowy and E, H. Havux. That 
the dye stuff malachite green can be produced by 
electrolytic oxidation of the leuco-base is set forth 
in a series of experiments. The highest dye yield 
resulted with uranyl sulphate as catalyst, platinum 
cathode, and nichrome gauze anode in dilute sul- 
phurie acid solution, at 85° C. 

The electrolytic dissociation of cyanamide and 
some of its salts in aqueous solution: N. KAME- 
YAMA. The degree of dissociation and of hydro- 
lysis of sodium and calcium cyanamide was deter- 
mined; from this the dissociation constant was 
ealeulated and the mobility of the cyanamide anion 
estimated. 

Electrolytic production of sodium perborate: P. 
C, AuseaarD. After presenting a detailed account 
of the work by Arndt and by Valeur, the author re- 
lates the results of his experiments and their appli- 
cation to larger scale production. 


500 


The electrolytic oxidation of hydrochloric acid to 
perchloric acid: H.M. GoopwIn aNnpD EH. C. WALKER. 
The investigation and data present the effect of 
acid concentration, current density, duration of 
electrolysis and temperature on the yield of per- 
chlorie acid. <A cell yielding 800 grams of 60 per 
cent. acid per 24 hours is deseribed. 

Graphic control of electrolytic processes: B. G. 
WortH. A graphic method of maintaining fixed 
conditions in potassium chlorate production is pre- 
sented. Of the three factors which influence the 
yield, two represent concentrations of 2 compounds 
one of which is controllable by addition agents, and 
the third is temperature. 

Friday morning was devoted to a Symposium on 
Non-ferrous Metallurgy. The papers included were: 

The influence of the electric furnace on the metal- 
lurgy of non-ferrous metals: H. M. St. JoHN. The 
use of the electric furnace in brass foundries and 
refining plants for melting purposes has revolution- 
ized metal handling methods; a more uniform 
quality of product is obtained with less labor and 
less metal wastage. The attainments are better 
than have been previously possible and the secre- 
tiveness which has been characteristic of the non- 
ferrous industry is gradually being done away with. 

Modern developments in the British brass indus- 
try: E. A. Smirn. The actual condition of the 
British brass industry is presented with a discus- 
sion of electric brass furnaces, hot pressing and 
forging in brass, rolling mill practice, annealing, 
ete. 

Resistance type of electric furnace in the melting 
of brass and other non-ferrous metals: T. F. Baty. 
The various features to be considered in making an 
electric furnace installation for melting non-ferrous 
metals are discussed. 

Comparison of electric furnace practise with fuel- 
fired furnace practise: N. K. B. Patcu. The 
author’s experiences are that the cost of metal 
melted, the melting losses, and the solution of gases 
in metal, are substantially the same in the electric 
and the fuel-fired furnace, providing intelligent oper- 
ation is pursued. 

Electric silver melting: H. A. DrFrizs. De- 
seribes advantages of electric furnace melting of 
silver and relates how a more ductile and tougher 
silver results upon introducing an iron block into 
the bath. 

Electric furnace melting of nickel-silver: F. C. 
THompson. Advantages of melting nickel-silver in 
the externally heated electric furnace are discussed. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1403 


Aluminum-copper alloys: R. J. ANDERSON. A 
discussion of the manufacture, properties and uses 
of the commercial aluminum-copper alloys employed 
in the United States. 

Recent developments in electric furnaces of the 
mufiled are type: H. A. WINNE. Several types of 
muffled are melting furnaces are described with 
their features and adaptabilities. 


Electric furnace purification of zirkite: J. G. 
THOMPSON. The are type furnace used in this in- 
vestigation made it possible to remove 90-95 per 
cent. Si as an impurity from the zirkite ore; the 
amount of carbon introduced being only sufficient 
to transform the silicon to the carbide. 


Physical characteristics of specialized refrac- 
tories. Cross breaking strength at 20° and 1850° 
C.: M.L. Hartman AND W. A. KoEHLER. The tests 
were carried out on each of ten refractory materials 
at the temperatures indicated. 


An Electrodeposition Symposium was the feature 
of the morning of the closing day of the meeting, 
Saturday, October 1. The papers discussed were: 

An electric steam-generator for low voltage: F. 
A. Lippury anp F. A. Stamps. An inexpensive 
form of apparatus for the generation of steam by 
means of an alternating current of voltages from 
100 to 500. 

The effect of pressure on overvoltage: H. M. 
Goopwin AnD L. A. Winson. The values of over- 
voltage of hydrogen against copper, nickel and mer- 
eury electrodes were determined at pressures vary- 
ing from one atmosphere to a few centimeters of 
mercury. 

Researches on the electrodeposition of iron: W. 
E. Hueues. The results of several experiments and 
those obtained by the author are related in the 
electrodeposition of iron from (1) sulphate solu-_ 
tions, (2) chloride solutions and (3) sulphate- 
chloride solutions. 

Electrolytic solution and deposition of copper: 
T. R. Brices. 

Electrometallurgy of zinc: W. R. Incauts. The 
developments in the electrolytic zine extraction 
process and the progress, in Scandinavia, of electro- 
thermic smelting are set forth. 

Deposition of zine from the zine cyanide solu- 
tion: C. J. WERNLUND. This research was carried 
out with the intention of obtaining a zine eyanide 
plating solution which would operate successfully 
under the most trying commercial conditions, 

The electrodeposition of lead-tin alloys: WM. 
Bium anp H. E. Harine. That a finer grained de- 


NoveMBER 18, 1921] 


posit of alloys of lead and tin can be obtained from 
fluoborate solutions than is possible when deposit- 
ing either of the metals under similar conditions is 
established. 

The structure and properties of alternately elec- 
tro-deposited metals: WM. Buum. If during the 
deposition of copper thin layers of nickel are inter- 
posed, a deposit of greater tensile strength than 
pure copper results due to the restraining influence 
nickel has on the growth of copper crystals. 

In all the meeting proved to be most profitable, 
social and instructive. 

A. D. SPILLMAN, 
Secretary 


THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 
HELMHOLTZ MEMORIAL MEETING 


THE sixth meeting of the Optical Society 
of America was held in Rochester, N. Y., 
October 24, 25, 26, 1921. 113 persons were 
registered in attendance. The attendance at 
various sessions varied from about 35 to 100 
or more. 

The most notable feature of the meeting 
was the Helmholtz Memorial Meeting held 
on the afternoon and evening of Monday, 
October 24. The following former students 
of Helmholtz were present: Professor Henry 
Crew, Professor OC. R. Mann, Professor Ern- 
est Merritt, Professor FE. L. Nichols, Profes- 
sor M. I. Pupin, Dr. Ludwik Silberstein. 
The afternocn program was as follows: 


A brief survey of the historical development of 
optical science: PRoFESSoR J. P. C. SOUTHALL. 
Helmholtz’s early work in physics—the conserva- 

tion of energy: PROFESSOR HENRY CREW. 
Helmholtz’s contributions to physiological optics: 
L. T. TROLAND. 


Professor Crew exhibited lantern slides 
showing Helmholtz at the time he wrote the 
essay on the Conservation of Energy (age 
26) and also at later periods of his life. 

At the evening session Professor M. I. 
Pupin spoke informally and in most interest- 
ing and delightful manner on his Personal 
Recollections of Helmholtz. Professor E. L. 
Nichols, Professor Ernest Merritt, Dr. Lud- 
wik Silberstein, Mrs. Christine Ladd-Frank- 
lin and Professor C. R. Mann also spoke of 
their memories of Helmholtz as a teacher. 


SCIENCE. 


501 


Professor Mann showed a lantern slide of a 
photograph which he himself made on July 
7, 1894, showing Helmholtz at his lecture 
desk only a few days before his last illness. 

The Helmholtz Memorial addresses will be 
published in the Journal of the Optical 
Society of America. 

Various scientific societies were represented 
at the meeting by delegates as follows: 


American Mathematical Society: Professor A. 8S. 
Gale. 

American Physical Society: Professor M. I. Pupin, 
Dr. L. T. Troland, Professor Henry Crew. 

American Association for the Advancement of 
Science: Professor M. I. Pupin. 

New York Academy of Science: Professor M. I. 
Pupin. 

American Academy of Ophthalmology and Oto- 
Laryngology: Dr. R. 8. Lamb. 

American Medical Association, Section of Ophthal- 
mology: Dr. W. B. Lancaster. 

American Ophthalmological Society: Dr. Lucien 
Howe, Dr. George S. Crampton. 

Society of Illuminating Engineers: Dr. George S. 
Crampton. 

American Psychological Association: Dr. L. T. 
Troland, Mr. Prentice Reeves, Professor C. E, 
Ferree, Dr. P. W. Cobb. 


The following papers were presented at the 
regular sessions of the Society on October 
25 and 26. 


Photo-electric potentials from the retina: E. L. 
CHAFFEE AND W. T. Bovie (to be published in 
full in the Jour. Op. Soc. Am.). 

Intensity and composition of light and size of 
visual angle in relation to important ocular func- 
tions: C, E. FERREE AND GERTRUDE RAND. 

A theory of intermittent vision: HERBERT E. IvES 
(to be published in full in the Phil. Mag.). 

An analysis of the visibility curve in terms of the 
Weber-Fechner law and the least perceptible 
brightness: ENocH KarreEr (to be published in 
full in the Jour. Op. Soc. Am.). 

A quantitative determination of the inherent satur- 
ation of spectral colors: L. T. TROLAND (to be 
published in full in the Jour. Op. Soc, Am.). 

The interrelations of brilliance and chroma studied 
by a flicker technique: L. T. TROLAND AND C. H. 
LANGFORD (to be published in full in the Jour. 
Op. Soc. Am.). 

A proposed standard method of colorimetry: HER- 


902 


BERT EB. Ives (to be published in full in the Jour. 
Op. Soc. Am.). 

Accuracy in color matching: W. E. ForsyTHeE (to 
be published in full in the Jour. Op. Soc. Am.). 

Measurement of the color temperature of the more 
efficient artificial light sources by the method of 
rotatory dispersion: IRWIN G. Priest (to be pub- 
lished in full in the Jour. Op. Soc. Am.). 

The Blue Glow: E. L. NicHous anp H. L. Howes 
(to be published in full in the Jour. Op. Soc. 
Am.). 

The optical properties of a cylindrical enclosure 
with specularly reflecting walls: Hrrpert E. 
IvEs. 

The relation between glass and the deflection char- 
acteristics of surfaces: LuoypD A. JoNES AND M. 
F. Fruuius (to be published in full in the Jour. 
Op. Soc. Am.). 

The graininess of photographic materials: LuoyD A. 
Jonrs AND ArTHUR ©. Harpy (to be published in 
full in the Jour. Frank. Inst.). 

The design of aspherical lens surfaces: P. G. Nut- 
TING. 

On the distribution of light in planes above and 
below the image plane in the microscope: FRED 
EH. WRIGHT. 

The factors underlying the measurement of re- 
fractive indices by the immersion method: FRED 
E. Wricut (two preceding to be published in 
one paper in the Jour. Op. Soc. Am.). 

Some thermal effects observed in chilled glass: A. 
Q. Too AND C. G. EICHLIN. 

A new X-Ray diffraction apparatus: WHEELER P. 
Davey (to be published in full in the Jour. Op. 
Soc. Am.). 

Rotating photometric sectors of adjustable trans- 
mission while in motion: CARL W. KEUFFEL AND 
C. D. Hmuman (to be published in full in the 
Jour. Op. Soc. Am.). 

Euscope: WILLIAM G, EXTON. 

Turbibimeter: WILLIAM G. EXTON. 


On Tuesday evening, October 25, visiting 
members were guests at a dinner entertain- 
ment given by the Rochester Section of the 
Society. 

The very well conducted trips through the 
Research Laboratories of the Eastman Kodak 
Company and the glass plant, optical shops 
and observatory of Bausch and Lomb were 
also much appreciated by the visiting mem- 
bers. 

The Rochester Section was given a hearty 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1403 


vote of thanks for its hospitality and the 
many courtesies extended during this very 
successful meeting. 

Forty new members were elected. 
membership is now about three hundred. 

The Society’s intention to cultivate actively 
the field of physiological optics was indicated 
by the following resolution, adopted October 
26, 1921: 


WHEREAS the Optical Society of America is de- 
voted to the science of optics, pure and applied, a 
subdivision of which is the subject of Physiological 
Optics, with the several contributory sciences of 
physiology, psychology, physics and chemistry, rep- 
tesentatives of which sciences have at the present 
time no common meeting ground for the discussion 
of problems of vision of mutual interest and 

WHEREAS, the National Research Council, through 
its Committee on Physiological Optics, has recom- 
mended to the Optical Society of America the tak- 
ing of such steps as may be necessary to further 
and encourage cooperative efforts in research in 
vision and allied phenomena, therefore be it 

Resolved that the Optical Society of America 
does hereby signify its intention of devoting one or 
more sessions of each annual meeting to papers on 
Physiological Optics and other appropriate subjects 
related to vision, and 

Resolved that there be and hereby is established 
by the Society a Standing Committee of three, the 
duty of which shall be 

(1) To prepare the program of the sessions on 
Vision, 

(2) To coordinate the work of the Society in this 
field with the work of other Societies and 

(3) To recommend, from time to time, such 
further steps as may be deemed effective in encour- 
aging research in Physiological Optics and allied 
problems. And 

Resolved further that the Optical Society, through 
its Committee on Physiological Optics, shall invite 
all those interested in research on Vision and allied 
fields to participate actively in these sessions. 


The next meeting will be held at the 
National Bureau of Standards in Washing- 
ton in the latter part of October, 1922. It is 
tentatively planned to hold an exhibition of 
optical instruments in connection with this 
meeting. 


The 


Irwin G. Prisst, 
Secretary 


uN 


ett tt 


SCIENCE 


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Two binding posts for potential terminals and 
shunt connections are so arranged that they do 
not interfere with one another when connected 
in series. 


No. Value, Accuracy, Price, 
II00, I ohm, 1/100 %, $15.00 
IIOI, Io ohms, 1/100%, $15.00 
1102, TLOOwion 1/100%, $17.50 
II03, I,000 =“ 1/100%, $20.00 
I104, 10,000. |“ 1/100 %, $25.00 
II05, -I ohm, 1/50%, $15.00 
I106, .OI ohm, 1/50%, $15.00 


RUBICON COMPANY 


923 Walnut St. PHILADELPHAI 


SCIENCE 


Fripay, NoveMBrer 25, 1921. 


Education in relation to Public Health and 


Medical Practise: Proressor 8. J. HoumEs. 503 


The Relation of the Teohnical School to Indus- 


trial Research: ALFRED D. FLINN.......... 508 


The Present Status of University Men in 


Russia: Dr. VERNON KELLOGG............. 510 


Scientific Events: 
Grants for Research of the American Asso- 
ciation for the Advancement of Science; 
Map of the North Pacific Ocean; The 
Steamer ‘‘ Albatross ’’; Mulford Explora- 
tion in Bolivia; The Eclipse Expeditions to 
Christmas Island... 0.1... .ce cece eee eens 


Scientific Notes and News... i051 05.5.0 eee 
University and Educational Notes............ 


Discussion and Correspondence : 
Positive Ray Analysis of Zinc: Dr. A. J. + 
Dempster. The Rediscovery and Validity of 
Arca lithodamus Sowerby: Dr. CARLOTTA J. 
Maury. The Geographical Distribution of 
Hybrids: Prorgessor HE. C. Jerrrey. The 
Ray Society: Proressor G. H. PARKER..... 


Scientific Books: 


Russell on The Analysis of Mind. Prorss- 
SORICASSIUS J. MMEYSER cloaca uielsiecs 


516 


518 
520 


Special Articles: 


The Quantitative Basis of the Polar Char- 
acter of Regeneration in Bryophyllum: Dr. 
JACQUES LorB. The Scattering of Electrons 
by Nickel: Dr. C. Davisson anp C. H. 
KunsMANn. The Atomic Weight of Boron: 


Proressor G. P. BAxTER AND A. F. Scorr.. 521 


The American Chemical Society: PRoressor 


CHARLES L. PARSONS.............0.-cce0. 


MBS. intended for ‘publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. 


EDUCATION IN RELATION TO PUBLIC 
HEALTH AND MEDICAL 
PRACTISE1 


Prruars the most obvious thing that can 
be said in regard to education in relation to 
matters of health and medical practise is that 
such education is sadly needed. I may state 
the matter rather more strongly by saying 
that ignorance on these subjects is directly 
responsible in the United States alone for the 
loss of several hundred thousand lives each 
year, and an amount of sickness and suffering 
which we can express in no adequate meas- 
ure. Ignorance of the laws of health, of the 
causes of disease, of how to avoid epidemics; 
ignorance of how to take care of children in 
the perilous period of infancy; ignorance of 
how to secure the proper medical aid in case 
of sickness and of how to take care of one’s 
self or dependents when ill,—ignorance in 
one form or another is probably the most 
potent of all the allies of the angel of death. 

The maintenance of life, whether in man 
or in lower animals, always implies an ade- 
quate adjustment of the organism to its en- 
vironment. Since relatively few human 
beings die of old age, most death can be at- 
tributed to failure to make the proper ad- 
justments. Among the things that our organ- 
ism has to guard against are enemies of 
various sorts, lack of the proper quantity and 
quality of food, vicissitudes of climate, acci- 
dents and diseases, and it is obvious that the 
more we know of the various agencies that 
cause people to die, the more successful we 
shall be in avoiding or overcoming them. If 
one goes over the most common causes of 
death enumerated in the U. S. Mortality 
Statistics, he can not fail to be impressed 


1 Read before the Symposium on Science and the 
Publice Health, held under the auspices of the Pacific 
Division of the American Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science, Berkeley, Calif., Aug. 4, 1921. 


504 


with the fact that the things that make people 
die are to a large extent avoidable. Of 
course we must all die some time. But knowl- 
edge has enabled man to cut down very 
materially the death rate from many causes 
in the past few decades and with greater dif- 
fusion of knowledge it is perfectly possible 
to make tremendous strides further in the 
same direction. 

It is not sufficient that this knowledge be 
in the hands of the medical profession merely, 
much as humanity in general might gain and 
has gained by the application of this informa- 
tion to the prevention and cure of disease. 
The general public must be enlightened in 
regard to the preservation of health if the 
knowledge in the possession of the medical 
world can be applied in the most effective 
way. Imperfectly developed as medical sci- 
ence may be at the present time, there is a 
tremendous amount of sickness and death that 
could be avoided if the great mass of human- 
ity could avail itself of the resources of medi- 
cal knowledge and skill that are now avail- 
able. As Dr. Benjamin Moore says in his 
book “ The Dawn of a Health Age” in speak- 
ing of conditions in England, 

At the present moment we possess sufficient 
knowledge of medical science to enable us to save 
at least three hundred thousand lives every year in 
this country alone, and the saving of these three 
hundred thousand valuable lives could all be effected 
without costing the nation a single penny, but 
rather at the same time many million pounds a year 
might be saved which under present conditions are 
absolutely wasted. 


For this deplorable situation there are a 
number of causes, one of which is our com- 
mercialized system of private medical prac- 
tise, but another is the widespread lack of 
information in regard to the preservation of 
health and the proper utilization of the medi- 
eal aids within reach. But besides the draw- 
backs due merely to ignorance, there are 
others that are due to traditional modes of 
thought that have come down to us from the 
days of the primitive medicine man and which 
can not be properly appreciated except in the 
light of their historical development. We 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1404. 


may no longer believe in sorcery and magic 
but numerous individuals are still swayed by 
various attenuated superstitions which may 
determine their conduct when matters of life 
or death hinge upon the correctness of their 
judgment. Most of us set little store by 
charms and amulets, but many are prone to 
look upon medicines as effecting cures in a 
quite mysterious way. Much mysticism and 
superstition still linger in popular notions of 
medicine. Cures are not infrequently at- 
tributed to supernatural interference, and 
the functions of priest and medicine man that 
were originally performed by the same person 
are by no means yet completely dissociated. 
The old theory of demoniacal possession as 
the cause of disease and the old practise of 
exorcising the intruding spirits in order to 
effect a cure still survive, in a modified form 
to be sure, but with easily recognizable marks 
of their descent. As a scientific theory of 
disease, by the way, this primitive belief has 
a decided advantage over some of its modern 
outgrowths in its relative simplicity and 
rationality if we once grant the demono- 
logical premise upon which it was founded. 
And on account of the recent recrudescence 
of animism in several quarters I rather look 
forward to its being revived. 

There can be little doubt that the influence 
of old traditional notions is no small factor 
in determining the attitude of many people 
towards problems of health in the educated 
and the un-educated classes alike. Many 
people who may be perfectly scientific when 
it comes to matters of building bridges or 
repairing engines, may rush when ill to some 
quack of whose qualifications they know 
nothing, or adopt procedures as stupid as 
wearing a charm or repeating some mum- 
mery to ward off the evil eye. 

We are losing our old-time naive confidence 
in medicines and to a certain extent the medi- 
cal profession. We know that doctors often 
disagree, that they continually make wrong 
diagnoses, that they have their fads in 
methods of treatment that spread like epidem- 
ics over the profession only to be abandoned 
after a short period of trial; people are dis- 


NovEeMBER 25, 1921] 


turbed by the teachings of so-called schools 
with their different theories of the cause and 
cure of many diseases. And when they are 
ill they are puzzled to know where to go for 
relief. Smith recommends Dr. Jones; Brown 
advises an osteopath; someone else favors a 
Chinese herb doctor who is reputed to have 
made some wonderful cures; another suggests 
a favorite patent medicine; another urges the 
employment of an electric healer; still an- 
other extols the virtues of hydrotherapy; 
and Mrs. X. would have them go to a Christ- 
ian Science healer to help overcome the illu- 
sion that there was anything the matter at all. 
Out of the thousands of things that have 
been prescribed and swallowed for various 
ailments a mere handful have stood the test 
of time and fuller experience. Almost any 
liberal-minded modern doctor will tell you 
this, but a large part of the public fails to 
appreciate how far the medical profession 
has advanced and still regards the doctor as 
chiefly a dispenser of dopes. 

Not only is there much misconception of 
medical science and practise but there pre- 
vails a good deal of dissatisfaction and dis- 
encouragement with medicine that is not 
devoid of substantial grounds. It can not 
be denied that our present commercialized 
medical practise prevents a large part of the 
public from obtaining the medical attention 
it needs and which, for the welfare of society 
in general, it should receive. As Dr. Cabot 
has remarked, the only persons who can afford 
adequate medical aid are the very poor (who 
are often taken care of for nothing) and 
the very rich. This circumstance doubtless 
leads many to become dissatisfied with medi- 
cine in general and renders them prone to be 
misled by the attacks of the enemies of medi- 
cal science who seem to be growing in num- 
bers in proportion as the science has ad- 
vanced and its real service has become 
extended. 

Among the large bewildered and dissatis- 
fied class there are many who have gone from 
one doctor to another without ever falling 
into the right hands. There are many un- 
fortunately for whom there is simply no help 


SCIENCE 


505 


available in the present condition of medical 
science. And there is a large class of persons 
with imaginary ills who continually haunt 
the offices of doctors in the vain effort to 
obtain relief. All these classes are apt to 
furnish recruits to the opponents of medical 
research and practise who, whether from a 
semi-religious fanaticism or from motives of 
financial gain, make themselves a constant 
menace to the health of the community. 

A large proportion even of educated people 
have no proper orientation upon the present 
situation of the science of medicine. What 
is particularly hard for them properly to 
realize is the difficulty of the problems which 
the physician has to solve and the extent to 
which he is handicapped by the failure of 
science to afford adequate methods of diagno- 
sis and cure. The physician is continually 
confronted with problems the only honest 
answer to which is “I don’t know.” But his 
patients are naturally disappointed with such 
a verdict, even when assured that the doctor 
will take the necessary steps to get at the 
root of the trouble. Frequently patients can 
not be made to consider the situation in an 
unbiased manner and have no proper ap- 
preciation of a truly scientific attitude on the 
part of the physician. The demand of such 
patients to be humbugged often leads the 
physician to adopt an attitude of pretense 
and assurance in order to cheer up his pa- 
tients and keep his business. 

The remedy for this situation—and con- 
ditions in this regard have improved in recent 
years—is more scientific training on the part 
of doctors on the one hand and enlightening 
the public as to what may reasonably be ex- 
pected of medicine on the other. Well-trained 
and high-minded physicians who treat their 
patients with entire candor and frankness 
even at the risk of alienating many of them 
do much toward educating the public to take 
the right attitude in turn toward the medical 
profession. With improvements in the stand- 
ards of medical education and the elimina- 
tion of the poorly equipped practitioner who 
is, perforce, something of a pretender, the 
esteem with which the medical profession is 


506 


regarded will surely rise and many causes of 
dissatisfaction which now alienate people will 
tend to disappear. 

It is important that the public be made to 
realize that although medical practise is very 
old, scientific medicine is still in its infancy. 
The public should know something of the 
great conquests which have been made in 
recent years in the struggle against disease. 
It should know something of the réle of 
bacteria in causing diseases, how diseases are 
spread, and consequently how they may be 
checked. It should have some knowledge of 
the achievements of protective inoculation, 
serum therapy, the relation of knowledge of 
physiology and pathology in understanding 
and treating disease, and the general depend- 
ence of medical science and practise on the 
development of the fundamental sciences on 
which medicine rests. It should appreciate 
that most of these sciences have had their 
greatest development in relatively recent 
times, that the cause of public health is 
dependent upon their further advancement, 
that we are living in a period of great achieve- 
ment and promise, and that we may save 
millions of human lives and endless suffer- 
ing by the support and encouragement of 
scientific research. 

Unless the more educated part of the com- 
munity have some vision of the development, 
present situation and promise of medical sci- 
ence, it is apt to be more strongly influenced 
by the shortcomings of present-day practise 
than by the wonderful achievements which 
medicine has actually won. But very recently 
in our own state, California, the educated 
public showed itself in danger of being mis- 
led into supporting legislation in the inter- 
ests of quackery and even of fanatical op- 
position to medical research. 

The public health is a public trust. If 
this trust is not discharged properly, the 
public will have to pay a fearful bill. The 
more informed the public becomes, the higher 
are the standards that will be demanded of 
those that practise the healing art, the more 
adequate will be the provisions for public 
hygiene and sanitation, the more satisfactory 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1404. 


will be the relations of doctor and patient, 
and the more generously will investigation 
be supported. Even among educated people 
there is sore need of education along these 
lines. 

But greatly as many educated people need 
educating, there is a frightful amount of suf- 
fering and needless death among the more 
ignorant elements of the community and 
especially among our large immigrant popula- 
tion. The recent book of Mr. M. J. Davis on 
“Tmmigrant Health and the Community” 
reveals a general situation that is very bad. 
Our great immigrant tide lodges mainly in 
cities where the various nationalities are 
segregated in crowded districts where they 
live under unhygienic conditions. Their 
death rate as shown by the U. S. Mortality 
Statistics and the investigations of a number . 
of life insurance companies is markedly in 
excess of that of the native-born. Their in- 
fant mortality is high. The studies of the 
U. S. Children’s Bureau have shown that in 
many towns it is two or even three times that 
of the native Americans, and that it tends to 
decrease with greater length of residence in 
this country. While a certain amount of the 
enhanced mortality of the foreign-born is 
due to their low economic status, a larger 
part of it is due to ignorance in regard to the 
maintenance of health. Many immigrants do 
not know English when they arrive and never 
learn it afterward. The newspapers printed 
in foreign lJanguages,—and there are over 
1,200 of them in the United States,—are full 
of the advertisements of quacks, it being a 
noteworthy fact that while such advertise- 
ments have decreased in papers published in 
English they have greatly increased in papers 
published in foreign languages. The unin- 
structed foreigner who does not distinguish 
between the regular physician and the ad- 
vertising quack is swindled out of his money 
and fails to get competent aid when he is ill. 
Many belong to Benefit Societies and receive 
for a small fee the perfunctory service of 
some lodge doctor. Numbers frequent free 
clinies and dispensaries where they are rushed 
through a cursory examination and given 8 


NOVEMBER 25, 1921] 


bottle of something to allay their more dis- 
tressing symptoms. All along the line the 
immigrant gets service which is scamped if 
he is not actually swindled by charlatans 
and quacks. The barrier of language pre- 
vents him from receiving that enlightenment 
on the subject of quackery which has done 
so much toward guarding the English read- 
ing public from being defrauded. The same 
barrier keeps him from securing needed aid 
from his English-speaking neighbors and in 
consequence of his ignorance and _ isolation 
death exacts a heavy toll. 

Nothing can demonstrate more forcibly the 
importance of widespread education in relation 
to public health and medical practise than the 
unfortunate situation of many of our foreign- 
born population. And we should pay much 
more attention than, heretofore to the problem 
of protecting these people against the results 
of their own ignorance and the ravages of 
unscrupulous charlatans. 

But we need a much wider campaign of edu- 
cation. Naturally one thinks of the schools 
which should at least give more generally than 
they do, the elementary instruction in physi- 
ology and hygiene which would prepare the stu- 
dents, in a measure, for understanding many 
problems with which they will later have to 
cope. The Federal Government is making a 
small beginning in the way of instructing peo- 
ple through various publications on matters of 
public health and especially in the care of in- 
fants. Boards of Health in many cities are 
carrying on the work of education and this 
work could be easily extended. Papers and 
magazines may do much for the cause as is 
evinced by the articles of Dr. Wiley and the 
attacks of Collier's Weekly on various medical 
frauds. Life insurance companies are finding 
it to their interest to disseminate information 
on the preservation of health among their 
policyholders and even supply nurses to attend 
them during illness. The various societies 
affording sickness and accident benefits to their 
members would probably find it advantageous 
to give instruction about keeping well and thus 
save themselves from paying money to mem- 
bers after they are sick. So also with the large 


SCIENCE 


507 


industrial firms which employ physicians and 
maintain hospitals for their employees. And 
the doctors themselves might consistently with 
their calling—for we should bear in mind that 
doctor means teacher—the doctors might do 
much more than they do in the way of educa- 
ting the public on matters of health. 

All of these agencies I have mentioned and 
more besides have to do with instructing the 
public and all of them could well do more. 
This task which as we have seen is of such 
vital importance for human welfare would be 
greatly facilitated if the medical profession 
stood in more helpful, relations to its patrons. 
As it is, a large part of the time of well-trained 
medical men is simply wasted in a kind of 
desultory practise from which their patients 
secure no permanent benefit. For this the 
patients may be quite as much at fault as the 
doctor. Thorough diagnosis with its tests for 
blood, urine and sputum, its bacteriological ex- 
aminations and perhaps its X-ray pictures and 
other procedures is coming to be beyond the 
resources of any one physician however well 
qualified. And all these things are expensive. 
Adequate medical aid is simply out of the 
reach of people in ordinary financial circum- 
stances, and the experiences with doctors which 
they can afford are so frequently unsatisfactory 
that they lead to discouragement and cause 
many to put up with ills that are the source of 
much unhappiness. Humanity comes very far 
short of getting out of the medical profession 
the aid which it is capable of furnishing and 
which it could probably furnish without any 
greater expenditure of time and effort than now 
goes into the hurried examination of multi- 
tudes of patients and the scribbling of prescrip- 
tions for the relief of their symptoms. Just 
how the business of relieving the ills of the 
body should be organized I do not presume to 
state, but until it is done more effectively than 
it is at the present time the relations of the 
medical profession to the public will be sub- 
jected to more or less strain. This strain is in- 
creasing, and it may be productive of much 
harm in a number of ways. It will not be re- 
moved, I fancy, until some system is evolved 
whereby the rank and file of suffering human- 


508 


ity who have no relish for becoming charity 
patients can obtain the medical attention they 
require at prices that are not prohibitive. 
There is a growing sentiment, both in the med- 
ical profession and out of it, in favor of work- 
ing out a solution of this problem, and we are 
perhaps justified in looking forward to a more 
effective and satisfactory regime in the years to 


come. S. J. Hours 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 


THE RELATION OF THE TECHNICAL 
SCHOOL TO INDUSTRIAL 
RESEARCH 3 

RESEARCH is earnest, purposeful, persistent, 
intelligently directed effort to gain new 
knowledge of a selected subject. The spirit 
of research is devotion to truth and insistent 
longing for better understanding. 

Industrial research is research done for in- 
dustry. It may be: 

1. In fundamental sciences, or 

2. In applications of sciences. 

It is difficult to set limits for the second 

. class, distinguishing research from  experi- 
mental development of processes, methods or 
equipment. 

In the main, the environment of an in- 
dustrial establishment is not congenial to 
fundamental research in the sciences. Fur- 
thermore, the connection between funda- 
mental research and the business of a given 
establishment commonly is so attenuated 
that it is difficult for boards of directors to 
see justification for expenditure of stock- 
holders’ money for such research. Funda- 
mental research, having less immediate con- 
nection with commercial profits, there is 
much less incentive for its control or for 
secrecy with respect to its results, in the 
interest of one establishment or group. 
Hence, fundamental research is especially 
suitable for those technical schools which can 
afford research departments. Then, too, such 
research lies close to the recorded knowledge 

1A paper presented to the Conference on Engi- 
neering and Industry in connection with the inaugu- 
tation of President John Martin Thomas, Pennsyl- 
vania State College, October 13, 1921. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1404. 


and the theory with which the student has 
been familiarizing himself in his courses of 
study. It is a rare undergraduate, however, 
who will be competent for more than an as- 
sistant’s part in research. 

Industrial research in technology, or ap- 
plied science, demands practical experience 
in the industry as a preparation for success- 
ful work. Indeed, it can not be done without 
knowledge of the particular industry. It 
often requires equipment or facilities of a 
kind or magnitude which can not be provided 
in technical schools. Only for limited prob- 
lems, or under special arrangements, there- 
fore, will this class of research properly be 
undertaken within a school. Students and 
faculty members may, however, participate in 
such research within an industrial plant 
under suitable conditions. Such direct con- 
nections with industry are stimulating to 
both teachers and students, and help to create 
a spirit of mutual appreciation between in- 
dustries and schools. 

The fields of research in which industry 
is concerned must not be too narrowly con- 
ceived by the schools. These fields are not 
limited to physics and chemistry, but include 
all the mathematical, physical and biological 
sciences, economics, and, not least, though 
mentioned last, those branches of inquiry 
which relate to men and women in industry, 
comprised in the term “personnel.” To ad- 
vance such studies, there has been established 
by the joint efforts of National Research 
Council and Engineering Foundation, the 
Personnel Research Federation. It has for 
its purpose the correlation of research activi- 
ties pertaining to personnel in industry, com- 
merce, education and government wherever 
researches are conducted in the spirit and 
with the methods of science. Its member- 
ship includes selected national organizations 
representing scientists, engineers, educators 
and the American Federation of Labor. The 
membership is now being widened to include 
other organizations of kindred interest. It 
has been learned that there are approximately 
250 organizations in the United States giving 


NovEMBER 25, 1921] 


some attention to personnel research along 
various lines. 

It is surprising to one who has not had a 
share in the direction of a great engineering 
enterprise to learn how broad and various is 
the knowledge demanded in the creation of a 
Catskill aqueduct, a Panama Canal, a Penn- 
sylvania Railroad system, a Niagara power 
development, an East River bridge, a Hudson 
tunnel, a manufacturing plant of modern 
magnitude, or a great mine. 

A primary duty of technical schools is to 
discover young men with genuine research 
spirit and capacity. For this purpose, psy- 
chologists may be able to devise tests equiva- 
lent to those developed by Professor Seashore 
for detecting innate musical talent. 

A second obligation is to train these natur- 
ally endowed men thoroughly for research 
careers. The technical schools should dis- 
tinguish the individual who by nature is a 
lone worker from the team worker, and train 
each suitably, but should indicate to all the 
value of cooperation. 

A third obligation is to instill the re- 
search spirit into all technical students. The 
technical school should foster the habit of 
jnquiry—not mere inquisitiveness, but the 
purposeful search for truth, the alertness that 
asks “ Why” of every phenomenon, the keen- 
ness of observation that does not pass indica- 
tions which the dull-minded would call triv- 
jal. 

The technical schools should not only 
discover and educate the rare man with re- 
search capacity, but should also train men 
who can be foremen and technical directors 
of industrial plants, capable of appreciating 
research and of working sympathetically with 
research specialists. 

There are numerous ways in which each 
technical school can give research service to 
the industries within the region contributory 
to the school. Each school may well special- 
jze to some degree according to the needs of 
its community: Through some central organ- 
ization, the schools of the country should, 
however, keep one another informed of con- 
templated projects and specialities chosen so 


SCIENCE 


509 


as to get the most beneficial distribution of 
such specialization without undesirable dupli- 
cation. Choice of specialities should vary 
from time to time with progress in scientific 
research and change in the needs of industry. 

In helpful relationship to research in the 
industries, the technical schools should teach 
their students: 


1. How to assemble, arrange and analyze con- 
ditions so as to state a problem; 

2. 'That it is wise before plunging into a pro- 
gram of work to learn what the literature 
contains (a large proportion of supposedly 
original problems can be answered from 
records of work done, to be found in our 
libraries) ; \ 

3. The economy of spending sufficient time 
to understand the problem and to com- 
pare several methods before launching 
upon any one method of attack; 

4. How to select and use the simplest appa- 
ratus and method for a given research 
which will accomplish the purpose, but 
to make sure of their adequacy; also how 
to analyze the apparatus and instru- 
ments, as well as the method, to detect 
unsuspected sources of error; 

5. To limit the undertaking according to the 
resources and time available; 

6. That there are elements of research in 
every technical task, which require the 
ever watchfulness for new light, new 
aspects, new applications; 

7. How to extract research information out 
of both the ordinary experiences and the 
unusual happenings in the plant; 

8. How to secure the intelligent and enthusi- 
astic cooperation of foremen and opera- 
tives in observing closely and reporting 
accurately in the course of their daily 
work incidents which may be helpful to 
a research in progress; 

9. The value of research, even when its re- 
sults seem remote from the present pur- 
pose of industry; 

10. How to express scientific knowledge in- 
terestingly—fascinatingly, but still cor- 
rectly—in language readily understand- 


510 


able, by directors, managers and other 
executives; 

11. To cultivate some of the journalist’s sense 
of the story in research work; 

12. And throughout their courses, the tech- 
nical schools should teach the funda- 
mentals of the sciences so thoroughly 
that the graduate can think for himself 
and will not be at his wits’ ends when 
a problem in his future work does not 
fall within the limits of the formulae 
specifically taught or the books avail- 
able. 


Research has no end. It must be kept up 
perpetually. The technical schools must be 
soundly convinced of this fact and through 
their graduates, must impart it to the in- 
dustries, lest unprogressiveness rob the com- 
munity of the benefit of new knowledge. 

Technical schools should convey, also, to 
their research students some conception of 
the exigencies and financial necessities of 
business and instill into them appreciation 
of the importance and difficulty of the finan- 
cial problems and patience for the apparent 
slowness with which industry and business 
sometimes put into effect the results of re- 
search. The scientific man seeks the confi- 
dence and appreciation of the business man 
and he should reciprocate. 

The greatest service of all which the tech- 
nical schools and the universities can do for 
industry and for the community is to infuse 
into all workers from unskilled labor to 
highest executives that appreciation for truth 
and that conviction of the futility of deceit 
which are forced upon the scientist and the 
technologist, by the very nature of their work. 
Neither science, nor technology, nor industry, 
nor business, can permanently flourish on 
deception or on a narrow and selfish concep- 
tion of profit. 

AuFreD D, FLINN 


THE PRESENT STATUS OF UNIVERSITY 
MEN IN RUSSIA 

For a long time after coming into power 

the soviet government of Russia maintained 

a seriously discouraging attitude toward the 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1404. 


university faculties and the Russian profes- 
sional and scientific men in general—the 
“intelligentsia.” But this attitude is now 
modified and still modifying. Along with the 
other changes in attitude and action charac- 
teristic of the recent months of soviet govern- 
ment, changes very marked in relation to 
business and general economic matters, changes 
have also been made in the way of ameliora- 
ting the situation of the university men. 

The salaries, paid in paper roubles of con- 
stantly depreciating value—they are now 
worth about 75,000 to the dollar!—were very 
low, becoming, indeed, as the value of the 
rouble lowered, simply derisory. But more 
important, in Russia, than any salary paid 
in money—unless it get into millions of 
roubles a month—is the “paiok” (1 spell it 
as pronounced), or food ration, that is the 
essential part of the reward for services to 
the government. As is familiarly known, 
the soviet government established several 
grades of ration according to various cate- 
gories into which the people could be roughly 
divided. The working man got the largest 
or best ration; the university man nearly the 
lowest. 

In my recent (September-October) visit to 
Russia as special representative of the Ameri- 
ean Relief Administration, I learned some- 
thing at first hand of the changing situation 
of the university and professional men of the 
country. I was not in Petrograd, but saw a 
number of faculty men in the universities 
of Moscow, Kazan, and Samara. Samara 
is one of the several new universities (2?) set 
up by the soviet government. It has four 
faculties, medicine, law, agriculture and 
“workers.” The “ workers’ faculty” offers 
elementary classes for the sons and daughters 
of working men and peasants to fit them for 
matriculation in the professional departments 
of the university. The president of Samara 
University, himself a specialist, as he said, in 
the Italian Renaissance, intimated that his 
institution was meeting many difficulties, the 
principal one being that of finance—a diffi- 
culty not unknown outside of soviet Russia. 
However, while we talked, students were 


NovEMBER 25, 1921] 


going in and out of his office apparently on 
the usual errands connected with registration, 
ete. 

The University of Moscow expected to open 
in September but did not, and had not yet 
opened when I left Moscow early in October. 
I learned that the salaries and food ration 
of the Moscow men had been notably in- 
creased but did not learn details as I did at 
Kazan. 

The salaries and “paiok” of the profes- 
sors in the University of Kazan had been 
so meagre that not a man was able to live 
on them, and every professor was meeting 
his family’s need for food by doing some- 
thing besides regular university work. The 
means for keeping himself and family alive 
were various, but in almost all cases they 
included the successive sacrificing of per- 
sonal and household belongings. One pro- 
fessor of biology told me that he made shoes, 
and that his wife baked little cakes and sold 
them in the city market. He had sold all 
of his own and his wife’s simple jewels and 
trinkets and one of his two microscopes. 
Yet this man, who has not been able to see 
any books or papers published later than 1914, 
has struggled along with his special researches 
and has actually achieved two pieces of ex- 
perimental work on vitamines which seem 
to me, with my little knowledge of the sub- 
ject, to contribute certain definite new knowl- 
edge concerning these interesting substances. 

But, beginning in August, there had been 
a material increase in salary and in food 
ration. The monthly food ration had been 
put, in August, on the following basis: dark 
(mostly rye) flour, 301b.; dried peas, 5 lb.; 
cereal grits, 15 1lb.; sweets (not cane or beet 
sugar), 21/2lbs.; tobacco, 3/41b.; butter, 
6lbs.; meat, 151bs.; fish, 5lbs.; tea 1/4 lb.; 
white flour, 5 lbs. The items from dark flour 
to tobacco, inclusive, had been received; the 
rest of them, promised but not received. 
About 250 professors and instructors receive 
this ration. The university buildings are 
so cold that some of the men do all their 
work, except lecturing, in their homes. About 
5,000 students had registered, but only about 


SCIENCE 


511 


10 per cent. of them were in actual attend- 
ance. The largest departments in point of 
student enrollment were medicine and science. 
My friend, the professor of biology, had 
never before ridden in an automobile until 
he rode with me in our relief car. About 20 
men of the Kazan faculty have died in the 
last two years. 
Vernon KeELLoca 
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 


GRANTS FOR RESEARCH OF THE AMERICAN 

ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT 

OF SCIENCE 

THE Committee on Grants of the associa- 
tion will hold its annual meeting during 
Christmas week, 1921, and will probably have 
at its disposal about four thousand dollars 
for grants in support of investigation in the 
different sciences. The committee especially 
invites suggestions from scientific men as to 
suitable places for small grants. Suggestions 
or applications should be sent before Decem- 
ber 15 to the member of the committee in 
whose field the work lies, or to the secretary. 
The present personnel of the committee is 
Robert M. Yerkes, chairman; Henry Crew, 
C. J. Herrick, A. B. Lamb, George T. Moore, 
G. H. Parker, Joel Stebbins, David White. 


JOEL STEBBINS, 


Secretary of the Committee on Grants: 
URBANA, ILLINOIS 


MAP OF THE NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN 


A NEw base map of the North Pacific Ocean 
on the transverse polyconic projection has 
been prepared by W. E. Jobnson, carto- 
grapher, of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic 
Survey of the Department of Commerce, and 
is now available for distribution. It is pub- 
lished in clear form and convenient size 
(dimensions 14 by 41 inches) for desk use. 

This map is designed primarily as a base 
on which statistical data of various special 
kinds may be shown. In consequence of this 
purpose only features of major importance 
are shown on it and these features are empha- 
sized to an extent not possible on a map which 


512 


contains the vast amount of detail usually 
included. 

In addition to the foregoing specific value 
this map is of general interest at present as 
showing the relation between the United 
States, its possessions, and the Far East and 
as including those areas around which present 
problems in the North Pacific Ocean are 
centered. It extends from New York and 
Panama to Singapore and Caleutta, from 
Alaska and Siberia to the Hawaiian Islands 
and includes a part of South America and a 
portion of Australia. Through its lateral 
center it extends over 180°. 

The distinctive feature of the map is that 
these localities are here pictured in practi- 
eally their true relation as to distances, areas, 
and comparative angular direction of coast 
line. The property of true scale along a great 
circle tangent to the forty—fifty parallel 
of north latitude at the central meridian of 
the map was chosen. This great circle is ap- 
proximately the shortest distance between 
San Francisco and Manila, and in close 
proximity to it lie practically all the impor- 
tant points of interest such as the Panama 
Canal, Mexico, our Pacific Coast, Alaska, the 
Philippine Islands, Japan, and the coast of 
China. This is accomplished through the 
use of the transverse polyconic projection, 
which is the regular polyconic or American 
projection turned from its normal vertical 
axis to a lateral great circle axis. 


THE STEAMER “ ALBATROSS ” 


Tur Fisheries Service reports that the 
steamer Albatross has been taken to Woods 
Hole (Mass.) and on October 29 was there 
put out of commission, the naval crew being 
released. This action was made necessary by 
a lack of sufficient funds to operate the vessel 
on a scale that would yield results commensu- 
rate with the basic cost of maintenance. It 
is hoped that by another year it may be pos- 
sible to restore the vessel to active service 
and assign her to work on fishing grounds 
on the Atlantic coast awaiting attention. 

The Albatross, which for nearly forty years 
has been an important unit of the Bureau 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Von. LIV. No. 1404. 


of Fisheries, was the first vessel especially 
designed for deep-sea exploration and was 
equipped with the most approved apparatus 
and appliances for the work. These have 
been renewed, modified, or extended as the 
oceasion arose. The vessel was built under 
the supervision of Commander Z. L. Tanner. 
United States Navy, from designs prepared 
by the naval architect, Charles W. Copeland. 
She was launched at Wilmington, Del., in 
1882, and, excepting brief interruptions, has 
been constantly employed until the present 
time. The fact that after all these years she 
is now in excellent condition is a tribute t9 
her construction, the quality of the material 
used, and the care which she has had. 

The Albatross was engaged in investiga- 
tions off the Atlantic coast from Newfound- 
land to the West Indies until 1888, when she 
was sent through the Straits of Magellan to 
the west coast, and during the next 30 years 
was engaged in investigations, surveys, etc., 
in the Pacific Ocean, particularly in Alaska. 
During the long period of the fur-seal con- 
troversy the Albatross formed part of the 
naval patrol of Bering Sea and was used by 
the commission created for the investigation 
of the fur seals. In 1891 the vessel was em- 
ployed in surveying a cable route to the Ha- 
waiian Islands, in 1899 and 1900 in a voyage 
to the tropical Pacific and Japan, in 1902 in 
investigations about the Hawaiian Islands, 
and from 1907 to 1910 in a comprehensive 
survey of the fisheries and aquatic resources 
of the Philippine Islands. In the War with 
Spain and in the World War the Albatross 
was taken into the naval service, returning 
to the Atlantic coast in 1917. 


MULFORD EXPLORATION IN BOLIVIA 

Tuer latest message received from Dr. Rusby, 
the director of the Mulford Exploration, was 
dated August 30 and was written from Huachi 
on the Bopi River in Bolivia. Dr. Rusby 
arrived at Huachi on August 23 and he and his 
party spent some time making collections in. 
the vicinity and making excursions into sur- 
rounding territory. During their stay there 
four members of the party made a trip up the 
Cochabamba River. 


NovEeMBER 25, 1921] 


Dr. Rusby states that the journey from 
Espia, at the head of navigation on the Bopi 
River, down to Huachi, was accomplished suc- 
cessfully except for the loss of five boxes of 
provisions and ammunition. The loss of their 
ammunition leaves the party in a rather pre- 
carious condition as they were depending on it 
for obtaining not only museum specimens of 
rare birds and small mammals but also to sup- 
ply the camp with fresh meat. 

Among botanical collections are included 
specimens of the “tree of life.” This name 
‘is a literal translation of the Spanish name 
“Arbol de la Vida,” given to the “ Boldo” 
plant, so called because of its use by the natives 
for medicinal purposes. Photographs were 
made of what Dr. Rusby considers the largest 
true cactus in the world, which rises to the 
height of a good-sized tree and with a limb 
spread of forty feet or more. 

Many forms of insect life have been col- 
lected. With these, as in the case of plant life, 
specimens collected in one of these deep Andean 
valleys may differ entirely from those of a sim- 
ilar valley very closely adjacent. 

The party expected to arrive at Rurren- 
abaque, Bolivia, about October 1 and by this 
time are probably forcing their way into the 
depths of the Bolivian jungle in the vicinity of 
Lake Rocagua. 


THE ECLIPSE EXPEDITIONS TO CHRISTMAS 
ISLAND 


Accorpine to an article in the London 
Times, with the aid of the Joint Permanent 
Eclipse Committee of the Royal Society and 
the Royal Astronomical Society, the Royal 
Observatory at Greenwich is sending an expe- 
dition to Christmas Island to observe the 
total eclipse of the sun which will occur on 
September 21 next year. 

The Greenwich party will consist of Mr. H. 
Spenser Jones, Chief assistant, and Mr. P. 
J. Melotte, the discoverer of the eighth satel- 
lite of Jupiter. They will leave England 
early in February for Singapore, whence they 
and their equipment will be conveyed to the 
island by a steamer belonging to the Christ- 
mas Island Phosphate Company, which is 
giving valuable help to the project. 


SCIENCE 


513 


A joint Dutch and German expedition, the 
personnel of which will include Professor 
Voute of Batavia University and Professor 
Freundlich of Germany, will also go to Christ- 
mas Island, and it is possible that Professor 
Einstein will himself be present to observe 
the eclipse. 

It is hoped to confirm the results obtained 
by the British expeditions at Principé and 
Sobral during the eclipse of May, 1919, when 
Einstein’s prediction as to the value of the 
deflection of a ray of light passing through a 
gravitational field was verified by measure- 
ments of the position of start in the immedi- 
ate neighborhood of the sun during totality. 

It has been arranged that the Greenwich 
expedition, which will have erected its instru- 
ments by May, shall carry out an extensive 
program of photometric work. Based on the 
Harvard standard sequence of stars at the 
North Pole comparisons will be made of areas 
in South Declinations 30deg. and 45 deg., 
with areas in North Declination 15 deg. 
Magnitudes of stars in the latter zone have 
already been determined at Greenwich in di- 
rect comparison with those in the North 
Polar area, and the photographs to be taken 
at Christmas Island will enable work on these 
lines in the northern and southern hemis- 
pheres to be linked up and carried on to the 
South Polar area by southern observatories. 
The equipment to be taken by the British 
party will include the 13 in. astrographic tele- 
scope used in the making of the Greenwich 
sections of the 
chart of the sky. 

The path of totality will begin in Abys- 
sinia, pass over the center of Italian Somali- 
land and across the Maldive Islands, where 
Mr. J. Evershed, the director of the Kodai- 
kanal Observatory (India), will be stationed. 
At the Maldives the duration of totality will 
be 4min. 10sec. with the sun 34 deg. above 
the horizon. At Christmas Island the dura- 
tion will be only 38min. 42sec., but the sun 
will be 78 deg. above the horizon. The maxi- 
mum duration, nearly 6 min., occurs over the 
Indian Ocean where no observing station 
exists. After leaving Christmas Island the 


international photographie 


514 


path of totality crosses Australia in latitudes 
which, except in Queensland and in a corner 
of New South Wales, are to the north of the 
inhabited regions of the continent, and ends 
near Norfolk Island in the Pacific. It is pos- 
sible that an Australian expedition will ob- 
serve the eclipse from the neighborhood of 
Cunnamulla. 

Christmas Island is an isolated island lying 
to the south of Jaya in Lat. S. 10° 25’, Long. 
FE. 105° 42’. It is about 12 miles long and 
nine broad and rises to a height of over 1,100 
ft. The population of the settlement, called 
Flying Fish Cove, after the warship which 
discovered the anchorage, is about 250, con- 
sisting of Europeans, Indians, Malays, and 
Chinese. The island is attached to the Straits 
Settlements administration and was annexed 
by the United Kingdom in 1888. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Cuartes R. Cross, professor emeritus of 
physics at the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology, died on November 16 in Brook- 
line aged seventy-three years. 


Dr. W. J. Mayo delivered the John B. 
Murphy memorial address before the meet- 
ing of the Clinical Congress of the Ameri- 
ean College of Surgeons in Phildelphia at 
which meeting honorary fellowships in the 
Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland were 
conferred upon him and on Dr. C. H. Mayo. 


©. O. Mam.oux, chairman of the Interna- 
tional Electrotechnical Commission, has been 
invited by the President of the French Re- 
public to deliver on November 24, the ad- 
dress of eulogy on Ampére. The ceremony 
will take place at the Sorbonne in Paris. 


THE magnetic-survey yacht Carnegie, under 
the command of J. P. Ault, returned to Wash- 
ington on Thursday, November 10, thus 
satisfactorily completing her two years’ 
world cruise. Dr. Bauer, director of the De- 
partment of Terrestrial Magnetism, joined 
the vessel at Panama and remained with her 
until the arrival at Washington. Although 
considerable rough weather was encountered, 
it was found possible with the special appli- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1404. 


ances aboard the Carnegie, to make satisfac- 
tory magnetic and electric observations daily. 


Ercut medical investigators, five Americans 
and the other three British, sailed from New 
York on November 16 on the Santa Teresa for 
Peru, where they will undertake studies of the 
physiological changes which enable people to 
live permanently at high altitudes. The 
party will make their headquarters at Cerro 
de Pasco, Peru, situated in the Andes at a 
height of over fourteen thousand feet. The 
American members of the party are Dr. 
Alfred C. Redfield, assistant professor of phys- 
jology at the Harvard Medical School; Dr. 
Arlie V. Bock, M.D., of the Massachusetts 
General Hospital; Dr. Henry S. Forbes, now 
engaged in research in industrial medicine at 
Harvard; Dr. C. A. L. Binger, of the Rocke- 
feller Institute, New York, and Dr. George 
Harrop, late of the Presbyterian Hospital, New 
York. 


Sm Rosert Woop, president of the Royal 
College of Surgeons of Ireland, Sir William 
Taylor, ex-president of the same organization, 
and Professor Shoemaker, of The Hague, — 
visited the Mayo Clinic on November 1, 2, and 
3. A meeting was held in their honor in the 
lobby on November 2, at which time Sir Robert 
Wood gave a brief talk on education in Ire- 
land; Sir William Taylor discussed the organi- 
zation of the Royal College of Surgeons of 
Ireland, and Professor Shoemaker spoke on 
operations on the stomach and colon which he 
had originated. 


A DELEGATION of Serbian physicians, guests 
of the Rockefeller Foundation, visited the 
Mayo Foundation on October 27 and 28. The 
delegation is composed of Dr. G. J. Nikolitch, 
under-secretary and first medical officer of the 
Ministry of Health of Serbia; Dr. G. Joannot- 
itch, professor of pathologic anatomy, and Dr. 
R. Stankovie, professor of internal medicine, 
in the Belgrade Medical School. Mr. Frank B. 
Stubbs, of the Rockefeller Foundation, and Dr. 
Henry John, of Cleveland, accompanied the 
delegation. 


Cuar.es E. Weaver has resumed his profes- 
sorship of geology in the University of Wash- 


NovEMBER 25, 1921] 


ington, after a three-years’ leave of absence 
which he spent in Central and South America 
as geologist for the Standard Oil Co. 


Dr. Wmi1AM Crocker, director of research 
of The Thompson Institute for Plant Research, 
Yonkers, New York, sailed on the Olympic on 
October 15, for a three- or four-months’ stay in 
Europe. He will visit England, France, Ger- 
many, Austria and other European countries 
for the purpose of acquiring materials for the 
library and of studying the organization, equip- 
ment and activities of the principal biological 
institutions of Europe. 


Proressor C. C. Nurtine, head of the de- 
partment of zoology at the University of Iowa, 
who has conducted expeditions to the Bahama 
Islands and to Barbados and Antigua in the 
interests of scientific research work at the uni- 
versity, has been invited by Colonel Fell, sec- 
retary for the Fiji Islands, to bring an expedi- 
tion there. Secretary Fell was formerly goy- 
ernor of the Barbados Islands, where he was 
stationed when the Iowa Expedition visited 
there in 1918. 


M. Y. WituraMs, professor of paleontology in 
the University of British Columbia, Vancou- 
ver, is one of a party sent out by the Canadian 
Geological Survey to make a survey of the 
Mackenzie River district. 


Proressor N. I. Vavinov, of the Petrograd 
Agricultural Institute, who can be addressed 
in care of W. P. Anderson, 512 Fifth Ave., 
New York, states that the first Russian Euge- 
nics Society was founded in Petrograd and 
Moscow two years ago; and that the president 
of this society, Dr. N. K. Koltzon, requests 
American eugenicists to send their publica- 
tions to the society through Professor Vavilov. 
Scientific literature has not reached Russia for 
the past four years. 


Proressor Jacques Cavauier, rector of Tou- 
louse and a widely known authority on metal- 
lurgical chemistry, is in America as the result 
of arrangements for an annual exchange of pro- 
fessors of engineering and applied science be- 
tween French and American universities. Pro- 
fessor Cavalier, who is now at Columbia, will 
divide his time during the academic year 


SCIENCE 


515 


- among the cooperating institutions, Columbia, 


Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Massa- 
chusetts Institute of Technology and the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania. The American uni- 
versities have, as has been already noted here, 
selected as their representative for the first 
year Dr. A. E. Kennelly, professor of electrical 
engineering at Harvard and the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology. 


Dr. Hawtry O. Taytor, associate physicist 
at the Bureau of Standards, has resigned to 
take charge of the electrical department, 
Division of Rehabilitation, Franklin Union, 
Boston. Dr. Taylor was formerly radio engi- 
neer of the Signal Corps of the U. S. Army; 
research physicist of the National Electric Sig- 
naling Co., Brooklyn; and research associate at 
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 


Joun Mitts, for ten years a member of the 
Research Laboratories of the American Tele- 
phone and Telegraph Company and the West- 
ern Electric Company, has been appointed 
assistant personnel manager in charge of edu- 
cational promotion in the engineering depart- 
ment of the Western Electric Company. 


Proressor R. C. ArcuipaLD, of Brown Uni- 
versity, has been granted leave of absence for 
the second half of the academic year. He ex- 
pects to spend it in visiting mathematicians 
at universities of Italy, France, Belgium, Hol- 
land, Scandinavia and Great Britain. 


Dr. C. C. Lirrze, research associate, of the 
Station for Experimental Evolution of the 
Carnegie Institution of Washington, will de- 
liver the second Harvey Society Lecture at 
the New York Academy of Medicine Satur- 
day evening, November 26. His subject will 
be “The relation of genetics to cancer. re- 
search.” 


Proressor F. E. Armsrrone, professor of 
Mining at Sheffield University, has died at 
the age of forty-two years. 


Tue death is reported from Paris, at the 
age of seventy-two years, of the French engi- 
neer, M. Albert Sarpiaux, who had long been 
connected with the scheme for the construc- 
tion of a tunnel under the French Channel. 


516 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS \ 


Tue General Education Board and the Car- 
negie Corporation have jointly promised $100,- 
000 to the Medical College of the University 
of Georgia, to be paid at the rate of $20,000 a 
year for the next five years on condition that 
a like amount each year is raised from other 
sources. 


Proressor C. J. Tinpen, who has been di- 
rector of the highway and highway transport 
education committee, in Washington, D. C., 
since December, 1920, has returned to Yale 
University to resume his work as professor of 
engineering mechanics. 


Dr. Freperick H. Fats, of Chicago, has 


been appointed head of the department of- 


gynecology and obstetrics of the State Univer- 
sity of the Iowa College of Medicine. 


Dr. T. L. Patrerson, formerly of the physio- 
logic department of the State University of 
Towa, has been appointed professor and director 
of the department of physiology at the Detroit 
College of Medicine and Surgery. 


D. Water Munn has resigned his position 
of professor of engineering and head of the 
engineering department at the Royal Military 
College to become professor of mechanical en- 
gineering at the Nova Scotia Technical Col- 
lege, Halifax, N.S. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
POSITIVE RAY ANALYSIS OF ZINC 


Wirth the apparatus previously used in the 
analysis of lithium and magnesium,! which 
will be described fully in the Physical Review 
for December, I find that the element zinc is 
a mixture of four isotopes, separated by two 
units in atomic weight. Although slight varia- 
tions were observed in the relative intensities 
of the components, they are approximately 
given by the ratios 6 : 7 : 10 : 1, the heaviest be- 
ing much weaker than the three lightest. The 
measurements in themselves do not give the 
values of the atomic weights with an accuracy 

1 ScieNcE, December 10, 1920; April 15, 1921. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1404. 


of one unit, but since the separation in each 
case is exactly two units, and all other elements 
hitherto analyzed have integral atomic weights, 


‘ with oxygen 16 as a basis; we may assume 


that the zine components are also integral. In 
this case the only values possible are the atomic 
weights 63, 65, 67, and 69, since these values 
with the above intensity ratios give a mean 
atomic weight of 65.5 and a displacement of 
the group one unit either way would make the 
mean differ by a whole integer from the accu- 
rately determined chemical atomic weight 65.4. 
_ A.J. DEMpsTER 
RYERSON PHYSICAL LABORATORY, 
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 


THE REDISCOVERY AND VALIDITY OF ARCA 
LITHODOMUS SOWERBY 

NEARLY a century ago, in 1827-1830, Mr. 
H. Cuming made an extensive voyage along 
the western coast of South America collect- 
ing natural history specimens. The shells 
obtained by Cuming were described by Bro- 
derip and Sowerby. Among the Noah’s Ark 
shells was a most curious species, named by 
Sowerby Byssoarca lithodomus! and figured 
by Reeve.2 The shell was cuneiform, very 
finely ribbed, and covered with beautifully 
imbricated scales. It measured 3.5 inches in 
length and 1 in height. It was found by 
Cuming at Monte Cristi, Ecuador, about Lat. 
1° South. 

In 1840, Gray established for this singular 
Arca the section Litharca, which, in 1887, 
Fisher recognized as a section of the sub- 
genus Barbatia. Dr. Dall, in 1898? thought 
the species invalid, and that the type was 
probably a shell of Arca candida that had 
grown in a Inthodomus burrow. But in his 
Peruvian catalogue, 1910, he listed the species, 
referring it back to Cuming’s shell and placing 
it in the subgenus Barbatia. 

Mr. Axel Olsson, while at Bucaru, Los 
Santos Province, on the western boundary of 
Panama Bay, in 1921, was so fortunate as 
to find a single valve which is the sole ex- 

1 Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 16, 1833. 


2 Conch. Icon., Area, pl. 12, f. 76, 1844. 
3 Trans. Wagner Inst. Sci., 3, pt. 4, p. 615. 


NOVEMBER 25, 1921] 


ample ever found since Cuming collected his 
shell on the coast of Ecuador. Mr. Olsson’s 
specimen is younger and smaller than the 
type, but is undoubtedly a valve of this very 
striking and rare species. 

An examination of this shell proves that 
Arca lithodomus is not an Arca (Barbatia) 
candida of abnormal type, for it is clearly an 
undistorted specimen. Moreover, it is not a 
member of the subgenus Barbatia. Dr. 
Pearl Sheldon, the Arca expert, pronounces 
it a true Ark. Therefore, the rediscovery by 
Mr. Olsson, in Panama, of Cuming’s Ecua- 
dorean shell proves (1) that Arca lithodomus 
Sowerby is a valid species; (2) that the shell 
belongs to Arca, sensu stricto; (3) that the 
section Litharca Gray is unnecessary; (4) 
the range of the species is extended from 
about Lat. 1° South to approximately Lat. 7° 
30’ North. 

Cartotta J. Maury 

CoRNELL UNIVERSITY 


THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF 
HYBRIDS 

In a former number of this journal, Pro- 
fessor Fernald has done me the honor of 
stating that he is glad to have my confirma- 
tion of his “thesis” in regard to the geo- 
graphical distribution of hybrids between 
natural species. As my statement was merely 
a brief summary of the views of the eminent 
Austrian systematic botanist, Kerner von 
Marilaun, Professor Fernald does me unde- 
served honor, and at the same time is un- 
fortunately guilty of an anachronism. Ker- 
ner’s views on hybrids were known to the 
world some time before Professor Fernald’s 
star arose on the horizon. 

IT think I made it clear in my former state- 
ment, that according to Kerner, natural hy- 
brids may occur not only within the range 
of the parent species, but also beyond the 
range of one or both of them. The situation 
indicated by the words in italics is clearly 
not in accord with the tenor of Professor 
Fernald’s biting criticisms of the recent work 
of Brainerd Peitersen on the blackberries of 
New England. He repeatedly condemns these 


SCIENCE 


517 


authors for entertaining the heterodox idea 
that a hybrid can oceur beyond the geogra- 
phie range of one of its parent species. In 
this attitude my colleague is obviously not in 
harmony with Kerner. It may be empha- 
sized that Kerner’s views possess a peculiar 
authority, not only because he devoted him- 
self especially to the study of hybrids in na- 
ture, but also because he was fortunate enough 
to live in a region where the Pontic, Mediter- 
ranean, and Baltic floras overlap. 

I am loath to attribute to my colleague 
the intentionally ambiguous language of an 
oracle, or the “ weasel words” of the aspiring 
politician. His statements, however, appear 
to keep the word of promise to the ear, while 
breaking it to the hope, as in that Shake- 
spearian tragedy where a forest undergoes 
an interesting geographic migration, not due 
to the mineral characteristics of the sub- 
stratum. 

E. C. Jerrrey 


THE RAY SOCIETY 


ALL interested in natural history are fa- 
miliar with the publications of the Ray So- 
ciety. Since its establishment over three 
quarters of a century ago this society has 
published annually one or more volumes in 
the biological sciences. Its object is to issue 
works which from the expense of illustration 
or other causes could not profitably be brought 
out by an ordinary publisher. In this way 
have appeared Agassiz’s four volumes of 
Bibliography, Darwin’s “ Cirripedia,’”’ All- 
man’s “ Tubularian Hydroids” and “ Fresh- 
water Polyzoa,” Alder and Hancock’s “ Nudi- 
branches,” West’s ‘ Desmids,” Cash and 
Wailes’s “Rhizopods and Heliozoa,” Groves 
and Bullock-Webster’s ‘“ Charophyta,” and 
Lueas’s “ Orthoptera.” 

The annual subscription to the society is 
at present one guinea, in return for which 
the subscriber receives the annual volumes 
and has the privilege of purchasing, at a re- 
duction from the published price, one copy 
each of any of the society’s works already 
issued and remaining in stock. Subscribers 
for 1921 will receive for that year one of the 


518 


parts of the beautifully illustrated mono- 
graph on British Annelids by Professor W. 
©. McIntosh, a work that will probably be 
priced to the public at over two guineas. 

The income of the society is derived al- 
most entirely from its list of subscribers and 
it is imperative, if the society is to continue 
its activities, that this list be enlarged. It 
is, therefore, hoped that American natural- 
ists will show their appreciation of the good 
work of the Ray Society by giving it their 
hearty support. The annual subscription of 
one guinea should be sent to the secretary of 
the society, Dr. W. T. Calman, 1 Mount Park 
Crescent, Ealing, London, W. 5, England. 

G. H. Parker 


HARVARD UNIVERSITY 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


The Analysis of Mind. By Brrtranp Rus- 
sELL, F.R.S. New York: The Macmillian 
Company. Pp. 310. 1921. 


It would not be difficult to show that in 
the course of the centuries mathematical de- 
velopments were much retarded, sometimes 
arrested or diverted from their natural course, 
by an unenlightened psychology and espe- 
cially by a crude psychology of mathematics. 
‘The fact is evident both in the history of 
algebra and in that of geometry. Not only 
was the development of the number concept 
‘hampered, but the advent of the concepts of 
hyperspace and non-Euclidean geometry was 
delayed for two thousand years, by a psycho- 
logy that in things mathematical often did 
not know a knee from an elbow. It is, there- 
fore, a special pleasure to note and to wel- 
dome the appearance of a psychological work 
by an eminent contributor to the literature 
of mathematical foundations. Compared with 
the work which has been done in the logic 
of mathematics, that which has been done in 
the psychology of the subject is exceedingly 
meager, and the explanation is obvious: 
mathematicians have been psychologically 
incompetent, and psychologists mathematic- 
ally incompetent, to deal with the matter. 
The work in hand is indeed not specifically 
concerned with the psychology of mathe- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1404. 


matics; its scope is general; but it is likely 
to awaken psychological interest among, mathe- 
maticians and may incite some of them to 
study the psychological aspects of their own 
science. 

This volume consists of a course of lectures 
given in London and Peking. Its motive is 
a primarily logical one for the work has 
sprung out of the seeming discordance of two 
present scientific tendencies, one of them 
in psychology, the other in physics; the 
former may be called a tendency to material- 
ize mind; the latter, a tendency to “spiritu- 
alize” matter; they are both of them metho- 
dological rather than metaphysical. The 
former tendency, most notably represented 
by the behaviorist school of psychologists 
(like Professor Watson, for example), is 
manifest in the distrust of introspections as 
a means to knowledge of mental phenomena 
and in the growing dependence of psychology 
upon external observation of animal and hu- 
man behavior and upon physiological experi- 
ment, as if matter were regarded “as some- 
thing much more solid and indubitable than 
mind.” The other tendency, most notably 
represented by workers (like Professor Ein- 
stein, for example) in physical theories of 
relativity, is manifest in the increasing in- 
clination of physicists to regard “events” 
as primary and to derive “matter” from 
them, or to make it out of them, by the proc- 
esses of logical construction. 

If we regard both of these counter tenden- 
cies as being in the main sound, as Mr. Rus- 
sell regards them, they confront us with a 
certain logical problem which every one 
must feel the challenge of and which Rus- 
sell, owing to a highly refined logical sensi- 
bility, feels with especial keenness. The prob- 
lem is that of reconciling the two tendencies, 
seemingly so inconsistent; it is the problem 
of determining their joint significance; the 
two tendencies face each other, move towards 
each other, and, pointing in opposite direc- 
tions, seem to indicate a common goal— 
some important truth lying, so to speak, be- 
tween them, and the problem is to ascertain 
that truth, if such there be. 


NovEMBER 25, 1921] 


The problem is not men. From the psycho- 
logical side it was assailed by William 
James especially in his later years and since 
then it has been attacked from the philoso- 
phical and logical side by the American 
school of so-called new realists, Professor R. 
B. Perry, Mr. E. B. Holt, and others. With 
what results? By James, consciousness re- 
garded as an entity, was rejected outright. 
According to his view, the world is not 
fundamentally composed of two different 
things, mind and matter; it consists of one 
“primal stuff,’ which he called, somewhat 
unhappily, “pure experience”; between por- 
tions of the primal stuff there are various 
sorts of relations, which are parts of the 
stuff and of which the portions are the terms; 
one kind of the relations is called “ know- 
ing”; such a relation has two terms, one 
of which is called the “knower” and the 
other the “known.” In James’s view, that 
is the common goal of the two tendencies I 
have mentioned; that is the truth that is be- 
ing approached by psychology from the one 
side and by physics from the other. And 
the finding of the new realists is much the 
same. Rejecting the unfortunate term “ pure 
experience,” they maintain that what is 
called mind and what is called matter are 
both of them composed of a.“ neutral-stuff” 
which is in itself neither mental nor material, 
neither mind nor matter. 

Russell deals with the problem in the light 
of the foregoing views but he handles it 
afresh, in a way that is quite his own, bring- 
ing to the task a native and acquired equip- 
ment—logical, mathematical, philosophical— 
that gives his work surpassing importance. 
What is his main conclusion and how is it 
related to that of James and his American 
disciples? Russell, like James, rejects con- 
sciousness regarded as an entity; neither is 
consciousness an essential quality or a simple 
companion of mental phenomena. ‘“ Con- 
sciousness” he finds to be “a complex and 
far from universal characteristic of mental 
phenomena.” In holding that “sensations are 
what is common to the mental and physical 


SCIENCE 


519 


worlds,” that sensations are literally “the 
intersection of mind and matter,” he agrees 
with the American realists and with Ernst 
Mach;1 and so, with respect to sensations, 
he agrees with the realists in the thesis that 
the world is composed of a “ neutral-stuff ”; 
but he does not agree with them in his main- 
taining that images are not reducible to 
sensations and in his conclusion that “ im- 
ages belong only to the mental world.” The 
final conclusion is: 

Allour data, both in physies and psychology, are 
subject to psychological causal laws; but physical 
eausal laws, strictly speaking, can only be stated 
in terms of matter, which is both inferred and con- 
structed, never a datum. In this respect psychology 
is nearer to what actually exists. 


How are the results arrived at? The 
answer can not be given in a brief review, 
and the reader must be referred both to this 
volume and to its companion “Our Knowl- 
edge of the External World” published a 
few years ago. The earlier work, which 
deals with the physical aspects of the same 
problem, is chiefly concerned with the ques- 
tion whether, how, and to what extent the so- 
ealled constituents of matter are construc- 
tible out of sense-data by logical processes. 
The two works are thus complemental, to- 
gether constituting a whole. 

Suffice it to say that, so far as the present 
volume is concerned, the results are reached 
by a diabolically ingenious analysis of such 
things as instinct and habit, desire and feel- 
ing, psychological and physical causal laws, 
introspection, perception, sensations and im- 
ages, memory, words and meaning, general 
ideas and thoughts, belief, truth and false 
hood, emotions and will; and by an equally 
ingenious synthesis, or logical construction, 
making many familiar things seem strange 
—desire, for example, appearing as a mere 
“ fiction ” like foree in dynamics—and show- 
ing many seemingly simple and primitive 
things to be complex and derivative. It is 
noteworthy that the least original and weak- 
est part of the analysis is that of the emo- 
tions and will, commonly regarded as mental 

1‘¢ Analysis of Sensations, 1886.’ 


520 


phenomena par eacellence, while curiosity 
or wonder, which Aristotle regarded as the 
very beginning of knowledge, is not dis- 
cussed at all in terms. 

It seems a bit strange that the book does 
not mention the recently published works 
(“The Principles of Natural Knowledge,” 
and “The Concept of Nature”) of Profes- 
sor Whitehead, for these works are weighty 
contributions to the problem Mr. Russell is 
trying to solve. 

I wish finally to say that as a model ex- 
hibition of the scientific spirit, this work 
would be highly valuable even if its conclu- 
sions were unsound. Mr. Russell’s notably 
frequent public recantations of opinion, of 
which there are no fewer than five instances 
in the present work, are regarded by some 
as a token that he does not know his own 
mind or that he publishes prematurely. Such 
critics are no doubt mistaken. The fre- 
quency of recantation in Mr. Russell’s wri- 
tings is due partly to the exceeding difficulty 
of the fields in which his researches lie, partly 
to his ceaseless re-examination of seeming 
certitudes, and partly to an unsurpassed in- 
tellectual candor. 

Cassius J. KrysEr 

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


TESTIMONIAL TO DEAN H. L. RUSSELL 
(From a correspondent) 


Ar the October meeting of the Wisconsin 
branch of the Society of American Bacteri- 
ologists, Dean H. L. Russell was presented 
by his former students with a volume entitled 
“Papers on Bacteriology and Allied Sub- 
jects.” This memorial was given in com- 
memoration of the twenty-fifth anniversary 
of his doctorate. The real anniversary day 
occurred several years ago but due to the war 
conditions immediately following, the publi- 
cation of the volume was delayed. 

It is a comprehensive volume containing 
contributions from thirteen of the leading 
bacteriologists who were among the early 
students of Dr. Russell. E. G. Hastings, of 
the University of Wisconsin, reviews the 
dean’s scientific career and points out the 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. LIV. No. 1404. 


strategic opportunities presented to pionesr 
bacteriologists. Dr. Russell was the first full- 
time agricultural bacteriologist in America. 
He was likewise one of the first men to be 
employed in this country to teach and do re- 
search work in bacteriology outside of the 
medical school. His scientific papers, books, 
and bulletins number well over 125 and are 
of fundamental importance. 

A development of the city milk supply 
problems is the contribution of H. A. Hard- 
ing, formerly of the University of Illinois. 
He states the problems past and present in 
an interesting way and concludes by saying 
of Dr. Russell, 

This pioneer bacteriologist in person and 
through his students has taken an honorable part 
in the solution of these problems. 

That the greater prevalence of mold spores 
over bacteria in the air is due to the fact that 
most bacteria are readily killed by the sun’s 
rays while mold spores are only slightly af- 
fected is the conclusion reached by John 
Weinzirl of Washington State University in 
his treatise on the resistance of mold spores 
to sunlight. : 

In a series of experiments carried on at 
the University of Minnesota, C. H. Eckles 
found that the percentage of fat in milk 
could be markedly increased for the first 
twenty to thirty days when it is followed by 
underfeeding during the period of iactation. 
Underfeeding of the cow must be taken into 
consideration in the interpretation of data 
involving variation in the composition of 
milk and butter fat. 

L. A. Rogers, chief of the dairy division 
of the United States Department of Agricul- 
ture, summarizes the work done in his de- 
partment on the characteristics of the colon- 
acrogenes group of bacteria. He regards B. 
coli and B. aerogenes as very distinct types. 
He discusses the taxonomic position of other 
members of this group in relation to these 
two varieties. 

D. J. Davis, of the medical school of the 
University of Illinois, presents evidence and 
argues convincingly to show that the fungus 
which causes sporotrichosis disease affecting 


NOVEMBER 25, 1921] 


both man and horses and common in France 
and occasionally in America, is identically 
the same species and should be called by the 
name first used by Hektoen in this country. 

A butter having only a few yeasts and 
molds, when other conditions are favorable 
is a safer hazard for shipments and storage 
is the claim of F. W. Bouska and J. C. Brown 
of Chicago in their paper on “ Yeasts and 
oidia in pasteurized butter.” Creameries 
which have the best commercial reputation 
for their butter also have the lowest yeast 
and mold counts. These two men give 
methods for sampling and counting butter 
which they have recently devised. 

The late Dr. Edw. Birge presented his study 
on the activities of certain bacteria in sewage. 
He believed that some bacterial forms can be 
found which will play an important réle in 
the treatment of sewage, and that the time 
will come when septic tanks will be seeded as 
alfalfa fields and cream vats are seeded now. 

A method for the detection of pasteurized 
milks is described in detail by Dr. W. D. 
Frost, of the University of Wisconsin. The 
addition of a special dye stains the blood 
cells, always present in pasteurized milks. In 
raw milks the cells’ will not be stained. 

A strong plea for the thorough investiga- 
tion of all waters whose potability is ques- 
tioned, and for thoroughly trained investiga- 
tors experienced in laboratory and field work, 
is put forth by H. A. Whittaker, of the Uni- 
versity of Minnesota, in a paper on the “ In- 
vestigation cf drinking water supplies.” 

A. L. Amott, a commercial milk expert in 
Chicago, has given much time, energy and 
thought to “The milk supply of Chicago,” 
and discusses the source of supply, amount, 
production, transportation, city distribution, 
prices, farmers’ organizations, and milk in- 
spection. He calls attention to the improve- 
ment of the milk supply and the lowered 
baby death rate in recent years in Chicago. 

B. W. Hammer, of the Iowa Agricultural 
College, in a paper on “ The bacteriology of 
ice cream,” summarizes the knowledge of 
such points as number and kinds of bacteria, 
sources of materials, effect on the bacteria 


SCIENCE 


521 


during freezing, hardening and holding, sof- 
tening and rehardening. He also treats of 
the manufacture of ice cream with a low 
bacterial count, and the relation of ice cream 
to the public health, and bacterial standards. 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


THE QUANTITATIVE BASIS OF THE POLAR 
CHARACTER OF REGENERATION 
IN BRYOPHYLLUM 

Wuewn the defoliated stem of a plant of 
Bryophyllum calycinum is eut into as many 
pieces as it possesses nodes, each piece will pro- 
duce shoots from the two dormant buds of its 
node and roots at its basal end. When a long 
piece of stem possessing 6 or more nodes is cut 
out from such a plant only the most apical 
node will produce shoots from its two buds 
while the other nodes will show no or only in- 
considerable growth. The question is, Why do 
all the nodes except the most apical fail to pro- 
duce shoots when they are part of a long piece 
of stem, while they would each produce shoots 
when isolated? This is the problem of polarity 
in regeneration in its simplest form. 

Earlier biologists, especially Sachs, have sug- 
gested that this polarity is due to the fact that 
the ascending sap carries the substances needed 
for shoot regeneration and that if a piece of 
stem is cut out from a plant the sap must col- 
lect at the apex and thus give rise to the shoots 
at the most apical node. This explanation is 
only satisfactory if the assumption is added 
that in the case of the stem of Bryophyllum 
practically none of these substances reach the 
dormant buds in the nodes below the most 
apical one. The problem is how to furnish a 
scientific proof for this suggestion. This can 
be done by treating this problem from the view- 
point of chemical mass action. 

The formation of new shoots in an isolated 
node of a defoliated stem of Bryophyllum can 
only be the result of synthetical processes the 
velocity of which depends for a given tempera- 
ture and degree of moisture upon the relative 
mass of the material reaching the dormant buds 
of the node in the unit of time. The material 
required for growth will be taken from the sap 
reaching the node. The disappearance of this 


522 


material from the sap will cause similar ma- 
terial to leave the cells of the stem and to dif- 
fuse into the sap. If this purely chemical rea- 
soning is sound it would follow that the larger 
the mass of the stem the greater the mass of 
chemical substances available for the growth 
of shoots per unit of time. On this basis we 
should expect that the mass of shoots formed 
on the node of an isolated piece of stem would 
be in proportion with the mass of the piece of 
stem. That this is correct can be shown by 
cutting a defoliated stem of Bryophyllum into 
as many pieces as it possesses nodes. In this 
ease, each node will produce shoots but their 
mass will be unequal in the different pieces, 
and will be greatest where the mass of stem is 
greatest. 

If it is true that in a long defoliated piece 
of stem only the two shoots of the apical node 
grow out because practically all the material 
available in the stem flows to the apex; and 
that the shoots in the nodes below do not grow 
out because practically none of the material 
reaches them, then we should expect that the 
mass of the two shoots formed at the apex of a 
long piece of stem should approximately equal 
the mass of all the shoots which would have 
been formed if the stem had been cut into as 
many pieces as it contained nodes. A large 
number of experiments have been made which 
have shown that this is correct. The following 
example may sufiice: Four large stems of Bryo- 
phyllum were defoliated and a piece contain- 
ing 9 nodes was cut from each defoliated stem. 
From each piece of stem the three uppermost 
nodes were cut off and cut into three pieces 
containing one node each. These 12 one-node 
pieces produced 23 shoots. The 4 stems, with 
6 nodes each, produced all together 8 shoots. 
After 20 days the dry weight of the shoots and 
of stems was determined. It was found that 
the 12 small pieces of 1 node each had produced 
23.2 mg. dry weight of shoots per gram of dry 
weight of stems, while the 4 large pieces with 
6 nodes each had produced 26.8 mg. dry weight 
of shoots per gram of dry weight of stems. 

This shows that the mass of the two shoots 
produced at the apex of a long piece of stem 
equals approximately the mass of shoots which 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1404, 


would have been produced in the same stem in 
the same time under the same conditions if the 
shoots could have grown out in all the nodes. 
This leaves no doubt that the polar character 
of the regeneration of shoots is due to the 
fact that all the material available for growth 
reaches the apical and none of the other nodes 
of a long piece of stem. The average growth 
of shoots in small pieces is slightly less than 
in large pieces in the experiment mentioned 
(23.2 mg. instead of 26.8 mg.), probably be- 
cause the extreme ends of each piece die or 
cease to participate in the supply of material 
for growth. As a conséquence the mass of a 
stem which supplies material for growth is less 
when the stem is cut into smaller pieces than 
when it is left intact. 

It had been shown in previous papers that the 
mass of shoots and roots produced by a leaf of 
Bryophyllum is also in proportion to the mass 
of the leaf.1 

A fuller description of the results will be 
given in the Journal of General Physiology. 

JACQUES LOEB 

THE ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE 

FoR MEDICAL RESEARCH, 
New YorE 


THE SCATTERING OF ELECTRONS BY NICKEL 

A stupy of the electron emission from a 
nickel target under electron bombardment has 
revealed certain features of this emission which 
appear to be of considerable interest on account 
of their probable bearing on the structure of 
the nickel atom. ; 

Besides the emission of slow-moving second- 
ary electrons characteristic of all metals the 
emission from nickel contains an appreciable 
fraction of electrons of higher speed which 
appear to be scattered directly from the inci- 
dent beam of primaries by the atoms of the © 
target. The fastest of these scattered electrons 
have speeds almost if not quite equal to the 
speed of the primaries. It would appear that 
the sharp deflections experienced by these scat- 
tered electrons must result from their pene- 
trating into the atom structure and being 

1Loeb, J., J. Gen. Physiol., 1918-19, I., 81; 
1919-20, II., 297, 651, 


NoveMBER 25, 1921] 


swung about by the strong field there encoun- 
tered. For an electron to thus enter and 
emerge from an atom without appreciable loss 
of energy would seem to require that it do so 
without having a near encounter with any of 
the electrons of the atom structure. On the 
other hand the structural electrons may be so 
anchored in position that no energy is trans- 
ferred to them in any except very close encoun- 
ters. The fraction of the primary electrons 
scattered from a nickel target without appre- 
ciable loss of energy is small, not more than 
one in a thousand being turned back with a 
loss not to exceed one per cent. of its initial 
energy. 

The distribution of these high-speed scat- 
tered electrons in the region in front of the 
target is particularly interesting. Our observa- 
tions suggest that it is entirely symmetrical 
with respect to the incident beam and inde- 
pendent of the inclination of the target to the 
incident beam except as this affects the region 
into which the scattered electrons are free to 
emerge. With a target inclined at an angle of 
45 degrees to the incident beam the intensity 
of scattering as a function of angle has been 
studied in the plane including the incident 


SCIENCE 


523 


beam and the normal to the target. The range 
of 135 degrees on one side of the incident beam 
has been explored with the exception of 25 de- 
grees adjacent to the beam. The Faraday box 
collector used for picking up the scattered elec- 
trons can not be brought nearer the primary 
beam in our present apparatus. The principal 
features of the angular distribution are two 
maxima of emission, one back along the path 
of the bombarding electrons (¥—0) and an- 
other lateral to the primary beam whose posi- 
tion depends upon the bombarding voltage. 
The relative importance of these two maxima 
also depends upon the speed of the primaries. 

Fig. 1 shows such a distribution curve for 
a bombarding potential of 150 volts. The 
intensity is measured as the ratio of the 
current entering the Faraday box collector 
to the total current reaching the target. The 
opening in the Faraday box subtends about 
.03 of unit solid angle to the spot under bom- 
bardment. The retarding potential between 
box and target for the curve, Fig. 1, is°135 
volts, so that only electrons that have lost 
not more than 10 per cent. of their initial 
energy are caught. The effect of bringing the 
retarding voltage nearer the bombarding volt- 


SCALE OF SCATTERED EMISSION 


a eS) 
0 0 
0 oe 


(oy 
oe. 


BOMBARDING POTENTIAL 
RETARDING POTENTIAL 


x SCATTERED EMISSION 
FROM NICKEL 

150 VOLTS 

135 VOLTS 


Fia. 1. 


524 


age is to reduce the number of electrons 
caught and to increase the sharpness of the 
pattern. On decreasing the bombarding poten- 
tial without altering the ratio of retard- 
ing to bombarding potential the lateral maxi- 
mum moves away from the primary beam to- 
ward the piane of the target, and the ratio 
of the intensity of this maximum to that of 
the other becomes greater. 

In attempting to interpret these results we 
have been led to consider the scattering of 
electrons by a positive nucleus of limited 
field, one for which the central force on an 
electron is He/r? for values of 7 less than 
p, and zero for all values of r greater than p. 
Such a field would exist for a concentrated 
positive charge H surrounded by a spherical 
shell of uniformly distributed charge — FE and 
of radius p. The field of a system compris- 
ing a central positive nucleus of n electronic 
charges surrounded by n electrons uniformly 
distributed over the surface of a sphere of 
radius p will also be roughly of this nature, 
provided n is not too small. Neglecting the 
change of mass of the bombarding electrons 
while traversing the field within the shell it 
turns out that when such a system is under 
random bombardment by electrons approach- 
ing on parallel lines, the number of these 
emerging per unit solid angle in a direction 
making an angle W with the path of the inci- 
dent beam is given by 

2 28-1 2 
tae i ( Sone See SS) 
where 


Vp 
B=: 


V being the potential drop through which 
the bombarding electrons have acquired their 
speed. 

An examination of this expression shows that 
when # is very large the intensity of scattering 
will be small in all directions except in and 
near the direction ¥—=T, that is, in the direc- 
tion of motion of the incident electrons. As 
B decreases the emerging electrons are less con- 
centrated in this direction. For @==1 the 
distribution becomes entirely independent of 
angle. As £ decreases from unity to the value 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1404. 


one half the scattered electrons become more 
and more concentrated in and near the direc- 
tion ¥ =O, the intensity in this direction be- 
ing infinite for 81/2. For values of @ less 
than 1/2 the distribution curves for the range 
1>£,8> 1/2 are identically repeated, the dis- 
tribution approaching uniformity in all direc- 
tions as 8 approaches zero. 

For a neutral system of two or more concen- 
trie shells the distribution will be broken up 
into various beams or lobes corresponding to 
groups of electrons whose trajectories pass 
through one, two or more of the shells. In par- 
ticular a system comprising two shells will 
give, in an appropriate range of bombarding 
potentials, distribution curves similar to that 
shown in Fig. 1. 

All of the main features of the distribution 
curves so far observed for the scattering from 
nickel seem reasonably accounted for on the 
supposition that a small fraction of the bom- 
barding electrons actually do penetrate one or 
more of the shells of electrons which are sup- 
posed to constitute the outer structure of the 
nickel atom and, after executing simple orbits 
in a discontinuous field, emerge without appre- 
ciable loss of energy. 

If the theory of the scattering here pro- 
posed proves to be the correct one, there seems 
no reason why the careful study of such dis- 
tribution curves as shown in Fig. 1 may not 
reveal much of interest concerning the dis- 
position of electrons within the atom. It is 
hoped to report more extensively on this work 
in the near future. 

C. Davisson, 
C. H. KunsmMan 


RESEARCH LABORATORIES OF THE AMERICAN 


TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY AND THB 
WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY, INC. 


THE ATOMIC WEIGHT OF BORON 


THE application of positive-ray analysis by 
Aston! has yielded the evidence of existence of 
two isotopes of boron with atomic weights 
10 and 11, in accordance with the prediction 
of Harkins.2 Although the result of Smith 

1 Phil, Mag., £0, 628 (1920). 

2 Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc., 42, 1988 (1920). 


NOVEMBER 25, 1921] 


and van Haagen’s? recent determination of the 
atomic weight of boron, 10.900, indicates the 
proportions of these isotopes as nearly 1 to 
9, the relative intensities of the positive-ray 
spectra* point to a considerably larger pro- 
portion of the lighter isotope. Since we have 
redetermined the atomic weight of boron by 
analysis of the chloride and bromide, and 
have obtained a result more nearly in accord 
with Aston’s experiments than with those of 
Smith and van Haagen, it seems advisable 
to state the outcome of our preliminary ex- 
periments, without waiting for the comple- 
tion of the investigation. 

Boron was obtained by reduction of boric 
oxide with an excess of magnesium and ex- 
traction with either hydrochloric or hydro- 
bromic acid. To prepare the chloride, dry 
chlorine was passed over the boron at about 
700°. To prepare the bromide, helium satu- 
rated with bromine nearly at the boiling 
point of the latter substance was passed over 
boron at 700°. After removal of the excess 
of halogen with mercury both halides were 
repeatedly distilled with the use of Hempel 
fractionating columns in sealed all-glass ves- 
sels, with complete exclusion of air. Quanti- 
tative testing even before the completion of 
the fractionation showed the absence of sili- 
eon halides which constituted the worst im- 
purity. Material was collected for analysis 
in sealed glass bulbs. Analysis was effected 
by comparison with silver in the usual way. 

The results of the analysis of the chloride 
agree with those of the bromide in yielding 
the value 10.83 0.01 for the atomic weight 
of boron. On the assumption that constant 
boiling mixtures with the halogen acids were 
‘not formed and that no separation of the 
eight possible combinations of two isotopes of 
both boron and chlorine took place, this new 
value for the atomic weight of boron indi- 
eates the proportion of the heavier isotope 
to be about five times that of the lighter. 


G. P. Baxter, 
A. F. Scott 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
3 Car. Inst. Pub., No. 267 (1918). 
4 Aston, loc. cit. 


SCIENCE 


525 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 
(Continued) 

Isomeric alkyl-pyrimidines and color  phe- 
nomena: ARTHUR W. Dox AND LESTER YODER. 
A series of alkyl-diketo-pyrimidines was prepared 
by condensing alkyl-malonic esters with amidines. 
In this series four types of isomerism occur, of 
which the following derivatives are examples: 
(a) 5-butyl and 5,5-diethyl; (b) 5-phenyl-2-methyl 
and 5-methyl-2-phenyl; (c) 5-isoamyl-2-phenyl and 
5,5-diethyl-2-p-tolyl; (d) 5-allyl and ecyclobutane- 
1,5-spiro. Some of these derivatives are white, 
others are bright yellow. Color is dependent upon 
the presence of an aromatic group on the 2-carbon 
and a labile hydrogen on the 5-carbon. The latter 
makes possible a rearrangement into a tautomeric 
enolic form with three double linkages in the 
ring. ‘The only exception to the color rule is 
the spiro derivative, which is yellow. Spectro- 
scopic examination of a typical yellow derivative 
showed an absorption band in the violet between 
260 and 330 wu. 

An octet formula for benzene: Ernest C. 
Crocker. Proposed formula is ring of six earbon 
atoms acting as single complex atom. Individual 
carbons bonded together by sharing single pairs of 
electrons (single bonds), with hydrogens associated 
with pairs of electrons, as usual. The six excess 
electrons of system are ‘‘ aromatic ’’ electrons, 
and vibrate between the carbons, in unison. ‘‘ Aro- 
matic ’’ electrons cause two distinct patterns, 
o.p., and m., according to the influence of sub- 
stituents in the ring. The theory accounts well 
for mono, di and tri substitution products of 
benzene. It accounts for aromatic structure in 
general; particularly thiophene, furane, pyrrol, 
naphthalanene, and anthracene. 

Diisopropylhydrazine. J. R. Barney, W. A. 
Noyes anp H. L. Locurse. Diisopropylhydrazine 
can be easily prepared by treating a solution con- 
taining acetone, hydrazine chloride, gum arabic 
and colloidal platinum with hydrogen under pres- 
sure. Dimethylketazine (CH,),.0:N—N:C(CH,). 
is at first formed and this is reduced to diiso- 
propylhydrazine, (CH;),CHNHNHCH(CH;),. The 
latter is a monacid base, which forms stable salts. 
The free base is very easily oxidized, even by ex- 
posure to the air, probably forming an azo com- 
pound. The investigation of this and other rela- 
tions will be continued. 

The chlorination products of formanilide: W. 
Lez Lewis AND R. S. Buy. When formanilide is 
chlorinated in the presence of chlorides of sulfur 


526 


or phosphorus the principal product is 2,4-di- 
chloroformanilide. With thionyl chloride, however, 
the following products were isolated: 2,4-dichloro- 
formanilide, phenylimido phosgene, and mono- 
and di-chloro phenylimido phosgene. The last 
three compounds were identified by their conver- 
sion into the corresponding triphenyl guanidines, 
urethanes, and acetanilides. 

The preparation of dialkyl mercury compounds 
from the Grignard reagent: C. S. MARVEL AND 
V. L. Goutp. Diphenyl mereury, dibenzyl mereury 
and dicyclohexyl mercury have already been pre- 
pared from the Grignard reagent and mercuric 
chloride, but only in poor yields. This method 
may be applied to the preparation of various di- 
olkyl mereury compounds in yields of 45-65 per 
cent., if the proper precautions are taken. In this 
reaction there is formed first, an alkyl mercury 
halide which is then converted into the dialkyl 
compound. The first step goes easily but a large 
excess of the Grignard reagent and long heating 
are necessary to bring about the second. The 
unreacted magnesium must be removed from the 
Grignard reagent solution in order to avoid re- 
duction of the mercuric halide and consequent 
lowering of the yield. 

The chlorination of 6-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoqu- 
none (juglone): Atvin S8. WHEELER AND PAUL 
R. Dawson. The chlorination of juglone in hot 
glacial acetie acid solution yields dichlorojuglone 
(A), probably the 2,8-isomer, orange red needles, 
m.151°. Benzoyl derivative, yellow needles, m.225°. 
Sodium salt, indigo blue, a direct dye for silk and 
wool. Alcoholic caustic soda gives a monochloro- 
hydroxy-juglone, yellowish brown needles, m.191°. 
Diacetyl derivative, yellow needles, m.147°. Mono- 
chloro-anilino-juglone, obtained by boiling A with 
aniline in alcohol, violet red needles, m.222°; 
o-toluino derivative, dark red needles, m.151°; 
p-toluino derivative, deep violet needles, m.235°. 
So far no oxidation products of A have been ob- 
tained which might locate the chlorine atoms. 

Kelp tar oils: Atvin S. WHEELER AND H. M. 
Taytor. The kelp tar oils came from the Summer- 
Jand, California, kelp plant of the U. S. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture and were given to us for 
study by Mr. J. W. Turrentine, in charge. The 
oil is a mixture of compounds, for we found the 
boiling point to range from 200° to 300° at at- 
mospherie pressure and from 50° to 170° at 12 
mm. In the latter ease two thirds of the distillate 
eame over between 110° and 150° and 25 per cent. 
of the oil remained behind as pitch. The oils dis- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1404. 


solve in all organic solvents and are unaffected 
by most reagents. The reaction with bromine is 
violent and hydrobromie acid is evolved. The re- 
distilled product contains bromine. Molecular 
weight determinations of fractions from low to 
high boiling points gave values from 124 to 165. 
Specific gravity ranges around the point 0.94 and 
refractive index about 1.46. Hydrogenation and 
bromination studies are in progress. 


The structure of disalicylaldehyde: RocEr 
ADAMS AND M, F. Focier. When salieylaldehyde 
is heated with acid chlorides, it is converted into 
disalicylaldehyde, a white solid, m.131°. This 
substance has been studied by previous investiga- 
tors and shown to have the following properties: 
empirical formula C,,H,.0;, stable to sodium hy- 
droxide solution, unstable to concentrated sul- 
phurie acid yielding two moles of salicylaldehyde; 
shows no reaetion which would indicate a phenol or 
‘aldehyde group. No satisfactory formula has yet 
been suggested for this substance. The following 
one is proposed: 


This structure is a double acetal and agrees with 
the properties above mentioned. The synthesis of 
analogous compounds which have the same chemi- 
cal properties has been accomplished. New meth- 
ods of preparation for disalicylaldehyde indicate 
that it has an acetal structure. 


Anthraquinone thioethers: M.S. HOFFMAN AND 
E. E. Rep. The study of the replacement of the 
sulphuric acid group in alpha anthraquinone sul- 
phonie acid has been continued with the use of a 
variety of mereaptans, isopropyl, benzyl, nitro- 
benzyl, monothio-glycol, ete., and a great variety 
of anthraquinone thioethers thus prepared. Most 
of these have been oxidized to the sulphones. 

Some derivatives from p-nitrothiophenol: W. RB. 
WALDRON AND E. E. Rep. A large number of 
bases of the benzidine type have been prepared, 
various groups —CH,.—, —CH,S—, —CH.SCH,—, 
ete., being introduced between the two rings. In 
particular bases have been made from mustard 
gas which are readily converted into azo dyes. 
The whole work is a study of constitution and 
color. 

The reaction of propylene, butylene, and amy- 


NovEMBER 25, 1921] 


lene with selenium monochloride: C. E. Boorp 
AND FRED F. Corr. Bis (8 chloropropyl) selenide, 
bis (§ chlorobutyl) selenide and bis (8 chloro- 
amyl) selenide and their respective dichlorides 
were described, The reaction between olefines and 
selenium monochloride both when the olefine is in 
excess and when the monochloride is in excess were 
discussed. Evidence was offered to show that 
selenium monochloride has the unsymmetrical strue- 
ture. 


The use of olefines in the preparation of alkyl 
pheno's (preliminary report): C. E. Boorp, A. 
J. YANEY aND C. W. Hou. <A simple appa- 
ratus for the laboratory preparation of ethylene, 
propylene, butylene, and amylene is described. 
A description of the preparation of amylphenol 
and amyl catechol by the interaction of amylene 
and the phenol in the presence of anhydrous fer- 
ric chloride is given. An extension of the re- 
action between olefines and phenols in the pres- 
ence of anhydrous chlorides for the preparation 
of alkyl phenols is proposed. It is also proposed 
to use this reaction in a study of the mechanism 
of the Friedel-Crafts reaction. 


The action of sulphuric acid on 1-phenylnaph- 
thalene-2-3-dicarboxylic acid: M. L. Cross.LrEy. 
It has been shown by previous investigators that 
1-phenylnaphthalene-2-3-dicarboxylic acid is con- 
verted by sulphuric acid into allochrysoketone- 
earboxylic acid. I have found that if the reac- 
tion is carried out at a higher temperature than 
that at which the ketone acid is formed, a product 
differing from the ketone acid and having the 
formula ©,H,,0, is obtained. This forms an 
ethyl ester of the formula C,.H,,O,. The acid 
crystallizes from pyridime in tufts of light yel- 
low monoclinic needles and melts at about 375° 
C. without decomposition. It is insoluble in water 
and most organic solvents. The ester crystallizes 
from alcohol in long yellow needles, melting at 
171° C. and is quite soluble in most organic 
solvents. 


Addition compounds of y-pyrones and sulfur 
trioxide: A. S, RICHARDSON, 


Compound formation in phenol-cresol mixtures: 
JAMES KENDALL AND J. J. Braver. The isola- 
tion of stable compounds between phenol and 
the ecresols has been cited by Dawson and Mount- 
ford as constituting an exception to the generali- 
zation that the stability of addition compounds 
decreases with increasing similarity in character 
of the components. The present authors have de- 
termined the specific conductivity, viscosity and 


SCIENCE 


527 


freezing-point depression curves in benzene for 
all six phenol-eresol systems. Without exception, 
the results indicate that no increase in molecular 
complexity occurs on admixture. The compounds 
obtained by Dawson and Mountford are there- 
fore to be regarded as substitution rather than as 
addition compounds, being formed by the re- 
placement of part of an associated molecule by 
a homologue. 


The oxidation of potassium acetate with po- 
tassium permanganate in the presence of potas- 
sium hydroxide: W. L. Evans anp Pav 8. 
Hives. The literature contains conflicting state- 
ments in reference to the stability of acetates 
towards alkaline potassium permanganate. The 
results of our experiments are as follows: (a) 
Potassium acetate is oxidized to potassium oxalate 
with potassium permanganate in the presence of 
potassium hydroxide. (b) The production of ox- 
alice acid is proportional to the concentration of 
the alkali used. (c¢c) An increase in the tem- 
perature is accompanied by an increase in the 
production of oxalic acid. (d) When the oxi- 
dation is carried on for several days it is found 
that potassium acetate is oxidized to potassium 
oxalate in neutral potassium permanganate solu- 
tions. (e) The yield of oxalie acid increases with 
the time of the oxidation. (f) The velocity of 
the oxidation is very small. 


The oxidation of acetol with potassium perman- 
ganate in the presence of potassium hydroxide: 
W. L. Evans anp Ora L. Hoover. (a) Acetic, 
oxalic and carbonic acids are the final products 
of the oxidation of acetol with potassium per- 
manganate in the presence of potassium hydrox- 
ide. (b) In the absence of potassium hydroxide, 
acetic and ecarbonie acids are the sole reaction 
products. (c) Acetic acid is formed in the largest 
amounts in neutral permanganate solutions, al- 
though the acetic acid present in these cases is 
less than the amount equivalent to two carbon 
atoms. These facts show that more than one 
oxidation reaction is taking place under these 
conditions. (d) The yield of acetic acid dimin- 
ishes to a certain minimum with an increase in 
the initial concentraton of the alkali, after which 
it inereases to a certain constant yield with a 
continuing increase in the initial concentration 
of the alkali. (e) The production of carbon di- 
oxide increases to a maximum point with an in- 
erease in the initial concentration of the alkali, 
after which it diminishes to a constant value. (f) 
The yield of oxalic acid is proportional to the 


2 


528 


concentration of alkali used up to a certain con- 
stant value. (g) The general effect of an in- 
crease in temperature is that of an increase in 
the yield of oxalic acid and carbon dioxide and 
a decrease in the yield of acetic acid. 


The oxidation of propylene glycol with potas- 
sium permanganate in the presence of potassium 
hydroxide: W. l. Evans. (a) Acetic, oxalic and 
carbonic acids are the final oxidation products of 
propylene glycol with solutions of alkaline potas- 
sium permanganate. (b) Acetic and carbonic 
acids are the only products’ obtained in neutral 
solutions of potassium permanganate. (c) The 
oxalic acid production is proportional to the 
initial concentration of the alkali used. (d) The 
acetic acid production varies inversely with the 
initial concentration of the alkali. (e) At 
very low concentrations of alkali the produc- 
tion of carbonic acid is proportional to the 
initial concentration of the alkali. (f) The 
production of acetic acid diminishes with an in- 
crease in the temperature used. (g) The pro- 
duction of carbonic acid increases with an in- 
crease in the temperature used. (h) An increase 
in temperature has no marked effect on the pro- 
duction of oxalic acid. 


The condensation of citral, with certain ke- 
tones and the synthesis of some new tonones: 
Harotp Hippert AND LauRA G. CANNON. The 
best method for purifying citral is the one de- 
veloped by Tiemann. Of the condensing agents 
hitherto employed, sodium ethylate is the most 
satisfactory, but metallic sodium is equally effi- 
cient. Better yields of a purer product have been 
obtained. The bisulfite method of purification is 
capable of general application in the purification 
of pseudo-ionones, giving yields of about 85 per 
cent. and chemically pure products. New ionones 
have been synthesized from methyl propyl ketone 
and acetophenone. 


The migration of acyl from nitrogen to oxy- 
gen: L. CHARLES RAIFoRD AND JOHN R. COUTURE. 
The present work is an extension and confirma- 
tion of that previously published from this labora- 
tory (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 41, 2068 (1919)) and 
was done to secure further evidence that the re- 
arrangement involving migration of a lighter acy] 
from nitrogen to oxygen, when a heavier acyl is 
introduced into the molecule, is general for the 
specific case of acetyl and benzoyl, when the base 
employed is an orthoaminophenol. The rear- 
Tangement was found to occur with the deriva- 
tives of the base 2-amino-4-bromo-6-methylphenol. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1404. 


When the radicals were propiony] and benzoyl, the 
rearrangement was not complete, which indicates 
that the weight of acyl is one of the important 
factors in this migration. 


Acylation with a-naphthoyl chloride and the 
migration of acyl: LL. CHARLES RAIFORD AND CLAR- 
ENCE E. Gremer. (1) A further study of the 
general reaction indicated in the above report 
was carried out, using 2-aminophenol, 2-amino-4- 
methyl-6-bromphenol, and 2-amino-4, 6-dibrom- 
phenol as bases, and converting them into the 
a-naphthoyl-acetyl and a-naphthoyl-benzoyl deriva- 
tives, respectively. In each case the heavier acyl 
was found on nitrogen, regardless of the order in 
which they were introduced. (2) This study has 
also furnished evidence, so far as it has been car- 
tied, that a-naphthoyl chloride does not undergo 
the Schotten-Baumann reaction. 


The migration of acyl: Effect of the relatwe 
positions of the amino and hydroxyl groups: L. 
CHARLES Rairorp AND H. A. IppLEs. In a con- 
tinuation of the studies mentioned above, the 
acetyl-benzoyl derivative of 2, 4-dibrom-3-methyl- 
6-aminophenol was found to undergo the rear- 
Tangement, and benzoyl was found on nitrogen; 
while the derivative of the isomeric base, 2, 6- 
dibromo-3-methyi-4-aminophenol did not suffer 
the migration. Here it was possible to isolate 
N-acetyl-O-benzoyl, and O-acetyl-N-benzoyl de- 
rivatives. The failure of this para compound to 
undergo this change was supported by the be- 
havior of the derivatives of 4-aminophenol, 2, 6- 
dibrom-4-aminophenol, and 2-brom-4-amino-6-meth- 
ylphenol. 

Stability of the C-Hg linkage in mercury 
derivative of maleric acid. Preliminary paper: 
FraNK C. WHITMAN AND B. J. Martin. The 
sodium salt of hydroxymercuric malerie acid ob- 
tained from the action of sodium hydroxide on the 
reaction product of malerie acid with mereuric 
acetate contains an unstable C-Hg linkage. It 
reacts at once with sulfides. With sodium iodide 
it gives sodium maleate, sodium mercuric iodide 
and sodium hydroxide. The reaction is complete 
only on heating the mereury compound with a large 
excess of iodid. The calculated amount of iodide 
gives only one third of the calculated amount of 
base. If this base is neutralized and the mixture is 
boiled a little more base is formed. Many repeti- 
tions of this process give a total amount of base 
which gradually approaches the calculated volume. 

CHARLES L. PARSONS 
Secretary 


<= F ~ 


NEw SERIES 
Vou. LIV, No. 1405 


Fripay, DrcemBer 2, 1921 


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SCIENCE 


Froay, Drcemper 2, 1921. 


Some Problems in Evolution: PROFESSOR 
DWN Os) GOODRICH ielafare sislelelechaiciaistehe ecaleiele 


The Spirit of Research: Proressor 8S. R. 
AWE TTA SUR der svetuyavinereysoerersp nee sierainwaeyeie, otal 538 


The Concentration of Hydrogen Ions in the 


S010) D Rs CARSTEN) OLSEN seiieisls « cisiele sso cole 539 
The Present Status of the Concilium Biblio- 
graphicum: Dr. VERNON KELLOGG......... 541 


Scientific Events: 
The High Altitude Expedition to Peru; The 
Joseph Henry Fund of the National Acad- 
emy of Sciences; Dr. Nichols and the Pres- 
idency of the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology; Meetings of National Scientific 


IS OCLELTESHI Ds Canny sy ae TAL atevertesiase ens ce ocdoxe 542 
Scientific Notes‘and News.............20006 545 
Discussion and Correspondence : 

Fur Seals of the Farallons: Dr. Barron 

WarREN EVERMANN. The Physical Museum 

of the University of Wisconsin: Dr. L. R. 

INGERSOLL. How to do Research: A, W. 

STM ON Mt rereyetaereecee ciepepet ee trehoiee, seatonetleusiscars 547 
Scientific Books: 

Clarke on Organic Dependence and Disease: 

PROFESSOR CHARLES SCHUCHERT........... 550 
Special Articles: 

A Simple Micro-injection Apparatus made 

of Steel: Dr. Robert CHAMBERS. On the 

Emission and Absorption of Oxygen and Air 

in the Extreme Ultra-Violet: Dr. J. J. 

FLOPEIELD Aeroelastic pereeerve resect eisiaiei i eee 552 
The American Chemical Society: Dr. CHARLES 

PPAR SONS! lore vcleroisielasuectdetete paca etsiele. sia lelsns 555 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc.,intended for 
review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. 


———— 


SOME PROBLEMS IN EVOLUTION? 


Ir was nearly 100 years ago that Charles 
Darwin began his scientific studies in the Uni- 
versity of Edinburgh. In this illustrious 
center of intellectual activity he met various 
friends keenly interested in natural history, 
and attended the meetings of scientific so- 
cieties, and it was doubtless here that were 
sown many of the seeds destined to bear such 
glorious fruit many years later. No more 
fitting subject, I think, could be found for 
an address than certain problems relating to 
his doctrine of evolution. That controversy 
perpetually rages round it is a healthy sign. 
For we must take care in science lest doc- 
trine should pass into dogma, unquestioned 
and accepted merely on authority. So from 
time to time it is useful to reexamine in the 
light of new knowledge the very foundations 
on which our theories are laid. ~ 

Perhaps the best way of treating these gen- 
eral subjects is by trying to answer some 
definite questions. For instance, we may ask: 
“Why are some characters inherited and 
others not?” By characters we mean all those 
qualities and properties possessed by the or- 
ganism, and by the enumeration of which we 
describe it; its weight, size, shape, color, its 
structure, composition and activities. Next, 
what do we mean by “inherited”? It is most 
important, if possible, clearly to define this 
term, since much of the controversy in 
writings on evolution is due to its use by va- 
rious authors with a very different significance 
—sometimes as mere reappearance, at other 
times as actual transmission or transference 
from one generation to the next. Now, I pro- 
pose to use the word inheritance merely to sig- 
nify the reappearance in the offspring of a 
character possessed by the ancestor—a fact 

1 Address of the president of Section D—Zoo- 
logy—British Association for the Advancement of 
Science, Edinburgh, September, 1921. 


530 


which may be observed and described, regard- 
less of any theory as to its cause. Our ques- 
tion, then, is: “Why do some characters re- 
appear in the offspring and others not?” 

It is sometimes asserted that old-established 
characters are inherited, and that newly be- 
gotten ones are not, or are less constant, in 
their reappearance. This statement will not 
bear critical examination. For, on the one 
hand, it has beem conclusively shown by ex- 
perimental breeding that the newest charac- 
ters may be inherited as constantly as the 
most ancient, provided they are possessed by 
both parents.2 While, on the other hand, few 
characters in plants can be older than the 
green color due to chlorophyll, yet it is suffi- 
‘ecient to cut off the light from a germinating 
seed for the greenness to fail to appear. 
Again, ever since Devonian times vertebrates 
have inherited paired eyes; yet, as Professor 
Stockard has shown, if a little magnesium 
chloride is added to the sea-water in which 
the eggs of the fish Fundulus are developing, 
they will give rise to embryos with one median 
eyclopean eye! Nor is the suggestion any 
happier that the, so to speak, more deep- 
seated and fundamental characters are more 
constantly inherited than the trivial or super- 
ficial. A glance at organisms around us, or 
the slightest experimental trial, soon con- 
vinces us that the apparently least-important 
character may reappear as constantly as the 
most fundamental. But while an organism 
may live without some trivial character, it can 
rarely do so when a fundamental character 
is absent, hence such incomplete individuals 
are seldom met in Nature. 

Yet undoubtedly some characters reappear 
without fail and others do not. If it is neither 
age nor importance, what is it that deter- 
mines their inheritance? The answer is that 
for a character to reappear in the offspring 
it is essential that the germinal factors and 
the environmental conditions which cooperated 
in its formation in the ancestor should both 
be present. Inheritance depends on this con- 

2 We purposely set aside complications due to 
hybridization and Mendelian segregation, which do 
not directly bear on the questions at issue. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1405. 


dition being fulfilled. For all characters are 
of the nature of responses to environment,® 
they are the products or results of the inter- 
action between the factors of inheritance (ger- 
minal factors) and the surrounding conditions 
or stimuli. This power of response or reac- 
tion is no mysterious property of organisms— 
it is the effect produced, the disturbance 
brought about by the application of a stimu- 
lus. All the special properties and activities 
of living organisms ultimately depend on their 
metabolism, of which growth and reproduction 
are the chief manifestations. The course of 
metabolism, and, consequently, the develop- 
ment in the individual of a character, is 
molded or conditioned by the environmental 
stimuli under which it takes place. On the 
other hand, the living substance, protoplasm, 
which is undergoing metabolism, is the ma- 
terial basis of the organism. It has a specific 
composition and structure peculiar to the 
particular kind of organism concerned, and 
this is handed on to the offspring in the germ- 
cells from which starts the new generation. 
The inheritance of a character is due, then, 
not only to the actual transmission or trans- 
ference of this specific “germ-plasm” con- 
taining the same factors of inheritance (ger- 
minal factors) as those from which the parent 
developed, but also to this factorial complex 
developing under the same conditions (en- 
vironmental stimuli), as those under which 
the parent developed. Any alteration either 
in the effective environmental stimuli or in 
the germinal factors will produce a new re- 
sult, will give rise to a new character, will 
cause the old character to appear no longer. 

Now what is actually transmitted from one 
generation to the next is the complex of ger- 
minal factors. Hence we should carefully dis- 
tinguish between transmission and inheritance. 


3In a letter to Nature Sir Ray Lankester long 
ago drew attention to the importance of this con- 
sideration when discussing inheritance. He also 
pointed out that Lamarck’s first law, that a new 
stimulus alters the characters of an organism, con- 
tradicts his second law, that the effects of previous 
stimuli are fixed by inheritance. (Nature, Vol. 
LI., 1894.) 


DECEMBER 2, 1921] 


Much of the endless confusion and intermi- 
nable controversies about the inheritance of 
so-called “acquired characters” is due to the 
neglect of this important distinction. For it 
is quite clear that whereas factors may be 
transmitted, characters as such never are. The 
characters of the adult, being responses, are 
not present as such in the fertilized ovum 
from which it develops, they are produced 
anew at every generation.* No distinction in 
kind or value can be drawn between charac- 
ters. 

If some are inherited regularly and others 
are not, the distinction lies not in the nature 
or mode of production of the characters them- 
selves, but in the constancy of the factors and 
conditions which give rise to them. Thus, 
although there is only one kind of character, 
there are two kinds of variation. 

Much of the confusion in evolutionary lit- 
erature is, I think, due to the use of the word 
variation in a loose manner. Sometimes it is 
taken to mean the degree of divergence be- 
tween two individuals; sometimes the char- 
acter itself in which they differ, such as a 
color or spot on a butterfly’s wing, at other 
times a variety or race differing from the 
normal form of the species. If clearness of 
thought and expression is to be attained, the 
word variation should mean the extent or de- 
gree of difference between two individuals or 
between an individual and the average of the 
species, the divergence of the new form from 
the old; not a new character or assemblage of 
characters, but a difference which can be 
measured or at least estimated. We shall then 
find that a variation is of one of two kinds 
(which may, of course, be combined): the 
first kind is due to some change in the com- 
plex of germinal factors. 

The second kind, to which the name muta- 
tion has been applied, will, under constant con- 


4In other words, all characters are ‘‘ acquired 
during the lifetime of the individual,’’ and ‘‘ in- 
herited ’’ in the sense here defined has just the 
game meaning. Much the same view was advo- 
eated by Professor A, Sedgwick in his address to 
this Section at Dover in 1899, and it has also been 
developed by Dr. Archdall Reid and others, 


SCIENCE 


531 


ditions, be inherited since the new complex 
of factors will be transmitted to subsequent 
generations. The first kind of variation, 
which has been called a modification, will also 
be inherited, provided, of course, the change 
of stimulus persists. In either case, new 
characters will result. But here, again, we 
must be careful not to apply the terms muta- 
tion and modification to the characters them- 
selves, as is so often done;® for we then re- 
introduce the confusion already exposed in the 
popular but misleading distinction between 
“aequired” and “non-acquired” characters. 
The characters due to mutation or modifica- 
tion are, of course, indistinguishable by mere 
inspection, and can only be separated by ex- 
periment, A mutation once established should 
give rise, under uniform conditions, to a new 
heritable character, and may be detected by 
crossing with normal members of the species. 

So far observations and tests have shown 
that new characters due to modification only 
reappear so long as the new stimulus persists. 
The difference lies not in the value or per- 
manence of the new character, but in the 
causes which give rise to it.® 

It is little more than a platitude to state 
that, for the production of an organism or of 
any of its characters, both germinal factors 
and environmental stimuli ave necessary, and 
that if evolution is to take place there must be 
change in one or both. Yet the changes in the 
factors may be held to be the more important. 


5 The name ‘‘mutation ’’? might be given to the 
alteration in the factors instead of the variation 
due to it. The latter might then be termed a muta- 
tional variation and would be opposed to a modifi- 
cational variation. At present the term ‘‘ muta- 
tion ’’ is applied to three different things: the 
factorial change, the variation or difference, and 
the new product response or character. 

6 We might perhaps distinguish the two cases by 
calling them constant and inconstant characters, or 
*¢ natural ’? and ‘‘ acquired,’’ as is commonly done 
when describing immunity. It should be meant 
thereby that one is acquired usually (under normal 
conditions), the other occasionally (when infec- 
tion occurs). Error creeps in when the term 
‘¢ acquired ’’ is opposed to ‘‘ non-acquired ’’ or to 
‘¢ inherited.’’ 


532 


In an environment which on the whole alters 
but little, evolution progresses by the cumu- 
lation alone diverging lines of adaptation of 
new characters due to mutation. Thus nat- 
ural selection indirectly preserves those fac- 
torial complexes which respond in a favorable 
manner. In other words, an organism, to sur- 
vive in the struggle for existence, must pre- 
sent that assemblage of factors of inheritance 
which, under the existing environmental condi- 
tions, will give rise to advantageous char- 
acters. 

In answer to a further question, let us 
now try to explain what we mean when we 
contrast the organism with its environment. 
In its simplest and most abstract form a liy- 
ing organism may be likened to a vortex. 
That mixture of highly complex proteins we 
eall protoplasm, the physical basis of life, 
is perpetually undergoing transformations of 
matter and energy, so long as life persists. 
Towards the center of the vortex the highest 
compounds are continually being built up and 
continually being broken down; new material 
(food, water, oxygen) and energy are brought 
in at the periphery, and old material and en- 
ergy (work and heat) thrown out. The prin- 
ciple of the conservation of energy and matter 
holds good in organized living processes as 
it does in the inorganic world outside. This 
is the process we call metabolism, and it is at 
the base of all the manifestations of life. 
From the point of view of biological sci- 
ence life is founded on a complex and con- 
tinuous physico-chemical process of endless 
duration so long as conditions are favorable; 
just as a fire will continue to burn so long as 
fuel is at hand. No one step, no single sub- 
stance, can be said to be living; the whole 
chain of substances and reactions, every link 
of which is essential, constitutes the life- 
process. A stream of non-living matter with 
stored-up energy is built up into the living vor- 
tex, and again passes out as dead matter, hav- 
ing yielded up the energy necessary for the 
performance of the various activities of the 
organism. If more is taken in than is given 
out it will grow and sub-divide. The com- 
plexity of the organism may increase by the 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. LIV. No. 1405. 


formation of subsidiary, more or less inter- 
dependent, vortices within it. The perpetual 
growth and transmission of factors of in- 
heritance, the continuity of the germ-plasm, is 
but another aspect of the continuity of the 
metabolic process forming the basis of the 
continuity of life in evolution. 

But all the environmental stimuli are not 
external to the organism. Just as the va- 
rious steps in the metabolic process are depen- 
dent on those which preceded them, so when 
an organism becomes differentiated into parts, 
when the main process becomes subdivided 
into subsidiary ones, these react on each other. 
What is internal to the whole becomes ex- 
ternal to the part. An external stimulus may 
set up an internal metabolic change, giving 
Tise to a response whose extent and nature de- 
pend on the structure of the mechanism and 
its state when stimulated, that is to say, on 
the effect of previous responses. Such a re- 
sponse may act as an internal stimulus giving 
rise to a further response, which may modify 
the first, and so on. Parts thus become mar- 
velously fitted to set going, inhibit, or regu- 
late each other’s action; and thus arises that 
power of individual adaptation, or self-regula- 
tion, so characteristic of living organisms. 
The processes of temperature regulation, of 
respiration, of excretion are examples of such 
delicate self-regulating mechanisms in our- 
selves. But one of the great advantages there- 
by gained by organisms is that they can regu- 
late their own growth and ensure their own 
“right” development. Whereas the simplest 
plants and animals are to a great extent, so 
to speak, at the mercy of their external en- 
vironment, except in so far as they can move 
from unfavorable to more favorable surround- 
ings; whereas their characters appear in re- 
sponse to external stimuli which may or may 
not be present, and over which they have little 
or no control—the higher organisms (more 
especially the higher animals), as it were, grad- 
ually substitute internal for external stimuli. 
Food material is provided in the ovum, and 
the size, structure and time of appearance of 
various characters are regulated to a great ex- 
tent by use and by the secretions of various 


DECEMBER 2, 1921] 


endocrinal glands, the action of which has 
been so successfully studied, among others, 
by Sir Sharpey Schaffer in this University. 
Thus, as is well shown in man, the higher ani- 
mals acquire considerable independence, and 
are little affected in their development by mi- 
nor changes of environment. Inheritance is 
thus made secure by ensuring that the neces- 
sary conditions are always present. 

We may seem to have wandered far from 
our original question; but the answer now ap- 
pears to be that only those characters can be 
regularly inherited which depend for their 
appearance on conditions always fulfilled in 
the normal environment (external or inter- 
nal); and those characters will not be regu- 
larly inherited which depend on stimuli that 
may or may not be present. Thus, while the 
offspring of a dark-skinned race will be dark 
in whatever climate they are born, those of a 
fair-skinned race will be born fair, but may be 
darkened by sun-burn, if they spend their 
holiday in the open. 

Now it will be said, and not without some 
truth, that all this is mere commonplace ad- 
mitted by all; but, if so, it is, I think, often 
ignored or misunderstood in discussions on 
heredity, more especially in semi-popular writ- 
ings, and sometimes even in scientific works. 
However, I quite willingly admit that the 
real problems Darwin left to be solved by the 
evolutionist are the nature of the germinal 
factors themselves, and more especially the 
origin of the differences between them, the 
origin of those changes which give rise to 
mutations. 

That these factors’ must at least be self- 


7 Herbert Spencer’s ‘‘ physiological units,’’ Dar- 
win’s ‘‘ pangens,’’? Weismann’s ‘‘ determinants,’’ 
are all terms denoting factors, but with somewhat 
different meanings. More recently Professor W. 
Johannsen (‘‘ Elemente der exakten Erblichkeits- 
lehre,’’ 1909) has proposed the term ‘‘ gene ’’ for 
a factor, ‘‘ genotype ’’ for the whole assemblage 
of factors transmitted by a species, and ‘‘ pheno- 
type ’’ for the characters developed from them. 
This clear system of nomenclature, although much 
used in America, has not been generally adopted 
in this country. 


SCIENCE 


533 


propagating substances, subsidiary vortices in 
the main stream of metabolizing living proto- 
plasm, is certain, since they grow and multiply 
repeatedly, to be distributed to new generations 
of germ-cells. That they may be relatively 
constant and remain unaltered for generations 
seems also certain, since organisms or their 
parts can continue almost unchanged for un- 
told ages. That they can act independently, 
ean be separately distributed into different 
germ-cells, and can be re-combined seems like- 
wise to have been proved by the brilliant work 
of Mendel and his followers. So independent 
and constant do they appear to be that mod- 
ern students of heredity tend to treat them 
as so many beads in a row, as separate par- 
ticles themselves endowed with all the proper- 
ties of independent living organisms, the very 
properties we wish to explain. While not pre- 
pared to accept these views without qualifica- 
tion, it seems to me that it can scarcely be 
doubted that some such units must exist 
whether in the form of discrete particles or 
merely of separable substances. But not until 
these factors have been brought into relation 
with the general metabolism of the organism, 
as links in the chain of processes, will the 
problem of inheritance approach solution. If 
the theory is to be completed it must at- 
tempt to explain how they come to differ, how 
their orderly behavior is regulated, in what 
functional relation they stand to each other, 
what is the metabolic bond between them. 
That harmonious processes may be carried out 
by discrete elements in cooperation is shown 
in cases of symbiotic combinations such as 
the lichens, or the green alge in such ani- 
mals as Hydra and Convoluta. Here an 
originally independent organism takes its 
place and does its work regularly in another 
organism, and may even be propagated and 
transmitted from one generation to the next 
in the germ-cell! Most instructive, also, are 
the recently studied cases of bacteria and 
yeasts living regularly in certain special tis- 
sues of various species of insects, where they 
exert a definite influence on the metabolism 
(see the works of Pierantoni, Buchner, Gla- 


504 
ser). These no doubt are mere analogies, but 
they serve. 


In all probability, then, factors of inheri- 
tance exist, and the fundamental problem of 
Biology is, how are the factors of an organ- 
ism changed, or how does it acquire new fac- 
tors? In spite of its vast importance, it must 
be confessed that little advance has been made 
towards the solution of this problem since the 
time of Darwin, who considered that variation 
must ultimately be due to the action of the 
environment. This conclusion is inevitable, 
since any closed system will reach a state of 
equilibrium and continue unchanged, unless 
affected from without. To say that mutations 
are due to the mixture or reshufiling of pre- 
existing factors is merely to push the problem 
a step farther back, for we must still account 
for their origin and diversity. The same ob- 
jection applies to the suggestion that the 
complex of factors alters by the loss of cer- 
tain of them. To account for the progressive 
change in the course of evolution of the fac- 
tors of inheritance and for the building up 
of the complex it must be supposed that from 
time to time new factors have been added; it 
must further be supposed that new substances 
have entered into the cycle of metabolism, 
and have been permanently incorporated as 
self-propagating ingredients entering into last- 
ing relation with preexisting factors. We 
are well aware that living protoplasm con- 
tains molecules of large size and extraordinary 
complexity, and that it may be urged that by 
their combination in different ways, or by 
the mere regrouping of the atoms within them, 
an almost infinite number of changes may 
result, more than sufficient to account for 
the mutations which appear. But this does 
not account for the building up of the original 
complex. If it must be admitted that such a 
building process once occurred, what right 
have we to suppose that it ceased at a cer- 
tain period? We are driven, then, to the con- 
clusion that in the course of evolution new 
material has been swept from the banks into 
the stream of germ-plasm. 

If one may be allowed to speculate still 
further, may it not be supposed that factors 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1405. 


differ in their stability?—that whereas the 
more stable are merely bent, so to speak, in 
this or that direction by the environment, and 
are capable of returning to their original 
condition, as a gyroscope may return to its 
former position when pressure is removed, 
other less stable factors may be permanently 
distorted, may .have their metabolism per- 
manently altered, may take up new substance 
from the vortex, without at the same time 
upsetting the system of delicate adjustments 
whereby the organism keeps alive? In some 
such way we imagine factorial changes to be 
brought about and mutations to result. 

Let it not be thought for a moment that 
this admission that factors are alterable opens 
the door to a Lamarckian interpretation of 
evolution! According to the Lamarckian doc- 
trine, at all events in its modern form, a 
character would be inherited after the re- 
moval of the stimulus which called it forth in 
the parent. Now of course, a response once 
made, a character once formed, may persist 
for longer or shorter time according as it is 
stable or not; but that it should continue to 
be produced when the conditions necessary for 
its production are no longer present is un- 
thinkable. It may, however, be said that this 
is to misrepresent the doctrine, and that what 
is really meant is that the response may so 
react on and alter the factor as to render 
it capable of producing the new character un- 
der the old conditions. But is this interpre- 
tation any more credible than the first? 

Let us return to the possible alteration of 
factors by the environment. Unfortunately 
there is little evidence as yet on this point. 
In the course of breeding experiments the oc- 
currence of mutations has repeatedly been 
observed, but what led to their appearance 
seems never to have been so clearly estab- 
lished as to satisfy exacting critics. Quite 
lately, however, Professor M. F. Guyer, of 
Wisconsin, has brought forward a most in- 
teresting case of the apparent alteration at 
will of a factor or set of factors under defi- 
nite well-controlled conditions.’ You will re- 

8 American Naturalist, Vol. LV., 1921; Jour. of 
Exper. Zoology, Vol. XXXI., 1920. 


DECEMBER 2, 1921] 


member that if a tissue substance, blood- 
serum, for instance, of one animal be injected 
into the circulation of another, this second in- 
dividual will tend to react by producing an 
anti-body in its blood to antagonize or neu- 
‘tralize the effect of the foreign serum. Now 
Professor Guyer’s ingenious experiments and 
results may be briefly summarized as follows. 
By repeatedly injecting a fowl with the sub- 
stance of the lens of the eye of a rabbit he ob- 
tained anti-lens serum. On injecting this 
“sensitized” serum into a pregnant female 
rabbit it was found that, while the mother’s 
eyes remained apparently unaffected, some of 
her offspring developed defective lenses. The 
defects varied from a slight abnormality to al- 
most complete disappearance. No defects ap- 
peared in untreated controls, no defects ap- 
peared with non-sensitized sera. On breeding 
the defective offspring for many generations 
these defects were found to be inherited, even 
to tend to increase and to appear more often. 
When a defective rabbit is crossed with a nor- 
mal one the defect seems to behave as a Men- 
delian recessive character, the first generation 
having normal eyes and the defect reappearing 
in the second. Further, Professor Guyer 
claims to have shown that the defect may be 
inherited through the male as well as the fe- 
male parent, and is not due to the direct trans- 
mission of anti-lens from mother to embrye 
ain utero. 

If these remarkable results are verified, it 
is clear that an environmental stimulus, the 
anti-lens substance, will have been proved to 
affect not only the development of the lens 
in the embryo, but also the corresponding fac- 
tors in the germ-cells of that embryo; and that 
it causes, by originating some destructive 
process, a lasting transmissible effect giving 
rise to a heritable mutation. 

Professor Guyer, however, goes farther, and 
argues that, since a rabbit can also produce 
anti-lens when injected with lens substance, 
and since individual animals can even pro- 
duce anti-bodies when treated with their own 
tissues, therefore the products of the tissues 
of an individual may permanently affect the 


SCIENCE 


535 


factors carried by its own germ-cells. More- 
over he asks, pointing to the well-known stim- 
ulative action of internal secretions (hor- 
mones and the like), if destructive bodies 
can be produced, why not constructive bodies 
also? And so he would have us adopt a sort 
of modern version of Darwin’s theory of pan- 
genesis, and a Lamarckian view of evolution- 
ary change. 

But surely there is a wide difference be- 
tween such a poisonous or destructive action 
as he describes and any constructive process. 
The latter must entail, as I tried to show 
above, the drawing of new substances into the 
metabolic vortex. Internal secretions are 
themselves but characters, products (perhaps 
of the nature of ferments) behaving as en- 
vironmental conditions, not as self-propagating 
fateors, molding the responses, but not per- 
manently altering the fundamental structure 
and composition of the factors of inheritance. 

Moreover, the early fossil vertebrates had, 
in fact, lenses neither larger nor smaller on 
the average than those of the present day. 
If destructive anti-lens had been continually 
produced and had acted, its effect would have 
been cumulative. A constructive substance 
must, then, have also been continually pro- 
duced to counteract it. Such a theory might 
perhaps be defended; but would it bring us 
any nearer to the solution of the problem? 

The real weakness of the theory is that it 
does not escape from the fundamental objec- 
tions we have already put forward as fatal to 
Lamarckism. If an effect has been produced, 
either the supposed constructive substance was 
present from the first, as an ordinary internal 
environmental condition necessary for the nor- 
mal development of the character, or it must 
have been introduced from without by the ap- 
plication of a new stimulus. The same objec- 
tion does not apply to the destructive effect. 
No one doubts that if a factor could be de- 
stroyed by a hot needle or picked out with 
fine forceps the effects of the operation would 
persist throughout subsequent generations. 

Nevertheless, these results are of the great- 
est interest and importance, and, if corrob- 


536 


orated, will mark an epoch in the study of 
heredity, being apparently the first successful 
attempt to deal experimentally with a partic- 
ular factor or set of factors in the germ- 
plasm. 

There remains another question we must 
try to answer before we close, namely, “ What 
share has the mind taken in evolution?” 
From the point of view of the biologist, de- 
scribing and generalizing on what he can ob- 
serve, evolution may be represented as a series 
of metabolic changes in living matter molded 
by the environment. It will naturally be ob- 
jected that such a description of life and its 
manifestations as a physico-chemical mechan- 
ism takes no account of mind. Surely, it will 
be said, mind must have affected the course of 
evolution, and may indeed be considered as the 
most important factor in the process. Now, 
without in the least wishing to deny the 
importance of the mind, I would maintain 
that there is no justification for the belief 
that it has acted or could act as something 
guiding or interfering with the course of 
metabolism. This is not the place to enter in- 
to a philosophical discussion on the ultimate 
nature of our experience and its contents, nor 
would I be competent to do so; nevertheless, 
a scientific explanation of evolution can not 
ignore the problem of mind if it is to satisfy 
the average man. 

Let me put the matter as briefly as possible 
at the risk of seeming somewhat dogmatic. 
It will be admitted that all the manifestations 
of living organisms depend, as mentioned 
above, on series of physico-chemical changes 
continuing without break, each step deter- 
mining that which follows; also that the so- 
called general laws of physics and of chem- 
istry hold good in living processes. Since, 
so far as living processes are known and un- 
derstood, they can be fully explained in ac- 
cordance with these laws, there is no need and 
no justification for calling in the help of any 
special vital force or other directive influence 
to account for them. Such crude vitalistic 
theories are now discredited, but tend to re- 
turn in a more subtle form as the doctrine 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1405. 


of the interaction of body and mind, of the 
influence of the mind on the activities of the 
body. But, try as we may, we can not con- 
ceive how a physical process can be inter- 
rupted or supplemented by non-physical agen- 
cies. Rather do we believe that to the con- 
tinuous physico-chemical series of events there 
corresponds a continuous series of mental 
events inevitably connected with it; that the 
two series are but partial views or abstrac- 
tions, two aspects of some more complete 
whole, the one seen from without, the other 
from within, the one observed, the other felt. 
One is capable of being described in scientific 
language as a consistent series of events in 
an outside world, the other is ascertained by 
introspection, and is describable as a series 
of mental events in psychical terms. There 
is no possibility of the one affecting or con- 
trolling the other, since they are not inde- 
pendent of each other. Indissolubly con- 
nected, any change in the one is necessarily 
accompanied by a corresponding change in the 
other. The mind is not a product of metab- 
olism as materialism would imply, still less 
an epiphenomenon or meaningless by-product 
as some have held. I am well aware that the 
view just put forward is rejected by many 
philosophers, nevertheless it seems to me to 
be the best and indeed the only working hy- 
pothesis the biologist can use in the present 
state of knowledge. The student of biology, 
however, is not concerned with the building 
up of systems of philosophy, though he should 
realize that the mental series of events lies 
outside the sphere of natural science. 

The question, then, which is the more im- 
portant in evolution, the mental or the physical 
series, has no meaning, since one can not hap- 
pen without the other. The two have evolved 
together pari passu. We know of no mind 
apart from body, and have no right to assume 
that metabolic processes can occur without 
corresponding mental processes, however sim- 
ple they may be. 

Simple response to stimulus is the basis of 
all behavior. Responses may be linked to- 
gether in chains, each acting as a stimulus to 


DECEMBER 2, 1921] 


start the next; they can be modified by other 
simultaneous responses, or by the effects left 
behind by previous responses, and so may be 
built up into the most complicated behavior. 
But, owing to our very incomplete knowledge 
of the physical-chemical events concerned, we 
constantly, when describing the behavior of 
living organisms, pass, so to speak, from the 
physical to the mental series, filling up the 
gaps in our knowledge of the one from the 
other. We thus complete our description of 
behavior in terms of mental processes we 
know only in ourselves (such as feeling, emo- 
tion, will) but infer from external evidence 
to take place in other animals. 

In describing a simple reflex action, for 
instance, the physico-chemical chain of events 
may appear to be so completely known that 
the corresponding mental events are usually 
not mentioned at all, their existence may even 
be denied. On the contrary, when describing 
complex behavior when impulses from external 
or internal stimuli modify each other before 
the final result is translated into action, it is 
the intervening physico-chemical processes 
which are unknown and perhaps ignored, and 
the action is said to be voluntary or prompted 
by emotion or the will. 

The point I wish to make, however, is that 
the actions and behavior of organisms are 
responses, are characters in the sense described 
in the earlier part of this address. They are 
inherited, they vary, they are selected, and 
evolve like other characters. The distinction 
so often drawn by psychologists between in- 
stinctive behavior said to be inherited and 
intelligent behavior said to be acquired is as 
misleading and as little justified in this case 
as in that of structural characters. Time will 
not allow me to develop this point of view, but 
I will only mention that instinctive behavior 
is carried out by a mechanism developed un- 
der the influence of stimuli, chiefly internal, 
which are constantly present in the normal 
enviromental conditions, while intelligent be- 
havior depends on responses called forth by 
stimuli which may or may not be present. 
Hence, the former is, but the latter may or 


SCIENCE 


537 


may not be inherited. As in other cases, the 
distinction lies in the factors and conditions 
which produce the results. Instinctive and 
intelligent behavior are usually, perhaps al- 
ways, combined, and one is not more primi- 
tive or lower than the other. 

It would be a mistake to think that these 
problems concerning factors and environment, 
heredity and evolution, are merely matters of 
academic interest. Knowledge is power, and 
in the long run it is always the most abstruse 
researches that yield the most practical re- 
sults. Already, in the effort to keep up and 
increase our supply of food, in the constant 
fight against disease, in education, and in the 
progress of civilization generally, we are be- 
ginning to appreciate the value of knowledge 
pursued for its own sake. Could we acquire 
the power to control and alter at will the fac- 
tors of inheritance in domesticated animals 
and plants, and even in man himself, such 
vast results might be achieved that the past 
triumphs of the science would fade into in- 
significance. 

Zoology is not merely a descriptive and ob- 
servational science, it is also an experimental 
science. For its proper study and the prac- 
tical training of students and teachers alike, 
well-equipped modern laboratories are neces- 
sary. Moreover, if there is to be a useful and 
progressive school contributing to the advance 
of the science, ample means must be given for 
research in all its branches. Life doubtless 
arose in the sea, and in the attempt to solve 
most of the great problems of biology the 
greatest advances have generally been made 
by the study of the lower marine organisms. 
It would be a thousand pities, therefore, if 
Edinburgh did not avail itself of its fortunate 
position to offer to the student opportunities 
for the practical study of marine zoology. 

In his autobiography, Darwin complains of 
the lack of facilities for practical work—the 
same need is felt at the present time. He 
would doubtless have been gratified to see the 
provision made since his day and the excellent 
use to which it has been put; but what seems 
adequate to one generation becomes insuffi- 


538 


cient for the next. We earnestly hope that 
any appeal that may be made for funds to 
improve this Department of Zoology may meet 
with the generous response it certainly de- 
serves. 

Epwin S. GoopricH 


THE SPIRIT OF RESEARCH 


Tue recent World War emphasized the im- 
portance of scientific investigation and as a 
result there has followed a vigorous campaign 
to promote research in America. In conse- 
quence a great deal has been published 
recently concerning the mechanism of re- 
search; how we may cooperate; how the large 
university with superior equipment may help 
the teacher in the small institution to keep 
alive the hope that is within him to do re- 
search work; we have bulletins issued from 
time to time which bring certain fields of 
knowledge up-to-date; we have compendia on 
the technique of research; in a host of differ- 
ent ways the machinery for doing research is 
being cleaned and oiled and must run infi- 
nitely better than it has in the past. This is 
all exceeedingly important and must be done 
if we are to take a share in the program of 
scientific investigation. Back of all this ma- 
chinery, however, must be human minds and 
the progress we make in the search for truth 
is going to depend on the spirit which ani- 
mates these human minds guiding this ma- 
chinery of research and taking part in the 
actual investigation of the many unsolved 
problems about us and trying to 


Read the world’s old riddles well. 


In other words, the motives which prompt 
men to spend long hours and sleepless nights 
trying to fathom the depths of the unknown 
will determine the success individuals have 
in their work. 

As one goes over the records of human 
achievements in history, there is developed 
in the reader a sense that the great achieve- 
ments of the world have been in the realm 
of the spiritual. (Using that term in its 
broadest meaning.) The Magna Charta, the 
advent of the Pilgrim Fathers, the Boston 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1405. 


Tea Party, the Declaration of Independence, 
the Emancipation Proclamation are events 
and articles having the greatest spiritual 
significance. Great because they were staged 
for the uplift of the masses and not for the 
aggrandizement of the few as the failures of 
Alexander, Napoleon and William the Second 


‘are glaring examples. 


It would seem that lessons of immense 
value to us might be gleaned from history 
as an aid in stimulating the spirit of re- 
search. What have the ancients to offer us? 
If achievement comes by means of spiritual 
forces then the animus of research must be 
spiritualized. Too much have we strayed 
from the simplicity of spirit which ruled the 
mind of the savant on the isle of Penikese 
who had 

come in search of truth 
Trying with uncertain key 
Door by door of mystery. 


Too much have we been stimulated by per- 
sonal ambition in our “search for truth.” 
Promotion, because of the amount of research 
we do is not the spiritualization sought for 
in this plea. The fundamental virtue of the 
investigator is a passion for truth whatever 
it be and through whatever channels it may 
come. As Bosworth says, 


One’s only safety consists in a fair treatment of 
facts. One fact fairly treated leads to another, and 
this to another. Facts treated as they ought to be 
treated lead always to a larger life. 


This means not only a larger life for the in- 
vestigator but more particularly for the great 
human family about him. Imbued with this 
spirit the seeker after truth goes in its search 
with the altruistic ambition of making the 
world a better place to live in, in every sense 
of the word “making it safe for democracy.” 


Not of the sunlight, 
Not of the moonlight, 
Not of the starlight! 

O young Mariner, 
Down to the haven 

Call your companions, 
Launch your vessel, 
And crowd your canvas, 
And, e’er it vanishes 


DECEMBER 2, 1921] 


Over the margin, 
After it, follow it, 
Follow the gleam. 


There is a grave danger for the spirit of 
research when the chief criterion for the ad- 
vancement of an individual in his position 
is his ability to turn out voluminous material 
describing his experiments. This motive 
prompting the researcher tends more and 
more to satisfy personal ambition. There 
will gradually appear a greater amount of 
polemical writing and controversies over 
priority of discovery. Nor is this all or the 
worst of the results attained by such a stimu- 
lus to research. Inaccuracies and careless- 
ness in obtaining results are inevitable, it is 
the logical outcome of a system where bulk 
and not quality weighs so heavily in seeking 
promotion. This tendency we are all aware 
of, not only in individuals but we recognize 
it as characteristic of nations as well. After 
all what difference does it make through 
whom truth is revealed if all can enjoy its 
fruits ? 

On the other hand, that land whose cricket 
and other sports have imbued its citizens 
with a sense of the “sport for the game’s 
sake” has contributed a succession of epoch 
makers in the field of science that makes one 
wonder whence the inspiration of it all. One 
can not imagine the immortal Newton worry- 
ing very much about the status of his posi- 
tion because the first computation concern- 
ing the force of gravity due to the earth at 
the moon did not yield results as he had 
‘anticipated. To him and a great host of his 
fellow countrymen succeeding him it was 
sufficient to seek first the kingdom of truth, 
leaving it to others to judge whether the 
honors of earth, if they had any value, would 
be added as a natural result of ability. Is it 
not worth while for us of America, young in 
the research field, to consider seriously the 
motives which are to prompt our endeavors 
in the search for truth? The first motive 
leads to mediocre results while the latter is 
characterized by those discoveries which are 
epoch making. Shall personal ambition or 
the desire to be “a friend to man” surge 


SCIENCE 


539 


through our endeavors? One class who fol- 
lowed the gleam of truth was hypocritical, 
men who seemed to have, and wished to seem 
to have the prestige of scientific distinction 
without actually possessing it. The other 
class adopted as their ideal those words which 
must be the true sentiment of every creative 
worker in every field of human knowledge: 
And only the Master shall praise us, and only the 
Master shall blame; 
And no one shall work for money, and no one shall 
work for fame; 
But each for the joy of working, and each, in his 
separate star, 
Shall draw the Thing as he sees It for the God of 
Things as they are.’’ 
S. R. WinuiaMs: 
OBERLIN COLLEGE, 
OBERLIN, OHIO 


THE CONCENTRATION OF HYDROGEN 
IONS IN THE SOIL 

A PAPER with the above title has been pub- 
lished in Danish in the reports from the 
Carlsberg Laboratory (Meddelelser fra Carls- 
berg Laboratoriet), Vol. 15, Nr. 1. An Eng- 
lish edition of this paper will soon be pub- 
lished in Comptes-Rendus des Travauax du 
Laboratoire Carlsberg, Vol. 15, Nr. 1. 

The paper contains an account of researches 
carried on during the years 1916 and 1920 im 
order to ascertain the importance of the con- 
centration of hydrogen ions with regard to 
the natural distribution of plants. Analyses 
were made of a series of Danish plant forma- 
tions with regard to their botanical constitu- 
tion, and at the same time samples of the 
soil were taken from the places in question, 
and the concentration of hydrogen ions de- 
termined. In natural Danish soil it was 
found to vary from 3.4 to 8.0 as expressed in 
pH values. 

When comparing the botanical analysis of 
the formations with the physico-chemical 
analysis of the soil it was immediately seen 
that there is rather a fixed and constant re- 
lationship between the constitution of the 
vegetation and the concentration of hydrogen 
ions in the soil, because important variations 
of the latter are always accompanied by vari- 


540 


_ ations of the constitution of the vegetation 
when the other factors remain the same, 
whereas habitats with about the same concen- 
tration of hydrogen ions and equal with re- 
gard to light and moisture carry about the 
same vegetation. When the material collected 
was statistically investigated, it was further 
proved that many species are only found on 
soil where the concentration of hydrogen ions 
is within a certain range of concentration of 
hydrogen ions characteristic for each single 
species. Within this is found another range 
with narrower limits, within which the species 
has its largest average frequency. It was 
further proved that it was possible to judge 
of the concentration of hydrogen ions in the 
soil from the constitution of the plant forma- 
tions, when they did not consist of too few 
species; this holds good, for instance, for 
meadows. 

The number of species found and the den- 
sity of species (the number of species found 
on 0.1 sq. m.) were on the whole largest on 
soil near the neutral point; number of spe- 
cies and density of species become generally 
less as the concentration of hydrogen ions in 
the soil increases. 

By a series of water-culture experiments 
it was proved that the species which are found 
only on very acid soil (acid soil plants) show 
the strongest growth in culture media with 
pH values near 4, whereas species which 
naturally grow only in soils that are neutral 
or but slightly acid or basic (alkaline soil 
plants) have the strongest growth in culture 
media, the pH values of which are between 
6 and 7. In the slightly acid culture media 
jn which the basic soil plants have their 
strongest growth the acid soil plants thrive 
badly and become chlorotic. 

According to the theory of Hartwell and 
Pember! basic soil plants can not thrive in 
very acid soils, not because these plants can 
not stand so high a concentration of hydrogen 
jons as the acid soil plants, but because the 

1 Hartwell, B. L., and Pember, F. R., 1918, ‘‘ The 
presence of aluminum as a reason for the differ- 
ence in the effect of so-called acid soil on barley 
and rye,’’ Soil Science, 6, 259. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. LIV. No. 1405. 


very acid soils contain small quantities of 
dissolved aluminum compounds, which are 
said to be poisonous for the basic soil plants 
and not for the acid soil plants. This theory 
has been proved not to be generally valid, as 
experiments have shown that aluminum ions 
are not poisonous for all basic soil plants, 
generally speaking. 

According to Bear? and others acid soil 
plants can make use of the nitrogen in am- 
monia, whereas basic soil® plants require 
nitrate nitrogen, which makes it impossible 
for them to thrive in very acid soil in which 
nitrification is weak or wanting. Experi- 
ments showed that nitrogen from ammonia 
and from nitrate nitrogen are of the same 
value for acid soil plants and for basic soil 
plants, when the plants were cultivated at 
constant pH. If on the other hand the pH 
is not kept constant, the plants make the 
solution more acid, when the source of nitro- 
gen is a salt of ammonia (including thereby 
ammonia). In this case the basic soil plants 
soon die, because the solution becomes too 
acid. The acid soil plants on the other hand 
last longer as they are more tolerant of acid. 
If the source of nitrogen is a nitrate (nitrate 
of ammonia excepted), the plants make the 
solution mere alkaline and the plants die, 
after having first become chlorotic. The 
chlorosis takes place for acid soil plants when 
the pH value of the culture medium has 
the culture medium has reached a pH value 
reached 6.0, but for basic soil plants not till 
of about 7.0. 

The investigations prove that the quantity 
of nutritive substances does not largely in- 
fluence the distribution of plants. This is 
opposed to the results of some investigators, 
who consider that the acid soils are poor and 
the neutral and basic soils rich in such sub- 
stances. It has been proved that basic soils 
exist which are very poor in nutritive sub- 
stances, and their vegetation does not re- 
semble that of very acid soils, which are poor 
in nutritive substances. 

2 Bear, F. E., 1917, ‘‘ A correlation between bac- 


terial activity and lime requirement of soils,’’ Soil 
Science, 4, 435. 


DECEMBER 2, 1921] 


It is therefore probable that the concentra- 
tion of hydrogen ions of the soils has a di- 
rect rather than an indirect influence on the 
constitution of the vegetation. 

Carsten OLSEN 


THE CARLSBERG LABORATORY, 
CoPENHAGEN 


THE PRESENT STATUS OF THE CON- 
CILIUM BIBLIOGRAPHICUM 

Prorressor Henry Warp’s appreciative ac- 
count of Dr. H. H. Field and his self-sacrific- 
ing work in connection with the founding 
and maintenance of the Concilium Biblio- 
graphicum suggests to me to make a brief 
statement concerning the present status of 
the Concilium. 

I spent several weeks in July and August 
of this summer in a personal examination, 
in Zurich, of Concilium affairs, represent- 
ing the National Research Council and the 
Rockefeller Foundation. The Council has 
had for some time, during the latter months 
of Dr. Field’s life-time and since his death, 
in consideration the possibility of extending 
some aid for the maintenance and further 
development of the Concilium. The Found- 
ation has manifested a similar interest with 
a tangible expression of it by two appropria- 
tions to assist in meeting the current ex- 
penses of the Concilium in 1920 and 1921. 

On arrival in Zurich I found Concilium 
matters in a critical situation. Dr. Field’s 
patriotic activities during the war had left 
him but little time to devote to the Concil- 
ium, and the disastrous results of war-time 
and after-war conditions on such interna- 
tional organizations as the Concilium had 
left things in very bad shape. Dr. Field’s 
sudden death prevented him from even be- 
ginning a serious rehabilitation of Concilium 
work and finances. 

After many conferences with Mrs. Field and 
her business friends, with Fraiilein Rthl who 
for twenty years has been Dr. Field’s chief 
technical assistant and was practically the 
only member of the Concilium staff still 
giving full time to its affairs, and with an 
official representative of the Swiss Natural 
Science Association, which under the terms 


SCIENCE 


541 


of Dr. Field’s will becomes, under certain 
conditions, the legatee of Dr. Field’s finan- 
cial interest in the Concilium, and after 
long and ditficult examination of the business 
books and memoranda of the Concilium, I 
arranged to set up a provisional reorganiza- 
tion of the Concilium under the acting di- 
rectorship, until January 1, 1922, without 
salary, of Professor J. Strohl, of the Zoologi- 
eal Institute of the University of Zurich. 

This temporary reorganization will allow 
some of the most needed work of the Con- 
cilium to go forward, supported financially 
by the subsidies of the Swiss Government, 
the city of Zurich and the Rockefeller Founda- 
tion. 

The Concilium, which from the business 
point of view, is a non-profit taking company, 
most of whose shares belong to the Field 
estate, owns an equity of some value in the 
building at 79 Hofstrasse which for several 
years has been the Concilium offices and 
printing rocms. It also has some assets in 
the way of many already printed cards, some 
little stock of paper, some office furniture, 
type and printing presses, etc. But most 
importantly its assets are its “good will” 
and subscription list. This list must have 
immediate attention and revision and that 
is part of the work now being done under 
the provisional arrangement. 

Professor Ward and other American biolo- | 
gists may be assured that the Concilium is 
not being allowed to go to pieces without 
some positive efforts being exerted to save it. 
It is not yet time, but soon will be, for a 
definite statement to be issued to the Ameri- 
can subscribers to the Concilium cards, which, 
I hope, will not have to include a direct ap- 
peal for money for the support of the Con- 
cilium but will appeal for a renewed interest 
in, and support of the organization, to be 
manifested by a confirmation of old subscrip- 
tions and an addition of new ones. I was 
much interested to discover from examina- 
tion of the subscription lists that one third 
of all the Concilium subscribers are Ameri- 
can. VeRNON KELLOGG 


NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 


542 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 
THE HIGH ALTITUDE EXPEDITION TO PERU 

As has been already noted in Science, the 
Royal Society High Altitude Expedition to 
Peru sailed in the third week of November 
on the Santa Teresa. The expedition pro- 
poses to study the adaptation of man to life 
at or above the altitude of 14,000 ft. As 
compared with other localities in which this 
type of work has been carried out, Peru pos- 
sesses certain advantages: (1) Being near 
the equator, the effects of altitude are less 
complicated by those of cold than in higher 
latitudes. (2) The Central Railway of Peru, 
the highest standard-guage railway in the 
world, ascends the Andes to an altitude of 
15,885 ft. (3) A mining population lives 
and works in localities situated above 14,000 
and 16,000 ft., or even higher. It is alleged, 
for example, that the porters at the town of 
Cerro de Pasco, in the Andes, raise the ores 
600 ft. from the mines by carrying loads of 
160 lb. of mineral many times in the day. 
There is probably no other population which 
carries on such heavy work in so rare an 
atmosphere. Experimental methods for the 
study of the circulatory and_ respiratory 
systems have advanced so much within the 
last ten or twenty years that the time seems 
ripe for their application to the extraordi- 
narily interesting problems which life at high 
altitudes presents. Donations towards the ex- 
penses of the expedition have been received 
from the folowing: The Royal Society, the 
Harvard Medical School, the Carnegie Fund, 
the Moray Fund, the University of Toronto, 
the Rockefeller Institute, the Presbyterian 
Hospital, New York, Sir Peter Mackie, and 
Sir Robert Hadfield. 

Members of the party are Alfred CO. Red- 
field, assistant professor of physiology at the 
Harvard Medical School; Arlie V. Bock, 
M.D., of the Massachusetts General Hospital; 
Henry S. Forbes, M.D., now engaged in re- 
search work in industrial medicine at Har- 
vard University; C. A. L. Binger, of the 
Rockefeller Institute, New York; and George 
A. Harrop, of the Presbyterian Hospital, 
New York. The expedition was organized 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1405. 


by Joseph Bancroft of Cambridge Univer- 
sity, England; he is accompanied also by 
Professor J. G. Meakins, of Edinburgh Uni- 
versity, and Dr. Doggart of King’s College, 
Cambridge, England. They carry with them 
an X-ray machine and a large amount of 
other medical apparatus. 


After completing the studies at Cerr> de 
Pasco, the investigators expect to spend a 
short time at Ticleo, on the watershed of the 
Andes. Ticleo, nearly 16,000 feet high, is 
the highest standard-gauge railroad station 
in the world. They will return by February 
first, and later in the year Mr. Bancroft will 
give a series of lectures at the Lowell Insti- 
tute in Boston. 


THE JOSEPH HENRY FUND OF THE NATIONAL 
ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 


In the year 1878 a tripartite agreement 
was made between (1) Certain citizens of 
Philadelphia, (2) A Pennsylvania Insurance 
and Annuity Company and (3) the National 
Academy of Sciences, by the terms of which 
a fund of €40,000 face value was placed in 
trust with the Company, the income from 
which was to be paid to Professor Joseph: 
Henry during his life and after his death 
to his wife and three daughters and after the 
death of the last survivor of these four, it 
was provided that the same gross sum shall 
be transferred to the National Academy of 
Sciences to be forever held in trust and the 
income from which shall be from time to 
time applied to assist “ meritorious investiga- 
tions in natural science especially in the di- 
rection of original research.” 


By the death on November 10, 1920, of the 
last survivor of the original beneficiaries, the 
capital sum passes, as of that date, into the 
hands of the National Academy of Sciences 
for purposes as indicated. 


At the recent fall meeting of the Academy 
in Chicago, the following statement of policy 
of administration, submitted by the special 
Committee on this fund, was approved by the 
Academy : 


Under the terms of the trust deed there is im- 


DECEMBER 2, 1921] 


posed no limitation regarding the field of science 
in which an award may be made. Since, however, 
this fund, in its original inception was organized 
during Professor Henry’s life time for the purpose 
of enabling him the better to carry on his scien- 
tifie work, and since it now stands, in some measure, 
as a monument to his name and to his contribu- 
tions to science, it would seem not improper that 
among projects of equal merit otherwise, some 
preference should be shown to those which may lie 
nearer to the fields of work with which Professor 
Henry’s name is usually associated. The commit- 
tee does not, however, desire to impose in advance 
any specific limitations or restrictions, and it will 
therefore be prepared to consider applications from 
all fields of natural science. 


It is probable that a certain amount of 
money may be avaliable for award at the 
meeting in April next. Applications for 
award should be forwarded to the Secretary 
of the National Academy of Sciences, Smith- 
sonian Institution, Washington, D. C., on or 
before April 5, 1922. 

Suggestions regarding the general problem 
of the most effective utilization of such a 
fund will be gratefully received by the chair- 
man of the committee. 

W. F. Duranp, 
Chairman, Joseph Henry 
Fund Committee 
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, 
CALIFORNIA 


DR. NICHOLS AND THE PRESIDENCY OF THE 
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF 
TECHNOLOGY 


Dr. Ernest Fox Nicos, president of the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has 
resigned his office because of ill health and 
his resignation has been accepted by the ex- 
ecutive committee of the corporation. He 
has been given leave of absence until Janu- 
ary 4, 1922, when the next meeting of the 
corporation will be held and the action of 
the executive committee will be ratified. Dr. 
Nichols was inaugurated president of the in- 
stitute on June 8, 1921, but has not assumed 
the office. 

Dr. Nichols’s letter to the corporation fol- 
lows: 


A sufficient time has now elapsed since the onset 


SCIENCE 


543 


of a severe illness, which followed immediately 
upon my inauguration, to enable my physicians to 
estimate consequences. They assure me certain 
physical limitations, some of them probably per- 
manent, have resulted. These, they agree, make it 
decidedly inadvisable for the institute or for me 
that I should attempt to discharge the manifold 
duties of president. Indeed, they hold it would be 
especially unwise for me to assume the grave re- 


sponsibilities, to attempt to withstand the inevitable 


stresses and strains of office, or to take on that 
share in the open discussion of matters of public 
interest and concern inseparable from the broader 
activities of educational leadership, 

As my recuperation is still in progress I have 
contended earnestly with my doctors for a lighter 
judgment. I feel more than willing to take a per- 
sonal risk, but they know better than I, and they 
stand firm in their conclusions. 

The success of the institute is of such profound 
importance to our national welfare, to the advance- 
ment of science and the useful arts, that no in- 
sufficient or inadequate leadership is sufferable. 
Personal hopes and wishes must stand aside. 

It is therefore with deep personal regret but 
with the conviction that it is best for all concerned, 
that I tender you my resignation of the presidency 
of the institute and urge you to accept it without 
hesitation. 

To you who have shown me such staunch and 
generous friendship it is pleasant to add that in 
the judgment of my physicians the physical dis- 
qualifications for the exigencies of educational ad- 
ministration are such as need not restrict my activi- 
ties in the simpler untroubled, methodical life of 
scientific investigation to which I was bred. It is 
to the research laboratory, therefore, that I ask 
your leave to return. 


In reply Frederick P. Fish, chairman of 
the executive committee of the corporation, 
wrote as follows: 

Your letter of November 3, 1921, to the Corpora- 
tion of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
was submitted to the executive committee of the 
institute at a meeting of the committee on Novem- 
ber 10,1921. _ 

The situation set out in your letter is clearly 
controlling and the committee had no alternative 
except to accept your resignation, subject to con- 
firmation by the corporation, As appears by the 
vote of the committee, copy of which I enclose, 
your resignation is to take effect January 4, 1922, 
with leave of absence until that date. 


544 


I can not adequately express the deep regret of 
the committee that the institute must lose your 
services as its president. We have all been looking 
forward with the utmost confidence to the sound 
development and continued prosperity of the in- 
stitution under your leadership. We have no doubts 
as to the future but shall never cease to deplore 
that you were not permitted to make the great con- 
tribution to the work which your character, person- 
ality and training would have assured to it. 

I need not add that the severance of the personal 
relations which have given us so much satisfaction 
is a source of keen regret to us all. We know, how- 
ever, that you will always remain a friend of the 
institute and of those who are responsible for the 
guidance of its affairs. 

The members of the committee and the friends 
of the institute generally, will cordially unite in 
wishing you a long, happy and prosperous life and 
large success in the work to which you propose to 
devote your effort. 


MEETINGS OF NATIONAL SCIENTIFIC 
SOCIETIES 

Repucep railroad fares for those attending 
the Toronto meeting of the American Asso- 
ciation for the Advancement of Science (De- 
cember 27 to 31) have now been granted by 
the Southeastern, Western and Southwestern 
Passenger Associations, as well as by those 
named in a recent announcement (SCIENCE, 
54: 358, October 14, 1921). Every member 
planning to attend the meeting from the re- 
gions of the Transcontinental Passenger As- 
sociation should consult his local ticket agent, 
and purchase a ticket to the nearest main sta- 
tion lying within the region for which the 
reduced rates are available. The complete list 
of passenger associations granting the reduced 
rates is: The Canadian Passenger Associa- 
tion, The New England Passenger Association, 


The Central Passenger Association, The 
Southeastern Passenger Association, The 
Western Passenger Association, and the 
Southwestern Passenger Association. The 


rate from main stations within the regions of 
these associations will be a fare and one half 
for the round trip, on the certificate plan. 

THE next meeting of the American As- 
tronomical Society will be held on December 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1405. 


29-31, at Sproul Observatory, Swarthmore, 
Pa. 


Tue Ecological Society of America will hold 
its annual meeting at Toronto in affiliation 
with the American Association from Decem- 
ber 27-80. In addition to the regular sessions 
of the society joint sessions will be held with 
the Entomological Society of America, the 
American Society of Zoologists and the Bo- 
tanical Society of America. Members’ wish- 
ing to present papers should furnish the sec- 
retary with titles and brief abstracts as soon as 
possible. The society headquarters will be 
at the King Edward Hotel. Communications 
in regard to participation in the program 
and in regard to membership should be sent 
to the secretary, A. O. Weese, The Vivarian, 
Champaign, Illinois. 


THE annual meeting of the Federation of 
American Societies for Experimental Biology, 
composed of the American Physiological So- 
ciety, The American Society of Biological 
Chemists, The American Society for Pharma- 
cology and Experimental Therapeutics, and 
The American Society for Experimental 
Pathology, will be held in New Haven under . 
the auspices of Yale University on December 
28, 29, and 30. The American Association of 
Anatomists will meet at the same date and 
place. The advantage of one and one half 
round trip fare on the certificate plan has 
already been granted by the railroads of the 
territory east of Chicago and St. Louis and 
south of the Canadian border. These rates are 
available to members and their friends at- 
tending the annual session. The federation 
meeting is under the executive chairmanship 
of Dr. J. J. R. MacLeod, of the University 
of Toronto, president of the American Phys- 
iological Society. 


THE annual meeting of the Association of 
American Geographers, under the direction of 
President Ellen Churchill Semple, will be held 
in Washington, D. C., on December 29, 30 and 
31, beginning on Thursday at one thirty. 
Through the courtesy of the National Geog- 
raphie Society the session will be held at the 
society building. Morning sessions Friday and 


DECEMBER 2, 1921] 


Saturday will extend from ten to one o’clock; 
afternoon sessions Friday and Saturday from 
two thirty to five thirty. The president’s ad- 
dress will be given at the opening of the session 
on Friday afternoon, and will be followed by 
a series of invited papers on “ Trade Routes.” 


Tuer American Society of Mechanical Engi- 
neers will hold its annual meeting in New York 
city from December 5 to 9. The report of the 
committee on elimination of waste in industry 
of the American Engineering Council will pro- 
vide the basis for the discussion. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Tue Norwegian Storthing has awarded the 
Nobel peace prize for 1921 to Dr. Elis Stroem- 
gren, professor of astronomy at the Univer- 
sity of Copenhagen, for his efforts to effect 
reconciliation among scholars of European 
countries. 


Dr. T. C. CHampBeruin, of the University 
of Chicago, has been made a corresponding 
member of the Stockholm and Belgian Geo- 
logical Societies. 


Dr. Stmon Friexner, the director of the 
Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, 
New York, has been elected a corresponding 
member of the Vienna Society of Physicians. 


Proressor GrEorRGE GRANT MacCurpy, of 
Yale University, first director of the Ameri- 
ean School in France for Prehistoric Studies, 
has been elected a corresponding member of 
the Société Archéologique et Historique de 
la Charente. 


Dr. Joun B. Wurrrneap, dean of the en- 
gineering school and professor of electrical 
engineering at Johns Hopkins University, 
has been awarded the five thousand francs 
prize of the Institute Electrotechnique Monte- 
fiore of Liége, Belgium, bestowed every three 
years for original work on the scientific ad- 
vancement in the technical application of 
electricity. The prize was given for an essay 
on “The Corona Voltmeter and the Electric 
Strength of Air.” 


Tue Jenner Memorial Medal of the Royal 
Society of Medicine has been conferred on 


SCIENCE 


545 


Sir Shirley Murphy in recognition of his 
work in epidemiological research. 

Tuer University of Cambridge has presented 
an address to Dr. G. D. Liveing, St. John’s 
College, formerly professor of chemistry, to 
commemorate the fact that he has kept by 
residence every term in the university for 
the last seventy-five years. Dr. Liveing be- 
came fellow of St. John’s College in 1853, 
and professor of chemistry in 1861. 


Present Livineston Farranp, of Cornell 
University, was elected president of The 
American Child Hygiene Association at its 
annual convention in New Haven, on No- 
vember 5. 


Proressor Finisert Rotru, head of the de- 
partment of forestry of the University of 
Michigan, was recently appointed by Gover- 
nor Groesbeck as a member of the State 
Commission of Conservation. Professor Roth 
represents on the commission the forestry 
interests of the state. 


Dav Lumspen, formerly assistant profes- 
sor of floriculture at Cornell University and 
during the last two years director of Agricul- 
tural Reconstruction at Walter Reed General 
Hospital, has been appointed horticulturist 
in the Office of Foreign Plant Quarantines, 
Federal Horticultural Board, Washington, 
DRC: 


Messrs. J. E. Walters, F. W. Schroeder, 
and Frank Porter, chemists at the helium 
plant of the Bureau of Mines at Petrolia, 
Texas, have been transferred to the new cryo- 
genic laboratory of the bureau in Washing- 
ton. 


Mr. Eartr E. Ricuarpson, who has been 
instructing in analytical chemistry and phys- 
ics for the past four years at the Massachu- 
setts Institute of Technology, has been ap- 
pointed research physicist under Mr. L. A. 
Jones at the research laboratories of the East- 
man Kodak Co., Rochester, N. Y. 

Mr. Atten Aprans has resigned as research 
associate from the research laboratory of ap- 
plied chemistry at the Massachusetts Insti- 


tute of Technology to become chief chemist 
for the Cornell Wood Products Co. 


546 


Dr. L. I. Saw, assistant chief chemist of 
the Bureau of Mines, has been transferred 
to the Columbus, Ohio, ceramic experiment 
station of the bureau, where he will have 
charge of some newly organized research on 
refractory products. 


Witson PopeNnog, agricultural explorer for 
the U. S. Department of Agriculture, has re- 
turned to Washington after a two years’ ab- 
sence in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, 
Ecuador, Peru and Chile. Mr. Popenoe has 
sent to Washington from these countries 
living material of numerous food-plants, in- 
cluding new varieties of the avocado for trial 
in California and Florida, several promising 
species of Rubus, the pejibaye palm (Gui- 
lielma utilis) of Costa Rica, a collection of 
potatoes from Ecuador and Colombia, and a 
superior variety of the Andean cherry (Pru- 
nus salificolia). 


Proressor Franz DoFLEN, now at the Zoo- 
logical Institute at Breslau, Germany, is com- 
pleting a revision of his “ Lehrbuch der Proto- 
zoenkunde.” He finds it difficult to secure in 
Germany access to American papers in the 
field of protozoology published since 1916 and 
will welcome the sending, from investigators 
in this field, of reprints of their papers. 


Proressor Henry Norris Russevy, of 
Princeton University, spoke before the Phys- 
ical Colloquium of the Western Electric Com- 
pany in New York, recently, on the subject 
“ Tonization in the Stars.” 


Proressor J. H. Wauron, of the department 
of chemistry of the University of Wisconsin, 
lectured before the Milwaukee Section of the 
American Chemical Society on November 18 
on “The influence of impurities on the rate 
of growth of certain crystals.” 


AT a joint meeting of the Washington Acad- 
emy of Sciences, the Biological Society of 
Washington and the Botanical Society of 
Washington on November 12, Professor Arthur 
de Jaczewski, director of Institute of Mycology 
and Pathology at Petrograd, delivered an ad- 
dress on “ The development of mycology and 
pathology in Russia”; Professor Nicholas I. 
Vavilov, director of the Bureau of Applied 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1405. 


Botany and Plant Breeding at Petrograd, de- 
livered an address on “ Russian work in gene- 
tics and plant breeding,” and Dr. Vernon L. 
Kellogg, permanent secretary of the National 
Research Council, led a discussion on “ The 
interrelations of Russian and American scien- 
tists.” 

Dr. Heser D. Curtis, director of the Alle- 
gheny Observatory, lectured before the Frank- 
lin Institute at Philadelphia on November 16 
on “The spiral nebule and their interpreta- 
tion.” On the following day he lectured before 
the Washington Academy of Sciences on “ The 
sun, our nearest star.” 

THE series of lectures on “ The evolution of 
man ” under the auspices of the Yale chapter 
of the Society of the Sigma Xi will include a 
lecture on “ The evolution of intelligence” by 
the president of the university, Dr. James R. 
Angell. 

THE winter course of popular scientific lec- 
tures before the Royal Canadian Institute at 
Toronto was inaugurated on October 29 by a 
lecture entitled “Some aspects of economic 
entomology,” by Dr. L. O. Howard, chief of 
the Bureau of Entomology of the U. 8S. De- - 
partment of Agriculture. It is the purpose of 
the institute to have scientific men from the 
United States deliver lectures in this course 
during the coming season. 


Proressor Douctas W. JoHnson, of Co- 
lumbia University, delivered a lecture on the 
“Topography and strategy of the Western 
Front” before the officers of the Naval War 
College at Newport, on October 28. On No- 
vember 1 he addressed the New York Post of 
the Society of American Military Engineers 
on “Geology and topography in relation to 
the strategy and tactics of the Great War.” 

We learn from Nature that the 168th ses- 
sion of the Royal Society of Arts will be 
opened on Wednesday, November 2, at 8 P.M., 
when Mr. Alan A. Campbell Swinton, chair- 
man of the council, will deliver an experi- 
mental address on “Wireless telegraphy.” 
Among the papers fixed for the meetings up to 
Christmas are the following: The work of the 
industrial fatigue research board, by D. R. 


DECEMBER 2, 1921] 


Wilson; Modern buildings in Cambridge and 
their architecture, by T. H. Lyon; The coming 
of age of long-distance wireless telegraphy 
and some of its scientific problems (Sir Henry 
Trueman Wood Lecture), by Professor J. A. 
Fleming; and The preservation of stone, by 
Noel Heaton. 


An inter-allied exhibition of hygiene will 
take place in Strasbourg on May 1, 1923, on 
the occasion of the centenary of Pasteur’s 
birth. The commissioner general is Profes- 
sor Borrel, the secretary general M. Emile 
Henry. 

A SENATE joint resolution by Senator Hef- 
lin of Alabama would authorize that $50,000 
be spent in the erection of a monument in 
the city of Washington to Major-General 
William C. Gorgas, former surgeon-general 
of the army, in commemoration of the serv- 
ices rendered by him to humanity. 

Rayner M. Benpetu, electrical engineer, 
brother of Professor Frederick Bedell, of 
Cornell University, died of tetanus on Novem- 
ber 5, at Montclair, N. J. 

Dr. Merwin Porter SNELL, a member of 
the scientific staffs of the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution and the Bureau of Fisheries in the 
years 1881-1889, died at his home at Stam- 
ford, Connecticut, on September 28, 1921, at 
the age of fifty-eight years. 

.Tue death is announced on October 29 of 
William Speirs Bruce, the oceanographer and 
polar explorer. 

Dr. Francis ArtHuR BAINBRIDGE, university 
professor of physiology at St. Barthomew’s 
Hospital, died on October 27th at the age of 
eighty-six years. 

ETIENNE Boutrovux, professor of philosophy 
at the Sorbonne since 1885, died in Paris on 
November 22. at the age of seventy-six years. 
During 1910 M. Boutroux delivered a series 
of lectures at Harvard University. 


THe death is reported from Paris, at the 
age of seventy-two years, of the French engi- 
ner, M. Albert Sarpiaux, who had long 
been connected with the scheme for the con- 
struction of a tunnel under the English Chan- 
nel. 


SCIENCE 


547 


Dr. Pirrrt Henri Somer, honorary pro- 
fessor of the Lyons Medical Faculty and corre- 
sponding member of the Academie de Méde- 
cine, has died at the age of eighty-eight years. 


Our attention has been called to the fact 
that Dr. Emi] A. Budde, whose death was an- 
nounced in the issue of Science for November 
18th, was president of the Electrotechnical 
Commission and not of the Electrochemical 
Commission as there stated. The succession 
of presidents of the Electrotechnical Commis- 
sion has been Kelvin, Mascart, Elihu Thom- 
son and Budde. 


Tue Royal Astronomical Society of Canada 
will meet in Toronto with the American As- 
sociation for the Advancement of Science, 
and will join in the program of Section D 
of the association. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
FUR SEALS OFF THE FARALLONS 


So little is known regarding the whereabouts 
of the Alaska Fur Seals during the period of 
their absence from their breeding grounds on 
the Pribilof Islands, that the following definite 
record will be of interest. 

The observations here recorded were made 
by Mr. John Kunder, at that time keeper of the 
Farallon Light Station, and communicated to 
me by Captain H. W. Rhodes, superintendent 
of lighthouses, 18th district, San Francisco. 

Mr. Kunder states that on or about March 4, 
1920, at 9 a.m. a-herd of seals appeared about 
two miles due south of the Farallons. They 
presented a compact front line about three 
miles in length. They were about two miles 
away when first observed and were moving 
toward the island. They appeared to stop for a 
moment to gaze at the object at their front, 
then their left wing slowed down and the right 
moving rapidly, the seals jumping out of the 
water, the line veered around in regular mili- 
tary formation and a new line was formed 
which moved off in a west-northwest direction. 
After completing the new formation the herd 
moved very fast. The line was well-formed at 
all times, there being few or no stragglers. 

When first seen approaching, Mr. Kunder 


548 


says the commotion in the water was like a 
line of breakers coming from due south toward 
the island, but with field glasses it was easy to 
determine the real cause of the disturbance. 
Mr. Kunder estimated the number of seals in 
the herd at 8,000 to 10,000. 

On March 10, 1917, Mr. Kunder witnessed a 
similar phenomenon. This herd appeared at 
about five o’clock in the evening, in the same 
locality, and its movements, appearance, and 
course were about the same as with the 1920 
herd. The 1917 herd was, however, consider- 
ably larger than that of 1920, the number of 
seals in it being estimated by Mr. Kunder at 
15,000. Mr. Kunder says he has never seen 
any single fur seals or small groups in the 
vicinity of the island. 

So far as I am aware this is the first record 
of the occurrence of the fur seals in large com- 
pact herds anywhere in the open sea; they have 
hitherto been observed or reported only in more 
or less scattered numbers. 


Barton WarrREN EvERMANN 
CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 


THE PHYSICAL MUSEUM OF THE UNIVERSITY 
OF WISCONSIN 

So much interest has been shown in this 
little museum that a brief description of it 
in the columns of Science seems worth while. 
It is the outgrowth of an attempt to build up 
on a small scale, for the benefit of our stu- 
dents, a collection of simple demonstration 
experiments such as is exhibited in, say, the 
Urania of Berlin. When our new laboratory 
was built some four years ago we arranged 
for a room, in size about 18 * 40 feet, paral- 
lel to the main corridor and separated from 
it by a glazed partition. In this we have 
gradually accumulated some forty “ exhibits,” 
each with an explanatory card setting forth 
the theory as simply as is consistent with 
scientific accuracy. While many of the ex- 
hibits are of the fixed variety, e.g., the parts 
of an ammeter, various stages of lamp bulb 
construction, transparencies and the like, the 
most interesting demonstrations, needless to 
say, are those which “ work.” 

First and foremost, of course, is the Fou- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1405. 


cault pendulum, which in this case is 1440 
em. long and occupies a special well. It is 
started every morning at 8 o’clock and swings 
over a card graduated in hours (for this 
latitude). It is accompanied by a small 
rotating table of the usual demonstration 
variety with a miniature Foucault pendulum. 
A large electrically driven gyroscope mounted 
in a box which may be wrestled with, gives 
a striking demonstration of gyroscopic re- 
actions. A loop-the-loop model, ball on stream 
of water, probability board (shot), Kater 
pendulum and simple air-pressure demonstra- 
tion are ameng the other mechanics exhibits. 
There is also a conservation-of-angular-mo- 
mentum rotating platform (contrived with 
the aid of a Ford front-wheel bearing) on 
which one may stand with a dumbbell in each 
hand and perform this somewhat startling 
experiment. 

The Melde experiment, various Foucault 
current phenomena and certain magnetic ef- 
fects are all susceptible of easy demonstra- 
tion, as are also simple thermo-electrice effects. 
One of the most interesting and simple opti- 
cal arrangements is a pair of plane mirrors 
set at a right angle. In these one may—pos- 
sibly for the first time—“see himself as 
others see him,” while reflected printed mat- 
ter is readable. The explanation is almost 
obvious. Our two most recent and pretenti- 
ous exhibits—an oscillating audion circuit 
and a vacuum discharge demonstration—have 
attracted considerable attention. 

The interest shown in the museum has been 
very gratifying. Just now, although this is 
its third year, the attendance is in the neigh- 
borhood of two hundred visitors a day. It 
is very unusual to find less than half a dozen 
trying the experiments and sometimes the 
room is literally crowded full. The wear on 
certain pieces of apparatus shows graphically 
the thousands of times they have been 
handled. While drawn mostly from the stu- 
dent body the visitors frequently include the 
casual outsider who comes to take a “ one- 
hour course in physics.” 

It is very dificult to estimate just what 
good “results” may be claimed for such 2 


DECEMBER 2, 1921] 


museum. Undoubtedly many come merely 
to toy with the apparatus, but some few pore 
over the explanations and ask questions about 
them. That it has awakened an interest in 
the subject in many for the first time may 
be taken for granted. One very definite ad- 
vantage is that it allows the instructor to 
refer his students to certain experiments in 
the museum with the request that they try 
them and report on the results, e.g., all our 
elementary students determine, from its 
period, the length of the large pendulum. 

However, while it seems eminently worth 
while it is needless to say that such a museum, 
simple as it is, will not run itself. Although 
it does not require the presence of an attend- 
ant, its continued demand for new experi- 
ments as well as the upkeep of the old ones 
would constitute a perhaps unwarranted li- 
ability on the time of the instructional force 
of the department if it could not, as in the 
present case, be entirely turned over to an 
ingenious and able apparatus man. 

L. R. Incrersoun 
MapDIson, WIS., 
November 5, 1921 


HOW TO DO RESEARCH 1 


I wAvE never done any research. I am 
therefore able to give unbiased advice re- 
garding it. 

Research—in the broadest sense—consists 
largely of repairing leaks in glass tubing. 

More specifically, it consists of gathering 
in a cell down in the Ryerson basement a 
weird assembly of switches, wires and glass 
tubing—and then keeping other students 
from borrowing it. 

Apparatus may be borrowed or acquired. 
If you borrow it you are expected to return 
it. If you acquire it, you keep it until you 
are found out. 

Tools at one time could be found in the 
student’s shop. Now you find them every- 
where. 

1 Read at a gathering of the graduate students 
in Physics of the Ryerson Physical Laboratory on 
a social oceasion preceding Professor Milliken’s de- 
parture from Chicago, 


SCIENCE 


549 


In order to do research, one must have 
ideas. One idea is sufficient. Two ideas are 
apt to contradict each other. 

Ideas are easy to get. If you haven’t any, 
consult Dr. Gale. He can be found adjust- 
ing gratings down in the basement. 

By all means do not search for something 
original. Jf you think you have a new idea 
read Professor Groszkopf’s articles in “ Zeit- 
schrift fiir So und So” published about 1700. 
You will find he suggested the same thing 
two centuries ago. 

After all, it is doubtful whether even one 
idea is necessary. Merely get some appara- 
tus, solder it together and take readings. 

Readings are always taken through a tele- 
scope. 

You will get certain numbers. Plot these 
numbers against other numbers which you get 
from variable parts of the apparatus. 

If you get a straight line on plotting your 
observations you know at once that the re- 
sults could have been predicted. 

However, if you get a curve the situation 
is different. Examine the curve carefully for 
sharp bends or breaks. If you find one, you 
have made a discovery. These breaks are 
significant. Consider carefully what may 
have caused such breaks. Try to trace them 
to atomic or electronic phenomena. Draw a 
picture of the atom. Don’t be discouraged 
if your picture doesn’t agree with other pic- 
tures. Dr. Lunn will show it doesn’t mean 
anything anyhow. 

Having obtained a curve and concocted a 
theory, it is befitting that you present the 
whole to the Physics Club. 

The Physics Club was invented to keep 
research students from getting the big head. 
It consists of a crowd of professional knock- 
ers. There is one booster. You are the 
booster. 

It is fitting here to give you details on 
your conduct at the meeting. 

The latter is always preceded by tea. While 
this is being served go into the lecture room 
and copy a few weird sketches of your ap- 
paratus on the board. Make everything as 


550 


complicated as possible. Also prepare a few 
slides. They may be shown at embarrassing 
moments. 

As soon as the club is assembled, gaze upon 
them with a dreamy eye and begin your talk. 

The first step is to write nine long equa- 
tions on the board. 

Somebody will call your attention to the 
fact that the fifth term of the first equation 
should have a minus sign. 

Memorize the equations beforehand if pos- 
sible. Write them rapidly. 

The success of your talk will depend di- 
rectly on the number of people you can shake 
off at this point. 

Mathematics is always helpful in this way. 
If your audience looks too intelligent, cover 
the board with partial derivatives and inte- 
gral signs. 

Having presented the equations dwell at 
great length on the sub-electron, the rigid- 
ity of the ether, or the density of petrified 
rhubarb in Siberia. 

Finally when you see that vacant stare, 
indicative of a temporary lapse of intelli- 
gence, steal into the eyes of the front row, 
it is time to stop. 

Pause for effect. Gather up your books— 
several volumes of “Annalen der Physik” 
and four score and seven sheets of loose note- 
book paper and ask for questions. 

There will always be questions. They are 
indicative of an intelligent audience. 

Then there will be a discussion. In this 
you will have no part. However, at its close 
you will be convinced of three things: 

First: that you were entirely wrong. 

Second: that you did a fine piece of work. 

Third: that it doesn’t mean anything. 

The moral of this paper is: It is much 
easier to take data than to interpret the re- 
sults. 

A. W. Simon 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Organic Dependence and Disease: their 
Origin and Significance. By Joun M. 
CuarKE. Yale University Press, 1921. Pp. 


118, 105 text figs. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1405. 


In a new book, marked by deep thinking, 
and written with Huxleian vigor and pic- 
turesqueness of phrase, we have presented to 
us the philosophy of righteous living as seen 
by a paleontologist, a life-long student of 
Paleozoic faunas and floras. Beginning with 
a study of mutual and commensal living, we 
are shown how this develops into parasitism, 
and out of it all comes to us the true signifi- 
cance of ease in life and dependence. Prog- 
ress, racial or individual, does not lie in 
this direction, and once entered upon, there 
is no return road to independence, the only 
righteous mode of living. 

We need not present the evidence on which 
Clarke’s philosophy is based, since the book 
itself gives this so clearly, but can go at 
once to the conclusions. Parenthetically, 
however, we would advise the reader to study 
along with the book under review Conklin’s 
“The Direction of Human Evolution,” a 
most interesting work on philosophical natur- 
alism, showing what evolution has done for 
man morphologically, and what in all proba- 
bility social evolution will do for him. In 
these two books we have revealed to us the 
naturalist’s religion as Nature has unfolded 
it throughout the geological ages. As Con- 
klin says, 


The new wine of science is fermenting powerfully 
in the old bottles of theology. 


The purpose of Clarke’s essay is to set 
forth the apparent controls governing the 
historical origin of dependent and abnormal 
conditions of life, and from this evidence to 
generalize their significance to humanity. 
The bases of this knowledge are Paleozoic 
invertebrate fossils, plus the vista of organic 
accomplishments through untold millions of 
years. The evidence is presented without 
embarrassing detail and the conclusions with- 
out bias, and their human concerns are of 
high moment. 

The author states that “disease is discom- 
fort,” and agrees with Huxley that “ disease 

. ig a perturbation of the normal activi- 
ties of a living body.” In other words, 


DECEMBER 2, 1921] 


Disease is any departure from normal living... . 
The entire body, organism or creature and the entire 
race or stock to which it belongs may become ab- 
normal through subjection to an abnormal or per- 
turbed mode of life. Such body, creature, race or 
stock is therefore in a state of disease, 


The question, What is normal living? is 
answered through a study of the earliest 
marine faunas. 


Norma] living, in the broad sense in which we 
desire to be understood, means full activity of an 
unimpaired physiology inclusive of the function of 
locomotion or mobility. . . . Independent living, 
freedom of locomotion and range expose the indi- 
vidual to ever new dangers. These the individual 
must quickly overcome or outwit; otherwise suc- 
eumb. The choice is quick, imperious and final. ... 
Normal living is, in terms of biology, correct living, 
that is to say, righteous living, and in so far as 
dependence invades the mode of life whether in 
organ or individual, such living is unrighteous, dis- 
ordered and diseased; in better phrase, biologically, 
is without hope, for such perturbation or disease is 
beyond voluntary or casual rectification. 


Out of right or normal independent living 


have come all the great triumphs of life; the races 
of life which, by keeping individual and racial inde- 
pendence, have persistently climbed upward... . 
The giants of the redwood forests are the hoary and 
venerable obelisks of power shackled beyond re- 
demption; the gardens of flowers are blossoms of a 
hope never to be attained. 


In all of the evolution of endlessly variant 
life, there has been, however, “a _ strong 
minimum, a redeeming minority, of compe- 
tent upward evolution.” It is a certainty 
that the minorities of geologic life have saved 
the day for us. 


Wise students of nature, in reflecting on this 
thought, have broken out into exclamations of 
wonder and amazement at the slender thread of 
ehance by which we who call ourselves men have 
eome to this estate, in a world where for millions 
of years the temptation to the easier way and the 
obstacles to independent living were constantly 
against us. 

It would be trite to say that a perfectly adjusted 
life is an unprogressive one. The adjusted life 
makes for conservatism and reduces the chances of 
variation to its lowest terms, . . . Speaking for the 


SCIENCE 


551 


moment in higher terms for the individual the 
adjusted life is likely to carry with it the highest 
content of happiness. To progress in organic de- 
velopment it is the undeniable foe, but to the con- 
servatism of intellectual and spiritual ideals the 
undoubted friend. 


Clarke finds that 90 per cent. of Cambrian 
organisms led a life of independence. In 
subsequent time, dependent life becomes ever 
greater in individuals and races. Interde- 
pendent individual life as expressed in mutual 
and commensal adaptations is sparingly pres- 
ent in the Ordovician but “not until life had 
got in full swing did these organic combina- 
tions come intd existence, even in their sim- 
plest commensal expressions.” Out of the 
innocent combination of symbiosis arises para- 
sitism, “an adaptation in which one organism 
has become helplessly dependent on another 
for its existence.” 

If dependence has affected and sealed the fate of 
one great division of the Kingdom of Life, so that 
it is and must remain subsidiary to the larger pur- 
poses of nature, dependence also has entered upon, 
invaded and degenerated a very large part, indeed, 
probably the major part of the other, the animal 
world. . . . Dependent races of animals have sought 
or accepted dependence as an easier mode of liv- 
ing, either waiting upon the unconscious forces of 
Nature, waves and winds, or on the normal activi- 
ties of other animals. Such dependence has entered 
in some degree upon all primitive stocks of animal 
life and from such racial dependence there has been 
no escape. The lines in the animal world along 
which links in the chain of advancement have con- 
tinued unbroken, are but few; the rest have run out 
into euls-de-sae where all hope is abandoned. 

Rescue of dependents is therefore not a part of 
the. scheme of Nature, except through the exercise 
of intelligence. In Nature’s plan of evolution de- 
pendents of all sorts are negligible and abandoned 
to hopelessness, save as gradually developing 
psychie factors intervene. 

These conclusions are so well established that 
we may rightly look to them for light upon the 
interpretation of certain tendencies to rest and 
unrest, conservatism and impulsive change, in 
human society, and while it may not seem very 
appropriate to speculate on the further bearing of 
this theme, it must be said in looking back over 
the field of organic history, that the value of the 
product must be in terms of the worth of the type 


502 


conserved or broken; that is, worth in the sense 
of highest attainment in functional grade and in 
the approach to mentality. 

CHARLES SCHUCHERT 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


A SIMPLE MICRO-INJECTION APPARATUS MADE 
OF STEEL 


For injection and suction purposes in the 
field of the compound microscope two very 
good methods are in existence. One is 
Barber’s! mercury pipette. This consists of 
a glass tube completely filled with mercury. 
One end is bent into several loops and sealed 
at the tip. The other end is drawn out into 
a capillary with a microscopic aperture at 
its tip. The pipette is held in Barber’s 
pipette holder which is clamped to the stage 
of the microscope. For injection and suction 
purposes Barber depends on the expansion 
and contraction of the mereury by varying 
the temperature of the loops of the pipette. 
This method gives excellent results but the 
pipette is rather difficult to make, it is easily 
broken and the driving force of the mercury 
can not be instantly controlled. 

A more recent method is that of Taylor’s,? 
which also consists of a mercury-filled pipette, 
but which depends upon a minute plunger 
to regulate the pressure of the mercury. The 
plunger method gives the operator a better 
control of the pressure in the pipette but has 
the disadvantage of possible leakage around 
the plunger. This generally occurs after the 
plunger has been used several times. A great 
deal of time tends to be wasted in keeping 
the apparatus in a working condition. 

The apparatus described here is very simple 
to set up and, excepting for the few inches 
of capillary pipette which can be inserted 
into the apparatus within a few minutes, it is 
permanently ready for use. The apparatus 

1 Barber, M. A., 1911, ‘‘A technie for the inocu- 
lation of ‘bacteria and other substances into the 
cavity of the living cell,’’? Jour. Inf. Dis., VIIL., 
348; 1914, ‘‘The pipette method,’’ ete., The Philip. 
Jour. Sc., See. B, Trop. Med., IX., 307. 

2 Taylor, C. V., 1920, ‘‘An accurately control- 
lable micropipette,’’ Science, N. S., LI., 617. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1405. 


depends upon leverage clamps to regulate 
the mereury pressure which can be controlled 
at any instant. Consisting entirely of steel 
and heavy glass it is practically unbreakable, 
a consideration of great importance for easy 
manipulation. 

As in Barber’s and Taylor’s instruments, 
mercury is used to procure the necessary pres- 
sure. The apparatus consists of a thin-walled, 
(.028 inch or less thick), straight, one half 
inch, steel tube about six inches long (see 
figure). Into one end of this is sealed an 


Fig. 1. 


accurately fitting steel or glass stopcock. The 
other end leads into a small steel tube fine 
enough to be flexible, viz., about 3/32 of an 
inch in outside diameter. The small tube is 
bent into a twisted S shape, so that, when 
at rest, its tip lies on a pipette carrier on the 
stage of the microscope. The tip of this thin 
tube is furnished with a screw joint by means 
of which it may be attached to a hollow steel 
rod two inches long which carries the glass 
micro-pipette. The outer end of the stopcock 
is connected with a rubber tube about four 
inches long. The steel tube is placed in a 
special clamping device which is secured to 
the table beside the microscope. This clamp- 
ing device consists of three leverage clamps, 
one of which presses on the steel tube in a 
direction at right angles to that of the other 
two. 

The apparatus is first filled with clean 
mercury through a glass funnel inserted into 
the rubber tube upon which the stopcock is 
closed. The glass pipette is made according 
to Barber’s method? and is sealed with wax 
into the hollow steel rod. 

3 See footnote 2, also Chambers, R., 1918, ‘‘ The 


microvivisection method,’’ Biol. Bull., XXXIV., 
121% 


DECEMBER 2, 1921] 


The rod is then screwed to the end of the 
tube of the injection apparatus by means of 
the screw point in which is a fiber washer to 
make the joint tight. The rod is then clamped 
in a mechanical pipette holder, either that of 
Barber or one described in an article al- 
ready printed. The next step is to fill the 
pipette with mercury. To do this open the 
stopcock and see that the rubber tubing con- 
nected with the stopcock is full of mercury. 
With a strong clamp close the tubing about 
four inches from the stopcock. Along this 
four inches place several screw clamps which, 
on being screwed down, will produce sufficient 
pressure to drive mercury almost to the tip 
of the pipette. The stopcock is then to be 
securely shut off. 

We are now ready for action. Squeezing 
the metal tubes by one or other of the lever- 
age clamps will drive mercury through a 
pipette an aperture of only one 
micron (.001mm.) in diameter. Move the 
pipette by means of the pipette holder till 
its tin projects into a hanging drop of the 
solution to be injected. Release pressure on 
the steel tube and some of the solution will 
be drawn into the pipette. Now lower the 
pipette and move the moist chamber till the 
cell to be injected is brought into view. The 
pipette is now raised until it punctures the 
cell. On applying pressure to the steel tube 
the solution is readily injected. The appara- 
tus may also be used to withdraw materials 
from the cell. 

The apparatus is extraordinarily sensitive. 
The meniscus of the mercury in the pipette 
responds instantly to the pressure of the 
leverage clamps. A comparative estimation 
of the quantity of injection material used may 
be made by focusing, first, on the mercury 
meniscus, then on the tip of the pipette and 
measuring the distance of the two focal points 
by means of the fine adjustment screw of the 
microscope. 

A more complete description of this appara- 
tus will shortly be published. 


having 


Ropert CHAMBERS 
CorRNELL MEDICAL COLLEGE 


SCIENCE 


503 


ON THE EMISSION AND ABSORPTION OF 
OXYGEN AND AIR IN THE EXTREME 
ULTRA-VIOLET 

Up to this time very little has been known 
of the spectrum of oxygen in the region of 
wave-lengths shorter than \2000. Some pre- 
vious investigators were unable to obtain a 
spectrum in this region. “ No lines or bands,” 
says Lyman, “were observed between )2000 
and 1230.”1 Schumann, however, had suc- 
ceeded in photographing some continuous 
maxima of which the most refrangible has 
a wave-length of about 1850 Angstroms. 
Moreover, Lyman had observed that the great 
absorption band of oxygen diminishes in in- 
tensity as it approaches \1230, but he thinks 
that another absorption band exists “lying in 
the region shut out by the absorption of 
fluorite.’ This preliminary investigation 
was undertaken, therefore, to test the emis- 
sion and absorption of oxygen and air in the 
region of wave-lengths shorter than those 
transmitted by fluorite. 

The apparatus used consisted of a vacuum 
grating spectrograph, containing a Rowland 
concave grating of 50 centimeters focus, about 
15,000 lines per inch, and a ruled surface of 
approximately 2 inches. A discharge tube 
of internal capillary, end-on type and with 
aluminum electrodes was employed. The tube 
was also provided with a quartz window for 
Hg comparison spectrum and opened through 
a slit directly into the receiver. A method 
has been developed of making Schumann 
films, and these were used for the spectro- 
grams. Commercial oxygen, dried with phos- 
phorus pentoxide, filled the receiver and con- 
nected discharge tube to a pressure of about 
0.4mm. When the spectrum of air was ob- 
tained, this gas was likewise dried and filled 
the receiver to about the above pressure. The 
time of exposure varied from 20 minutes to 
2 hours for the gas spectra, while an ex- 
posure of 3 minutes was found to be suffi- 
cient for the Hg-are comparison spectrum. 
The apparatus was so arranged that both the 
first and second orders of the Lyman region 

1 Lyman, ‘‘ The Spectroscopy of the Extreme 
Ultra-violet,’’ p. 82. 


504 


appeared on the film, the second order being 
superimposed on the first order comparison 
spectrum. By the use of the foregoing method, 
an extensive spectrum was obtained with 
oxygen in the receiver and is attributed to 
that gas. A spectrum was also found for 
air. (See table.) 


TABLE 
1 I 2 I 3 I 4 I 
Se) 1 Siena 1} 916.3 10 | 1136.4 i 
91.7 f |1-— 8] 68.5 f]1 we 2) 1249.4 il 
1010.1 2) 89.3 |1] 45.6 2/1216.0 15 
36.9 5|1275.7 | 1/1188.4 725 1 
84.3 4 96.0 2 co 10 
85.8 4 1224.3 1 5.2 ( t| 9 
1128.4 1 75.3 \ 2] 5 6.4) | 8 
34.7 5 77.2 41 1713.92 | 2 
76.2 10 1320.1 4d| 30.82 | 3 
80.7 1 43.72, | 1 
84.8  |1-10 75.02 | 2 
1200.3 2 93.7 3 
15.9 20 1812.32 | 3 
61.6 2} 61 3 
1302.5 6 808 3 
t) 3 
5.2 7 99.92 
6.4 6 1945.6d | 3 
TL) 1 50.4d | 3 
24.3 2 
30.0 1 
aca 3 
36.2 3 


Explanation of Symbols of Table: } indicates 
doublet; } t triplet; } 1 doublet and probably 
triplet; d diffuse; 2 violet edge of band; 3 con- 
tinuous maximum. 

In almost every instance the wave-lengths 
given in the table are the averages of two 
or more plates, hence judging from the con- 
sistency of the several measurements they 
are believed to be accurate to about 0.5 
Angstrom. The first column contains the 
lines that occur in both air and oxygen. 
Column 2 gives the lines that were not regis- 
tered on the films of air spectra, but were on 
those of the spectrum of oxygen. They are 
faint. Some of the more intense lines that 
occur in air only are indicated in column 38; 
the fainter lines, of which there are about 
thirty, were omitted from the list. Column 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1405. 


4 is a record of the wave lengths produced in 
oxygen with direct current discharge. The 
spectra listed in columns 1, 2 and 3 were ob- 
tained with disruptive discharge. In column 
4, lines in the Schumann region are included; 
similar spectra were also present in the cases 
of disruptive discharge but were omitted 
from the tabulations. 

The other columns are lists of the rela- 
tive intensities of the wave-lengths in the 
columns immediately preceding. Where two 
values of intensity are given in the same 
column, the first refers to the spectrum with 
oxygen and the second with air. 

It is worthy of note that the line 1215.9 
is very strong in the spectrum of oxygen and 
air even when a direct current was used. 
This wave length is very near to )1215.6, 
the fundamental line in the hydrogen spec- 
trum, and probably is that line. This was 
found to be present in most of the spectra 
obtained by Millikan in his investigations on 
the spectra of metals. The transparency of 
oxygen and air (1840-916 for air and 1336- 
990 for oxygen) in this region is proved from 
the fact that these spectrograms were ob- 
tained. It is evident that the absorbing 
layer of gas in these experiments amounted to 
more than 0.5mm. at atmospheric pressure, 
and judging from the intensities of the spec- 
tra, these gases are transparent in layers of 
even much greater thickness. The films of 
the spectrum of air were badly fogged, and 
in some cases the entire spectrum appeared 
reversed. However, since other films of this 
spectrum were obtained without this reversal, 
it is believed to be of a chemical nature and 
due to the corrosive gases formed by the 
radiation or the discharge. This point will 
be investigated more thoroughly in the near 
future. The work of getting the spectra of 
electrolytic oxygen and pure nitrogen is now 
on the way, and the thorough search for 
series lines and for ionization and resonance 
potential relations is postponed until this 
new data is available. 

J. J. Hoprietp 

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS, 

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 


DECEMBER 2, 1921] 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 
(Continued) 


DIVISION OF PHYSICAL AND INORGANIC CHEMISTRY 


H. N. Holmes, chairman. 
S. E. Sheppard, secretary. 


Adsorption by precipitates V.: Adsorption dur- 
ing the precipitation of colloids by mixtures of 
electrolytes: Harry B. WEISER. The precipitating 
action of mixtures of two electrolytes is approxi- 
mately additive if the precipitation value of each 
is of the same order of magnitude such as fre- 
quently obtains when the precipitating ions have 
the same valence. The precipitating action of mix- 
tures of electrolytes with widely varying precipita- 
ting power may be far from additive but under 
certain conditions may approach an additive rela- 
tionship. The determining influences are (1) the 
effect. of the presence of each precipitating ion on 
the adsorption of the other and (2) the magni- 
tude of the stabilizing action of the ion having 
the same charge as the colloid. 


The influence of the concentration of colloids 
on their precipitation by electrolytes: Harry B. 
WEISER AND HENRY O. NIcHOLAS. Burton and 
Bishop (Jour. Phys. Chem. 24, 710 (1920)) 
state that the precipitating action of univalent 
ions increases and of trivalent ions decreases with 
decreasing concentration of colloid while that of 
divalent ions is almost independent of the colloid 
concentration. By an extended series of experi- 
ments with four different colloids this rule was 
shown to be far from general. With three of the 
colloids the precipitation value of all electrolytes 
decreased as the concentration of the colloid de- 
creased, the effect being least marked with electro- 
lytes having univalent precipitating ions. The de- 
termining factors are (1) the change in the 
amount of adsorption necessary for neutraliza- 
tion, (2) the change in the opportunity for col- 
lision of the particles, (3) the influence of the 
stabilizing ion particularly in the case of electro- 
lytes that precipitate in high concentration. 


Intermittent phosphorescence: Harry  B. 
WEISER. The luminescence of phosphorus is due 
to the rapid oxidation of phosphorus trioxide to 
phosphorus pentoxide. The luminescence is con- 
tinuous only when the trioxide vapors are formed 
as rapidly as the luminescent reaction proceeds; 
the luminescence takes place in intermittent ex- 
plosion waves when the velocity of formation of 
trioxide is less than the velocity of the explosion 


SCIENCE 


555 


wave. The pulsations may be very rapid or may 
occur at intervals of several hours. The number 
of luminescent waves in unit time is determined 
by (1) the temperature, (2) the partial pressure 
of oxygen, (3) the extent to which the heat of 
reaction is absorbed by the containing vessel, (4) 
the presence of ‘‘catalytic’’ vapors. 


The ternary system: silver perchlorate-benzene- 
water: ARTHUR E. Hin. Silver perchlorate is 
very soluble in water, and moderately soluble in 
benzene. The system has been studied from the 
temperature of the ternary entectic (— 58°) up 
to the boiling points of the pure liquids. There 
occur four quintuple points, and twelve equi- 
libria. Of most interest is the equilibrium in 
which three liquid phases are present, which may 
exist from —2.2° C. to + 22.3° C. It appears 
to be the only three-component system showing 
three liquid layers derived from components in 
which only one pair (water and benzene) show 
the formation of two liquid phases. 


Hydrated oxalic acid as an analytical stand- 
dard: ARTHUR E. HILL AND THoMAS M. SMITH. 
The common drawbacks to the use of hydrated 
oxalic acid as a standard for oxidimetry and 
alkalimetry are its retention of included water 
and its irregularity in combined water due to 
its distinct vapor tension. These two sources of 
error should be eliminated by fine grinding, to 
offer an escape for included water, and by dry- 
ing to constant weight in an atmosphere inj 
which the aqueous tension is exactly that of 
the hydrate. We have found that grinding to 
pass a 100-mesh sieve meets the first requirement. 
To meet the second, we have dried the com- 
pounds over a mixture of hydrated and dehy- 
drated oxalic acid, which is the only drying agent 
which ean be in equilibrium with the compound 
at all temperatures. The compound can be 
brought to a constant composition within about 
three hours, and agrees in its reducing action 
upon KMnO, with Bureau of Standards sodium 
oxalate within 0.03 per cent. 


Effect of the history of adsorbent on adsorp- 
tion: R, C. WILEY anD N. E. Gorpon. Silica 
gel was prepared containing various amounts of 
water of hydration, and shaken with varying con- 
centrations of different salt solutions. It was 
found that the amount of hydration had some 
effect on the adsorption of some salts. In most 
instances the change was very small, but in 
these cases the analytical method used made the 


506 


small changes as certain as where the change 
was more pronounced. 


Adsorption from solution: D. C. LicHTENWAL- 
wneER, A. L. FLENNER AND N. E. GorDON. Vary- 
ing concentrated solutions of calcium sulphate, 
calcium acid phosphate, magnesium sulphate, mag- 
nesium acid phosphate, potassium sulphate, and 
potassium acid phosphate were shaken with alu- 
mina hydrogel and iron hydrogel and the maximum 
adsorption determined by analyzing the solution 
before and after shaking. The water of hydra- 
tion was all figured as water of dilution. Both 
gels show large adsorptions for each radical, and 
especially was this true in the case of the phos- 
phate radical. The adsorption increased with in- 
crease of concentrate. The slow process of es- 
tablishing equilibrium was also greatly marked. 


Effect of hydrogen-ion concentration on ad- 
sorption: E. B. StarKEy AND N. E. GoRpDON. 
Hydrated gels of iron and silica were prepared in 
a very pure condition and shaken with a N/20 
solution of KNO,, K.SO,, KHPO,;. The hydrogen- 
jon concentration had been varied by the intro- 
duction of sodium hydroxide or hydrochloric acid 
as the case might allow. The adsorption of each 
ion was followed by analyzing the solution before 
and after the shaking and figure the water ot 
hydration as water of dilution. It was found that 
the adsorption of the metallic ion decreased with 
an increase of hydrogen-ion concentration, while 
the nitrate, sulphate, and phosphate radical varied 
between no change of adsorption as in the case 
of the nitrate radical to a very noticeable change 
of adsorption in the case of the phosphate radical. 


The sorption of toluene and acetic acid and 
their mixtures by carbon: A. M. BAKER AND J. W. 
McBain. A general method is described for de- 
termining the true sorption of both solvent and 
solute in place of the merely relative values ob- 
tained in the usual way for solutions. A maxi- 
mum value for sorption is obtained which is in- 
dependent of the absolute temperature; the ratio 
between the saturation values is that of the mo- 
lecular weights (acetic acid being present as 
double molecules); and when solutions are em- 
ployed, the total amount sorbed still corresponds 
to a complete monomolecular film in which a cer- 
tain number of double molecules of acetic acid 
have replaced a corresponding number of mole- 
cules of toluene. 


Drop weights of oils in solutions of emulsifying 
agents: ROBERT E. WILSON AND ALLEN ABRAMS. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1405. 


The preparation and properties of ferric hy- 
droxide gel: RoBERT E. WILSON, WILLIAM B. Ross 
AND LEON W. PARSONS. 


The measurement of the plasticity of clays: 
ROBERT E. WILSON AND F. P. HALL. 


The transitional temperature of the sol and gel 
forms in gelatin: ROBERT HERMAN BoGuE. Bing- 
ham has shown that viscous liquids can be dis- 
tinguished from plastic solids by a measurement 
of the viscosity at varying pressures and an ex- 
tending of the curves downward till they intersect 
the axes. The former type intersect at the apex 
of the viscosity-pressure axes, while the latter type 
intersect upon the viscosity axis. By applying 
the principle to gelatin solutions at different tem- 
peratures and employing the MacMichael viscosim- 
eter at varying speeds of rotation in place of the 
capillary type at varying pressures, it is found 
that the gelatine follows the law for a viscous 
liquid at temperatures above 33 degrees C., while 
at lower temperatures it follows the law for a 
plastic solid. 


On the swelling and gelation of gelatin: ROBERT 
HERMAN Bocur. Gelatine sols were treated with 
solutions of the silicates of sodium in which the 
Na.O: SiO, ratio varied regularly from. 1:4 to 
1:1. The swelling, viscosity, alcohol number, and 
Py values were determined. The data indicate 
that the effects resulting from such additions are 
due in all cases to changes in the Py rather than 
to any other influence of the silicate. Gelation 
appears to be dependent upon the tendency of 
the substance to become solvated, the volume oc- 
eupied by unit weight of dispersed phase being 
the determined factor. When this volume is very 
small or very large, the jelly consistency will be 
low, and at intermediate values of volume per 
unit weight the jelly consistency will reach its 
maximum. 


Plasticity of colloids: EUGENE C. BINGHAM. 


The fiwidity-pressure curves of gelatine solu- 
tions: S. E. SHEPPARD, FELIX A, ELLIOTT AND 
Harry D. GmmEousE. Gelatine solutions were stud- 
ied whose concentration varied from 1 per cent. 
to 8 per cent. at temperatures of 25°, 28° and 
30° ©. The fluidities were measured with an 
Ostwald type viscometer under pressures up to 
900 mm. water. Ordinary, de-ashed and a mix- 
ture of de-ashed and autoclaved de-ashed gelatines 
were used. All measurable solutions showed little 
evidence of plastic flow, the curves being linear 
and approximately intersecting at a common point. 


DECEMBER 2, 1921] 


The method of preparing the solution was shown 
to influence the slope of the curves. 

The action of dilute chloride solutions upon sil- 
ver chloride: Gro. SHANNON ForBes AND H. Isa- 
BELLE COLE. 

The potentials at the junctions of chloride solu- 
tion: D. A. MacINNES anD Y. L. YEH. Eum.f. 
measurements were made on cells of the type: 

Ag/AgCl + MCl L M’Cl= AgCl/Ag 

(in which M and M’ are the alkali metals and 
hydrogen) using a flowing junction similar to 
that developed by Lamb and Larson. With widely 
varying rates of flow the potentials were con- 
stant to + 0.02 mv. for indefinite periods. With 
equal concentrations on both sides of the junction 
and assuming the chloride ion activity to be the 
same in all the solutions the measured e.m.f. is 
that of the liquid junction only. The results may 
be expressed by a simple additive relation in the 
few cases in which the formula of Lewis aud 
Sargent does not hold. 

Electrometric titration of ortho-phosphoric acid: 
KE. T. OAKES AND HENRY M. Satispury. New 
curves for ortho-phosphorie acid. titrated with 
sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate are 
shown. These curves are plotted to show observed 
e.m.f. values as well as Py values. Condenser 
method, and saturated calomel cell are used for 
measuring em.f. Technic of titrations, method 
of calculating results and sources of error are 
discussed briefly. Curves obtained by titrating 
phosphorie acid with sodium hydroxide, and _ so- 
dium hydroxide with phosphoric acid are not 
mirror images. The second end point of phos- 
phorie acid required more than twice as much 
alkali as the first. Curves obtained by titrating 
phosphoric acid with sodium carbonate, and so- 
dium carbonate with phosphorie acid are vastly 
different. Equations conforming to these curves 
differ from those commonly accepted. 

Oxidation-reduction potentials of certain indo- 
phenols and thiazine dyes: BARNETT COHEN AND 
W. MANSFIELD CLARK. A series of indophenols 
consisting of the condensation products of para- 
amino phenol with phenol, o-cresol, m-cresol, o- 
chlorophenol, guaiacol, thymol and carvacrol were 
synthesized. The potentials of mixtures of each 
of these with its reduction product were measured 
with a gold electrode at different Py values. It 
is shown that the same general relations hold that 
were found by Clark in the study of methylene 
blue and indigo sulfonate, the potentials being a 
function of both the ratio of oxidation product 


SCIENCE 


9557 


to reduction product and of the hydrogen-ion 
concentration. The effect of substitutions in 
changing the characteristic potentials is noted. 
Previous work with methylene blue has been ex- 
tended to other thiazines. Characteristic con- 
stants for thionine, gentianine, toluidine blue 0, 
thiocarmine R, methylene green G' and new methyl- 
ene blue N have been established. 


Oxidation-reduction potentials of sulfonated in- 
digos: M. X. SULLIVAN anD W. MANSFIELD CLARK. 
A trisulfonate and tetrasulfonate were found to 
have identical characteristic potentials when each 
was in definite ratio to its respective reduction 
product. These potentials are distinctly more posi- 
tive than those of mono- and disulfonates. The 
potentials of the mono- and disulfonates are ap- 
proximately the same but more refined measure- 
ments will have to be made to distinguish them. 


A series of oxidation-reduction indicators: W. 
MANSFIELD CLARK AND H. F. ZouuEr. It is shown 
that certain dyes are as susceptible to precise elec- 
trode study as are certain inorganic oxidation-re- 
duction combinations. The great importance of 
hydrogen-ion concentration is emphasized. The 
potentials for each dye can be reduced to a char- 
acteristic value from which there may be caleu- 
lated the hypothetical hydrogen pressures in equi- 
librium with the oxidation-reduction products. 
These values are used in the form log (1/H.) to 
which is given the symbol rH. Plotting the equi- 
libria on the rH scale gives a prcture of oxida- 
tion reduction indicators comparable with that 
of the acid base indicators plotted on the Py 
scale. The following oxidation-reduction indicators 
were shown plotted on the rH scale: guaiacol in- 
dophenol, o-cresol indophenol, o-chloro indophenol, 
methylene green, thionine, methylene blue, indigo 
tetrasulfonate, new methylene blue, indigo disul- 
fonate, neutral red and safranine. These consti- 
tute a series from rH 21.7, at the more oxidative 
end to rH 2.8 at the more reductive end of the 
scale. 


Selenium galvanometric colorimeter: ALEXAN- 
DER LOWY AND OSWALD BLACK Woop. 


A submerged floating equilibrium bob that ad- 
justs its weight to the density of the liquid in 
which it is placed: OC. W. Founk. This is a 
modification of the Richards floating equilibrium 
bob so that it can be used for the determination 
of the density of liquids over a considerable range. 
Preliminary experiments show that measurements 
of density can be made with it with an accuracy 


508 


of one or two in the fifth decimal place and prob- 
ably in the sixth place, and that a given bob as 
modified will cover a range of about two decimal 
places, that is, with one instrument, for example, 
densities ranging from 1.00001 to 1.00010 could 
be read. The modification consists in attaching 
a light chain to the bob which is a fish-shaped, 
hollow glass, or silica bulb. It is evident that if 
the weight of such a bob (a certain amount of 
ballast is usually necessary) is approximately that 
of an equal volume of the liquid in which it is 
placed, it will assume a position of equilibrium be- 
tween the surface of the liquid and the bottom of 
the containing vessel, the equilibrium being brought 
about by the chain suspended from its lower end. 
As the bob rises it lifts the chain link by link 
off the bottom of the vessel till the added weight 
counteracts the upward tendency and of course 
the reverse takes place if the bob tends to sink. 
A practical instrument utilizing this principle is 
made by having the bob in a tube open at both 
ends and with one end of the chain attached to the 
lower end of the “tube, so that it hangs in a loop 
(eatenary curve) between this point of support 
and the bob. The density of a liquid in which 
this instrument is placed can be determined by 
noting the position which the bob takes with re- 
spect to a scale on the tube. There are a number 
of interesting variations of the instrument that 
can not be given in a brief abstract. 

The comparative value of different specimens of 
iodine for chemical measurements: C. W. FouLkK 
AND SAMUEL Morris. Iodine was purified in va- 
rious ways as described in the text-books of ana- 
lytical chemistry and these preparations were 
then compared through the medium of a sodium 
thiosulphate solution with a specimen of iodine 
that had been purified as if for an atomic weight 
determination. Several new modifications of ap- 
paratus for purifying and drying iodine were also 
devised. The general conclusion drawn from the 
experiments was that the so-called ‘‘analytical’’ 
iodine is remarkably pure. Doubt, however, is 
thrown on the use of a sulphuric acid desiccator as 
a method of drying iodine when the water it con- 
tains had been entrained through the solidification 
of the iodine in the presence of liquid water. 

Variation of grain size in photographic emul- 
sions in relation to photochemical and photo- 
graphic properties: E. P. WIGHTMAN, A. P. H. 
TRIVELLI AND §. E. SHEPPARD. 

The physico-chemical properties of strong and 
weak flours III. Viscosity as a measure of hy- 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. LIV. No. 1405. 


dration capacity and the relation of the hydrogen- 
ion concentration to imbibition in the different 
acids: RoSS AIKEN GORTNER AND PAUL FRANCIS 
SHARP. In continuation of the work reported at 
the Chicago meeting of the Society, the authors 
have applied the use of the viscosimeter to the 
study of hydration of the emulsoid colloids pres- 
ent in wheat flour. Instead of using the washed 
out gluten as in previous work a 20 per cent. sus- 
pension of the entire flour was used in the present 
study. The results indicate (1) that the viscosim- 
eter affords an accurate and rapid means of 
measuring imbibition, (2) the form of the vis- 
cosity curves is identical with that of the im- 
bibitional curves obtained previously by weighing 
gluten dises, (3) ‘‘strong’’ flours give greater 
viscosity values than do weak flours at the cor- 
responding concentration of acid calculated on 
either normality or hydrogen-ion concentration 
basis, (4) when the viscosity is plotted against 
hydrogen-ion concentration instead of against 
normality of acid a radically different form of 
curve results, with a maximum viscosity at about 
P= 3.00, (5) the same value for maximum 
viscosity is not reached by all acids at the same 
hydrogen-ion concentration, (6) the order of the 
acids as influencing imbibition (lyotropic series) is 
not the same for all of the flours studied. 

An interesting colloid gel: Ross AIKEN GORT- 
NER AND WALTER F. HorrMan. A rigid gel can 
be prepared from di benzoyl 1. cystine containing 
as little as 0.15 per cent. of the compound. 
Viewed by dark field illumination this is ap- 
parently a crystal gel. It is suggested that 
this material may assist in studies regarding gel 
structure for it can be easily prepared in pure 
cystalline form and is consequently not affected 
by previous history as is gelatin, agar, ete. 


Are electrolytes completely ionized at infinite 
dilution? Harotp A. FALES AND HAROLD HE. Ros- 
ERTSON. Measurements made on _ hydrochloric, 
acetic, sulphuric and phosphoric acids up to a 
dilution of three million liters per mol, by the 
electromotive force method using the ballistie gal- 
vanometer, show that the thermodynamic ioniza- 
tion passes through a minimum and approaches 
zero with increasing dilution. It seems that it 
is not until a dilution of one thousand liters per 
mol is reached that the thermodynamic concen- 
tration of hydrogen ion becomes equal to the 
ionic concentration. 

CHARLES L. PARSONS, 
Secretary 


SCIENCE 


New SERIES SINGLE Cormes, 15 Cts. 
Vou. LIV, No. 1406 FRipay, DECEMBER 9, 1921 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, $6.00 


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HUMAN ANATOMY 


SIXTH EDITION, REVISED, IMPROVED 
1164 ILLUSTRATIONS INCLUDING 515 IN COLORS 
OCTAVO XIV + 1507 PAGES. CLOTH $10.00 
PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 1921 


By incorporating the results of recent investigations in the anatomical labora- 
tories of the world, and particularly of the United States, the book has become 
international in character and of much greater usefulness. A very large pro- 
portion of the illustrations have been remade and considerably enriched by the 
addition of many colored pictures. These have all been handsomely executed 
and will facilitate study and add to the pedagogical value of the book. 


CONTRIBUTORS 


CHARLES R. BARDEEN, A.B., M.D., Professor of Anatomy, University of Wisconsin 
Exior R. Ciark, A.B., M.D., Professor of Anatomy, University of Missouri 
ALBERT C. EYCLESHYMER, Ph.D., M.D., Professor of Anatomy, University of Illinois 


J. F. Gupernatscu, Ph.D., Formerly Professor of Anatomy, Cornell University Medical College, 
New York 


IrRvING Harpvesty, A.B., Ph.D., Professor of Anatomy, Tulane University of Louisiana 

C. M. Jackson, M.S., M.D., Editor, and Professor of Anatomy, University of Minnesota 

Dean D. Lewis, M.D., Professor of Surgery, Rush Medical College, Chicago 

RicHARD E. ScaMMon, Ph.D., Professor of Anatomy, University of Minnesota 

J. PARSONS SCHAEEE EE, Ph.D., M.D., Professor of Anatomy, Jefferson Medical College, Phila- 
elphia 


H. D. Senior, M.B., F.R.C.S., Professor of Anatomy, University and Bellevue Hospital Medical 
College, New York 


G. Etxtiot SmitH, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.P., F.R.S., Professor of Anatomy, University of London 


CHARLES R. STOCKARD, Ph.D., D.Sc., Professor of Anatomy, Cornell University Medical School, 
New York 


R. J. Terry, A.B., M.D., Professor of Anatomy, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 


P. Blakiston’s Son & Co., Philadelphia 


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eleven new ones, are systematically described 
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and, in many cases, economically important 
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volume also includes a detailed discussion of 


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SCIENCE 


Fripay, DrecemMBer 9, 1921. 


The Present Situation in Forestry with special 
reference to State Forestry: PRoFEsSsoR J. 


WALT OUMENa epee el ceieraiciccicr a sta a sister isis 559 


Occurrence of Pleistocene Vertebrates in an 
Asphalt Deposit near McKittrick, Cali- 
fornia; Dr. JoHN C. MERRIAM AND Dr. 


CHESTER MSTOGE tei sniioc ety sisiaiceusreverete iavenshe 566 


Special Oil-immersion Objectives for Dark-field 


Microscopy: PRoressor SIMON H. GaaE.... 567 
The International Geological Congress Commit- 
Te eI Gye st eI See Pe 569 


Scientific Events : 
Molding Sand Research; The Bayard Domi- 
nick Marquesan Expedition; Lectures by 
Professor Lorentz at the California Institute 
of Technology; The Secretaryship of Sigma 


KUM arate bee pal ee tan edchecet one ret sh ictiettes stevens sharelclapeterecatsh « 570 
Scientific Notes and News..............-.6. 573 
University and Educational News............ 575 


Discussion and Correspondence : 


An English Translation of Helmholtz’s 
‘« Optik ’’: Proressor James P. C, SouTH- 
ALL. The American Society of Naturalists: 
Dr. Henry FAIRFIELD OsBorN. The Pro- 
gram of the Section of Botany for the 
Toronto Meeting: Dr. Roprert B. WYLIE. 
The Twentieth International Congress of 
Americanists: Dr. ALES Hrpiicka, Fossil 
Man from Rhodesia: PROFESSOR GEORGE 
GRANT RMAC CURDMEr ein tre ri -leteelisiciclerets 575 


Scientific Books: 
MacLeod on Physiology and Biochemistry in 
Modern Medicine: Dr. J. C. Aus. Stensid 
on Triassic Fishes from Spitzbergen: Dr. 
PROM) Lae MOODIE eer elertyeletetsteete) «(ole lala)eiaseles 


Special Articles: 
Inhibitory Effect of Dermal Secretion of the 
Sea-urchin upon the Fertilizability of the 
Egg: Dr. HtrosH1 OnsHIMA. Simple 
Method of Bleeding Rabbits: Dr. GrorGE F. 
Forster. Adsorption by Soil Colloids: Dr. 
Nein E. GoRDON AND R. C, WILEY......... 


577 


The American Chemical Society: Dr. CHARLES 


UNG PARSONS He eucistskerebeieteecarshstent ra teta kaceualosciode 582 
The American Mathematical Society: PRoFEs- 
sor R. G. D. RICHARDSON...:............: 584 


MBS. intended for publication and books, etc.,intended for 
review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. 


—————— 
THE PRESENT SITUATION IN FOR- 
ESTRY, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE 
TO STATE FORESTRY 1 

No nation can prosper or even exist in com- 
fort without wood, without a considerable sup- 
ply of relatively inexpensive timber. Three 
years ago our per capita annual consumption 
of wood was about 300 board feet, exclusive of 
large quantities used for fuel, paper and a 
multitude of other purposes. It is extremely 
difficult for our minds to picture what this 
means in total volume or amount when multi- 
plied by 110 million, our present population. 
Each year we remove from our forests or de- 
stroy, through forest fires about 56 billion board 
feet of timber large enough to saw into lum- 
ber. This almost incomprehensible amount of 
wood disappears from our forests every year. 
Much of it we need and use, and can not very 
well get along without. On the other hand 
much of it is destroyed by fire. The latter is 
not only a great immediate economic loss and 
waste, but also an encroachment on supplies 
that will be very much needed in the immediate 
future. 

As a nation we have grown to our present 
stature on a lavish diet of wood. We use more 
wood than any other nation on earth. Our 
industries would stop, our very civilization 
stagnate were we suddenly deprived of our 
wood supply. Wood the world over is a basic 
resource. It is almost the first resource to be 
exploited and utilized in the development of a 
new country. Moreover, it is the resource that 
makes possible the utilization of other re- 
sources. There is scarcely an industry that can 
prosper without wood. Agriculture, transpor- 
tation and commerce as we know them to-day 
are inconceivable without wood. All of us are 
daily in contact with wood wrought into some 
form for our comfort or necessity. From 


1 An address delivered in the School of Citizen- 
ship, Yale University, Wednesday, October 26. 


560 


morning until night wood in one or another of 
the diverse forms into which man has shaped 
it is influencing your life and mine. 

If we trace the progress of industrial de- 
velopment in the civilized nations of the earth 
we are impressed by the apparent fact that: 

1. Industrial development proceeds faster in 
countries when domestic or imported wood is 
available in considerable quantities. 

2. Industrial development becomes arrested 
when available wood supplies are reduced below 
the essential needs of industry. 

China at one time was well wooded. Prior 
to the exhaustion of her timber supplies she 
reached a stage in civilization and economic 
development beyond that of most other nations. 
She exhausted her forests centuries ago and 
has been without wood adequate for her essen- 
tial needs for many generations. Historians 
have assigned many reasons for the early arrest 
in economic progress by the Chinese. It ap- 
pears, however, that the progressive destruction 
of her forests far below the point of essential 
wood needs made the development of other in- 
dustries impossible or extremely difficult. 

Japan, on the other hand, although surpassed 
jn civilization and industry by China during 
the long period while Chinese wood was avail- 
able in quantity, has never exhausted her 
forests and now has wood in abundance. There 
is every reason to believe if Japan had followed 
China’s example and had devastated and ex- 
hausted her forests and made no provision for 
regrowth, we would hear little of Japan to-day 
as a world power. Greece, once powerful and 
prosperous, fell from her high estate centuries 
ago. She swept the forests from her hills and 
mountains in attaining her power and in build- 
ing her civilization and did not make provision 
for regrowth. She destroyed her forests, she 
neglected regrowth and lost her place in the 
sun. She is still without adequate wood for her 
essential needs. Switzerland, a small nation 
of mountains and hills, though poor in soil and 
most other resources upon which the strength 
of a nation depends, has retained her forests. 
She still has wood, a basie resource. She is 
prosperous and forward moving. 

The republic of Switzerland, only a little 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1406. 


larger than the state of Connecticut, has three 
million people tilling less than 20 per cent. of 
the land. Some of her forests were organized 
as early as 853 a.D. They have been continu- 
ously under timber production for more than 
1000 years and are more intensively managed 
and more productive to-day than ever before. 
The government assumes control over all abso- 
lute forest land and the following three re- 
quisites are a part of the forest laws: 

(a) The forests must not be divided in area 
or broken up by sales. 

(b) The volume of the cut must be pre- 
scribed and the fellings must follow a plan 
which maintains a growing stock of trees. 

(c) All areas cut must be promptly re- 

stocked. 
_ The forest laws of Switzerland declare that 
her forest area must not be diminished but the 
private owner can demand that his forest be 
bought by the public if he feels unable to man- 
age it under laws which insure its perpetua- 
tion. These laws have for their object the 
maintaining of the forest in area and with 
stocked stands of growing trees. 

England, though a leader among nations 
in economic and industrial development, has 
reached her place of eminence in world affairs 
without maintaining an adequate domestic sup- 
ply of wood. Great Britain, an island empire, 
the first sea power of the world, has been able 
to meet the need of her industries for wood by 
bringing it from the four ends of the earth. The 
recent war, however, has shown her the neces- 
sity for domestic wood resources and she is 
now expending millions of pounds in refor- 
estation. 

America was blessed with abundance of wood 
when settlement began early in the seventeenth 
century. More than half of what is now the 
United States was covered with virgin forests, 
composed of a great variety of species, many 
of which are unexcelled for lumber and other 
essential products. We have been called a 
nation of home builders; we have built our 
homes out of the forest and we have kept them 
warm with wood cut in the forest. We have 
been more lavish in the use of wood than any 
other nation. We have used and destroyed the 


DECEMBER 9, 1921] 


wood at hand and thought little of the future. 
To-day 110 million people in the United States 
are using wood just as lavishly, just as waste- 
fully as when our country was young. As a 
nation we have been unable to think in terms 
of possible timber exhaustion. Three or more 
centuries of forest devastation, of forest de- 
struction, have given us the habit of thinking 
of the forest as inexhaustible. 

Let us go into the woods and see what we can 
find. It must be clear to all of us that no mat- 
ter how large an area of forest land this coun- 
try holds within her borders, if there are no 
trees growing thereon we can not look forward 
to getting wood to build our homes and supply 
our industries. We must have foresight to see 
that regrowth or young stands of timber of 
acceptable species must reclothe forest land 
after the removal of old timber through lum- 
bering, fire or other causes. 
supply to meet the essential needs of this coun- 
try depends upon one thing and one thing only, 
namely, adequate regrowth. Somehow, or in 
some way, this regrowth must be attained. 

Since settlement began we have been getting 
our wood for the most part from virgin forests, 
namely, from woods that were thousands of 
years in developing and were never disturbed 
by man. As a nation we have cut and other- 
wise destroyed the virgin forests so rapidly, out 
of our original 822 million acres we now have 
left only 137 million acres and these for the 
most part are in the more inaccessible parts of 
the country, chiefly in the far West. For all 
this the remnant of our virgin stands are now 
yielding three fourths of all the saw timber 
that we consume. At our present rate of cut- 
ting and present rate of destruction by fire, it 
is certain the remainder of our virgin timber 
will be practically all gone within the life time 
of people now living. At present we obtain but 
one fourth of our timber needs from forest land 
previously cut over or from stands that have 
grown since the removal of the virgin crop. 
It must be clear to all of us that with the 
passage of time more and more of our timber 
needs must be met from trees grown on forest 
land that has been previously cut over. It 
must also be appreciated that in the not distant 


SCIENCE 


Future timber ~ 


561 


future all our wood must come from such land 
because there will be no virgin forest left. 

Prohibiting cutting in the remnant of our 
virgin forests will not give us an adequate 
future timber supply. We should not be erit- 
ical of the cutting of virgin timber or for that 
matter of the cutting of merchantable second 
growth timber. The wood is needed and is a 
basic resource in our national progress and in- 
dustrial development. We should be critical 
that regrowth, in the form of fully stocked 
stands of desirable species, does not follow the 
removal of the old stand by logging, by fire or 
by any other cause whatsoever, when the re- 
moval is from forest land, that is, land better 
suited for the growth of timber than for other 
economic uses. 

As a nation we have been so remiss in pro- 
viding for regrowth, for new crops of timber of 
acceptable species, to take the place of the old, 
we are certain to suffer a severe timber short- 
age as the remnant of our virgin timber dis- 
appears and we are forced to turn to second 
growth for a constantly and rapidly increasing 
percentage of the wood supplies essential for 
our prosperity and well being. 

About 463 million acres of the land area of 
the United States is classed as forest at the 
present time, but of this vast area 326 mil- 
lion acres have been culled of their best 
timber, cut over or burned. For the most 
part these 326 million acres have been left 
to chance restocking and only a comparatively 
small percentage is fully stocked with desir- 
able species. Nearly all of this vast area now 
bears a more or less fragmentary growth, 
often of inferior species. On a fourth of the 
entire area there is no forest growth whatso- 
ever and the land is idle. 

What can we expect in the way of future 
timber supplies from our culled, cut-over and 
burned forest areas? This is a very impor- 
tant economic question at the present time. 
Please remember 826 million acres of our pres- 
ent area of forest land culled, cut over or 
burned, and only 137 million acres of virgin 
forest remaining, all of which will soon be 
gone. 

Assuming that our area of forest land re- 


562 


mains as it is to-day, namely, at 463 million 
acres, and that we exercise no more foresight 
in harvesting the remainder of our virgin 
forest than we have in the past, what can we 
expect in annual growth when our virgin 
timber is gone, to supply this great nation 
with wood? The United States Forest Serv- 
ice estimates the present annual growth on 
our 326 million acres of burned and exploited 
forest at approximately 6 billion cubic feet. 
Assuming that the annual growth on ex- 
ploited forest land will remain as it is at the 
present, after we have exploited the remain- 
-der of our virgin forests, the total 463 mil- 
lion acres of forest property in the United 
States will produce an annual growth of ap- 
proximately 7 1/2 billion cubic feet. This 
is all that will be produced by growth each 
year unless we radically change our present 
forest policy and conscientiously plan for re- 
growth on a vast scale. 

It is a very serious economic situation that 
we are now using up our forest capital more 
than four times as fast as we are producing 
it. In other words the annual growth in our 
forests is now approximately 6 billion cubic 
feet while the annual removal of wood from 
our forests by lumbering, fire and other 
causes, is over 26 billion cubic feet. We are 
cutting into our forest capital—the reserve 
supply, largely in our virgin forests—more 
than four times as fast as we are growing 
wood. 

It must be evident to all that we can not 
go on using each year four times as much 
wood as we grow in a year and do this in- 
definitely. It must also be evident that our 
future supply of timber will not be assured 
until the annual growth of wood on our 463 
million acres of forest land is at least as 
much as what we annually consume. 

Without forest management and without 
serious attention given to regrowth, we grow 
each year less than one fourth as much wood 
as we use, but were all our 463 million acres 
of forest land fully stocked and in different 
age classes, there is ample evidence to show 
that the annual growth would be raised to 
approximately 28 billion cubic feet. In other 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1406. 


words, it is possible to produce, through in- 
creased growth on our present area of forest 
property, more than four times as much wood 
as is now grown. An annual growth of 28 
billion cubic feet of wood in the forests of the 
United States is a goal toward which we 
should push. It will take a century to place 
all our forest property under management 
and to fully stock all our 463 million acres 
of forest land with acceptable species. An 
annual growth of 28 billion cubic feet, how- 
ever, can not be attained until this is done. 

Were all our forest land under manage- 

ment and fully stocked, would we be able to 
use advantageously the amount of timber 
each year represented in the possible annual 
growth of 28 billion cubic feet? We are now 
using and destroying annually approximately 
26 billion cubic feet of wood; only a little 
less than can be grown on our entire area of 
463 million acres were it all under a system 
of management as excellent as that of Central 
Europe. 
_ Although there appears to be no inherent 
reason why this nation can not grow yearly 
as much wood as we now consume, it will 
not be done and moreover it can not be done 
without public approval and public support. 
The raising of the present annual growth in 
eur forests from 6 billion cubic feet to a pos- 
sible annual growth of 28 billion cubic feet 
is necessary if we are to be adequately sup- 
plied with wood fifty years hence. 

As conditions are at present we Americans 
are faced with the essential fact that we are 
not only destroying our forest supplies more 
than four times as fast as we are growing 
them, but what is of more far-reaching im- 
portance we are, through lack of forest organ- 
ization and management, rapidly using up 
the productive capacity of our forest lands. 
Not only is there less and less wood grown 
each year but more and more forest soil is 
destroyed each year beyond the power of im- 
mediate recovery for the production of wood 
crops. The investigations of the United 
States Forest Service show that already 81 
million acres, out of our 463 million acres 
of forest property have been so completely 


DECEMBER 9, 1921] 


denuded, they are now idle, and with no im- 
mediate prospects of regrowth. This vast 
area scattered through many states is of no 
more immediate value to the nation or to the 
owners than it would be were it in the heart 
of the Sahara Desert. 

The destruction of our timber through 
lumbering and fires without providing for re- 
growth and the destruction of the timber- 
producing power of vast areas-of land valu- 
able for no other purpose would not be so 
important from the standpoint of our future 
industrial development were it possible to ob- 
tain needed wood from beyond our own 
borders. Can we look to other countries for 
the enormous amount of wood needed if we 
permit our forests to fail us through our 
neglect to obtain regrowth? We can not. 
Mexico has no more lumber than she needs 
for her own use. Canada has already made 
it plain that we can not look to her for 
lumber supplies in large quantity. The old 
world requires all the available wood in her 
forests and tropical America, although with 
vast resources of hardwoods, has compara- 
tively little that is suited to the needs of the 
American people. Jn short, as time goes on 
we must grcw our own wood or go without. 
Furthermore, we must increase the growing 
of timber on a vast scale during the next 
fifty years while we still have virgin forests 
that remain uncut. 

A program for the growing of timber on 
an adequate scale for our future needs must 
include: 

First, organized fire protection and preven- 
tion that will eliminate present losses to young 
and old stands from forest fires. 

Second, the prevention of owners of com- 
mercial forests now uncut from destroying, 
through destructive lumbering, the power of 
their lands to keep on growing trees. 

Third, the reforestation of those parts of 
our forest area of 463 million acres that have 
become more or less completely denuded and 
are now without regrowth or are inadequately 
stocked. 

Fourth, the improvement of existing re- 


SCIENCE 


563 


growth and that to be attained in the future 
by systematic silvicultural operations. 

Please remember all of these must be put 
into operation and continued until all our 
forest property is subject to them. Even if 
we begin now, a hundred years, at least, will 
be required, and the expenditure of vast sums 
of money, if we finally reach our goal and in- 
crease our annual growth from 6 billion cubic 
feet of wood to 28 billion eubie feet, which 
measured by present consumption appears es- 
sential for our future needs. 

Bringing this important question of inade- 
quate forest growth and denuded and imper- 
fectly stocked forest land nearer home, let us 
look at the state of Connecticut. Any one 
of a dozen eastern and southern states might 
be taken as well. Connecticut was originally 
completely covered with hardwood and soft- 
wood forests. From the time of settlement 
until toward the middle of the last century 
the state produced more lumber than she 
used and some was shipped abroad or ex- 
ported to sther states. Since then she has 
been unable to supply wood for her own es- 
sential needs. Constantly increasing quanti- 
ties are yearly imported from other states 
and from other countries. 

Connecticut was early settled and the land 
was gradually cleared for agricultural use. 
Farmers settled on areas of primeval woods 
and started to carve farms out of the wilder- 
ness. The land embraced in the entire state 
of Connecticut early passed to the ownership 
of private citizens. The farms were the 
year-long homes of the people who owned 
them. Roughly they were composed of agri- 
cultural land and forest land. Early in the 
last century the forest had been cleared from 
approximately three fourths of the state and 
the land taken for agriculture and grazing, 
also a considerable part of the remaining one 
fourth still bearing forest had been culled of 
its best timber, or more or less completely cut 
over. The last remnant of the virgin forest 
disappeared early in the present century. 

Throughout Connecticut, as in most other 
eastern states, acceptable farm land is inter- 
spersed with forest land, that is, with land 


564 


that it is unprofitable to attempt to cultivate. 
The average farm therefore contains both 
agricultural land and forest land. In the 
poorer regions of the state, as in parts of 
Litchfield and Middlesex counties, the larger 
percentage of the farms is forest land while 
in Hartford County the larger percentage is 
agricultural land. Although three quarters 
of a century or more ago, three fourths of the 
land of Connecticut had been cleared for 
agriculture and grazing, much of this cleared 
land has since been abandoned as fields and 
pastures and left to return to forest. To-day 
almost one half of the entire area of the state 
is classed as forest and the area in productive 
agriculture has been gradually decreasing for 
a half century. Why has the area of Con- 
necticut soil used for the production of agri- 
cultural crops so persistently and so rapidly 
fallen off and why has so much land formerly 
cultivated been permitted to revert to for- 
est ? 

During the long period of extension of 
Connecticut agriculture and reduction of the 
forested areas, the farmers not only tilled 
their fields in summer, but they worked in 
the woods in winter. Only a part of their 
sustenance and profit was derived from their 
cultivated fields; a considerable part came 
from the woodland part of their farms. So 
long as it was possible to find profitable em- 
ployment during the long winter in their own 
woodlots, a comfortable living for themselves 
and families could be derived from their 
farms, but as soon as the woodlots had been 
culled of all the best timber and nothing left 
but cheap fuel wood, it was no longer possible 
to obtain year-long employment and a com- 
fortable living from the fields alone. For 
fifty years abandoned Connecticut farms 
have been in evidence in every county in the 
state.. This abandonment is due to economic 
pressure forced through the exhaustion and 
often almost the complete destruction of the 
productive capacity of the forest land, thus 
impelling the cleared land alone to support 
a permanent population which in many cases 
has been economically impossible. 

When the forests of Connecticut were still 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1406. 


producing timber in abundance, and agricul- 
tural extension had claimed the maximum of 
Connecticut land, land utilization was at its 
height. It is a long way from our climax of 
land utilization in this state of fifty or more 
years ago to what we find today. Not only 
have we greatly reduced the area in produc- 
tive agriculture, but our woods, although in- 
creasing in area, have almost completely lost 
their capacity for yielding timber of large 
sizes and of high value. They are for the 
most part stands of sprouts that have been 
repeatedly culled and cut over until little but 
inferior fuel wood remains. Although the 
state now boasts of nearly one half of her total 
area as forest, its growing capacity is so low 
and the quality and kinds of timber so in- 
ferior, we are forced to send out of the state 
for 83 per cent. of all saw timber we consume 
and upon which we yearly pay four to five 
million dollars in freight alone. Although 
the forests of the state produce little timber 
of high grade and of desirable species which 
command high prices, our woods are filled 
with inferior species, and low-grade wood 
chiefly useful for fuel which commands a 
stumpage price but little higher than that of 
a half century ago. 

While the forests of the state were produc- 
tive, industries using wood as a raw product 
were widely distributed through our villages 
and towns. Every village had its cooper and 
its wheelwright. Barrels, wagons, tubs, ox- 
yokes, and all the various articles made from 
wood and used in a given community, were 
locally made from home-grown wood in that 
community. 

Wood from local forests helped to support 
community life and nearby forests provided 
employment to supplement farm work. Large 
areas in this state as well as in most other 
states can not sustain profitable agriculture 
unless the intermingled areas of forest land 
are made productive. The development of 
agriculture and the development of forestry 
must go forward together wherever part of 
the land is unsuited for farm crops. 

In my opinion an increased population on 
the land in this state can not be attained and 


DECEMBER 9, 1921] 


a more complete land utilization undertaken 
without employing modern forestry methods 
in improving forest land which, as you re- 
member, occupies nearly one half of the en- 
tire state. If the present forest area of this 
state were fully stocked and in various age 
classes, we could, in a very short time, vastly 
increase our agricultural production, as it 
would make possible permanent homes on 
areas that, without nearby woods to afford 
employment to supplement farm work, is 
economically impossible. 

I sincerely hope that I have been able to 
impress you with the serious situation which 
now confronts the American people as to ade- 
quate future supplies and for the need of a 
radical change in forest policy which will 
make regrowth possible on an extensive scale 
while we still have virgin supplies for our 
immediate needs. I sincerely hope that I 
have been able to impress you with the seri- 
ousness of present land problems in states 
like Connecticut whose agriculture has de- 
clined with the removal of the forest. 

If you accept my thesis that forestry prac- 
tise must be established on all of our 463 mil- 
lion acres of forest land, if we are to grow as 
much wood each year as we will need for the 
best development of our industrial life, you 
may well ask how can it be attained. It can 
never be attained if left to individual effort. 
Its attainment is primarily a function of gov- 
ernment. The forest history of the old world 
clearly proves that forests are over cut and 
otherwise destroyed when their control and 
management are left entirely to private land 
owners. No nation can perpetuate her forests 
through wise use unless they are publicly 
owned or publicly controlled. This nation with 
four fifths of her forests privately owned, can 
not possibly attain the regrowth essential in 
forest renewal unless the public exercise man- 
datory control and demand of the private land 
owner that regrowth must follow as a natural 
consequence of forest exploitation. As a people 
we must appreciate that our continued pros- 
perity is dependent upon the conservation and 
wise use of our 463 million acres of forest 
land. We must also appreciate that the forests 


SCIENCE 


565 


thereon are threatened with extinction by the 
methods under which much of the forest is now 
handled. We must work for a forest policy 
which embodies reasonable public regulation of 
operations in all forests, both public and pri- 
vate. We must work for adequate fire protec- 
tion, for reforestation, for silvicultural prac- 
tise and for further acquisition of national, 
state and communal forests, and all these on a 
seale which will with certainty insure a future 
supply of wood to meet the needs of the nation. 

The nation, the state, lesser governmental 
units and the private owners of forest land 
must cooperate and work together if adequate 
regrowth to meet the needs of the country is 
attained. There is need for national legisla- 
tion and large national appropriations to stim- 
ulate cooperation with the states, and provide 
for fire protection, reforestation, investigation 
and silvicultural practise. There is need for 
state legislation which requires of the private 
owner of forest land that it be kept fully 
stocked with growing timber and of the state 
that through tax adjustment, fire protection, 
and in other ways it make regrowth possible of 
execution without becoming a financial loss to 
the private owner. There is need for state leg- 
islation providing for local forestry boards 
comprised of foresters, timber-land owners 
and timber users to interpret the degree of 
stocking in their particular locality which 
will meet the requirements of the law. 

As it is in all states to-day, forest property 
may be taxed for its full sale value. The 
owner of a growing crop of timber may be 
taxed fifty times on the crop before ready 
for harvest and without deriving a single 
dollar from it until cut. If taxed each year 
at its full sale value he may pay out more 
in taxes during the growth of the crop than 
its entire sale value when cut. This out- 
grown method of forest taxation must be 
changed. 

Forest crops are inflammable and subject 
to serious loss by fire. So long as the fire 
hazard is as great as it is at the present time 
there is little incentive for private owners of 
forest land to establish stocked stands of 
young timber and carry them forward to 


066 


maturity. In my judgment it is clearly the 
duty of the state to adjust taxation on grow- 
ing stands of timber, provide adequate pro- 
tection against fire and other destructive 
agents, instruct the public in silvicultural 
methods and encourage reforestation by pro- 
viding planting stock. In return for this as- 
sistance by the public, forest land must by 
law be subject to public regulation which will 
insure regrowth of acceptable species. Fur- 
thermore this public regulation must be in 
the hands of local boards whose function it 
is to interpret the requirements of the law 
in their particular locality. 

Constructive state forest legislation is only 
in its beginning. It is your duty and mine 
to assist In every way we can in making re- 
growth possible. First, as American citizens 
and voters we should work for increased 
publicly owned forests by the nation, by 
states, and by local communities. Second, as 
American citizens and voters we should work 
for the reasonable public regulation of all 
forest lands, based upon a system of coopera- 
tion between the public and the private owner 
that will make regrowth possible without, in 
the long run, entailing financial loss upon 
the owner. Third, as American citizens and 
voters we should work for more liberal finan- 
cial support of the entire forestry movement 
by both the nation and the state. 

J. W. TouMEY 

THE SCHOOL OF FORESTRY, 

YALE UNIVERSITY 


OCCURRENCE OF PLEISTOCENE VER- 
TEBRATES IN AN ASPHALT DEPOSIT 
NEAR McKITTRICK, CALIFORNIA 

PLEISTOCENE mammalian remains from 
asphalt deposits located along the south- 
western border of the Great Valley of Cali- 
fornia have been known since 1865, when 
Joseph Leidy reported the occurrence of two 
horse teeth from near Buena Vista Lake and 
referred the specimens to Hquwus occidentalis. 
Further remains of this species from the 
region of Buena Vista Lake were described 
and figured by Leidy! in 1873. Thirty years 


1Leidy, J., Proc. Acad. Nat, Sci, Phila. 1865, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1406. 


later J. C. Merriam? described a fragmentary 
lower jaw of the dire wolf, Hnocyon dirus, 
that apparently came from an asphalt bed in 
Tulare County, California. 

’ The construction of the Taft-McKittrick 
highway in the petroleum producing belt 
southwest of Bakersfield has brought to light 
a fossiliferous bed of asphalt on the southern 
outskirts of the town of McKittrick. The 
deposit is apparently located in a narrow 
zone of asphaltic material shown on the ge- 
ologie maps* of the McKittrick oil region as 
traversing the foothill region immediately 
southwest of McKittrick. As mapped by 
Arnold and Johnson this brea belt is associ- 
ated areally with Pliocene and Miocene 
marine beds and is found also in contact 
with the alluvium of McKittrick Valley. 

The occurrence of bones in asphalt near 
McKittrick was known for many years to 
the Department of Paleontology of the Uni- 
versity of California. Recently John B. 
Stevens explored the deposit and secured a 
number of specimens that were kindly pre- 
sented to the University. During the past 
summer a field party from the Museum of 
Paleontology with cooperation and support 
of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 
commenced excavations and made additional 
collections. Grateful acknowledgment should 
be made to the Midway Royal Oil Company 
for permission to excavate and for valuable 
assistance rendered during the progress of the 
work. 

In the brea deposit near McKittrick a sur- 
face stratum of hardened asphaltic mater- 
ial reaches in places a thickness of several 
feet. This layer contains numerous remains 
of birds and mammals, apparently represent- 
p. 94; Rept. U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr., pp. 242-244, 
pl. 33, fig. 1, 1873. 

2 Merriam, J. C., Univ. Calif. Publ. Bull. Dept. 
Geol., Vol. 3, pp. 288-289, pl. 30, fig. 2, 1903. 

3 Arnold, R., and Johnson, H. R., ‘‘ Preliminary 
report on the McKittrick-Sunset Oil Region, Kern 
and San Luis Obispo Counties, California,’’ pl. 1, 
U. S. Geol. Surv. Bull. 406, 1910; Pack, R. W., 
«« The Sunset-Midway Oil Field, California, Part I., 
Geology and Oil Resources,’’ pl. 2, U. S. Geol. Surv. 
Prof, Paper 116, 1920. 


DECEMBER 9, 1921] 


ing the Recent fauna, and overlies the deposit 
in which Pleistocene vertebrates are found. 
In excavating the older bed dense accumula- 
tions of mammalian remains were encount- 
ered. This deposit is in general comparable 
to these occurring at Rancho La Brea. The 
exhumed material was, however, not so well 
preserved as that from the asphalt bed near 
Los Angeles. This seems due, in a measure, 
to a prevailing earthy matrix showing some- 
what less impregnation by petroleum than in 
the Rancho La Brea beds. 

A small collection of bird remains from 
the McKittrick deposit was submitted to Dr. 
L. H. Miller for examination. A prelimi- 
nary statement has been kindly given by Dr. 
Miller as follows: 


1. Of the ten species thus far determined, six are 
aquatie or semi-aquatic in habit. With more care- 
ful examination to determine exact identity of 
ducks and waders, this proportion will be increased. 
Quite the reverse is true of the Rancho La Brea 
beds. 

2. The golden eagle (Aquila chrysaétos) is the 
most abundant species of land bird. One hawk 
(Circus), one ecaracara (Polyborus), and two fal- 
cons (falco sparverius and F. near fuscocerules- 
cens) are the only other raptors. No owls or vul- 
tures appear in the collection. 

3. Parapavo is not represented. A single quail 
bone represents the great group of Galline. 

4. Shore birds (Limicole), so rare in the Rancho 
La Brea beds, are very abundant here. More speci- 
mens of this group are present in the collection 
of 100 specimens from McKittrick than in all the 
50,000 examined from Rancho La Brea. 

5. So far as examined there appear no extinct or 
extra-limital species not found at Rancho La Brea. 
On the other hand Teratornis, Parapavo, the great 
list of condors, vultures, eagles, old world vultures, 
and owls are thus far lacking. 

6. The caracara, the indeterminate falcon, and 
the two storks, Ciconia and Jabiru, give the same 
suggestion of semitropic climate as in the case of 
Rancho La Brea. 


Following is a provisional list of the Pleis- 
tocene mammalian fauna known from the 
McKittrick locality: 


Ainocyon dirus (Leidy) 
Canis, near ochropus Esch. 


SCIENCE 


567 


Felis atrox Leidy 

Felis, near daggetti Merriam 
Arctotherium, near simum Cope 
Mylodon, sp. 

Equus occidentalis Leidy 
Antilocapra?, sp. 

Bison, sp. 

Camel, slender limbed form 
Mastodon, sp. 


Several of the mammalian species listed 
above are known from Rancho La Brea. The 
dire wolf (#nocyon dirus), the great lion 
(Felis atrox) and the horse (Hquus occident- 
alis) also occur in the asphalt beds near Los 
Angeles. Machaerodont cats have not beem 
recognized at the McKittrick locality. The 
bear (Arctotherium) and the ground sloth 
(Mylodon) occur in both deposits, although 
the forms represented at McKittrick may be 
specifically separable from the types found 
at Rancho La Brea. A camel with slender 
limbs is certainly distinct from the large 
Camelops hesternus found at Rancho La Brea. 

Further collecting at the McKittrick local- 
ity will bring out the relationship between 
this assemblage and the Rancho La Brea 
fauna. The contrasting features that are 
recognized at present may result from a geo- 
graphic seperation of the two asphalt de- 
posits. It is probable that the environmental 
conditions prevailing in the southern portion 
of the Great Valley of California during the 
Pleistocene were somewhat unlike those ex- 
isting in the vicinity of Rancho La Brea. 
On the other hand, it may be that the faunal 
differences are to be interpreted as indicating 
separate stages of the Pleistocene. 

Joun C. Merriam, 
CuHEsTER Stock 


SPECIAL OIL-IMMERSION OBJECTIVES 
FOR DARK-FIELD MICROSCOPY 


DarkK-FIELD microscopy was introduced by 
Joseph Jackson Lister in 1830, and by the Rev. 
J. B. Reade in 1837. The optical principles 
were clearly enunciated by F. H. Wen- 
ham in 1850-1856, and apparatus substant- 
ially as now employed was made and de- 
scribed by him for use with high powers. 


568 


In 1877 Dr. James Edmunds constructed 
special paraboloid condensers for dark-field 
work with high powers, and insisted upon 
the necessity of a homogeneous contact of 
the top of the condenser and the lower face 
of the microscopic slide, and that the slide 
should have a thickness corresponding to the 
focus of the condenser. He recommended 
this means of study for the body fluids like 
blood, ete., and for the investigation of living 
bacteria, whose appearance and actions were 
described by him in a most striking and 
_ picturesque manner. 

This information was published in some of 
the most important and widely distributed 
English publications (Transactions of the 
Royal Society, 18380, Trans. Micr. Soc. of 
London, and Quart. Jour. Micr. Science, 
1850-1856; Jour. Quek. Micr. Club, and 
Month. Micr. Jour., 1877; Quekett’s “ Treat- 
ise on the Microscope,” 1848-1855, and Car- 
penter’s “The Microscope and its Revela- 
tions,” 1856). \ 

In spite of this wide publicity the dark- 
field microscope was used very little either 
in biology or in medicine. After the dis- 
covery in 4905 of the microbe of syphilis, and 
that it could be demonstrated in the living 
state with the dark-field microscope, this 
method of investigation became of vital im- 
portance to medical men; and that import- 
ance has increased rather than diminished 
in recent years. 

It seems to the writer that it is of equal 
if not greater importance to the biologist, the 
physiologist, and the clinician for the ex- 
amining of the body fluids in health and 
disease and in the study of living micro- 
organisms, for it brings out with the great- 
est clearness structures and details of struc- 
ture invisible in the bright-field microscope. 
It thus renders the absolute dependence on 
staining agents after various fixing materials 
have been vsed no longer necessary, and 
serves as a check to the appearances some- 
times given by these agents. 

Dark-field microscopy has two require- 
ments that must be met for its successful use 
as was pointed out by the early investigators 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1406. 


with it: (1) a very brilliant light is needed. 
Full sunlight was recommended and remains 
the most satisfactory light, although the 
newly devised electric lights like the small 
arc lamp and the low-voltage head-light 
lamps serve very well. 

(2) The other difficulty that must be over- 
come is the large aperture of high-power ob- 
jectives, especially those of the immersion 
type. This is because the dark-field conden- 
sers can not be constructed with high enough 
aperture to give a dark-field with these high- 
power objectives, and they are a necessity 
with the most exacting work. 

Two courses were open with the high 
powers: (a) To so construct them that the 
aperture was low enough to give dark-field 
effects with the dark-field condensers practi- 
cable to construct, and (b) To introduce into 
the high apertured objectives a diaphragm 
that should cut down the aperture. 

The second course was adopted, and reduc- 
ing diaphragms of all kinds with apertures 
varying from 0.40 to 0.90 N. A. have been 
met with; and in a few cases those as low as 
0.20 N. A. were found. Not only was there 
great variation in the aperture of the reduc- 
ing diaphragms for the oil-immersion objec- 
tives, but in many cases they were so con- 
structed that they were liable to get out of 
place, get out of the optic axis, and prove 
generally unsatisfactory. Unfortunately also 
some of the workers in the pathological field 
were trying to use oil-immersion objectives 
for dark-field work with no diaphragm at 
all, and of course could get no dark-field 
effects. 

After a full examination of the different 
dark-field condensers made in our own country 
and abroad, it seemed to me that the best 
all around aperture for the objective to use 
with them would be about 0.80 N. A. Such 
an aperture will give a good dark field with 
all the standard dark-field condensers, and 
this aperture is great enough to give good 
resolution on the one hand and the needed 
brillianey on the other. 

I appealed to the American manufacturers 
of microscopic objectives to design and 


DrcemBeR 9, 1921] 


manufacture oil-immersion objectives of this 
aperture (0.60 N. A.). With such an objec- 
tive the worker either in biology or in medi- 
cine can get good results even without a 
very profound knowledge of the optical princi- 
ples involved. He can also go forward with 
his work with full confidence that the objec- 
tive being used will give good results, and 
every worker knows the importance of confi- 
dence in his apparatus for successful accom- 
plishment. Finally, during the past summer 
and autumn the Bausch and Lomb Optical 
Company of Rochester, N. Y., undertook the 
manufacture of the desired medium-aper- 
tured oil-immersion objectives. The outcome 
is all that could be asked; and they have 
been subjected to the most rigid tests in 
actual practise in the fields in which dark- 
field work is applied. These objectives are 
now available, and the writer feels confident 
that every one using them will feel grateful 
for the freedom from worry that was always 
involved in modifying a high-apertured ob- 
jective for the dark field. 

It is only fair to add that no matter how 
enthusiastic one may be over the possibilities 
of dark-field microscopy, much more skill is 
necessary in it than for the ordinary bright- 
field microscopy. I think that all who have 
used the dark-field microscope successfully 
will agree that the ideal plan for an indi- 
vidual or for a laboratory is to have a micro- 
scope devoted to this work alone. If then 
a proper electric light is available, one can 
proceed to make examination of specimens 
with the dark-field microscope with the same 
certainty and rapidity with which examina- 
tions are made with the bright field. 


It may be stated in passing with reference to 
these new objectives, that they have certain advan- 
tages for ordinary bright-field work. As ordinarily 
employed the oil-immersion objectives of high aper- 
ture (1.40 to 1.20 N. A.), are used in bright-field 
work without oil-immersion contact between the 
under surface of the slide and the top of the bright- 
field condenser. As light of an aperture greater 
than 1.00 N. A. can not emerge from the condenser 
into air, it follows that not nearly all of the avail- 
able aperture is employed. It was believed there- 


SCIENCE 


569 


fore that these medium-apertured objectives would 
serve to give practically as good images for his- 
tological, embryological and pathological specimens 
as the high-apertured objectives as ordinarily used, 
Actual tests proved the correctness of this suppo- 
sition. Of course when the resolution of fine details 
is involved the higher aperture is of great import- 
ance, but in order to be fully utilized the micro- 
scopic slide must be in immersion contact with the 
top of the condenser. 
Srmon H. Gace 
CoRNELL UNIVERSITY, 
IrHaca, N. Y. 
THE INTERNATIONAL GEOLOGICAL 
CONGRESS COMMITTEE 


At the twelfth session of the International 
Geological Congress, the president was in- 
structed to nominate a committee to consider 
the question of a permanent constitution and 
to submit a proposal thereon to the next ses- 
sion of the Congress. The following com- 
mittee was appointed: R. W. Brock, Presi- 
dent; J. S. Anderson, C. Barrois, A. Karpin- 
sky, A. Renier, Geo. Otis Smith, G. Stein- 
mann and E. Teitze. 

The committee met in the rooms of the 
Geological Society of London on July 20, 
1921. There were present: R. W. Brock, 
President; A. Renier, Geo. Otis Smith and 
F. D. Adams (ex-officio member). 

At a preliminary conference called to ob- 
tain for the guidance of the committee the 
opinion and advice of a wider and more 
representative body, the following resolution 
had been passed: 

That this meeting is of opinion that the question 
of the establishment of an International Geolog- 
ical Union should be considered at the next Inter- 
national Geological Congress, and that it is unde- 
sirable that any steps should be taken until the 
question has been so considered at a full and rep- 
resentative gathering of geologists. 

A concise proposal with regard to a consti- 
tution to submit for the consideration of the 
next International Geological Congress was 
drawn up, the main points of which are as 
follows: 

The purpose of the International Geological Con- 
gress, it was stated, is to advance scientific investi- 
gations relating to the earth from the point of view 


570 


of pure geology as well as of its application to the 
arts and industries. 

The sessions of the Congress are called every 
three or four years, to continue for about one week. 
At each session, invitations will be received and 
the meeting place of the next session determined 
by the Congress. Excursions constitute an im- 
portant adjunct to the sessions and every pos- 
sible facility is given to the members to study the 
geologic structure of the country where they are 
assembled, and of its mineral resources, at a mini- 
mum expense and under the direction of the most 
competent guides, with guide books specially pre- 
pared which serve the double purpose of guiding the 
excursionists and of presenting a general review of 
the geology of the country in which the Congress 
meets. 

Standing committees are organized for the pur- 
pose of handling questions of general or interna- 
tional interest demanding international collabora- 
tion, and the 

Congress may award prizes founded for meritori- 
ous work within the domain of geologic research. 

The organization should be simple and include: 

A Committee of Organization, appointed by 
the host nation, will arrange for that session, its 
programs and excursions, and its publications. 

Officers—At the first general meeting of the 
session, the Committee of Organization shall submit 
nominations for President and Secretary of that 
session, and the Council shall submit nominations 
for Vice-President, for elections by duly accredited 
members. 

Council—The Congress is administered dur- 
ing its sessions by a Council made up of 

1. Members of the Committee of Organization for 
that session, 

2. Presidents of Geological Societies. 

3. Directors of national and other large geolog- 
ical surveys. 

4. Officers elected by the members of the session. 

The Council will prepare the order-of the day for 
the meetings. 

Standing Committees—These Committees may 
be appointed by each Congress to report at the 
next session, and will be responsible to the Com- 
mittee of Organization for that next session for the 
preparation and submission of their reports. 

Membership.—tInvitations to each session of 
the Congress are issued by the committees repre- 
senting the host nation, to recognized geological 
organizations, universities, and to national gov- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1406. 


ernments. Membership in the Congress is generally 
restricted to geologists of national standing. 

Tenure of Office——The Committee of Organi- 
zation and officers shall hold office until the close 
of that session, or until the next committee of or- 
ganization is formed, to which the documents and 
files of the Congress shall be transferred. Sub- 
committees of the local committee shall continue to 
function until the publications of the session are 
issued or other business concluded. 

The President of the Congress shall, however, 
preside at the opening meeting of the next session 
of the Congress, resigning the chair when his suc- 
cessor is elected. 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 
MOLDING SAND RESEARCH 


Hunpreps of thousands of tons of molding 
and core sands are used annually in the iron, 
steel and non-ferrous foundries of America. 
A little of it is re-used; much more might 
be. Sands are not always correctly selected 
for specific purposes. Mixing and _ other 
treatment can secure improvement. In what 
ways can foundry practise as to sands be 
bettered? What economies can be realized, 
not only in reduced expenditure for sand, 
but also in less number of lost castings and 
higher quality of accepted product? 

Last spring, the American Foundrymen’s 
Association decided that thorough study of 
this subject would be profitable and asked the 
cooperation of the American Institute of 
Mining and Metallurgical Engineers. The 
Institute referred this request to the Division 
of Engineering of the National Research 
Council, of which it is a member. Through 
joint action with the division a valuable di- 
gest of the iiterature has been made by Pro- 
fessor Robert E. Kennedy, of the University 
of Illinois, and a large committee of foundry- 
men, engineers and scientific men has been 
selected, under the general direction of Presi- 
dent W. R. Bean, of the Foundrymen’s As- 
sociation and the chairman of the division. 

This committee on molding sand research 
has just been organized with the following 
officers and executive committee: 


Chairman; R. A. Bull, consulting engineer, Sewick- 
ley, Pa. 


DECEMBER 9, 1921] 


Secretary: Robert E. Kennedy, assistant secretary 
of the American Foundrymen’s Association, 
Urbana, Illinois, 

W. R. Bean, president of the American Foundry- 
men’s Association, Naugatuck, Conn. 

Henry B. Hanley, metallurgist and chemist, New 
London, Conn, 

Jesse L. Jones, metallurgist of the Westinghouse 
Electric and Manufacturing Co., E. Pittsburgh, 
Pa. 

Professor Henry Ries, Department of Geology, Cor- 
nell University, Ithaca, New York. 

Dr. Bradley Stoughton, consulting engineer, New 
York City. 

Dr. George K. Burgess, chief of the Division of 


Metallurgy, Bureau of Standards, Washington, 


D.C. 


The committee has thirty-five members, 
representing the many interests in the use 
of molding sand. 

At a meeting of the executive committee on 
November 26, in the office of Division of En- 
gineering, Engineering Societies Building, 
New York City, three subcommittees were 
appointed to deal (1) with the formulation 
of standard tests for determining the work- 
ing properties of molding sand, (2) reclama- 
tion of molding sands and greater use of old 
sands and (3) methods of manufacturing 
synthetic sands. A meeting of the main com- 
mittee in the Engineering Societies Building, 
New York, was planned for December 9, to 
lay out a comprehensive program of research 
which will include the assigning of the vari- 
ous problems to appropriate laboratories and 
industrial plants. Some field work will be 
necessary in connection with these investiga- 
tions. 

The cooperation of men having like inter- 
ests in Canada and England is assured and 
invitations have been extended to France 
and Belgium. 

Aurrep D. Finn 

CHAIRMAN OF THE DIVISION oF ENGINEERING, 

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 


THE BAYARD DOMINICK MARQUESAN 
EXPEDITION 


Tur Bayard Dominick Marquesan Expedi- 
tion for anthropological research has recently 
returned after fifteen months in Eastern Cen- 


SCIENCE 


O71 


tral Polynesia. The members of the expedition 
were Dr. E. S. Handy, ethnologist, and Mrs. 
Handy; and Mr. Ralph Linton, archeologist, 
members of the staff of the Bernice Pauahi 
Bishop Museum of Polynesian Ethnology and 
Natural History, of Honolulu, T. H. Nine 
months were devoted to intensive work in the 
Marquesan Islands. In addition a considerable 
amount of ethnological and archeological data 
were obtained in Tahiti. 

The ethnological work of the expedition in 
the Marquesas was approached with the point 
of view of reconstructing as near an approach 
as it is now possible to make to a complete and 
accurate picture of ancient Marquesan culture. 
In spite of the fact that the population has 
been reduced to a very low figure as a result 
of a hundred years of European contact, and 
that the ancient culture has been subject to the 
disintegrating influences of missionary teach- 
ing and commercial exploitation for eighty 
years, the results of this survey are reported to 
be most satisfactory and illuminating with re- 
gard to the relationship of the Marquesan cul- 
ture to the cultures of other Polynesian and 
extra-Polynesian peoples. 

The archeological survey was accomplished 
with similar success. Its results will be most 
illuminating to the body of serious students 
whose attention is turned on the ethnographic 
problems of the Pacific. 

For the physical survey, which rounded out 
the anthropological investigations as they had 
originally been planned, a series of two hun- 
dred measurements of full-blooded and mixed 
Marquesans was obtained, accompanied by ob- 
servations, hair samples and photographs of 
every individual. Mr. Louis R. Sullivan, of 
the American Museum of Natural History, is 
in charge of the compilation and publication 
of these anthropometric and somatological 
data. An early presentation of the results of 
these researches is planned by the Bishop 
Museum. 

It is felt that at last the inhabitants of the 
Marquesas and their culture have been, so to 
speak, charted on the scientific map of the 
world. The work of this expedition represents 
the first attempt on the part of the scientific 


572 


world to make a thorough and organized an- 
thropological study of this interesting and 
little-known group. 

H. E. G. 


LECTURES BY PROFESSOR LORENTZ AT THE 
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 


Tue following is the provisional outline of 
the extended course of lectures on “ Light 
and matter” to be delivered by Professor 
H. A. Lorentz, of Haarlem, Holland, during 
the winter quarter at the California Institute 
of Technology at Pasadena: 


Older theories of light. Maxwell’s theory. Max- 
well’s equations. 

Propagation of light in ponderable bodies. 

Huygen’s principle. 

Interference phenomena. 
methods. 

Propagation in a dispersive medium. 

Group velocity. 

Which is the velocity that is determined by the 
measurements? 

Considerations on (special) relativity. 

Fresnel’s coefficient. 

Momentum, energy and mass. 

General considerations on the constitution of elec- 
trons, atoms and molecules, _ 

Models of the atom. Thomson, Rutherford, Bohr. 

Theory of quanta. 

Parson’s electron, 

Bohr’s theory. 

Principles of correspondence. 

Atoms in stationary states not radiating. 

Emission of light. Long trains of waves. Inter- 
ference with high differences of phase. Structure 
of spectral lines. Broadening by Doppler effect 
and other causes. 

Scattering of light by molecules. 

Dispersion of light. 

Anomalous dispersion. Application to solar atmos- 
phere. 

Gravitation. Propagation and emission of light in 
a gravitational field. 

Constitution of solid bodies. 
by electric forces? 

Heat motion in erystals. 

Magnetism. Theories of diamagnetism and para- 
magnetism. 

Einstein-effect. 

Magnetization by rotation. 

Quantum theory of the Zeeman effect. 


Professor Michelson’s 


Lewis’s and Langmuir’s atom. 


Atoms held together 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. LIV. No. 1406. 


Inverse Zeeman-effect. Older theory. Phenomena 
observed in the direction inclined to the lines of 
force. Application to the sun’s magnetic field. 


In addition to the Lorentz lectures, which 
will be delivered four times a week from 
January 4 to March 10, Professor Paul Ep- 
stein will give a course on “ The origin and 
significance of the quantum theory.” 

The California Institute of Technology 
extends a cordial invitation to investigators 
in physics, and to teachers in universities, 
colleges and high schools who are able to do 
so to attend without charge the Lorentz and 
Epstein lectures, which will be delivered from 
4 to 6 p.M. in the main lecture room of the 
Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics. 

It is probable that before his return to 
Holland in April Professor Lorentz will spend 
a week at the University of Chicago and also 
at several other universities of the West and 
Middle West. 


THE SECRETARYSHIP OF SIGMA XI 


Proressor Henry B. Warp, of the Univer- 
sity of Illinois, who has been secretary of 
Sigma Xi since 1904 and has been in large 
measure responsible for the national develop- 
ment of the Society, writes in the Sigma Xz 
Quarterly : 

Two years ago when the quarter-century of 
service terminated, I made an especially urgent 
appeal that the work be passed to someone else. 
Just at that time, however, the society was emerg- 
ing from the chaotic condition in which all organi- 
zations found themselves after the war, and a new 
project had just been started which bade fair to 
arouse interest and develop stronger support than 
any new plan which the society had developed since 
the earliest years of its history. It was clear to 
the president and to the members of the fellowship 
committee, who were intensely interested in this 
new movement, that a new man could not possibly 
take up the work of the secretary’s office without 
embarrassing very seriously, and delaying or per- 
haps fatally injuring the campaign for the estab- 
lishment of Sigma Xi fellowships. Accordingly, I 
reluctantly consented to earry the work for one 
more term, with the positive understanding that my 
resignation, to take effect in December, 1921, would 
be final. Under these circumstances, I may be par- 


DECEMBER 9, 1921] 


doned for using so prominent a place in the Quar- 
terly to give general notice of this fact. It would 
seem to me unfortunate that the society should 
eome to the election of officers at the Toronto con- 
vention without being precisely informed on the 
matter and having considered carefully candidates 
for the place. I should not wish in any way to be 
charged with undue consideration for the work of 
the office, but I am sure that I should be false to 
my obligations to the society at large if I did not 
indicate the proposed change in adequate time for 
that part of the membership which is interested in 
the society to give proper thought to the election 
of my successor. JI am sure that the society can 
secure a better man for the place, but all of us 
know that chance nominations on the floor of a con- 
vention frequently result in the choice of an indi- 
vidual who for various reasons is unable to assume 
the responsibilities of the position, even though he 
may be adequately endowed to discharge its duties 
with credit to himself and entire satisfaction to the 
organization, 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Tur Royal Society has made the following 
awards: Royal medals to Sir Frank Dyson, 
astronomer royal, for his researches on the 
distribution of the stars, and to Dr. F. F. 
Blackman, for his researches on the gaseous 
exchange in plants; the Copley medal to 
Sir Joseph Larmor, for his researches in 
mathematical physics; the Davy medal to 
Professor Philippe A. Guye, for his researches 
in physical chemistry; and the Hughes medal 
to Professor Niels Bohr, for his researches 
in theoretical physics. 


AccorDING to press reports, the Nobel prize 
for chemistry for 1920 has been awarded to 
Professor Walter Nernst, of Berlin. The 
prizes for chemistry and physics for 1921 
have been reserved for next year. It is said 
that the prize in medicine will not be awarded 
this year, and that the candidates that have 
been considered most eligible are the English 
physiologist, Sherrington, the Netherlands 
professor, Magnus, and the two brain special- 
ists, Henschen of Sweden and Vogt of Ger- 
many. 


Tue Jenner Memorial Medal of the Royal 
Society of Medicine has been awarded to Sir 


SCIENCE 


573 


Shirley Forster Murphy in recognition of 
distinguished work in epidemiologic research. 


B. B. Gorrspercer has been elected secre- 
tary of the Mining and Metallurgical Society 
of America. 


Laturop E. Roserrs, of Northampton, 
Mass., has been appointed to the staff of the 
Bureau of Mines at Berkeley, California, to 
take charge of work in physical chemistry. 


Dr. E. D. Batt has been appointed by 
Secretary Wallace as the representative of 
the Department of Agriculture on the re- 
search information service of the National 
Research Council to take the place of Dr. 
Carl L. Alsberg. The secretary has also 
named Dr. Frederick B. Power, for many 
years director of the Wellcome Research 
Laboratory of London and now in charge of 
the phytochemical laboratory of the bureau 
of chemistry, as a representative of the bureau 
in the division of federal relations in the 
place of Dr. Alsberg. 


Proressor Warren D. SmitH is remaining 
in the Philippine Islands another year as 
chief of the Division of Mines, Bureau of 
Science, his leave of absence from the Uni- 
versity of Oregon having been extended. 


Watter F. Cameron, formerly deputy chief 
government geologist, Geological Survey of 
Queensland, and chairman of the committee 
on development of oil and gas at Roma, has 
been appointed mining geologist to the Feder- 
ated Malay States Government and has com- 
menced his new duties at Ipoh, Kinta Dis- 
trict, Perak. 


Dr. Ciemens Pirquet, professor of pedia- 
trics in the University of Vienna, will de- 
liver the third Harvey Society Lecture at the 
New York Academy of Medicine, on Decem- 
ber 17. His subject will be “ Nutrition 
treatment of tuberculosis in childhood.” 


Dr. H. H. Love, of Cornell University, has 
returned to Ithaca, having spent a week each 
at the Kansas Agricultural College and the 
Iowa Agricultural College, where a series of 
lectures were given on the probable error and 
its relation to experimental results. 


574 


Tue regular lecture at the Johns Hopkins 
University School of Hygiene and Public 
Health was given on November 28 by Dr. 
S. Josephine Baker, director of the Bureau 
of Child Hygiene, Department of Health, 
New York, who spoke on “ The place of child 
hygiene in a public health program.” 


Proressor J. H. Matuews, director of the 
course in chemistry at the University of 
Wisconsin, lectured before the department of 
chemistry at Oberlin College, on November 
30, on the subjects: “A general survey of 
photochemistry ” and “Color photography.” 
The following evening he spoke before the 
Cleveland Section of the American Chemical 
Society on the subject: ‘“ Photochemistry 
and some of its research problems.” 


THE ninety-sixth Christmas course of juve- 
nile lectures, founded at the Royal Institu- 
tion in 1826 by Michael Faraday, will be de- 
livered this year by Professor J. A. Fleming, 
F.R.S., on “ Electric waves and wireless tele- 
phony.” 

JoHN D. RockrFreLttER has provided funds 
for the purchase of the birthplace of Pasteur 
at Déle in the Jura. It will be transformed 
into a museum in which will probably be 
housed an extensive medical and surgical 
library, with the authentic documents of 
Pasteur. 


THE memorial tablet to the late Lord Ray- 
leigh was unveiled in the north transept of 
Westminster Abbey on November 30. It is 
placed between the memorials to Sir Humph- 
ry Davy and Dr. Thomas Young. 


Dr. Suerman Dewépie, professor of public 
health and bacteriology and director of the 
public health laboratory, University of Man- 
chester, died on November 13 at the age of 
sixty-six years. 


Worp has been received from Russia of the 
death on January 2, 1921, at the age of 
eighty-one years, of Dimitri Konstantinovitch 
Tschernoff, eminent for his work on the 
metallography of iron. 


THe annual meeting of the Society of 
Economic Geologists will be held in con- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1406. 


junction with the annual meeting of the Ge- 
ological Society of America at Amherst Col- 
lege from December 28 to 380. 


ForMaL organization of the American As- 
sociation of Textile Chemists and Colorists 
was completed at a meeting held in the En- 
gineers’ Club at Boston on November 3. Pro- 
fessor Louis A. Olney, of the Lowell Textile 
School, was elected president. 


Tue Institution of Rubber Industry held 
its first meeting in the lecture hall of the 
Royal Society of Arts on October 19, when 
Mr. J. H. C. Brooking delivered a presiden- 
tial address. 


An International Congress of Maternal 
and Child Welfare will be held in Paris, July 
6 to 8, 1922. 


At a meeting of the British Optical Society 
held on October 13, the resolution passed early 
in 1915 suspending certain members, subjects 
of countries then at war with Great Britain, 
was revoked. 


Steps have been taken to organize the engi- 
neers of the British Empire on the lines pur- 
sued by the Federated American Engineering 
Societies. 


Becinnina with the January issue, the 
Journal of Orthopedic Surgery, the official 
organ of the American Orthopedic Associa- 
tion and of the British Orthopedic Associa- 
tion, has announced that the publication will 
change from a monthly to a quarterly publi- 
cation. 


ASTRONOMICAL journals report that early in 
1920 following a eall sent out by leading 
German men of science, an Einstein fund 
was raised. The purpose of the fund is to 
test the relativity theory experimentally and 
to make possible the development in Germany 
of its astrophysical consequences. Sufficient 
funds were obtained, thanks to the Ministry 
and Germany Industry, to undertake the con- 
struction of a tower-telescope and a physical 
laboratory. 


Proressor Witu1aM Hersert Hosps, now 
making a geological reconnaissance in charge 
of the Osborn Expedition from the University 


DECEMBER 9, 1921] 


of Michigan, has reached Manila after six 
weeks spent in examining the Bonin, Mari- 
anne and Caroline Islands in the western Pa- 
cific Ocean. Until he reached Yap on Sep- 
tember 11, he was traveling as the guest of 
the Japanese Navy Department. At Yap the 
U. S. gunboat Bittern was placed at his dis- 
posal and the Pelews and scattered islands to 
the southwest were visited. He sailed on the 
Bittern on October 3 for a 4000-mile cruise 
along the great Sumatra mountain are and 
through the Nicobar and Andaman islands to 
Rangoon, Burmah. He will then proceed to 
Europe to lecture at the Univesities of Delft 
and Utrecht, during the spring semester. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 


THE Journal of the American Medical Asso- 
ciation states that the University of Colorado 
is waging an active campaign to raise the re- 
maining $200,000 necessary to insure the erec- 
tion of the new medical school and state hospi- 
tal. Toward the $1,500,000 which the project 
will cost, the General Education Board has 
pledged $700,000 and the state has appropriated 
$600,000, both sums contingent upon the rais- 
ing of the $200,000 balance by the university. 
An effort will be made to obtain one dollar 
from each of 200,000 citizens of Colorado. 


Dr. Evisu THomson, chief consulting engi- 
neer of the General Electric Company, has 
again been appointed acting president of the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a post 
which he filled after the death of Dr. Richard 
C. Maclaurin in January, 1920, and will con- 
tinue until a successor to President Nichols is 
named. The educational affairs of the insti- 
tute will continue to be directed by a faculty 
administrative committee consisting of Profes- 
sor Henry P. Talbot, head of the department 
of chemistry and acting dean; Professor Ed- 
ward F. Miller, head of the department of 
mechanical engineering and chairman of the 
faculty, and Professor Edwin B. Wilson, head 
of the department of physics. 


Exior Buackwewper, A.B., Ph.D. (Chicago), 


SCIENCE 


575 


will become professor of geology at Stanford 
University next year, succeeding Dr. Bailey 
Willis, who will retire in accordance with the 
provision by which professors of Stanford be- 
come emeritus at the age of sixty-five. Pro- 
fessor Blackwelder is now lecturing at Har- 
vard, filling the place of Professor Daly, who is 
absent on leave in South Africa. 


E. H. Weis, who has conducted special 
geological investigations for the Chino Copper 
Company, has been elected president of the 
New Mexico State School of Mines at Socorro. 


Dr. E. Evcrene Barker, formerly assistant 
professor of plant breeding in Cornell Univer- 
sity and more recently of the Insular Govern- 
ment Service, Las Piedras, Porto Rico, has 
become associate professor of botany, with par- 
ticular reference to genetics, in the University 
of Georgia. 


C. W. Watson, a graduate of the Yale Forest 
School in 1920, has been called to the School of 
Forestry, University of Idaho, as instructor in 
forestry. Mr. Watson spent the past year in 
study abroad under a traveling fellowship in 
forestry granted by the American-Seandi- 
navian Foundation. 


Mr. Stantey Wyatt, investigator to the In- 
dustrial Fatigue Research Board in England, 
has been appointed lecturer in psychology at 
the University of Manchester. 


Cox. Sm Geratp Lenox-Conyneuam, F.R.S., 
has been appointed fellow and prelector in 
geodesy at Trinity College, Cambridge. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF HELMHOLT2’S 
sO PDK 


To tHe Eprror or Science: Many readers of 
ScIENCE will be glad to know that the council 
of the Optical Society has appointed a commit- 
tee to make arrangements for bringing out an 
English translation of Helmholtz’s great work 
on physiological opties. 

The first edition of the “Handbuch der 
physiologischen Optik” was published in 1866, 
more than half a century ago; and the fact 
that this epoch-making work, which remains 
to-day the most original treatise on physiolog- 


576 


ical optics, has never been translated into Eng- 
lish, is a reproach to both Great Britain and 
America. To make its valuable contents acces- 
sible to those who do not find it easy or con- 
venient to read a foreign language will be con- 
ferring a boon on many scientific investigators 
in the vast and expanding territory which this 
book was originally intended to cover. 

Incidentally, the proposed English edition 
will be a memorial of the hundredth anniver- 
sary of the birth of Hermann von Helmholtz, 
whose influence on modern scientific thought 

in nearly every direction has perhaps been as 
widespread and permanent as that of any of his 
great contemporaries in the nineteenth cen- 
tury. 

It is estimated that the cost of translating, 
editing, and publishing this memorial volume 
(or volumes) will be $5,000 or more. It is par- 
ticularly desired that every individual who is 
interested in the success of this project and in 
the advancement of the science of light and 
vision in this country will have an opportunity 
of contributing towards it. 

Contributions, no matter how small, may be 
sent to Adolph Lomb, Esq., treasurer of the 
Optical Society of America, care of Bausch & 
Lomb Optical Company, Rochester, New York. 
Make cheques payable to “ Adolph Lomb, 
Treasurer.” 

Any one subscribing as much as $15 wil! 
receive a copy of the complete work when it 
is issued. 

James P. C. SouTHALL, 
President, Optical 
Society of America 


DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS, 
CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, 
November 28, 1921 


THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NATURALISTS 


Tue thirty-ninth meeting of the American 
Society of Naturalists, as has been noted in 
Scrence, is to be held in Toronto on Decem- 
ber 29 and 30, with two symposiums of un- 
usual interest—one on genetics and variation, 
by the zoologists, the other on orthogenesis, 
in which Henderson, Osborn, Bateson and 
others will take part. 

It is interesting to recall that for the first 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1406. 


three years the society was under a paleon- 
tologist, Alfred Hyatt; for the two succeeding 
years under a zoologist, Grove K. Gilbert; then 
for two years under a comparative anatomist, 
Harrison Allen. Then in turn the society 
was presided over by the botanist Goodale, 
the physiologist Martin, the geologist Rice, 
the paleontologist Osborn, and a succession 
of paleontologists and zoologists until 1902, 
when the psychologist Cattell presided, since 
which time it has been chiefly under the 
guidance of zoologists. 

The keynote to the success of the Society 
of Naturalists was the discovery that a more 
representative bedy of scientific men can be 
assembled at a winter meeting than at a sum- 
mer session. This society has proved to be 
the mother of societies, because from its 
broad original organization have gone forth 
the six national American societies of Ge- 
ology, Anatomy, Physiology, Botany, Zoology, 
and Paleontology, all holding winter meet- 
ings in various parts of the United States, 
from the eastern seaboard to Chicago. The 
zoologists alone cling to the mother Society 
of Naturalists and hold their meetings in the 
same time and place. . 

Of the founders of the Naturalists in the 
year 1883 there now survive the following: 
Libbey, Osborn, Scott, Rice and Clarke, the 
latter, Professor Samuel F. Clarke of Wil- 
liamstown, being one of the first to answer 
the call. 

Henry FairrieLp Osporn 


THE PROGRAM OF THE SECTION OF BOTANY 
FOR THE TORONTO MEETING 
ARRANGEMENTS have been completed to hold 
the Section G program on Wednesday after- 
noon, December 28. Since this program will 
be of interest to others than the members of 
this Section the speakers are given below. 
Address of the Retiring Vice-President, Dr. Rod- 
ney H. True, ‘‘ The physiological significance of 
ealeium for higher green plants.’’ 
Symposium on ‘* The Species Concept ’’ 
From the viewpoint of the systematist: Dr. 
Charles F. Millspaugh. 
From the viewpoint of a geneticist: Dr. George H. 
Shull, 


DECEMBER 9, 1921] 


From the viewpoint of a morphologist: Dr. R. A. 
Harper. 

From the viewpoint of a bacteriologist and physio- 
logist: Dr. Guilford B. Reed. 

From the viewpoint of a pathologist: Dr. E. ©. 
Stakman. 


The address of the retiring vice-president 
will be thirty minutes in length, and each 
speaker in the symposium has agreed to limit 
his paper to fifteen minutes. This should 
allow considerable time for discussion. 


Rosert B. Wyule, 
Secretary 


THE TWENTIETH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS 
OF AMERICANISTS 

THE Twentieth International Congress of 
Americanists, which was to be held in Rio de 
Janeiro in 1921 but had to be postponed, will 
be held definitely from August 20 to 30, 1922, 
in connection with the celebration by Brazil 
of its first century of independence. 

The organizing committee of the congress 
announces a rich and attractive program, 
and in view of the importance of Brazil to 
American Anthropology it is hoped that a 
special effort will be made by Americanists 
in this country to attend the congress, or at 
least to become members. Application for 
membership, with the dues of $5, may be sent 
directly to the Secretary of the coming Con- 
gress, Sr. Domingos Sergio de Carvalho, 
Praga 15 de Novembro N. 101, Rio de 
Janeiro, Brazil; or to the writer. 

Aves HrpniéKa 
Sec. Gen. XIXth I. CO. A. 
U.S. Nationa Museum, 
December 3, 1921 


FOSSIL MAN FROM RHODESIA 


Tue British press has just announced the 
discovery of a fossil human skull from north- 
ern Rhodesia that may prove to be epoch- 
making. It was found in the “Bone Cave” 
at Broken Hill mine, and bids fair to be of 
the first importance in its bearing on the 
physical characters of fossil man. The 
cranium is practically complete and in a 
perfect state of preservation; the lower jaw 


SCIENCE 


577 


was not recovered. Judging from the news- 
paper half-tones, the cranium is of a more 
lowly type than any Neandertal cranium yet 
discovered; it remains to be seen after a full 
report has been published whether we may 
not have here a new species of Homo about 
midway between Pithecanthropus erectus and 
the Homo neandertalensis. 

The face is intact; the prognathism of the 
upper jaw is extremely accentuated, this 
being possible partly because of the unusual 
maxillary height between the anterior nasal 
spine and the alveolar margin. The nasal 
bridge is fairly prominent, a character which 
has recently come to be recognized as_ be- 
longing to the Neandertal race. 

The brow ridges are more pronounced than 
in any other known fossil human skull. The 
cranial height and breadth are correspond- 
ingly small, pointing to a comparatively low 
cranial capacity. 

This precious relic is at the British Mu- 
seum, South Kensington. It will be ex- 
amined by Dr. A. Smith Woodward and Pro- 
fessors Arthur Keith and Elliott Smith, to 
whom science is so much indebted for their 
reports on the Piltdown remains; the result 
of their study of the cranium from the cave 
at Broken Hill mine will be awaited with 
intense interest. If the efforts to find the 
lower jaw should be rewarded, they may re- 
sult in thrcwing new light on the Piltdown 
paradox. 


Grorce Grant MacCurpy 
Director, AMERICAN SCHOOL IN FRANCE 
FOR PREHISTORIC STUDIES 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


Physiology and Biochemistry in Modern 
Medicine. By J. J. R. Mactrop. 3d edi- 
tion. St. Louis, C. V. Mosby Co., 1920. 
Price $10. 


The third edition of this interesting text- 
book has been largely revised and partly re- 
written. The changes are uniformly im- 
provements, and the whole book is well 
written and filled with important methods 
and facts which are interestingly discussed. 
Dr. Macleod describes the advances in the 


578 


medical sciences, particularly in their bear- 
ing upon clinical medicine and human physi- 
ology. This point of view is most important 
and far too often neglected in our American 
schools of medicine, where the medical sci- 
ences and clinics are so thoroughly dissoci- 
ated. The book should continue to be of 
general interest to the medical profession as 
it is of nearly equal value to medical stu- 
dents and to our practising physicians. 

It is somewhat unfortunate that the pub- 
lishing has been made so elaborate. If there 
were fewer colored illustrations and fewer 
plates the price of the book could probably 
have been markedly reduced without a cor- 
responding reduction of its instructive value. 

J. C. Aus 

HARVARD MEDICAL ScHOOL 
Triassic Fishes from Spitzbergen. By Erik 
A:Son Strensi6. Upsala, 1921. 


This is one of the most important paleon- 
tological memoirs which has appeared in recent 
years. It represents an attempt to distinguish 
fossil fishes as organisms, rather than as hori- 
zon markers. The geological aspects of the 
question are, however, thoroughly discussed. 

Stensié is a student of Professor C. Wiman 
of Upsala, whose contributions during the last 
few years have interested paleontologists in the 
fauna of ancient Spitzbergen. Wiman has sent 
or led expeditions into Spitzbergen since 1908, 
and on the basis of the material thus assem- 
bled the present writer Stensié has based his 
account. 

The quarto, representing Part I. of Stensié’s 
studies, consists of 307 pages of printed matter, 
35 plates and 90 figures in the text. The press- 
work coming from Vienna is excellent. The 
plates represent photographic reproductions of 
the fossils, with Stensi6’s interpretations of the 
anatomy lettered in white ink in the photo- 
graphs. The results are especially pleasing and 
easy of reference. 

Elasmobranchs, dipnoans, crossopterygians 
and three families of Actinopterygii constitute 
the fauna and Stensi6 has described and inter- 
preted his findings in a very excellent manner. 
Especially interesting are his accounts of the 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. LIV. No. 1406. 


sensory canals of the head; the relationship of 
the crossopterygians and the tetrapods and the 
correlations of the primordial ossifications of 
the head of these primitive forms. It is a grate- 
ful relief to find taxonomy in the background. 
Nomenclature often absorbs more space than is 
needful. 
Roy L. Moopm 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, 
DEPARTMENT OF ANATOMY, 
CHICAGO 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
INHIBITORY EFFECT OF DERMAL SECRETION 
OF THE SEA-URCHIN UPON THE FERTILI- 
ZABILITY OF THE EGG 

In the early part of September of this year 
(1921), while working in the Marine Biological 
Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass.,1 I happened 
to find a striking fact that the eggs of Arbacia 
punctulata obtained through the genital pores, 
as most commonly practised,? did not develop 
at all, whereas those taken out from inside the 
shell developed normally. The results of a few 
but repeated experiments carried out with re- 
gard to this peculiar phenomenon may be given | 
summarily as follows: 

The eggs which escaped through the genital 
pores of opened sea-urchins, and were then 
transferred to clean sea-water in finger bowls, 
but subjected to no subsequent washing, were 
seen attracting spermatozoa but no fertilization 
occurred. These eggs were later washed re- 
peatedly with clean sea-water at various inter- 
vals. If simply washed they never developed. 
But at a fresh insemination these washed eggs 
began to develop; thus, for example, the eggs 
washed and inseminated after standing for 50 
hours in room temperature were found still 
capable of developing into normal and healthy 

1 My hearty thanks are due to Professor EH. B. 
Wilson for the privilege of the use of a Columbia 
University table in the Marine Biological Labora- 
tory, and to Professor F, R. Lillie, director, and 
other members of the staff of the said laboratory 
for every facility for my work. - Further, to Pro- 
fessor E. G. Conklin, who has kindly criticized and 
corrected the manuscript, I express my sincere 
thanks. 

2 See F, R. Lillie, Biol. Bull., XXVIII., 4, 1915, 
p. 231, 


DECEMBER 9, 1921] 


plutei. Of those which had stood for more than 
57 hours, however, only a very few reached the 
four-cell stage, no further development taking 
place. 

The eggs taken out from inside the shell, on 
the other hand, showed invariably a high fer- 
tilizability, even when much of the “ perivis- 
ceral fluid” (“blood”) had been mixed in 
water and no washing followed. After more 
than 28 hours’ standing in room temperature, 
and without subsequent washing, they could be 
fertilized and they developed into plutei, while 
among those which had stood for more than 
47 hours very few could segment and reach the 
-gastrula stage.3 

The substance, which inhibits the fertiliza- 
tion and which probably can, to some extent, 
thus prolong the life of the unfertilized egg, 
has been found to come from the surface of the 
body of the sea-urchin. This I may call “ der- 
mal secretion.” If a sea-urchin is opened and 
inverted over a dry dish for a while some dull 
yellowish fluid collects in the dish. When the 
eggs taken out from inside the shell were in- 
seminated in this ‘‘ dermal secretion,” no mat- 
ter whether the latter had been obtained from 
male or female animals, fertilization was found 
inhibited in varying degrees according to the 
concentration of the fluid. The dermal secre- 
tion, when present in a 5 per cent. concentra- 
tion in sea-water, was found sufficient to in- 
hibit all the eggs from fertilization. In 2.5 per 
cent. solution about 10 per cent. of the eggs 
fertilized, and in 1 per cent. solution about 50 
per cent. of the eggs developed. When present 
in less than 0.5 per cent. concentration prac- 
tically every egg could be fertilized. 

If, however, the eggs were treated with a 
strong solution of this substance after fertili- 
zation no injurious effect was found on the 
early development as late as the pluteous stage. 
The activity of the spermatozoa also does not 
seem to change in this fluid. 

The dermal secretion thus obtained from 
Arbacia has some inhibitory action also on the 

3 As to the longevity of the unfertilized egg of 
Arbacia see A. J. Goldfarb, Biol. Bull., XXXIV., 
6, 1918, pp. 393-5; and E. N. Harvey, Biol. Bull., 
XXVIL,, 5, 1914, p. 238, 


SCIENCE 


579 


eggs of the sand-dollar, Hchinarachnius parma, 
though in a lower degree. In a 15 per cent. 
solution of this fluid in sea-water none of the 
sand-dollar eggs were found fertilized, in a 10 
per cent. solution about 1 per cent. of the eggs 
developed, and in a 5 per cent. solution about 
20 per cent. of the eggs developed. 

Through the kindness of Dr. H. OC. van der 
Heyde the substance in question was shown to 
contain uric acid. From lack of sufficient time 
I was unable to see if uric acid alone dissolved 
in sea-water would exhibit the same action upon 
the egg as the dermal secretion does. 

The same substance could also be obtained in 
some other ways: for example, by placing an 
intact sea-urchin on a dish for a while, no mat- 
ter which side down, after being washed with 
fresh water, or by irritating the animal with the 
sharp point of a glass needle instead of treating 
with fresh water. On the other hand, sea-water 
in which some scraped pieces of skin, tube-feet, 
spines, etc., had been soaked for some time 
showed very little inhibitory effect upon the 
fertilizability of the egg. 

According to Lillie* the perivisceral fluid of 
Arbacia inhibits the fertilizability of the egg, 
whereas the dermal secretion protects the egg 
from the inhibitory action of the former. I 
have found that the perivisceral fluid had very 
weak inhibitory action upon the fertilizability 
of the egg; thus in a 50 per cent. solution of 
the same in sea-water about 5 per cent. of the 
eggs fertilized, and even in a 75 per cent. solu- 
tion about 1 per cent. of the eggs could be fer- 
tilized. Although it may seem quite contrary 
to Lillie’s conclusions, my results rather con- 
firm his view that the inhibitory action of the 
perivisceral fluid increases during the period 
when sexual elements are ripe. Lillie’s experi- 
ments were mostly made in July, when the 
gonads of Arbacia are quite active, while the 
breeding season comes nearly to an end early 
in September, when my material was obtained. 

It is well known that among Echinoderms, 
especially Holothurians, there are several 
species in which the eggs are fertilized and 
develop inside the mother’s body-eavity. In 
such cases it seems highly improbable that a 

4 Jour, Exper, Zool., XVI., 4, 1914, pp. 570-7. 


580 


strong inhibitory action of the perivisceral 
fluid upon fertilization should occur at the 
breeding season. As to the action of the der- 
mal secretion there seems to be hardly any bio- 
logical significance, since under natural condi- 
tions neither egg nor sperm encounters such a 
high concentration of the secretion as suffices 
to inhibit fertilization. 

Having been engaged in other work, I could 
not carry out this series of experiments more 
fully and accurately. But, as I shall not have 
further opportunity of dealing with this At- 
lantie species, I have here ventured to commu- 
nicate this incomplete note, simply with the 
hope that it may lead to further research on the 
seasonal changes in the effects of the “ dermal 
secretion ” and the “ perivisceral fluid” of the 
sea-urchin upon the fertilizability of the egg. 


Hirosu1 OHSHIMA 
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY 


SIMPLE METHOD OF BLEEDING RABBITS 


THE simplest method of obtaining rabbit’s 
blood, when more than a few drops are neces- 
sary, is that of bleeding from the median 
artery of the ear. This vessel stands out 
prominently and is easy of entrance, if the 
animal is full grown. As much blood can be 
taken by this method as directly from the 
heart, and either a syringe may be used, or a 


cannula only, with a tube to receive the fluid. 


The chief advantage of bleeding from this 
vessel is that small quantities of blood (3 e.c. 
to 5 ¢.c.) may be obtained at frequent inter- 
vals (daily, if necessary), each point of entry 
being successively nearer the base of the ear. 
Ten or more cubic centimeters may be obtained 
just as easily. 

It is occasionally found that even when the 
needle seems to be safely within the artery, 
a good flow does not follow. This is some- 
times caused by a plug of skin blocking the 
passage of the blood, but more often it will be 
found that there are two smaller arteries in 
place of the single larger one, with a conse- 
quently smaller flow in each. Animals which 
have the single vessel should for this reason 
be selected. In general, the larger the vessel, 
the greater is the ease of obtaining blood. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1406. 


A sharp needle is essential, because, due to 
the thickness and toughness of the arterial 


1. Box eh 
2. Adjustable stock 
3 Hinged top 


Cage for Bleeding Rabbits 


walls, a somewhat dull point will almost in- 


_variably pass around the vessel rather than 


into it. A small needle is best because of the 
smaller puncture it makes, and the conse- 
quently greater ease of stopping the blood 
after withdrawal. A 21- to 23-gauge needle 
has been found by the writer to be most satis- 
factory. 

Little trouble is experienced in stopping 
the flow upon withdrawal of the cannula, usu- 
ally no more than following withdrawal from 
avein. Potassium alum will very quickly stop 
the bleeding where it will not do so naturally. 

The marginal ear vein may also be used in 
the same way, though it is difficult to obtain 
more than a cubic centimeter or two there- 
from on account of the lower pressure and de- 
ereased flow in the veins. The needle must, 
of course, in all cases be inserted opposite to 
the direction of the blood flow. 

White rabbits, or rabbits with white ears, 
are much the most suitable sort for this work 
for obvious reasons. Injections into and 
bleedings from ear vessels are greatly facili- 
tated by placing an electric light below the 
ear in such a position as to make the ear trans- 
lucent. If alcohol is applied on a bit of ab- 


DECEMBER 9, 1921] 


sorbent cotton, the double purpose is served 
of stimulation of the vessels, causing them 
to dilate, and of plastering down the hair upon 
the skin, making the veins and arteries more 
visible. When the needle is withdrawn the 
alcohol must be well wiped off before the 
wound will close. Sometimes when an attempt 
to enter the median artery is for any reason 
unsuccessful, the blood will be seen to leave 
the vessel entirely and remain so for a con- 
siderable time, due to contraction of the ar- 
terial wall which was probably pricked by the 
needle. Vigorous rubbing, however, will bring 
the normal circulation back. 

Shaving or sterilizing the ear is unneces- 
sary when it is not desired to preserve the 
blood for more than immediate use. Several 
hundred injections and bleedings during the 
past year or two have shown no ill effects 
whatever. Rabbits apparently rival avian 
forms in their resistance to infection. Nu- 
merous subcutaneous and intraperitoneal in- 
jections without shaving or sterilizing the body 
surface have not shown a single infection. 

A very useful sort of cage, designed by Mr. 
George H. Bisnop for use in this laboratory, 
makes it simple for one to perform injections 
and bleedings alone. A box about eleven 
inches long, four and a half wide, and six and 
a half deep (inside measurements), has a 
stock at the front end, the upper half of which 
operates in a slot, and which may be fastened 
so as to allow an opening of any desired size, 
through which the animal’s head and neck pro- 
trude. A hinged top prevents kicking up be- 
hind. Rabbits take very quietly to this tem- 
porary confinement once they are placed in- 
side the box, and are not then able to jump 
and misdirect the needle so easily as when one 
is attempting to hold the animal. This cage 
is here illustrated. 

Gerorce F. Forster 

ZOOLOGICAL LABORATORY, 

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 


ADSORPTION BY SOIL COLLOIDS 


(PRELIMINARY PAPER) 


For some time we have been working on 
the adsorption of soil colloids. We believed 


SCIENCE 


581 


that this problem could best be solved by 
preparing these soil colloids separately in the 
purest possible condition, and then trying 
each colloid with the nine following respec- 
tive salts: potassium nitrate, potassium sulph- 
ate, potassium acid phosphate, calcium nitrate, 
calcium sulphate, calcium acid phosphate, 
magnesium nitrate, magnesium sulphate, 
magnesium acid phosphate. 

The individual salts have been tried on 
silica, aluminium, and iron gels, and the 
humus is now in the process of preparation. 
We have worked on the adsorption of each 
ion separately. A few results are given to 
show the trend of the work. 


ADSORPTION BY SILICA GEL 
Mg. of Ca Adsorbed Mg. of POs Adsorbed 


Cone. per Gram of Gel per Gram of Gel 
N/10 -. — 0.013 0.358 
N/20 .... — 0.034 0.114 
N/40 .... 0.032 0.037 
N/400 ... 0.023 0.045 

ADSORPTION BY IRON GEL 

c Mg. of Mg. Adsorbed Mg. of SOs Adsorbed 
ong per Gram of Gel per Gram of Gel 
ING ete oehay aseusoushcnens 7, 31.9 
INGO ee ae lz. 8.0 30.7 
IN G/T Ope adie toatl ose ae 5.7, 28.3 
INVA D OMe eae Seg 20s 4.3 23.2 

ADSORPTION OF ALUMINIUM GEL 
c Mg. of P20s Adsorbed per Gram of Gel in 
ones 1 Week 2 Weeks 4 Weeks 6 Weeks 
N/10 ... 261.0 291.5 338.0 385.5 
N/20. 5. 221.5 256.7 281.0 317.0 
N/40 ... 186.3 191.1 197.3 210.5 


There was less than the equivalent amount 
of calcium adsorbed at the various concentra- 
tions. 


ADSORPTION OF SILICA GEL AT VARIOUS Py VALUES 
Mg. of K Adsorbed 


P,, Value per Gram of Gel 
DLO OS MEH Resta nc mM ca one — 0.68 
CaCO Rea es Sek a ee ae) ge re 1.74 
PR GO Dire teMl iano unyeh sia ay Want Me 6.56 
SO ic a aU eet en aL ATO aA ot 9.62 


We have also varied hydrogen ion concen- 
tration and followed the adsorption curves 
for the respective ions with the idea of show- 


582 


ing some relation between the acidity of the 
soil and adsorption. This work is giving 
most interesting results. 

Many of these results speak for themselves, 
but a discussion together with a full report 
of all results is being published elsewhere. 

Nem E. Gorpon, 
R. C. Winey, 

E. B. Starxy, 
A. L. FLENNER, 


D. C. LichtenwaLNEr 
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 
(Continued) 


Luminescence of parabromophenyl magnesium 
bromide and related compounds: W. V..EvANS 
AND R. T. RUFFORD. 


A simplified titrating hydrogen electrode and 
its use in a plant laboratory: Fruix A, ELLIort. 
The hydrogen electrode previously described by 
the author has been modified for use in titra- 
tions. It has been possible to meet the three im- 


portant conditions of (1) working in a hydrogen 


atmosphere, (2) efficient and quick mixture of 
the solution being titrated with the acid, alkali or 
other solution, and (3) eliminating the contact 
potential and at the same time maintaining a 
constant volume of the solution under investiga- 
tion, without undue complications in the design 
and without mechanical agitation. The internal 
resistance of the cell has been kept very low, thus 
insuring ample sensibility with the more rugged 
types of measuring instruments. The apparatus is 
portable. When fitted with platinized platinum 
electrodes this cell may be used to determine the 
content of lime and magnesia in limestone, the 
amount of acid or alkali in various plant liquors, 
examples being given. With bright platinum elec- 
trodes the cell may be used for such titrations as I 
with sodium thiosulphate, Fe with sodium dichro- 
mate and other titrations involving similar reac- 
tions with a change in the charge on one of the 
ionic species in solutions. 

High frequency ozone production: F. O. AN- 
DEREGG. To eliminate the dielectric, which is the 
greatest weakness with commercial ozonizers, ad- 
vantage was taken of the fact that it is im- 
possible to maintain a high frequency are, An 
aluminium tube 5x190 em. with a concentric 
wire was used for the discharge. Current was 
supplied up to half an ampere and 7000 volts at 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1406. 


about a million and a half cycles frequency by a 
small Tesla coil which was designed so as to give 
the best discharge with the tube used. The high- 
est yields were secured with a rather large wire 
provided with numerous small points so that the 
discharge should be made up of many brushes. 
The ozonized air contained but small a. uounts of 
nitrous oxides although on raising the voltage 
till the discharge was filled with sparks about 
0.02 per cent. was obtained. Numerous curves 
have been worked out showing the relationships 
between the different variables which are usu- 
ally similar to those obtained in low frequency 
ozone production. Maximum concentration was 
15 gram per cubic meter. The greatest efficiency 
obtained was 17 gram per kilowatt hour which in 
view of the wasteful method of producing the 
high frequency current is encouraging. 

The reaction between tungsten and hydrocar- 
ton vapors: SAUL DUSHMAN. 


The activity of ions in mized electrolytes: C. E. 
RusBy, T. W. BartrRaM aND Y. L. YEH. The 
electromotive-force of cells of the type H. (1 
atm.), HCl (¢) + MCI (c,), AgCl, Ag were meas- 
ured, in which MCl was, in the two sets of ex- 
periments, KCl and NaCl respectively, and the 
sum of the weight-normal concentrations (¢, + ¢2), 
was held constant in each set of measurements, c, 
being varied ten-thousand-fold. Four sets of meas- 
urements were made, employing the values of .2, 
and 1.0 weight-normal for the sum of ¢, and c. 
The results obtained in these experiments are in- 
terpreted in the light of the theory of inde- 
pendent ion-activity. 

The atomic structure: Upon the subtlety of di- 
rected particle motion hang all the properties of 
matter: H, K. Kipper. By our theory we postulate 
that: Light is a wave motion of the particles of the 
ether. Electricity is a helical or screw motion of 
the particles of the ether (whether atomic or unor- 
ganized). Magnetism is a compensated helical or 
screw motion of particles. Gravity is a function of 
rotatory motion. Chemical affinity or valency is 
based on the forces derived from the specifie groups 
of electrons. Solution affinity is based on the forces 
derived from all groups—that is, such forces taken 
as a field. All atomic forees are mechanically or 
mathematically derivable and interpretable from 
motions of particles in themselves representing 
simply energy and matter. 

The cryoscopy of boron trifluoride solutions: VI: 
System with methyl chloride: ALBERT F, O, GER- 
MANN AND MARION CLEAVELAND. P. F, G. Boullay 


DECEMBER 9, 1921] 


pointed out, early in the nineteenth century, that 
ethyl chloride prepared by the method of Dumas 
and Peligot contains ethyl ether as an impurity. 
In a paper presented at the last meeting of this 
Society (see SCIENCE, 53, 582 (1921)), we showed 
that methyl chloride prepared by the above method 
(that is ‘rom salt, sulfurie acid and methyl alco- 
hol) could not readily be separated from methyl 
ether which it contains as impurity, and that the 
presence of methyl ether can be detected by addi- 
tion of boron trifluoride, which forms the molecular 
compound (CH,),0.BF,, boiling at 126° C., and re- 
maining as a slightly volatile residue after evapora- 
tion of the excess of either gaseous constituent. At 
the present time, methyl chloride prepared by chlor- 
ination of natural gas is available and a sample 
was obtained through Roessler and Hasslacher. 
This sample appeared to contain methane, which 
is somewhat soluble in liquid methyl chloride. A 
large sample was collected and fractionally distilled 
five times, after which it distilled at a uniform 
pressure. Tested by addition of boron trifluoride, 
the product was completely volatile, showing that 
the sample was free from methyl ether. The freez- 
ing point curve obtained shows a sharp eutectic at 
30 per cent, of methyl chloride, where the freezing 
point was about 137 degrees below zero. There is 
no indication of the formation of a compound be- 
tween methyl chloride and boron trifluoride. 


The application of a differential thermometer in 
ebullioscopy: ALAN W. C. MENzIES AND SYDNEY 
L. Wricut, Jr. The differential thermometer, per- 
haps 12 em. long, is extremely simple but of novel 
type, consisting essentially of a stout glass U-tube 
containing only water and its vapor, and measures 
the difference in temperature between the solution 
and the pure solvent. Both limbs of the ther- 
mometer are located in the vapor phase; one of 
them is laved continually with the solution by 
means of a Cottrell pump, while the other is laved 
only by condensed solvent. The apparatus uses 
neither corks nor stopceocks, is rather insensitive to 
draughts and to changes in heating, and is un- 
affected by barometric fluctuation. Results are con- 
sistent to one half of one per cent. 


The decolorizing action of boneblack: CLAUDE 
H. Haun, Jz. The author has repeated and con- 
firmed the work of Patterson. By extraction of 
hydrochloric acid washed boneblack with sulfuric 
acid an extremely active decolorizing agent may be 
prepared. By precipitating this compound on wood 
chareoal, or other porous substances, a material 
identical in chemical action with boneblack is ob- 


SCIENCE 


583 


tained. This is the final link in the chain of evi- 
dence proving that the decolorizing action of bone- 
black is due to certain nitrogeneous compounds, the 
empirical formula and some of the properties of 
which are described in the previous reference. 


Effect of electrostatic potential on the activity 
of a catalytic surface: A. S. RicHARDSON. 


The selenides of ammonium: OC. R. McCrosxy 
AND A. J. Kine. Pure dry NH, and H,Se were 
admitted to a special weighing tube, free from 
oxygen. White crystals form when H.Se is in ex- 
cess—analyzing from 76 per cent.1 to 80 per cent. 
Se, corresponding closely to NH,HSe. ‘This salt 
dissociates without melting at 100° to 120°. When 
NH, is in excess and the temperature of the tube 
is kept at from 20° to 30°, a liquid forms, prac- 
tically colorless. (The heat of formation of 
NH,HSe is great enough to prevent the formation 
of the liquid unless the tube is cooled to room 
temperature.) The analysis of this liquid shows 
Se 68 per cent. agreeing with the theoretical for 
(NH,).Se. It freezes at approximately 10° and 
decomposes at 30° to 40° leaving the white erystals 
of the hydroselenide. Bineau (1838) claims that 
(NH,).Se is a white solid, also that NH,HSe is a 
white solid. Lehner and Smith (1898) prepared a 
dark-colored crystalline solid from water solution, 
which corresponded to (NH,),Se. Further definite 
data are lacking in the literature. 


The correlation of compound formation and 
ionization in solutions: JAMES KENDALL AND PAUL 
M. Gross. The complete specific conductivity-com- 
position curves for 14 systems of the types: acid- 
ester, acid-ketone, acid-acid and acid-base have 
been determined. The conductivities of mixtures of 
the above types are, in general, considerably in ex- 
cess of those of the pure components, and increase 
uniformly with increasing diversity in chemical 
character of these components. The results ob- 
tained have been correlated with those derived 
from freezing-point measurements upon similar sys- 
tems, and the validity of the fundamental connec- 
tion between compound formation and ionization in 
solutions, postulated in previous articles, has been 
confirmed. 


The prediction of solubility in polar solutions: 
JAMES KeEnpatt, ArTHUR W. DAVIDSON AND 
Howarp ADLER. The influence of compound forma- 
tion between solvent and solute on the degree of 


1 Errors in the method, found later, in all prob- 
ability account for the low values. These errors 
were overcome in later determinations, 


584 


solubility is critically discussed. It is shown that: 
(a) for a fixed solute in a series of different sol- 
vents, increasing solubility and increasing com- 
pound formation proceed in parallel; (b) for a 
series of different solutes of high melting-point in 
a fized solvent, solubility and compound formation 
also proceed in parallel at low temperatures. Salts 
of a very weak base exhibit increasing hydrate 
formation and increasing solubility in water as the 
acid radical X diverges from OH; salts of a very 
weak acid show the same behavior as R diverges 
from H. The increase in the solubility of a diffi- 
cultly soluble salt in water on addition of a second 
salt containing a common ion, due to complex salt 
formation, is dependent upon the diversity of the 
variable radicals. The extension of these rules to 
non-aqueous solutions and their importance in 
analytical chemistry are noted. 


The complete analysis of an insoluble silicate 
with a single fusion: F. P. DUNNINGTON. Fuse the 
powdered silicate with six parts of lithium car- 
bonate in a gold crucible. The melt is dissolved 
in dilute acid, evaporated, heated and the silica 
separated as usual. To the solution of chlorides 
add ammonia, ete. To remove alumina, iron and 
manganese, precipitate lime as oxalate; magnesia 
by ammonium phosphate and then, with little cal- 
cium chloride and ammonium carbonate remove all 
excess of phosphoric oxide; evaporate filtrate, vola- 
tilize ammonium salts. The residue is digested in 
a mixture of absolute alcohol and ether, which 
readily dissolves the lithium chloride; filter off the 
potassium and sodium chlorides, weigh and sep- 
arate them. 

Alizarine-iron lakes: A. W. Buu anp J. R. 
ADAMS. 


Adsorption of tannin by gelatine: A. W. Buu 
AND J. R. ADAMS. 

The theory of molecular-compound formation: V. 
R. KoKkATNuUR AND H. W. StIeGLER. This theory 
is based on an observation that molecules in molec- 
ular compounds invariably contain elements that 
belong to 5, 6, 7, 8 groups of the periodie system. 
Assumptions: (1) Molecules combine through unsat- 
uration or through latent valences of elements, 
especially non-metallic, belonging to aforesaid per- 
jiodic groups. (2) These elements exhibit their 
highest capable valence and combine through these 
by single or double bonds. But all their valences 
may not be satisfied. (3) Active groups and con- 
ditions of molecules may influence this latent va- 
lency and give rise to chain-compounds and conse- 
quent isomerism, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1406. 


The diffusion of hydrogen through metals: H. 
G. DEMING AND B. C. Henpricks. Sheet metal of 
0.15 mm. thickness was clamped between heavy 
steel blocks in an electric furnace, the diffusion 
area being circumscribed on the face of each block 
by a pair of concentric circular knife-edges. The 
channel between the knife-edges in the block on the 
incoming side was connected to a vacuum-pump; 
on the outgoing side to compressed nitrogen. The 
diffusion was thus limited to a definite area of 
metal or perfectly uniform temperature, even 
though the blocks were never pressed against the 
metal tight enough to make a gas-tight joint. 
Aluminum is impervious to hydrogen up to its melt- 
ing point. Quantitative data have been obtained 
for copper, iron, and other metals, 

The adsorptive property of fullers earth: STUART 
J. BATES AND ALFRED STAMM. 

Cuarues L. Parsons, 
Secretary 


AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY 
THE two hundred and seventeenth regular meet- 
ing of the American Mathematical Society was 
held at Columbia University, on Saturday, October 
29, 1921, extending through the usual morning and 
afternoon sessions. The attendance included forty 
members of the society. Thirty new members were 
elected. : 
The following papers were read at this meeting: 


Total geodesic curvature: J. K. WHITTEMORE. 

On the composition of polynomials: J. F. Rirt. 

Complete determination of polynomials whose in- 
verses can be expressed in terms of radicals: J. F. 
Rit. 

Concerning continuous curves in the plane: R. L. 
Moore. 

Concerning the relation of a continuous curve to 
its complement in space of three dimensions: R. L. 
Moore. 

An algebraic solution of Einstein’s cosmological 
equations: EDWARD KASNER. . 

On biharmonic functions: T, H. GRONWALL.. 

General formulation of a combinatory method 
used by William Emerson and others: L. H. RIczE. 

A theorem on toci connected with cross-ratios: 
J. L. WALSH. 

A generalization of the notion of covariants: L. 
B. RoBINSoN. 

Inductances of grounded circuits: G. A. CAMP- 
BELL. 

R. G. D. RicHaRDSoN, 
Secretary 


SCIENCE 


NEw SERIES SINGLE Copiss, 15 Cts. 
Vou. LIV, No. 1407 FRIDAY, DrcEMBER 16, 1921 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, $6.00 ' 


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SCIENCE—ADVERTISEMENTS 


GENERAL CHEMISTRY 


By Harry N. Hotmes, Professor of Chemistry at Oberlin College. Cloth, 
octavo, 558 pages, $3.50. 


A new text presenting the student’s viewpoint, simple, clear theory, fascinating applica- 
tions, maximum teaching aids. Published September 17, the book is already a success. It is 
being used at Yale University, Earlham College, Southwestern University, Whitman College, 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Hiram College, and Oberlin College. 


LABORATORY MANUAL OF GENERAL CHEMISTRY 


By Harry N. Hortmes. Cloth, octavo, 115 text pages, 110 blank pages, 
$1.60. 


Laboratory exercises to accompany Professor Holmes’ excellent text-book, ‘‘General 
Chemistry”’. 


QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. Sixth Edition 


By Henry P. Tavzot, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the Massachu- 
setts Institute of Technology. Cloth, octavo, 203 pages, $2.25. 

The sixth edition is a complete rewriting of Professor Talbot’s textbook, which in its earlier 

editions has been used throughout the country. The book has been entirely reset and greatly 


improved typographically. At every point the book makes use of the most recent and author- 
itative research in quantitative analysis. 


QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS. Revised Edition 
By GeorceE McPuait Smitu, Professor of Chemistry in the University of 
Washington. Cloth, octavo, 218 pages, $2.25. 


In revising this book the author has provided entirely new introductory matter, and has 
rearranged and changed the procedures in such a way as to adapt the book more completely than 
before to the needs of college course in the subject. 


. MATHEMATICS FOR STUDENTS OF AGRICULTURE 


By S. E. Rasor, Professor of Mathematics in Ohio State University. Edited 
by E. R. HEpricK. Cloth, 12mo, 290 pages, $3.00. 


The application of mathematics to agriculture has been stressed throughout this elemen- 
tary text for college students. Essential principles and appropriate problems in those aspects of 
algebra and trigonometry which are needed in the scientific and practical work of the agricultural 
student are included. The unifying element in the book is the attempt to make the principles 
of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and graphic representation function with the 
students’ interest and point of view. 


DESCRIPTIVE GEOMETRY 


By GEORGE YOUNG, JR., Professor of Architecture, and H. E. BAXTER, 

Assistant Professor of Architecture, in Cornell University. Cloth, 

12mo, 310 pages, $3.25. Engineering Science Series. Edited by E. R. 
HEpbrRIckK and D. C. JACKSON. 

The new text covers the standard problems and includes, in addition, chapters on ‘Curved 

Lines,” “Shades and Shadows,” and “Oblique Projections.” The emphasis is placed on the 

theoretical aspects, but each chapter is introduced by a section explaining the use of the principles 


in engineering practice, and there are later chapters devoted entirely to applications. The use of 
cuts instead of definitions increases the student’s power of visualization. 


THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
64-66 Fifth Avenue New York 


SCIENCE | 


es 


Frmay, DecemBer 16, 1921. 


The Present Status of the History of Science 
in American Colleges and Universities: PRo- 


FESSOR) ice JOHNSON se oaceicle seelsicle ve eae 585 


The Expedition to Trinidad for the Study of 
Hookworm Disease: Dr. W. W. Cort....... 
The American Association for the Advance- 


595 


ment of Science: 

The Toronto Meeting: Proressor Burton 

EP IVINGSLONE a erieneierioc cence on 597 
Scientific Events: 


Forest Experiment Stations; The U. S. 
Patent Office; Scientific Journals published 
by the Government; The American Society 


OfMZICOLOGISES renee vel ele eee oe oe 599 


Scientific Notes and News...........-.....- 601 


University and Educational News............ 603 
Discussion and Correspondence : 

In Assistance of the Archives de Biologie: 
The 


Vibrations of a Tuning Fork: Dr. Pavun 


Proressor Rosert A. BUDDINGTON. 
THomas Youne. An Anecdote concerning 
Dr. Field: S. Two Retrospective Features 
of the Toronto Meeting: Dr. A. F. Hunter. 
Scientific Books: 


603 


Baker on The Life of the Pleistocene or 
Glacial Period: Dr. WM. H. Dauu......... 606 
Special Articles: 


The Hgg-laying Habits of Megarhyssa: 
WERNER MARCHAND. A Condensation Pump: 


Disa Deals Cadel CG apa tinas Rese eoea a AU da Sma 607 


The American Chemical Society: PROFESSOR 
CHARGES ALP AR SONS wer gerse riper reitieicinlclerscere 


MSS. intended for publication and books, ete.,intended for 


' review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 


Hudson, N. Y. 


—=_ 
THE PRESENT STATUS OF THE HIS- 


TORY OF SCIENCE IN AMERICAN 
COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES 


Durine the past few years there have been 
several attempts to establish beyond question 
the value of a study of the history of science 
in American colleges. A little has been writ- 
ten in defense of the subject as a proper part 
of the curriculum, and a few science teachers 
have spared no effort in the critical study and 
presentation of the history of the particular 
phase of science with which they have been 
most familiar. And yet, the papers that have 
been written in English dealing at all directly 
with this history are so few in number that 
they all may be read in a very few hours. Of 
histories of science—books relating to the sub- 
ject matter itself—there are even fewer, so it is 
not surprising that the otherwise busy teacher 
has not been drawn into this phase of his 
science by any sense of an ample amount of 
readily available material. At the same ume, 
those who have considered the matter seriously 
have usually become strong advocates of the 
value of a study of the development of science, 
both for its service in explaining the present 
status and aims of science, and also for its 
value as a picture of human development that 
probably is not to be equalled in educational 
value by any survey of political or military 
movements. 

With this conviction, the present writer un- 
dertook to ascertain in just how far the history 
of science was being studied in American col- 
leges and universities. Questionnaires were 
sent to the deans or presidents of nearly four 
hundred institutions throughout the United 
States. While such instruments are necessarily 
imperfect, and the individual findings perhaps 
often unreliable, the total mass of material 
thus gathered together is not without point, 
and it indicates among other things, that inter- 


586 


est in the history of science is far from lacking 
among American science teachers—that it has, 
in fact, developed to the point where the major- 
ity of them welcome any opportunity to urge a 
wider study in this field. 

In only two or three institutions are condi- 
tions such that one man can devote the major 
portion of his time to the history of science 
alone, although several of the larger universi- 
ties seem to be considering the establishing of 
such a professorship. A more usual method 
has been that in which a science professor has 
crowded in with his other courses, one dealing 
with the rise of his science, or has given a 
series of supplementary lectures along with a 
regular course, or perhaps, quite distinct from 
it. Some teachers have found it impossible to 
devote time to such work beyond that required 
for reports or occasional papers on subjects 
assigned to the students. But all, or nearly all, 
where there is evidence that they have given 
the matter serious thought, have agreed that 
here is a rich field as yet unexplored sufficiently 


to make clear the best method for its develop- ~ 


ment, but nevertheless one which is full of 
material as conducive to the understanding and 
solution of present-day problems as any other. 


HISTORY OF GENERAL SCIENCE 


Very little has been accomplished by way 
of giving a course which might properly be 
ealled a history of general science. The rea- 
sons why such a course is probably well nigh 
impossible are not difficult to find. Yet, in 
one institution—small enough so that one 
man teaches the several sciences there offered 
—this instructor believes that he has been 
successful in giving a history of natural sci- 
ence as a whole. Such an experiment is 
interesting, but it should not be misinter- 
preted. The very fact that all of the science 
courses offered are necessarily more or less 
introductory, means that only the growth of 
the simpler developments can be reviewed 
with intelligence, and the limitation of time 
reduces the work to a series of excursions 
into the several recognized divisions of 
natural science. In the words of one who is 
himself one of the best-known American 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1407. 


historians of certain limited phases of scien- 
tifie endeavor, 


No one instructor can give a course worth giving 
on the History of General Science! 


A somewhat better procedure—and one that 
will be discussed more later—is that in which 
by means of the collaboration of instructors 
in each of several sciences, it has been pos- 
sible to organize a regular course or a series 
of extra-curriculum lectures touching ably 
the several branches represented. This method 
has the weakness of presenting the subject 
matter disconnectedly, and what the majority 
of the listeners gain will be in inverse pro- 
portion to the extent of the survey attempted. 
If only a very tiny bit of the lore in a given 
science is examined, it may be productive 
of some permanent mental impression. Such 
glimpses at several of the brighter spots in 
the history of the various divisions of science 
do not in any true sense constitute a history 
of science as a whole, or in parts that may be 
closely related. But that this method recom- 
mends itself is proven by the fact that it 
has been tried out several times and one of 
our largest universities is now considering 
the establishment of such a course. 

Some of the colleges are offering what they 
designate as a history of general science, 
with the announced intention of making it 
purely introductory to a more intense study 
of special sciences. This practise, however, 
is not in accord with the general feeling of 
science teachers. The majority of them state 
frankly that they regard a knowledge of the’ 
fundamental principles of a science as ab- 
solutely prerequisite to any intelligent study 
of its growth. Where the rise of science is 
considered in a general way by the depart- 
ment of philosophy, it would naturally come 
late in the college course, and hence could 
scarcely serve as introductory to other under- 
graduate studies. 

One or two colleges offer courses on the 
history of science extending through one 
semester only. Apparently this work is open 
to any one seeking a brief diversion from the 
things of the present, and while it is surely 


DECEMBER 16, 1921] 


of some value—presumably more to the in- 
structor as the nucleus of future courses of 
the same type, than to the student—it must 
quite necessarily be regarded as one of the 
excursions referred to above. 

Another institution gives a lecture course 
—one lecture a week—under the title of 
“Science and Scientists.” This is open to 
freshmen and sophomores in Arts and Busi- 
ness Administration. It undoubtedly serves 
to show these young people that there have 
been great factors in human development 
other than those in which they are special- 
izing—but it, too, is hardly of sufficient scope 
to be classified as a history of science. 

In colleges where special attention is given 
to the preparation of science teachers, it has 
been natural to introduce into the regular 
courses of a more or less pedagogical nature 
quite a bit of historical material. And this 
is as it should be, for the students here in 
attendance are presumably somewhat familiar 
with the science they intend to teach, and 
ean derive the maximum benefit from what- 
ever historical glimpses they may be offered. 
If they have a real love for their subject 
they will fill in many of the gaps with their 
future reading and thus gradually acquire 
a measure of the historical sense in no way 
to be despised as a part of their scientific 
background. 

There are a number of methods by which 
historical investigation and instruction may 
be carried into the general field of science. 
All have been tried with more than tolerable 
success. At present we can only refer to 
them sufficiently to indicate their approxi- 
mate natures. 

First, there is the public lecture course 
given by men belonging in the institution, 
or brought in for the occasion. These lec- 
tures may be in the form of a number of 
intimate views of a period, of the develop- 
ment of the science of a certain people, of the 
growth of a definite line of science, or each 
in itself may be quite complete, and other- 
wise wholly disconnected from the others. 
Whatever the form actually employed, where 
the speakers know their subjects, make all 


SCIENCE © 


587 


possible use of modern forms of illustration 
—lantern slides, charts, models, maps, ete.— 
the impressions gained by the listeners can 
not be other than lasting and altogether 
beneficial. 

Where only a small amount of time can be 
given to the lectures each week, it is possible 
to carry the course through more than one 
year and thus cover the ground quite compre- 
hensively. But such an arrangement usually 
means that attendance is optional, and with- 
out great effort it would be difficult to keep 
up such an interest and receptive state of 
mind as might obtain at the occasional lec- 
ture. 

For a long time the seminar method of 
delving into the history of a science has been 
familiar. Where weekly departmental meet- 
ings are open to all who are sufficiently trained 
and interested to make their attendance 
profitable, the atmosphere of the gathering 
may engender real enthusiasm. It may result 
in an almost religious feeling towards one’s 
beloved science, and hence, is a form of edu- 
cation which should be encouraged and main- 
tained regardless of more systematic courses 
which may profess to cover the same ground. 
Subjects studied in course can not acquire 
the quality obtainable in the close commun- 
ion of a few who have been drawn together 
because of a common interest in the subjects 
themselves, quite apart from the idea of 
payment in the form of credits towards 
graduation. 

Closely connected with this sort of organiza- 
tion are the societies or clubs. These may 
range from the very elementary undergradu- 
ate groups tc the postgraduate societies with 
or without affiliations extending to other 
institutions. One of the best examples of 
what a scientific society may accomplish was 
afforded recently by the Yale Chapter of the 
Gamma Alpha Graduate Scientific Faternity, 
under whose auspices a series of lectures was 
given. Each speaker was a leader in his 
line, and each covered in a brief but quite 
comprehensive way the historical growth of 
his own branch of science. Thus there were 
delivered, and later printed, admirable sur- 


588 


veys in the fields of mathematics, chemistry, 
biology, psychology, physics, geology and 
astronomy. Naturally, these were not of a 
type suitable for elementary presentation. 
One institution—a college of engineering 
—gives a two-hour course on the history of 
science to all sophomores. In another, two 
courses have apparently gradually merged 
into one. For many years a course dealing 
with the history of the inductive sciences had 
been offered by the professor of biology. 
Later he was joined by the professor of mathe- 
matics, and between them they rounded out 
the course into a fair approximation of a 
general history of science, or more correctly, 
a brief history of several associated branches 
of science. The usual limitation of time 
made it impossible for them to cover every- 
thing, and so, e.g., the history of chemistry 
was handled independently by the professor 
in that department. The lecture notes of the 
two men thus associated finally reached such 
proportions that they were printed, and now 
form a well-known elementary text on the 
subject. According to one of the authors, 
the real object in putting the material into 
book form was to lessen the dependence of 
the students on the lectures. As originally 
worked out, the time was divided about equally 
between the two instructors, the mathemati- 
clan covering most of the Greek period, and 
mathematical science previous to the calculus 
of Newton. The biologist has traced the de- 
velopment of modern science and the special 
phases of the entire review with which he 
was most familiar. Each student is supplied 
with blank forms for his reports on collateral 
reading of biographies and other historical 
subjects in connection with the course. Es- 
says are required, for it has been the feeling 
of the instructors that nothing short of this 
written work secures a sufficiently intensive 
study of the assigned reading matter. The 
two parts of the course may be taken inde- 
pendently, and although the work has been 
elementary enough to make no definite pre- 
seription of preliminary scientific work neces- 
sary, it has quite naturally been found that 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1407. 


“some degree of scientific background and 
some maturity are desirable.” 

This method of procedure has been dis- 
cussed here somewhat in detail because it 
shows very admirably what may be accom- 
plished by pioneers. However inadequate 
such courses may seem, they are of the type 
that may be organized in almost any col- 
lege if there is but time. The form of cooper- 
ation will depend on the men and material 
available. 

A well-known college for women has found 
some value to be obtainable in a collateral 
reading course which is carried on privately 
throughout two years. In still another col- 
lege, the cooperative method referred to above 
has proven quite successful. Apparently, the 
department of philosophy gives two lectures 
a week on “Life Views of Great Men of 
Science.” At first this would seem like a 
rather large responsibility for such a depart- 
ment to assume, but the college catalogue 
shows that associated with the instructors in 
philosophy—one of whom is the president of 
the institution—are men from the depart- 
ments of astronomy, geology, chemistry, 
mathematics, physics, anatomy, physiology, 
zoology, economics and sociology. Such wide 
cooperation, while not free from some of the 
objections made above, is most gratifying 
and must make not only for good feeling be- 
tween the several departments, but serve the 
students as material evidence that each so- 
called science is only one phase of a great 
body of truth—that its various developments 
are all aspects of one growth. 

In one of the greater universities, two as- 
sociated courses are given, one a “ History 
of Science from the Physical Standpoint,” 
and the other, a “History of Science from 
the Biological Standpoint.” The lecturer in 
each case occupies a prominent place in his 
chosen field. Undoubtedly, these courses are 
primarily historical reviews of physics and 
of biology, respectively, and should be classed 
with the rather narrow histories of specific 
sciences to be considered later. 

In another university there has for some 
time been given a composite course dealing 


DECEMBER 16, 1921] 


with biology and physics. The lecturer him- 
self is a physiological chemist, and would be 
expected to take the experimental viewpoint. 
Such a combination of these subjects is quite 
natural when one considers the parallel steps 
in their development. For example, how 
closely were they connected in the early work 
of the Royal Society, and how evidently is 
the apparatus of modern biology borrowed 
from the physical laboratory! In this same 
institution a special lecturer has dealt with 
specific phases of the history of science, and 
also written much, advocating its wider 
study. His method seems to be that of fol- 
lowing the growth of an idea and the phi- 
losophy involved. Both methods of approach 
are proper and will undoubtedly leave their 
separate imprints on the later forms in which 
the history of science will be handled. 

One further arrangement for approaching 
this subject in a general way may be men- 
tioned, although the course referred to is not 
offered primarily as a history of science. At 
a certain college a general culture course has 
recently been organized under the all-em- 
bracing title of “ Evolution.” The fact that 
it is given by the department of biology might 
lead one to expect the usual restricted mean- 
ing of the term. However, in the words of 
one of the instructors responsible for its 
direction, 

It is a composite course that covers so wide a 
field that the bare facts are emphasized rather than 
historical development, although the latter is by no 
means ignored. Fundamental chemical and phys- 
ieal principles are given without any historical set- 
ting, but the lectures on astronomy necessarily take 
up the historical side, especially in the development 
of evolutionary theories. The same may be said 
for the biological lectures where we cut out all pos- 
sible detail yet give a skeleton outline of the con- 
tributions of the more celebrated men to the theories 
of organic evolution. The course ends with a review 
of the present known facts regarding the organic 
development of man himself while a certain amount 
of time is given to social and mental growth (cul- 
ture). 


As this course itself is still in the early 
stages of its evolution, its real value can not 
as yet be ascertained, but it is not impossible 


SCIENCE 


589 


that it, too, may serve as one of the pioneer 
attempts that will form the basis for the future 
courses on the history of science. 


HISTORY OF SPECIFIC SCIENCES 


There are many evidences that much more 
success has been obtained in the shaping and 
conducting of courses on the history of the 
specifie sciences than where the whole field of 
science has been engaged in a single campaign. 
Here the difficulties to be met by the lecturer 
in crossing the boundary between two branches 
of science are largely avoided, and although 
the interrelation of the several sciences can not 
be lost sight of, his natural limitations do not 
prevent him from presenting the history of his 
specialty in a manner that is sufficiently con- 
nected to lead to logical conclusions. He is 
able—by limiting his attention to a single field 
of development—to secure a picture so com- 
plete as to impress the student’s mind with the 
one fact of paramount importance, namely, 
that he is reviewing a growth, one that never 
goes backward, and one which in its latest 
stage—the present—is an integral part of the 
world as he now sees it. Such a study, to be 
of greatest worth, is, of course, suitable for ad- 
vanced students only in the particular science 
to which it relates. Here is an unquestionable 
case in which the advocates of prerequisite 
scientific training are thoroughly sound. The 
field is not new. Enough has been written to 
make great blunders no longer unavoidable, and 
many such courses are at present being offered 
in American colleges, though so far their use- 
fulness has been limited by the lack of time on 
the part of the teachers and the failure of 
others to appreciate the value in such things in 
this age of seeking after immediate practical 
results. 

Naturally, mathematics is one of the leading 
subjects whose history is now being taught as an 
independent course. The maturer the student 
and the wider his knowledge of the methods of 
mathematics, the greater will be his pleasure 
and benefit from a review of the philosophy 
and labors that have developed the powerful 
mathematics of the present. In some institu- 
tions it has been possible to combine something 


590 


of the history of mathematics with a course on 
the methods of teaching mathematics. Then, 
too, there are the usual variations—special 
lectures in connection with or supplementary 
to the regular mathematical courses, seminar 
work, ete. Closely associated with historical 
studies in pure mathematics are those, such 
as the histories of astronomy, civil engineer- 
ing, analytical mechanics, and mathematical 
physics. 

Where the history of a special science is 
handled by a member of the department of in- 
struction devoted to that science alone, the 
viewpoint of the scientist, 7.e., the viewpoint 
of the original investigator and discoverer 
whose work is being studied, may be presented. 
The physical equipment within the department 
affords not only a convenient but absolutely 
essential means of illustration. In many cases, 
this may and should involve the actual repe- 
tition, step by step, of the classical experiment 
or investigation. All possible pertinent ma- 
terial should be acquired for its usefulness in 
this particular course, and that this can be 
handled to the best advantage only by the 
specialist, goes without saying. 

At present there are offered in this country 
courses dealing solely with the histories of 
mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, zool- 
ogy, botany, evolution, anthropology, astron- 
omy, geology, psychology, medicine, phar- 
macy, home economics, engineering, and 
probably many others. In some cases there are 
evidences that these subjects have been offered 
because of the vision of a single man who not 
only launched the work, but maintained it per- 
sonally. That this has often been so is shown 
by the fact that the course has been allowed 
to lapse after the departure of this particular 
teacher. Those who remain are kept too busy 
to carry on the work, although the majority of 
them have expressed the firmest conviction of 
its worth. 

The historical courses in these main divi- 
sions of science are modeled differently in vari- 
ous institutions. A few attempt to cover the 
entire history of the subject chronologically. In 
other cases the material is taken up by periods, 
e.g., the “ Development of Chemistry During 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1407. 


the Seventeenth Century.” Or again, a very 
narrow line of growth within the science may 
constitute the subject matter of the course, 
such as the “ History of the Law of Gravity.” 
Either of these latter methods, though limited 
in scope, makes possible quite thorough work. 

The present high development of the sci- 
ences is a thing of such modern times that 
there is no end of material available for study- 
ing the recent portions of their growth. Here 
again is a task that must be directed by the 
specialist—one who is familiar with the 
literature of his science. Probably no physi- 
eist would consider himself capable of di- 
recting the historical reading and research in 
the field of botany. Likewise each science 
teacher would view as puerile the attempts 
of any one—no matter how capable in a spe- 
cial field—to direct all of the various phases 
in a course on the history of general science. 

From time to time eminent chemistry 
teachers have conducted lecture courses on 
the chemistry of a period or the evolution 
of a chemical theory, although in many cases 
such instruction is no longer given. Prob- 
ably this is because the present-day special- 
ist finds little time for such studies in ad- 
dition to the purely technical work for which 
he is most admired just at present. 

One institution gives each beginning class 
in chemistry five lectures dealing solely with 
historical matter. Of course, in all schools 
some of the history of the subject is intro- 
duced from time to time in the regular in- 
struction in the science. Some teachers of 
long experience have expressed themselves as 
greatly in favor of giving more time to this 
history—a special course, if possible—but 
owing to the difficulty in setting apart the 
requisite amount of time for such a thorough 
study, they have had to content themselves 
with mere references to the historical back- 
ground. However, this method in any sci- 
ence is not without its good points, for it is 
one of the surest ways of securing interest, 
and at the same time it prevents the student 
from grasping a law or serviceable result as 
a God-given tool and the only feature worth 
retaining. It shows him the essentially hu- 


DECEMBER 16, 1921] 


man quality that lies under and behind ali 
progress—that all progress is at the expense 
of human endeavor. And is not this one of 
the prime objects of education ? 

The history of physics is only beginning 
to be fully appreciated. In one of the east- 
ern universities, courses were conducted for 
a time by the head of the physics department, 
in which he sought to present “not only the 
material that can be found in some of the 
books upon the subject, but also traced the 
development of certain fundamental fields.” 
He employed the lecture method. His suc- 
cess and possibly the reason why the work was 
not continued after his departure from the 
institution, are explained in part by the re- 
mark of one of his colleagues. 

Professor himself was able to add the 
personal touch of experience in the historical de- 
velopment in many phases of the work in physies. 


This, of course, is a brief statement of the 
ideal qualifications of the director of any 
course in the history of science. 

Often brief courses on special historical 
subjects, or rapid surveys of a large portion 
of the growth of a science are opened to pro- 
spective teachers. Such work—where the 
students are well grounded in their subject 
and where the widest possible use is made of 
the departmental library—is probably of no 
small value, if for no other reason than that 
by enriching the coming teacher’s outlook, it 
will make better the instruction of the next 
generation. 

Where time is limited, a course may be 
offered, say, once in three years, or the de- 
partmental society or club may be pushed 
into really serious activity. Even extension 
courses are worth while if the students are 
themselves teaching and have some library 
and laboratory facilities at their own dis- 
posal. Such work may be closely allied with 
regular graduate work in the same field. 

A suggestion as to how a course may be 
composed of biographical studies, as well as 
of a review of purely technical developments, 
may be gained from the statement that the 
study of the history of botany in one of the 
greater universities has “included not only 


SCIENCE 


591 


the evolution of the science, but the lives 
and contributions of leading botanists, the 
history of the microscope, ete.” 


METHOD OF PRESENTATION 


The formation of a course in the history of 
any branch of science has, in the majority of 
cases, waited for the appearance of some sort 
of book that might serve as a text.. Few in- 
structors have had the time or the courage to 
plunge into such a course dependent only on 
their own lecture material and the assignments 
of collateral reading. No matter how desirable 
it may be that the teacher should be thoroughly 
capable of writing his own text, energy and 
opportunity are seldom available for such an 
accomplishment. 

Almost with one accord, the teachers who 
have responded to the present inquiry have 
voiced this need for text-books, for there is 
very little in English that may be so used. 
Note that the cry is not because of a lack of 
original source material for reference or re- 
search work, but for suitable secondary sources 
that present the material in a form sufficiently 
well chosen and digested to be usable by the 
beginner and constitute a skeleton about which 
a course may be built up. This seems to be 
true even in the cases of those sciences of which 
one or two quite admirable histories are now 
available. In addition, little is to be found in 
book form covering the developments of the 
last decade or so. Of the few history texts 
available, there is almost no choice. They are 
necessarily the same works as used elsewhere 
and in former courses. For obvious reasons 
they can not be listed here, but their number 
is so small that every science teacher probably 
has on his own desk all that is obtainable for 
his use at the present time. 

These few books are usually the outgrowths 
of lectures given when there were no texts at 
all. The years that have elapsed since their 
publication have put them out of touch with 
modern advances, although this is a fault which 
may usually be overcome by the use of refer- 
ences to current literature during the latter 
days of the courses in which they are used. It 
is perhaps not surprising that teachers have 


592 


been quite harsh in their criticisms, but it is 
to be hoped that their distress is sufficiently real 
to drive them to the point of writing something 
better, for here is one of the few fields in which 
there are not too many books. 

Where a course has been limited to the study 
of the growth of a theory or of a particular 
branch of the science, some useful books have 
usually been available. Single works dealing 
with the progress of a given era are much 
scarcer, and, as already suggested, satisfactory 
works covering the entire growth of the subject 
are rare indeed. The natural compromise that 
has resulted is a combination of the lecture and 
text-book method. To date this form seems to 
have had the widest trial. Instead of depend- 
ing upon one book only, the library facilities 
may be drawn on so as to make use of many 
authors in addition to the lecture notes. Papers 
on these outside readings insure a fair degree 
of application in their use. One teacher em- 
ploys the lecture method mainly and assigns to 
the students biographical topics only. In an- 
other institution, where several courses in the 
history of science are given, a text-book in one 
of them serves as the nucleus about which the 
course centers, but the class discussion is de- 
voted mainly to points in a set of over four 
hundred typewritten questions supplied by the 
instructor. There are also reports on outside 
reading. In the psychology classes, finding no 
book suitable, the lecture method has been em- 
ployed almost entirely. The same is true in 
the history of pharmacy, but also for the addi- 
tional reason that at the time of the report the 
class had over one hundred and twenty mem- 
bers. In medicine, at this institution, the lec- 
ture method is supplemented by an assigned 
paper on a historical subject to be chosen by 
the student himself. 

In connection with this question of the form 
of presentation of the subject, it is interesting 
to note the method employed by one instructor 
in chemistry. He wrote: 

I let the class decide which style they prefer. If 
they are preparing to teach chemistry, they seem to 


prefer a text-book, otherwise they choose the lec- 
tures, 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1407. 


He says nothing about any difficulty in getting 
the members of the class to agree. 

Another method, and when it can be carried 
out consistently, the one most in keeping with 
the fact that any historical study should be an 
attempt to see for one’s self as clearly as pos- 
sible just what has transpired, and what were 
the immediate causes contributory to the vari- 
ous progressive steps in the growth of the 
science, is that where the lecture method is 
combined with the reading of original sources. 
Many a small college library contains much 
material that may be used in this manner, e¢.g., 
the Philosophical Transactions, and the scien- 
tifie journals that have been published during 
the past century. Reprints of older sources are 
now available on quite a number of subjects, 
and fragments of original papers are often to 
be found in encyclopedia articles and else- 
where, so that with diligent searching the in- 
structor will usually be able to make a begin- 
ning, and he may be surprised at the wealth of 
material close at hand. 

The type of material obtainable from current 
periodicals is too familiar to need discussion 
here. The Readers’ Guide will indicate the 
main papers of the essay type which may be 
found in popular magazines and which are 
serviceable in a course on the history of science. 
Where complete files of the older technical 
journals are available, they will naturally be 
put to almost constant use, although in one 
institution now offering such a course it is de- 
clared that there are “none used.” In another, 
the instructor in the history of chemistry re- 
fers his pupils to “ the best known chemical 
journals, especially for their obituary notices.” 
Undoubtedly still other features of interest may 
be found. 

Where the students are sufficiently ad- 
vanced and equipped to handle foreign lan- 
guages, their investigations are greatly facili- 
tated, for aside from possibly a_ single 
periodical in English dealing exclusively with 
the history of science, there are several of 
this type in Europe. 

One question that arises quite naturally in 
the projection of a course on the history of 
science, is whether it shall be of the “ cul- 


DEcEMBER 16, 1921] 


tural” type and perhaps open to the major- 
ity of students, or of the sort suitable only 
for those who have already begun specializa- 
tion. These are, of course, quite different prop- 
ositions, but the consensus of opinion is that 
the latter type—where the student has at 
least had a fair introduction to the subject— 
is the one capable of the greatest good. In 
one instance, a historical study of chemistry 
and zoology is regarded as a “general cul- 
tural course offered to all students who have 
the scientific background which would enable 
them to carry the work intelligently.” An- 
other institution opens its course on the 
history of chemistry to all students, “ but 
prerequisites are insisted upon.”” Some schools 
simply require that applicants shall have had 
one full year in the science. Others allow 
any students within the institution to attempt 
the work if they wish to, but insist that it 
be taken by all who are majoring in the de- 
partment. A geology instructor says that 
“good training in geology is prerequisite to 
history of geology ”—a requirement which 
is not very definite. Though one, teacher—a 
chemist—considers his history a purely cul- 
tural course, he admits only those who have 
had some work in organic chemistry in ad- 
dition to the general courses. Another in- 
structor has a different vision. He hopes 
that the course which is now open only to 
students working in his department, will ulti- 
mately become a cultural one and open to 
everyone. At one college giving a history 
course it is claimed that “the lecturer has 
maintained a certain standard by assuring 
himself that each student has taken courses 
in the biological as well as the physical sci- 
ences.” The department of chemistry in one 
of the western universities is in a position 
to offer a strong course on the history of sci- 
ence from the fact that it admits to this 
class only “graduate and upper class stu- 
dents in chemistry with extensive prerequi- 
sites, including French, German, advanced 
mathematics, and physics—general courses.” 

These brief references show that in many 
institutions it is now possible for those stu- 


SCIENCE 


593 


dents who are specializing to obtain courses 
on the history of their subject. 


PUBLICATIONS BY PRESENT TEACHERS OF THE 
HISTORY OF SCIENCE 


The administrators to whom the present 
inquiry was directed were asked to supply 
lists of the papers and books dealing in any 
way with the history of science and written 
by members of their instructional staffs. The 
results obtained are probably in no way a fair 
indication of what has been accomplished, for 
aside from the few well-known books already 
referred to, apparently only a little has been 
done, even including thesis work, popular bio- 
graphical sketches, bibliographies, and un- 
published papers which have been read before 
local or possibly state scientific societies. 


CONCLUSION 


It has been a pleasure to read the com- 
ments and suggestions of those who have so 
generously assisted in the present inquiry. 
Many of these ideas have been embodied in 
earlier parts of this paper. By far the 
majority of the letters received are strongly 
in favor of pushing the history of science to 
the position of a regular feature of the cur- 
riculum. In some schools the faculty is too 
small to add any subject whatever to the 
course of study. In such institutions, it is 
not unusual that the mathematics professor 
would be glad to offer a course on the history 
of mathematics. A physics teacher “ would 
like to see such a course in physics offered, 
but lack of time makes it impossible at pres- 
ent.” In spite of the historical material 
which every science lecturer now and then 
introduces into his courses, one of them 
writes: “most of our students know very 
little about the history of science. Much 
more attention should be given to this sub- 
ject.” A professor of chemistry thinks “ it 
very advisable to give a short history of the 
development of chemistry. Will do it when 
it ean be squeezed in.” This indicates the 
general difficulty. 

A college dean, as if sensible of inexcus- 
able negligence, hastens to remark: 


594 


We realize the value of this subject as an inte- 
gral part of a progressive curriculum and we shall 
in due time organize such a course. 


Similar expressions are too numerous to 
quote here. 


A need for such a course is arising. 

Of great importance | 

I am glad to see interest in this important sub- 
ject is developing widely. 

There is without doubt a place for such courses. 
...I1 should like to see here and elsewhere a 
“general cultural ’’ course in these subjects 
offered. This would be of vast interest to B.A. 
students who would not be attracted by the more 
thoroughly scientific courses. (The word ‘‘ scien- 
tifie ’’ is probably used here to mean ‘‘ technical.’’) 


The president of a certain engineering school 
would not favor any deviation from a rigor- 
ous technical presentation of the subject, for 
he believes “that all subjects are cultural if 
properly taught and so placed before the stu- 
dents.” An eminent chemist has the satisfac- 
tion of feeling that his history lectures are 
“proving helpful to prospective chemistry 
teachers.” 

A physics instructor in a prominent uni- 
versity writes: 

The history of science, either in its general 
aspect or in specific fields, is an interesting and 
valuable part of science training, but it is ex- 
tremely important that the presentation of such 
work be such as will arouse interest and give the 
perspective that will enable the student of science 
to better understand the order in which facts and 
theories have developed. Such an understanding 
of the past will help the student in getting a clear 
idea of exactly where the boundary line between 
experimental fact and theory lies. I feel that this 
vitalizing purpose is essential to the success of such 
work. 


A number of administrators have written 
that the matter of establishing one or more 
courses in the history of science is already 
under discussion. Where the idea is new, a 
few have questioned the possibility or ap- 
propriateness of such a course, but the wide 
success elsewhere serves amply to answer 
such objections. For example, a leading uni- 
versity president has expressed some of the 


SCIENCE 


LN. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1407. 


difficulties of the situation with remarkable 
comprehensiveness, and were it not for this 
fact that very successful arrangements have 
been developed on a number of lines through- 
out the country, his statement of the problem 
would be quite discouraging. It is, however, 
worthy of attention. 

Two distinet types of courses are possible, and 
appeal to two distinct groups of students: (1) Gen- 
eral courses requiring but a moderate amount of 
technical knowledge on the part of either instructor 
or students. (2) More specialized courses given by 
experts in single branches of science for students 
who are somewhat acquainted with the science in 
question. No combination of the two types seems 
to me possible. Even if a sufficiently polymathie 
instruetor could be found, no group of unspecial- 
ized students could follow him, and no group even 
of specialized students outside their own specialties, 

A joint course by the representatives of the sev- 
eral different sciences could, of course, be organ- 
ized, but could not go far without getting away 
from the class, 

The problem is a hard one. 


And yet, like other hard problems, it is 
meeting with partial solution in many quar- 
ters. 

In this investigation the data obtained can 
not be thrown into the form of definite nu- 
merical values, for several quite evident rea- 
sons. The questionnaire method of gaining 
information has its own natural weaknesses. 
All who answer are more or less prejudiced. 
Some may show an interest that is by no 
means real, or they may give the answer that 
they believe will sound best as coming from 
their institution. Furthermore, no weight 
has been assigned to the courses considered 
in terms of the number of semester-hours 
covered. The size of an institution is not 
taken into account, nor the number of in- 
structors and students in the science depart- 
ments. Sometimes deans or presidents have 
answered questions in a general way that 
could be handled better by the men in science, 
and one science instructor has usually re- 
plied for all of the science departments. 
Hence, the replies have not always been as 
representative as could be desired. Depart- 
ments given over entirely to experimental 


DECEMBER 16, 1921] 


research and instruction naturally have not 
developed courses from the historical side, 
although the individual instructors may be 
quite well versed in the subject. Then again, 
the answers received indicate that even 
among these men the distinction between so- 
called “popular” science and fundamental 
science is by no means clear. 

Lest offence be taken by teachers of politi- 
eal and social history, it should be empha- 
sized that no consideration has been given 
here to their admirable work in tracing the 
development of human thought and of their 
growing appreciation of the influence of sci- 
entific progress on all history. Their coopera- 
tion is needed at every turn—in developing 
the special methods of historical research 
suitable for scientific work—in creating a 
greater demand for such history, and in pro- 
ducing the literature which may satisfy the 
new needs. 

The various suggestions here made sare 
given for what they are worth. Few points 
of procedure have been indicated as wholly 
preferable. They are all the testimony of 
the men and women whose vision has led 
them into the struggle to add this true side 
of history—and of science—to those already 
in the schools, for it is human history, as well 
as history of science. 

My sincere thanks are extended to all who 
have submitted their views on any phases of 
this questicn. Certain aspects of the in- 
vestigation will constitute material for re- 
ports elsewhere. 

E. H. Jonnson 

KENYON COLLEGE, 

GAMBIER, OHIO 


THE EXPEDITION TO TRINIDAD FOR 
THE STUDY OF HOOK- 
WORM DISEASE?! 


An expedition for the study of the life of 
hookworm eggs and larve in the soil was 
sent out by the department of medical zo- 
ology of the School of Hygiene and Public 


1A full account of the results of the work of this 
expedition will appear in a series of articles in the 
American Journal of Hygiene. 


SCIENCE 


595 


Health of the Johns Hopkins University to 
carry on investigations in Trinidad, British 
West Indies, during the summer of 1921. 
The expenses of the expedition were paid by 
the International Health Board of the Rocke- 
feller Foundation. The International Health 
Board through the Trinidad Ankylostomia- 
sis Commission and the Trinidad government 
cooperated with work of the expedition. The 
party from the United States sailed from 
New York on May 5 and returned on Sep- 
tember 17. The expedition was under the 
direction of Dr. William W. Cort of Johns 
Hopkins University, and worked in coopera- 
tion with Dr. George C. Payne, the director 
for Trinidad of the International Health 
Board, who also took an active part in the 
investigations. The others who took part in 
the investigations were Dr. James E. Ack- 
ert, of the Kansas State Agricultural College, 
Dr. Florence King Payne, of Trinidad, and 
Mr. Donald L. Augustine, of Johns Hopkins 
University. Much of the scientific equip- 
ment was shipped from the United States 
and some was borrowed from the Trinidad 
Ankylostomiasis Commission. The work was 
carried out at Princes Town, which is in the 
south central part of the island, in an area 
where sugar-cane cultivation predominates. 
Over seventy per cent. of the people of this 
region are infested with hookworms. This 
high incidence of hookworm disease and the 
close coordination with the control campaign 
served to suggest problems for work and: to 
give an abundance of material. A private 
residence was rented for a laboratory and 
fitted out with the necessary equipment. A 
large space under this house was utilized 
for animal pens and laboratory space. The 
yard surrounding the house was also used in 
a number of the outdoor experiments. 

The investigations of the Trinidad expedi- 
tion were centered around the study of the 
phase of the life of the hookworm which is 
passed outside the human body. An effec- 
tive attack on the problems of the life of the 
larvee in the soil was made possible by the 
utilization of an apparatus invented by 
Baermann, which makes it possible to iso- 


596 


late the larve from considerable quantities 
of soil. Both field and laboratory studies 
-were included in the program. The field 
investigations consisted of intensive epidemi- 
ologie studies of the factors involved in the 
spread of hookworm disease in two limited 
areas, one on a sugar estate and the other on 
a cacao estate. The laboratory investigations 
included a study of the following points, viz.: 
(1) the relation of the chicken and pig to the 
spread of hockworm disease, (2) some of the 
factors influencing the hatching of the eggs, 
(3) the migrations both vertical and lateral 
of the infective hookworm larve and (4) the 
length of life of the infective hookworm 
larvee. 

A summary of the most important results 
obtained will be given here.? 


1. SOURCES OF HUMAN INFESTATION 


In the two field areas studied a comparison 
of the distribution of soil infestation and the 
habits of the people revealed that almost the 
exclusive sources of human infestation in 
these two areas were the places in a cane 
field and a cacao grove which were constantly 
visited for the purpose of defecation. 


2. REDUCTION OF SOIL POLLUTION BY THE INTRO- 
DUCTION OF LATRINES AND AN EDUCA- 
TIONAL CAMPAIGN 


It was found by a study of the distribu- 
tion of soil pollution in the cane area that 
the building of an adequate number of la- 


2 These results are taken from the work of all 
the members of the expedition. The epidemiologic 
studies in the field were made by Doctors Cort and 
G. C. Payne. The work on the relations of the 
chickens and pigs to the spread of hookworm dis- 
ease and on the conditions influencing the hatching 
of hookworm eggs was done by Dr. Ackert. Drs. 
Florence K. Payne and Ackert collaborated on 
the work on the new species of pig hookworm from 
Trinidad, and Dr. Florence K. Payne made the 
studies on vertical migrations of the infective 
hookworm larve. The laboratory experiments on 
the horizontal migrations and length of life of the 
infective hookworm larvee were made by Mr. Augus- 
tine, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1407. 


trines and the carrying through of the regular 
educational campaign against hookworm dis- 
ease resulted in a very great reduction of soil 
pollution in a period of about three weeks. 


3. RELATION BETWEEN THE DISTRIBUTION OF 
SOIL POLLUTION AND SOIL INFESTATION 


In both the cane and cacao areas gross 
soil pollution by infested individuals did not 
always produce soil infestation, especially in 
unprotected places near houses, latrines or 
at the edge of the cane field. The conclusion 
was drawn that in the heavy clay loam soil 
of these areas the conditions are unfavorable 
for the development or continued life of the 
hookworm larve, unless there is protection 
by shade and vegetation. 


4. THE RELATION OF CHICKENS TO THE SPREAD 
OF HOOKWORM DISEASE 


When chickens ingested human feces con- 
taining hookworm eggs only a very small 
percentage of such eggs produced infective 
hookworm larve. Chickens fed on human 
feces containing hookworm eggs were found 
to produce limited areas of soil infestation 
at their drinking places, or under their roosts. 
The conclusion is drawn, however, that in 
view of the great reduction of infective larve 
produced by passage through the chickens, 
they are, under the conditions in Trinidad, 
a factor favorable rather than unfavorable to 
hookworm control. 


5. THE RELATION OF THE PIG TO THE SPREAD OF 
HOOKWORM LARVE 


Eggs of the human hookworm which had 
passed through the digestive tract of the pig 
developed as readily in pig as in human 
feces, thus making pigs a factor in the dis- 
semination of hookworm larve whenever they 
have the opportunity of ingesting human 
feces containing hookworm eggs. In connec- 
tion with this work a new species of Necator 
closely resembling Necator americanus was 
found to be prevalent in the pigs in Trinidad, 
and its morphology and distribution studied. 


DrceMBER 16, 1921] 


6. CONDITIONS INFLUENCING THE HATCHING OF 
HOOKWORM EGGS 


Hookworm eggs hatch as readily in ashes 
as in soil. Hookworm eggs in feces buried 
to a depth of from 1/2 of an inch to 2 inches 
hatch and the larvze develop in numbers, there 
being only a slight retardation in develop- 
ment. When eggs were buried from 4 to 
5 1/2 inches in a clay loam soil, only a few 
larvee were able to develop. The invasion of 
the stools by numbers of fly larvae was found 
to be detrimental to the development of hook- 
worm lary to the infective stage. 


& 


(. THE FINDING OF UNSHEATHED HOOKWORM 


LARVZ IN THE SOIL 


The finding, both in field and laboratory 
studies, of a large percentage of mature hook- 
worm larve without their protective sheaths, 
led to the conclusion that a large proportion 
of such larvz in the soil complete their second 
larval moult and continue to live in the un- 
sheathed condition. 


8. VERTICAL MIGRATIONS OF INFECTIVE HOOK- 
WORM LARVA 


It was found that under certain condi- 
tions mature hookworm larve when buried 
to a depth as great as 5 1/2 inches can 
migrate to the surface. In such a migration 
the larve used up most of their reserve food 
supply, so that after reaching the surface 
they were relatively inactive and the cells 
of the intestine had become almost trans- 
parent. 


9. HORIZONTAL MIGRATIONS OF INFECTIVE HOOK- 
WORM LARVA 


From laboratory experiments and field ob- 
servations it was found that mature hook- 
worm larve do not migrate actively from 
their place of development, although they 
may be carried to considerable distances by 
the action of water or on the feet of man. 
These observations showed that the present 
idea that the soil of considerable areas can 
be infested by the migrations of the larve 
from limited centers is untenable. 


SCIENCE 


597 


10. LENGTH OF LIFE OF INFECTIVE HOOKWORM 
LARVZ IN THE SOIL 


Under the conditions in Trinidad the 
length of life of infective hookworm larve 
in the soil is short, almost never exceeding 
six or seven weeks. In an area of a cane 
field where there was intense soil infestation 
there was a reduction of over 90 per cent. 
in the numbers of larvz in about three weeks 
after the practical elimination of soil pollu- 
tion. After six weeks only a very few larve 
were left. In a large series of laboratory 
experiments carried out with different soils 
and under different conditions, there was a 
great reduction in numbers of larve after 
from two to three weeks and an almost com- 
plete dying out in six weeks. These findings 
which are contrary to the present conception 
of the length of life of infective hookworm 
larve indicate that under tropical conditions, 
the larve will die out quickly in the soil 
after the elimination of soil pollution by in- 
fested individuals. 


WiuiiaMm W. Cort 


JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, 
BALTIMORE, Mp. 


THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR 
THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE: 


THE TORONTO MEETING 


Tue second Toronto meeting of the Ameri- 
can Association and associated societies will 
be very conveniently arranged in all its de- 
tails and promises to be one of the most satis- 
factory meetings in the history of the As- 
sociation. The preliminary announcement of 
the meeting has recently been sent from the 
Washington office to all members, and the 
permanent secretary will send copies to all 
who request them. 

The announcement, a 47-page booklet, 
gives the personnel of the local committee 
for the meeting (Dr. J. C. Fields, chairman; 
198 College St., Toronto) and the list of the 
chairmen of the twelve subcommittees that 
have charge of local details, also the list of 
the Toronto representatives of the various 
sections. Many features of the meeting are 
mentioned or described. The usual lists of 


598 


officers and committees are included, together 
with a complete list of the associated socie- 
ties. 

Its international character will be an im- 
portant feature of this meeting; it is not 
often that the association meets outside of 
the United States. 

As has been announced in Science, rail- 
way rates of a fare and a half for the round 
trop (on the certificate plan) will be available 
to those attending. The announcement gives 
detailed instructions for securing these re- 
duced rates. very one going to the meet- 
ing should secure a certificate when he pur- 
chases his going ticket, even though he does 
not wish to take advantage of the special 
fares, and all holders of certificates (or 
round-trip tickets from the far west, outside 
of the region of reduced rates) should record 
them at the registration room immediately 
upon arrival. To, secure the privilege of 
lower fares there must be at least 350 certifi- 
cates and round-trip tickets (counted to- 
gether). 

The Toronto meeting will be especially 
convenient and otherwise enjoyable by reason 
of the special lodging and dining arrange- 
ments that have been made by the local com- 
mittee and its subcommittees. Those in at- 
tendance are to be housed in the dormitories 
of the University of Toronto, and meals will 
be served in the university dining halls. 
The meeting places of the sections and socie- 
ties will be in the university buildings, and 
only a short walk will be necessary to reach 
them from the dormitories and dining halls. 
A uniform rate of $3 a day will be charged, 
including meals. The announcement con- 
tains the usual table showing hotel rates, but 
those attending the meeting are urged to take 
advantage of the rooms and meals provided 
at the university. To engage rooms, address 
Professor J. M. D. Olmstead, chairman of 
the subcommittee on dormitories, 198 College 
St., Toronto. 

There will be an exhibition of scientific 
apparatus and products. Those wishing to 
exhibit should address Professor E. F. Bur- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1407. 


ton, chairman of the Subcommittee of Ex- 
hibits, 198 College St., Toronto. 

The publicity arrangements for the To- 
ronto meeting promise to be exceptionally 
good. This work is in charge of the Subcom- 
mittee on Publicity, with the cooperation of 
Science Service, of Washington, D. C. Ma- 
terial for newspaper publication, or ab- 
stracts, etc., that may be used as a basis for 
newspaper notes, should be sent until Decem- 
ber 24, to Dr. E. E. Slosson, editor of Sci- 
ence Service, 1701 Massachusetts Avenue, 
Washington, D. ©. After the date just men- 
tioned they should be sent to Professor A. G. 
Huntsman, chairman of the subcommittee on 
publicity, 198 College St. Toronto,—or 
handed in at the publicity office near the 
registration room. Those planning to give 
papers or addresses at the meeting are urged 
to send accounts to Dr. Slosson in advance. 

An exhibit of educational motion pictures 
on scientific subjects is arranged for Tuesday 
afternoon, December 27, the pictures being 
furnished by the Visual Education Associa- 
tion. 

The meeting will open on Tuesday eve- 
ning, under the presidency of Professor E: 
H. Moore, of the University of Chicago. At 
this time the retiring president, Dr. L. O. 
Howard, of the U. S. Department of Agri- 
culture, will give his presidential address. 
A reception will follow the opening session. 

On Wednesday afternoon, December 28, 
there will be a reception in the Royal On- 
tario Museum. 

The Wednesday evening session will be 
occupied by a lecture given by Professor 
William Bateson, director of the John Innes 
Horticultural Institution, Merton Park, Sur- 
rey, England. This eminent British scient- 
ist is to attend the Toronto meeting under 
the joint auspices of the American Associa- 
tion and the American Society of Zoologists. 

On Thursday afternoon, December 29, Sir 
Adam Beck, chairman of the hydro-electric 
commission of Ontario, will deliver a lecture, 
with motion pictures, on hydro-electric de- 
velopments in Ontario. 

Thursday evening will be devoted to a 


DECEMBER 16, 1921] 


general conversazione in Hart House, to 
which all members of the association and as- 
sociated societies are invited. Many of the 
athletic activities of Hart House may be 
seen, such as boxing, diving, water polo and 
indoor base-ball. There will be band music 
and bag-pipe music, and a concert in the 
music room. A program will be staged in 
the Hart House theater. Refreshments will 
be served in the Great Dining Hall of Hart 
House. Hart House will be open to visitors 
also on the evenings of Tuesday, Wednesday 
and Friday. 

An exhibit of artistic skating by the Tor- 
onto Skating Club, followed by an ice-hockey 
match, will be given, under cover, on Friday 
afternoon. All in attendance at the meeting 
are invited. 

The general program of the Toronto meet- 
ing, including programs for the sections and 
for the twenty-one associated societies meet- 
ing with the association at Toronto, will be 
ready for distribution on Tuesday, Decem- 
ber 27, at the registration room. 

Burton E. Livryeston, 
Permanent Secretary 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 
FOREST EXPERIMENT STATIONS 


A RECENT circular by the Forest Service of 
the Department of Agriculture, entitled 
“Torest Experiment Stations,” outlines what 
forest experiment stations have done, what 
they need to do, why they are needed, where 
they are needed, and what they would cost. 

Six stations were established in the West 
between 1908 and 1913, with a small techni- 
eal staff at each. In spite of limitations in 
funds and personnel valuable results have 
been secured in showing how to plant the 
Nebraska sand hills, in planting on the west- 
ern National Forests, in the development. of 
methods of cutting Douglas fir forests, in a 
study of the relation between forests and 

- streamflow, and many other questions. 

The field of forest experiment stations in- 
cludes forest botany; forest distribution; 
forestation, from the production, collection, 
extraction, cleaning, testing and storage of 


SCIENCE 


599 


seed, to nursery practise, direct seeding and 
field planting; silviculture; forest protection; 
utilization of products, such as naval stores 
and forage; forest management, or the regu- 
lation of the cut with its basis of data on 
volume, growth, and yield; the effect of 
forests on streamflow, erosion, and climate; 
and, underlying these, studies of the funda- 
mental natural laws governing tree growth 
and the life histories of the individual spe- 
cies and types. 

To meet present forestry needs, a program 
is outlined which includes ten forest experi- 
ment stations, each with a technical staff of 
from 6 to 12 men, and distributed, 5 in the 
East, 8 in the Rocky Mountains, and 2 on 
the Pacific Coast. Specifically, they would 
cover the Southern Pine belt in the Atlantic 
and Gulf States, the Lake States, the North- 
east, including New England and New York, 
the Allegheny region, the Southern Appa- 
lachian Mountain region, the northern, cen- 
tral, and southern parts of the Rocky Moun- 
tain system, and the northern and southern 
parts of the Pacific Coast region. 


THE U. S. PATENT OFFICE 


Wuen Commissioner Newton was in charge 
of the Patent Office in July, 1919, he testi- 
fied before a committee of Congress to the 
effect that the situation in his bureau was 
deplorable and that it was in a worse condi- 
tion at that time than at any other time 
since he had been in service. His service 
began in 1891. The present commissioner 
of patents in his report to the Congress 
points out that the degeneration has con- 
tinued steadily since the testimony of Com- 
missioner Newton was given. Between July, 
1919, and June 30, 1921, the Patent Office 
lost 163 of its examiners. The report states 
that 


These men were scientifically trained and also 
members of the bar. They have been replaced by 
inexperienced men, fresh from college, without any 
knowledge of patent law and without legal train- 
ing. 

During the time the Patent Office has been los- 
ing the 163 men aforesaid, the number of applica- 


600 


tions received in this office has increased by leaps 

and bounds. The number of applications for 
patents has increased 34 per cent. during the period 
under discussion, while the trade-mark applications 
increased eighty-five and a half per cent. In July, 
1919, when Commissioner Newton testified, there 
were 18,000 patent applications awaiting action. 
There are now about 50,000 applications awaiting 
examination. It is further shown that a number of 
divisions are over 11 months behind in their work, 
and to illustrate the large turnover in the personnel 
there is cited one of the chemical divisions where 
five out of the nine examiners have been appointed 
in the last few months. At the close of the fiscal 
- year, one of these had been in the office only 1 
week, another 3 weeks, another 7 weeks and another 
2 months. One out of every four examiners has 
resigned in 16 months and more than half have re- 
signed in 32 months. Relief is, therefore, impera- 
tive. 

Reference is made to the entrance salaries of the 
assistant examiners, who are a highly educated and 
picked corps of scientific men, who receive the same 
initial salary as clerks who perform routine duties 
in other branches of the government service. Note 
is made of the inadequacy of the salaries paid to 
these technical men as compared to their qualifica- 
tions and the requirements of their position, show- 
ing the necessity of correcting the disparity of con- 
ditions. 

The receipts of money for the fiscal year just 
closed increased from $2,615,297.33 of the previous 
fiscal year to $2,712,119.69, or almost $100,000. 
A net surplus of $284,342.93 was earned and if 
the bonus be subtracted therefrom, the surplus 
amounted to $71,743.73, making the total net sur- 
plus to date—that is, the excess of receipts over 
expenditures during the history of the Patent Office 
—$8,376,769.92. 


SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS PUBLISHED BY THE 
GOVERNMENT 


Practicatiy all the technical and scientific 
periodicals which the Government is issu- 
ing have been suspended. These include the 
Journal of Agricultural Research and the 
Experiment Station Record, issued by the 
Department of Agriculture. 

The matter goes back two years or more 
to a time when Senator Smoot secured the 
adoption of a resolution terminating the issue 
within a specified period of all periodicals 
not authorized by the Congress. Hearings 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1407. 


were held and assurance was given that the 
committee was not concerned with scientific 
journals, but was particularly interested in 
certain war-time periodicals which had 
sprung up. The time for action was ex- 
tended once or twice, and, as the committee 
had failed to decide what should and what 
should not be printed, an item was inserted 
in the Sundry Civil Bill last March, extend- 
ing the time to December 1, 1921, and pro- 
viding that such publications as were not 
approved prior to that time should be dis- 
continued. 

Near the close of the last Congress, Sena- 
tor Moses, the present chairman of the joint 
committee on printing, secured the passage 
of a measure in the Senate placing the 
matter of continuance or discontinuance in 
the hands of the joint committee on printing. 
The resolution went to the House in the 
closing days of the session, where it was 
amended by the House committee to provide 
for a further extension of time to March 1, 
1922, in order that the committee might have 
further time for consideration. No action 
was taken on the resolution and the periodi- 
cials in question ceased publication with De- 
cember 1. The latest proposal is not to give 
any further authorization for the continu- 
ance of any of them. Discussion of the 
matter will be found in the Congressional 
Record for December 7. 


THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ZOOLOGISTS 


Tue Toronto meeting of the American So- 
ciety of Zoologists will convene on Wednesday,’ 
December 28, in the biological building of the 
University of Toronto. The sessions will con- 
tinue until Friday night. The program of con- 
tributed papers numbers 109, the largest in the 
history of the society. The tentative program 
follows: 


WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28 
A.M, 
Section A. Embryology, Cytology and Compara- 
tive Anatomy. 
Section B. Genetics. 
P.M. 
Geneties. 


DECEMBER 16, 1921] 


Evening 
Professor William Bateson’s address before the 
American Association, followed by the Biological 
Smoker at Hart House. Members of all biological 
societies are invited to attend. 


THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29 
A.M. 


Joint with Ecological 


America. 


meeting Society of 


P.M. 
Section A. Parasitology. 


Section B. General and Comparative Physiology. 


FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30 


AM. 
Business session. 
Section A. Parasitology. 
Section B. Genetics. 
Inspection of Exhibits, 


P.M. 

Symposium on Orthogenesis: L. J. Henderson, C. 
B, Lipman, M. F. Guyer, William Bateson, and H. 
F. Osborn, with discussions by Osear Riddle, J. G. 
Fitzgerald and J. C. Merriam. 

Evening 

Annual Zoology Dinner, followed by address by 
William Bateson, ‘‘ The Outlook in Geneties.’’ 
Members of all biological societies are invited to 
attend. 

W. C. ALLEE, 
Secretary-Treasurer 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Dr. Wituiam Bateson, director of the John 
Innes Horticultural Institute, who will be 
present at the convocation week meeting at 
Toronto as the guest of the American As- 
sociation for the Advancement of Science 
and the American Society of Zoologists, will 
give a public address on “ The Evolutionary 
Faith and Modern Doubt.” At the dinner 
of the Zoologists he will speak on ‘“ The 
Outlook in Genetics.” 


THE nomination of Dr. Walter B. Cannon, 
Harvard Medical School, to serve in the 
Medical Reserve Corps of the U. S. Army, 
with the rank of brigadier general, has been 
confirmed by the Congress. 


SCIENCE 


601 


Henry Howarp was elected president of 
the American Institute of Chemical Engi- 
neers at the convention held in Baltimore 
recently. 

YanprLtt Henperson, professor of applied 
physiology, graduate school, Yale University, 
has been elected a corresponding member of 
the Society of Physicians of Vienna. 


Sm Frank Dyson, astronomer royal, has 
been elected master of the Clockmakers’ 
Company. 

At the inaugural meeting of the 168th 
session of the Royal Society of Arts held on 
November 2, the society’s medal was pre- 
sented to Sir Dugald Clerk, Sir’ Herbert 
Jackson, Sir Daniel Hall and Sir Oliver 
Lodge, for their Trueman Wood lectures. 
Medals were also presented to Mr. A. F. 
Baillie, Dr. W. Cramp, Mr. W. Raitt and 
Sir Charles H. Bedford for papers of chemi- 
cal interest. 


Ar the meeting of the Chemical, Metal- 
lurgical and Mining Society of South Africa, 
held on October 15, the following gold medals 
were presented under the terms of the society’s 
research endowment fund. For chemical re- 
search to Dr. James Moir; for metallurgical 
research to Dr. William Arthur Caldecott 
and Henry A. White; for mining research 
to John Innes. 

Dr. R. W. Woopwarp has resigned as phys- 
icist and chief of the section of mechanical 
metallurgy of the Bureau of Standards, Wash- 
ington, D. C., to become chief metallurgist for 
the Whitney Manufacturing Company, Hart- 
ford, Conn. 

Proressor Henry H. Jerrcorr has recently 
been appointed successor to Dr. J. H. T. Tuds- 
bery as secretary of the Institute of Civil Engi- 
neers, London. 

Proressor H. Doxp, of the Institute for Ex- 
perimental Therapy in Frankfurt-on-Main, has 
been appointed to the charge of the sero-diag- 
nostic department of the Emil von Behring 
Institute, under the supervision of Professor 
Uhlenhuth. 

Dr. F. E. Kyocu, superintendent of the 
United Oil Company, Florence, Colorado, and 


602 


Dr. S. K. Loy, chief chemist for the Rocky 
Mountain Division of the Standard Oil Com- 
pany (Inc.), Casper, Wyoming, have accepted 
appointments as consulting chemists to the U. 
S. Bureau of Mines. They will assist the regu- 
lar staff in the investigations now being car- 
ried on by the bureau with Colorado and Utah 
oil shales at its Boulder and Salt Lake sta- 
tions. 


James H. Mason Knox, JR., associate in clin- 
ical pediatrics in the John Hopkins Medical 
School, has been granted a year’s leave of ab- 
‘sence to assume charge of child welfare work 
in Europe, under the Red Cross. 


Gaicut YAMADA, assistant professor of metal- 
lurgy at the Kyoto Imperial University of 
Kyoto, Japan, has been visiting the mills and 
smelters of the Great Lakes district in conclu- 
sion to a year’s tour of the United States. 


Dr. Cayetano Lopez, port inspector of Bar- 
celona for the Spanish Bureau of Animal In- 
dustry, recently spent some time in Washing- 
ton studying the organization and methods of 
the Bureau of Animal Industry of the United 
States Department of Agriculture with special 
reference to bacteriology and pathology. The 
Spanish Government contemplates the estab- 
lishment of a laboratory in connection with the 
agricultural department for the study of ani- 
mal diseases. 


Proressor ARTHUR DE JACZEWSKI, director 
of the Institute of Mycology and Phytopa- 
thology at Petrograd and president of the 
Russian Mycological and Phytopathological 
Society, and Professor N. I. Vavilov, direc- 
tor of the Bureau of Applied Botany and 
Plant Breeding at Petrograd and editor-in- 
chief of the Russian Phytopathological So- 
ciety, who came to the United States last 
August as the guests of the American Phyto- 
pathological Society, have completed their 
study trip through this country, and the fol- 
lowing telegram has been received from 
them: “Leaving America we wish to send 
our American friends a last farewell and to 
thank you once more for the heartfelt and 
kind: reception that made our trip in this 
country so pleasant and useful. We shall 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1407. 


never forget the time spent with American 
scientists, and we hope that the connections 
established now in such a good way will be 
continued for the good of science and of our 
countries.” 


Dr. W. H. Parks, director of the research 
laboratory in the New York Board of Health, 
was the guest of the Wisconsin Branch of the 
Society of American Bacteriologists on De- 
cember 2. In the afternoon he gave a lec- 
ture on “The Importance of the Schick Test 
in the Control of Diphtheria,’ which was 
open to the public. This was followed in 
the evening by a dinner and smoker at the 
University Club where Dr. Parks spoke in- 
formally about the work of his laboratory. 

A course of ten lectures in applied an- 
thropology will be given under the auspices 
of the Young Men’s Christian Association 
and the Institute of Vocational Research of 
Washington, D. C., by Dr. Ales Hrdliéka of 
the U. S. National Museum. 

Proressor J. H. Watton, of the depart- 
ment of chemistry of the University of Wis- 
consin, lectured before the Milwaukee section 
of the American Chemical Society on No- . 
vember 18, on the subject “ The Influence of 
Impurities on the Rate of Growth of Cer- 
tain Crystals.” 

Tue second of the series of lectures on the 
“Progress of Science,” under the auspices of 
the Society of Sigma Xi, Columbia Chapter, 
was held on December 15, by Dr. James Ken- 
dall, associate professor of chemistry, on 
“ Recent progress in the science of chemistry.” 

A sust of the late Professor G. Galeotti is 
to be placed in the pathological institute at 
Naples. 

Sm Doueras Fox, past president of the In- 
stitute of Civil Engineers and honorary mem- 
ber of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 
died in London on November 12, at the age of 
eighty-one years. 

Mr. Epwarp Winpsor RicHarps, a past presi- 
dent of the Institution of Mechanical Engi- 
neers and of the Iron and Steel Institute, died 
on November 12, at the age of ninety years. 

Dr. Peter THompson, professor of anatomy 


DecemMBeER 16, 1921] 


at the University of Birmington and dean of 
the faculty of medicine, died recently at the 
age of fifty years. 

Proressor Erp, the neurologist, of Heidel- 
berg, has died at the age of eighty-three years. 

For the Toronto meeting of the American 
Association one of the attractions will be an 
exhibition of scientific apparatus and products 
held under the auspices of the association. It 
is hoped that firms and individual scientific 
men who have something new to exhibit will 
take advantage of this exhibition. The exhibi- 
tion is in charge of an exhibition committee at 
Toronto, the chairman of this committee being 
Professor F. E. Burton, of the University of 
Toronto. Arrangements for entering exhibits 
are to be made by direct correspondence with 
Professor Burton. 

Tue American Anthropological Association 
will meet in conjunction with the American 
Folk-lore Society, the Maya Society and the 
Southwest Society at the Brooklyn Institute 
Museum from December 28 to 30 inclusive. 

Tue Geological Society of America will 
meet at Amherst, Mass., from December 28 
to 30. 

Tue date for the Birmingham, Ala., meet- 
ing of the American Chemical Society has 
been placed from April 4 to 7, 1922. 

Tue American Petroleum Institute held 
its annual meeting at the Congress Hotel, 
Chicago, on December 6, 7 and 8. 

Tue tenth International Congress of Otol- 
ogy will be held in Paris next year. Dr. A. 
Hautant of Paris is secretary-general of the 
French committee. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 
Tue Molteno Institute for Research in Para- 
sitology, presented to the University of Cam- 
bridge by Mr. and Mrs. Perey A. Molteno, was 
formally opened on November 28. 


Dr. Henry Laurens, formerly assistant pro- 
fessor in biology in Yale College, has been pro- 
moted to be an associate professor of physiology 
and transferred from the department of zo0o- 
logy to the medical school faculty, where he 


SCIENCE 


603 


has charge of the physiology. Associated with 
him is Dr. W. F. Hamilton, formerly instructor 
in physiology in the University of Texas. Dr. 
J. W. Buchanan (University of Chicago) has 
been appointed an instructor in biology in Yale 
College in Dr. Laurens’s place. 


Dr. Lansinc S. WELLS, until recently re- 
search chemist with the Barrett Company, 
Philadelphia, has accepted an appointment as 
assistant professor of organic and physical 
chemistry at the Montana State College, Boze- 
man, Mont. 


Dr. Guan E. Curren has been elected asso- 
ciate professor of research medicine, and Dr. 
Goldschmidt, former lecturer in physiology in 
the School of Medicine, Cornell University, 
Ithaca, N. Y., has been elected assistant pro- 
fessor of physiology in the School of Medicine 
of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. James 
Harold Austin was elected, last spring, profes- 
sor of research medicine, to succeed Dr. Rich- 
ard M. Pearce, who resigned to accept a posi- 
tion with the Rockefeller Foundation. 


Mr. Herpert H. Tanner has been appointed 
assistant professor of chemistry in the Univer- 
sity of Oregon. 

Junrman D. Carrincron, lately curator of 
biology at Cornell University, has resigned 
to become assistant professor of biology at 
the University of South Carolina. 


AppointMENtS for the present year at the 
Case School of Applied Science include Dr. H. 
H. Lester, from the University of Washington 
and commercial work, to be assistant professor 
of physics, and Dr. J. J. Nassau, from Syra- 
cuse University, to be assistant professor of 
mathematics and astronomy. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
IN ASSISTANCE OF THE ARCHIVES 
DE BIOLOGIE 

Ir will be remembered by the biological 
laboratories of about one hundred and fifty 
colleges and universities that last spring 
their attention was called to sets of lantern 
slides made from photomicrographs of Nereis 
egg preparations put up by Professor O. Van 
der Stricht, of the University of Ghent. The 


604 


negatives were loaned the writer by Profes- 
sor T. Wingate Todd, director of the an- 
atomical laboratory of Western Reserve Uni- 
versity, where Professor Van der Stricht was 
a guest for some time during the war. 

It was understood that profits from the 
sale of the slides should go for the benefit of 
the Archives de Biologie. of which Professors 
Van der Stricht and Brachet are editors. 
Concerning the Archives Professor Van der 
Stricht had written in July, 1919: 


. we need your valuable support, for we will 
_lose half of our subscribers, the Germans and Aus- 
trians. .. . The Belgian government has not yet a 
penny available for laboratory work. In spite of 
all, we are very confident . . . and Belgium, with 
the support of the States, will live again. 


The use of the cytological preparations for 
purposes of securing funds was, of course, not 
thought of by their maker, but seemed quite 
legitimate to us. This communication in 
ScreNcE is thus intended as an informal re- 
port to the considerable number of institu- 
tions who cooperated by their orders as to 
the outcome of the scheme. 

Up to the present time two remittances 
have been sent, totalling $350. At the pre- 
vailing rate of exchange this allowed a real- 
ization of 4703 francs. 

In the letters accompanying the remit- 
tances the liberty was taken of using the fol- 
lowing wording, in part: 

You must accept this small sum as being the re- 
sult of your own labor. Incidentally you may well 
feel that you have assisted instruction as given in 
numerous American institutions; for not only in 
courses dealing with embryology and heredity, but 
also in all introductory courses in general biology 
the phenomena of maturation, fertilization and cell 
division constitute fundamental information .. . 
much credit is due the institutions which purchased 
the lantern slides, for without their orders our little 
enterprise would have been a failure. 


In acknowledgment Professor Wan der 


Stricht said, in part: 


In agreement with my colleague, Dr. Brachet, 
we gratefully accept this amount which will be de- 
voted to the publication of the Archives de Biologie. 
The cost of issuing this journal is, indeed, very 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1407. 


great just now. Subscriptions do not cover it, so 
that we lose a great deal of money. Fortunately, 
my appeal in 1919 to the United States colleagues 
(for subscriptions) has been rather gratifyingly 
answered; many orders for sets came in, so that we 
were able to continue printing. Your... dona- 
tions will help us very much for this purpose. Thus 
we owe our ‘‘ Zoological Friends in America ’’ an 
immeasurable debt of gratitude. 


I would like to add that sets of these lan- 
tern slides may still be obtained, though we 


are not making them except on receipt of 
orders. They clearly illustrate twelve im- 
portant steps in maturation, fertilization, 


and the first cleavage of the eggs of Nereis 
limbata. The price is $15 for the twelve 
slides, and the mutual agreement is that all 
receipts above actual expenses shall go for 
the assistance of Belgian science in the man- 
ner above indicated. 


Rosert A. BupIncToN 


SPEAR LABORATORY, OBERLIN COLLEGE, 
OBERLIN, OHIO 


THE VIBRATIONS OF A TUNING FORK 


To tHe Eprror or Science: In a number 
of Science, which has just come to our at- 
tention, Professor Charles K. Wead makes 
the following statement: 


In a recent article in a psychological journal the 
tuning fork is considered as composed of two bars 
each attached at one end to a solid block. 

He then proceeds to describe Chladni’s theory 
of the tuning fork to correct this “ surpris- 
ing” disclosure. 


After reading Professor Wead’s note we 
referred to our original paper.2. In compar- 
ing vibrating bars and forks we write: 

The bar is, in fact, a fork straightened out; or, 
which is the same thing, the fork is a bar bent into 
the shape of a U. If we gradually bend a bar into 
a U, the two nodes approach the base. When the 
bending is complete we have a single node at the 
base—+.e., a fork. 


Our point, of course, is that the tuning fork 
is essentially a bar—a single vibrating system. 


1 Nov. 11, 1921, 468-9. 
2 Psychological Bulletin, September, 1918, 293 f. 


DECEMBER 16, 1921] 


Nowhere do we regard the fork as made up 
of two bars attached to a solid base. Since 
the question of how we may best regard a 
vibrating tuning fork has been raised, we 
have turned once more to Rayleigh.? After 
a mathematical discussien he writes: 

. . . These laws find an important application in 
the case of tuning forks, whose prongs vibrate as 
rods, fixed at the ends where they join the stalk, 
and free at the other ends. 

Also Edwin H. Barton,‘ a pupil of Lord Ray- 
leigh, writes: 

The behavior of the U-shaped bars just dealt 

with approximates to that of tuning forks. But 
the vibration of tuning forks is usually further 
complicated by the presence of an additional block 
at the center of the bend and the stem attached 
thereto. Indeed, it may be a nearer approximation 
to regard each prong as a straight bar fixed at the 
end near the stem and free at the other end. 
It appéars, then, that this “crude” manner 
of considering a tuning fork, which has been 
wrongly attributed to us, is actually accepted 
by no less an authority than Rayleigh and 
his pupil, Barton. 

Profesor Wead’s interpretation of our view 
is probably based upon our statement that 
the fork has a single node at the base. This, 
of course, is only an approximation. 

An alternative explanation, according to 
Professor F. R. Watson, of this university, is 
to consider the fork as a single vibrating 
system in which the center of mass tends to 
remain fixed in position. As the tines of the 
fork are bending outward, the center of mass 
tends to lower, so that the stem and block 
of the fork rise a bit so as to keep the posi- 
tion of the center of mass unchanged. As 
the tines return inward, the center of mass 
tends to rise, so that the stem of the fork 
lowers. The stem of the fork thus executes 
minute up and down movements. 

Paut THomas Youne 

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 

AN ANECDOTE CONCERNING DR. FIELD 

I wave read with great interest Dr. Ward’s 

sketch of the life and work of the late Herb- 


3 Theory of Sound,’’ 1894, Vol. I., 274. 
4‘¢ A Text-Book on Sound,’’ 1908, 298. 


SCIENCE 


605 


ert Haviland Field. It, however, omits any 
mention of his appreciation of humor, and 
perhaps I may be allowed to tell of one of 
his practical jokes which, to me at least, was 
most amusing. 

The late Henry B. Pollard had just eom- 
pleted his work on the anatomy of Polyp- 
terus and had gone from Wiedersheim’s 
laboratory for lunch. I came in a little later, 
started my studies, and then Pollard came 
in, and in a moment I realized what “ Uncle 
Toby ” meant when he referred to the pro- 
fanity of “cur army in Flanders.” Pollard 
turned to me, holding up a drawing of the 
cranial nerves of that fish which was almost 
completely covered with hematoxylin, and 
demanded who did it. I knew nothing of it 
and so replied. Pollard said he would call 
the attention of the professor (Wiedersheim) 
to it and at once left the room. As he went 
out of one door of the laboratory, the door 
from the anatomical museum opened and in 
came Field, who removed the damaged draw- 
ing from Pollard’s table, opened a drawer 
and took out another drawing, and again 
left the room. Pollard almost immediately 
returned, bringing the professor with him. 
“Look at that!” said Pollard. “ Was ist 
los?” asked Wiedersheim, and then Pollard 
looked and saw his drawing in perfect con- 
dition. I never saw such an expression of 
complete inability to comprehend as that on 
Pollard’s face. He was utterly without words, 
The explanation of the whole was that Field 
had found the tracing paper which Pollard 
had used, had rapidly redrawn on another 
sheet the nerves and skull of Polypterus, had 
deluged it with staining fluid and left it for 
Pollard to find, waiting in the museum to 
hear what the English youth would and 
could say. 


S. 


TWO RETROSPECTIVE FEATURES OF THE 
TORONTO MEETING 
THE membership list in the last volume of 
the Summarized Proceedings, recently pub- 
lished, shows that the Association has a con- 
siderable number of members living in coun- 


606 


tries outside of the United States. Naturally, 
from the contiguity of Canada, the largest 
number of those foreign members reside 
there, the list showing 230 names of residents 
of Canada. This number is larger than the 
total membership of the Royal Society of 
Canada, which, however, limits its member- 
ship. But it is small in comparison with the 
total membership of the Association, although 
not insignificant in view of the fact that no 
meetings have been held in Canada since the 
last Toronto meeting thirty-two years ago. 

After the meeting of 1889, the next following 
~ list contained 85 names of members and fel- 
lows resident in Canada. While only seven 
of these 85 persons now survive as members, 
the present Canadian membership of 230 in- 
dicates that accessions have been increasing, 
and doubtless there will be further increases 
as a result of the meeting about to be held. 

The place of the meeting is also a reminder 
that the Geological Society, at the time of 
the last meeting in Toronto, took a step to- 
ward organization as an independent body, 
which was the beginning of a movement that 
has eventually contributed to the remarkable 
growth of the Association. The recently is- 
sued volume shows that in addition to the 
large membership of nearly 12,000, there are 
now 93 affiliated and associated societies, 
most of which have been organized since 
1889. 

A. F. Hunter 
NorMAL ScHOooL BUILDING, 
Toronto, Noy. 15, 1921 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 


The Lifa of the Pleistocene or Glacial Period. 
By Frank Couiins Baker. University of 
Illinois Bulletin, vol. XVII., No. 41; June 
7, 1920, iii, 476 pp. 8, pl. 1-57. Urbana, 
Illinois. 

This portly volume is divided into two 
parts, the first including beside a historical 
summary of preceding researches an account 
of the postglacial geology and life of the 
Chicago area, followed by a résumé of our 
present knowledge of the postglacial life of 
the entire glaciated region of the United 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1407. 


States and Canada. Each locality investi- 
gated is taken up separately, its stratigraphy 
and fossil content described and listed, and 
at the end of each chapter the collected data 
are summarized. 

In the second part the life of the inter- 
glacial intervals is discussed and the species 
of plants and animals listed from data fur- 
nished by an indefatigable search of all avail- 
able literature. 

The difficulties attending the reduction to 
a common nomenclature of the records ex- 
tending over many years, can easily be under- 
stood and the author frankly acknowledges 
that in some cases his judgment may have 
been at fault, but such instances do not 
materially affect the general conclusions and 
are inevitable in any such bringing together 
of scattered data of varying degrees of au- 
thenticity. The volume concludes with a 
bibliography of forty-five pages, covering the 
literature from 1846 to the date of publica- 
tion and an ample index. Among the plates 
are interesting maps showing the fluctuations 
of the geographical features of the Chicago 
area and the region about Toronto, as well 
as the extensions at numerous periods of the 
continental ice sheet. It would have added 
to the convenience of those who use the vol- 
ume if legends had been added to the plates, 
obviating the necessity of turning back in 
each instance to the printed explanation. 

Much of the work, and presumably of the 
most carefully observed and valuable part 
of it, is the result of field work prosecuted by 
the author. The labor involved in the search 
for and correlation of the data in the litera- 
ture was evidently prodigious, and reflects 
eredit on the industry and patience of the 
author. His work in bringing together in 
orderly shape the data bearing on his subject 
will be a boon to all later students of the 
American Pleistocene. We may be permit- 
ted to regret the instrusion in a scientific 
work of a few of the “simplified spelling ” 
futilities; we really of not to imply that 
thot renders either the sound or the mean- 
ing of the word thought. 


Wo. H. Datu 


DeceMBER 16, 1921] 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
THE EGG-LAYING HABITS OF MEGARHYSSA 
(THALESSA) 


Durine the summer of 1921 I had frequent 
oceasion to watch the females of the beauti- 
ful large Ichneumonid Megarhyssa (formerly 
Thalessa) in the act of ovipositing into the 
trunk of a decaying maple tree at Mendham, 
N. J. In looking over the literature on the 
subject, I find that this process, though often 
described and commented upon, does not 
seem to have been fully elucidated so far. 
There are at least two facts that have escaped 
attention of observers, namely first, that the 
ovipositor is always brought into a position 
at right angle to the bark directly behind the 
thorax of the insect and is held here in posi- 
tion by the hind coxae, allowing only up- 
ward and downward movements but no lateral 
excursions. It is only under this condition 
that one may correctly say that the insect 
“makes a derrick out of her body” (Com- 
stock). The second point is, that the re- 
markable extensile membranous sac or dise 
- into which the ovipositor enters with its basal 
part to allow of its being temporarily shor- 
tened, is not only formed twice, at the begin- 
ning and at the end of the process, but at the 
beginning receives also the sheaths into its 
interior, which are freed when the membrane 
collapses, as two separate loops, while at the 
end of the process, when the membranous sac 
forms again, the loops of the sheaths do not 
re-enter it, making it possible that one can 
tell whether the insect is just beginning or 
just ending operations. 

It appears that the extensile membranous 
sac has been seen first and correctly inter- 
preted by J. Quay,! who, however, does not 
mention the loops formed by the sheaths. 
The most complete and accurate account 
is given by OC. V. Riley,? who describes the 
loops formed by the sheaths, which, as he 
correctly stated, do not enter the wood. 
But Riley is in error in his statement that 
the sheaths “have not followed the oviposi- 
tor within the membrane”; in fact they do 

1 American Entomologist, Sept., 1880, Vol. III., 
p. 219. : 

2¢¢ Tnseet Life,’’ Vol. I., 1889, p. 168 ff. 


SCIENCE 


607 


so at the beginning of the process. Accord- 
ing to Riley the sheaths make “a larger and 
larger loop on one side of the body*® or even 
a valve on each side,” and he figures the 
ovipositing insect with ovipositor and sheaths 
on one side of the body which is quite impos- 
sible. In the same figure, otherwise excellent, 
the ovipositor is drawn at a certain distance 
behind the end of the thorax, while, as I 
have stated above, it is held by the hind coxe. 
Riley criticizes the previous illustrations 
(Blanchard, Wood), which figure Thalessa 
(Rhyssa) as ovipositing into insect larve 
which she never does. 

More recently, Comstock* gives an illustra- 
tion possibly adapted from Riley as it figures 
almost exactly the same stage in the egg- 
laying process, and especially as it continues 
both Riley’s errors in figuring the ovipositor 
at a certain distance behind the thorax, and 
on one side of the body. The wings are 
drawn as if held vertically; the antenne held 
farther upward than in Riley’s picture. The 
vertical position of the wings is preserved in 
Kellogg’s and Lutz’s figures. Kelloge’s fig- 
ure® is almost identical with that (presum- 
ably older one) of Comstock but apparently 
redrawn as to details; the error of drawing 
the sheaths both on one side of the body has 
here been eliminated. The figure in The 
New International Encyclopaedia (2d edit., 
1915, article “Ichneumon fly”), is adapted 
from Riley; the antennz, however, are here 
drawn as if directed vertically upward—per- 
haps to save space. It should be noted that 
the egg-laying insect holds the antennae for- 
ward and often downward, touching the bark. 
This figure also shows both Riley’s errors 
which I have commented upon. A new illus- 
tration is given in Lutz’s “ Field Book of In- 
sects” (1918; Pl. LX XXVIII, p. 413); this 
illustration was, as Dr. Lutz tells me, not 
drawn from nature but combined from illus- 
trations and a specimen they had. This pic- 
ture is the first one in a long time to show 
a different stage in the process than that 

3 Italics mine. 

4°¢ Manual for the Study of Insects,’’ 13th edit., 
1915, p. 623, Fig. 749. 

5 “* Insects,’’ 1905, Fig. 682. 


608 


figured by Riley, and the membranous disk 
is shown correctly with the sheaths inside, 
corresponding to the beginning of the bor- 
ing process. But the position of the abdo- 
men is impossible; indeed at this stage, 
when the disk is formed, the abdomen is 
held not only vertically but even bent for- 
ward to some extent above the thorax; and 
at no time during the whole process is the 
Ovipositor inserted as far behind the insect 
as drawn by Lutz. Like Comstock, Lutz 
shows the wings in a vertical position and the 
antenne are held obliquely upward which is 
‘possible but not characteristic. Mention 
should be made that Riley too, already gave 
a picture, undoubtedly from a preserved speci- 
men, of ‘the extended membrane, the two 
sheaths just leaving it, as would be the case 
as soon as the membrane begins to collapse. 
This illustration shows very well how the 
ovipositor at the beginning of the process is 
held in a vertical direction by being sunk 
into a ventral furrow of the abdomen, which 
renders its basal portion quite invisible. 

It becomes a matter of interest that, of 
many authors commenting on such a familiar 
insect as our large, long-tailed ichneumon 
fly, and on its oviposition, only comparatively 
few have watched the process long enough to 
verify its details, and that, in fact,-some of 


these details have never been clearly estab-, 


lished though Megarhyssa is common in 
many localities. Does not this indicate that 
we have been neglecting the ecological for the 
systematic aspect of entomology ? 


WERNER MarcHanpD 
MENDHAM, N. J. 


A CONDENSATION PUMP 


ConpENsaTion pumps of the following par- 
ticular type have been used in our work for 
a number of years and the design seems to pos- 
sess sufficient advantages over others in both 
simplicity and compactness to merit this note. 

The method of operation of this pump, in 
which the exhausting process is accomplished 
in two stages, will be made clear by reference 
to the cut. In the initial or “rough” stage, 
A, the mercury vapor is ejected at relatively 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1407. 


high pressure from a small nozzle into a long 
narrow throat. The nozzle opening is made suf- 
ficiently small that the pressure of the vapor 


xy 


PPE Oy 


7 


FZ 
£2 


os 


PE 


a 
in 


Sul 
Lees 


BES, 


aay. 


ES 


ox 
rh, 
=. 


oo 
ae 


Zo 


aA 


GHEE: 


fee 


EER 


ER 


5 
S53 


aS 


Su We. 
PEDO 


es 


SS 


aida 


ER 


ROP 
P2z 


ay Mr 


4om: 
DLs 


x 


i 


ES 


es 


ZL 


EE 


ax 
PS 


Fig. 1 


in the boiler, instead of being practically 
limited to 2 or 3 millimeters, as in the case of 
the ordinary vapor pump, may attain a value 
of 75 millimeters or more depending upon the 
heating. The efficacy of this arrangement 
was first pointed out by Stimpson.t_ The evac- 

1 Washington Acad. Sci. J., 7, pp. 477-482, Sept. 
19, 1917. 


DrceMBER 16, 1921] 


uation is completed through the fine stage, 
B. In this unit a portion of the high-pres- 
sure vapor from the central tube is allowed 
to expand to a low pressure through one or 
two small openings into the inverted cup, C. 
This vapor then escapes freely into the large 
water jacketed tube and gives the conditions 
essential for high-speed exhaustion. 

Tt has found that the high-pressure stage 
operating alone, without assistance from the 
low-pressure unit, will produce a high vacuum. 
The speed of the high-pressure unit by itself, 
however, is very much less than that of the 
combination, which possesses a speed compar- 
able with that of a single stage pump of 
equivalent proportions. 

The advantage of the combined units, of 
course, lies in the fact that such a pump 
will function in a perfectly satisfactory fash- 
jon with a very ordinary fore-vacuum. A 
mechanical pump capable of reducing the 
pressure to 2 or 3 millimeters is satisfactory, 
or even a water aspirator which will give a 
vacuum of 20 millimeters can be used if 
nothing better is: available. 

With regard to the construction of the pump 
perhaps a little may be said. Glass posses- 
sing a low coefficient of expansion such as 
Pyrex or Corning G702P glass must be used 
in making it, as otherwise one will almost 
certainly experience the rather annoying in- 
convenience of haying the boiler crack upon 
application of the heat. The size of the pump 
ean, of course, be varied considerably, but 
the general proportions of the parts given in 
the drawing are found to be very satisfactory. 
In the pump from which the drawing was 
made the mecury boiler has a diameter of 90 
millimeters and the other dimensions were 
reduced proportionately. The dimensions of 
the jet and throat which have been found to 
work well are indicated in the enlarged sketch 
of this part. The diameters given apply to the 
tube openings. The thickness of the nozzle 
wall should be as thin as is consistent with 
reasonable strength. The two small open- 
ings which serve to furnish a supply of vapor 
to the upper unit are about the size of ordi- 


SCIENCE 


609 


nary pin holes and are located on opposite 
sides of a small enlargement in the central 
tube. The joint between the lower end of the 
water jacket and the body of the pump is 
made water tight by binding it tightly with 
strips of thin rubber. There is some advan- 
tage in having a slight constriction where 
the mercury return tube is sealed to the boiler 
as the presence of a constriction here tends 
to preserve the equilibrium of the mercury 
in the return tube. 

The mercury in the boiler should be about 
2 centimeters in depth at the center and ord- 
inarily, with a properly adjusted flame, it 
will evaporate without serious bumping even 
at the higher pressures. The height of the 
mercury column in the return tube indicates 
the vapor pressure in the boiler and the pres- 
sure required for satisfactory pumping de- 
pends entirely upon the fore-vacuum. There 
is no harm, however, in running the vapor 
pressure up as high as the length of the re- 
turn tube will permit if this be necessary to 
enable the pump to function. 

E. H. Kurta 
PALMER PHYSICAL LABORATORY, 
PRINCETON, N. J. 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 
(Continued) 
OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY 


C, E. Coates, Chairman 
T. J. Bryan, Secretary 


DIVISION 


The testing and grading of food gelatins: 
CLARKE E. Davis AND Haru T. OAKES. Loeb’s re- 
cent work on gelatin is briefly discussed and Ban- 
croft’s objections to Loeb’s conclusions on the 
basis of the insolubility of gelatin as based on sur- 
face tension measurements by Slobeki are shown to 
be in error. Methods for determining gel strength 
and viscosity are given and the effects of various 
factors affecting these properties are discussed with 
data. Data on the causes for discrepancies between 
grading gelatins by gel strength tests and by vis- 
cosity measurements are given. Gelatins submitted 
by the manufacturers as examples in which gel 
strength does not parallel viscosity are shown to be 
classified alike by gel strength and viscosity meas- 
urements under the methods described. 


Active chlorine as a germicide for milk ard 


610 


milk products: Harrison HALE AND WILLIAM L. 
BLEECKER. The increasing and satisfactory use of 
active chlorine as a germicide for water suggests 
the possibility of its use for milk and milk prod- 
ucts. Numerous bacteriological tests show a reduc- 
tion in number of bacteria in general proportional 
to the amount of active chlorine present. Chlorine 
water, sodium hypochlorite and calcium hypo- 
chlorite solutions were used on milk and ice cream 
in dilutions varying from 1 part of active chlorine 
to 1000 parts of milk to 1 part to 100,000. Chlorine 
water in 45 minutes produces practically the same 
results that sodium hypochlorite does in 114 hours 
and calcium hypochlorite in 19 hours. 


The inadequacy of analytical data: H. E. Barn- 
ARD. 


The chemistry of leavening agents: CLARK E. 
Davis AND D. J. MAVEETY. 


Availability of salts in soils as indicated by soil 
colloids: N.E. Gorpon. Iron, alumina and silica gels 
were prepared in the purest possible condition and 
shaken with various salt solutions until equilibrium 
was established. The maximum adsorption was de- 
termined. Then by a series of washings it was 
found in what way and to what extent the adsorbed 
salt became available for plant food. Furthermore, 
a series of experiments showed that the hydrogen- 
ion concentration plays a very important réle in 
the availability of salts which are held by soil col- 
loids. 


The effect of pectin, acid and sugar on the char- 
acter of gels: OC. A. Peters AND R. K. STRATFORD. 
Pectin extracted from apple pumace by water was 
used and a standardized method for making gels in 
10 ¢.c. portions was developed. Acidity of 0.3 per 
cent. was necessary for gelation and acid above 0.3 
per cent. did not increase the stiffness of gels. As 
the per cent. of pectin was increased the amount of 
sugar had to be increased to make the stiffest gel; 
with a certain per cent. of pectin less sugar makes 
a softer gel, an increase of sugar makes a stiffer 
gel while a further increase of sugar makes a gel 
less stiff. The character of the gel depends upon 
the hydrolysis of both the sugar and pectin. 


Nutritive studies of the Georgia velvet bean, 
Stizolobium Deeringianum. III. Supplementary re- 
lationship of whole and skimmed milk to the hulled 
seed and the whole plant: J. W. READ AND BARNETT 
Sure. An earlier paper! in this series of studies 

1‘ Biological Analysis of the Seed of the Georgia 


Velvet Bean, Stizolobium Deeringianum,’’ Jour. 
Agr. RKes., Vol. XXII., No. 1, pp. 5-18. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1407. 


on the nutritive value of the Georgia velvet bean 
showed that the raw bean is injurious to rats. If 
the ration is supplemented with a liberal supply of 
whole milk, rats grew at a rate even more rapid 
than normal, and three generations were success- 
fully reared on this diet. Inasmuch as previous 
work had shown the velvet bean to be quite rich 
in the fat-soluble vitamine, experiments employing 
skimmed milk instead of whole milk and replacing 
the dextrin by starch were tried, but rearing of the 
young in two cases was not successful. In the case 
of the whole plant, however, a healthy and vigorous 
third generation was secured on such a simple and 
poorly constituted diet as that composed of 40 per 
dent. velvet bean hay (ground whole plant), 60 per 
cent, starch, and a liberal supply of skimmed milk. 


Nutritive value of the Georgia velvet bean 
(Stizilobium Deeringianum). (a) Supplementary ° 
relationship of leaf and the hulls of seed. (b) 
Nutritive value of the whole plant: BARNETT SURE 
AND J. W, READ. Our previous work? on the nutri- 
tive value of the Georgia velvet bean showed the 
seed to be abundant in the fat-soluble vitamine, but 
deficient in protein, salts, and the water-soluble 
vitamine. In this study we have found the leaf to 
be abundant in the water soluble and an efficient 
carrier of salts, The hulls, however, possessed no 
supplementary value to the seed, and they inter- 
fered with the utilization of the fat-soluble vita- 
mine in the seed, as did also the velvet bean hay. 
Autoclaving the hulls for two hours at 15 pounds 
pressure did not change their disturbing effect. 
The data secured suggest that the interference with 
the utilization of the fat-soluble vitamine may pos- 
sibly be due to indigestible celluloses. 


Calcium chloride as a mineral supplement in the 
ration. (Preliminary report): J. W. READ AND 
BARNETT SuRE. The literature contains the results 
of experiments conducted by several investigators 
within the last eight or ten years on the benefits 
derived from the addition of small quantities of 
calcium chloride to the ration. We considered it 
of possible value to check up on some of the results 
which have been reported, and have in progress cer- 
tain experiments with rats, in which cotton seed 
meal constitutes 35 and 50 per cent. of the two 
basal rations which receive calcium chloride addi- 
tions varying from 0.60 to 16.00 grams of the tetra- 
hydrate salt per kilogram of ration. The rations 
receiving calcium chloride are compared to the con- 
trols free from salt additions, and to rations receiv- 


2 Jour. Agr, Res., XXI., No. 9. 


DECEMBER 16, 1921] 


ing sodium chloride and calcium carbonate. Our 
results to date show rather remarkable responses to 
small amounts of calcium chloride, even as low as 
0.6 of a gram to a kilogram of ration proves to be 
as effective as any of the higher additions of this 
salt. At this time, however, our experiments have 
not been in progress long enough to permit any 
definite conclusions, but they are being continued 
and will be reported later. 

Sugar beets in Louisiana: C. E. CoatTes AND A. 
F. Kipper. A long series of results show that it 
is possible to grow sugar beets of high sucrose and 
high purity in Louisiana and to obtain heavy yields. 
This is probably true for the South in general. The 
best results are obtained by late spring planting. 
The yields average 18 tons per acre; the purities 
about 85.0 and the sucrose 14.0. The essential 
feature is the necessity for obtaining good beet seed 
which breed true to type. Seed grown in the United 
States today fulfill these requirements. 

Causes of hominy black. EDWarD F. KoHMAN. 


The volatile acids and the volatile oxidizable sub- 
stances of cream and experimental butter: L. W. 
Ferris. In collaboration with Dr. H. W. REDFIELD 
AND W. R. NortH. There has been found a notice- 
able difference between the amount of volatile acids 
found by distillation without saponification in but- 
ter made from sweet cream and the amount found 
in butter made from sour cream, the acidity of 
which had been reduced before pasteurization. The 
amount of volatile oxidizable substances was high 
and the lactose very low on the samples of butter 
made from cream which contained the higher num- 
bers of lactose-splitting yeasts. 

Some determinations on the soluble nitrogen com- 
pounds of cream and butter: L. W. Ferris. The 
paper gives some of the results obtained in connec- 
tion with an investigation of cream and butter con- 
dueted by Dr. H. W. Redfield and continued by the 
author. The report shows the relation of amino 
nitrogen and ammonia to total nitrogen and the 
relation of the nitrogen not precipitated by phos- 
photungstie acid to total nitrogen in cream and in 
butter when fresh and after being held under dif- 
ferent conditions of storage. The greatest per cent. 
of such nitrogen, when the butter was fresh, and 
also the greatest increase during storage, was found 
in butter made from cream which had been allowed 
to sour before being pasteurized. 

A method for the determination of amino nitro- 
gen and ammonia in cream and butter: L. W. 
Ferris. Picric acid and acetic acid are used to sep- 
arate the protein and higher complex substances 


SCIENCE 


611 


from the lower degradation products, The amount 
of nitrogen in the filtrate reacting with nitrous 
acid in Van Slyke’s amino acid apparatus is deter- 
mined. The filtrate can be held for some time with- 
out change in the amount of reacting nitrogen, and 
hydrolysis of the proteins during analysis is re- 
duced to a minimum. It is found that there is a 
correlation between the ratio of the amino and 
ammonia nitrogen to the total nitrogen, and the 
quality of the sample. 

The viscosity of natural and ‘‘ remade milk.’’ 
Food control laboratory: Oscar L, EVENSON AND 
Lesuig W. Ferris. The relation of viscosity to 
total solids is shown by means of the expression: 
YT in which 
T.S. 

ye Time of flow of milk X sp. gr. of milk 


~~ Time of flow of water X sp. gr. of water 


T. S. equals total solids. For a given number of 
samples, the values for (v—1)/T. S. for natural 
milk varies from 5.68 to 7.18 and for remade milk 
from 6.37 to 12.60 at 25° C. The viscosity of milk 
as determined is, to a certain extent, dependent 
upon the temperature at which the milk has been 
held. Homogenizing at a high pressure increases 
the viscosity while emulsifying has little or no 
effect. 

Composition basis for considering the water re- 
quirements of plants: H, A, Noyes. Higher mois- 
ture contents in orchard soils were found to occur 
on those plots where increased bacterial activities 
resulting from aeration of the soil had increased 
plant growth and markedly changed the analyses of 
the plants. As the result of the field work, given 
above, controlled greenhouse investigations were 
undertaken with different fertilizer treatments to 
study variations in analysis as related to changes 
in the water requirement of plants. In one set of 
experiments the water requirement (per unit of dry 
matter) decreased from 1,785 to 1,215 with a varia- 
tion of 15 per cent, in the nitrogen content and 23 
per cent. in the ash content of plants grown under 
different fertilizer treatments. A second set of ex- 
periments on a different soil and with a different 
crop showed a variation in water requirement of 
from 37.9 to 16.1 (per unit green weight) with a 
variation of 74 per cent. nitrogen content, 176 per 
cent. in phosphorus content of ash and 66 per 
cent. in the ash content of plants grown under 
different fertilizer treatments. The hypothesis 
adopted on the basis of these results is that when a 
soil that will respond to fertilizer treatment (direct 
or indirect) is fertilized the plants growing in that 


612 


soil are able to make their growth (approach 
normal) on less moisture and analyze differently 
than they otherwise would. 


DIVISION OF DYE CHEMISTRY 


A. B. Davis, Chairman 
R. Norris Shreve, Secretary 


The dye situation in Canada: W. F. PREscorT. 

Contribution to the chemistry of cyan-xanthen and 
cyan-acridinium: GEORGE Hryu. In the course of 
researches undertaken with a view of introducing 
into the acridinium molecule other groups to render 
the dye more toxic toward certain pathogenic or- 
-ganisms, it was found that a number of new dyes 
can be produced, heretofore not recorded. The de- 
velopment of these new dyes is accompanied by 
structural formulae and notes on the laboratory 
technique used. The biological value of the cyan 
dyes is not discussed, as the biological experiments 
are as yet incomplete. 


Lakes from phenetidin: Dr. J. C. ScHmmpt. 
Phenetidin and derivatives when diazotized and 
coupled with beta naphthol or R salt form colors 
that range in shade from an orange to scarlet and 
to deep maroon. Some of these pigments are solu- 
ble, others insoluble in oils. These colors are re- 
markable for fastness to light and brilliancy, rival- 
ling those produced from alizarine. Their quali- 
ties make them valuable for the manufacture of 
lakes for printing ink, and painting purposes, var- 
nish stains, coloring waxes and paraffin also for 
printing textiles. 

The synthesis of anthraquinone from phthalic 
anhydride and benzene: BE, R. Harpine. The Frie- 
del Crafts reaction for the preparation of ortho ben- 
zoyl benzoic acid was studied extensively. Phthalic 
anhydride reacts with benzene and aluminum chlor- 
ide to give an unstable intermediate compound 
which is easily decomposed to give a salt of benzoyl 
benzoic acid. This acid is readily converted to 
anthraquinone by heating with sulfurie acid. The 
yields throughout are good. The process is com- 
mercially attractive because the raw materials are 
abundant and comparatively low priced. Anthra- 
quinone produced from anthracene so far has been 
expensive on account of the cost of anthracene, the 
removal of which from tar leaves a pitch of low 
value, 

A direct reading spectrophotometer for measur- 
ing the transmissivity of liquids: IRWIN G. PRIEST. 
This instrument has been designed to provide 
means for rapid and convenient as well as accurate 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1407. 


work, particularly in the technologic examination 
of dye solutions and oils. It consists essentially of 
a combination of a constant deviation wave-length 
spectrometer and the author’s ‘‘ exponential ’’ or 
‘“ variation of thickness ’’ photometer. Wave- 
length and transmissive index (‘‘ extinction coeffi- 
cient ’’) are both read directly from the instrument 
seales without any computation. A model instru- 
ment constructed in the Bureau of Standards In- 
strument Shop was exhibited at the Chemical Hx- 
position Sept. 12-17, 1921. The instrument will be 
fully described in a forthcoming Bureau of Stand- 
ards publication to which reference should be made 
for details. Interested persons may have their 
names placed on the mailing list for this paper by 
addressing the Bureau of Standards, Div. IV, Sec. 
3, Washington, D, C. 

Naphthalene sulphonic acids. IV. The solubili- 
ties of some amino salts of naphthalene sulphonic 
acids: H, WALES. Solubilities of the salts of alpha 
and beta naphthylamine with some naphthalene sul- 
phonic acids have been determined between 25° and 
98° C. Allotropic changes are indicated for two of 
the salts and an interesting relation between the 
solubility and structure of a series of isomers is 
shown. 


The preparation of alpha gamma quinolines. I. 
2, 4 dimethyl, 6 ethoxy quinoline: An improved 
method for its preparation and a study of the con- - 
densation: S. PALKIN AND M. Harris. A study 
has been made of the conditions affecting the yield 
and quality of 2, 4 dimethyl, 6 ethoxy quinoline as 
prepared by the Beyer (Pfitzinger) synthesis for 
alpha gamma quinolines. Tolerance toward water 
and temperature variation and effect of oxidation 
in the synthesis; also relative effectiveness of puri- 
fication reactions introduced by Mikeska for the re- 
covery of pure base have been investigated. Boil- 
ing range curves (at 30 mm.) for the base at dif- 
ferent stages of purification have been worked out. 
One of the principal difficulties incident to the re- 
covery of the base from the reaction mixture, has 
been overcome by the application of a steam treat- 
ment rendering possible the elimination of tedious 
extractions or steam distillations. An improved 
process (depending on the Beyer-Pfitzinger synthe- 
sis) for 2, 4 dimethyl, 6 ethoxy quinoline, is de- 
seribed, which is much simpler of manipulation, re- 
quires less time to carry out, is adaptable to larger 
seale operation, and yields 10 to 15 per cent. more 
pure base than by the former method. 

CHARLES L. PARSONS, 
Secretary 


SCIENCE 


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SCIENCE 


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Frmay, DrceMBer 23, 1921. 


The Outlook for Agricultural Research: Dr. R. 


AW DEGA TORR Un teusnetsyetoietetaievoltlel susieliNer ste ayepaie 613 
Zoological Research as a Career: PROFESSOR C. 

OBA GOLUNGE. sesepsietculsccustste toys aheieistekersre hierar 617 
Geology as a Profession: Dr. H. P, Lirrnn... 619 
The American Association for the Advance- 

ment of Science: PROFESSOR Burton E. Liv- 

TENG S TON inset esstecehchaksrernekesve noes torch syed mite) erates 623 


Scientific Events: 


American Bamboo Grove open to Investi- 
gators; Flights of House Flies; Impact on 


Bridges; The Toronto Meeting............ 624 
Scientific Notes and News... 2... 5. ceo eae 626 
University and Educational News............ 628 


Discussion and Correspondence : 
The National Academy of Sciences and the 
Metric System: Dr. CHarLEs D. Waucorr. 
Stains for the Mycelium of Molds and 
other Fungi: M. E. DizrMeR AND ELOISE 


Gerry. Sharks at San Diego: Dr. H. W. 

Norris. Municipal Observatories: PRoFEs- 

sor NEVIN M. FENNEMAN................. 628 
Scientific Books: 

The Order of Nature: Proressor R. D. Car- 

NGT CHPANE Tate pe culos lene aneh NemeytateeMenetelay s Caiialas sta 631 


Special Articles: 


More linked Genes in Rabbits: PRroressor 
W. E. Castur. The Hydrogen-ion Concen- 
tration of Cultures of Connective Tissue from 
Chick Embryos: Dr. M. R. Lewis AND Dr. 
Luoyp D. Fenton. An Electrical Effect of 


the Aurora: PROFESSOR FERNANDO SANFORD. 634 


The American Chemical Society: Dr. CHARLES 
ys PARSONS Ys 3t aia) ausiaperesestelh ee ctelaihessecsiastons 


MSS. intended for publication and books, etc.,intended for 
review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. 


——— J 
THE OUTLCOK FOR AGRICULTURAL 
RESEARCH 


At the close of the World War, the out- 
look for research in the United States, both 
as to its immediate future and as to its 
permanent place in our economic structure, 
was very rosy. The tremendous part which 
the results of new discoveries played in the 
conduct of the war and in the sustenance of 
the nations whose normal productive ener- 
gies were being diverted to war purposes, had 
attracted popular attention to and support of 
research activities. Research men had re- 
ceived new impetus and enthusiasm from the 
practical benefits of their work which became 
suddenly manifest. Organization of research 
agencies and the general recognition of the 
possibilities of cooperative organized attack 
upon the problems which need scientific study 
seemed to promise much for the immediate 
future of research work. 

All this seemed to be particularly true of 
research in agriculture. The vital import- 
ance of the products of agriculture to the 
national need had been emphasized again by 
the war-time needs and slogans. Nations, 
like ours, which had been going through a 
period of almost inconceivable industrial de- 
velopment had come to hold in light esteem 
the earlier understanding of the importance 
of a sound and permanent agricultural system, 
which knowledge had been forced upon the 
preceding generation of American statesmen 
by the post-Civil-War experiences. But the 
vital importance of a steady production of a 
sufficient supply of agricultural products for 
the world’s needs had been so emphasized by 
the war, and America’s strategic position as 
a food-producing nation had been so clearly 
shown, that it seemed that a re-awakening 
of public interest in the support of anything 
which would aid in insuring a sound national 
agricultural policy was inevitable. 


614 


Now, however, the expected renaissance in 
agricultural research seems to have been 
temporarily thwarted by the business depres- 
sion and by the general clamor against in- 
creased expenditures of public funds for any 
purpose. I believe that this condition is only 
a temporary one. We are going through an 
experience which brings a blush of shame 
to the cheek of every loyal American. We 
are seeing every principle of patriotism and 
devotion to public welfare which were such 
powerful stimulants to individual and na- 

tional effort during the war submerged by 
the petty political jealousies. 

These are reconstruction days. War-time 
fever has only just left the body politic. 
Physical power, mental acumen, and spirit- 
ual force seem to be still at a low ebb. No 
true American patriot believes that these 
are manifestations of sound, normal Ameri- 
ean life. And every true American, embued 
with the characteristic hopeful American 
spirit, looks forward with optimistic confi- 
dence to a speedy recovery of sound body and 
sound mind in our national existence. 

Hence, we ought not to be discouraged or 
dismayed by the present temporary reaction 
in popular enthusiasm for our research work. 
This lack of enthusiasm ought not to be mis- 
taken by us to be any definite or permanent 
opposition to agricultural research. The les- 
sons of the war-time emergency concerning 
the importance of agriculture to the national 
life are too clear and too convincing to be 
easily forgotten. Indeed, it is the plain duty 
of those of us who, by our engagement in 
public service for agricultural development, 
have a unique opportunity to shape public 
opinion and to mold public sentiment, to see 
to it that this important lesson is not for- 
gotten and that the proper place of agricul- 
tural research in relation to sound agricul- 
tural development continues to be kept clearly 
in mind. 

The fundamental place of agricultural re- 
search in any system of agricultural educa- 
tion and development is so apparent that it 
needs no elaborate discussion or argument 
concerning it. It is an old and trite saying 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1408. 


that “no stream can rise higher than its 
source.” And it is a self-evident fact that 
the source of agricultural knowledge is care- 
ful scientific investigation of the laws of na- 
ture. 

This was clearly recognized by the earlier 
leaders in agriculture who, soon after the 
establishment of the Land-Grant Colleges 
began the investigational work which soon 
led the way to the establishment of the agri- 
cultural experiment stations as definitely 
organized agencies for agricultural research 
work. In most of the States these stations 
were organized as a unit of the college and 
under the administrative supervision of the 
same officers who administered the teaching 
functions of the institutions. In a few states 
there were organized experiment stations 
which were entirely separated in their ad- 
ministration, functions, and activities from 
the teaching service. But in most cases the 
research work was closely associated with the 
teaching duties of the faculty of the agri- 
cultural college, and in about one-half of the 
states the college itself is an integral part of 
the state university with its graduate school, 
which also has general research possibilities. 

The need for post-graduate training for 
teaching, research, and extension workers in 
agriculture has resulted in the development 
of graduate schools in many of the separately 
organized land-grant colleges. Thus it has 
come about that in most of the states there 
are two agencies or units of the land-grant 
colleges, which are to be considered as poten- 
tial sources for agricultural research work; 
namely, the experiment station and the gradu- 
ate school. 

In any consideration of the future possi- 
bilities for agricultural research, therefore, 
we ought to count upon the development of 
these two types of agencies. The growth of 
these two, side by side, in the same institu- 
tions has often led to a confusion of their 
functions and possibilities, which may be 
wholly unconscious and unintentional in the 
minds of the members of the staff and ad- 
ministrative officers of these combined insti- 
tutions; but which is quite apparent to those 


DECEMBER 23, 1921] 


ot us who are connected with the separate 
research institutions. It is, perhaps, because 
of my recent change from one type of these 
institutions to the other that the inevitable 
distinctions between graduate school research 
work in agriculture and agricultural experi- 
ment station research work have forced them- 
selves upon me. They now appear to me to 
be so significant as to justify my comment- 
ing upon them in the hope of at least par- 
tially clarifying the situation and so afford- 
ing a better basis for future development of 
all of the possibilities of agricultural research 
work. 

The questions at issue may be more clearly 
indicated if formulated into two definite 
queries, the reply to the first of which is 
necessarily dependent upon the answer to the 
second. These questions are: “Is the main- 
tenance of an experiment station as a separ- 
ate unit of the land-grant college desirable?” 
and “ How does an experiment station differ 
in its methods and accomplishments from 
other agencies for research, such as the gradu- 
ate school, or the personal research work of 
an academic faculty?” 

Turning first to the second of these ques- 
tions, namely, “ How does an experiment sta- 
tion differ from other agencies for research?” 
my answer is that it differs in the environ- 
ment or atmosphere which it creates. Its 
atmosphere is that of research for the ac- 
complishment of definite economic progress; 
while that of the graduate school is chiefly 
research for training of graduate students in 
the method of critical investigation, and that 
of individual research work is the promotion 
of individual professional standing and wel- 
fare. Now, I recognize many exceptions 
which might be taken to such a generaliza- 
tion when applied to the cases of brilliant in- 
dividual research workers in these different 
organizations. But I am discussing now the 
environmental conditions of the organized en- 
tities or institutions known respectively as 
experiment stations, graduate schools, or uni- 
versity faculties. 

As between the research work done at an 
experiment station and that done at a gradu- 


SCIENCE 


615 


ate school, both parts of the same land-grant 
college for example, the physical materials 
worked with may be the same and the final 
results of the investigation of any given prob- 
lem by either agency ought to be the same, 
provided the ultimate truth of the matter 
is reached; but the environment under which 
the investigators will work is essentially dif- 
ferent. In both organizations there may be 
less mature and less experienced investigators 
working under the inspiration and guidance 
of older and more experienced research men; 
but in the graduate school the immediate ob- 
ject to be attained is the completion of the 
work in such a way that it can be formulated 
into and defended before a group of examin- 
ers as a thesis; while in the station, the in- 
vestigation is to eventuate in some contribu- 
tion to agricultural science or practise which 
must stand the test of practical application 
in farm management operations. It is pos- 
sible that the methods and mental attitude 
of the leader of the work toward its ultimate 
outcome may be identical in each case; but 
that of his assistants will most certainly be 
different, and the leader himself is almost 
super-human if he is not influenced by the 
desire to see his students present “a good 
thesis” as the result of the work. But the 
more essential differences lie in the undi- 
vided interest in and devotion to research 
problems which is, or at least ought to be, 
characteristic of the experiment station. Fa- 
culty men necessarily have to be interested 
in eclass-room problems and in the prepara- 
tion of the results of their research in forms 
which are pedagogically sound and academic- 
ally attractive. Graduate students are usu- 
ally taking course work in addition to thesis 
work and are likely to have their interest in 
their investigations diverted from the main 
issue, or their observations influenced by 
their coordination or contrast with class-room 
ideas. I am not arguing against research 
work in the graduate schools. On the con- 
trary, I regard it as the very essence, the sine 
qua non, of graduate school work. Neither 
would I belittle the economic value of the 


616 


results of the research work which is so well 
done in the graduate school. 

What I am trying to point out is that there 
is a definite atmosphere or environment 
favorable to agricultural research which is 
provided by the experiment station organiza- 
tion which can not be provided by any other 
research agency. This being my answer td 
the second question propounded above, the 
answer to the first, namely, “Is the mainten- 
ance of a separately organized research agency 
known as an experiment station desirable?” 
must be an unqualifiedly affirmative one. I 

“am not now discussing the question of the 
geographical or administrative separation of 
the station from the college. That is an en- 
tirely different question to be answered from 
entirely different considerations than those 
which are proper to this paper. But what 
I do urge is that the agricultural research 
work of the land-grant college, for which 
federal and state appropriations are given in 
order that the practise of agriculture may be 
improved and the economic welfare of the 
people enhanced, shall be so definitely organ- 
ized into a distinct entity (having for its 
sole purpose the promotion of research) that 
the environment most favorable to successful 
research work may be created. I do not need 
to enlarge upon the details of staff confer- 
ences; of cooperative work upon the project 
by the proper men, regardless of administra- 
tive departments of instruction; of freedom 
from interruption of thought and of work by 
other duties; etce., which contribute to this 
environment favorable to a high type of agri- 
cultural research. These are familiar to you 
all. I do wish, however, to urge upon the 
director of the station, in each case, the im- 
portance of the maintenance of a definite 
station staff with definite assignments to it 
and of definite staff activities as a highly im- 
portant factor in developing the atmosphere 
or environment which I have been attempting 
to describe and which I believe to be an im- 
portant factor in the future success of agri- 
cultural research work. 

There is an additional problem in the ad- 
ministration of experiment station work upon 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1408. 


the solution of which I believe its future 
possibilities depend in considerable measure. 
I refer to the effect which may be produced 
upon both the character and the method of 
our research by the present demand for so- 
ealled “practical results” from it. An in- 
evitable and altogether wholesome reaction 
from the extravagance of war-time expendi- 
ture has set in. I hope that it may con- 
tinue and that no object which does not prom- 
ise definite improvement in our living con- 
ditions may successfully appeal for public 
financial support. J agree, therefore, that 
our expenditure of public funds for agricul- 
tural research must have as its proper justi- 
fication the accomplishment of some definite 
“»ractical result.” I believe, however, that 
a definite contribution to science which may 
make our structure of agricultural knowledge 
more complete, more sound, or even more 
beautiful, is a “practical” result of research 
work. 

I have no patience with the dilatory brows- 
ing around in the field of the unknown in 
hopes that something interesting to the indi- 
vidual browser may turn up, which is some- 
times lauded as “the search for truth for 
truth’s sake,” as a guiding principle in sta- 
tion research. I believe that each station 
project should be a definitely formulated 
effort to solve some problem which will con- 
tribute either to our knowledge of agricul- 
tural science or to our methods of agricul- 
tural practise. It is, of course, the second of 
these two types of contributions which is 
usually meant by the phrase “ practical re- 
sults,” and contributions to agricultural sci- 
entific knowledge are regarded by some of 


our constituents as of doubtful desirability. 


I do not intend, however, to debate this 
particular point at length in this paper. I 
have indicated my own very definite con- 
victions concerning it. 

What I do wish to discuss, however, is the 
possible effect upon the methods of our re- 
search work of this continual pressure upon 
the station administration for so-called 
“practical results.” This pressure may be 
either direct, in the form of active criticism 


DECEMBER 23, 1921] 


of the station’s program of work by indivi- 
dual or organized farmers, or it may be the 
indirect and insiduous influence of the abil- 
ity to cite definite financial benefits to the 
state or nation from the result of each com- 
pleted project of station work, as a matter 
of pride in achievement or’ as an influence 
in securing future moral and financial sup- 
port for the station’s program. 

Whatever the character of the pressure may 
be, it will be most unfortunate for the ulti- 
mate success of agricultural research in 
America if this pressure is allowed to influ- 
ence the methods by which the station re- 
search is conducted. JI believe it to be a 
cardinal principle of station research that 
the investigations shall be pursued accord- 
ing to the very best possible methods of 
scientific inquiry by a staff of investigators 
who are as well trained in these methods as 
it is possible to obtain. It is, of course, 
fortunate for the man himself if he has had 
such practical experience in farm operations 
as will lead him to see the possible applica- 
tions and ramifications of his problem and 
such a back-ground of experience is an un- 
doubted aid in the selection and formulation 
of a project to be undertaken; but, on the 
other hand, it may be a real handicap if it 
so prejudices him against certain methods of 
study as to limit his working tools of investi- 
gation, or if it gives him such pronounced 
preconceptions as to the probable outcome of 
the investigation as to unconsciously warp 
his observations or conclusions. From the 
standpoint of the successful prosecution of 
station research an open and unbiased mind 
and the ability to use skillfully all the work- 
ing tools which are afforded by a proper 
knowledge of fundamental sciences, are, in 
my judgment, better qualifications for sta- 
tion research than is any amount of practi- 
cal farm experience. 

I am not discussing preparation for ex- 
tension or teaching of agriculture; but prep- 
aration for agricultural research. I do not 
wish to appear to belittle the value of practi- 
cal farm experience to any worker in scien- 
tific agriculture. I know what its value has 


SCIENCE 


617 


been to me. Nor do I underestimate its 
value in contributing to the solution of many 
problems which come to the station to be 
answered. But there are hundreds, if not 
thousands, of farmers in every state who have 
a vastly better wealth of farm experience to 
bring to the solution of these problems than 
we could possibly get for our station men. 
They can, should, and do contribute the part 
to the improvement of agricultural practises 
which farm experience can teach. They can 
not contribute what scientific inquiry has to 
add to agricultural knowledge and it is this 
latter contribution which our stations should 
be organized to provide. 

I have every confidence that the future 
has even greater opportunities and successes 
in store for the contributions of science to 
agriculture than the past has had, and I, 
therefore, close this paper with the utterance 
of my profound conviction that the present 
apparent slight reverse is but a temporary 
phase of the general problem of agricultural 
development in America, and that the out- 
look is for future opportunities which will 
challenge and stimulate our very best efforts 
to meet them. 

R. W. THATcHER 

New York AGRICULTURAL 

EXPERIMENT STATION, 

GENEVA 


ZOOLOGICAL RESEARCH AS A CAREER 

In the present state of the subject a person 
looking forward to a career in zoology must, 
in most cases, expect to find it in academic . 
life. Here there are increasing opportuni- 
ties leading out into special lines such as 
anatomy, physiology, genetics, histology, em- 
bryology, cytology, entomology, paleontol- 
ogy and in occasional cases into systematic 
work upon limited groups, such as_ fishes, 
reptiles, birds, mammals, molluscs, ete. The 
increased entrance requirements of profes- 
sional schools, demanding scientific training, 
has led to larger numbers of students in the 
elementary zoological courses, thus making 
more teaching positions in colleges; while 
improved methods of instruction in anatomy, 
physiology, histology, and embryology have 


618 


opened up positions in medical faculties for 
trained workers in these subjects. 

The history of a professor of zoology at 
present would run some such course as this. 
While an undergraduate he might show a 
special interest and ability in the subject 
leading to an appointment as assistant of 
some kind in the laboratory. Upon gradua- 
tion he might receive a scholarship in the 
graduate school and later a fellowship, these 
various appointments making him somewhat 
self-supporting. Having obtained his Ph.D. 
degree and developed a special interest in 

. some phase of zoology he could expect to be 
appointed an assistant or instructor taking 
part in the laboratory instruction of the ele- 
mentary courses. After a time he would be 
given charge of a class in the particular sub- 
ject in which he had specialized and with it 
the rank of assistant professor. After a num- 
ber of years he would attain the rank of as- 
sociate professor or its equivalent. Finally 
after a period of about fifteen years he might 
be made a full professor. During the pre- 
liminary years of his career his salary might 
range from $1,000 to $3,500 per year, while 
as full professor his income would be from 
$4,000 to $6,000. Within recent years salar- 
ies have advanced and in a few places reach 
from $8,000 to $10,000. While from the 
financial standpoint not much ean be said 
for such a prospect there are many additional 
compensations which are worthy of consider- 
ation. Chief among these is the opportunity 
for constant mental growth and development, 
and the contact with young and inquiring 
minds which keeps the mind active and ad- 
aptable. Constant association with the best 
products of human thought, and with pleas- 
ant and congenial fellow-workers, together 
with opportunities for travel and study in 
the summer vacation constitute arguments 
of great weight for any one whose tastes in- 
cline to a scholastic life. 

The added attraction of a career in a chair 
of science is that one deals with matters 
which are essentially of interest to our pres- 
ent civilization. The contributions made to 
human knowledge are now almost exclusively 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. LIV. No. 1408. 


in science. Other civilizations have equalled 
or excelled us in many lines of endeavor, but 
in coming to an understanding of the real 
nature of ourselves and of the universe in 
which we live, we stand apart. An opportu- 
nity to take part in enlarging the bounds of 
human knowledge and in gaining control 
over the conditions of human existence must 
appeal to the imagination of any young man, 
who really has ambition to leave the world 
better than he found it. The teacher has 
the additional satisfaction of contributing to 
the forces that will continue the attack upon 
Nature’s secrets because his students live 
after him. . 

Added to the attractiveness attaching to 
any scientific position the zoologist finds a 
compelling interest and satisfaction in study- 
ing living things and in learning from them 
secrets which profoundly affect his own ex- 
istence. It is only necessary here to recall 
that Darwin, in establishing the theory of 
evolution, supplied a philosophy which has 
dominated every phase of human affairs in 
the last half century. Every year sees ad- 
ditions to our knowledge of life and its proc- 
esses which make for a better and fuller. 
human existence. The subject of zoology is 
so young and fertile that any capable person 
may hope to make a worthy contribution to 
it. Because of this he may well forego op- 
portunities more attractive in a worldly way. 

But should there exist a taste for scientific 
pursuits and a disinclination for scholastic 
life there are many ways in which a scien- 
tific training can be utilized outside the 
school room. The national government main- 
tains extensive laboratories among which are 
those dealing with the applications of zoologi- 
cal knowledge. At present these are largely 
concerned with parasitological questions, but 
in the study of these there open up fascina- 
ting life histories of animals, and their pur- 
suit involves travel and investigation in many 
lands. To one interested in fishes and their 
ways the Bureau of Fisheries offers many 
opportunities, some of which lead to ocean 
voyages and experiences with the mysteries 
of the sea. 


DECEMBER 23, 1921] 


The most extensive demand that the govern- 
ment makes, however, is for entomologists. 
Large numbers of such specialists are engaged 
in the study of insect life in all its aspects. A 
part of this work is done in the laboratories of 
the Department of Agriculture, but in many 
cases the field studies constitute a large propor- 
tion. Some of the investigations are of the 
most fundamental scientific value and there are 
projects for the exhaustive studies of life his- 
tories, such as, for instance, that of the honey 
bee. In this case several men give all their 
time to investigating, with excellent equip- 
ment, the complicated social and biological life 
of the hive. 


As biological science grows, places are 


made in government departments to take ad- 


vantage of the latest developments. Within 
recent years the subject of genetics has under- 
gone rapid development and some of the under- 
lying laws of heredity have become known. To 
extend our knowledge of these and to make 
them applicable to animal breeding the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture has established special 
facilities for the study of genetics and has em- 
ployed men to investigate breeding problems in 
the most comprehensive manner. Positions 
thus opened are very attractive to persons de- 
siring to follow the career of an investigator 
unhampered by teaching responsibilities. 

The states now are also setting up labora- 
tories which require trained zoologists. These 
may be in their universities and colleges or 
may be connected with public health depart- 
ments, biological surveys, entomological com- 
missions, or museums. Among them they offer 
some variety of choice but, in general, are dis- 
tinguished from teaching positions by greater 
contact with the general public and by a larger 
element of administrative or regulatory work. 

Similarly, large cities have established de- 
partments of public health in which there is 
occasional demand for zoologists, principally in 
entomological or parasitological studies. In 
some cities also there are municipal museums 

- and zoological gardens which require zoologists 
trained as collectors, field naturalists and sys- 
tematists in different groups. Sometimes these 
positions are very attractive. 


SCIENCE 


619 


Finally there are research institutions on 
private foundations where opportunities for 
zoological investigators are of the highest char- 
acter. The development of these has been 
due largely to the failure of universities to 
make adequate provision for research. The 
rapid growth of science and the expensive 
equipment required for investigational work, 
together with the necessity of providing plenty 
of unhampered time for the student of new 
problems, has made inevitable and necessary 
the establishment of research institutes. Since 
these are well-endowed they offer attractive 
openings for thoroughly trained zoologists. 


C. E. McCiune 


UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 


GEOLOGY AS A PROFESSION 


INTRODUCTION 


“THE geological book—the greatest histori- 
cal document of the ages ...,” these are 
the words of one worker after thirty active 
years of teaching and research. Are the at- 
tractions of geology really such that able 
young men of to-day may expect to be led 
to similar enthusiastic exclamation after 
their initiation into the science? To answer 
this question is the purpose of this paper. 


RELATION TO OTHER SCIENCES 


The first point which should be understood 
is that a liking for chemistry, physics, biology, 
mathematics, astronomy, or economics, ex- 
cludes no one from becoming a_ geologist. 
Geology is not truly an independent science; 
it is a combination of other sciences directed 
towards a specific field of study—the earth. 
One of the greatest deterrents to more rapid 
progress in geology is the lack of broad train- 
ing in other sciences; a professor of geology 
in a well-known university recently remarked 
that he would rather teach a graduate stu- 
dent well-grounded in other sciences and 
knowing little geology, than one well trained 
in geology and knowing little of other sci- 
ences. The fact that geology is in many 
ways not one of the exact sciences by no 
means indicates that a foundation in these is 


620 


not desirable. Many ridiculous hypotheses 
have been advanced in geologic theory which 
would never have escaped their authors’ 
minds had some knowledge of the more exact 
sciences been there to hold their fancies in 
check. Many of the problems at present 
most obviously open for investigation are 
those on the borderland between geology, and 
physics or chemistry. This matter is stressed 
because many brilliant students are repelled 
from geology because of the number of ques- 
tions to which “probably” or “perhaps” 
are the only safe answers. The converse of 
this is also true, that many men with a love 
of science have been attracted to this field 
for the very reason that the personal equa- 
tion can enter in; and by their gifts of ac- 
curate observation, deduction and induction, 
such men have been able to make most im- 
portant contributions. 


OPPORTUNITIES IN GEOLOGY 


Without attempting to make geology a sort 
of scientific catch-all, it is, nevertheless, evi- 
dent that there is room for men of very di- 
verse scholastic leanings. The same is true 
for occupational preferences; there are 
governmental exploring parties whose range 
of work extends from Alaska to Mexico; 
there are expeditions to distant or unexplored 
regions for commercial companies; there are 
state surveys in 41 of the 48 states; there is 
the teaching profession; and there is museum 
work. Lastly, there are opportunities in vari- 
ous endowed institutions, in some museums, 
and a few universities, for uninterrupted re- 
search. Geology not only appeals to men of 
diverse scientific tastes, but offers each a 
livelihood in the field of his choice. 


POSSIBLE LINES OF INVESTIGATION 


Some types of geologic investigation are 
described below: 

First, there is investigation on the border- 
land between physics, chemistry, and to a 
certain extent astronomy, and geology. A 
good idea of the type of problem attacked in 
this field may be obtained from the list of 
publications of the Geophysical Laboratory 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1408. 


of the Carnegie Institution. Here are such 

headings as: 

Contributions to Cosmogony and the Funda- 
mental Problems of Geology. The Tidal 
and Other Problems. { 

An Investigation into the Elastic Constants 
of Rocks... 

Significance of Glass-making Processes to 
the Petrologist. 

Methods of Petrographic Microscopic Re- 
search. 

If a more detailed picture of the overlap of 

geology and chemistry is desired, the student 

need only glance through “The Data of 

Geochemistry,” Bulletin 616, United States 

Geological Survey, where the almost endless 

inter-ramification of the two sciences is well 

illustrated. 

Second, there is that great mass of research 
on the borderland between biology and geo- 
graphy. Types of recent topics are: 

The Fossil Turtles of North America. 

Tron-bearing Bacteria and their Geologic Re- 

lations. 

Human Remains and Associated Fossils 
from the Pleistocene of Florida. 

Distribution of Fossil Plants in Time and 
Space. 

Such investigations have been carried out 

under the auspices of government museums, 

privately endowed museums, privately en- 
dowed research institutions, the United States 

Geological Survey, State Geological Surveys, 

and universities, and by teachers utilizing 

their spare time for independent research. 

Third, there is the decided trend of many 
geologists toward research on the borderland 
between geology and economics, a_ useful 
field if competently filled. Of a recent book 
“Coal, Iron and War,” written by a geolo- 
gist, a reviewer has said that it “cuts under 
political and social facts” to the material in- 
fluences which create them. 

Fourth, there is research in commercial 
geology. There are two classes of commer- 
cial workers—the consulting geologist and the 
geologist in the employ of a single company. 
The first to a certain extent controls his time 
and has opportunity to devote considerable 


DECEMBER 23, 1921] 


energy to research. Such men have taken an 
active part in the development of their phase 
of geology and have made many valuable con- 
tributions to the subject. Those employed by 
a definite company have less control of their 
time and therefore less independence in the 
direction their studies take. In both cases 
the research is likely to contain an element 
of secrecy—and results of research which can 
not be published, no matter how good they 
may be, can not contribute to the advance- 
ment of the science. Recent studies show an 
actual decrease of published matter occurring 
at just about the time the call for oil geolo- 
gists became pronounced. This is no indica- 
tion that geologists should not go into pro- 
fessional geologic work, but it does point 
out that if a man feels he would enjoy the 
publication of the results of his research, 
there are far better openings than commer- 
cial work in his particular case. 

There seems to be no need of discussing 
the various fields of what is more commonly 
considered geology. The sources of support 
are the same as above and the opportunities 
for subjects of study as endless as the topics 
of the text-books. Stratigraphy, physiogra- 
phy, economic geology, dynamical, and his- 
torical geology, with their accompanying 
theoretical aspects, all offer their attractions 
according td the taste of the investigator. 


COMPENSATION 


Compensation is unquestionably of two 
sorts—material and mental. In material 
compensation, there can be no doubt that the 
practising geologist leads. He also has the 
satisfaction that comes from active participa- 
tion in the development and winning of ma- 
terial wealth. There is, however, a field of 
research where the results are not utilitarian 
and are of no apparent practical value. 
Here the financial reward is less, but there 
comes instead what to many men is the great- 
est joy of life—the personal discovery of 
new facts and the increase of human knowl- 
edge. A geologist said recently “I am doing 
just what I would do if I had a million dol- 
lars.”” The true research spirit has in it also 


SCIENCE 


621 


an underlying motive of service to humanity. 
The reading of biography or personal obser- 
vation will surely verify this statement. 


Great advances of the future are not dependent 
upon having every man do everything as an expert, 
but they will rest upon a wide appreciation of the 
importance of constructive thought, of organized 
knowledge, and of the continuous advance of knowl- 
edge.1 


If a man’s inclination is to add to this “ con- 
tinuous advance of knowledge” by personal 
effort, he may be sure that he will eventually 
feel well paid. 


GEOLOGY AS A PROFESSION? 


Why enter geology as a profession? The 
reasons are most diverse and will make vary- 
ing appeals according to the likes and dis- 
likes of the individual. No claim is made 
that the facts advanced are all peculiar to 
geology, but the combination of advantages 
is certainly hard to match elsewhere. 

For the sake of clarity these reasons will 
be discussed under numerical headings. 

1. The science is young. Any man of 
good ability may hope to make worth while 
contributions to it. The joy of discovery, 
already alluded to, is open to all. 

2. The range of possible employment is 
large. The three most open to the beginner 
are teaching, work under government or state 
bureaus, and commercial employment. If 
one type of work proves distasteful, there are 
opportunities to utilize the same training in 
a different occupation. This fact has been 
amplified on a preceding page. 

3. The investigator may feel that his work 
has an intimate relation with the winning 
and best utilization of the raw materials 
which contribute to national and world pros- 
perity. This is often true even if his tastes 
lead him in fields which seem to have no re- 
lation to the practical needs of man. Berry, 

1 Address by J. C. Merriam. 
November 19, 1920. 

2The writer wishes to acknowledge indebtedness 
to a splendid paper by R. D. Salisbury, in ScrENcE, 
April 5, 1918, for much that is good in the follow- 
ing discussion. 


See Science for 


622 


in reviewing a recent work on foraminifera, 
has pointed out that these microscopic ani- 
mals “have lately been shown to be of pro- 
found significance in the location of oil 
sands ... in the Texas oil fields.” 

4. The geologist has the pleasure of realiz- 
ing close bonds with many kinds of people 
and many fields of human interest. The suc- 
cessful operation of the federal leasing law 
depends on the work which many young ge- 
ologists have been doing in the different 
sections of the country in past summers. In 
the settlement of post-war problems in eco- 
nomics, the word of the geologist (and geog- 
rapher) carried much weight. In matters 
of conservation and the establishment of 
national parks he holds an honorable place. 
And his influence on religious thought has 
been and still is great. 

Geology means contact with people. The 
geologist in his field work often meets woods- 
men, Indians, cowboys, pioneer agricultural- 
ists, prospectors and miners; in consulting 
work, he deals with “big business”; in class- 
room or office, with highly trained university 
men; often his lot is cast with all three types 
many times in the course of a year. He 
must develop tact, an understanding and ap- 
preciation of people of various kinds, and an 
ability to adapt himself to varying conditions 
of life. Incidently, he ‘will probably keep 
alive the “milk of human kindness.” Ge- 
ology may not be a humanistic subject, but 
it is a thoroughly human subject. 

5. The character of the science is such as 
to develop the quality of good judgment. 
Geology being young and many theories still 
debatable, the first duty of the geologist is 
to consider the evidence and accept those 
theories according best with the known facts. 
Due, perhaps, to this and the preceding fact, 
many geologists have filled positions as col- 
lege presidents, executive officers, and public 
servants with exceptional tact, skill, and in- 
tegrity. 

6. The geologist derives great reward from 
his intimate understanding of nature. No 
journey is so long, no desert so drear, no 
mountain so forbidding, no streamlet so 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1408. 


small, no life so insignificant, that it does 
not bring with it some intimate revelation 
and fellowship. As is often said of religion, 
this is something which needs to be experi- 
enced to be understood. It is a wonderful 
possession to have and a wonderful gift to 
impart to others as teacher and as investiga- 
tor. The geologist may not express his 
thoughts in a “ Psalm of Life” as did Long- 
fellow after viewing a fossil foot-print, but 
his inspiration may be even greater from his 
fuller understanding of its meaning. 

4". Geology is an winvigorator—physically. 
The researches of the active geologist will 
take him into the open, far away from the 
contaminated air of city and laboratory, for 
several weeks or months, each year. Few 
other learned professions can offer this in- 
ducement to their votaries. The geologist 
must love the out-of-doors and from this 
love he will draw physical fitness. Geology 
is pre-eminently a profession for the red- 
blooded, athletic type of man. 

8. Geology is an invigorator—morally and 
spiritually. Consider the title of papers by 
some of the present-day leaders—J. M. 
Clarke, “The philosophy of geology and the 
order of the state”; T. C. Chamberlin, “A 
geologic forecast of the future opportunities 
of our race”; G. O. Smith, “Geology and 
the public service”; read the concluding 
paragraphs of text-books on geology; con- 
sider the closing words of a recent address 
before an important gathering of geologists— 

The student of earth sciences was once a con- 
tributor to the wider philosophy of nature. It may 
be his duty now to make sure, not only that his 
influence is felt in advancement of material wel- 
fare, but that he serve also to point out the lesson 
of the foundations of the earth, and to show that 
strength may still come from the hills, 


In conclusion, for one who has scientific 
leanings, who cares for investigation, and 
who has ability, geology offers health, an 
optimistic outlook on life, human intercourse, 
abundant opportunity for research, and withal, 
a livelihood. 


H. P. Lirtie 
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 


DrcEMBER 23, 1921] 


THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR 
THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 


REPORT OF THE AUTUMN MEETING OF THE 
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE COUNCIL 


THE meeting was ealled to order in the office of 
The Science Press, in the Grand Central Terminal 
Building, New York City, at 3 o’clock, November 
20, 1921, Chairman Flexner presiding. The follow- 
jing members were present: Cattell, Fairchild, Flex- 
ner, Howard, Humphreys, Livingston, MacDougal, 
Moore, Osborn, Ward. Excepting A. A. Noyes, the 
entire committee was present. 

1. The minutes of the last meeting (April 24, 
1921) were approved as mailed to all members of 
the committee. 

2. The permanent secretary’s report was consid- 
ered in some detail and was accepted and ordered 
filed. A résumé follows: 

The Summarized Proceedings was published 
October 10. The membership list was closed June 
15, so that the published list is corrected only to 
that date. 2,300 eopies were printed at a cost of 
$5,378.58. The preparation of the manuscript cost 
$1,313.73 as extra clerical expenses. Adding this 
amount to the cost of publication gives $6,692.31. 
This total cost of the book is partially offset by 
sales of 1,796 copies amounting to $2,183.00. 
The book thus cost the Association $4,509.31 net, 
chargeable against the seven years, 1915 to 1921. 
130 copies were given away, of which 74 went to 
general officers, section secretaries, and secretaries 
of affiliated societies, for their official use. Of the 
remaining 56 free copies, 53 were complimentary to 
institutions and libraries outside of the United 
States, and 3 copies were sent out on account of 
exchanges. 

Three Booklets were printed and circulated since 
the last meeting of the executive committee. By 
means of one of these the resolutions recently 
adopted by the Association were placed in the 
hands of all members. About 12,500 copies of that 
booklet were sent out. A booklet of general in- 
formation was used in the circularization for new 
members (about 25,000 have been sent out), and 
another booklet announcing the Toronto meeting 
was sent to all members with the bills of October 1. 

New members of the affiliated societies and all 
members of the newly affiliated societies (The 
American Mathematical Society, The Mathematical 
Association of America, The American Geograph- 
ical Society, The American Society for Testing 
Materials, The American Society of Agronomy, The 
Society of Sigma Xi, and the Gamma Alpha Gradu- 


SCIENCE 


623 


ate Scientific Fraternity) were invited to join the 
Association without entrance fee, as far as the nec- 
essary lists could be procured. About 20,000 such 
invitations have been sent out and about 10,000 
more will go out when the lists arrive from the so- 
ciety secretaries. 4,300 names for circularization 
were obtained from the new volume of ‘‘ Ameri- 
ean Men of Science.’’ (To Nov. 20, this circular- 
ization—of about 24,300 names—has secured 557 
new members.) A tabulated membership report 
will be published later. 

3. The general secretary’s verbal report was 
accepted. He reported correspondence with the 
Utah Academy of Science. This Academy has 
altered its movement for separation from the Pacifie 
Division. He had been in consultation with officers 
of sections, and it was believed that stronger coun- 
cil sessions would result at future meetings. He 
reported that arrangements were being made by 
which various different interests have been centered 
in the program of Section C for the Toronto meet- 
ing. 

A recess, from 6:30 to 8:00, was taken for din- 
ner, after which the committee convened again. 

4, Mr. J. B. Tyrrell was elected chairman of Sec- 
tion M and vice-president for that section. 

5. Mr. L. W. Wallace was elected secretary of 
Section M. 

5a. Dr. A. B. Macallum, professor of biological 
chemistry at MeGill University, was elected a vice- 
president, and chairman of Section N. 

6. Fifty-six fellows were elected, distributed 
among the sections as follows: 

PNY ASAE NOR PAM BYU Aan Dies OUT ES ARI C HIN AIAIN, Ere nK © Yoataann( A 
6 3 Shane co aleve sry 6} 2 14 aL 

7. The American Society of Mammalogists was 
constituted an affiliated society. 

8. It was voted that the American Ceramie 
Society be invited to become associated and to be- 
come affiliated if the number of A. A. A, S. mem- 
bers in the society should prove to warrant aftilia- 
tion. 

9. The Phi Delta Kappa Fraternity was invited 
to become an associated society. 

10, The Canadian Society of Technical Agricul- 
turists was invited to become an associated society. 

11. The petition of 32 members resident in State 
College, Pa., dated November 1, was granted, thus 
constituting a local branch in that place, to be 
known as the State College (Pa.) Branch of the 
A. A, A. 8S, The branch is to receive 50 cents for 
each payment of annual dues made to the A, A. 
A. S. by its members. 

12. It was voted that the committee regards it as 


624 


desirable that the next volume of Summarized Pro- 
ceedings be published in fall of 1925, to include the 
proceedings of the 1924 (Washington) meeting. 

13. It was voted that the executive committee 
recommend to the Council that the 1925 meeting 
(for the year 1925-6) be held at Kansas City, Mo. 

14. The general secretary was instructed to com- 
municate with the Pacifie Division and to say that 
if the Pacific Executive Committee arranged its 
summer meeting for 1922 in Salt Lake City, the 
executive committee would consider the matter of 
arranging a meeting of the whole Association for 
that time and place. 

15. The permanent secretary was instructed to 
invite all past presidents to be present at the 
Toronto meeting, especially to attend the sessions 
of the council at Toronto and to take part in the 
eouncil’s deliberations, 

16. The general secretary was asked to invite one 
or more Russian scientists to attend the Toronto 
meeting. 

The meeting adjourned at 10 0’c.ock, to meet in 
Toronto, at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, December 27. 

Burton EH. LIVINGSTON, 
Permanent Secretary 


EDUCATIONAL EVENTS: 
AN AMERICAN BAMBOO GROVE OPEN TO 
INVESTIGATORS 

ResEARCH men connected with the state 
and other institutions are invited to visit the 
bamboo grove at Savannah on the Ogeechee 
Road. This grove covers an acre of ground, 
and the culms rise fifty-five feet into the air, 
producing a dense forestlike effect with their 
smooth dark green culms three and four 
inches in diameter. It is the largest grove 
of the Madane bamboo (Phyllostachys bam- 
busoides) east of the Mississippi and com- 
parable in beauty to groves of similar size 
in Japan. Any botanist who has never seen 
a bamboo grove has waiting for him a thrill- 
ing experience, for the sight of a giant grass 
over fifty feet tall changes one’s ideas of 
grasses just as the sight of a victoria regia 
changes one’s ideas of water lilies or the dis- 
covery of the pterodactyl changed our ideas 
of lizards and birds. A simple laboratory, 
which is being equipped with limited living 
accommodations, stands in the center of the 
grove, and its facilities are at the disposal of 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Von. LIV. No. 1408. 


the research workers of the Department of 
Agriculture and other institutions upon ap- 
plication to this office. 

While the grove is wonderfully interest- 
ing at any time, it is peculiarly fascinating 
about the middle of April when the new 
shoots four inches in diameter are coming 
through the ground and shooting skyward 
at a great rate. 

Botanists to or from Florida should by all 
means stop and see this grove. It lies twelve 
miles from Savannah on a new concrete high- 
way, the Ogeechee Road. Long distance tele- 
phone central will connect anyone with the 
“Government Bamboo Grove,” and they can 
talk with Mr. Rankin, the superintendent. 

Dav FaircHILp 

OFFICE OF FOREIGN SEED AND PLANT 

INTRODUCTION, 
BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY 


FLIGHTS OF HOUSE FLIES 


Tuat the house fly not uncommonly makes 
a journey of five to six miles in the space of 
twenty-four hours is shown by experiments 
conducted by the Bureau of Entomology, 
United States Department of Agriculture. 
The ease with which flies travel many miles 
shows the importance of general sanitary 
measures to destroy breeding places. Fly 
flight tests were conducted in northern Texas, 
where approximately 234,000 flies of many 
different species were trapped, then dusted 
with finely powdered red chalk, and liberated. 
Fly traps baited with food highly relished by 
the flies were placed at measured intervals in 
all directions from the points of release. By 
means of these secondary traps, it was possible 
to determine the direction and flight of dif- 
ferent species of flies. The tests showed that 
the flies, after regaining their freedom, would 
travel distances up to 1,000 feet in a few min- 
utes. The screw-worm fly evidenced its 
power to cover a half mile in three hours, 
while the black blowfly traveled anywhere 
from half a mile to eleven miles during the 
first two days’ release. The house fly covered 
over six miles in less than twenty-four hours. 
Observations at the Rebecca Light Shoal off 


DECEMBER 23, 1921] 


the coast of Florida seemed to show that flies 
come down the wind from Cuba (ninety miles 
distant), and at times from the Marquesas 
Keys (twenty-four miles distant), and even 
from Key West, Fla., forty-six miles away. 
The maximum distance traveled by the house 
fly in these experiments was 13.14 miles. The 
tests proved that the injurious forms of fly 
life were not distributed on any large scale by 
artificial means, but rather that many of the 
far-flying species showed marked migratory 
habits. 
IMPACT ON BRIDGES 


A NEW instrument devised by the Bureau 
of Public Roads of the United States De- 
partment of Agriculture measures with sci- 
entific precision the effect of every shock and 
blow delivered by moving vehicles in crossing 
a bridge. Attached to any part of the bridge 
structure, this instrument makes a_photo- 
graphic record of the effect of the moving 
load. The amount of stretching or shorten- 
ing of the part as a result of the shocks is 
represented by a fine black line on the photo- 
graph. No blow or shock can be delivered 
so quickly that the instrument will not re- 
cord its effect. It has never before been pos- 
sible to measure the effect of such blows. En- 
gineers have long been able to calculate the 
effect of standing loads very exactly; but be- 
cause of their inability to measure the effect 
of quickly delivered blows or impacts, they 
have never been able to proportion the various 
parts of a bridge with absolute assurance. 
It has been necessary to make a liberal al- 
lowance for this unknown quantity. In some 
cases the allowance has not been sufficient and 
the bridges have collapsed under moving 
loads. Many bridges still in service are prob- 
ably too weak to withstand safely the sharp 
blows of swiftly moving vehicles, though they 
will safely carry the same vehicles at rest or 
moving at a slow speed. The familiar warn- 
ing posted at the portals of a bridge: “ Speed 
limit on this bridge 8 miles per hour,” means 
that the design of the bridge to which it is at- 
tached is not strong enough to allow for im- 
pact. In the light of the recent experiments 
with motor trucks in which it was shown that 


SCIENCE 


625 


a swiftly moving motor truck may strike a 
blow equivalent to seven times its actual 
weight, it is rather surprising, the department 
road experts say, that failures have been so 
few. It is believed this new measuring in- 
strument will soon do away with uncertainty. 
The knowledge gained by its use will enable 
the engineer to design bridges which are sure 
to hold up under fast-moving vehicles, and to 
build such bridges without undue waste of 
material and money. 


THE TORONTO MEETING 


THE section of medical sciences of the 
American Association has arranged the fol- 
lowing program: 


Vice-presidential Address: ‘‘ The past and the 
future of the medical sciences in the United 
States ’’: Professor Joseph Erlanger, professor of 
physiology, Washington University. 

“« Hereditary factors in development ’’: Dr. 
Charles B. Davenport, director of the Laboratories 
for Experimental Evolution of the Carnegie In- 
stitution. 

‘¢ The metabolism of children in health and dis- 
ease ’’: Professor Harold Bailey, Cornell Medical 
School, N. Y. 

““ Newer aspects im dietetics of children ’’: Dr. 
Alfred Hess, College of Physicians and Surgeons, 
New York. 

““ Movie exhibition of tonsil-adenoid clinies in 
operation ’’?: Dr, George W. Goler, health officer, 
Rochester, N. Y. 

‘« The mental hygiene of children’’: Dr. GC. M. 
Hincks, associate medical director, Canadian Na 
tional Committee for Municipal Hygiene, Toronto, 
Canada, 


Proressor E. S. Moers, secretary of the 
section of geology and geography, writes: 

The section has prepared a very interesting pro- 
gram for the Toronto meeting and the officers of 
the section will be glad to hear at once from any 
of the members who wish to contribute. While 
the meetings of the other societies affiliated with 
the association are drawing many of the geologists 
and mineralogists from this side of the interna- 
tional boundary to Amherst, quite a number are 
going to take part in the Toronto meeting and the 
Canadian geologists are most heartily cooperating 
in preparation for the meeting. Many of the 
geologists of the Canadian Geological Survey and 


626 


of the Canadian universities have prepared papers 
and some of them dealing with new geological fields 
will be of special interest. Dr. Eliot Blackwelder, 
at present at Harvard University, will deliver his 
address as retiring vice-president of this section on 
‘« The trend of earth history.’’ It is intended that 
the geological and engineering sections will eom- 
bine for a banquet. 


Tue second meeting of geneticists inter- 
ested in agriculture will be held at Toronto, 
on Tuesday, Dec. 27. 

The program will take up “The genetics 
curriculum in the college of agriculture.” 
- Discussion of various phases of the subject 
will be opened as follows: (1) The element- 
ary course in genetics. Prof. C. B. Hutchinson, 
Cornell University. (2) Advanced courses in 
genetics. Prof. J. A. Detlefsen, University 
of Illinois. (3) Laboratory courses in genet- 
ics. Prof. A. CO. Fraser, Cornell University. 
(4) Genetics preparation for research in other 
fields. Dr. E. D. Ball, U. S. Department of 
Agriculture. Invitation to attend and to 
participate in the discussions is extended to 
all who may be interested, whether or not 
they are connected with agricultural institu- 
tions, since the topic really comprehends the 
general subject of genetics teaching. It is 
hoped to have a good attendance of those con- 
cerned with the teaching of applied courses 
in plant and animal breeding. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Henry Turner Eppy, professor emeritus of 
mathematics and mechanics in the Univer- 
sity of Minnesota and dean emeritus of the 
graduate school, died on December 18 at the 
age of seventy-seven years. 

Dr. Ernest Fox Nicuots, who recently re- 
signed the presidency of the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology, is to return to Cleve- 
land to resume the directorship of pure sci- 
ence in the Nela Research Laboratory, main- 
tained by the National Lamp Works of the 
General Electric Company. 

Stevens Instrirure or Trcunonogy held a 
fiftieth anniversary banquet at the Hotel 
Astor, New York City, on December 15. A 
silver loving cup was presented to Professor 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1408. 


Charles Kroeh, secretary of the faculty, who 
has been professor of modern languages at 
Stevens ever since it was founded. The 
speakers were Dr. Alexander Humphreys, 
president, Dr. John H. Finley and Mr. Job 
E. Hedges. 


Tue Howard N. Potts gold medal and di- 
ploma of the Franklin Institute have been 
conferred upon Alfred Q. Tate for inventions 
which have created the new art of electrolytic 
waterproofing of textile fabrics. 


Pumwe L. Gite, formerly connected with 
the American Agricultural Chemical Com- 
pany and for eleven years previously chem- 
ist of the Porto Rico Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station, has been placed in charge of 
the division of soil chemical investigations 
of the Bureau of Soils, U. S. Department of 
Agriculture. 


Ratpeu Sronr, member of the staff of the 
United States Geological Survey, has left the 
federal service to become assistant state ge- 
ologist of Pennsylvania. 


Mr. James E. Ives has resigned as research 
associate and lecturer in physics at Clark 
University to become physicist in the office: 
of industrial hygiene and sanitation of the 
Public Health Service in Washington. 


Dr. C. G. Apsor of the Astrophysical Ob- 
servatory is at present in Antofagasta, Chile, 
at the solar radiation station on Mt. Monte- 


zuma. He expects to return in January. 


C. H. Birpsrye, chief geographer for the 
U. S. Geological Survey, left Washington on 
November 30, to inspect the map-making ac- 
tivities of the Survey in the West and in 
Hawaii. 

J. W. Gitmore, professor of agronomy, Col- 
lege of Agriculture of the University of Cali- 
fornia, has returned from the University of 
Chile, Santiago, Chile. Professor Gilmore 
has been exchange professor with this univer- 
sity for the past six months. While in Chile 
he was in consultation with the Chilean 
authorities with a view toward improving the 
agriculture of the western coast of South 
America. 


DECEMBER 23, 1921] 


Dr. Morten P. Porsmp, director of the 
Danish Arctic Station, Disko, Greenland, is 
at present in Copenhagen, Dimmark, where 
he is making plans for a visit to England and 
America. In December and January he will 
lecture at the University of Cambridge, Eng- 
land, on botanical and ethnological subjects. 
He expects to reach the United States about 
the middle of February and may lecture at 
scientific centers. 


Dr. Crement Prrquet, Dr. Charles War- 
dell Stiles and Dr. Alfred F’. Hess, have been 
appointed to give this year the Cutter Lec- 
tures on Preventive Medicine under the au- 
spices of the Harvard Medical School. Dr. 
Pirquet is professor of pediatrics at the Uni- 
versity of Vienna and is best known for his 
work on behalf of the under-nourished child- 
ren of Austria since the war. Dr. Stiles is 
assistant surgeon general of the U. S. Public 
Health Service and consulting zoologist of 
the Bureau of Animal Industry in the Federal 
Department of Agriculture; Dr. Hess is a 
New York pediatrist. 


Dr. E. M. East, of the Bussey Institution 
of Harvard University, gave a series of lec- 
tures at Cornell University, December 8-10, 
1921, as follows: “ Problems of population in 
relation to agriculture,” to the Society of 
Sigma Xi; “Inbreeding as a tool in plant 
improvement,” to the staff and students of 
the College of Agriculture, and “ The prob- 
lem of self-sterility in plants,” to the semi- 
nary of the department of plant breeding. 


Henrietta Swan Jewett, of the Harvard 
College Observatory, died on December 19. 
Since 1902 she had been engaged in the study 
of the photographic brightness of the stars and 
the distribution and periods of variable stars. 


Tue Elizabeth Thompson Science Fund has 
been serviceable for many years in giving aid, 
by small grants, to research which otherwise 
might not be readily undertaken. The grants 
are made only for scientific investigations and 
must be applied to actual expenses of the re- 
search, 7.e., they are not made to support an in- 
vestigator or to meet the ordinary expenses of 
publication. The trustees give preference to 


SCIENCE 


627 


researches involving international cooperation. 
The grants are not made for researches of nar- 
row or merely local interest, nor are they avail- 
able for equipment of private laboratories or 
for purchase of apparatus ordinarily to be 
found in scientific institutions. Applications 
for grants from this fund should be made be- 
fore January 15, 1922, to Professor W. B. 
Cannon, secretary of the trustees of the fund, 
Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass. 


Tue Fifth National Medical Congress of 
Cuba, which takes place every five years, will 
be held from December 11 to 17, under the 
presidency of Professor J. A. Presno, founder 
and director of the Revista de Medicina y 
Cirurgia of Havana. 


ApotpH LEwisoHN has given $150,000 for 
the pathological laboratory of Mount Sinai 
Hospital, New York City. The gift is in ad- 
dition to others to the hospital and labora- 
tory made by Mr. Lewisohn, including a 
similar amount for the laboratory. 


THE Committee of the Universities’ Libra- 
ry for Central Europe, formed in England 
to renew the stocks of books and scientific 
and learned periodicals in the universities of 
Central Europe, has recently issued its report 
for its first year of working, ending March 
31, 1921. It has sent consignments of litera- 
ture to Austria, Czecho-Slovakia, Esthonia, 
Germany, Hungary and Poland. Donations 
of money and English books published since 
1914 are still urgently needed, and may be 
sent to the honorary secretary, Mr. B. M. 
Headicar, London School of Economies, 
Clare Market, W. C. 2. 


Tue Sarah Berliner Fellowship for re- 
search in physics, chemistry or biology is now 
of the value of from one thousand to twelve 
hundred dollars. In view of the fact that 
some of the holders of this fellowship have 
given important courses of lectures at Cor- 
nell, the Johns Hopkins, Yale and other uni- 
versities, the committee in charge of the 
fund has decided to give explicit recognition 
to this aspect of the fellowship. Hereafter, 
therefore, preference will be given those 
candidates who can carry on research and at 


628 


the same time have the privilege of giving 
one or more courses of lectures at some uni- 
versity or institution of learning. 


UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 


Present ANGELL has announced that Mrs. 
Stephen V. Harkness of New York is the hith- 
erto unnamed friend of the University whose 
conditional gift of $3,000,000 was made public 
by President Hadley at the Commencement 
alumni dinner in 1920. Mrs. Harkness’s gift 
-of $3,000,000 was made conditional upon the 
securing of an additional $2,000,000 from 
alumni and other friends which was pledged 
on October first, 1921. In her original letter 
of gift, dated April 5, 1920, Mrs. Harkness 
stated: “I am informed that Yale University 
has recently increased the salaries of the 
members of its several faculties. ... This 
action seems to me to be in accord with 
the general feeling of its alumni and friends, 
that those who are devoting their lives, with 
little or no opportunity for large pecuniary 
rewards, to the teaching of young men and 
women and the moulding of their characters 
and opinions, should receive so far as possible 
a compensation sufiicient always to attract 
persons of ability and standing.” 


Eart B. Youne has been elected professor 
of geology at the Montana School of Mines, 
Butte, Mont. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND 
THE METRIC SYSTEM 


To THE Epiror or Science: The National 
Academy of Sciences at its meeting in 
Chicago in November, on request, considered 
the bill introduced in the Senate by Senator 
E. F. Ladd, which reads as follows: 
67th Congress, 


1st Session 
S. 2267 


IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
July 18, 1921 


Mr. Ladd introduced the following bill; which 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1408. 


was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
Manufacturers. 


A BILL 


To fix the metric system of weights and measures 
as the single standard of weights and 
measures for certain uses 


Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Rep- 
resentatives of the United States of America in 
Congress assembled, That from and after ten years 
from the date of passage and approval of this Act 
the weights and measures of the meter-liter-gram 
or metric system shall be the single standard of 
weights and measures in the United States of 
America for the uses set out-herein. 

Sec. 2. That the national prototypes of the 
fundamental standards of the metric system shall 
be the copies of the standards known as meter num- 
bered twenty-seven and kilogram numbered twenty, 
allotted to the United States by the General Con- 
ference of Weights and Measures held at Paris in 
1889. These are now deposited in the vault of the 
Bureau of Standards of the Department of Com- 
merce and those which are now used and employed 
in deriving the values of all weights and measures 
used in the United States. These national repre- 
sentations are hereby adopted as the primary stand- 
ards of weights and measures for the United States 
of America, and from these all other weights and 
measures shall be derived and ascertained. 

Sec. 3. That from and after ten years from the 
date of passage and approval of this Act no person 
shall do or offer or attempt to do any of the follow- 
ing acts, by weights or measures, in or according to 
any other system than the metric system of weights 
and measures, namely: 

(1) Sell any goods, wares, or merchandise except 
for export, as provided in section 8; 

(2) Charge or collect for the carriage or trans- 
portation of any goods, wares, or merchandise. 

Sec. 4. That from and after ten years from the 
date of passage of this Act no person shall use or 
attempt to use in any of the transactions detailed 
in section 3 any weight or measure or weighing or 
measuring device designed, constructed, marked, or 
graduated in any other system than the metric sys- 
tem of weights and measures. 

Sec. 5. That not later than ten years from the 
date of passage and approval of this Act all post- 
age, excises, duties, and customs charged or col- 
lected by weights or measures by the Government 
of the United States, shall be charged or collected 


DECEMBER 23, 1921] 


in or according to the metric system of weights and 
measures. 

Sec. 6. That rules and regulations for the en- 
forcement of this Act not inconsistent with the pro- 
visions hereof shall be made and promulgated by 
the Secretary of Commerce. The Secretary of Com- 
merce shall also take such steps as he may deem 
expedient for giving publicity to the dates of tran- 
sition specified herein and for facilitating the tran- 
sition to the meter-liter-gram or metrie system. 

Sec. 7. That all Acts or parts of Acts inconsist- 
ent herewith are hereby repealed but only in so far 
as they are inconsistent herewith; otherwise they 
shall remain and continue in full force and effect. 
Whenever in any Act, or rules and regulations, or 
tariff or schedule made, ratified, approved, or re- 
vised by the Government of the United States of 
America weights or measures of the system now in 
eustomary use are employed or referred to, and to 
eomply with the provisions of this Act weights and 
measures of the metric system should be employed, 
then such references in such Act, rules and regula- 
tions, tariff, or schedule shall be understood and 
construed as references to equivalent weights or 
measures of the metric system ascertained in accord- 
ance with the required degree of accuracy. 

Sec. 8. That nothing in this Act shall be under- 
stood or construed as applying to— 

(1) Any contract made before the date at which 
the provisions of this Act take effect; 

(2) The construction or use in the arts, manufac- 
ture, or industry of any specification or drawing, 
tool, machine, or other appliance or implement de- 
signed, constructed, or graduated in any desired 
system ; 

(3) Goods, wares, or merchandise intended for 
sale in any foreign country, but if such goods, 
wares, or merchandise are eventually sold for 
domestie use or consumption then this clause shall 
not exempt them from the application of any of the 
provisions of this Act. 

Sec. 9. That nothing herein shall be understood 
or construed as prohibiting the enactment or en- 
forcement of weights and measures laws or ordi- 
naneces by the various States or cities, and the 
various States or cities shall have the same powers 
as though this Act were not in force and effect: 
Provided, however, That no standard weights or 
measures shall be established for the uses set out 
herein which conflict in any way with the standards 
established herein, and such standards which may 
already have been established shall be null and void 
for the uses set out herein. 


SCIENCE 


629 


Sec. 10. That the word ‘‘ person ’’ as used in 
this Act shall be construed to import both the 
plural and singular, as the case demands, and shall 
include corporations, companies, societies, and asso- 
ciations. When construing and enforcing the pro- 
visions of this Act, the act, omission, or failure of 
any officer, agent, or other person acting for or 
employed by any corporation, company, society, or 
association, within the scope of his employment or 
office, shall in every case be also deemed to the act, 
omission, or failure of such corporation, company, 
society, or association as well as that of the person. 


After discussion, the bill was referred to 
the Committee on Weights, Measures, and 
Coinage of the Academy for report, with 
power to act through the President of the 
Academy. Upon receipt of the report from 
the Chairman of that Committee, Dr. Thomas 
C. Mendenhall, the following communication 
was sent to Senator Ladd: 


December 1, 1921 

My dear Senator Ladd: Referring again to my 
recent communications regarding bill $2267 to fix 
the Metric System of Weights and Measures as the 
single standard for certain uses, I have received a 
report from the Committee on Weights, Measures, 
and Coinage, which was authorized to act for the 
National Academy of Sciences, approving bill 
$2267 with the following statement: 

“« Any measure that might now be passed is toler- 
ably certain to need modification and amendment 
before the end of the probationary period.’’ 

Very truly yours, 
(Signed) Cuarutes D. Watcort, 
President 


As Senator Ladd has requested that publi- 
city be given to this action of the Academy, 
I am sending you this statement for inclusion 
in SCIENCE. 

Cuartes D. Watcort, 
President 


STAINS FOR THE MYCELIUM OF MOLDS 
AND OTHER FUNGI 
To tHe Epiror or Science: Microscopic ex- 
aminations to determine the extent to which 
the mycelium of various fungi has penetrated 
infected specimens of wood consume an unduly 
large amount of time. Methods using organic 
substances, dyes and stains, to obtain a differ- 


630 


ential coloring that will make mycelium stand 
out in contast to the tissue of the host have 
been described.1 

The writers, in an attempt to obtain a stain 
which would reduce the time required for the 
examinations of a set of woods infected with 
molds by producing satisfactory differentiation 
both for visual examination and for photo- 
micrography, have worked out the following 
method. The results, although the work is 
only in the preliminary stage, are so promising 
that they are given here in order that others 


‘may avail themselves of the method if they 


desire to do so. 

Since there is a difference in chemical com- 
position between wood substance and chitin or 
“fungous cellulose,” the assumption was made 
that the fungous mycelium might possess char- 
acteristic mildly oxidizing or reducing proper- 
ties. Then a solution of silver nitrate in dis- 
tilled water was applied to thin sections of the 
infected wood. These were allowed to stand 
for periods of various lengths, overnight stain- 
ing giving a very satisfactory result. The sec- 
tions were then examined directly or dehy- 
drated with alcohol, cleared with xylol, and 
mounted in Canada balsam. Drying the bal- 
sam mounts under weights in an oven over 
night appeared, if anything, to improve the 
stain secured. 

Both conifers and hardwoods were treated in 
this way. The mycelium of several molds and 


‘of two wood-destroying fungi has thus far been 


stained. In all cases the mycelium was differ- 
entiated by its blackish brown, purplish brown, 
or orange color. The wood tissue presented, if 
stained, a lighter shade of yellowish brown 
against which the mycelium was readily visible, 
often under relatively low magnifications. 

Silver nitrate solution also gave interesting 
staining of the wood structures and cell con- 
tents which will be discussed at some future 
time. 

Gold chloride solution, and the “ Berlin 
Blue” stain, the latter as described by Dr. 
Sophia Eeckerson in her course in microchem- 

1 Sinnott, E. W. and I. W. Bailey, Phytopath., 
4: 403,1914. Vaughan, R. E., Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard., 
5: 241, 1914 and others. 


SCIENCE 


_ [N. 8. Von. LIV. No. 1408. 


istry,? were also used with some success for the 
same purposes as the silver nitrate. 
M. E. Diemer, 
Chemist, 
ELoIse GERRY, 
Microscopist 
Forrest Propucts LABORATORY, 
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 
MADISON, WISCONSIN 


SHARKS AT SAN DIEGO 
To THE Eprror or Science: It has occurred 
to the writer that a very brief statement of 
some experiences in coliecting shark material 
at San Diego, Cal., in 1920-21 might be of 
value to persons interested in research prob- 
lems in elasmobranch morphology and em- 
bryology. Owing to the fact that the reduc- 
tion plants in San Diego paid in 1920-21 a 
price for sharks high enough to make it worth 
while for the fishermen to bring in all such 
material caught incidentally, and since nearly 
all such material was brought to the fish- 
market pier, at the latter place it was possible 
in a very short time to collect a considerable 
range of species. The writer obtained twenty- 
six species of elasmobranchs at San Diego, 
and the embryos of fourteen of them. No 
other place along the Pacific coast, or prob- 
ably on any other coast, offers such a wealth 
of material and such easy access to it. It 
was not uncommon to see fifteen species of 
elasmobranchs at one time on the pier at San 


Diego. H. W. Norris 


GRINNELL COLLEGE 


MUNICIPAL OBSERVATORIES 

To tHE Epriror or Scrmnce: In Scrence 
for August 5, the Municipal Observatory at 
Des Moines is “said to be the only municipal 
observatory in the world.” The Cincinnati 
Observatory was incorporated in 1842, its 
corner stone being laid in 1843 by John 
Quincey Adams. Here Cleveland Abbe (di- 
rector *68—’73) first issued daily weather re- 
ports and laid the foundation of the U. S. 
Weather Bureau. In 1872, the property was 
transferred to the University of Cincinnati 
(municipal) on condition that the city sup- 

2 Text-book now in preparation. 


DECEMBER 23, 1921] 


port the observatory, which has since been 
done. The observatory now receives by law 
the income of a tax levy of one twentieth of 
a mill. 
Nevin M. FenneMan 
UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI, 
December 2, 1921 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 
THE ORDER OF NATURE 


The Principles of Natural Knowledge, by 
A. N. Whitehead, Cambridge University 
Press, 1919. 

LUnité de la Science, by Leclerc du Sablon. 
Félix Alcan, Paris, 1919. 

The Order of Nature, by Lawrence J. Hen- 
derson. Harvard University Press, 1917. 

The System of Animate Nature, by J. A. 
Thomson. Two volumes. Williams and 
Norgate, London, 1920. 


In the first dialogue between Hylas and 
Philonous Berkeley has the latter to say: “TI 
am not for imposing any sense on your 
words: you are at liberty to explain them as 
you please. Only, I beseech you, make me 
understand something by them.” The author 
of “The Principles of Natural Knowledge” 
has obviously had before him not only this de- 
mand, which he sets forth by giving the fore- 
going quotation on his title-page, but also the 
further one that every intelligent reader shall 
understand the same things by his words. 
Neither of these ideals is easily realized in 
philosophical writings; and this is most em- 
phatically true of those which are addressed 
to readers not interested in the technical 
aspects of philosophy. Why does this diffi- 
culty exist? “We have to remember that 
while nature is complex with timeless sub- 
tlety, human thought issues from the simple- 
mindedness of beings whose active life is less 
than half a century.” 

The author seeks to realize clarity by the 
so-called “method of logical atomism” 
which “has gradually crept into philosophy 
through the critical scrutiny of mathemat- 
ies” and in his discussion to substitute 
“ piecemeal, detailed and verifiable results for 
large untested generalities recommended only 


SCIENCE 


631 


by a certain appeal to the imagination,” to 
use Bertrand Russell’s characterization of the. 
philesophy of logical atomism. Whitehead 
analyzes thought into elements which the un- 
sophisticated mind could never recognize as 
parts of its original thought content; and 
sometimes even for the expert, one must be- 
lieve, there is real difficulty in putting to- 
gether the parts so as to recover the whole. 
But the reader is not in doubt as to what 
the author says or what he means. White- 
head says: 

“The fundamental assumption to be elab- 
orated in the course of this enquiry, is that 
the ultimate facts of nature, in terms of 
which all physical and biological explanation 
must be expressed, are events connected by 
their spatio-temporal relations, and_ that 
these relations are in the main reducible to 
the property of events that they contain (or 
extend over) other events which are parts of 
them.” Time is not a succession of instants. 
but a complex of interlocking events, each 
helping to tie the others to the past and the 
future. ‘The conception of the instant of 
time as an ultimate entity is the source of all 
our difficulties of explanation. . Our 
perception of time is as a duration.” 

The work as a whole contains a somewhat 
technical and rather disjointed analysis of 
four matters, namely: the traditions of 
science; the data of science; the method of 
extensive abstraction; the theory of objects. 
The book will have its greatest appeal to the 
reader of considerable mathematical matu- 
rity, even though it does not at all depend 
on mathematical detail; for the point of view 
is evidently taken in the light of the recent 
philosophy of mathematics. 

In “ L’Unité de la Science” by M. Leclere 
du Sablon we have an equal clarity, but it 
differs from that of Whitehead’s work in be- 
ing strongly marked by French character- 
istics. 

In his preface Whitehead says: “ In matters 
philosophic the obligations of an author to 
others usually arise from schools of debate 
rather than from schools of agreement. Also 
such schools are the more important in pro- 


632 


portion as assertion and retort do not have 
to wait for the infrequent opportunities of 
formal publication, hampered by the formid- 
able permanence of the printed word. At 
the present moment England is fortunate 
in this respect. London, Oxford and Cam- 
bridge are within easy reach of each other, 
and provide a common school of debate which 
rivals schools of the ancient and medieval 
worlds.” The authors of the first and last 
books under review have evidently profited 
much by such frequent interchange of opin- 
jon and this matching of judgment to op- 
posed judgment. Doubtless some parts of 
the other two books would have been 
modified if their authors had more freely 
discussed certain controversial points with 
persons of a different opinion. This applies 
particularly to the philosophic aspects of the 
books, but does not affect their more positive 
contributions. 

The philosophical part of “L’Unité de la 
Science” is It is sometimes 
naive. In particular, the psychological theory 
underlying the first chapter is far from being 
satisfactory. But numerous scientific theor- 
ies and experiments are analyzed in a way 
to be profitable. For M. Leclere du Sablon 
unity of science is a unity of method. The 
scientific method, par excellence, is the ex- 
perimental method. Working himself in the 
field of biology, where deduction is less fre- 
quently used than in several other disciplines, 
he has failed to grasp its whole importance. 
The experimental character of science is em- 
phasized to the detriment of its rational 
character. The author insists (wrongly we 
think) that all reasoning, even that of in- 
duction, can be reduced to the form of syl- 
logism. A first demand for science is its 
objectivity. The principle of causality (both 
direct and inverse) lies at the root of all 
science. Phenomena are irreversible. Be- 
ginning with arithmetic and geometry, the 
author analyzes, from the point of view of 
unity, each of the several fundamental 
sciences of nature. He devotes one chapter 
to the moral sciences. He sums up his prin- 
cipal findings in a useful conclusion of ten 


not strong. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1408. 


pages. The book is interesting and valuable; 
but it does not reach the height of being an 
inspiring contribution to the philosophy of 
science. 

The purpose of Henderson’s “Order of 
Nature” is more restricted. This essay pro- 
fesses to demonstrate the “existence of a 
new order among the properties of matter ” 
and to “examine the teleological character of 
this order.” Modern science is said to have 
failed to make a systematic study of adapta- 
bility, which (it is maintained) is at bottom 
“a physical and chemical problem uncom- 
plicated by the riddle of life,’ even though it 
is true that “the organism and the environ- 
ment each fits and is fitted by the other.” 
The author asks, “ What are the physical and 
chemical origins of diversity among inor- 
ganic and organic things, and how shall the 
adaptability of matter and energy be de- 
scribed?” To this question he reaches an 
answer with such remarkable ease as almost 
to cast doubt upon its validity; nevertheless 
it must be admitted that he has marshaled 
much evidence for his conclusion. 

“What is known with certainty about the 
history of the earth enables us to see that a 
few elements, and especially the four organic 
ones, are the chief factors. Among these 
nitrogen plays a somewhat subordinate role, 
especially in the mineral kingdom, while 
hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen, notably as 
constituents of water and carbon dioxide, are 
almost everywhere of equal importance.” 
After discussing rather fully the character- 
istics of the latter three elements the author 
says, “ We are therefore led to the hypothesis 
that the properties of the three elements are 
somehow a preparation for the evolutionary 
process. In truth this is the only explana- 
tion of the connection which is at present 
imaginable.... The connection between 
the properties of the three elements and the 
evolutionary process is teleological and non- 
mechanical.” 

Each of the four authors under review is 
evidently convinced of the truth of what one 
of them (Henderson) states _ explicitly, 
namely, that “men of science can no longer 


DECEMBER 23, 1921] 


shirk the responsibility of philosophical 
thought.” The philosophy of these four, with 
the possible exception of Whitehead, is gen- 
eral and non-technical in character and is 
addressed primarily to those who have a 
trend in the direction of science. For the 
“ weneral reader” the investigation of White- 
head is rather too technical and special; the 
work of Leclere du Sablon is elementary and 
somewhat rarefied, being dispersed over too 
wide a range of subjects to help much in 
forming a scientific philosophy to live by; 
the work of Henderson is moved by a too 
narrow view, and he exhibits what Thomson 
in another connection speaks of as the false 
simplicity of materialism; but in “The 
System of Animate Nature” we have a mag- 
nificent contribution to the foundations of a 
philosophy of biology of such sort as to find 
a secure place in the lives of people of in- 
telligence whether devoted to scientific pur- 
suits or following other interests. 

At the front of the two volumes of his 
Gifford lectures on “ The System of Animate 
Nature” Thomson sets the following classic 
quotation from Francis Bacon: “ This I dare 
affirm in knowledge of Nature, that a little 
natural philosophy, and the first entrance into 
it, doth dispose the opinion to atheism, but 
on the other side, much natural philosophy 
and wading deep into it, will bring about 
men’s minds to religion.” Thomson insists 
that “the scientific picture has satisfied very 
few thinkers of distinction, the chief reason 
being that the contributions which each 
science makes are always partial views, 
reached by processes of abstraction, by focus- 
ing attention on certain aspects of things.” 
We need a more comprehensive view which 
allows a place for the feeling for nature and 
enables us to relate it to the whole of our 
activity. 

Consequently, “the aim of this study of 
Animate Nature is to state the general re- 
sults of biological inquiry which must be 
taken account of if we are to think of organic 
Nature as a whole and in relation to the rest 
of our experience. Both among careful 
thinkers and careless passers-by views of or- 


SCIENCE 


633 


ganic Nature are held in regard, for instance, 
to the organism as mechanism, the determin- 
ism of heredity, the struggle for existence. 
which seem to the author to be lacking in 
accuracy or in adequacy, which therefore 
tend to involve unnecessary difficulties in 
systematisation and perhaps gratuitous con- 
fusion in conduct. ... While trying to keep 
wishes from fathering thoughts, we have been 
led in our study to see that the general re- 
sults of Biology, when stated with accuracy, 
are not out of line with transcendental con- 
clusions reached along other paths.... It 
looks as if Nature were much more conform- 
able than is often supposed to religious in- 
terpretation, but we have not seen it to be our 
duty to justify the ways of God to man. 
We have tried to keep as close as possible to 
the facts of the case, leaving philosophical 
and religious inferences for those who are 
better qualified to draw them.” 

There is no attempt to reach transcenden- 
tal results by the methods of science; but 
there is a persistent purpose in the lectures 
to show that there is nothing in science to 
interfere with a certain class of transcenden- 
tal conclusions reached by other means. And 
the author does not hesitate to close his 
twentieth and last lecture, a remarkable one 
on “Vis Medicatrix Naturae” (The Healing 
Power of Nature), with the question: “ Shall 
we not seek to worship Him whom Nature 
increasingly reveals, from whom all comes 
and by whom all lives?” 

The first of the two volumes is devoted to 
the realm of organisms as it is, and the 
second to the evolution of the realm of organ- 
isms. The author is thoroughly convinced 
that the mechanistic interpretation of life is 
insufficient. He quotes with approval: “On 
the whole, there is no evidence of real prog- 
ress towards a mechanistic explanation of 
life.’ He says: “The apsychic view is out- 
rageous.” “There has not yet been given 
any physico-chemical description of any total 
vital operation.” 

Biology seems justified in holding to the 
view that the evolutionary process gives rise 
to frequent outcrops of genuine novelties, 


634 


things not already necessarily implied in the 
past. “The outstanding fact about organic 
evolution is the increasing dominance of 
Mind.” “Unless we have quite misunder- 
stood evolution it implies an emergence of 
novelties. It is like original thinking.” In 
it there is something like the joyous play of 
the organism at self expression. “It may 
be well for us, on our own behalf and for our 
children to ask whether we are making what 
we might of the well-springs of joy in the 
world; and whether we have begun to know 
what we ought to know regarding the Biology 
‘or the Psycho-biology of Joy.” 

Perhaps the most remarkable single matter 
in these lectures is the suggestion of a sort 
of cell-intelligence, particularly in the germ- 
cells. “Just as an intact organism from the 
Amoeba to the Elephant tries experiments, so 
the germ-cell, which is no ordinary cell, but 
an implicit organism, a condensed individ- 
uality, may make experiments in self-expres- 
sion, which we call variations or mutations. 
Such, at least, is our present view of a great 
mystery.” “The position we are suggesting 
is that the larger mutations, the big novelties, 
are expressions of the whole organism in its 
germ-cell phase of being, comparable to ex- 
periments in practical life, solutions of prob- 
lems in intellectual life, or creations in artis- 
tic life.’ “The germ-cell is the blind artist 
whose many inventions are expressed, em- 
bodied, and exercised in the developed organ- 
ism, the seeing artist who, beholding the work 
of the germ-cell, either pronounces it... to 
be good or .. . curses it effectively by sink- 
ing with it into extinction.” 

R. D. CarMIcHAEL 

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 
MORE LINKED GENES IN RABBITS 


In Science for August 13, 1920, I pre- 
sented evidence indicating the existence of 
linkage between the genes for English spot- 
ting and dilute pigmentation in rabbits. The 
evidence consisted of a group of 83 young 
produced in matings of a male heterozygous 
for both characters, mated with doubly re- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1408. 


cessive females. Such matings are expected 
to produce equal numbers of individuals of 
four color classes, if no linkage exists. Con- 
sistently, in his successive litters of offspring, 
this male sired more young in the non-cross- 
over classes than in the cross-over classes, 
which result indicated linkage of strength 
23 on a seale of 100, the cross-over percen- 
tage being 38.5. 

A second heterozygqus male has since been 
tested, in similar matings with doubly re- 
cessive females, for the occurrence of linkage 
between the same pair of characters as seemed 
to be linked in the gametes of the first male, 
but shows ne linkage with as much consist- 
eney as the first male showed linkage. The 
totals for the first male were 32 cross-over; 
51 mnon-cross-over gametes; for the second 
male they are 75:76, as near equality as 
possible. The question now arises, Were the 
results given by the first male statistically 
significant? The cross-over percentage cal- 
culated as 88.5 has a probable error of 3.6 
per cent. Hence the departure from 50 per 
cent. cross-overs (which would indicate no 
linkage) slightly exceeds three times’ the prob- 
able error, a result which would ordinarily - 
be considered significant. Unfortunately no 
further experimental tests of this animal can 
now be made as he is no longer living. There 
ean be no doubt about the negative result 
given by the second male. We are now con- 
fronted by this dilemma. Either the result 
given by the first male was not significant, 
or we may have in the same strain of rabbits 
two individuals, in one of which two char- 
acters show linkage, while in the other they 
do not show linkage. This latter alternative 
seems improbable, yet it can not be regarded 
as impossible on the chromosome hypothesis. 
Gates and Rees! in discussing the pollen de- 
velopment of Lactuca sativa state that the 
number of chromosome pairs in the species 
is nine but that 

Oceasionally in diakinesis only eight chromosome 
bivalents were present, and frequently there were 
only seven or eight bodies present on the hetero- 
typic spindle. This was found to be due to a tem- 


1 Annals of Botany, 35, 1921, p. 394. 


DECEMBER 23, 1921] 


porary end to end fusion of certain bivalents, 
usually the shorter ones, but occasionally the long- 
est being involved. This phenomenon is also likely 
to disturb Mendelian ratios, causing partial linkage. 


This last statement points out clearly the 
possibility of just such apparently irrecon- 
cilable results as we have obtained in the case 
of these two rabbits. If English spotting and 
dilution have their genes located in different 
chromosomes, the two characters will not 
ordinarily show linkage. If, however, these 
two chromosomes should form a temporary 
union with each other in the spermatogenesis 
-of a male rabbit, linkage would result. Such 
linkage, however, would not be of the same 
nature as that found in Drosophila. Its 
strength would not be due to the distance 
apart of genes in a chromosome, but to the 
persistency of the temporary attachment be- 
tween chromosomes ordinarily distinct. 

The cytology of the rabbit is said to be 
difficult. Even the number of the chromo- 
somes has not been definitely determined. 
According to the summary of Miss Harvey,? 
recent observers give the number as 11 or 12 
pairs, but in older investigations the number 
is put at 14-18 pairs. One source of un- 
certainty as to the number may be the forma- 
tion of temporary attachments between chro- 
mosomes such as Gates and Rees describe 
for Lactuca. While we await the outcome 
of the study of other cases, it seems reason- 
able to assume that the two characters, Eng- 
lish spotting and dilution, have their genes lo- 
cated in distinct chromosomes, even though 


SCIENCE 


635 


these may occasionally be united to such an 
extent as to produce partial linkage in the 
gametes of certain individuals. 

This case shows the desirability of express- 
ing linkage strength in terms of something 
less problematical than map-distances, since 
linkage may occur which varies quite inde- 
pendently of map-distance, as for example 
linkage between genes lying in different chro- 
mosomes. A method of expressing linkage 
strength on a scale of 100 has been suggested 
elsewhere. By this method the linkage 
strength indicated among the gametes of the 
first rabbit was 23.0+ 7.26, that for the 
second rabbit is 0.6 + 2.7. 

I have recently discovered in rabbits a 
ease of linkage which is not doubtful, since 
it is found in the gametes of all rabbits so 
far studied, and in a strength which is be- 
yond question statistically significant. This 
involves the same dominant character, Eng- 
lish spotting, as was involved in the other 
case. It is strongly coupled with angora 
coat, a recessive character. The average link- 
age strength is over 80 on a scale of 100. 
Table I. summarizes the evidence for this case. 
In the production of the doubly heterozygous 
parents used in these test-matings, English 
and angora were derived one from the father, 
the other from the mother. Consequently 
the linkage here takes the form of “ repul- 
sion.” The English young are regularly 
short-haired, the non-English young are reg- 
ularly long-haired (angora), except in about 
one case in ten, when a crossover occurs. 


TABLE I 


Classes of Young Produced by Rabbits Doubly He terozygous for English Spotting and Angora Coat, 
when Mated with Non-English Rabbits either Homozygous or Heterozygous for Angora Coat 


Hete: ; Non-English F Non-English P t. 
righanweacent English Short Tens English Angora Smee Gites 

o 4595 (X hom. 2 2 ) 25 25 2 1 5.6 

co 6Xhet:, 9:9.) 18 14 3 1 11.1 

o 4388 (X hom.? ¢ ) 9 8 3 0 15.0 

“ (X het. 2 2) 4 5 3 0 25.0 

Het.2 2(X hom.o’c") 16 17 0 1 2.9 
Totals 72 69 ll 3 9.0+1.5 

ar ST TT a ee 
Non-cross-overs Cross-overs 


2 Jour. Morphol., 34, 1920. 


3 Am, Nat., 54, May, 1920. 


636 


In order to increase the number of test 
matings, the males, 4,595 and 4,388, were 
mated with females which were merely heter- 
ozygous for angora coat, animals which were 
themselves short-haired but which had one 
parent an angora. Therefore only half the 
gametes of these females, viz., those which 
bore angora, would be useful in the test ma- 
tings. Accordingly half the total young from 
such matings have been deducted before en- 
tering the totals in Table I., and of course 
the deductions have been made from the 
short-haired classes, equal numbers being de- 
ducted from the English and the non-English 
groups. Apparently male 4,595 gives a lower 
percentage of cross-overs than male 4,388, 
and the female double heterozygotes give a 
lower percentage than either male, but the 
totals are not large enough to give much 
weight to these ideas. The average result for 
all test matings is a cross-over percentage of 
9.0 1.5, which means linkage of strength 
82 = 3, on a scale of 100. This certainly is 
a significant result, which indicates that the 
characters English and angora have their 
genes in the same chromosome. 


W. E. Castiz 
Bussty INSTITUTION, 
December 1, 1921 


THE HYDROGEN-ION CONCENTRATION OF 
CULTURES OF CONNECTIVE TISSUE 
FROM CHICK EMBRYOS 

In view of the fact that tissue cultures in 
Locke-Lewis solution were to be used in observ- 
ing the behavior of living cells when exposed 
to bacteria and other foreign substances, it be- 
came necessary to determine the optimum and 
the final hydrogen-ion concentration of the 
cultures themselves. For the purpose several 
hundred cultures of connective tissue of chick 
embryos were prepared, in Locke-Lewis solu- 
tion with varying hydrogen-ion concentrations 
and containing different amounts of dextrose. 

The normal solution was composed of 85 c.e. 
of Locke’s solution (NaCl 0.9 per cent. plus 
KCl 0.042 per cent. plus CaCl, 0.025 per cent. 
plus NaHCO, 0.02 per cent.), together with 
15 ec. of chicken bouillon and 0.5 per cent. 
dextrose. This solution has a hydrogen-ion 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1408. 


concentration between 6.6 and %, depending 
upon that of each lot of bouillon. For the ex- 
periments the hydrogen-ion concentration was 
varied from pH 4 to pH 9.2 with an increment 
of 0.2, and the amount of dextrose was varied 
from 5 per cent. to none at all. 

The hydrogen-ion concentration of the eul- 
tures explanted into these solutions was deter- 
mined at different stages of their growth, 
namely, when they failed to grow, when they 
exhibited extensive and healthy growth, and 
when they had degenerated after vigorous 
growth. This determination was made by a 
colorimetric method devised by Felton (1921) 
by means of which it is possible to test the 
small hanging drop of a culture. 

Early in the investigation it was discovered 
that not all kinds of coverglasses were suitable 
for the experiments because of the change in 
hydrogen-ion concentration exhibited by con- 
trol drops (without explant) when incubated 
upon this glass. It became necessary, there- 
fore, to select coverglasses on which the con- 
trol drop remained constant when incubated for 
a period of three weeks. 

When cultures of embryonic chick tissue 
were prepared on reliable coverslips, those ex- 
planted into a medium with a hydrogen-ion 
concentration of 4 to 5.5 seldom showed any 
growth; those in a medium pH 5.5 exhibited 
growth in a few instances; while those in 
media having a hydrogen-ion concentration 
from pH 6 to pH 9 usually showed abundant 
growth. Approximately one hundred cultures 
were explanted into solutions pH 6, 7, 8, and 
9. The percentage of growth which occurred 
in these cultures was respectively 71, 98, 89 
and 81, while that of the normal cultures 
(pH 6.6-7) was 90 per cent. The optimum 
hydrogen-ion concentration seemed to be about 
pH 7%. 

When the hydrogen-ion concentration of 
these cultures was tested at different stages of 
their growth, it was noted that while it dif- 
fered markedly, this was dependent much more 
upon the state of the culture at the time the 
test was made, and also upon the amount of 
dextrose in the medium, than upon the initial 
hydrogen-ion concentration of the medium. 


DECEMBER 23, 1921] 


Regardless of what the latter had been, cultures 
which contained healthy and extensive growth 
tended to be neutral, those which failed to grow 
had usually become slightly acid, and those 
that had exhibited extensive growth and then 
degenerated were most frequently slightly alka- 
line. These results, however, apply only to 
solutions containing not more than 0.5 per 
cent. dextrose, for when 1 per cent. or more 
dextrose was added to the medium the cultures 
were often found to be acid when death took 
place. 

In these observations the optimum hydrogen- 
ion concentration for tissue cultures in Locke- 
Lewis solution was pH 7. The final concentra- 
tion depended upon the amount of dextrose in 
the medium. Cultures in media containing no 
dextrose usually had a hydrogen-ion concen- 
tration ranging from 7 to 7.6; those in media 
having 0.25 to 0.5 per cent. dextrose ranged 
between pH 6 and pH 7.8, mostly pH 7.2 and 
pH 7.4; while those in media to which 8 per 
cent. and 5 per cent. dextrose had been added 
were often pH 6 and pH 5.6 respectively. 

M. R. Lewis, 
Lioyp D. Friron 
THE JOHNS HopKINS MEpIcAL ScHOOL 


AN ELECTRICAL EFFECT OF THE AURORA 


Durine the past year I have been making 
observations on the diurnal variation in 
electric potential difference between the earth, 
as represented by the water system of Palo 
Alto, and an uncharged, insulated conductor 
kept inside an earthed metal cage. The records 
of this variation have been registered con- 
tinuously by a photographic method since 
July 20, 1920. For two weeks, or more, 
preceding the great aurora of May 14 these 
records were different from any which had 
preceded them, and two days before the be- 
ginning. of the aurora there was a sudden 
change in the potential difference being 
measured which seemed to indicate an in- 
crease in the negative charge of the earth. 

After the aurora the record of the diurnal 
variation was of a very different character 
from anything which had been obtained be- 


SCIENCE 


637 


fore. In Fig. 1, the continuous line repre- 
sents the mean variation of the recorded 
potential-difference in millivolts for ten days 
preceding the aurora, and the broken line 
gives the same data for the ten days follow- 
ing the aurora. The mean daily range of the 
recorded potential difference on my record 
was 99.5 millimeters for the ten days preced- 
ing the aurora and 35.5 millimeters for the 
same period following the aurora. 


Fie, 1. 
ence between the earth and an uncharged, insu- 
lated conductor for ten days preceding and ten 
days following the aurora of May 14, 1921. 


Diurnal variation in potential differ- 


The mean diurnal variation in millivolts 
for the ten months, August, 1920, to May, 
1921, is shown by the curve in Fig. 2. 


6 12 6 Noon 6 


+20 


Fie, 2. 


A simultaneous record of the change in 
the north component of the earth’s magnetic 
field was made on the same sheet with the 
electrical record. For three days at the time 
of the aurora the magnetic record was too 
much disturbed to admit of measurement. 
The mean range of magnetic variation for 


638 


eight days preceding the aurora was 22.6 
millimeters on my record; while for the five 
days after the record became measurable the 
mean diurnal variation was 17.7 millimeters. 

During the entire month of June the electric 
records were more than usually disturbed. 
Early in July the disturbance increased. On 
July 6, 7 and 8 the disturbances were the 
greatest that have been observed since August 
1, 1920. On the morning of July 10 an aurora 
was reported as visible in northern California. 
From that time to the present (July 19) the 
records have been very little disturbed and 
the range of variation has been much smaller 
than the average for the year. 

Frernanpo SANFORD 


THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 
(Continued) 


Increasing the yield of our dyes: J. L. BuuuocKr. 
The first consideration is a thorough knowledge of 
the intermediates. Tests for quality are essential 
as small amounts of impurity have a decided effect 
on the yield. Specialization on few dyes is neces- 
sary in order to know them thoroughly. The best 
intermediates obtainable are usually the cheapest 
in that they give greatly increased yields. The 
sedimentation of solutions is advantageous and 
filtration at every stage adds to tinectorial power of 
the subsequent dye. In actual synthesis of dyes, 
intelligent use of equipment is as essential as chem- 
ical control, Uniformity in carrying out reactions 
is a great factor in obtaining maximum yields. 
Diazotizations should be as rapid as possible. Coup- 
ling a difficult condensation; the foam a good indi- 
eation of its course. It is important to precipitate 
the dye in an easily filterable state. With tri- 
phenylmethane dyes even greater care must be used 
than with the azo dyes. A knowledge of the dye- 
ing properties, fastness, etc., is very useful in get- 
ting the standard of purity to the highest possible 
point. Attention to the most minute details is 
repaid by increased tinctorial power and lessened 
cost of the finished dye. 


The preparation in the pure state of certain dyes 
of the malachite green series: WALTER A. JACOBS 
AND MICHAEL HEIDELBERGER. It is shown that in 
many cases in which the chlorides are too soluble or 
do not erystallize, the nitrates may advantageously 
be used for isolation of the dyes. Descriptions are 
given on this basis of salts of malachite green and 
some of its methyl, halogen, amino, acylamino, 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8. Vou. LIV. No. 1408. 


alkylamino, hydroxy, and alkoxy derivatives, as 
well as the nitrate of brilliant green, and the fur- 
furol analog of malachite green. 


The electrometric titration of azo dyes: D. O. 
JoNES. The titanous chloride reduction methods 
originally suggested by Knecht for the analysis of 
numerous compounds, both organie and inorganie, 
have, in recent years, come into more general use 
in the field of dye chemistry. The titanous chloride 
method for the analysis of azo dyes becomes more 
generally applicable, when the end point of the 
titration is determined by the electrometric method. 
The method in general is similar to the usual oxidi- 
metric analysis as carried out with the electrometric 
apparatus. In the former methods, employing the 
use of a sulphocyanide indicator, the end point in 
the back titration with ferric alum is sometimes 
difficult to determine. Dark colored material in 
suspension and the color which is sometimes im- 
parted to the solution by the products of reduction 
do not interfere in the electrometric method. It 
also permits the use of larger samples, while the 
end point is readily and accurately obtained. 


Extraction process of wool degreasing: Louis A. 
Otney. A thorough study of the subject of wool 
cleansing is quite sure to lead to the conclusion that 
the extraction method, i.e., the treatment of the raw 
wool under proper conditions with certain organic 
solvents, is far more scientific in principle than the 
ordinary emulsive process. With efficient apparatus 
and good management the expense of cleansing 
wool is reduced to a minimum by this process and 
the results obtained approach the maximum estab- 
lished through theoretical and economical considera- 
tions. Although the early attempts to degrease 
wool by the use of volatile solvents resulted in ecom- 
plete failure, many practical incentives sufficed to 
keep interest in the process alive. 


Fastness to storage: Oscar R. Fuynn. Dyed 
cotton goods sometimes changes unevenly when 
stored in the folded piece. Regions of change mark 
out the channels along which air flows due to 
changes in temperature. This shows that the 
change in the dye is caused by some substance 
present in the air in small quantity and not pri- 
marily to oxidation, which shows its effect in the 
interior of a mass of goods. In some cases the 
change is temporary, and the result of the action 
of acid alone. In other cases the effect is due in 
the first place to acid, but followed later by com- 
plete destruction of the dye. Alkali sensitive dyes 
such as Stilbene Yellow show temporary changes 
due to acid alone. Acid sensitive dyes, such as 


DECEMBER 23, 1921] 


Congo Red, show permanent change due to fading 
after actions of acid. When alkalis are used in 
finishing, enough should be used to last a year or 


more. Alkali sensitive dyes should be finished in 
the acid condition. Dyes fast to acid and alkali 
are safest. 


Relation of chemical structure to dyeing proper- 
ties: WARREN N. WATSON. 


Special cost features and their relation to the 
development of our organic chemical industry: 
Gaston DuBots. 


The effect of dye structure on dye adsorp- 
tion: Leon W. Parsons AND W. A, McKim. 
Some preliminary results which were obtained dur- 
ing the course of an extended investigation now 
being conducted on the relation between the struc- 
ture of dyes and their adsorption constants are dis- 
cussed. Data have been obtained regarding the con- 
stants of adsorption in the case of the following 
water-soluble dyes when equilibrated with wool at 
constant temperature—picrie acid, eosin, erythro- 
sine, brilliant green, malachite green, ponceau 2G, 
ponceau 4GB, chromotrope 2R, and chromotrope 2B. 
In all eases, the equilibrium points obtained are 
found to be well represented by the Freundlich 
adsorption equation. A close similarity in strue- 
ture between dyes within a certain chromophorie 
classification gives practically the same value for 
1/n, one of the Freundlich constants, whereas a 
wider difference in structure is accompanied by a 
corresponding tendency toward divergence in the 
value of 1/n. Some interesting results have been 
obtained regarding the effect on adsorption of load- 
ing the pure dyes with various amounts of. sodium 
sulfate. 


Is an export trade necessary to the dye indus- 
try?: J. Merritt MATTHEWS. 


Preparation of amino-phenol-sulfonic acid by the 
chloro-benzene method: JosEepH R, MINEVITCH. 
Amino-phenol-sulfonie acid (2: 1: 4) is best pre- 
pared by reducing the corresponding nitro-phenol- 
sulfonic acid with either acid or alkali reducing 
agents, depending upon the medium in which the 
nitro body is last obtained. A successful manufac- 
turing process would, therefore, largely be based 
upon the ease with and small cost at which the 
nitro compound can be produced in large quantities. 
There are four other possible methods for its manu- 
facture but the chloro-benzene process gives the 
highest yield and at a vastly cheaper cost. The 
paper will consist of a discussion of experimental 
results and will give directions for preparation. 


SCIENCE 


639 


The future of research in the dye industry: M. 
L. Crossuey. Research is of vital importance to 
the dye industry. Men must be carefully selected 
and thoroughly trained. It is of the utmost im- 
portance that only those giving promise of research 
ability and possessing the capacity for the develop- - 
ment of the spirit of research should be selected. 
To depend upon ‘‘ the law of the survival of the 
fittest ’’ to eliminate the unfit is economically 
wasteful and dangerous. A grave responsibility 
rests upon our educational institutions for the selec- 
tion and training of men to direct and carry on the 
future activities of our industries. The training 
for research must be thorough. Herein, our system 
of education is weak. There must be greater appre- 
ciation of the contribution of research to the prog- 
ress of industry before research will be correctly 
evaluated. The compensation of the research man 
must be commensurate with his service to the in- 
dustry, if the best men are to be encouraged to 
serve in this field. The future of the dye industry 
in this country will depend upon our ability to de- 
velop able research men and upon our willingness 
to adequately appreciate the contribution of re- 
search to the progress of the industry. 

The qualitative and quantitative evaluation of 
dyestuffs: RoBpERT E, Rosr. Determining the value 
of dyestuffs is an art as complex as that of the 
gem expert. The dye tester must compare different 
colors so closely that he is able to tell the difference 
produced by 1/32 of an ounce of color in 1000 lbs. 
of material. He must do this on a little sample, 
weighing 1/14 to 1/3 oz., that is, he actually sees 
the difference produced by adding or subtracting 
1/10,000,000 of an ounce of the dyestuffs in the 
field of vision. In the matter of shade he must 
check one lot of dye against another and not pass 
any two that vary perceptibly to the ordinary eye. 
If he is asked to do so, he must be ready to match 
colors just as exactly, 

A method for the use of metal sensitwe chrome 
colors in iron machines: FRANCIS C, TELEN. 

The present status of the domestic coal-tar prod- 
uct industry: C, R. DE Lone. 


DIVISION OF WATER, SEWAGE AND SANITATION 


W. P. Mason, Chairman 
W. W. Skinner, Secretary 
Investigations of the chemical reactions in water 
purification, using the hydrogen electrode: A. M. 
BuswELL. Titration curves with carbonates of so- 
dium, magnesium and calcium, using a strong acid, 
show that the shape and position of the curve is 


640 


unaffected by the metal ion, but that the inflection 
point occurs at a slightly lower hydrogen-ion con- 
centration in dilute solutions than in the more con- 
centrated ones. Precipitation curves of the pre- 
cipitation of ealcium as the carbonate while not as 
‘regular as those obtained in the precipitation of 
magnesium, tend to show that the reaction is com- 
plete, sufficient carbonate being present, at a hydro- 
gen-ion concentration corresponding to pH of 9.5. 


Study of the Weszelszky method for the determi- 
nation of iodide and bromide: W. E. SHAEFER AND 
J. W. Satz. The Weszelszky method has been care- 
fully tested. The kind and quantity of absorbing 
alkali and the time and temperature used to remove 
the chlorate were varied until satisfactory condi- 
tions for the recovery of bromine from bromine 
water were found. A modified absorption appa- 
ratus was constructed and the kind and concentra- 
tion of the acid added to the reaction flask varied 
in an effort to recover bromine quantitatively from 
potassium bromide and estimate it by the method 
found to be satisfactory. Iodine was converted into 
jodie acid by chlorine water in the reaction flask 
and estimated in solutions of various acid concentra- 
tions. A rapid and satisfactory modified Wes- 
zelszky method for the determination of small 
amounts of iodine based on these experiments is 
given. The Weszelszky method for bromide in the 
presence of iodide, however modified, is incapable 
of giving satisfactory results on small samples and 
its use is not recommended. 


Purity of bottled mineral waters: W. W. SKIN- 
NER AND J. W. SALE. During the past year, the 
Water and Beverage Laboratory of the Bureau of 
Chemistry has made sanitary inspections of about 
seventy-five springs and wells, located in ten states. 
These inspectors uncovered numerous unsuspected 
sources of pollution of which specific examples are 
described. Samples of water from interstate ship- 
ments and from shipments offered for entry into 
the U. S. are also analyzed for their purity. In the 
last six years over 4,000 bottles were opened and 
the water examined. Shipments of polluted water 
are either refused entry in the case of foreign 
waters or are condensed and destroyed in the case 
of domestic waters. 


Commercial peptones and the culture media used 
in the examination of water: E. M. CHAMOT AND 
F. R. Georgia. Titration curves of the following 
peptones are shown: Witte; Bacto (Digestive Fer- 
ments Company); Proteose (Digestive Ferments 
Company); Armour’s; Parke, Davis Company; 
Fairchild Brothers and Foster; and Stearns. The 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1408. 


peptones are grouped according to relations shown 
by these curves. The optimum reaction (Py) using 
a culture of B. coli is given for each peptone. This 
is determined by attenuating the culture by ex- 
posure to a suitable dilution of phenol and inocula- 
ting a series of tubes containing the peptone solu- 
tion adjusted to various Py values at definite time 
intervals and noting the Py value in which growth 
is obtained after exposure of the culture to the 
phenol for the longest period of time. It is shown 
that Witte, Bacto, Proteose, Armour’s, and Parke, 
Davis and Company Peptones give optimum growth 
when unadjusted or but very slightly adjusted. 
With Fairchild Brothers and Foster’s and Stearns’s 
peptones it is necessary to adjust the reaction to a 
Py value slightly above 5.7. It is shown that the 
optimum Py value for B. coli in peptone KCl solu- 
tion varies over a considerable range and depends 
on the peptone used. The introduction of lactose 
into the medium changes the optimum Py value. 


A study of the activated sludge process: J. A. 
WILSON, W. R. CopELAND AND H. M. HEIsIG. 


Mineral composition of the water supply of 
seventy cities in the United States: J. W. SALE AND 
W. W. SKINNER. The paper develops the fact that 
statistics showing the mineral composition of the 
water supplies of even the larger cities in the 
United States have not been compiled heretofore, 
although the matter is of considerable interest par- 
ticularly to physicians and to the traveling public. 
Seventy analyses obtained from city officials have 
been reduced to a common basis for comparison 
and tabulated. Of the cities mentioned, Atlanta, 
Ga., has a water supply which contains the smallest 
amount of dissolved mineral matter, while Okla- 
homa City, Okla., has a water supply which con- 
tains the largest amount of dissolved mineral 
matter. 


Quantitative versus qualitative adjustment of the 
H-ion concentration of culture media: GEo. C. 
BUNKER AND HENRY ScHUBER. The reactions of 
culture media prepared in the laboratories of water- 
works are determined by one of the following three 
methods, of which the first two may be classed as 
loose and the third as approximate in reference to 
their precision. (1) By titration with phenolphtha- 
lein, (2) with phenol red or with brom thymol blue 
and (3) by comparison of a portion of the medium, 
to which a suitable indicator has been added, with 
color standards of definite H-ion concentration. 
The methods are discussed. 

CHARLES L, PARSONS, 
Secretary 


ow = 


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Vou. LIV, No. 1409 Fripay, DECEMBER 30, 1921 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, $6.00 


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SCIENCE 


Frmay, DECEMBER 30, 1921. 


The American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science: 


(a) On Some Presidential Addresses; (b) 


The War against Insects: Dr.* L, O. 

EOWARD trctntclensiesieenpvetereny teteisistoneraictaisieisictene 641 
Address at the Laying of the Corner Stone of 

the Chemical Laboratory of Cornell Uniwer- 

sity: PROFESSOR Epw. L. NICHOLS......... 651 
The Origin of Soil Colloids and the Reasonw for 

the Existence of this State of Matters: Dr. 

MILTON SWiETTN IS Yorn telat eteicpsiaaiar oily fae 653 
When will the Teaching of Chemistry become a 

Science? Dr. NEmL E, GoRDON...........-.. 656 
Scientific Events: 

Earl Jerome Grimes; Electric Power Maps; 

Medals of the Royal Society............... 658 
Scientific Notes and News.................. 659 
University and Educational News............ 661 
Discussion and Correspondence : 

The Acquisitive Instinct in Children as an 

Educational Stimulus: Dr. Witt1aM DRuMM 

JOHNSTON, JR. Linkage in Poultry: Dr. J. 

B.S. Haupane. The Zoological Record: Dr. 

W. L. Scuater. Meteorologische Zeit- 

SAN ES yt, Opayoy GiOWAG vaca ssanaaoueoeS 662 
Scientific Books: 

Recent Advances in Paleopathology: Dr. 

RO VM WMOODUB Ee tricia siersis siesais a Sere etueeciee 664 
Special Articles: 

A Simple Method of obtaining Premature 

Eggs from Birds: Dr. Oscar Rippte. The 

Discovery of Olenellus Fauna in Southeast- 

ern British Columbia: Stuart J, SCHOFIELD. 

Howardula benigna: a Nema Parasite of the 

Cucumber-beetle: Dr. N. A. CoBp.......... 664 


MSS. intended for ‘publication and books, etc.,intended for 
review should be sent to The Editor of Science, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. 


(a) ON SOME PRESIDENTIAL AD- 
DRESSES: (b) THE WAR AGAINST 


THE INSECTS1 


To prepare a presidential address to be deliv- 
ered before either the British or the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science is 
a very serious matter, and many eminent men 
have found it so. Is it not a sad thought that 
each year for many years there has been a man 
here and one over there who has had to worry 
for months, first as to his subject and again as 
to its mode of presentation? Of course, it 
sometimes happens that a man like Mr. Bal- 
four over there or Dr. Eliot on this side is 
made president, and of course such men can 
write profound and charming addresses almost 
in their sleep, they have become so accustomed 
to formal functions of great importance. But 
the average man of science, even of presidential 
caliber, is a specialist, absorbed in his work, 
and the sudden realization that he must pre- 
pare an address which should interest all scien- 
tifie men and should help to interest others in 
science is appalling. 

I imagine that few of you have ever thought 
of this psychological aspect of presidential 
addresses. Possibly many of you never took 
the trouble to read a presidential address. 
Presidential addresses are things one is rather 
inclined to take for granted, and when one 
turns the pages of the journal Nature or the 
journal Science one is apt to say to oneself 
“ That looks good; some day I must read it”; 
and then, after a glance at the news notes, the 
journal goes on file. In other words, presi- 
dential addresses demand the serious attention 
of the men who prepare them and of very few 
besides. Yet, I have never heard a presidential 
address before either the British Association or 


1 Address of the President of the American Asso- 


ciation for the Advancement of Science, Toronto, 
1921, 


642 


the American Association that did not deserve 
serious reading and study. 

For twenty-three years, year after year, I 
have sat on the platform near the president of 
the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science during the delivery of his 
address, until I may justly claim to be an ex- 
pert on presidential addresses, in much the 
same way that the leader of a hotel-orchestra 
ean claim to be an expert on after-dinner 
speeches—because he has heard so many! 

At all events, the twenty-two and more ad- 
dresses of this character which I have heard, 
and the one hundred others which I have read, 
have given me the idea that it would not be 
amiss to deliver a presidential address on the 
subject of presidential addresses. I have been 
rather pleased with this idea, and will in fact 
elaborate it before I take my seat. 

But there are other ideas that have been 
almost equally insistent and which fit rather 
more closely to the average notion of propriety 
for so important an address as this theoreti- 
cally should be. One of them is a consideration 
of what seem to me to be educational falla- 
cies in the teaching of science to-day, and espe- 
cially of the biological sciences. But I am 
modest, and J am ignorant. J have never been a 
teacher, and, in order to discuss this vital ques- 
tion in any but a perfectly one-sided way, one 
must know intimately the viewpoint and the 
ultimate aim of those who control the teach- 
ing, especially of the biological sciences, in our 
great laboratories.. I should visit the work 
shops at Harvard and Yale, at Columbia, at 
the University of Pennsylvania, at Johns Hop- 
kins, at the University of Chicago, or here, at 
Toronto, and talk at length with the men in 
charge; and then I should go to Woods Hole 
in the summer, where the teachers themselves 
go to study and to be taught, and should do my 
utmost to convince myself that they are right 
in ignoring most practical problems and are 
justified in spending their lives on the search 
for fundamental principles and, what is more 
to the point, teaching little but facts and 
methods relating to their own studies and to 
the studies of their school. I have no time for 
this, and so can not enter fairly into the subject. 


SCIENCE 


[N. 8S. Vou. LIV. No. 1409. 


As I am writing this (July 29), I see that 
Sir Edward Thorpe has announced as the sub- 
ject of his address before the British Associa- 
tion at Edinburgh “ The Aspects and Problems 
of Post-War Science, Pure and Applied.” It 
was the war that helped make me more dissatis- 
fied than ever with the results of biological 
teaching in America, just as it has been the 
war that has caused the British people to dis- 
trust their whole educational system. With us 
in Washington, the teachers from the principal 
universities were brought together, and a 
National Research Council was formed. The 
results of the work of this organization in the 
direction of biology and agriculture, so far as 
they applied to the prosecution of the war, 
were largely negative; but that much good will 
result to the country by the bringing of these 
men to Washington in the great emergency 
there can be little doubt, since I have the hope 
that it opened their eyes to the fact that their 
university work might have been of much 
greater value to their country, and to the 
further fact perhaps that there exist under the 
federal government agencies which are work- 
ing upon biological problems effectively and 
with the highest attention to scientific methods 
and scientific ideas. 

Laying aside then this idea of an educational 
discussion, the idea that is always with me, 
of once more considering what Sir Harry 
Johnston has with his usual felicity called “ the 
next great world war ”—the war of humanity 
against the class Insecta—has still further im- 
pressed itself upon me. And so there are two 
topics which I shall briefly diseuss—first, presi- 
dential addresses, and, second, our struggle 
against insects. 


ON SOME PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES 


Let us hurriedly glance at the presidential 
addresses delivered before the British and the 
American Associations from 1895 down to last 
year, 1920, and at the men who delivered them. 
During that period there were 27 such addresses 
before the American Association and 24 before 
the British Association, the discrepancy being 
due to the omission of the 1917 meeting of the 


DECEMBER 30, 1921] 


British Association and the holding of two 
extra meetings by the American Association. 

It was formerly the custom in the British 
Association to review the progress of science 
each year, and this was usually done in a way 
in the address of the president. As time went 
on and science became very intricate and 
highly specialized in its different parts, the 
individual, no matter how great his ability and 
his general knowledge, found himself less and 
less able to cover the whole field, and so the 
character of the presidential addresses became 
diversified. In a measure the same trend has 
occurred in America. But the British, more 
conservative than we are over here, or perhaps 
having the habit of electing broader men to the 
presidency, have been slower in breaking away 
from custom, and of their later addresses on 
the other side seven of the twenty-four have 
been devoted to a review of the progress of 
science, while in America only two out of 
twenty-seven have followed this old and admir- 
able plan. But the diversity in the other ad- 
dresses has been almost as great with the 
British as with the Americans. On topics con- 
nected with physics, there have been 3 with the 
British and 3 with the Americans; with anthro- 
pology, 2 with the British and 2 with the Amer- 
icans; in astronomy, 1 with the British and 3 
with the Americans; botany, 1 British and 2 
American; medical science, 2 British and 2 
American; geology, 1 British and 2 Ameri- 
can; chemistry, 1 British and 2 American; 
biology, 2 British and 8 American; economics, 
2 American; engineering, 1 British; and the 
remaining addresses can not be classified. 

What a wealth of good things can be found 
in these addresses! Who can forget Sir Joseph 
Lister’s address on “ The Interdependence of 
Science and the Healing Art” delivered at 
Liverpool, 1896, and the modest way (char- 
acteristic of the man) in which he broke his 
long silence concerning his own great part in 
the discoveries that revolutionized the surgical 
practise of the world? He said, 


Pasteur’s labors on fermentation have had a very 
important influence upon surgery. I have been 
often asked to speak on my share in this matter be- 
fore a public audience, but I have hitherto refused 


SCIENCE 


643 


to do so, partly because the details are so entirely 
technical, but chiefly because I have felt an invin- 
cible repugnance to what might seem to savor of 
self-advertisement. The latter objection now no 
longer exists, since advancing years have indicated 
that it is right for me to leave to younger men the 
practise of my dearly loved profession. And it will 
perhaps be expected that, if I can make myself in- 
telligible, I should say something upon the subject 
on the present occasion, 


Who of us Americans who heard it can for- 
get the address of Sir John Evans at the 
Toronto meeting in 1897, in which the follow- 
ing words were used, 


Our gathering this year presents a feature of en- 
tire novelty and extreme interest, inasmuch as the 
sister Association of the United States of America 
—still mourning the loss of her illustrious Presi- 
dent, Professor Cope—and some other learned so- 
cieties, have made special arrangements to allow of 
their members coming here to join us. I need 
hardly say how welcome their presence is, nor how 
gladly we look forward to their taking part in 
our discussions, and aiding us by interchange of 
‘thought. To such a meeting the term ‘‘ interna- 
tional ’’ seems almost misapplied. It may rather 
be described as a family gathering, in which our 
relatives more or less distant in blood, but still in- 
timately connected with us by language, literature, 
and habits of thought, have spontaneously arranged 
to take part. 

The domain of science is no doubt one in which 
the various nations of the civilized world meet upon 
equal terms, and for which no other passport is re- 
quired than some evidence of having striven to- 
wards the advancement of natural knowledge. Here, 
on the frontier between the two great English- 
speaking nations of the world, who is there that 
does not inwardly feel that anything which con- 
duces to an intimacy between the representatives of 
two countries, both of them actively engaged in the 
pursuit of science, may also, through such an inti- 
macy, react on the affairs of daily life, and aid in 
preserving those cordial relations that have now for 
so many years existed between the great. American 
Republic and the British Islands, with which her 
early foundations are indissolubly connected? 


How well the following years have carried 
forward this idea of Sir John Evans, not only 
in the domain of science but in the vital affairs 
of national relations, was amply shown in Eng- 
land’s influential moral support of the United 


644 


States in the war with Spain, and the response 
of millions of the American youth to the call 
from the other side during the terrible years so 
recently passed, thousands upon thousands of 
them not waiting for the direct call of their 
seemingly slow government. 

In thinking of those days I love to remember 
the eloquent words of an Oxford contributor to 
the London Times of April 18, 1917, just before 
the cream of our youth in rapidly increasing 
numbers had gone over, thousands to serve 
with your Canadian troops, and thousands 
more to help the cause of right in other service. 


It is difficult to judge a whole nation. What is 
the criterion of judgment, and who are they that 
are judged? Some of us, and some of our own citi- 
zens, have judged America and found her wanting 
in open-eyed recognition of the issues of this strug- 
gle and unflinching determination to face the issues 
boldly. But if we are to be judged by our states- 
men, might we not too deserve the same judgment? 
The issues were coming, coming, coming for years 
before this war began. Yet it is not easy to say 
that our recognition of these issues was open-eyed, 
and our determination to meet them unflinching. 
We do not dwell on these things in our past, and 
why should we dwell on these things and things like 
these in the history of another nation? Ifa nation 
is to be judged, let it be judged by the answer that 
its spirit makes, in the hour of need, through its 
purest and most chosen voices—the. voice of the 
young, who are the first to hear and the quickest to 
obey, the call of Duty and Honor. If that be our 
criterion, and these are they that are judged, then 
America may be proud, and may stand secure in 
the day of judgment. For her young men answered, 
and answered early, and their answer was ‘‘ We 
come. ’’ 


While there have been two addresses relating 
to the great war, the one by Sir James Thorpe 
delivered at Edinburgh last summer, and that 
read by Van Hise at the Pittsburgh meeting of 
1917 entitled “ Some Economic Aspects of the 
World War,” the subject of human warfare 
does not seem to have been mentioned in any 
of the presidential addresses of earlier years, 
with one exception: Asaph Hall, the astron- 
omer, in his Washington address in 1903, the 
title of which was “ The Science of Astronomy ; 
Historical Sketch, its Future Development, the 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1409. 


Influences of the Sciences on Civilization,” 
used the following words which to-day are of 
extraordinary significance in view of recent 
events: 


Men do not change much from generation to gen- 
eration. Nations that have spent centuries in rob- 
bery and pillage retain their disposition and make 
it necessary for other nations to stand armed. No 
one knows when a specious plea for extending the 
area of civilization may be put forth, or when some 
fanatic may see the hand of God beckoning him to 
seize a country. The progress of science and inven- 
tion will render it more difficult for such people to 
execute their designs. A century hence it may be 
impossible for brutal power, however rich and great, 
to destroy a resolute people. It is in this direction 
that we may look for international harmony and 
peace, simply because science will make war too 
dangerous and too costly. 


Quite as striking as this, but in another 
way, was Sir Norman Lockyer’s address at 
Southport in 1903, in which he discussed 
“The Influence of Brain Power on History.” 
This was mainly a plea for more universities 
and more research and the need of a scien- 
tific national council. Had this strong plea 
been heeded and acted upon, England would 
have found herself in much better condition 
to confront Germany in 1914. 

In general these addresses have been ex- 
tremely serious. Nearly all of the men de- 
livering them have felt that they had an 
important message to give. All have felt the 
importance of the occasion and have tried to 
rise to it. As a result, traces of true humor 
have been scarce, and it is with a surprised 
joy that one greets the following paragraph 
in Farlow’s address at New Orleans in 1906. 
His subject was “The Popular Conception 
of the Scientific Man at the Present Day,” 
and his address was largely devoted to a dis- 
cussion of government and university scien- 
tific positions. In his introduction he said: 

We are so accustomed to hear reports on the 
progress of science that we have almost ceased to 
ask ourselves what we mean by progress. What is 
or is not progress depends of course upon the point 
of view. Some are so far ahead of the majority 
that they can not see how much progress is made 
by those behind them, others are so far in the rear 


DeceMBER 30, 1921] 


that they can not distinguish what is going on 
ahead of them. We must also admit that there are 
different directions in which progress may be made. 
You have all seen the agile crab and been surprised 
to find how rapidly he gets over the ground, 
although he never seems to go ahead, but to seram- 
ble off sideways. The crab, perhaps, wonders why 
men are so stupid as to try to move straight for- 
ward. It is a popular belief, but, not being a 
zoologist, I am) not prepared to vouch for its cor- 
rectness, that the squid progresses backward, dis- 
charging a large amount of ink. One might per- 
haps ask: Is the progress of science sometimes like 
that of the crab, rapid but not straight forward, or, 
like the squid, may not the emission of a large 
amount of printer’s ink really conceal a backward 
movement? So far as the accumulation of facts is 
concerned, there is a steady onward progress in 
science and it is only in the unwise or premature 
theorizing on known or supposed facts that science 
strikes a side track or even progresses backward. 


A few Americans were present at the Aus- 
tralasian meeting of the British Association in 
1914 and had the pleasure of listening to the 
remarkable addresses on heredity delivered at 
Melbourne and Sydney by the distinguished 
guest of the American Association at this pres- 
ent meeting, Prof. William Bateson. These 
lectures, for general and vital interest, are 
almost unsurpassed in the long list of presi- 
dential addresses delivered before the one or the 
other of the two great associations. Only a few 
of us heard them; many of us have read them; 
and it is a joy to know that we are to listen to 
Professor Bateson to-morrow night. 

Several of the retiring presidents in both 
associations have ventured into the domain 
of prophecy. Even now the address of Sir 
William Crookes at Bristol in 1898 is re- 
membered. His startling display and discus- 
sion of the decreasing wheat supply of the 
world and the necessity of securing nitrogen 
from the air created an enormous amount of 
interest. Ten years later, Nichols at Balti- 
more, in his discussion of “Science and the 
Practical Problems of the Future,” referring 
to the exhaustion of our supply of fixed nitro- 
gen, the contingency discussed by Sir Wil- 
liam Crookes in 1898, and to the exhaustion 
of our free oxygen more recently discussed 


SCIENCE 


645 


by Lord Kelvin, concluded that these prob- 
lems were still so remote as to have no 
immediate practical importance; but his ad- 
dress was written at a time when the con- 
servation movement was just beginning in 
this country although it had already gained 
much force, and he referred especially to 
the coming exhaustion of coal, wood, ores 
and soils. His address was a tremendous 
plea for intensive research, and included the 
significant sentence, “ We need not merely 
research in the universities, but universities 
for research.” One of his final sentences 
reads, “ Beyond lies that future in which it 
will no longer be a question of supremacy 
among nations, but of whether the race is to 
maintain its foothold on the earth.” 

The very following year, Chamberlin at 
Boston, in making “A Geologic Forecast of 
the Future of our Race,” concluded with a 
more hopeful outlook and sent his audience 
home in a much happier frame of mind. 
He said: 

While, therefore, there is to be, with little doubt, 
an end to the earth as a planet, and while perhaps 
previous to this end, conditions inhospitable to life 
may be reached, the forecast of these contingencies 
places the event in the indeterminate future. The 
geologic analogies give fair ground for anticipating 
conditions congenial to life for millions and tens of 
millions of years to come, not to urge even larger 
possibilities. 


But these fifty-one addresses, as well as 
those that preceded them, are full of signifi- 
cant and quotable things. We on this side 
will never forget that remarkably beautiful 
address of Jordan’s in 1910 on “ The Making 
of a Darwin.” Those on the other side who 
heard it will never forget Professor Schaef- 
er’s address at Dundee in 1912, on the “ Na- 
ture, Origin and Maintenance of Life,” in 
which, in closing, he gives a wonderfully 
elequent description of natural death—“ A 
simple physiological process as natural as the 
on-coming of sleep.” 

This leads us to the side thought, not only 
of Professor Schaefer’s own age at that time 
(it was sixty-two), but also to the interest 
attaching to the ages of all of the presidents 


646 


of the two associations. It is undoubtedly 
true that each of these men had achieved un- 
usual prominence in scientific work at the 
time he became president of the one or the 
other of the two great associations. An anal- 
ysis of the careers of each one of them is 
not possible at the present time, nor is it 
possible to indicate whether his address was 
delivered at the crowning period of his pro- 
ductive scientific life. With some of them 
it was, with others it was not. As a matter 
of fact, however, the average age of the presi- 
dents of the British Association was sixty- 
one years and eleven months, and with the 
American Association it was sixty-one years 
and five months. The youngest president of 
the British Association during the period 
under consideration was fifty-three years of 
age. This held for Professor Rucker, Sir 
J. J. Thomson, and Professor Bateson. The 
oldest of them was Professor Bonney, whose 
address was delivered at the age of seventy- 
seven. The youngest of the American presi- 
dents were Minot and Richards, whose ad- 
dresses were delivered at the age of fifty; 
and the oldest was Eliot, whose Philadelphia 
address was delivered when he was seventy- 
nine years old. I remember that Dr. Eliot 
hesitated to accept the presidency on the 
ground that he might not live another year 
to deliver his address. That was eight years 
ago and he is still living and writing at the 
age of eighty-seven. 

One is strongly tempted at this point to 
enter briefly upon a discussion as to the 
average length of the productive life of a 
scientific man and as to the average period 
of its practical end. But the semi-humor- 
ous and totally misunderstood remark by Sir 
William Osler at his farewell address at 
Johns Hopkins in 1904 has been so volumi- 
nously criticized and has caused so much sor- 
row, or so much indignation as the case may 
be, to still productive men away past their 
early forties, and the side of the veterans has 
been so triumphantly defended, that further 
argument and illustration are unnecessary. 
We may safely assume, in fact, that the use- 
fulness of the man past middle age is granted, 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1409. 


and that, while he may not have the illu- 
minative bursts of inventive or speculative 
genius which come to the younger man, he 
is better able to make the broad generaliza- 
tions based upon accumulated experience— 
in other words, to prepare an appropriate 
presidential address as president of the Brit- 
ish or the American Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science! 

But so far I have only skirted a promising 
field. I have an idea that some one should 
go deeply into the subject, not only of presi- 
dential addresses before the British and 
American Associations, but of all president- 
ial addresses. Why do we have such addres- 
ses? If there is a good reason—and there 
probably is—why do not people read them? 
Or does some one read them? And if so, 
who? and why? Some presidents prepare 
addresses which they hope will interest the 
people who come to listen to them. Others 
are perfectly indifferent to their listeners, 
and perfunctorily read addresses intended for 
later severely restricted groups of readers, 
such as the professional astronomers of the 
world, as Harkness did, for example, in 1893 
at Madison. A host of ideas occur to me 
that suggest promising lines of investigation, 
but I leave their elaboration to some one of 
my successors who may like the task and 
who may be a psychologist fitted by training 
to deal with it. 


THE WAR AGAINST THE INSECTS 


Count Korzybski, in his recent remarkable 
book “The Manhood of Humanity,” gives a 
new definition of man, departing from the 
purely biological concept on the one hand 
and from the mythological-biological-philo- 
sophical idea on the other, and concludes that 
humanity is set apart from other things that 
exist on this globe by its time-binding faculty, 
or power or capacity. This is another way 
of saying that man preserves the history of 
the race and should be able to profit by a 
knowledge of the past in order to improve the 
future. It is indeed this time-binding ca- 
pacity which is the principal asset of hu- 
manity, and this alone would make the 


DECEMBER 30, 1921] 


human species the dominant type of the 
vertebrate series. But, biologically speaking, 
there is another class of animals which, with- 
out developing the time-binding faculty, has 
earried the evolution of instinct to an ex- 
treme and has in its turn come to be the 
dominant type of another great series, the 
Articulates, or the Arthropods. As Bouvier 
puts it, 

Man occupies the highest point in the vertebrate 
seale, for he breaks the chain of instincts and as- 
sures the complete expansion of his intelligence. 
The insects hold the same dominating position in 
the Articulates where they are the crowning point 
of instinctive life. 


Unlike the Echinoderms and the Mollusks 
which have retained their hard coverings or 
shells and have therefore progressed more 
slowly—for, as Bergson says, “ The animal 
which is shut up in a citadel or a coat of 
mail is condemned to an existence of half 
sleep ”’—vertebrates, culminating in man, 
have acquired the bodily structure which, 
with man guided by the equally acquired in- 
telligence, has enabled him to accomplish the 
marvels which we see in our daily existence. 
And, too, the Articulates have in the course 
of the ages been modified and perfected in 
their structure and in their biology until 
their many appendages have become perfect 
tools adapted in the most complete way to 
the needs of the species; until their power of 
existing and of multiplying enormously 
under the most extraordinary variety of con- 
ditions, of subsisting successfully upon an 
extraordinary variety of food, has become 
so perfected and their instincts have become 
so developed that the culminating type, the 
insects, has become the most powerful rival 
of the culminating vertebrate type, man. 
Now, this is not recognized to the full by 
people in general—it is not realized by the 
biologists themselves. We appreciate the fact 
that agriculture suffers enormously, since in- 
sects need our farm products and compel us 
to share with them. We are just beginning 
to appreciate that directly and indirectly in- 
sects cause a tremendous loss of human life 
through the diseases that they carry. But 


SCIENCE 


647 


apart from these two generalizations we do 
not realize that insects are working against 
us in a host of ways, sometimes obviously, 
more often in unseen ways, and that an 
enormous fight is on our hands. 

It will be obvious, I think, that this state- 
ment is not overdrawn. Quite recently a 
better appreciation of the situation is begin- 
ning to show itself. Early in the war (July, 
1915) Sir Harry Johnston’s strong article 
entitled “The Next War: Man versus In- 
sects” was published in The Nineteenth Cen- 
tury; and at the close of the war precisely 
the same title was used by Lieutenant 
Colonel W. Glen Liston, of the Indian Medi- 
eal Service, in his address as president of 
the Medical Research Section of the Indian 
Science Congress held at Caleutta in Janu- 
ary, 1919. On this side, articles by Felt of 
Albany, Brues of Harvard, and by the pres- 
ent speaker called especial attention to the 
important part that entomology and ento- 
mologists played during the world war, and 
since that time several energetic newspaper 
writers have been trying to place the case 
before the public. 

It is difficult to understand the long-time 
comparative indifference of the human spe- 
cies to the insect danger. A little more than 
a hundred years ago the popular opinion of 
entomology and entomologists in England 
was well expressed by that admirable charac- 
ter, the Rey. William Kirby, in the following 
words: 


One principal cause of the little attention paid to 
entomology in this country has doubtless been the 
ridicule so often thrown upon the science. The 
botanist, sheltered now by the sanction of fashion, 
as formerly by the prescriptive union of his study 
with medicine, may dedicate his hours to mosses and 
lichens without reproach; but in the minds of most 
men, the learned as well as the vulgar, the idea of 
the trifling nature of his pursuit is so strongly as- 
sociated with that of the diminutive size of its 
objects, that an entomologist is synonymous with 
everything futile and childish. Now, when so many 
other roads to fame and distinction are open; when 
a man has merely to avow himself a botanist, a 
mineralogist, or a chemist—a student of classical 
literature or political eeonomy—to ensure attention 


648 


and respect, there are evidently no great attractions 
to lead him to a science which in nine companies 
out of ten with which he may associate promises to 
signalize him only as an object of pity or contempt. 
Even if he had no other aim than self-gratification, 
yet ‘‘ the sternest stoic of us all wishes at least for 
some one to enter into his views and feelings, and 
confirm him in the opinion which he entertains of 
himself ’’; but how can he look for sympathy in a 
pursuit unknown to the world, except as indicative 
of littleness of mind? 

This popular impression, so well described 
by Kirby, continued, and jokes, anecdotes, car- 
toons, novels and dramas perpetuated the old 
idea. But even during the active lifetime 
of the speaker there has come a change. 
Good men, men of sound laboratory train- 
ing, have found themselves able in increas- 
ing numbers, through college and government 
support, to devote themselves to the study of 
insect life with the main end in view to con- 
trol those forms inimical to humanity, and 
to-day the man in the street realizes neither 
the number of trained men and institutions 
engaged in this work nor the breadth and im- 
portance of their results not only in the prac- 
tical affairs of life but in the broad field of 
biological research. The governments of the 
different countries are supporting this work in 
a manner that would have been considered in- 
credible even five and twenty years ago, and 
this is especially true of the United States and 
Canada and hardly less so of France and Italy 
and Japan and South Africa and, at least until 
four years ago, Russia. 

It may be worth while here, however, to point 
out that certain European countries are com- 
bining their studies of agricultural entomology 
and crop diseases under the term phytopath- 
ological studies, or an LEpiphyte Service 
(Service des Epiphyties), as in France, and 
this is unfortunate, since it obscures to a cer- 
tain extent the great issue of insect warfare 
and divides the great field of economic ento- 
mology in a most unfortunate way. Let us 
hope that the movement will not grow. Let the 
entomologists cooperate with the pathologists, 
both plant and animal, wherever there is some- 
thing to be gained by such cooperation, but let 
us keep the respective fields entirely clear. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1409. 


The war against insects has in fact become a 
world-wide movement which is rapidly making 
an impression in many ways. Take the United 
States, for example, where investigations in 
this field are for the time being receiving the 
largest government support. Every state has 
its corps of expert workers and investigators. 
The federal government employs a force of 
four hundred trained men and equips and sup- 
ports more than eighty field laboratories scat- 
tered over the whole country at especially ad- 
vantageous centers for especial investigations. 
And there are teachers in the colleges and uni- 
versities, especially the colleges of agriculture, 
who are training clever men and clever women 
in insect biology and morphology and in ap- 
plied entomology both agricultural and medical. 

All this means that we are beginning to real- 
ize that insects are our most important rivals 
in nature and that we are beginning to develop 
our defense. 

While it is true that we are beginning this 
development, it is equally true that we are only 
at the start. Looking at it in a broad way, 
we must go deeply into insect physiology and 
minute anatomy; we must study and secure a 
most perfect knowledge of all of the infinite 
varieties of individual development from the 
germ cell to the adult form; we must study all 
of the aspects of insect behavior and their re- 
sponses to all sorts of stimuli—their tropisms 
of all kinds; we must study the tremendous 
complex of natural control, involving as it does 
a consideration of meteorology, climatology, 
botany, plant physiology, and all the operations 
of animal and vegetal parasitism as they affect 
the insecta. We must go down to great big 
fundamentals. 

All this will involve the labors of an army of 
patient investigators and will occupy very 
many years—possibly all time to come. But 
the problem in many of its manifestations is a 
pressing and immediate one. That is why we 
are using a chemical means of warfare, by 
spraying our crops with chemical compounds 
and fumigating our citrus orchards and mills 
and warehouses with other chemical com- 
pounds, and are developing mechanical means 
both for utilizing these chemical means and for 


DECEMBER 30, 1921] 


independent action. There is much room for 
investigation here. We have only a few simple 
and effective insecticides. Among the inor- 
ganic compounds, we have the arsenates, the 
lime and sulphur sprays, and recently the fluo- 
rides have been coming in. Of the organic 
substances, we use such plant material as the 
poisons of hellebore and larkspur, pyrethrum 
and nicotine; and the cyanides and the petro- 
leum emulsions are also very extensively used. 
No really synthetic organic substances’ have 
come into use. Here is a great field for future 
work. Some of the after happenings of the war 
have been the use of the army flame-throwers 
against the swarms of locusts in the south of 
France, the experimental use against insects of 
certain of the war gases, and the use of the 
aeroplane in reconnoissance in the course of 
the pink bollworm work along the Rio Grande, 
in the location of beetle-damaged timber in the 
forests of the Northwest, and even in the insec- 
ticidal dusting of dense tree growth in Ohio. 
The chemists and the entomologists, working 
cooperatively, have many valuable discoveries 
yet to make, and they will surely come. 

All this sort of work goes for immediate re- 
lief. Our studies of natural control follow next. 
It is fortunately true that there are thou- 
sands upon thousands of species of insects 
which live at the expense of those that are 
inimical to man and which destroy them in 
vast numbers; in fact, as a distinguished physi- 
cist in discussing this topic with me recently 
said, “ If they would quit fighting among them- 
selves, they would overwhelm the whole verte- 
brate series.” This is in fact one of the most 
important elements in natural control and is 
being studied in its many phases by a small but 
earnest group of workers. 

So far, while we have done some striking 
things in our efforts at biological control, by 
importing from one country into another the 
natural enemies of an injurious species which 
had itself been accidentally introduced, and 
while we have in some cases secured relief by 
variations in farm practise or in farm manage- 
ment based upon an intimate knowledge of 
the biology of certain crop pests, we are only 


SCIENCE 


649 


touching the border of the possibilities of 
natural control. 

For an understanding of these possibilities, 
we must await the prosecution of long stud- 
ies, just as we must await years of progress 
of those other studies outlined in a previous 
paragraph. And all of these studies must be 
carried on by skilled biologists—thousands 
of them. At present most of the best men 
are working away in their laboratories prac- 
tically heedless of the great and inviting 
lines of study at which I have hinted and 
heedless of the tremendous necessity for the 
most intense work by the very best minds on 
the problem of overcoming and controlling 
our strongest rivals on this planet. 

And this brings me back to the topic which 
T touched upon in my opening remarks, namely, 
the teaching of biology in our colleges and 
universities. You will remember that I 
thought to avoid a discussion of this sub- 
ject because I felt that I could not do it 
justice without more careful investigation 
and without a clear knowledge of the view- 
points and purposes of the educators. <A 
good many of us have been thinking for a 
long time that the teaching of zoology and 
botany and the so-called .biology in the 
principal colleges and universities in the 
United States and Canada, and in Europe 
as well, has taken the wrong trend, or that, 
if not taking the wrong trend, very many 
of the more important aspects of these sub- 
jects are being ignored, and that everything 
was running in a single direction. I said a 
good many of us. That means that, when 
we come to count them up, there really have 
been a good many, but they have been so 
greatly in the minority that they have been 
ignored in the general movement. Here and 
there a man has spoken out, but all too in- 
frequently. Jordan, in his presidential ad- 
dress before the American Association, was 
one of these. C. C. Nutting, in two or three 
papers, has in a forceful and somewhat 
humorous way pointed out some of the in- 
consistencies of modern biological training. 
Edwin Linton, in his strong and fine address 
at the Baird Memorial meeting in Washing- 


650 


ton in 1916, put it forcibly in the following 
words: 


As I look over the titles of theses for doctorate 
degrees in biology, however, knowing that they 
must, in some fashion, reflect the activities of our 
biological leaders, I am led to wonder if the failure 
of science to influence legislation in the interests of 
the people is not to be charged to the propensity on 
the part of these leaders to shun the practical. Is 
there a hierarchy in science that frowns upon inde- 
pendence of thought and action in her sanctuary? 
That can hardly be. Let the heads of departments 
of biological research in our universities then take 
heart, and not be afraid to follow the lead of Pas- 
teur, who surely committed no violence upon science 
by undertaking the solution of practical problems. 


In very recent years there has come about 
a slight change in the attitude of teachers. 
The great war has brought this about in 
part, but this is not the only thing that has 
had an influence; something intangible— 
something difficult to locate—perhaps it is 
many sided—perhaps it is many things con- 
tributing to one end—something has opened 
the minds of many single-track men, and 
there is a gradual tendency towards broaden- 
ing which is having its influence on college 
curricula, on the character of the papers read 
at the recent meetings of the great national 
societies, and to a slight extent on the sub- 
jects chosen for doctorates in biology in the 
universities. The recent founding of the 
Keological Society of America is a strong 
evidence of the working of a leavening ele- 
ment; and the recent publication of such books 
as Cockerell’s “ Zoology,” Needham’s “ Gen- 
eral Biology,” and Shull, Larue and Ruthven’s 
“Principles of Animal Biology,” and others, 
shows that the teaching mind is broadening. 

I have mentioned the theses for doctorates. 
I have glanced over the titles of such theses, 
which represent the bulk of the graduate work 
in biology in American universities, for the 
past eight years, as published in the lists of 
the Library of Congress and in the journal 
Scrence. I find that only a very small per- 
centage of this output represents work which 
ean be of the slightest use to humanity in 
its immediate problems regarding the insect 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1409. 


world, and even those which may prove of 
use bear some evidence that the lines of study 
had already been adopted by students who 
used them incidentally to gain their degrees 
and were not suggested by their teachers as 
promising lines leading toward some great 
practical outcome. 

How can we present a convincing argu- 
ment on the necessity for a better rounded 
study of everything comprehended in the 
word biology! And how can we emphasize 
the prime importance of devoting our earli- 
est attention to those problems which most 
immediately concern our well being? This 
can not be done authoritatively by a single 
individual. Perhaps a-convert from the pres- 
ent religion, say an eminent authority on 
cell biology, with that enthusiasm character- 
istic of recent converts, could put the case 
more forcefully than could a man who has 
not achieved prominence in the now accepted 
lines of work. JI am praying for such a 
convert. But much better than this would 
be a movement participated in by as many 
individuals as possible, all with the same 
general idea, each putting forward the views 
that have come to him in the course of his 
own restricted lines of study in biology. 

Let us summarize. Few people realize the 
critical situation which exists at the present 
time. Men and nations have always strug- 
gled among themselves. War has seemed to 
be a necessity growing out of the ambition 
of the human race. It is too much, perhaps, 
to hope that the lesson which the world has 
recently learned in the years 1914 to 1918 
will be strong enough to prevent the recur- 
rence of international war; but, at all events, 
there is a war, not among human beings, 
but between all humanity and certain forces 
that are arrayed against it. Man is the 
dominant type on this terrestrial body; he 
has overcome most opposing animate forces; 
he has subdued or turned to his own use 
nearly all kinds of living creatures. There 
still remain, however, the bacteria and pro- 
tozoa that carry disease and the enormous 
forces of injurious insects which attack him 
from every point and which constitute to- 


DECEMBER 30, 1921] 


day his greatest rivals in the control of na- 
ture. They threaten hia life daily; they 
shorten his food supplies, both in his crops 
while they are growing and in such supplies 
after they are harvested and stored, in his 
meat animals, in his comfort, in his cloth- 
ing, in his habitations, and in countless 
other ways. In many ways they are better 
fitted for existence on this earth than he is. 
They constitute a much older geological type, 
and it is a type which had persisted for 
countless years before he made his appear- 
ance, and this persistence has been due to 
characteristics which he does not possess and 
can not acquire—rapidity of multiplication, 
power of concealment, a defensive armor, 
and many other factors contribute to this 
persistence. With all this in view, it will be 
necessary for the human species to bring this 
great group of insects under control, and to 
do this will demand the services of skilled 
biologists—thousands of them. We have 
ignored these creatures to a certain extent 
on account of their small size, but their 
small size is one of the great elements of 
danger, is one of the great elements of suc- 
cess in existence and multiplication. 

Let all the departments of biology in all 
of our universities and colleges consider this 
plain statement of the situation, and let 
them begin a concerted movement to train 
the men who are needed in this defensive 
and offensive campaign. 

In closing, I can not refrain from quoting 
a remarkable paragraph from Maeterlinck: 


The insect does not belong to our world. The 
other animals, even the plants, in spite of their mute 
existence and the great secrets which they nourish, 
do not seem wholly strangers to us. In spite of all, 
we feel with them a certain sense of terrestrial fra- 
ternity. They surprise us, even make us marvel, but 
they fail to overthrow our basic concepts. The in- 
sect, on the other hand, brings with him something 
that does not seem to belong to the customs, the 
morale, the psychology of our globe. One would say 
that it comes from another planet, more monstrous, 
more energetic, more insensate, more atrocious, 
more infernal than ours. ... It seizes upon life 
with an authority and a fecundity which nothing 
equals here below; we can not grasp the idea that 


SCIENCE 


651 


it is a thought of that Nature of which we flatter 
ourselves that we are the favorite children... . 
There is, without doubt, with this amazement and 
this incomprehension, an I know not what of in- 
stinetive and profound inquietude inspired by these 
creatures, so incomparably better armed, better 
equipped than ourselves, these compressions of 
energy and activity which are our most mysterious 
enemies, our rivals in these latter hours, and per 
haps our successors. 


L. O. Howarp 


U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 


ADDRESS AT THE LAYING OF THE 
CORNER STONE OF THE CHEMICAL 
LABORATORY OF THE COR- 
NELL UNIVERSITY 


Tue great chemical laboratory, the corner- 
stone of which we lay to-day, will not be with- 
out its effect upon the life of the university. 
Its influence may be good or it may be bad. It 
is sure to be profound. 

Chemistry has many aspects. Sordidly 
treated, as a mere bread and butter subject, it 
might conceivably tend to degrade our teach- 
ing to a low, materialistic level. Idealist- 
ically treated, as becomes a great fundamental 
science, it will promote the noblest purposes in 
education. 

Are we out of touch with life? Chemistry 
has the most varied and intimate contacts with 
life of any of the sciences. 

Do we wish to inspire, in our teaching, a 
passion for truth? The pursuit of science is 
an unending quest for truth. 

Are we inclined to shun specialization lest 
we lose a certain breadth of training for our 
students? Let us remember that to really know 
something of any one of the many branches of 
a science like chemistry one must use several 
languages, must be something of a mathemati- 
cian and physicist and must be acquainted with 
many allied subjects. 

There are few things so broad as a “ narrow 
specialty ”—if you follow it down to the ends 
of its wide spreading roots! 

As for the training of the imagination and 
the building of character, is it not inspiring to 
turn from the pitiful struggles of the human 
race as depicted in a world’s history whose 


652 


every page drips with blood and filth, to the 
contemplation of the intimate structure of 
God’s universe, perfect, complete; equally ma- 
jestic whether we view it as a whole or in its 
minutest parts. It is indeed healthful for the 
imagination and for the character to delve, now 
and then into those unseen realms of nature 
through which wanders in speculative mood the 
spirit of modern science. 

All of these things: the keeping in touch 
with life, the love of truth, the breadth of cul- 
ture, the training of the imagination, the build- 
ing of character are pedagogical considerations. 
But they are so important that the favor- 
able influence of the new laboratory upon them 
would in itself make that great gift well worth 
while. Its real purpose, however, is much more 
momentous. 

The new laboratory will be a center of re- 
search from the start. Of that we may be sure, 
knowing who are to occupy it. By its very 
completeness and adequacy, assured by years 
of careful and intelligent planning, it will 
challenge our chemists to redoubled activity. 
Enthusiasm and the true spirit of investigation 
are sure to prevail and notable results may be 
counted upon. 

If the chemists and students of chemistry 
who are to work in this building attain only an 
average output as measured by the perform- 
ance of university laboratories in the past, the 
donor may count on returns from his invest- 
ment such as no commercial enterprise has ever 
paid. Nearly every fundamental discovery has 
originated in the universities and these discov- 
eries have literally transformed the condi- 
tions of life upon our planet. In this trans- 
formation chemistry has had a great part. 

The cost in money of these first essential 
steps towards progress has been but trifling. 

The price of a single battleship would 
build twenty such great laboratories: that of 
a modern battle fleet, destined to the scrap 
heap within ten years, would amply endow 
all the universities in the land. 

We can not remind ourselves too often of 
all this because these basic things which must 
precede all invention and industrial develop- 
ment are not ushered into the world with 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1409. 


acclamation. Yesterday, so to speak, a quiet, 
shy little man in a university laboratory 
studied the emission of electrons from a hot 
body, described the phenomenon, wrote out 
the equations and went his way. To-day, 
as a consequence, you or I may speak to a 
friend in San Francisco. To-morrow, per- 
haps, we may be able to call up a man in any 
part of the world and hear his living voice: 
and very, very few will realize that Richard- 
son made that miracle possible! 

This is but one instance, and not from the 
domain of chemistry; were I a chemist and 
did time permit I could doubtless cite a 
hundred equally striking cases. 

It is obviously difficult to estimate just 
what credit in the development of modern 
civilization is to be assigned to the workers 
in pure science but theirs is clearly an es- 
sential part. But for the new knowledge 
furnished by them modern civilization could 
not have come into being. 

It may be thought that this is an evil day 
in which to boast of the triumphs of our 
civilization and that it were well if we could 
return to the primitive conditions of ancient 
Greece. I prefer, however, to regard the 
terrible upheaval which the human race has 
gone through as a violent attack of indiges- 
tion, due to having taken too rapidly into 
an unaccustomed system the rich new diet 
proffered by science. Let us hope for the 
ultimate recovery of the patient. 

Measured according to that ultimate stand- 
ard, which does not fluctuate with the abun- 
dance or scarcity of gold, z.e., the happiness 
of the human race, I believe that the research 
man, academic trifler, theorist, dreamer, dab- 
bler in things trivial as he seems to the man 
of affairs, will be found, like that other idle 
ne’er-do-well, the artist, to be among the most 
supremely productive of all the world’s 
workers. 

Speaking more intimately and personally, 
we may expect that the renewed activity of 
our chemists will react upon other depart- 
ments. There will be joint projects for carry- 
ing on extended researches made possible by 
the new equipy ent. Thus we may soon hope 


DECEMBER 30, 1921] 


to enter upon what is perhaps the most 
promising next step in the development of 
the sciences: namely cooperative undertak- 
ings on a large scale involving chemistry- 
physics, chemistry-engineering, chemistry- 
geology, chemistry-biology, and the like. 
Many of the pressing problems of the im- 
mediate future are too large for any indi- 
vidual or for any single department. In this 
way, on its scientific side, the university may 
best serve the community. Thus it may 
better perform the prime function of every 
true university—the advancement of knowl- 
edge. ; 
Epwarp L. NicHois 
CoRNELL UNIVERSITY 


THE ORIGIN OF SOIL COLLOIDS AND 
THE REASON FOR THE EXISTENCE 
OF THIS STATE OF MATTERS 


In the mechanical analysis of hundreds of 
samples of soil by the beaker method, the mi- 
crosecopical control of the subsidence of the 
clay group indicated that the smallest diam- 
eter of a clay particle is about 0.0001 mm. 
while the water from which the sediment 
subsided was clear and transparent. 

At first thought it would appear that in a 
soil which has weathered under many agen- 
cies, such as the grinding of glacial ice, the 
abrasion of flood waters, the pounding of 
ocean waves, and other agencies of attrition 
due to soil movements operating through un- 
told ages, material of every degree of fineness 
would accumulate, passing down below the 
limit of microscopic vision. Practically how- 
ever this does not appear to be the case as 
the finest material of the soil, called the clay 
group, excluding the colloidal material, to be 
discussed later, ranges in diameter from .005 
to .0001 mm. The question naturally arises 
as to what has become of the material of 
smaller size. 

My present view is that particles of matter 
derived from silicate rocks and other soil- 
forming minerals when they approach a 
diameter of .0001 mm. contain relatively so 
few molecules that the bombardment of the 
water molecules in which the particle is im- 


SCIENCE 


653 


mersed shatters the particle beyond the ability 
of the molecules in the solid to hold together 
as a solid mass. The atoms of calcium, mag- 
nesium, potassium and sodium in the mole- 
cule of the silicate would go for the most 
part into true solution, while the atoms of 
silicon, aluminum, and iron would go chiefly 
into colloidal solution forming the basis of 
the colloidal matter or the ultra clay of the 
soil. It should be possible for the mathemat- 
ical physical chemist, from physical constants 
now known, to determine empirically the rel- 
ative size of the particle of matter which 
could withstand such bombardment without 
complete disintegration. This is a problem 
which has not yet been worked out. 

There appears to be a certain equilibrium 
established between the colloidal state and 
the truly soluble state as there is always 
a small proportion of silicon, aluminum, and 
iron which seem to be in real solution, as 
they pass through a Pasteur-Chamberland 
filter and separate out on evaporating the 
solution not as a colloid but as an amorphous 
mass of hard scale-like material, like a boiler 
scale, without absorptive properties. 

It is that portion of the silicon, aluminum, 
and iron which collects on the outside of the 
Pasteur-Chamberland filter in a truly colloid- 
al condition which is recognized as the 
ultra clay. 

This colloidal matter is very absorptive and 
takes into itself a considerable quantity of 
salts of calcium, magnesium, potassium, and 


1 Another way of looking at this is from the 
point of view of the internal energy of the system. 
The molecular attraction between the molecules of 
the solid and the molecular attraction between 
water molecules themselves and between the mole- 
cules of the solid and of the water must come to 
equilibrium. If the solid particle becomes rela- 
tively small in diameter there will be relatively few 
molecules in the solid to hold together against the 
attraction of the increasing number of water mole- 
ecules surrounding them as the size of the solid par- 
ticle diminishes. The attraction of water mole- 
cules for solids which it wets, as, for instance, glass, 
is seen in the relatively high temperatures and 
therefore high energies required to remove the last 
traces of water from the solid. 


654 


sodium which were in free solution but which 
are changed in the absorbing medium to a 
colloidal state in which they are extremely 
inactive and in which state they fail to re- 
spond to reagents that would normally reveal 
their presence. It is a matter of very great 
difficulty, therefore, to determine whether the 
electrolytes found in the ultimate analysis of 
the ultra-clay are constitutionally combined 
with the silicate of alumina and iron, or 
whether they merely exist in a passive col- 
loidal state. 


THE TRUE SOLUTION 


The study of ultra clay includes funda- 
mental problems of physical chemistry, partic- 
ularly the differences in state between true 
solutions and _ colloidal solutions. The 
modern concept of solutions ascribes a rather 
complex form to the molecule of water. The 
molecule of a salt dissolved in water forms 
numerous and indefinite hydrates with the 
surrounding water molecules. The complex- 
ity of these hydrates is influenced by con- 
centration and by temperature, or in other 
words by the balance in the internal energy 
of the system expressed by the activities of 
the water molecules on the one hand and the 
activities of the salt molecules on the other, 
as well as the activity or energy exerted be- 
tween the water molecules and the salt 
molecules. 

Little is known about the complexity of the 
hydrates in the solution. We have actual data 
only when certain salts crystallize from the 
solution. With salts that erystallize with 
water of hydration the lowest hydrates are 
formed at the higher temperatures and the 
higher hydrates are formed at the lower 
temperatures. Magnesium chloride is known 
to erystallize with five different amounts of 
water, namely, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 12 H,O. The 
higher hydrate (12 H,O) separates at tem- 
peratures between 16.8° to —33.6° C. The 
lowest hydrate comes out at 181.5° C. 

Sodium carbonate is known with three 
states of hydration, namely, 1, 7, and 10 H,O, 
depending upon the temperature. If inter- 
mediate hydrates occur they do not appear 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1409. 


to be stable forms. It would appear there- 
fore that 12 H,O is the highest stable hydrate 
formed in erystals except for the double mole- 
cules of the alums which carry twice this 
amount or 24 H,O. Sodium chloride erys- 
tallizes out at ordinary temperatures without 
water of hydration, the crystal being com- 
pletely dry on the inside. It is said to erys- 
tallize with 2 H,O at temperatures somewhat 
below zero. Sodium sulphate erystallizing at 
room temperature immediately changes under 
the same temperature conditions to the an- 
hydrous form when the solution becomes sat- 
urated with sodium chloride. This gives us 
a vision of only a few proportions of water 
which fit into the molecular structure of the 
erystal in permanent form. It throws no 
other light upon proportions of water of hy- 
dration which may occur in solution which 
would not fit into the structure of a crystal 
in stable form. 

The strength of these hydrates differs 
markedly. Sodium carbonate with 10 H,O on 
exposure to air is reduced to sodium carbon- 
ate with 1 H,O. Sodium sulphate with 10 
H,O gives off free water under pressure as 
when pestled. Any of the three known hy- 
drates of calcium chloride, namely, 2, 4, 6 
H,O, absorbs water when exposed to ordi- 
nary air, which changes from a gaseous to a 
liquid state in which the calcium chloride 
finally dissolves. 

It appears therefore that the water of hy- 
dration is influenced by the internal energy 
of the system and may be modified by the 
external pressure of the water vapor in the 
air and by mechanical force. 

There are of course numerous cases where 
salts erystallize without water of hydration 
or where they come down in the form of 
amorphous material without crystalline form. 
There are likewise numerous cases where it is 
difficult to secure crystals and often impos- 
sible to separate material in a solid state 
which ordinarily comes out in a solid form. 
The difficulties in obtaining sugar in a solid 
form with certain impurities, particularly 
glucose and potassium, or iron, is a case in 


point. The impossibility of obtaining ortho- 


DECEMBER 30, 1921] 


phosphoric acid in a solid state from solu- 


tions containing certain impurities is another 
case in point. 

Many of the salts which contain water of 
crystallization, especially the sulphate carbon- 
ate, and acetate of sodium, are remarkable 
for the fact that when solutions are prepared 
free from dust and under perfectly quiescent 
conditions they refuse to crystallize far be- 
low their ordinary point of saturation unless 
they are disturbed by agitation, by particles 
of dust or particularly by introduction of 
erystals of the material, when they suddenly 
crystallize throughout the entire mass. Jean- 
nel years ago stated that he assumes “ that 
saturated solutions when heated form pecu- 
liar hydrates and that these remain unaltered 
when the temperature is lowered but that 
vibration or the presence of a crystal of the 
salt is sufficient to bring about their decom- 
position.” 

It has been observed by Ostwald that pre- 
vious to the formation of sodium chloride 
crystals points of congestion may be noted 
where droplets form and can be seen under 
the ultra microscope. This is analogous to 
the suspensoid form of droplet of a colloidal 
body, but while the colloidal droplet is stopped 
from going further the sodium chloride drop- 
let completes its course by coming together 


into a crystalline mass with the complete ex- ° 


clusion of the water of hydration which has 
surrounded the molecule in its solution state. 
Under conditions of supersaturation above 
referred to it is supposed that these centers 
of congestion are avoided and crystallization 
does not occur until by agitation or the intro- 
duction of nuclei such centers of congestion 
are brought about. 


COLLOID SOLUTIONS 


It would appear that the colloidal state of 
the silicon, aluminum, and iron is such, the 
hydrates formed with the water molecules are 
so complex and the internal energy of the 
system is so low that the molecules of silicon, 
aluminum, and iron, and the same would 
probably be true for colloidal platinum, gold 
and silver, are unable at ordinary tempera- 


SCIENCE 


655 


tures to combine as a crystalline or amor- 
phous mass. If the temperature is raised to 
900 or 1000° the last traces of water dis- 
appear, they lose completely their colloidal 
properties and take on the form of an amor- 
phous mass. 

The modern concept of the atom shows a 
central nucleus charged with positive elec- 
tricity surrounded by many electrons with 
negative charges. If the two forces are per- 
fectly balanced the material is inert as in 
the case of nitrogen gas. The activity of the 
atoms of other elements depends upon the 
extent to which this balance is thrown off 
to one side or the other. 

From the modern concept of solutions it 
would appear that the silicon, aluminum and 
iron are completely dissociated in their col- 
loidal solution but the positive and the negative 
portions of the molecules are so balanced that 
they are in an extremely inactive condition and 
substances absorbed by them become equally 
inert and inactive for the same cause and thus 
change their state from a condition of true 
solution to a colloidal solution. 

The principles of dyeing appear to be based 
upon a similar change of state. The dye in 
true solution enters a colloidal membrane such 
as silk or wool, is changed to a colloidal state 
in and on the membrane from which it can not 
thereafter be dislodged with water as the col- 
loidal solution is immiscible with water. The 
principles of dyeing seem to rest upon the 
ability of certain materials including mordants 
which are of such conditions that they have the 
power to bring about this change of state. 

The colloidal material separated from soils 
in a dilution not exceeding one gram per liter 
after thorough agitation appears under the 
ultra microscope as minute droplets showing 
points of congestion such as precede the forma- 
tion of salt erystals and appear as droplets of 
fat suspended in milk or as fog appears in the 
cloud. In larger concentrations these droplets 
coalesce into larger masses as the fat globules 
coalesce on rising into cream or as the droplets 
of fog coalesce to form the liquid water of 
larger drops. Fog follows neither the laws of 
gases nor the laws of liquids. The soil colloid 


656 


in suspension in water may be coalesced by 
salt or lime solutions but the change is not 
sufficient to overcome the colloidal state as in 
the case of the coalescence of the fog particles 
into liquid water, and on removing the coagu- 
lating agency the colloidal matter may again 
be put in suspension. 

As before stated the only means yet discov- 
ered to change the colloidal nature of the soil 
colloids is through an enormous expenditure of 
energy in heating the material to 900° or 1000° 
to completely drive off the water of hydration 
and leave the material an amorphous mass lack- 
ing entirely colloidal properties. This is too 
expensive a method to be used in agriculture 
or in road construction to particularly affect 
the plasticity of the wet clays. The problem 
before the soil chemist and the road engineer 
is to bring about a change in the internal 
energy of the soil colloid so as to break up the 
complex hydrates and permit the atoms or 
molecules of silicon, aluminum, and iron to 
form a crystalline or an amorphous solid and 
thus make the extremely plastic clays less 
plastic and more friable. 

The molecular weights of colloids determined 
from diffusion or from freezing point are very 
high, reaching the figure 25,000 for starch. 
The question arises as to whether this figure is 
applicable to the molecule of the anhydrous 
colloid or to the colloidal molecule associated 
with the extremely complex system of hydrates 
that have attached themselves to the molecule 
of the colloidal substance. Numerous cases 
have been reported where zeolites have formed 
after the percolation of soil moisture through 
exceedingly small openings in rocks and build- 
ing stones. The question arises as to whether 
sufficient force can be exerted to force a col- 
loidal solution through openings too small to 
earry the associated water of hydration, and 
whether under these conditions, like the stir- 
ring of a supersaturated solution, the mole- 
cules of the colloid could be brought suffi- 
ciently close to combine into a erystalline or 
amorphous solid. 

This is of theoretical interest only. The 
practical problem seems to be to find some 
cheap method of breaking up the complex 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1409. 


hydrates to give the atoms of silicon, alumi- 
num and iron, or the hydrated molecules of the 
silicate an opportunity to combine in a solid 
form. 


Mitton WHITNEY 
BuREAU oF Soms, 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 


WHEN WILL THE TEACHING OF CHEM- 
ISTRY BECOME A SCIENCE?1 


WHEN will the teaching of chemistry be- 
come a science? Before answering this ques- 
tion, let us ask another question. When did 
chemistry become a science? Chemistry be- 
came a science when men found that there 
were different elements; that these elements 
had different properties; that they could be 
changed into different forms; that they 
would react with one another and give differ- 
ent products and that in all these inter- 
actions and transformations there was no 
loss or gain of mass. These are a few of the 
fundamental conceptions that were necessary 
before chemistry could become a science. 

The teaching of chemistry will become a 
science when we as teachers recognize that 
every student is possessed with certain origi- 
nal tendencies with which we are to work 
just as the chemist works with the elements. 
These original tendencies are subject to trans- 
formations and interactions, but they can 
not be destroyed any more than an element. 
The law of the conservation of mass holds. 
Sometimes the psychologist speaks of an origi- 
nal tendency being eliminated. He means 
by this that the tendency has been so modi- 
fied that you can not recognize it. The 
chemist would say that it had suffered a 
chemical change or had been changed into 
an allotropie form. 

For the benefit of those people who studied 
psychology some years ago, I might say that 
a few of these original tendencies are curios- 
ity, manipulation, mastery, fear, sex instinct, 
hoarding, ownership, ete. These are the 
rocks upon which we build our chemical 

1 Read before the Section of Chemical Education, 


American Chemical Society, New York, September 
8, 1921. 


DECEMBER 30, 1921] 


structure, and hence in our teaching of 
chemistry, we must hew these rocks into 
shape by the use of chemical tools. You 
may ask what do you mean by this and how 
may it be done? To illustrate, I will take 
the first tendency which I mentioned, namely, 
curiosity. 

There is not a normal boy or girl who has 
not an original tendency to want to know the 
reason or wherefore of almost everything with 
which they come in contact. As they begin 
their school days this tendency is gradually 
transformed into a submissive tendency by 
the teacher’s desire to not wish to be bothered 
with so many questions, and when the stu- 
dent reaches the chemistry department, we 
generally put the finished transformation 
touch to it, and hence we have destroyed the 
properties of one of the most energizing ele- 
ments in the promotion of chemical educa- 
tion. 

If we find that a student, when he comes 
to our chemistry department, has had this 
tendency partly transformed, it should be 
our business as teachers of chemistry to bring 
back or revert this original tendency to its 
pure condition. Now, you ask me how this 
may be done. I can tell you how it can not 
be done. It will never be done by telling the 
student all the results or letting him read 
all the results before he goes to the labora- 
tory, that is, by letting him go to the labora- 
tory with the feeling that his experiments 
are only to illustrate the lecture or book. 
Such work is highly artificial and not only 
dulls the keen observations of the student, 
but absolutely tends to kill all curiosity. To 
be sure life is too short to find out every- 
thing in the laboratory, but what he can find 
out and has time to find out let him find 
out without telling him. What he does not 
have time to find out or can not find out, 
tell him in plain English. <A few things 
found out for himself will stimulate and aug- 
ment his curiosity, and put him in an ap- 
preciative attitude for results told him. 
Hence I say that we as chemists can develop 
this original tendency of curiosity by the 
proper handling of the laboratory end of 


SCIENCE 


657 


chemistry. This must be put up in such a 
way as to arouse the student’s curiosity. 
This may be done by putting all laboratory 
work in problem form and letting that prob- 
lem be one that has not been explained over 
and over and over again in both lecture and 
book. You may call this a project in spite 
of the fact that we understand that a pro- 
ject is a piece of work carried out in its 
natural setting. The laboratory is a natural 
setting in the study of chemistry. 

I feel that the project or problem method 
produces the most favorable conditions or 
situations for arousing and holding the origi- 
nal tendency of curiosity, and furthermore I 
am sure that this same feeling is shared by 
many others, and because of this fact I can 
not understand why it is not more generally 
used. 

I am of the opinion that the entire chemis- 
try course can be developed by the project 
method. Let the reading matter raise a 
problem or project, and then let this project 
be straightened out by a little elementary 
research. When he has solved his problem 
or project his book reads smoothly, and when 
he has solved all the projects in the book 
his book is complete, and it is not complete 
until he has. He must do his share before 
he can gain a full knowledge of his subject. 
Such a situation produces a normal curios- 
ity, and at the same time there is a very 
noticeable improvement in his observations 
and powers of reasoning, both of which are 
so essential to a chemist. 

The teaching of chemistry will become a 
science when chemistry teachers begin to 
seek for the situations or conditions that will 
properly develop all these original tendencies 
which are closely allied with chemistry. 
When, we, as chemists, have found the con- 
ditions or situations that produce certain re- 
sults with the elements of chemistry, what 
do you do? You publish these results or 
come to such a meeting as this and give 
other chemists the benefit of your results. 
Why should you not do likewise when you 
have found the proper conditions for the de- 
velopment of these original tendencies? 


608 


I have mentioned one situation for the de- 
velopment of curiosity. I hope that next 
year someone else will give us a better situa- 
tion for its development, and some other men 
will give us chemical situations for the de- 
velopment of some other original tendencies. 
When we get all these situations worked out 
from a chemical standpoint we can tell what 
situation to put up to get a certain response 
from a given original tendency just as the 
chemist knows that he will get a certain re- 
action from a given element when he subjects 
it to a certain situation or condition. 

When we all have gone back to the student 
and begun to develop the teaching of chemis- 
try on original tendencies, the teaching of 
chemistry will become a science, and nothing 
will hasten that day more than meeting to- 
gether in an open forum as we have done 
this week. It is a pity that the teaching of 
chemistry is not recognized fully as a profes- 
sion, but no one is at fault but ourselves. 
Let us become worthy of the profession by 
studying the teaching of chemistry in a sci- 
entific way, and then people will not hesi- 
tate to give the calling of teaching chemis- 
try a proper place and the college professor a 
living wage. 

New E. Gorpon 

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, 

CoLLEGE Park, MD. 


SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 
EARL JEROME GRIMES 


Tue executive committee of the Associa- 
tion of Virginia Biologists has adopted the 
following minute: 

The executive committee of the Association of 
Virginia Biologists has heard with deep regret of 
the death of Earl Jerome Grimes, associate profes- 
sor of biology in the College of William and Mary. 
Less than a month ago he was present in our fall 
meeting and contributed largely to its success. By 
his death the College of William and Mary has been 
deprived of a faithful and inspiring teacher; this 
association of a valued member and counselor; and 
the science of botany of a young disciple of great 
promise. To his family and to his college we wish 
to express our most heartfelt sympathy in their 
great loss. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1409. 


This minute we instruct the secretary to spread 
on the records of the association, to have published 
in ScIENCE, and to communicate it to Mrs. Grimes 
and to the faculty of the College of William and 
Mary. 


ELECTRIC POWER MAPS 

A map of New York State showing the lo- 
eation of the power stations and electrical 
transmission lines used by public utility com- 
panies has been published by the United 
States Geological Survey, Department of the 
Interior. It was originally planned to pub- 
lish these maps as plates in water-supply pa- 
pers, which were also to contain tabular in- 
formation in regard to the equipment of the 
power stations and the chief characteristics 
of the transmission lines, but to avoid the 
expense and delay incident to the publication 
of such reports the maps will be issued sep- 
arately and sold. The map of New York 
State is the first one to be published and may 
be bought for one dollar from the director of 
the United States Geological Survey at Wash- 
ington. The base map used is the Geological 
Survey’s map of the state, 64 inches long and 
45 inches wide, scale 1:500,000. The map 
shows the location of the stations and pri- 
mary transmission lines and bears a num- 
bered list of the power companies, the num- 
bers corresponding to numbers assigned to the 
stations on the map. Proof maps were first 
made and sections of them were sent to the 
companies for correction or revision. Similar 
maps of New Hampshire, Vermont, Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and 
Delaware are in course of preparation. 
These maps will be valuable to those who are 
studying interconnection of power companies 
and to those who wish to establish manufac- 
turing plants within reach of electric power— 
in fact, they will be useful to any one con- 
templating the use of power in any way. 


MEDALS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY 
At the anniversary meeting of the Royal 
Society on November 30, Professor Sherring- 
ton presented the medals (we quote from 
Nature) as follows: The Copley medal to 


DrEcEMBER 30, 1921] 


Sir Joseph Larmor, who has long held a lead- 
ing position in the British school of mathe- 
matical physics. It may fairly be said that 
his preliminary work was of the utmost value 
in paving the way to the modern develop- 
ments of the theory of relativity. A Royal 
medal to Dr. Frederick Frost Blackman, dis- 
tinguished for his contributions to plant phys- 
jology, and especially to knowledge of the 
process of photo-synthetic assimilation of 
carbon dioxide. A Royal medal to Sir Frank 
Dyson, who has devoted special attention to 
investigations of the movements and distances 
of the stars and of the bearing of these upon 
the structure of the stellar universe. It was 
mainly to his foresight and organizing ability 
that we owe the successful observations of 
the deflection of light by the sun’s gravita- 
tional field during the eclipse of 1919. The 
Davy medal to Prof. Phillipe Auguste Guye, 
in recognition of his work on optically active 
organic substances, on molecular association, 
and on atomic weights. The Hughes medal 
to Prof. Niels Bohr, the author of the con- 
ception to which the name “ Bohr-atom ” has 
been attached. This conception gave a solu- 
tion of the long-standing puzzle of the Balmer 
series of hydrogen, and appears likely to pro- 
vide a complete explanation of the spectra 
of the various elements. 


SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 


Dr. L. O. Howarp, chief of the Division of 
Entomology of the U. S. Department of Agri- 
culture, gave at Toronto on the evening of 
December 27 the address of the retiring presi- 
dent of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science, which is printed in 
the present issue of Scrmncr. We hope to 
print in subsequent issues the addresses of 
the chairmen of the sections and other ad- 
dresses and proceedings that are of general 
interest. 


At the last meeting of the Indiana Academy 
of Science held at Indianapolis, Indiana, Dec. 
1 and 2, 1921, the following officers were 


elected: 
President: F, M. Andrews, Indiana University. 


SCIENCE 


659 


Vice-president: C. A. Behrens, Purdue Univer- 
sity. 

Secretary: W. N. Hess, De Pauw University. 

Assistant Secretary: H, T. Dietz, Indianapolis, 
Indiana. 

Treasurer: W. M. Blanchard, De Pauw Univer- 
sity. 

Editor: F. Payne, Indiana University. 

Press Secretary: F. B. Wade, Shortridge High 
School, Indianapolis, Indiana. 


Tue recent election of the Optical Society 
of America resulted in the choice of the follow- 
ing officers for terms beginning January 1, 
1922: 


President (2 year term): Leonard T. Troland, 
Harvard University. 

Vice-president (2 year term): Herbert E. Ives, 
Western Electric Company, New York. 

Secretary (5 year term): Irwin G. Priest, 
National Bureau of Standards. 

Treasurer (5 year term): Adolph Lomb, Bausch 
and Lomb. 

Members of the Executive Council (2 year term) : 
Adelbert Ames, Jr., Dartmouth College, W. E. For- 
sythe, Nela Research Laboratories, Henry G. Gale, 
University of Chicago, Ernest Merritt, Cornell Uni- 
versity. 


The retiring president, Professor J. P. C. 
Southall and all of the above-named officers 
are ex-officio members of the Executive 
Council. 


At its 1921 meeting at New Orleans, the 
American Pharmaceutical Association awarded 
the 1921-22 grant from the A. Ph. A. Research 
Fund to Dr. David I. Macht, of the Johns Hop- 
kins University, for pharmacological work on 
the benzyl compounds found in certain galen- 
icals. The first grant made in 1919 was 
awarded to Dr. George D. Beal, of the Univer- 
sity of Ilinois, for work on alkaloidal assays, 
while the 1920 award was made jointly to Dr. 
Herber W. Youngken, of the Philadelphia Col- 
lege of Pharmacy and Sciences, for work on 
aconite varieties and Dr. EK. Kremers and Miss 
Lila Winkelblech, of the school of pharmacy of 
the University of Wisconsin, for work on 
derivatives of guaiacol. 


R. L. Acassiz, of Boston, was elected presi- 
dent of the Copper and Brass Research As- 


660 


sociation, at its first annual meeting held in 
New York, December 6. 


Dr. Watter Lawrence Bierrinc, Des 
Moines, Iowa, has been elected an honorary 
member of the Royal College of Physicians 
of Edinburgh, “to mark its sense of his dis- 
tinguished services in connection with re- 
ciprocity ” between the United States and 
Great Britain in matters of medical educa- 
tion. 


Dr. Niets Bour (Copenhagen), Dr. Johan 
Hjort, head of the Norwegian Fisheries, and 
Professor Paul Langevin (Paris) have been 
elected honorary members of the Royal In- 
stitution. 


Dr. B. E. Exprep of New York has re- 
ently been awarded the Elliott Cresson gold 
medal of the Franklin Institute, Philadel- 
phia, for his development of the low-expan- 
sion leading-in wire for incandescent electric 
lamps. 


Tue Journal of the Washington Academy 
of Sciences states that Mr. George M. Rom- 
mel, chief of the animal husbandry division 
of the Bureau of Animal Industry, U. 8. De- 
partment of Agriculture, has resigned to be- 
come editor-in-chief of the American Inter- 
national Publishers, New York City. Mr. 
Rommel had been with the Department since 
1901, and had been chief of his division since 
its organization in 1910. 


Captain Ernest L. Bennett, formerly in 
command of the battleship New York, has 
been designated by the Navy Department as 
director of the naval experimental and re- 
search laboratory now nearing completion at 
Belleview, on the Potomac River below Wash- 
ington. 

Dr. Grorce H. Wurepte, dean of the Uni- 
versity of Rochester Medical School, will de- 
liver the fourth Harvey Society Lecture at 
the New York Academy of Medicine, on 
Saturday evening, January 7. His subject 
will be “Pigment metabolism and regenera- 
tion of hemoglobin in the body.” 


BerorE a meeting of the Chemical Society 
of the District of Columbia, at the Cosmos 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1409. 


Club in Washington on December 8, Dr. H. 
V. Moore, chief chemist of the Bureau of 
Mines, spoke on “ Radium,” Dr. Howard A. 
Kelley on “The Therapeutic Use of Radium 
in the Treatment of Cancer,” and Miss Arm- 
strong of the Bureau of Standards on “ The 
Quantitative Measurement of Radium.” 


AT a meeting of the Faraday Society on 
December 18, Professor F. O. Rankine de- 
livered an address on “The Structure of 
Gaseous Molecules.” 

Tue Anglo-Batavian Society has proposed 
an extension of the scheme for the inter- 
change of lectures between England and Hol- 
land and has suggested a course of eight lec- 
tures from the British side this session. The 
University of London has nominated Profes- 
sor F. G. Donnan and Dr. J. F. Thorpe as 
lecturers in chemistry. 


JosEPH E. Goopricu, head of the agricul- 
tural department of the Loomis Institute, 
Windsor, Conn., died on December 21 at the 
age of forty years. 


Mr. James Ropert AppLeyarD, of the 
Royal Technical Institute, died on November 
26, in Manchester, England, at the age of - 
fifty-two years. 

Watiace Lee has been appointed chief ge- 
ologist to the Government of Siam. For 
the present his address is in care of the Com- 
missioner General, Royal Railroad Depart- 
ment, Bangkok, Siam. 

Tue directors of the Fenger Memorial Fund 
have set aside $500 for medical investigation. 
The work should have a clinical bearing and 
if possible it should be carried out in an in- 
stitution that will furnish facilities and ordi- 
nary supplies free of cost. Applications with 
full particulars should be sent to L. Hektoen, 
637 S. Wood Street, Chicago, before Janu- 
ary 15, 1922. 

SranLey Fiexp, president of the Field Mu- 
seum, Chicago, and nephew of Marshall 
Field, has contributed $265,000 to the mu- 
seum. Captain Marshall Field has pledged 
$50,000 a year for five years; Charles R. 
Crane has given $80,000 and Arthur B. 
Jones $25,000. 


DECEMBER 30, 1921] 


THE seventeenth annual New England In- 
tercollegiate Geologic Excursion was held 
October 15 at Attleboro, Massachusetts, under 
the leadership of Professor J. B. Woodworth 
of Harvard University. Forty-eight persons 
representing thirteen institutions were pres- 
ent. The institutions represented were as 
follows: Associated Petroleum Engineers, 
Brown University, Colby College, College of 
Education, Providence, Harvard University, 
Massachusetts Agricultural College, Mount 
Holyoke College, Tufts College, University of 
Vermont, University of Washington, United 
States Geolcgical Survey, Wesleyan Univer- 
sity, and Yale University. The group visited 
the exposures of Dighton conglomerate in 
the vicinity, of Attleboro, the Wamsuuta 
series consisting of red shales, felsites and 
diabases in South Attleboro, the Cambrian 
outcrops at Hoppin Hill, the shale series of 
the Coal Measures near the station at Plain- 
ville containing fossil plants and amphibian 
footprints, and other minor localities in the 
vicinity of Red Rock Hill and Oldtown. 
Plans were discussed for the eighteenth ex- 
cursion which will be held in the vicinity 
either of Amherst or Worchester, Massachu- 
setts. 


We learn from the Journal of the Ameri- 
ean Medical Association that the board of 
directors of the Gorgas Memorial Institute 
at the national headquarters in Washington 
has elected the following officers: Dr. Wil- 
liam C. Braisted, president; Dr. Franklin 
Martin, vice-president; Dr. Arthur P. Rob- 
bins, Burlington, Iowa, executive secretary, 
and Mr. Edward J. Stellwagen, president of 
the Union Trust Company, Washington, 
treasurer. The purpose of the organization 
of an executive committee is to further a 
movement to introduce the sanitary methods 
devised by the late Surgeon-General Gorgas 
in all the civilized countries of the world. 
Word was recently received by the institute 
that Dr. Richard P. Strong, dean of the de- 
partment of tropical medicine of Harvard 
University and former director of the biolo- 
gic laboratory at Manila has accepted the 
post of scientific director of the Gorgas Mem- 


SCIENCE 


661 


orial Institute of Tropical and Preventive 
Medicine to be built at Panama City on a 
site presented to the United States by Dr. 
Belisario Porras, president of the Republic 
of Panama. The presentation of the site 
was made recently in Philadelphia by José 
Lefevre, chargé d’affaires of Panama at 
Washington. 


Dr. Cuartes H. Gireert, of the Bureau of 
Fisheries, and Field Assistant Henry O’Mal- 
ley have returned from an extensive trip to 
Alaska, which was devoted to a study of the 
runs of salmon in the southeastern and cen- 
tral districts. Special attention was given to 
the salmon of Kodiak Island, where a rack 
had been constructed in Karluk River early 
in the season and the counting of red salmon 
ascending the stream was being carried on. 
It is reported that up to September 17, the 
total escapement of red salmon up the river 
was 1,322,000. Dr. Gilbert advises that the 
investigations in the Karluk region were 
most interesting and profitable. Every spawn- 
ing stream tributary to Karluk Lake was ex- 
amined. 


EDUCATIONAL NOTES AND NEWS 


Tue American Association of University 
Professors meet at Pittsburgh on December 
29 and 30 in association with the national 
societies devoted to the economic and social 
sciences. 


Dr. THEopore Lyman, director of the Jef- 
ferson Physical Laboratory of Harvard Uni- 
versity and professor of physics since 1913, has 
been made Hollis professor of mathematics and 
natural philosophy. He is the ninth incum- 
bent of this foundation, which was established 
by Thomas Hollis in 1727. Lyman’s three im- 
mediate predecessors were Joseph Lovering, 
1838-1888, and Lyman’s teachers and friends, 
B. O. Pierce, 1888-1914, and Wallace C. 
Sabine, 1914-1919. 


Prorressor Harotp J. Lockwoop has been 
appointed professor of electrical engineering 
in the Thayer School of Engineering of Dart- 
mouth College, to fill the vacancy caused by 
the resignation of Professor F. E. Austin. 


662 


Dr. Sypney RosotHan Munuer, associate 
professor of clinical medicine in the Johns 
Hopkins Medical School and president of 
the American Congress of Internal Medicine, 
has joined the staff of the University of 
Maryland School of Medicine. 


Dr. W. Macner has accepted the position 
of director of the pathological department 
of the University of Toronto. He was for- 
merly lecturer on pathology in University 
College, Cork. 


DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 


THE ACQUISITIVE INSTINCT IN CHILDREN AS 
AN EDUCATIONAL STIMULUS 


THE educational value of the collections 
of various objects which children form has 
not received the universal recognition which 
it so well merits. The tendency to form col- 
lections of such objects as stamps, coins, post 
cards and bird’s eggs has as its basis the in- 
stinct of acquisition. A child of two years 
hoards bits of cloth, clothes pins, and buttons 
without knowing why he does it. The object 
appeals to the child’s senses, that is, the per- 
ception of the object stimulates his instinc- 
tive desire for possession. 

Sometimes an epidemic of collecting will 
arise in a neighborhood as occurred in a 
suburb of Chicago, a few years ago, when 
most boys between the ages of eight and four- 
teen collected the pictures of baseball players 
coming with certain brands of tobacco. Boys 
collected the pictures because they saw others 
doing it, and because of that instinctive cra- 
ving for things which please the senses. Here 
rivalry appeared. Boys vied with each other 
to see who could get the greatest number of 
pictures, and a value was placed upon them 
far in excess of their intrinsic worth. 

The desire to colleet without a definite 
purpose other than to see how many objects 
can be brought together continues into ad- 
olescence. At the age of twelve or thirteen, 
however, collections often assume an emo- 
tional character as those made up of souvenir 
spoons, theater ticket stubs, or later dance 
programs. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1409. 


Up to this stage the instincts of acquisi- 
tion, imitation, and emulation have furnished 
the stimulus for the collective mania, and 
even in collections of natural objects, reason- 
ing has not played a basal part. Judgments 
were formed as to relative value, methods of 
acquisition, and arrangement of the objects, 
but as yet the purpose of collecting for 
systematic arrangement and study has not 
appeared. 

Consider now the case of the stamp collec- 
tor who has outgrown the desire for mere 
numbers. He considers methods of arrang- 
ment other than size or color, considering 
country and time of greater moment. He 
associates designs with historical events, and 
the portraits with national heroes. He notices 
the evolution of symbols and designs appear- 
ing on succeeding issues of stamps, as well 
as the progress made in printing and engra- 
ving from the earlier to the more modern 
representatives. Here is being developed the 
“scientific attitude of the mind,” the expres- 
sion of that desire to classify, arrange, and 
correlate fact. The comparing of concepts, 
of memory images, the formation of judg- 
ments, and reasoning enter into the mental 
process, while instinct is eclipsed by thought. 
Such a collection will furnish many lessons 
in reasoning; for in solving the problems 
arising in classification the habit of consistent 
thinking is materially aided. 

Collections of natural objects as butterflies, 
shells, and leaves have an especially favorable 
influence upon the thought habit, but only 
if the desire to arrange and study systema- 
tically is present. The classification problems 
met with are so diverse and require such 
varied methods of approach that the train- 
ing received in meeting them necessitates in- 
tense thought and a strong purpose. 

It should be remembered, therefore, that a 
child’s mania for collecting is the normal ex- 
pression of an instinct; that this instinct can 
be diverted into emotional or intellectual 
channels; that when diverted intelligently it 
may be a great factor in the formation of 
the thought habit, the great purpose in any 
education. It seems well worth while to con- 


DrcEeMBER 30, 1921] 


sider methods by which the acquisitive in- 
stinct in children may be diverted by en- 
couragement and suggestion so as to prove 
the stimulus for the higher forms of intel- 
lect. 


WituM Drumm JounsToN, JR. 
WALKER MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 


LINKAGE IN POULTRY 


Two genes each of which is sex-linked must 
obviously be completely linked in the gameto- 
genesis of the sex which is heterozygous for the 
sex gene. On Morgan’s theory of inheritance 
they should also be partially linked in the 
homozygous sex, as in the female of Droso- 
phila. I therefore decided to test for linkage 
between two well-known sex-linked genes of 
poultry, namely B, whose presence causes bar- 
ring of melanic feathers, and 8, which by in- 
hibiting yellow pigmentation, converts “ gold” 
into “silver ” hackle feathers. A Brown Leg- 
horn cock of composition bs/bs was therefore 
mated to Barred Plymouth Rock hens of com- 
position BS. Their male children were of com- 
position BS/bs. These were mated to bs Brown 
Leghorn hens, and have so far produced: 

30 Barred silver BS/bs ¢ and BS 9 
17 Unbarred silver bS/bs ¢ and bS 2 
10 Barred gold Bs/bs f and Bs 9 

21 Unbarred gold bs/bs ¢ and bs 2 


This corresponds to a series of spermatozoa 
30 BS, 17 bS, 10 Bs, 21 bs, or 27 cross-overs 
out of 78. The cross-over value is therefore 
34.6 per cent. with a probable error of 3.6 per 
cent., that is to say there is undoubtedly link- 
age. The numbers of barred and unbarred are 
practically equal, but there is a 50 per cent. ex- 
cess of silver over gold, perhaps due to selective 
mortality. 

The experiment is being continued, and it is 
hoped next year to obtain repulsion as well as 
coupling. If Pearl is correct in his view that 
one. of the genes for high egg-laying is carried 
in the sex-chromosome, the economic impor- 
tance of mapping it is considerable. For ex- 
ample if the locus of the egg-laying gene L, 
lies between those of B and S, then if B and S 
have been transferred together from a race of 
high-laying power to one of low-laying power, 
we shall know without further testing that, ex- 


SCIENCE 


663 


cept in the rare cases of double crossing-over, 
L, has been transferred with them. 


J. B. S. Hatpane 
NrEw COLLEGE, 
OxFrorD, ENGLAND 


THE ZOOLOGICAL RECORD 

The Zoological Record, which was founded 
in 1864 by English zoologists, has been issued 
regularly ever since and contains each year 
a complete bibliography of all publications 
connected with zoology. It is now the sole 
work of the kind, and is invaluable to all 
workers in every branch of zoology. 

Previous to 1914 The Zoological Record 
formed part of the “ International Catalogue 
of Scientific Literature,” and was issued under 
the joint responsibility of the Royal Society 
and the Zoological Society. As the Royal 
Society found itself unable to proceed with 
the volumes of the “ International Catalogue ” 
after the issue for 1914, the Zoological 
Society has undertaken to prepare and issue 
the volumes for 1915-1920 inclusive at its 
sole financial risk. 

It is the wish of the record committee of 
the Zoological Society to continue the publi- 
cation of this most useful work, but it is 
obvious that they can not expect the Society 
to undertake the heavy financial liability in- 
volved in publication unless they receive 
reasonable support from working zoologists 
both at home and abroad. 

I hope, therefore, that all working zoolog- 
ists who agree with me that the suspension 
of the publication of the Record would have 
a most disastrous effect on the progress of 
zoology, will either subscribe themselves or 
will urge the librarians of the institutions 
with which they are connected to do so. 

A prospectus and form of subscription 
either for the whole or separate divisions of 
the Record can be had on application to the 
Zoological Society. W. L. Scuater, 


Editor 
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON, 
Lonpon, N. W. 8 


METEOROLOGISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT 
In a letter received from Professor V. Con- 
rad, the recently elected secretary of the 


664 


Austrian Meteorological Society, he expres- 
ses the fear that the Meteorologische Zeit- 
schrift may cease publication for want of 
funds. This would be a deplorable circum- 
stance and a distinct loss to meteorology and 
science. He asks for subscriptions, the price 
being only $3.20 U. S. currency per year. 
It is hoped that this note may secure not 
only renewals, temporarily dropped during 
the war, but also new subscriptions, so that 
this valuable periodical may be saved from 
extinction. 
Orto Ktorz 
DOMINION OBSERVATORY, 
December 6 


SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

RECENT ADVANCES IN PALEOPATHOLOGY 

AN important contribution to the study of 
the origin and evolution of diseased condi- 
tions is contained in the recent volume by 
Dr. John M. Clarke! whose previous studies 
on this subject have enriched the literature 
of paleopathology.2 He has, in the present 
essay, given a popularized account of his ac- 
curate paleontological studies, dealing with 
the nature of disease and the geological indi- 
cations of its evolution. He calls attention 
specifically to the fact that there has been 
an evolution of disease similar to the evolu- 
tion of organic forms. Certainly the evi- 
dence points to a progressive increase in 
pathological conditions throughout the geo- 
logical ages. 

Dr. Clarke’s evidences are all selected from 
the field of invertebrate fossils in which his 
wide acquaintance with invertebrate paleon- 
tology and stratigraphy gives his opinion the 
greater weight. Only a specialist in this 
field would be able to discriminate benign 
pathological conditions from those of acci- 
dental post-fossilization. erosions. 

The author has a deeper purpose in view 
than merely contributing to the subject of 

1‘‘ Organie Dependence and Disease: Their 
Origin and Significance,’’ Yale University Press, 
October, 1921, pp. 1-113; 105 figures, 

2“ The Beginnings of Dependent Life,’’ Fourth 
Annual Report, State Museum of New York, 1908, 
pp. 1-28, 13 plates and text-figures. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1409. 


paleopathology and his essay is a philosophi- 
cal study of the nature of symbiotic and para- 
sitie conditions of the ancient Paleozoic 
world. 

Ths subject has been further enriched by 
the appearance of another volume dealing 
with the evidence of disease during a more 
recent period of the world’s history. This 
volume was prepared under the supervision 
of Lady Alice Ruffer of Ramleh, Egypt, as 
a memorial to her husband who lost his life 
in the recent war. The volume consists of 
nineteen essays which had been previously 
published in various journals, chiefly the 
Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology. 
These deal with detailed accounts of Sir Ruf- 
fer’s studies on ancient Egyptian mummies; 
one paper relating to a condition of spondyli- 
tis deformans in a crocodile from the Mio- 
cene of Egypt. 

These reprinted essays are accompanied by 
a brief biographical sketch and a list of Ruf- 
fer’s writings. 

Ancient Peru has contributed greatly to 
our knowledge of paleopathology, and the 
civilizations of the Incas and their predeces- 
sors have a diligent student in Edmundo 
Escomel, a practising physician in Are- 
quipa, Peru. His most recent contributions 
deal with discussions of the ancient surgical 
art of Peru; the instruments and results ob- 
tained, seen especially well in the numerous 
trephined skulls of the ancient Peruvian 
burials. 


Roy L. Moopm 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, 
CHICAGO 


SPECIAL ARTICLES 


A SIMPLE METHOD OF OBTAINING PREMATURE 
EGGS FROM BIRDS 

In connection with studies on the relation 

of the endocrine glands to sex and reproduc- ~ 


3Sir Mare Armand Ruffer, ‘‘ Studies in the 
Palaeopathology of Egypt,’’ University of Chicago 
Press, October, 1921, pp. i-xx and 1-371; illus- 
trated by 71 plates. 

4Dr. Edmundo Escomel, ‘‘ Ciencia y arte en le 
prehistoria peruana,’’ printed privately, Lima, 
Peru. 


DECEMBER 30, 1921] 


tion it was observed some months ago that 
injections of therapeutic doses of the active 
principle of the posterior lobe of the pituitary 
body sometimes causes a premature expulsion 
of the bird’s egg from the oviduct. Soon 
afterward it was easily established that a 
somewhat larger dosage could be relied upon 
to cause an immediate expulsion of the egg 
from any part of the oviduct. Doubtless this 
action might have been anticipated from the 
well-known action of this secretion on the 
uterine muscle of mammals. The immature 
or ovidueal egg can be utilized to much ad- 
vantage in the investigation of several kinds 
of biological and chemical problems but the 
impracticability of obtaining such eggs—ex- 
cept through the often uncertain, ever ex- 
pensive and self-limiting process of killing 
the mother bird—has hitherto handicapped 
such studies. It therefore seems worth while 
to describe this simple and useful method. 

A full understanding of the method and its 
limitations involves the following facts con- 
cerning the premature egg: The bird’s egg 
requires between 1 and 2 days to pass from 
the ovary to the exterior. In pigeons this 
period of passage down the oviduct is a little 
more than 40 hours. When the ovarian egg 
is laid it has therefore already undergone 
development during this number of hours and 
has had various accessory parts (albumen, 
shell-membranes, shell) added to it. The first 
10 to 15 hours of this period involve the for- 
mation of albumen, while the shell is con- 
tinually formed during the last 25 to 30 
hours. The middle and lower portions of 
the oviduct are more highly muscular in 
structure than is the extreme upper portion 
(infundibulum, funnel) into which the egg 
first passes from the ovary. The movements 
which propel the egg along the oviduct are 
involuntary in origin; in the final muscular 
act of egg-expulsion voluntary action is also 
involved. In the dove or pigeon the egg is 
easily and positively palpable 30 hours before 
the normal time of laying. 

The effectiveness of the method is suffi- 
ciently indicated in the table which has been 


SCIENCE 


665 


constructed from the last series of injections 
made by us. It will be observed that, with 
few exceptions, the eggs were laid within 62 
to 25 minutes following the injection. They 
were laid at stages of immaturity varying 
from 4 to 26 hours. Four cases required a 
repetition of the injection. The egg sought 
at the 37-hour stage (No. 8) was not forced 
backward but forward into the body cavity— 
a fact later verified by abdominal operation. 
A 34-hour stage (No. 11) was, however, 
forced neither forward nor backward by a 
dosage one-half of that used in the other 
tests. In the case of one quite wild common 
pigeon (No. 14), injected late at night, three 
injections failed to cause the immediate ex- 
trusion of the egg, though they quickly forced 
the egg down to the extreme posterior part of 
the oviduct. The time limits involved in this 
case are uncertain. Egg No. 6 was laid with- 
out shell but with the membrane. Several 
eggs had very little shell while those taken 
only 4 to 10 hours before the normal period 
of laying were fairly provided with shell and 
were capable of incubation in the normal 
manner. The injections are nearly as effec- 
tive in the common fowl, though in this case 
it is not possible to know the exact number of 
hours of immaturity of the egg thus secured. 

The injections are made hypodermically 
(No. 1) or better intramuscularly into the 
broad muscles of the breast. Pituitrin of 
Parke, Davis and Co. was used in the in- 
jections cited im the table. It is unnecessary 
to use the preparation designed for use in 
obstetrics (used here in Nos. 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 
17) since the difficulty of infecting birds 
makes the use of pituitrin (oral) practicable. 
The size of the effective dose depends largely 
upon the age of the preparation. One prep- 
aration evidently made six months later 
than another was found to be twice as active 
as the older preparation. The dosage for the 
weaker preparation, which is perhaps near 
the average age of preparations on the mar- 
ket, was found (it was used in data of table) 
to be about 0.183 e.c. per kilo body weight. 
This dosage is about 4 times that used for 


666 


a limited period by us in a current study of 
the possible réle of pituitary deficiency in 
reproductive disorders in birds. Even this 
smaller dosage not infrequently effected the 
prompt delivery of an egg. When injected 
at or near the hour of release of an egg from 
the ovary this same smaller dosage also 
sometimes prevents normal ovulation in the 
pigeon. 

Experience has shown that an egg which 
has very recently entered the oviduct from 
the ovary can not be secured by this method. 
Injections rightly timed for this purpose re- 
sult in the equivalent of an anti-peristalsis 
of the oviduct (ovum into body cavity); in 
the pigeon, however, it is easy to obtain pre- 
maturely eggs of somewhat more than 30 of 
the total 40 hours of oviducal development. 
As carried out by us the wildness of the bird 
is a factor in the interval of time from in- 
jection to laying. This results doubtless 
from the fact that, when kept close at hand 
for exact time records, the voluntary part 
of the act of expulsion is delayed or inhibited 
in the untamed birds. 

It is evident that by this means eggs of 
various stages of immaturity—including suc- 
cessive eggs from the same parent—are made 
easily available for studies on the earlier 
stages of embryonic development; for experi- 
mental studies on these most modifiable 
stages; for chemical studies on various parts 
of the egg with less than the usual opportuni- 
ties for change and admixture; and for isola- 
ting the functions of the various parts of the 
bird’s oviduct. It is probable also that under 
certain conditions or limitations this reac- 
tion of the dove’s oviduct—active and in 
situ—would be useful as a means of stand- 
ardizing solutions of the active principle of 
the pituitary gland. Incidentally, it may be 
added that it has already been found practi- 
eable in this laboratory to utilize such pre- 
maturely laid eggs to make a crucial test of 
Stockard’s1 important suggestions on the 
cause of twinning and double-monster forma- 
tion as these occur in birds. 

1Stockard, C. R., Amer. Jour. Anat., 1921, 
XXVIILI., 115. 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Von. LIV. No. 1409. 


TABLE [I 


Data for One Series of Pituitrin Injections 


Dosage No. of 
(in Interval, In- } Hours 
Kind of Bird No.| Thous- |jection to Lay-| Prema- 
andths of| ing (Minutes) turely 
1 c.c.) Laid 
Ring-dove 1 22 25 4 
2 20 13 16 
3 22 8 16 
4 22 8 10 
5 22 14 10 
6 22 12 26 
7 221 13 21 
8 22 Into b.c. (37) 
9 28? 8 5 
10 20 “ 6% 5 
1l 10 Not laid (34) 
Common pigeon /12 44 13 18 
13 44 19 5 
14 441 Some hrs. +5 
15 44 22 5 
Common fowl |16 | 264 (45) 24 
17 | 2201 (33) 24 


Oscar RMmDLE 


THE DISCOVERY OF OLENELLUS FAUNA IN 
SOUTHEASTERN BRITISH COLUMBIA 1 

In the spring of this year, Col. C. H. Pol- 
len, of Cranbrook, British Columbia, for- 
warded to the University at Vancouver, speci- 
mens of chocolate-brown shales showing 
imprints of lower Cambrian trilobites. 

In May, the writer visited the locality for 
the Geological Survey of Canada, made fur- 
ther collections and studied the stratigraphy 
over a wide area. 

The fossils collected were submitted to Dr. 
Charles D. Walcott, secretary of the Smith- 
sonian Institution, who identified the follow- 
ing genera and species: 


Callavia, cf. nevadensis Walcott, 
Wanneria n. sp. 2, 

Mesonacis gilberti Meek, 

Wanneria, ef. walcottanus (Wanner), 
Olenellus, cf. fremonti Walcott, 
Prototypus senectus Billings, 


Dr. Walcott states concerning the collec- 
tion: 
2 Injection repeated one or more times. 


1 Published with the permission of the Director, 
Geological Survey, Ottawa, Canada, 


DrceMBER 30, 1921] 


This fauna belongs to the upper portion of the 
Lower Cambrian, and it is essentially the same as 
that found above the tunnel at Mt. Stephen, B. C., 
and also found more or less all along the Cordil- 
leran system down into southern Nevada. 


The stratigraphy of the section is as fol- 
lows: 

Chocolate-brown shales 
—olenellus fauna... 
4 fine-grained quartz con- 
glomerate ......... 


Lower 50 + feet 
Cambrian 
300 + feet 
coarse conglomerate... 6 feet 
disconformity 
(purple and green mud 
eracked siliceous me- 
targillites (Siyeh).. 
Purcell lava—amygda- 
4 loidal basalt........ 
purple and green mud 
cracked siliceous me- 
targillite and silice- 
ous limestones,..... 1,000 + feet 
(Siyeh formation) 


Precambrian 300 + feet 
Beltian 


100 = feet 


In the Cranbrook area the characteristics 
of the disconformity between the Cambrian 
and Precambrian are: 

1. The thickness of the sediments between 
the Purcell lava and the basal conglomerate 
of the Lower Cambrian varies from a few 
feet to three hundred feet, showing evidence 
of an unconformity. 

2. The upper surface of the Precambrian 
does not show any evidence of weathering 
before the deposition of the Lower Cambrian. 

8. The Precambrian and Cambrian strata 
correspond in dip and strike. At no place 
were discordant relationships observed. 

4, The metargillites of the Precambrian 
are more highly metamorphosed than those 
of the Cambrian. 

5. The contrast in lithology between the 
Precambrian and Cambrian formations is 
very marked. Mud cracked and _ ripple 
marked purple and green metargillites are 
characteristic of the Precambrian while the 
Lower Cambrian rocks are white quartzose 
conglomerates succeeded by grey and choco- 
late-brown shales. 

6. The basal conglomerates of the Cam- 


SCIENCE 


667 


brian contain rounded fragments of the under- 
lying siliceous argillites. 

A full detailed statement concerning the 
stratigraphical relationships of the Precam- 
brian and the Cambrian over a wide area is 
now in course of preparation to be published 
by the Geological Survey of Canada. 


Stuart J. ScHorimep 
UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, 
VANCOUVER 


HOWARDULA BENIGNA; A NEMA PARASITE OF 
THE CUCUMBER-BEETLE 

Howardula+ Cobb. Characters of Aphel- 
enchus Bastian, 1865, but without cesophageal 
bulb and with a non-bulbous onchium and 
much reflexed ovary. “Female” finally a 
flaccid, cylindroid sack, without distinct ali- 
mentary canal, and otherwise much deterior- 
ated. Syngonic; male unknown. Howardula 
may be related to Bradynema zur Strassen, 
1892, but the latter has no onchium and even 
lacks a mouth opening. 


95¢ 
Led (02) Ds, 244(2) Selon =) ee 


Dee) 40° 4,7 4.1 1.9 


Howardula benigna Cobb. Anus none or 
vestigial; vulva sometimes terminal; uterus 
nearly filling the body-cavity, posteriorly 
packed with larve and anteriorly with seg- 
menting eggs, near the head in the vicin- 
ity of the small spermathecum narrowed 
and reflexed to the middle of the body, whence 
the narrow ovary turns forward and ends 
blind near the lead; onchium usually very 
obscure but the minute mouth opening still 
persisting. Inert, viviparous, usually all of 
the same stage of development in any indi- 
vidual host-insect, each when mature contain- 
ing about two thousand embryos and segment- 
ing eggs; the larve, apparently always all of 
one kind, sometimes ten to twenty thousand 
of them, proceeding from the mother nemas 
into the body-cavity, and into the sexual ap- 


1 Named for my distinguished friend Dr. L. O. 
Howard, chief of the U. 8. Bureau of Entomology, 
president and past permanent secretary of the 
American Association for the Advancement of 
Science. 


3.9—5. mm 


668 


paratus, of the host, and so becoming de- 
posited with the eggs of the latter. 


Fig. 1. Shows relative volume of beetle and 
parasites. The line XY shows the actual length of 
the beetle. 


The newborn larve measure as follows: 


BeA)l2. Men2Biie Oden (a )94s8 
Ds 


Pe oly) SUS NEN(D79) 0-9 San 


Anus none or vestigial; tail conoid, straight, 
broadly rounded or subtruncate at the term- 
inus. After deposition along with the beetle 
eggs, the young nemas moult with little in- 
crease in size, some of them then boring their 
way into the body-cavity of even very young 
larve of both sexes of the beetle, sometimes 
to the number of thirty but more often five 
or six. The following are the dimensions and 
other details of these young but already sper- 
matized individuals, as found both in the soil 
and in very young beetle-larve, which in the 
body-cavity of the host reach the above, seven 
to ten times longer, mature form: 


Des 16... (2)24. BELO (2) 97. 


CB rial ea sie) 4, 2.6 


One 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1409. 


Habitat: Common in the body-eavity (abdo- 
men, thorax and even head) of Diéabrotica 
vittata, trivittata, and 12-punctata, especially 
the former, infesting the two sexes about 
equally. 

My attention was called to this nema by 
Mr. W. V. Balduf, Assistant Entomologist, 
Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, Mari- 
etta, Ohio, where he discovered the larve in 


> 


Fie. 2. Cucumber-beetle egg and the charge of 
nemas deposited with it. 


the course of experiments on Diabrotica. 
Owing to the economic aspect of the subject, 
beetles sent me by Mr. Balduf were exhibited, 
dissected, at the Washington Helmintholog- 
ical Society’s meeting, March 17, 1921. Ex- 
amination revealed the adult female form, 
which is so flaccid and otherwise deceptive 
as to cause it rather easily to be confused 
with the internal organs of the host by one 
not versed in both insect and nema anatomy. 

Aided by Dr. F. H. Chittenden and col- 
leagues of the Federal Bureau of Entomology, 
and by others, the geographical distribution 
of the nema was studied with results shown 
on the accompanying map, which indicates 
that the distribution in 1921 is probably 
nearly coextensive with that of the main hosts, 
Diabrotica vittata Fab. and trivittata Mann. 
The nematism is often high and affects on the 
average about 20 per cent. (0 per cent.—70 
per cent.) of the insects. Beetles from a 
locality where they are not nematized are 
larger and more vigorous. Thus twenty-five 


DECEMBER 30, 1921] 


beetles from an uninfested lot were much 
larger and averaged seventy per cent. heavier 
than a similarly chosen twenty-five from a 
fifty per cent. nematized lot. Anatomical evi- 
dence shows the infested female beetles to be 
less fertile than the non-infested, doubt as to 


Fig. 3. The map-figures give the percentage of 


beetles found infested by Howardula. The figures 
for different localities a few miles apart in any 
given region usually were in substantial agreement. 
Where the percentage of infestation was highest, 
the nematism was highest, and vice versa. The 
presence of the nema does not exclude other inter- 
nal parasites, such as other insects and gregarines. 
About 1,500 D. vittata were examined. Below are 
addresses of those who kindly contributed insects 
for examination. 


Balduf, W. V., Marietta, O. 

Cobb, Dr. F., Ann Arbor, Mich. 
Cobb, V., Whitman, Mass. 
Chapin, E, A., Falls Chureh, Va. 
Fenton, E. A., Ames, Iowa. 

Flint, W. P., Urbana, Ill. 

Gentner, L., Lansing, Mich. 

Hall, Dr. M. C., Chevy Chase, Md. 
Harned, R. W., Agr. College, Miss, 
Haseman, L., Columbia, Mo. 
High, M. M., Kingsville, Tex. 
Kelsall, A., Annapolis Royal, N. S. 
Raps, E. M., Oakton, Va. 

Riley, Wm. A., St. Paul, Minn, 
Ross, W. A., Vineland Sta., Ont. 
Smith, C. E., Baton Rouge, La. 
Thomas, W, A., Chadbourn, N. C. 
Walters, M. J., New London, Ct. 
Watson, J. R., Birmingham, Ala. 


SCIENCE 


669 


diminished fecundity vanishing where the 
female host harbors a dozen or more adult 
nemas. In such eases the mere relative volume 
of the parasites is convincing evidence of 
handicap. See Fig. 1. Mr. Balduf in a let- 
ter speaks of beetles, many of which “ died 
of nemas.” JI have no rigid proof of such 
deaths, but believe them very probable and at 
times numerous. 

In none of the numerous lots of beetles 
examined was the rate of infestation by any 
other zoo-parasite as high as by H owardula, 
with the single exception of a forty-three per 
cent. dipterous infestation; but no note was 
made of degrees of phyto-infestation (cucum- 
ber-wilt organism, ete.). s 

As many as thirteen thousand nema larvee, 
by count, have been removed from the body- 
cavity of a single Diabrotica vittata, and no 
doubt the number may go much higher. On 
several occasions twenty or more adult How- 


TMTRE) 15h 


anh. Ind 


Fie. 4. Head of very young cucumber-beetle 
larva and of young Howardula at the time of 
its entrance. The mandibles of the grub, mnd, 
would seem to be impassable to the nema. 


ardulas have been taken from a single beetle. 
Theoretically these should produce some forty 
thousand larve or more. The older female 


670 


beetles, when nematized, deposit from a few 
to upwards of fifty of the nema larve with 
each egg. See Fig. 2. These soon mature 
on the eggs or in the soil (where they can 
live several weeks), moult, develop a more 
perfect spear, and by its aid begin to make 
their way into the body-cavity of the beetle 
grubs soon after the latter hatch out. That it 
is rather improbable the nemas enter the host 
by way of the mouth and alimentary canal is 
illustrated in Fig. 4. The active young beetle 
larve are armed with sharp-toothed, well de- 
veloped mandibles. That the tender young 
nemas could pass so relatively small a throat 
and mouth, armed as the latter is, one hesi- 
tates to believe. 

In plant-infesting triplonchs J have shown 
the development of the so-called salivary 
glands to be greatest in species noted for their 
efficiency in destroying the tissues of the 
host, and suggested that these glands aid in 
dissolving the host tissues and thus supple- 
ment the mechanical action of the spear or 
onchium, which therefore should then act also 
as a spewing channel. In light of this, it 
may not be without significance that the sali- 
vary glands of Howardula benigna appear 
better developed than in some of its nearest 
known relatives. Conceivably this secretion 
is also antiseptic. Nemas of very many kinds 
make their way through the tissues of their 
hosts without causing fatal infections. The 
existence of an antiseptic nema secretion or 
excretion might explain this. In the case of 
Diabrotica, there is no known trace left of 
the relatively large breach made by the para- 
site, a benignant result perhaps facilitated 
by the parasite itself in the way indicated. 

The present investigations suggest how far 
we are from appreciating the abundance and 
importance of insect parasites and how back- 
ward in attempting their control. How- 
ardula is, beyond any reasonable question, 
ages old, for on no other supposition can the 
remarkable relationship of host and parasite 
be explained. It is only one of a consider- 
able number of parasites of the same de- 
structive insect that have much to do with 
the welfare of the host. Intelligently increas- 


SCIENCE 


[N. S. Vou. LIV. No. 1409. 


ing the incidence of the parasites decreases 
the ravages of the host. When we come to 
understand these relationships, these “ bal- 
ances”’ between host and parasite, doubtless 
we can do much toward inclining the “bal- 
ance” in our favor. We hear more or less 
of organisms introduced to new areas without 
their enemies and parasites, and in conse- 
quence becoming frightful pests, and we have, 
very painfully and slowly it seems to some of 
us, learned that searching for and introducing 
these same enemies and parasites affords re- 
lief. Marked successes of this kind at least 
place it beyond doubt that this portion of 
the field of economic parasitology will be care- 
fully explored. But there is another very 
important part of the field of which we hear 
little if anything, and that is the comprehen- 
sion and watchful control of what may be 
termed indigenous or long-established “ bal- 
ances.” 

The cucumber-beetle affords good enough 
example of these latter to justify an appeal, 
on the basis of it, to economic biologists to 
scrutinize more carefully the ever changing 
“balances” between pests and their parasites — 
and other enemies, including pests of long 
standing, with a view to keeping the “bal- 
ance” always inclined in our favor. I be- 
lieve any well trained, experienced and 
thoughtful biologist will agree that such a 
course is bound finally to result in notable 
economies. A case in point is the existence 
of localities, among those here tested, in which 
the total zoo-parasitic infestation of the beetles 
reached only about two per cent. At the same 
time not very far away there was a nema 
infestation exceeding fifty per cent. and a dip- 
terous infestation exceeding forty per cent. 
The investigation showed that the transfer- 
ence by post of these two parasites from the 
highly infested areas to the low or non-in- 
fested areas was easily feasible at small cost. 
Posted in a ventilated box with a few cucurbit 
leaves the infested beetles undergo a two to 
four days’ journey; set loose at night they 
survive without apparent injury. 

N. A. Cons 

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 


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A simple direct current armature is supplied for mounting in this field and with this armature may be demon- 
strated a series or shunt wound motor or dynamo and all characteristics of direct current dynamo electric machinery 
of either 2, 4, or 6 poles. This furnishes much valuable information regarding the connections of the different poles, 
the direction of rotation, etc. 


The aluminum cup for use in this magnetic field illustrates the principles of the closed circuit rotor for induction 
motors. The reversal of one of the field coils shows reversal of direction of rotation and other similar important 
principles may be shown. 


The converter may be demonstrated by placing the armature which has slip rings on one side in the field shown 
on the right and arranging the poles and connecting a battery so as to run it as a direct current motor. The brushes 
underneath will collect alternating current and this may be used for ringing bells and may be shown to be alternating 
by the use of meters. 


___ The Synchronous motor may be shown by carefully increasing the frequency of the alternating current generated 
by increasing the speed of the central handle and at the same time have the armature connected to this alternating 
errent and the field coils in the proper order connected to direct current. 


The alternating current generator may be demonstrated by energizing the fields by direct current and using 
2 armature that has the slip rings on it. 


: One of these fields has two slots in it for holding a yoke on which are two concentric, removable coils and with 
this may be shown all the principles of the transformer, as transformation ratio, etc. 


When used for alternating current work, that part of the apparatus which is mounted on the center of the base 
converts direct current into alternating current and there can be obtained either single phase, two phase or three phase 
current. 


By the use of the polyphase current, a rotating field may be produced, and by the use of the mounted magnetic: 
needle it may be shown how this needle is whirled around as the field rotates. ‘ 

This set contains a minimum of parts but enables teaching of practically every application of either alternating 
or direct current, dynamo-electric power apparatus. 


This outfit is complete with the two fields and the A. C. Generator mounted on a base and the following parts: 
6 field coils, x direct current armature, 1 direct current armature with slip rings, 1 mounted magnetic needle, 1 aluminum 
cup rotor, I transformer yoke with both primary and secondary coils. 


cA Sign of Quality ae 


W. M. WELCH SCIENTIFIC COMPANY 


Manufacturers, Importers and Exporters of 


Scientific Apparatus and School Supplies 
1516 Orleans Street f CHICAGO, ILL., U. S. A. 


QUALITY. 


cA Mark of Service 


ITHSONIAN INSTITUTION LIBRARIES 


wii 


3 9088 01301 


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