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MOI

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY

OF SCIENCES

VOLUME VI, 1916

William R. Maxon

NATIONAL MUSEUM

BOARD OF EDITORS
N. Ernest Dorset

BUREAU OP STANDARDS

Adolph Knopf

GEOLOGICAL SUBVET

PUBLISHED SEMI-MONTHLY
EXCEPT IN JULY, AUGUST, AND SEPTEMBER. WHEN MONTHLY

BY THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

OFFICE OF PUBLICATION

THE WAVERLY PRESS

BALTIMORE, MD.

M9 fy

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VI JANUARY 4, 1916 • No. 1

MATHEMATICS. — A simple device for the graphical solution
of the equation A=BC. F. E. Wright, Geophysical
Laboratory.

The equation A = BC, in which the letters may represent
numbers, or powers of numbers, or functions of variables as sines,
cosines, tangents, logarithms, exponentials, etc., is essentially
a simplified form of the equation of proportion, A:B = C: D
(rule of three) and is so common in physical and technical prob-
lems that different graphical methods have been suggested for its
solution. A brief discussion of these methods was given several
years ago b}^ the writer1 and the conclusion was reached that, "in
all cases it is essential: (a) that the graphical means employed
represent the relations adequately and as free from distortion as
possible, and (b) that they be easy of application. The first
principle requires that in any graphical representation the rela-
tive accuracy over the entire field be uniform and comparable
to that which obtains in nature." In order to apply this prin-
ciple effectively to the solution of a given equation it may be
necessary to increase the uniformity in the plotting scale by tak-
ing some function of the values in the equation such as the
logarithmic function or by raising the values to some power.

1 Graphical methods in microscopical petrography. Am. Jour. Sci., Ser. 4,
36:509-542. 1913. See also R. A. Harris: On uses of a drawing board and scales
in trigonometry and navigation. Science, N.S., 18: 108-112. 1903. A diagram
or chart for finding the sun's azimuth. Science, N.S. 22: 469. 1905. C. Runge.
Graphical Methods. New York. 1912.

WRIGHT: SOLUTION OF EQUATION A=B-C

In case A, B, C are functions of variables the equation
A = BC may be considered to express relations between the
functions themselves, namely, between A, B, and C rather than
between the variables; fundamentally, of course, the equation
expresses relations between the variables, and the increments
are so taken. The procedure adopted below amounts practically
to the representation of each function by a scale so chosen that
the resulting curves are straight lines. Straight lines can be

Fie.l

A. B. C < 1

<^^

Fig.2

Fig.3

Fig.4

A, B <1. C>1 A. B >1. C <1

Figs. 1 to 4. Diagrams for graphical solution of certain equations.

drawn more readily and more accurately than curves; straight
line diagrams are, moreover, easier to read. In the paper cited
above a number of straight line diagrams are included which
serve for the graphical solution of the equations encountered in
microscopical petrography. These diagrams have been found in
practice to be useful and time saving.

Recently a device has been adopted by means of which these
equations and others of the same general form can be solved with-
out requiring a special plot for each type of equation. Its con-

WRIGHT: SOLUTION OF EQUATION A=B-C 3

struction is based on the factthatan equation of the typeA = BC
can always be expressed in such form that each factor has a value
less than unity; for, in case a factor is greater than unity, the
equation can be so written that the reciprocal of this factor is
taken, which is then less than unity. The graphical solution
of the equation by a straight line diagram can be accomplished
either by a method of similar triangles or by a method of pro-
jection which, however, is also a method based on similar tri-
angles. Both methods furnish results of the same order of
exactness. Convenient forms of solution by the two methods are
illustrated in figures 1 to 4, in which a refers in each case to the
solution by similar triangles while b represents the solution by
the method of projection. In figure 1 A, B, C are less than
unity; in figure 2 A, B, C > 1 ; in figure 3 A, B < 1, C > 1 ; in
figure 4 A, B > 1, C < 1.

In case it is inconvenient to use reciprocal values, it is possible
to extend the range of the solution by changing the scale of the
base line from 1 to 10, or to 100 or to any power of 10. This
amounts simply to the shifting of the decimal point in one of the
factors.

In the first method (figs, la, 2a, 3a, 4a) it is evident that if the
values of A, B, C be plotted along the side lines the remainder of
the solution is simply a matter of rectangular coordinates; and
similarly for the solution by the method of projection.

The graphical solution on the basis of the above relations is
readily accomplished by attaching permanently to a small draw-
ing board of the usual size (19" x 26") a sheet of 1 mm. coordi-
nate paper, 50 cm. square, at one corner of which a straight
edge fits in a fixed socket so that it can be rotated about this
corner as axis (fig. 5) . To solve an equation such as sin A = sin
B sin C, two sine scales are first prepared by marking off the sine
values directly (listed in sine tables) on a narrow slip of 1 mm.
coordinate paper; these are then attached to the bottom and right
side of the large sheet of coordinate paper as indicated in figure 5.
In case B and C are known, set the edge of the rule at the value of
B (40° in figure 5), find the abscissa C (41° in figure 5) and pass
along its ordinate to the intersection with the edge of the rule;

■-.Ml m W

4 WRIGHT: SOLUTION OF EQUATION A=B-C

the horizontal line through this point intersects the ordinate
scale on the right at 25° which is the desired value of A.

To save time it is well to prepare at the outset pairs of scales
of all the trigonometric functions, of logarithms, of reciprocals
of numbers, their squares and square roots, and of any other
functions which may be employed. Such scales are then always
ready for use.

In case the observer has only a few types of the general equa-
tion to solve it is convenient to plot the scales for each type of

<?>

n<5 1 i|0 1 2|o |

O | 4|0 | 5|0 | 6JO 1 7JO|qjt©

Fig. 5. Device for graphical solution of equation A = B C.

equation along the sides of a large sheet of coordinate paper,
which then serves directly for the solution of the given equation.
The bother of adjusting the scales to the sides of the plot is thus
eliminated; a special sheet of coordinate paper is, however,
required for each equation.

The degree of accuracy attainable by this device depends on
the care taken to read the scales. In case the reading is cor-
rect to \ mm., the result is accurate to one part in a thousand.

Typical examples of the kinds of equations which can be solved
by this graphical method of proportional parts are:

WRIGHT: A GEOLOGICAL PROTRACTOR 5

y = ax; pv = c; y = ax2; y% = ax; y = a*,

or log y = x log a;
y = xQ, or log y = n log x.
sin i = n- sin r; D = sin A • sin A1; tan2 V = ^;
cot A = sin B ■ sin C; tan A = sin 5 • cot C;

cos A = cos 5 • cos C;
sin A = sin B • sin C; tan A = sin B • tan C.
This list is by no means complete but it serves to indicate the
variety of equations which are of the form A = B- C and which
can therefore be solved graphically with a fair degree of accuracy.

GEOLOGY. — A geological protractor. F. E. Wright, Geo-
physical Laboratory.

In geological field and map work a protractor is commonly
used for plotting angles of strike and dip. For the drawing of a
vertical cross section it is also desirable to determine the line
of slope of any given bed on the section. Heretofore this has
been accomplished either by graphical methods or by compu-
tation or by use of a graphical computation chart.1 It is pos-
sible, however, by slightly modifying the protractor, to combine
with it a slope angle computer such that the apparent dip of a
bed can be read off directly for any angle of dip of stratum
and for any azimuth of vertical section.

The principles on which the slope computer is based are pre-
sented in detail in the foregoing paper. The equation to be
solved is of the form tan C = sin B ■ tan A in which A is the true
angle of dip, B the direction angle between the line of strike of
the bed and that of the vertical section, and C the apparent dip
angle on the vertical section. In solving this equation by the
graphical method here proposed it is important to note that,

1 A chart of this nature was first described by W. G. Woolnough, Proc. Austra-
lasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 1909: 244-249. Practically
the same chart was published later by D. F. Hewett without knowledge, however,
of Woolnough's chart. Economic Geology, 7: 190. 1912; and still later by H.
Bancroft, Bull. Am. Inst. Mining Engineers, July 1914, p. 1769. A straight line
chart was first prepared by the writer. Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci., 4:440-444.
1914.

O WRIGHT! A GEOLOGICAL PROTRACTOR

because the radius of the protractor circle is taken to be unity
whereas the tangent values may range from zero to infinity, three
different cases are to be distinguished:

(a) Angles A and C are less than 45°; tan A, tan C < 1;

(b) Angles A and C are greater than 45°; tan A, tan C > 1 ;

cos B is always less than unity.
To adapt the ordinary protractor to the solution of these prob-
lems a thin celluloid arm is so attached that it can be rotated

Fig. 1. A geological protractor.

about the center of the circle as an axis (fig. 1). On this arm a
tangent scale is printed from 0° to 45°. A series of lines parallel
to the base line of the protractor is printed on the face of the
protractor as indicated in the figure. The extension of the ro-
tating arm below the axis enables the geologist to use the pro-
tractor as a hand goniometer for the measurement of the angles
between crystal faces. A scale of inches, divided into tenths,
and a scale of millimeters are added below the base line of the
protractor.

The methods of solution for the three cases noted above are
indicated in figure la, b, c. In figure la OA ( = tan A) is the true

GILLESPIE: HYDROGEN-ION CONCENTRATION IN SOILS 7

dip; B, the direction angle, is read off directly on the graduated
circle; OC (= tan C) is the apparent dip; thus the line of inter-
section of a stratum, dipping at an angle of 35° (OA), with a ver-
tical section which includes an angle 44° 30' (B) with the line of
strike of the bed, has a slope angle (OC) of 26.1°. In figure 16
the angles A and C are greater than 45° and the numbers in
parentheses on the scales are used; thus on a vertical section
including an angle of 44° 30' (B) with the line of strike of a bed
dipping at an angle of 72° (OA) the apparent dip is 65.1°. In
figure lc the angle A is greater than 45° while C is less than 45°;
in this case the numbers in parentheses on the scale of the rotat-
ing arm are used, while for the angle C the unbracketed num-
bers along OC are read; thus the trace of a bed, dipping at 60°,
on a vertical section, which includes an angle of 24° with the
line of strike of the bed, has a slope angle of 35.2°.

CHEMISTRY. — The reaction of soil and measurements of hydro-
gen-ion concentration. L. J. Gillespie, Bureau of Plant
Industry. (Communicated by Oswald Schreiner.)

The reaction of soil is conceded to be of great influence upon
soil fertility. Certain plants seem to require a certain degree of
acidity, and may flourish at an acidity sufficient to be very
harmful to others. That excessive acidity is a common cause
of infertility n) long-cultivated soils is generally recognized. On
the other hand, sodium carbonate frequently occurs in the alkali
soils of arid lands and imparts an excessive alkalinity. The study
of the reaction of soil is therefore not only of considerable scientific
but also of great practical importance.

Let us consider briefly the case presented by a sour soil. Two
questions are of especial interest: (1) What is the quantity of
acid substance? and (2) what is the intensity of the acidity?
The amount of liming or other ameliorative treatment required
to neutralize the acidity will depend upon the quantity of acid
substance. It seems probable, on the other hand, that charac-
teristic effects of acidity upon soil fertility will be more clearly
correlated with the intensity of acidity than with the quantity

8 GILLESPIE: HYDROGEN-ION CONCENTRATION IN SOILS

of acid substance. However this may be, a complete study of
soil acidity must take both factors into consideration.

The lime requirement method of Veitch1 and its numerous
modifications, as well as all other titrimetric methods, for ex-
ample, that of Baumann and Gully2 and that of Daikuhara,3
are an attempt to measure the quantity of acid substance, not
the intensity of acidity. Furthermore, since a complete determi-
nation of the acids and bases in soils is as yet impossible, one can-
not calculate the intensity of acidity from the quantity of acid
substance, even if this could be determined by any of the methods
yet proposed. The intensity of acidity, or of alkalinity, can
only be determined experimentally by a measurement of the
hydrogen-ion concentration.

In a study of the acids and colloids of humus Fischer4 meas-
ured the hydrogen-ion concentrations of some soils by the electro-
metric method. He added, when necessary, just enough water
to the soil to make possible an intimate wet contact between the
soil and the wire electrode. He was able to demonstrate the acid
nature of Hochmoor sphagnum (six samples). These showed a
hydrogen-ion concentration of 9.6'10~4to 6.5'10~4. Two Flach-
moor samples were slightly acid (6'10-6 and l.l'lO-6); another
soil and a sample of compost were slightly alkaline (2.7' 10 ~8
and 4'10-8). Litmus did not respond to the weak acidities or
alkalinities of these samples, but did give an acid reaction with
the samples of Hochmoor sphagnum. Fischer states that it can
be concluded from this that adsorption processes are not to be
assumed to vitiate tests of acidity made by means of indicators.

Fischer had no other test with which to check his electro-
metric results, and his electrometric procedure was one that
would not be expected to lead to a quick attainment of equi-
librium. He was therefore obliged to continue the observations
until the potential became constant. Seven to eight hours
were required for this, and in the case of the soils which showed

1 Journ. Am. Chem. Soc, 24: 1120. 1902.

2 Naturw. Ztschr. Forst- u. Landw., 6:1. 1908.

3 Bull. Imp. Cent. Agr. Exp. Sta., Japan, 2:1. 1914.

4 Kuhn-Archiv (Halle), 4: 1-136. 1914.

GILLESPIE: HYDROGEN-ION CONCENTRATION IN SOILS 9

a hydrogen-ion concentration of about 10 ~6 or lower (and which
were therefore feebly acid, neutral, or alkaline), constant poten-
tials could not be obtained. It is objectionable to prolong the
measurement unduly, as a platinized platinum electrode may be-
come "sick," a phenomenon frequently observed after continued
use. Hasselbalch and Gammeltoft5 state that for this reason
measurements on blood must not take more than one hour.

As a step toward the satisfactory determination of hydrogen-
ion concentration in soil the writer has attempted to apply the
hydrogen electrode to mixtures of soil and water and to apply
indicators to extracts prepared by centrifuging such mixtures.

GENERAL PROCEDURE IN THE PRESENT INVESTIGATION

Since it seemed to be impossible to apply either the hydrogen elec-
trode or indicators to soil in the condition in which we are most inter-
ested, namely, at optimum moisture content, it was decided to add
enough water, in this series of experiments, to facilitate the determina-
tions. For the hydrogen electrode work a suitable quantity was found
to be 2 cc. per gram of dry soil. The same quantity was used for the
colorimetric, or indicator, work, though it was much more than is neces-
sary. For expediency the soil was air dried, though in some cases the
drying was interrupted when the soil was still somewhat damp. With-
out forcing or grinding, the soils were put through a coarse sieve to
remove sticks and stones, and in four cases through a one-millimeter
sieve in the same way in order to remove fine woody material which
interfered with the pipetting of the fluid after the use of the centrifuge.

Twenty-two soils were taken for investigation. They included
samples of muck, sandy loam, loam, silty loam, silt loam, clay loam,
and clay. Some reacted strongly acid to litmus paper, some neutral,
and some alkaline.

The hydrogen ion concentration has been expressed, in the customary
manner, as the hydrogen-ion exponent of Sorensen.6

ELECTROMETRIC DETERMINATIONS

In figure 1 is shown the electrode vessel together with the electrode
in position, the soil and water mixture and the junction between the

h Biochem. Ztschr., 68: 206. 1915.
6 Biochem. Ztschr., 21: 131. 1909.

10 GILLESPIE.- HYDROGEN-ION CONCENTRATION IN SOILS

saturated potassium chloride solution and the soil extract. By means
of a motor the vessel could be swung about an axis at x; during the mo-
tion the body of the electrode vessel turned from an inclination of 3°
to the horizontal to an inclination of about 33° to the horizontal. The
electrode vessel had a capacity of about 65 cc, measured from the brim
to the stopcock.

Fifteen grams of dry soil were introduced into a test-tube 17 by 3
cm., 30 cc. of distilled water were added, and the mixture was well
shaken and permitted to stand about 10 to 20 minutes for sedimentation.

Fig. 1. The filled electrode vessel.

The neck of the electrode vessel, including the bore of the stopcock,
was filled with a portion of the soil extract so obtained and the stopcock
was then closed. The end-tube a was filled with saturated potassium
chloride solution by means of a capillary pipette. The rest of the soil
mass was now well agitated and immediately poured into the vessel,
which was then fastened to the shaking device. A rubber tube, filled
with the saturated potassium chloride solution which led to the calomel
electrode through a closed, ungreased stopcock, was joined to the tube a,
and the vessel was closed with a well-fitting rubber stopper carrying the
electrode and tubes for the entrance and exit of hydrogen. A volume
of about 140 cc. of dry hydrogen, electrolytically generated from caustic
potash solution A with iron electrodes, was rapidly swept through the

GILLESPIE: HYDROGEN-ION CONCENTRATION IN SOILS 11

space over the soil mixture, the current of hydrogen was stopped by-
closing the exit, and the vessel was shaken 10 to 20 times. In order
to remove residual atmospheric nitrogen another portion of hydrogen
was passed through in the same way, and after shaking again 10 to 20
times the hydrogen entrance was also closed and the vessel shaken at
the rate of 70 to 90 complete swings per minute for five minutes. The
motor was stopped, the potassium chloride contact was made in the
tube a, the shaking was started again, and the electromotive force of the
combination of the electrode with a saturated KC1 calomel electrode7
was determined at once. The vessel was shaken continuously during
the measurement, according to the proposal of Hasselbalch for meas-
urements on biological fluids,8 this procedure being especially advan-
tageous for work with fluids poor in regulating capacity. From this
difference of potential and the temperature the hydrogen-ion exponent
was calculated from the figures given by Michaelis.9 The tempera-
ture was observed in a bottle which took the place of the usual potas-
sium chloride trough; it remained be-
tween 25.5° and 28.5°C. during all the k 33""" ~
determinations. Tests of the calomel
electrode on regulator mixtures of known
exponents showed no error due to the pjg 2. Hydrogen electrode,
calomel electrode. The hydrogen elec-
trode is shown in figure 2. A large sheet of plati num was used which
measured 2.54 cm. by 3.3 cm. It was freshly coated with palladium
black for each determination after complete removal of the previous
coating. In constructing the hydrogen electrode it was necessary to
support the sheet of platinum at both top and bottom, and also to pro-
vide leads for the current at two opposite points, in order to secure an
even deposit of palladium black. The electrode remained partially
(about half) submerged during the shaking.

The arrangement used for measuring the potentials was that de-
scribed by Hildebrand.10 A capillary electrometer was used as a
null-point instrument. A voltmeter was used which read directly to
20 millivolts.11 The potential could be estimated accurately to 2
millivolts and often to 1 millivolt. The voltmeter was calibrated

7 Michaelis and Davidoff, Biochem. Ztschr., 46: 131. 1912.

8 Biochem. Bulletin, 2: 367. 1913.

9 Die Wasserstoffionenkonzentration, 157. 1914.

10 Journ. Am. Chem. Soc, 35: 847. 1913.

11 For further work a high-grade potentiometer will be available.

12 gillespie: hydrogen-ion concentration in soils

against an accurate potentiometer with the kind assistance of Dr.
William Mansfield Clark, of the Bureau of Animal Industry.

In order to see whether a substantially correct potential had been
obtained, the shaking was continued after the first measurement for
5 to 9 minutes longer and the potential was determined again in the
same way. This was done in all cases but one. In 7 cases the poten-
tial observed was the same, in 10 cases it had fallen (1 fall of 3, 1 of 2,
and 8 of 1 millivolt), and in 4 cases it had risen (1 rise of 3, and 3 of 1
millivolt). No relation could be seen between the changes and the
values of the potential. A possible interpretation of the falls of po-
tential is that a more complete saturation of the water with acid sub-
stance was attained during the second shaking. The rises may have
been due to hydrolyzation of soil minerals. No difficulty was encoun-
tered even with the measurement of soils which gave neutral or alkaline
results.12

COLORIMETRIC DETERMINATIONS

Fifteen grams of dry soil were treated in a centrifuge tube of 60 cc.
capacity with 30 cc. of distilled water. After thorough wetting of the
soil was accomplished by means of shaking or of slight stirring the tube
was closed by the hand and violently shaken fifty times. Not more than
8 soils were thus treated at a time. The entire determination was now
carried out without delay. The tubes were centrifuged for 10 to 20
minutes. The supernatant fluid in some cases was almost clear, in
many cases there was considerable turbidity, and in a few cases there
was a heavy turbidity together with a yellowish color. With a pipette
provided with a rubber tube and mouthpiece 15 to 20 cc. were with-
drawn, and 5 cc. were put into each of 3 test-tubes. Indicator solu-
tion was added and admixed and the color so developed was compared
with the colors obtained on adding the same quantity of the same in-
dicator solution to tubes containing 5 cc. of various "regulators" of
known hydrogen-ion concentrations. With all fluids it was possible to
make a satisfactory comparison by means of at least one indicator, and
with most fluids it was possible to make an independent comparison
with a second indicator. This was done whenever possible. When
the color which developed in the soil extract was the same as that in a
particular regulator, the hydrogen-ion exponent of that regulator was

12 In preliminary experiments the use of soil and water in such quantities that
agitation of the mass during shaking was inefficient was found to prevent the
attainment of approximately equilibrium conditions within five minutes.

GILLESPIE: HYDROGEN-ION CONCENTRATION IN SOILS

recorded as the result. When the color was intermediate between the
colors of two successive regulator tubes, the value of the hydrogen-ion
exponent was estimated to one-half or one-third of the interval.

TABLE I

NO.

9
10

15
16
17

SOU.

Loam, from Maryland

Silty loam, from Maine

Loam, from Maine

Sandy loam, from Virginia

Silty loan, from Maine

Sandy loam, from Virginia

Silty loam, from Virginia

Silty loam subsoil, from Maine

Silt loam, from Maine

Silty loam, from Virginia

Silt loam, from Virginia

Loam subsoil, from Maine

Silt loam, from Maine

Muck, from Maine

Silt loam, from Maine

Clay loam suhsoil, from Maine

Silt loam, from Virginia

Clay, from Montana

Loam, from Utah

Clay, from Montana

Loam, from Utah

i:le(thometb c

RESLI.T-i

13
o

5 »

° 2

515

4.55

524

4.7

527

4.75

532

4.8

542

5.0

546

5.1

549

5.1

556

5.2

561

5.3

567

5.4

571

5.5

576

5.6

591

5.8

591

5.8

594

5.9

628

6.45

644

6.7

666

7.1

727

8.1

736

8.3

739

8.3

763

8.7

COLORIMETRIC RESULTS

Indicator

t-br-ph-s-pht
methyl red
t-br-ph-^-pht
methyl red
methyl red
dipropyl red
methyl red
dipropyl red
methyl red
dipropyl red
methyl red
dipropyl red
methyl red
dipropyl red
methyl red
dipropyl red
methyl red
methyl red
dipropyl red
methyl red
dipropyl red
methyl red
dipropyl red
methyl red
br-th-s-pht
dipropyl red
br-th-s-pht
br-th-s-pht. . .
br-th-s-pht
br-th-s-pht
ph-s-pht
br-th-s-pht
ph-s-pht
ph-s-pht
ph-pht
ph-s-pht
ph-pht
ph-s-pht
ph-pht
ph-s-pht
ph-pht

a
o

ho a
o o

>> ©

4.3

4.4

4.6

5.15

5.2

4.9

5.2

5.4

5.2

4
3
6
6
2
3
5
6

5.5

5.7

5.75

5.9

5.45

6.05

6.4

6.95

6.9

7.0

8.0

7.9

8.1

S.2

8.2

8.4

8.5

C3 o
o 4J

4.3

4.5

5.2

4.9

5.3

5.2

5.3

5.45
5.6

5.25

5.55

5.6

5.75

5.9

5.45

6.05

6.7

6.95

7.95
8.1
8.2
8.45

H
H

SA
*z

a
5.

4.4

4.6

5.0

4.85

5.15

5.2

5.3
5.45

5.3

5.5

5.6

5.8

5.85

5.7

6.25

6.7

7.0

8.0

8.2

8.25

8.6

* Potential in millivolts, corrected by means of calibration curve.

14 GILLESPIE: HYDROGEN-ION CONCENTRATION IN SOILS

Twenty regulator mixtures were prepared for the work, the expo-
nents were determined electrometrically and the colorimetric work was
done while the solutions were fresh. The reaction varied from one tube
to the next in the series by a step of about 0.3 in the value of the expo-
nent. From the exponent 3.5 to 5.1 the regulators were prepared from
a given quantity of n/10 sodium hydrate and decreasing quantities of
n/2 acetic acid and water. The concentration of the sodium acetate
formed in the mixing was m/200 in all cases. From 5.3 to 6.8, mixtures
of m/10 potassium acid phosphate and m/10 sodium hydrate and water
were used which had the same concentration of primary and of secondary
phosphate as prescribed by Sorensen13 and were thus m/15 with phos-
phate; and from 7.1 to 9.4, other mixtures of the same two solutions were
used (without addition of water), in which the concentration of phos-
phate decreased from m/16 to m/20, owing to the dilution involved in
the use of sodium hydrate instead of the disodium phosphate used by
Sorensen.

The following six indicators were used: (1) tetrabromphenolsulfone-
phthalein (abbreviated in the table to t-br-ph-s-pht) , 3 drops from a
capillary pipette of a solution of 0.1 gram in 250 cc. alcohol; (2) methyl
red, 2 drops of a solution of 0.1 gram in 300 cc. alcohol and 200 cc.
water; (3) dipropyl red, 4 drops from a capillary pipette of a solution
made in the same way as the methyl red; (4) bromthymolsulfone-
phthalein (br-th-s-pht) , 6 drops from a capillary pipette of a solution of
0.1 gram in 200 cc. alcohol; (5) the sodium salt of phenolsulfone-
phthalein (ph-s-pht), 1 drop of a 0.06 per cent aqueous solution; and
(6) phenolphthalein (ph-pht), 1 drop of a 0.5 per cent solution in 50
per cent alcohol. The first, third, and fourth are new indicators re-
cently prepared and described by Lubs and Clark.14 Solutions of these
were kindly given to me by Dr. H. A. Lubs. These three new indicators
would seem to have considerable value in this type of investigation.

The colorimetric results are given, together with the electrometric
results, in the table herewith (Table I).

DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS

In the table are given the hydrogen-ion exponent for each of the 22
soils as determined by the electrometric method and by the different
indicators, and also the mean colorimetric result and the mean of the

13 Biochem. Ztschr., 21: 131. 1909; 22: 352. 1909.

14 Jour. Wash. Acad. Sci., 5: 009. 1915.

GILLESPIE: HYDROGEN-ION CONCENTRATION IN SOILS 15

two methods. The soils are arranged in the order of decreasing acidity.
An exponent of 7 means neutrality; a smaller one, acidity; and a larger
one, alkalinity. It will be seen that values were obtained between 4.4
and 8.6. Some of the acidities found are rather intense, from a bio-
logical point of view. Thus Briinn15 has found that typhoid bacilli are
killed with certainty by exposure for 24 hours to an acidity correspond-
ing to an exponent of 5, and four of the soils show as high, or a higher
acidity. One soil gave a neutral result and the four western alkali
soils gave distinctly alkaline results.

A study of the results for each soil obtained by the use of the various
indicators and by the electrometric method shows that the agreement
between the two indicators is very good except in one instance (No.
17), and that the agreement between the colorimetric and the electro-
metric methods is good in every case. Such agreements show that the
two methods give comparable results and give ground for inferring that
such results are approximately correct.

It would seem premature at this time to apply the results obtained in
this way to the soil as it exists in the field, since carbon dioxide is lost
during the drying and the natural "soil solution" is diluted for the
determinations. Nevertheless it may well happen that the errors so
introduced (from a field standpoint) are not great enough to obscure
the differences observable between different soils. Further work will
be required to ascertain whether this is the case.

SUMMARY

Procedures have been devised for the electrometric and col-
orimetric determination of hydrogen-ion concentration in soil
admixed with two parts of water. Twenty-two soils of various
types and reactions were examined by means of these procedures.
The hydrogen-ion exponents so determined were from 4.4 to 8.6.
Some of the values are acid, some nearly neutral, and some dis-
tinctly alkaline. Of the acid values some represented rather
intense acidity.

In 19 cases two different indicators could be used for the
colorimetric test, and in these cases there was a good agreement
between the two results so obtained. In all cases there was a
good agreement between the electrometric and the colorimetric

15 Dissertation, Berlin, 1913; quoted by Michaelis in the book cited above.

16 gillespie: hydrogen-ion concentration in soils

results. Such agreements show that the two methods give com-
parable results and give ground for inferring that such results
are approximately correct.

CONTINUATION OF EXPERIMENTS

The experimentation is being continued. Special effort will be
made to develop the colorimetric method into a convenient and
practical test and to determine its reliability as applied to soils
under field conditions.

ABSTRACTS

Authors of scientific papers are requested to see that abstracts, preferably
prepared and signed by themselves, are forwarded promptly to the editors.
Each of the scientific bureaus in Washington has a representative authorized to
forward such material to this journal and abstracts of official publications should
be transmitted through the representative of the bureau in which they originate.
The abstracts should conform in length and general style to those appearing in
this issue.

GEODESY. — Triangulation in West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana,
Illinois and Missouri. A. L. Baldwin. U. S. Coast and Geo-
detic Survey Special Publication No. 30. Pp. 67. 1915.

This publication contains the positions of 369 triangulation sta-
tions which lie within the limits of the six states mentioned in the
title, and most of which form that part of the Transcontinental Tri-
angulation extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The publi-
cation supplements the information given in Special Publication No. 4
which appeared in 1900 and contained features of special interest to
scientists. Positions are there given of only the principal stations and
only a few of them are described. Since the appearance of Special
Publication No. 4 the United States Standard Datum, called the North
American Datum since its use by Mexico and Canada, was adopted
and it became necessary to place the old positions on that datum.
In Special Publication No. 30 there are given the geographic positions,
on the North American Datum, of all stations in the area covered, to-
gether with all available descriptions of these points.

In addition to the above-mentioned data, this publication gives the
results of a trigonometric connection made in 1914 between the de-
tached pieces of triangulation to the north and south of Louisville,
Kentucky. It includes also the results of a primary base line measured
in 1879 with six-meter contact-slide bars. Such apparatus is no longer
used in the field in the United States, as the long invar tapes or ribbons
have recently superseded all forms of bars in base line measurements.
The field work covered by this publication was done between 1871 and
1914, but all details are omitted, except for the primary triangulation
done in Indiana in 1914.

Aside from its scientific interest, the volume has a large practical

18 abstracts: geology

value, as it offers to the engineer and map maker a large number of
points determined trigonometrically and correlated on one geodetic
datum. These stations or points are a part of a framework, composed
of the connected triangulation of the country, from which the state,
county or private surveyor may extend triangulation of a lower grade
for the control of detailed work. A. L. B.

GEOLOGY. — The Pleistocene of Indiana and Michigan and the history
of the Great Lakes. Frank Leverett and F. B. Taylor. U. S.
Geological Survey Monograph 53. Pp. 529, maps and illustrations.
1915.

This monograph describes the glacial features of Indiana and the
southern peninsula of Michigan and the great glacial lakes which bor-
dered the receding ice front. Brief mention is also made of related
glacial and lake features in Ohio, New York, Ontario and Wisconsin.

Glacial drift of Illinoian age extends 50 to 100 miles south of the
border of the Wisconsin drift in Indiana and probably underlies the
whole extent of the Wisconsin drift in the area described. Till of pre-
Wisconsin age has been penetrated by borings over considerable areas
in the Saginaw valley.

At its maximum extension the Wisconsin ice sheet was not very
definitely lobate but by the time the recession of the ice margin had
progressed 75 to 100 miles the Huron-Erie lobe on the east began to be
sharply separated from the Lake Michigan lobe on the west and a well
defined reentrant appeared between them. Terminating at first in
northern Indiana, this reentrant rapidly widened and extended north-
eastward into Michigan until the Saginaw lobe became a distinct
feature. All three of the ice lobes retreated in an oscillating manner
and made a series of moraines. Readvances appear generally to have
been relatively small, but in one or two cases they amounted to at least
20 to 25 miles.

The report deals at length with the development and relations of
the three lobes and their effects on drainage and on the great lakes
which gathered in the great valleys whose natural outlets were tempor-
arily obstructed by the ice.

Among the moraines the Port Huron morainic system is particularly
well marked, being identifiable from eastern Wisconsin to western New
York. This system appears to mark a longer step of retreat and read-
vance than the average. During a later stage drumlins were formed
over a considerable area around Charlevoix, Michigan, and a few in
other places.

abstracts: geology 19

The rivers that issued from the great reentrants of the ice front
carried enormous quantities of sediment, the coarser parts of which were
spread over extensive areas in front of the ice. The soils thus produced
are lower in fertile than those of the intervening moraines and till
plains.

The larger lakes began with glacial Lake Maumee which first appeared
as a small crescent-shaped body of water bordering the ice front with
its outlet at Fort Wayne, Indiana. In a similar manner glacial Lake
Chicago soon appeared at the south end of the Lake Michigan basin.
The bearing of certain facts observed in Ohio on the attraction of the
ice sheet upon the lake waters near it is discussed in connection with
Lake Maumee. Remarkable ice ramparts formed in connection with
the same lake are also described. With further recession of the ice
these lakes expanded northward until Lake Maumee found a lower
outlet westward across the "thumb" of Michigan 50 miles north of
Detroit. About this time a lake made its appearance in the Saginaw
valley and from this point the history of lake waters is involved in
considerable complexity. This complexity arose mainly from the oscil-
lation of the ice front, and from its relation to certain parts of the land
whose form and relief caused them to become barriers at climaxes of
readvance but not at climaxes of recession. These barriers were:
(1) the broad low ridge forming the "thumb" of Michigan, and (2)
the northward sloping front of the highlands south of Syracuse, N. Y.
In both of these regions, first on the "thumb" and then near Syracuse,
outlets for the lake waters were alternately opened and closed by the
oscillating ice front and the level of the waters was alternately lowered
and elevated correspondingly. Following Lake Maumee, the waters
underwent a number of changes of level and of outlet, forming succes-
sively Lakes Arkona, W^hittlesey, Wayne, Warren, and Lundy.

At length the lowland between the Huron and Erie basins was left
dry and St. Clair and Detroit rivers began their post-glacial existence.
Similarly the lowland between Lakes Erie and Ontario emerged and
Niagara River and the great cataract came into being. Soon after the
appearance of early Lake Algonquin in the south half of the Huron
basin the waters in the three upper basins, those of Superior, Michigan,
and Huron were united, forming the great Lake Algonquin, the largest
of the glacial lakes of the region. Twice the recession of the ice opened
outlets for Lake Algonquin, but on both occasions these were closed by
differential elevation of northern lands. The first was at Kirkfield,
Ont., and the second at North Bay, Ont. The uptilting of the land at

20 abstracts: geology

the north is recorded in northward splitting and divergence of breaches
and the relatively rapid rate of the uplift is shown by a wide interval
in the north below the upper group of Algonquin beaches.

The opening of the outlet at North Bay marks the final disappearance
of the ice sheet from the Great Lakes region and the end of its influence
in lake history. At this stage the upper lakes, known as Nipissing
Great Lakes, were not very different from the present Great Lakes
except that their outlet was eastward through the Mattawa and Ottawa
rivers to the sea near Ottawa. Uplift of the land finally changed the
outlet of these post-glacial lakes from North Bay to Port Huron and
established the present system.

In the closing chapter the possible causes of the deformation of
shore lines, such as resilience with ice removal following depression by
ice weight, eustatic movements, and crustal creep are considered, but
final conclusions are not reached.

F. B. T.

GEOLOGY. — Contributions to Economic Geology, 1918, Part II, Min-
eral Fuels. M. R. Campbell, and David White. U. S. Geo-
logical Survey Bulletin 581. Pp. 187, 11 plates, 6 text figures.
1915.
This volume contains two classes of reports on occurrences of oil and
coal: (a) Short reports giving comparatively detailed descriptions of
fuel resources that have economic interest but are not of sufficient impor-
tance to warrant a lengthy report; (b) preliminary reports on econo-
mic investigations, the results of which are to be published later in
more detailed form. The papers included in the volume are the fol-
lowing:

Woodruff, E. G., and Day, D. T. Oil shale in northwestern Colorado and
northeastern Utah.

Lupton, C. T. Oil and gas in the western part of the Olympic Peninsula , Wash-
ington.

Barnett, V. H. The Moorcroft oilfields, ("rook County, Wyoming.

Barnett, V. H. Possibilities of oil in the Big Muddy Dome, Converse and Na-
trona Counties, Wyoming.

Pack, R. W., and English, W. A. Geology and oil prospects in Waltham, Priest,
Bitterwater , and Peachtree Valleys, California.

Wegemann, C. H. The Coalville coalfield, Utah.

E. S. B.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED

SOCIETIES

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 298th meeting was held in the lecture room of the Cosmos Club
on October 27, 1915.

INFORMAL COMMUNICATIONS

G. F. Loughlin described an occurrence of hubnerite, wolframite,
pyrite, etc., at Leadville, in deposits intermediate in nature between
contact metamorphic deposits and ordinary veins.

W. F. Hillebrand exhibited a liquid alloy composed mostly of gal-
lium, with a small percentage of indium and zinc. This had been pro-
duced in a zinc metallurgical plant, appearing as drops sweated out of
zinc-lead dross-plates. It was learned by correspondence with the
manager of the works that the particular ore from which it had been
derived was uncertain and that in any case the amount which could be
produced was probably small.

In reply to questions from Spencer, Martin, and Wells, Hille-
brand said that at present there was no use to which gallium was put.
It has been obtained previously from zinc ores and indications of its
presence were often found in spectroscopic work.

REGULAR PROGRAM

E. T. Allen: Chemical studies in copper sulphide enrichment. It
was shown from a study of the copper sulphides that chalcocite was a
mineral of variable composition, made up of cuprous sulphide with a
varying amount of dissolved cupric sulphide. There are two crystal-
line forms of cuprous sulphide, with a transition point at ,91°. Only
the lower temperature form has so far been found in nature. It was
explained how the system Cu-Fe-S was being studied through the
dissociation pressure curves of the various sulphides of Cu and Fe.
A preliminary study of gossans has been made, with the result that all
appear to be amorphous and to show a thermal behavior similar to
limonite. A comparative study of the rates of oxidation of the com-
moner sulphides, in pure condition, has been made and much atten-
tion has been given to the chemical study of the enrichment process.
The action of copper sulphate solutions on the most important sul-
phides has been studied at 200°, 100°, and 40°. In all cases the final
product has been cuprous sulphide. Covellite, and chalcocite con-

22 proceedings: geological society

taming dissolved cupric sulphide, appear as intermediate products.
The logical conclusion from the data is that secondary chalcopyrite,
bornite, and covellite are earlier stages of a process which was inter-
rupted before it was complete. Many reactions, such as the synthesis
of bornite and chalcopyrite in the wet way, have been worked out.

Discussion: G. F. Loughlin inquired regarding rate of oxidation of
galena in comparison with sphalerite. Allen replied that with galena
the action is rapid at first but an insoluble coating soon forms and
action ceases. E. S. Bastin spoke of a phenomenon he had observed
in field work. In a certain type of enrichment covellite, chalcocite,
etc. form; in another type only chalcopyrite. In the latter case galena,
sphalerite and carbonates are prominent accompanying minerals. He
asked Allen if he had any explanation. Allen replied that his experi-
ments did not offer any suggestion. He emphasized the fact that the
end product of true equilibrium between sulphide ores and copper sul-
phate solutions is not chalcopyrite but chalcocite. A. C. Spencer
asked if it were possible that in processes of secondary enrichment mi-
gration of copper in carbonate solutions had taken . place. Allen
thought that an obstacle to such a conception was the lack of the
necessary oxidizing agent.

C. Wythe Cooke: The age of the Ocala limestone of Florida. The
Ocala limestone, which has heretofore been thought to represent the
concluding stage of the lower Oligocene (Vicksburg group) and to overlie
the Marianna and "Peninsular" limestones, occurs at Marianna,
Florida, lying unmistakably beneath the Marianna limestone, which is
of Vicksburg age. Critical study of the list of fossils from Ocala pub-
lished by Dall in 1903 shows that the formation is of upper Jackson
(Eocene) age. The "Peninsular" limestone is in large part identical
with the Ocala but may include other formations.

Discussion: R. S. Bassler spoke of the great difficulties encountered
in working out stratigraphic relations in the Southern States, due
principally to lack of satisfactory outcrops. T. Wayland Vaugran
referred to some of the structural relations which had led former workers
astray. One of the chief factors was the presence of an erosion un-
conformity and the lack of certain members in certain type sections.
L. W. Stephenson thought that one of the chief points brought out
by the paper was the necessity for very careful paleontologic work.

C. N. Fenner, Secretary.

The 299th meeting was held in the lecture room of the Cosmos Club
on November 10, 1915.

informal communications

W. T. Schaller described briefly a kaolinite from Oklahoma which
was of very pure composition, but remarkable for intumescence before
the blowpipe.

proceedings: geological society 23

regular peogram

Edgar T. Wherky: Notes on the geology near Reading, Pennsylvania,
(Illustrated.) The Cambrian, Ordovician, and Triassic formations of
the region, and their structures, were briefly described. The Cambrian
comprises a quartzite and two limestones; the Ordovician, limestone,
cement-rock, and shale; and the Triassic, shale, sandstone, conglomerate
basalt, and diabase. The beds are greatly disturbed, being in places
overturned to 45°, elsewhere intricately folded, and cut by three systems
of faults: thrust-faults from the southeast, dating from late Ordovician
time; normal faults with the drop on the southeast, which formed dur-
ing the Triassic deposition; and normal faults crossing the other two sys-
tems nearly at right angles, which were "developed at the close of
Triassic time.

Discussion: G. W. Stose referred to the remarkable amount of
faulting exhibited in this area. In an area 20-30 miles to the south,
whose structure had been worked out, there is almost none. He re-
marked also on the well-defined characteristics of the Martinsburg
shale in this section. In an adjacent section it is difficult to distin-
guish between the Martinsburg shale and certain shaly strata in the
Cambrian.

J. W. Gidley: The relations of vertebrate fossils to stratigraphy. (No
abstract.)

N. H. Darton: Some geologic features of southeastern California.
(Illustrated.) The results of a reconnaissance made near the line of the
Santa Fe Railroad from Needles to Cajon Pass in 1906 and 1914 were
outlined. Some of the facts have been published in the Guide Book to
Geology, etc., of the Santa Fe Railroad, but many technical details re-
garding rocks, structure, and fossils were necessarily omitted from that
publication. Six general series of rocks were found: (1) A widely ex-
posed basement of pre-Cambrian granites and schists, mostly appearing
in high ridges; (2) a succession of Paleozoic rocks which yielded Cam-
brian to Carboniferous fossils at several localities, notably in Iron
Mountain and its northern continuation, Providence Mountain, to
which a side trip was made from Kelso; (3) intrusive quartz-monzo-
nites and similar rocks cutting the Paleozoic strata and altering lime-
stones to marbles; (4) a thick series of Tertiary (Rosamond, etc.) vol-
canic rocks, largely breccia, tuffs, ash, and sediments, with interbedded
effusive sheets, and some intrusive masses; (5) the valley fill of the desert
plain, with lake beds and salt, gypsum, etc.; (6) recent volcanic cones
and flows, notably the very fine examples near Amboy and Pisgah.
Many details of structure were determined, but it was found that most
of the ridges and valleys were not closely related to faults as popularly
supposed.

Discussion: F. C. Schrader inquired whether it was possible to make
correlations among the various volcanic series of different sections; also
as to the manner in which mineralization was associated with the igneous
rocks. Darton replied that the volcanic rocks of the younger series

24 proceedings: biological society

were variable, so that successive beds could not be identified individu-
ally but the general history and succession could be worked out. Min-
eralization seems to be associated with igneous rocks of all descriptions,
but no very important mines have been developed. T. Wayland
Vaugh'an spoke of the faulting and inquired if the great block faulting
of the West Indies found a parallel in southern California. He had
formed the impression from talks with R. T. Hill that such was the case.
Darton replied that in his work the details of faults had not been de-
termined. He had found, however, that the topographic lineaments
of the region were not due to faulting.

C. N. Fenner, Secretary.

THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 544th meeting of the Society was held at the Cosmos Club,
Saturday, November 6, 1915 with President Bartsch in the chair; 90
persons present.

On recommendation of the Council, Gilbert F. Bateman, Trinidad,
Colorado was elected to active membership.

The first paper of the regular program was by O. P. Hay: A new
Pleistocene sloth from Texas. Dr. Hay discussed the finding in Texas
of a new member of the genus Nothr other ium. This discovery extends
the range of the genus from South into North America. The specimen
was exhibited and remarks were made on the interrelationships and
distribution of the living and fossil American Edentates.

The second paper was by J. N. Rose: Botanical explorations in South
America. Dr. Rose gave an account of his botanical explorations in
South America. He outlined first the field work which he and Dr.
N. L. Britton had planned in connection with the cactus investigations
of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and then described the
great cactus deserts of South America which he had visited. During
his last trip to South America he spent six weeks in the state of Bahia,
Brazil, six weeks in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and three weeks
in Argentina. Large collections were obtained and many living plants
were sent back to the United States for cultivation, the living collection
being now on exhibition in the New York Botanical Garden. Several
remarkable generic types of cacti were discovered. Dr. Rose's paper
was illustrated by numerous lantern slides of the regions visited and
of cacti in their native environment, and by many interesting botanical
specimens.

The last paper of the evening was by L. 0. Howard: Some biological
pictures of Oahu {Hawaii). Dr. Howard showed a large number of
lantern slides from photographs made by him during a short stay on
the island of Oahu during the past summer. Special emphasis was
laid on those which dealt with agricultural problems and economic
entomology.

M. W. Lyon, Jr., Recording Secretary.

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VI JANUARY 19, 1916 No. 2

PHYSICS. — The constants of the quartz-wedge saccharimeter and
the specific rotation of sucrose. Part I: The constants for
the 26 gram normal weight.1 Frederick Bates and
Richard F. Jackson, Bureau of Standards. (Communi-
cated by G. K. Burgess.)

The control of the quartz-wedge saccharimeter has previously
been based upon the experimental work of Herzfeld2 and Schon-
rock.3 The former prepared pure sucrose and determined the
sugar equivalents or values of a number of carefully selected
quartz plates, making the comparison upon quartz-wedge sac-
charimeters illuminated by Welsbach gas mantles, the light of
which was filtered through a potassium bichromate solution.
The rotations of these plates were then measured by Schonrock
in terms of the D lines of the sodium spectrum. These measure-
ments showed that the normal quartz plate caused a rotation
of 34? 657 at 20 ?0 C. The normal quartz plate is one which
causes the same rotation on the saccharimeter as the normal
sugar solution which is the fundamental basis of standardiza-
tion. The rotation of the normal plate in terms of monochro-
matic light is designated the Conversion Factor because it may
be used to determine the sugar value of any other quartz plate
whose rotation in terms of monochromatic light is known.

1 The complete paper will appear in the Bulletin of the Bureau of Standards.

2 Zs. Ver. Zuckerind. 50: 826. 1900.

3 Zs. Ver. Zuckerind. 54: 521. 1904.

26 BATES AND JACKSON: QUARTZ-WEDGE SACCHARIMETER

For the present investigation the purest granulated sugar of
commerce was dissolved in its own weight of distilled water, clari-
fied with washed alumina cream and filtered. The clear solution
was boiled in a glass vacuum boiling apparatus at about 35°C.
until it reached a concentration of about 80 per cent, sugar. The
supersaturated syrup was poured out and allowed to crystallize
while in continuous motion. The crystals were separated from
the mother liquor by a powerful centrifugal machine and washed
with pure alcohol. They were then redissolved and recrystallized
repeatedly until deemed of sufficient purity to test.

The progress of the purification was studied by testing for such
impurities as could be detected. By weighing the ash left after
ignition, inorganic impurities were found to be satisfactorily
removed after two crystallizations.

The test for reducing substance was complicated by the fact
that sucrose itself possessed a slight reducing power. Neverthe-
less a diminution of reducing power indicated the elimination of
foreign reducing substances. By boiling a 10 gram sample of the
original granulated sugar with 50 cc. of the Striegler4 reagent,
a precipitate of 20 mg. of Cu20 was obtained. After one re-
crystallization, this precipitate diminished to 9 mg., and after
two crystallizations it became 7 mg. This latter quantity
proved to be a minimum. To show that this precipitate was
caused mainly by sucrose itself, analyses were made with a modi-
fication of the Soldaini reagent5 consisting of about 300 grams
KHC03 and 1 gram CuS04 5H20 in a liter of solution. By
boiling a 10 gram sample with 50 cc. of this solution for two
minutes a precipitate of 1.1 mg. Cu20 was obtained. To an-
other sample 0.01 per cent or 1 mg. of invert sugar was added
and the mixture boiled with the copper solution. The invert
sugar caused an increased precipitation of 1.9 mg. Hence even
if the entire precipitate of 1.1 mg. Cu20 were due to impurities,

the latter could amount to but -^ X 0.01 per cent = 0.006 per

i.y

cent.

4 von Lippmann, Die Chemie der Zuckerarten, 1: 606. 1904.

5 Ibid.

BATES AND JACKSON: QUARTZ-WEDGE SACCHARIMETER 27

A study of the reaction velocities of the copper solution with
sucrose (a slow reaction) and with invert sugar (a rapid reaction)
showed that a great part if not all of the 0.006 per cent reducing
substance was due to pure sucrose. The recrystallized substance
was consequently concluded to be free from reducing sugar.

In order to be certain of the elimination of impurities which
could not be detected by direct test, a quantity of sugar was
fractionally crystallized. In this process those fractions which
supposedly contained impurities of about the same solubility were
united, in order to prevent too great a subdivision of the original
substance. In this way five fractions were obtained after 32
crystallizations which upon test yielded essentially identical
rotations. This was concluded to be evidence of the purity of the
substance.

In the elimination of moisture it was necessary to heat the
substance for such a time and at such temperature as to avoid
decomposition into caramel. The rates of decomposition were
measured in several series of experiments and the results plotted.
The curve showed the time at each temperature required to form
caramel equivalent in reducing power to 0.01 per cent invert
sugar. The data are: 100°C., 0.015 hrs.; 79?5, 0.57 hrs.; 66?6,
10.9 hrs. ; 50?0, 107.0 hrs. ; 39?0, 476 hrs. In preparing the sugar
for polarization care was taken to avoid sensible decomposition.

In studying the elimination of moisture the substance was
subjected to high vacuum, to the highest permissible temperature,
and to various drying agents for long periods of time. The con-
clusion was reached that a few hours heating at 50° to 60? C in a
vacuum of 0.001 mm. of mercury and in the presence of quicklime
would eliminate all but negligible quantities of moisture.

The solution used for polarization was never of exactly normal
concentration. For preparing it the approximate normal weight
was transferred to a weighed volumetric flask. Flask and sugar
were then subjected to the drying operations before the final
weighing.

The volume of the total solution was found either by filling to the
graduation mark of calibrated flasks or was calculated from the
weight and density. Density was taken from published tables

28 BATES AND JACKSON: QUARTZ-WEDGE SACCHARIMETER

in which it was coupled with percentage of composition of solu-
tions. These two methods of determining the volume of solution
checked satisfactorily.

The measurements of the absolute rotations of the solutions
were made on a large polarimeter with a silver scale reading to
thousandths of a degree. The temperature of the solutions was
controlled by an air bath placed between the polarizing and
analyzing systems of the instrument. It was cooled below 20°C.
by ice water and then heated electrically to 20°C. Regulation

TABLE I

Summary of Data on the Rotation op the Solutions

wt. of sugar
(air, brass
weights)

WT. OF SOLUTION
(air, BRASS
weights)

PER cent sugar

SUGAR BY WT.
IN VACUO

5 Q

VOLUME OF
SOLUTION CC

AV. ROT. OF SOLU-
TION FOR TWO
8AC C H A R I M E -
TERS. DEGREE
SUGAR

ROT. OF NORMAL
SOLUTION ON
THE SACCH A-
RIMETER. DE-
GREE SUGAR.

ROT. OF NORMAL
SOLUTION FOR
X = 5461A. CIR-
CULAR DEGREES

EXP.

Comput-
ed from
wts. and
density

By" flask
mark

grams

24.370s

101.570

23.986s

1.09891

92.514

92.518

101.192

99.902

40.757

26.207a

109.497

23.926i

1.09863

99.761

99.750

100.89e

99.880

40.770

34.052a

142.665

23.861o

1.09834

130.010

130.012

100.6U

99.882

40.761

24.0292

101.546

23.655?

1.09741

99.687

99.89s

40.763

23.856s

101.381

23.523s

1.09680

92.518

92.520

99.044

99.87o

40.751

34.018s

142.636

23.84U

1.09825

130.000

129.997

100.56o

99.92i

40.773

24.18h

101.496

23.817o

1.09314

100.41s

99.88s

40.749

26.003s

109.533

23.7324

1.09775

100. 05i

99.9U

40.769

34.326i

143.045

23.9887

1.09892

101.232

99.904

40.771

25.881s

109.610

23.604s

1.09717

99.43s

99.897

40.767

Mean

99.895

40.763

was secured more closely than 0?05 C. The light source was the
so-called yellow-green line, X = 5461 A, from a quartz mercury-
vapor lamp.

Three different makes of saccharimeters were used in order to
eliminate the possibility of some peculiarity of instrument con-
struction affecting the measurements. They were a Bates type
Fric, a Schmidt and Haensch, and a Julius Peters. Two instru-
ments were used in each experiment, one of which was always
the Bates type Fric. It was enclosed in a wooden thermostat
with automatic temperature control to within a few hundredths
of a degree. The saccharimeter readings were made in a large

BATES AND JACKSON: QUARTZ-WEDGE SACCHARIMETER 29

thermostated room with a content of about 15 cubic meters.
With two observers in the large thermostat the maximum
variations were about 0?3 C.

The polarization tubes were of glass. Careful measurements
established the fact that the tubes filled with distilled water gave
a negligible rotation.

The polariscopic measurements included a long preliminary
series and a final series of ten experiments. The latter are given
in Table 1 . It will be observed from the values given in column
9 that the normal sugar solution gave a rotation of but 99?896-*S6
on a saccharimeter calibrated according to the Herzfeld-Schon-
rock' standard. This calibration was obtained by the use of two
quartz plates whose absolute rotations and sugar values had
been determined by the Reichsanstalt, the Institut fur Zucker-
industrie, and also by us. It was, therefore, concluded that the
Herzfeld-Schonrock standard was too large by over 0?1 S.

The data were then recalculated on the basis of the reading
of the normal solution which must be 100 ?00 S on the true scale.
The sugar values of the two quartz plates were thus compared
directly with the normal solution and their sugar values calcu-
lated. Since the values of the plates were known in terms of
monochromatic light, the new conversion factors followed by
direct calculation. For X = 5892.5 A this became 34? 620 and
for X = 5461 A it became 40? 690.

On the same day that the solutions were read on the saccha-
rimeters their rotations were also measured on the polarimeter in
terms of monochromatic light, X = 5461 A . For this wave length
the normal solution caused a rotation of 40? 763.

The ratios of the rotations of quartz and of sugar solutions for
the two wave lengths were determined

For quartz

and for sugar

*ft\ = 5892.5 ,4
^X = 5461 A

^\= 5892.5 A

0.85085

= 0.84922

X = 5461 A

6 The symbol S signifies a Sugar Degree, i. e., one-hundredth part of the rota-
tion of the normal sugar solution on the saccharimeter.

30 BATES AND JACKSON: QUARTZ-WEDGE SACCHARIMETER

From the data on the rotation of the normal solution for
X = 5461 A and the latter ratio, the value for X = 5892.5 A was
computed to be 34?617 at 20?

For X = 5892.5 A the normal plate has 0?003 greater rotation
than the normal solution, while for X = 5461 A it has 0?073
lower rotation. The rotary dispersion curves of the plate and
solution thus cross at about X = 0.585 /*.

The slight differences between the rotary dispersions of quartz
and of sugar cause differences in the saccharimeter readings when
illuminated by various light sources. If, instead of the Wels-
bach mantle the saccharimeter is illuminated by the source
X = 5892.5 A the calculated reading would be 99?99 S. '

The normal solution causes a rotation of wave length 5461 A
which is by calculation 0.192 S higher than that of wave
length 5892.5 A. Experimentally the difference was found to
be 0?18B£.

By combining data of two previous investigators on the rota-
tion of quartz 1 mm. thick with our values for the rotation of
the normal plate, the thickness of the latter is found. This
calculation yielded the two values 1.5934 mm. and 1.5940 mm.

The measurements of the rotations of the normal solutions
for monochromatic light, afforded sufficient data for the exact
calculation of the specific rotations since rotations, length of
solution, and concentration were accurately known. The
following values were obtained:

Mx°i5892.5^66?529

Knf54Gi ^=78?342

The mean of the best previous determinations of the specific
rotation of the normal solution for X = 5892.5 A is 66? 502 with
which our value is in substantial agreement. On the other hand
Schonrock calculated the specific rotation from the conversion
factor 34? 657 and the saccharimeter reading of the normal solu-
tion for X = 5892.5 A. This gave for the rotation of the nor-
mal solution 34? 667 and the specific rotation 66? 627 which value
is considerably too high. Our own value of the specific rotation

MANSFIELD: MESOZOIC OF FORT HALL RESERVATION

calculated either from direct observations on the rotation of the
normal solution for monochromatic light, or by the method of
Schonrock, in which, however, the conversion factor 34?620 is
used, lies in essential agreement with the previously accepted
value. This is concluded to be corroborative evidence of the
correctness of the new value 34? 620 of the conversion factor.

GEOLOGY. — Subdivisions of the Thaynes limestone and Nugget
sandstone, Mesozoic, in the Fort Hall Indian Reservation,
Idaho.1 G.R. Mansfield, Geological Survey. (Communi-
cated by F. L. Ransome.)

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY

In the field season of 1913 the writer with a U. S. Geological
Survey party made an examination of the Fort Hall Indian
Reservation in southeastern Idaho.
The reservation, which has an irregu-
lar shape and includes approximately
800 square miles, lies mostly between
the meridans 112° and 112° 45' W.
and between the parallels 42° 30' and
43° 15' N. (See fig. 1.)

Although the main purpose of the
work was a mineral classification of
the land, considerable attention had
to be paid to the stratigraphy of the
region, and it was found necessary to
map some of the formations in detail.
This made it desirable to subdivide
certain Mesozoic formations, particu-
larly the Thaynes limestone, Lower
Triassic, and the Nugget sandstone,
Jurassic or Triassic. The strata in-
volved, together with the intervening Ankareh sandstone, have
a thickness of about 6,800 feet.

Fig. 1. Index map of Idaho,
showing the location of the
Fort Hall Indian Reservation.

1 Published by permission of the Director of the United States Geological
Survey.

MANSFIELD: MESOZOIC OF FORT HALL RESERVATION

TABLE I
Mesozoic Formations of Fort Hall Indian Reservation, Idaho

THICKNESS IN

GEOLOGIC AGE

FORMATION

DESCRIPriON

FEET

Jurassic

Twin Creek

a. Yellow, calcareous, fossilif-

Est. 2500

limestone

erous sandstone with some
beds of massive, gray lime-

stone.

b. Laminated, shaly, gray lime-

stone.

c. Basal, yellow, calcareous

sandstones; massive, with
intercalated massive, gray
limestone with oyster shells.

Jurassic or Tri-

Nugget sand-

a. Brick red and light-colored

assic

stone

sandstones, typical Nug-
get; thickness not shown

but estimated at not less

than 1500 feet.

1500

b. Wood shale member; bright

red, weathering to red soil;

200-250 feet.

250

c. Deadman limestone member;

gray to purplish, dense

limestone of almost litho-

graphic quality, in some

places with gray and green-

ish chert.

150 ±

d. Higham grit member; coarse,

pink to white, gritty or

conglomeratic sandstone.

500 ±

Lower Triassic . .

Ankareh

Somewhat sugary, yellowish to

sandstone

grayish sandstone in beds 1-3
inches thick, weathering with

pinkish tinge.

800

Thaynes group

a. Portneuf

Siliceous, cherty, gray to yel-

lime-

lowish limestone in massive

stone

beds; rounded elongated no-
dules and streaks of chert,
fossiliferous; fossils often

silicified.

1500 ±

b. Fort Hall

Yellowish and grayish lime-

forma-

stone and sandstone, the lime-

tion

stone siliceous and cherty; the
sandstone calcareous, fossilif-

erous.

800 =*=

MANSFIELD: MESOZOIC OF FORT HALL RESERVATION

TABLE I— Continued

GEOLOGIC AGE

FORMATION

DESCRIPTION

THICKNESS IN
FEET

Lower Triassic. .

c. Ross lime-
stone

Dense, gray, non-fossiliferous,
thin-bedded limestone; olive-
drab, platy, calcareous shale;
purplish gray, thin-bedded
and massively-bedded lime-
stone with pelecypod and
brachiopod faunas and with
ammonite zones near base.

1350 ±

Woodside
shale

Olive-drab, platy, calcareous
shale with interbedded red-
dish brown limestone more
abundant near the top and
crowded with pelecypods.

900

The Thaynes limestone has in this area been raised to the
rank of a group consisting of three formations, and the Nugget
sandstone has been subdivided into four members. The Anka-
reh shale, owing to change in lithologic character, becomes the
Ankareh sandstone. Additional interesting features were ob-
served in the Woodside shale.

The purpose of this paper is to describe briefly the formations
which were subdivided and to explain the names used. The
writer is indebted to Dr. G. H. Girty for his help in joint study
of the formations in the field and for the determination and dis-
cussion of the fossils collected.

GENERAL STRATIGRAPHY OF THE REGION

The stratigraphic sequence in the Fort Hall Indian Reserva-
tion is rather full, including all the great Paleozoic and later
systems except the Cretaceous. There is, too, a great body of
igneous rocks, chiefly extrusives, in both massive and fragmental
form. The structure is complex, with folding and much faulting.
Some of the systems are poorly represented and the identifica-
tion of strata tentatively assigned to them uncertain. This is
particularly true of the Silurian. The Paleozoic formations of
the reservation probably agree in name and number with those of

34 MANSFIELD! MESOZOIC OF FORT HALL RESERVATION

northern Utah, as described by Richardson,2 although it was. not
practicable in the field work to give much attention to the lower
formations. The Mesozoic formations are shown in the accom-
panying table (Table I) .

WOODSIDE SHALE

The Woodside shale, the lowest Mesozoic formation in the dis-
trict, takes its name from Woodside Gulch, in the Park City
Mining District, Utah.3 It has been described in a number of
reports and only differences from the usual types need be men-
tioned here. In Utah and near Paris, Idaho, some of the beds
of the Woodside shale are red, whereas in most of the south-
eastern Idaho region the formation is characterized by yellowish
and olive-drab tints. Near the base in the Fort Hall Indian
Reservation the beds have a distinctive reddish brown tint and
are relatively sandy.

The base of the Woodside shale, which in regions previously
studied has been rather sharply distinguished from the underlying
Phosphoria formation of Permian(?) age by a lithologic as well
as a faunal change, is not so clear here. A Paleozoic fauna,
consisting chiefly of the brachiopod Ambocoelia in abundance,
together with pelecypods suggesting Paleozoic characteristics
but not definitely identified, is found in the Rex chert member
of the Phosphoria formation above the chert. It occurs in brown-
ish yellow, sandy shales and limestones not easily distinguished
lithologically from the Woodside, although the faunas of the ad-
jacent formations where well developed are very different. Par-
ticular interest attaches to this feature because it appears to in-
dicate that the change from Paleozoic to Mesozoic conditions,
which in many places is marked by a sharp stratigraphic break,
was here more gradual.

2 Richardson, G. B. The Paleozoic section in northern Utah. Amer. Jour.
Sci., N. S., 36:406-416. 1913.

3 Boutwell, J. M. Stratigraphy and structure of the Park City Mining Dis-
trict, Utah. Jour. Gcol., 15:434-458. 1907.

MANSFIELD: MESOZOIC OF FORT HALL RESERVATION 35

THAYNES GROUP

The Thaynes limestone, which it is here proposed to call the
Thaynes group, takes its name from Thaynes Canyon, in the
Park City Mining District, Utah. In northeastern Utah and in
the Slug Creek and Montpelier districts of southeastern Idaho
the Thaynes forms platy, calcareous shales and brown weathering
limestones with a massive limestone at the top. In that district
the Thaynes limestone is about 2,000 feet thick. In the Fort
Hall Indian Reservation the formation shows a marked tendency
to differentiate into several units that can be mapped separately.
These beds have there a thickness of 3,600 feet, yet according to
G. H. Girty4 fossils similar to those of the upper limestone were
found by C. L. Breger in shales underlying the Ankareh shale in
Montpelier Canyon, Montpelier quadrangle. Thus the thicker
group in this district occupies the same stratigraphic interval as
the Thaynes limestone farther southeast. It has been found
advisable to subdivide the group into three formations, the Ross
limestone at the base, the Fort Hall formation, and the Portneuf
limestone.

Ross limestone. The Ross limestone takes its name from Ross
Fork Creek, in the upper waters of which this limestone is well
exposed. The base of the formation lies conformably upon the
Woodside shale and is marked by the "Meekoceras beds" recog-
nized by the Hayden Survey and referred to the Triassic and later
referred by Hyatt and Smith5 to the Lower Triassic.

The Meekoceras zone consists of gray to reddish brown lime-
stones about 50 feet thick containing numerous Ammonites the
chambered shells of which appear on the weathered surface of the
rock. In the Fort Hall Indian Reservation the fossils do not
weather out so readily and the horizon is not so conspicuous as in
the Slug Creek quadrangle farther east. The Tyrolites and
Columbites zones, which have been recognized by Smith in the
region of Paris, Idaho, 250 and 275 feet, respectively, above the

4 Personal communication.

5 Hyatt, A., and Smith, J. P. The Triassic cephalopod genera of America.
U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 40: 17-19. 1905.

36 MANSFIELD: MESOZOIC OF FORT HALL RESERVATION

Meekoceras zone,6 have not been recognized here, but there is
evidence of more than one Ammonite horizon.

Above the Meekoceras zone for about 800 feet are massively-
bedded and thin-bedded gray to brown limestones containing
large numbers of small brachiopods, chiefly Pugnax and tere-
bratuloids, and pelecypods, Myalina and others, with inter-
vening calcareous shales. The lithology of the shales and
thinner-bedded limestones is much like that of the Woodside.
The limestones weather with a sort of velvety appearance and
are very fossil if erous. The presence of the small brachiopods in
the massive limestones near the base is a convenient guide to
the Ross limestone where the Meekoceras zone is not available.

The upper part of the Ross limestone for about 500 feet con-
sists of a dense calcareous shale, gray to olive-greenish in color
and weathering brown to yellow. These shales form conspicuous
cliffs and are mainly non-fossiliferous.

G. H. Girty contributes the following faunal discussion of the
Ross limestone:

The fauna of the Ross limestone consists chiefly of brachiopods,
pelecypods, and cephalopods. The brachiopods and cephalopods are
largely restricted to zones which are narrow and possibly of small ex-
tent, but where found at all they are abundant. The brachiopods
comprise a Lingula, a Terebratula, and a Rhynchonella, those terms
being employed in a broad and general sense. The Rhynchonella
closely resembles the Carboniferous species Pugnax utah and, as the
Triassic occurs in the general region from which the type specimen
was obtained, typical Pugnax utah may indeed be the Triassic form,
as was suggested to me several years ago by Mr. Breger. A few
specimens of a small Discina have also been collected.

The pelecypods consist mostly of pectinoids of which there are many
species. They probably include representatives of both the Pectinidae
and Limidae and they occur in some places in vast numbers either alone
or associated with other forms. Like most of these Triassic fossils, they
belong to undescribed species, though one form can probably be referred
to Aviculipecten thaynesianus. Other types of pelecypods are much less
common. The one most frequently found is that described by White
as Volsella platynota, but if my specimens really belong to White's
species I believe that it is a Myalina. A small alate shell, which may
belong to Bakewellia or Pteria, has been found, and also forms which
suggest the genera Schizodus, Cardiomorpha, and Pleurophorus.

6 Smith, J. P. The distribution of Lower Triassic faunas. Jour. Geol., 20: 17.
1912.

MANSFIELD : MESOZOIC OF FORT HALL RESERVATION 37

These last are so poorly preserved that their generic relations, even as
based on external characters, are conjectural.

The cephalopods have been carefully investigated to the almost com-
plete neglect of the rest of the Triassic fauna of this region. The Ross
limestone is the horizon of the cephalopods par excellence, the Meeko-
ceras zone. Nevertheless, the collections studied, which were not made
with special reference to any one group of organisms, contain neither
very numerous nor very complete specimens. The following species
have been identified with more or less certainty: Meekoceras much-
bachanum, Meekoceras gracilitatis, Paranannites aspenensis, Ophiceras
dieneri, Flemingites russelli, Clypites tenuis.

Gastropods are so rare in the Ross limestone that they might with
little loss be neglected in a hasty survey of its fauna. One collection
contains an abundance of small naticoid shells (Natica lelial), but of
much more interest is the occurrence in another collection of a species
of Bellerophon. There can hardly be a doubt of the generic relationship^
of this form which resembles the Pennsylvanian species B. crassus. The
Bellerophontidae, though profusely developed in the Paleozoic and al-
most confined to that era, have been known in other parts of the world
to range also up into the Mesozoic.

Fort Hall formation. The Fort Hall formation is named from
old Fort Hall, the site of which is in the valley of Lincoln Creek,
which appears on some maps as Fort Hall Creek. The formation
occupies a prominent ridge along the north side of this valley.
The rocks lie conformably on the Ross limestone. The dividing
line is drawn on both lithologic and faunal grounds. There are
four fairly well defined subdivisions.

(1) The base of the formation is a soft and somewhat sugary,
yellow calcareous sandstone about 50 ± feet thick, sparingly
fossiliferous and containing at one locality a bed of yellowish
sandy limestone about 15 feet thick, with plicated oyster-like
pelecypods, terebratuloids, and other forms. This bed is overlain
by white calcareous sandstone weathering red or pink.

(2) Above these sandstones there is a gray or yellowish, sili-
ceous, dense limestone containing large pectin oids and irregular
cherty nodules and streaks that weather with a rough surface
and project along the bedding planes. This limestone forms
rough ledges and high points. The thickness of this series is
estimated at 100 ± feet.

(3) Above (2) and observed at only two localities, sees. 36 and
26, T. 3 S., R. 37 E., Boise M., is a set of sandy and shaly gray

38 MANSFIELD: MESOZOIC OF FORT HALL RESERVATION

limestones about 50 feet thick including an oolithic bed 6 to 10
feet thick.

(4) The remainder of the section, estimated at about 600 feet,
consists of yellow to grayish cherty and sandy limestones in thin
beds represented chiefly by fairly smooth slopes strewn with
yellow and reddish sandy and cherty fragments.

Fossil collections were made at a number of places in the Fort
Hall formation. The following faunal discussion is contributed
by G. H. Girty:

The Fort Hall formation might appropriately be called the Aviculi-
pecten idahoensis zone, for it is particularly characterized by that species,
which occurs in most of the collections and in many of them is very
abundant. With A. idahoensis are associated a few other types of pelecy-
pods, among which a large Bakewellia or Pteria and two or three species
of pectinoid shells are the most common. There is also a form resem-
bling Myalina (possibly the Volsella platynota of the Ross limestone, but-
smaller and less abundant), and several types which are too poorly
preserved to be identified but in general expression suggest Myacites,
Schizodus, and Pleurophorus. A small naticoid (Nalica lelicfi) is
rather abundant in places, but otherwise, gastropods are practically
absent.

In contrast to the preceding formation, the Fort Hall does not con-
tain any cephalopods nor, with the single exception noted below, any
brachiopods. As regards the pelecypods, the pectinoid shells, except
A. idahoensis, are much less abundant in the Fort Hall formation, and
some of the species of the Ross limestone appear not to occur there at
all. On the other hand, A. idahoensis appears to be restricted to the
Fort Hall formation.

One collection shows a remarkable and interesting variant of the
Fort Hall fauna. It is distinguished by the absence of most of the
pectinoids, even of A . idahoensis, and by the abundance of terebratulas,
of which there are four or five varieties or species. Of the pelecypods
the most noteworthy are a large Lima (n. sp.) and a sharply plicated
oyster, besides which there are two species of Myacites?, a large Bake-
wellia? and one or two other forms. The gastropods are represented
by Natica leila and by another species, possibly a Pleurotomaria.

Portneuf limestone. The Portneuf limestone is named from the
Portneuf River, at the head of which the limestone is well ex-
posed. The rock is a massively bedded, siliceous, and cherty,
gray to yellowish limestone. The chert occurs in rounded and
elongated nodules and in streaks. Silicified fossils, including
Spiriferina n. sp. (?), Terebratula semisimplex, and other tere-

MANSFIELD: MESOZOIC OF FORT HALL RESERVATION 39

bratuloids, and Myaphoria lineata(?), project from the weathered
surfaces.

The formation is fairly resistant to erosion and forms low, broad
ridges and sloping interfluvial areas. Its thickness is estimated at
about 1,500 feet, although there is some uncertainty because of
complexities of structure.

Numerous collections were made from this formation by G. H.
Girty, who furnishes the following discussion of the fauna:

The Portneuf fauna is the most varied and interesting of the three
Triassic faunas of the Fort Hall Reservation. Echinoid spines occur in
a number of locations but they are not plentiful. On the other hand,
segments of the stems of Pentacrinus are often found in great abundance.
In two localities bryozoa are abundant, small branching types, super-
ficially resembling the Carboniferous genus Batostomella. Several new
genera and species are indicated by thin sections. Brachiopods are
abundant, but confined to two families. This is the horizon of Terebra-
tula semisimplex, but there are also several other terebratuloid types
which are apparently undescribed. An undescribed species of Spiri-
ferina occurs in many of the collections, and there may be a second
species.

Pelecypod types are so numerous, and at the same time so poorly pre-
served in many cases, that it would be inexpedient to do more than men-
tion the most interesting. No species is more frequently met in this
fauna than one which was figured by Meek as Myaphoria lineatat.
The locality of Meek's specimen is given as Weber Canyon, and the
horizon as Jurassic. I can not but think that there is some mistake in
the stratigraphic position of his material, which was said to be above
the quarry rock, the quarry, I assume, being then as now in the Nugget
sandstone. Compared with their abundance in the two lower forma-
tions, Pectens are scarce in the Portneuf. A large form with very
coarse ribs occurs in several collections, and there are other species,
both large and small. A large Pteria or Bakewellia has been found at
many localities; also a Myalina or Mytilus. Leda is present, and
Nucula, together with types suggesting Pinna, Myacites, Pleurophorus,
Astarte, Cuculaea, and other forms. One locality has furnished a few
specimens of Ostrea, not only a plicated form similar to that of the
Fort Hall formation, but also a smooth type.

The scaphopods too are represented in this fauna by one or two
species of Dentalium.

Gastropods are less abundant than pelecypods, the only common type
being a small Natica, probably N. lelia. Several small species of Pleuro-
tomaria? have been collected, and also shells suggesting the genera
Holopea, Nerita, and Macrocheilina. The most interesting representa-
tive of this type, however, is a beautiful little species apparently belong-
ing to the Carboniferous genus Schizostoma, or at all events to the
euomphaloid group.

40 MANSFIELD: MESOZOIC OF FORT HALL -RESERVATION

Cephalopods are practically absent in this formation, as they are in
the Fort Hall. One specimen only was obtained; it is apparently
identical with Pseudosageoceras intermontanum.

ANKAREH SANDSTONE

The Ankareh sandstone derives its name from Ankareh Ridge
in the Park City mining district of Utah. In its type locality,
Big Cottonwood Canyon near Salt Lake City, and as originally
described, the formation is called a shale and consists chiefly
of clay shale of deep maroon or chocolate color, showing little
lamination where fresh but commonly breaking down after ex-
posure into thinner-bedded shaly material. It includes also
some pale greenish, clayey and sandy and limy strata.

In the Fort Hall Indian Reservation the beds that occupy this
stratigraphic interval are not shales but are somewhat sugary,
yellowish to grayish sandstones in beds 1 to 3 inches thick, and
in some places more massive beds. They are non-fossiliferous,
so far as observed, and weather into smooth depressions or slopes
between the more resistant formations on either hand. The sand-
stone is generally of uniform character and in some places weath-
ers with a pinkish tinge. The base of the sandstone rests with
apparent conformity upon the massive and siliceous Portneuf
limestone, while the top is overlain by the Higham grit. Thus
the formation is in most places clearly defined.

THE NUGGET SANDSTONE

The Nugget sandstone as originally described by Veatch7 in
southwestern Wyoming is about 1,900 feet thick and consists of
two distinct members, a lower brightly colored red bed member
600 feet thick, and an upper light-colored sandstone member.

In the Fort Hall Indian Reservation there is a considerable
variation in the character of the Nugget from that at the type
locality. The formation is well developed and may be differen-
tiated into several units, at least four of which may readily be
mapped. These are (1) the Higham grit member at the base,

7 Veatch, A. C. IT. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 56: 56. 1907.

MANSFIELD: MESOZOIC OF FORT HALL RESERVATION 41

(2) the Deadman limestone member, (3) the Wood shale member,
and (4) the main sandstone or typical Nugget.

Higham grit member. The basal member of the formation is
named from Higham's Peak in sec. 23, T. 3 S., R. 37 E., the high-
est summit in the northeastern part of the reservation, which is
composed of this rock. The grit is a coarse, white to pinkish,
gritty or conglomeratic sandstone, the component particles of
which are coarse and subangular. Locally the rock is almost a
quartzite. The Higham grit is distinct lithologically from other
rocks of the region and is prominent topographically. It forms
important strike ridges that are marked by rough, craggy ledges
in many places. The pebbles are all of quartzite so far as ob-
served, without material derived from immediately underlying
formations. The grit appears to lie conformably on the Ankareh
sandstone. The rocks are much fractured and slickensided
as a result of severe deformations, a condition which causes
them to weather in pinnacled and castellated forms. The
thickness is about 500 feet.

Deadman limestone member. Above the Higham grit member
is a dense purplish-gray limestone of almost lithographic quality,
with subordinate amounts of gray and greenish chert. This
member is named the Deadman limestone after a creek in the
northeastern part of T. 4 S., R. 38 E., Boise M., in the north-
eastern part of the reservation, near the headwaters of which
the rock is exposed. The limestone is resistant and in favor-
able places forms topographically prominent ledges. Ordinarily,
however, it is rendered inconspicuous by the proximity of the
more resistant member below. No fossils have been observed
in this limestone. The latter is about 150 feet thick.

Wood shale member. Above the Deadman limestone member
is a bright red shale that weathers to a red soil. This member is
called the Wood shale from Wood Creek in T. 3 S., R. 38 E.,
Boise M., in the northeastern part of the reservation, which cuts
across the entire Nugget formation. It is less resistant to
erosion than the adjacent members on either hand and occupies
depressions or gullies. Outcrops are few but the shale may be
traced by patches of bright red soil. It is apparently 200 to 250
feet thick.

42 MERRILL! SYSTEMATIC POSITION OF THE "RAIN TREE"

The main sandstone or typical Nugget. The main sandstone
which constitutes the greater part of the formation is typical
Nugget sandstone. In many places it consists of brick-red,
platy, fine-textured sandstone in beds 1 to 6 inches thick, which
form rounded hills that are strewn with angular, platy blocks
weathered from the ledges. In other places the sandstone is
somewhat firmer, coarser textured, and pinkish to whitish in
color. Markings resembling footprints and other impressions
were collected from these sandstones, but they proved to be too
indistinct for identification. The lighter colored sandstones are
somewhat quartzitic and weather into angular blocks that form
a dark purplish talus. The top of the sandstone is not exposed,
or has not been recognized, for the stratigraphically overlying
Twin Creek limestone has been faulted irregularly across the for-
mation. The thickness of the main sandstone has not been
measured but it is estimated at not less than 1500 feet.

The thickness of the entire formation appears to be as much as
2400 feet in the Fort Hall Indian Reservation and it may be
somewhat greater.

BOTANY. — The systematic position of the "rain tree," Pitheco-
lobium Saman. E. D. Merrill, Bureau of Science, Manila,
P. I. (Communicated by William R. Maxon.)

The genus Pithecolobium as interpreted by Bentham is rather
a heterogeneous assemblage of plants. Some of the species
placed under this name differ so radically from typical represen-
tatives of Pithecolobium that in some instances sectional differ-
ences within the genus are decidedly greater than the distinctions
between some of the universally recognized genera of the Mimo-
soideae, while within the section Samanea the same statement
holds for specific differences. It is believed that Pithecolobium
will be a much more natural group if certain species be removed
from it. At the present time, however, I am concerned especially
with but a single one, the well known "rain tree," Pithecolobium
Saman Benth., a native of tropical America but now extensively
planted in most tropical countries.

Among other species placed in the section Samanea of Pithe-

MERRILL: SYSTEMATIC POSITION OF THE "RAIN TREE" 43

colobium by Bentham I am confident that the Malayan Pithe-
colobium moniliferum Benth. should be removed as the type of a
distinct genus, Cathormion, as Hasskarl1 has already proposed.
In transferring this species from Inga to Pithecolobium Bentham
inadvertently transcribed the specific name moniliformis as
moniliferum, in which he was followed by Hasskarl. The correct
specific name and synonymy are as follows:

Cathormion Hassk.
Cathormion moniliforme (Hassk.) Merrill.
Inga moniliformis DC. Prodr. 2: 440. 1825.
Pithecolobium moniliferum Benth. in Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. 3: 211.

1844.
Inga monilifera DC. ex Benth. loc. cit. in syn.

Cathormion moniliferum Hassk. Nat. Tijdschr. Ned. Ind. 10:231.
1856.

The type of this species was from the Island of Timor, and the
plant is cultivated in the Botanical Garden at Buitenzorg,
Java.

Aside from the question of the generic limits of Pithecolobium,
however, the application and validity of the name itself warrant
some consideration. Mr. S. C. Stuntz, of the United States De-
partment of Agriculture, has called my attention to the fact
that Pithecolobium was originally published by Martius2 as
Pithecellobium , the name being correctly derived from ttW^kos
(monkey) and eWofiiov (earring), so that there was no need
to change the spelling to Pithecollobium, as Martius3 did in 1837,
nor to Pithecolobium, as Bentham4 did in 1844, the latter making
the derivation of the latter part of the name from the Greek
Xo/36s, the lobe or lower part of the ear.

The original publication is as follows:

Pithecellobium Mart. (IngaAuct). Affenohrring XXIII. 1.
cyclocarpum Mart. (Ing. W.)

Caracas. I? C.
inundatum Mart. Bras, h C.
Unguis Cati Mart. Bras. I? C.

1 Nat. Tijdschr. Ned. Ind. 10: 231. 1856.

2 Hort. Reg. Monac. 188. 1829.

3 Flora, 202: Beibl. 114. 1837.

4 Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. 3: 195. 1844.

44 MERRILL: SYSTEMATIC POSITION OF THE "RAIN TREE

Mr. Stuntz would regard the first species as the type of the
genus, as it is the only one of the three enumerated that can be
connected with a previously published binomial, Inga cyclocarpa
Willd. This selection of the type would be most unfortunate
as Inga cyclocarpa Willd. ( = Pithecolobium cyclocarpum Mart.)
is an Enterolobium, so that the species now placed in Entero-
lobium would have to be transferred to Pithecolobium, while the
more numerous ones now placed in Pithecolobium would need a
new generic name. Zygia as published by Boehmer5 would thus
become the generic name for our Pithecolobium species, a name
much older than the latter, although Pithecolobium is retained
in the supplementary list of nomina conservanda adopted by the
Brussels Botanical Congress.6

By absolutely strict rules of priority Inga cyclocarpa Willd. is
undoubtedly the type of the genus Pithecolobium, and Martius un-
doubtedly derived his generic name Pithecellobium from the fruit
characters of this species; yet it seems possible to save the name
in its currently accepted sense by the selection, somewhat arbi-
trarily if necessary, of another species as the type. In the original
publication the species are alphabetically arranged. There are
no descriptions. The first species has a definite reference to
Inga cyclocarpa Willd. ; the second is a nomen nudum, apparently
never further considered; while the third is manifestly a transfer
of Mimosa unguis cati *L. ( = Inga unguis cati Willd.), although
no synonym is hinted at other than in the general statement,
following the generic name: "Inga Auct." The selection of this
species as the type of the genus Pithecolobium, or Pithecellobium
as originally published, will save the name in its currently
accepted sense.

Again it is worth while to examine the original description of the
genus as given by Martius.7 It includes " Pithecolobium" and
"Enterolobium" characters, but the Pithecolobium fruit character
"legumen .... tortum" appears before the Enterolobium
character "aut pluries cochleatum." The first species described
is a true Pithecolobium, P. tortum Mart., the description of which

5 Ludwig, Defin. Gen. PI. 72. 1760.

6 Act. Congr. Int. Bot. Brux. 1: 114. 1910.

7 Flora, 202: Beibl. 114. 1837.

MERRILL! SYSTEMATIC POSITION OF THE "RAIN TREE" 45

precedes the generic diagnosis. Following the generic diagnosis
are cited Inga excelsa Kunth, /. unguis cati Willd., /. bigemina
Willd., /. cyclocarpa Willd., I. cochleata Willd., and I. contorta
Willd., and the original descriptions of P. auaremotemo Mart.,
P. cauliflorum Mart., and P. gummiferum Mart. Of the ten
species mentioned or described six are now placed in Pithecolo-
bium, three in Enterolobium, and one in Inga.

I have merely stated the case for and against two possible in-
terpretations of the type of the genus Pithecolobium. Conveni-
ence will certainly be served much better by the selection of P.
unguis cati as the type. With this introductory statement re-
garding the genus Pithecolobium itself it is now proposed to con-
sider a single species, long placed in the genus, but which the
author considers to be generically distinct.

In the year 1800 the species under consideration was originally
described by Jacquin from South American material as Mimosa
Saman. It was transferred to Inga by Willdenow a few years
later and subsequently by other authors successively to Pithe-
colobium, Calliandra, Albizzia, and Enterolobium. Thus m less
than one hundred years it has been considered by different
writers under six generic names. As the various genera are now
interpreted, Pithecolobium Saman, to use its generally accepted
name, differs radically from all. Mimosa, Inga, Calliandra, and
Albizzia can be dismissed without discussion, as the rain tree can-
not possibly be referred to any of these genera. As between the
two remaining genera, Pithecolobium and Enterolobium, it can-
not possibly belong to the former as it has somewhat fleshy, at
least pulpy, straight, indehiscent, and septate pods. Its true
alliance is unquestionably with Enterolobium, where Sir David
Prain has placed it; and yet in its straight or nearly straight,
fleshy or pulpy pods and pedicelled flowers it is decidedly anom-
alous in Enterolobium, while in facies it is very strikingly dif-
ferent from the representatives of this genus known to me.
Prain's8 discussion is so lucid and to the point that it is here
reproduced :

When Mr. Bentham tentatively placed the species [Enterolobium
saman Prain] in Pithecolobium he explained that the tree was unknown

* Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 642: 252. 1898.

u L I

46 MERRILL! SYSTEMATIC POSITION OF THE "RAIN TREE

to him. Dr. Grisebach, who had the advantage of studying the tree
in the living state, at once recognized that it cannot possibly be a
Pithecolobium and placed it in Calliandra, no doubt owing to the sutures
of the pod being thickened as in that genus. That the pods are sep-
tate and indehiscent militates however against his proposal, for the
crucial test of a Calliandra is that its pods, which may not be septate,
shall dehisce elastically from apex to base. The Index Kewensis has
therefore replaced the " Rain-Tree" in Pithecolobium; this however is a
step which in turn similarly mars the generic limits of that group, since
the pods of Pithecolobium must not be septate. The writer places the
species with more confidence in Enterolobium, owing to its possessing
the septate pods characteristic of that genus. The pulpy, in place of
spongy at length indurated mesocarp, and the shortly pedicelled in
place of sessile florets, cannot, in view of the variability of these char-
acters within adjacent genera, be considered more that comparatively
trivial deviations from the hitherto recognized characters of Entero-
lobium. The writer is unable, both on academic and on practical
grounds, to agree with the proposal, made by some botanists, to amal-
gamate Calliandra, Pithecolobium, Enter •olobium and Albizzia.

I am in entire agreement with Prain, except that after having
had an opportunity to study several species of Enter olobium, I
am thoroughly convinced that, although the alliance of Pithe-
colobium Saman Benth. is unquestionably with Enterolobium and
not with Pithecolobium, it represents a group generically distinct,
and that if placed in Enterolobium it will be anomalous in that
genus, although not to the same extent as in Pithecolobium.
I propose therefore to raise to generic rank Bentham's section
Samanea, which is typified by the species under consideration.
I am confident, however, that many of the species ultimately
placed by Bentham in this section are not congeneric with
Samanea as typified by Pithecolobium Saman, and I am equally
confident that some of them cannot be logically considered as
representatives of the genus Pithecolobium. Several species are,
however, unquestionably congeneric with Samanea and should be
transferred here.

Samanea (Benth.) Merrill, gen. nov.

Pithecolobium Mart. § Samanea Benth. in Hook. Lond. Joum. Bot. 3:
197. 1844.— Trans. Linn. Soc. 30:585. 1875.
Flores 5-meri, hermaphroditi. Calyx infundibuliformis, breviter
lobatus. Corolla subinfundibuliformis, petalis usque ad medium con-
natis, valvatis. Stamina °° , basi in tubo connata, longe exserta;
antherae parvae, eglandulosae. Ovarium sessile, °°-ovulatum, stylis

MERRILL: SYSTEMATIC POSITION OF THE "RAIN TREE" 47

filiformibus, stigmate minuto, capitate Legumen rectum vel leviter
curvatum, indehiscens, crassocompressum, epicarpio tenue crustaceo,
mesocarpio pulposo, endocarpio firmiter crustaceo, continuo, inter
semina septa formante, suturis incrassatis. Semina numerosa, trans-
versa, oblongo-ovata, leviter compressa, nitida, exarillata, utrinque cum
areola anguste oblonga instructa, funiculo filiformi.

Arbor procera, coma expansa, inermis. Folia abrupte bipinnata.
4-6-juga, glandulis inter jugalibus instructa, foliolis deorsum minoribus,
pinnis superioribus 6-8-jugatis, inferioribus 3-5-jugatis. Stipulae lan-
ceolatae, parvae, deciduae. Pedunculi solitarii vel subfasciculati,
elongati, in axillis superioribus subterminales. Flores rosei, pedicellati;
inter Mimoseas mediocres, in capitulis globosis dispositi.

The genus as above denned is most closely allied to Enter olobium,
differing especially in its straight or nearly straight, pulpy, not indu-
rated pods, and its pedicelled not sessile flowers. Pithecolobium differs
in its cochleate, curved or twisted, nonseptate, dehiscent pods, the
seeds often arillate. Albizzia differs especially in its thin, dehiscent,
nonseptate pods.

Samanea Saman (Jacq.) Merrill.

Mimosa Saman Jacq. Fragmenta 15. pi. 9. 1800.

Inga Saman Willd. Sp. PI. 4: 1024. 1806.

Pithecolobium Saman Benth. in Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. 3:101.

1844.
Calliandra Saman Griseb. Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 225. 1864.
Albizzia Saman F. Muell. Select Extra-Trop. Plants 27. 1891.
Enterolobium Saman Pram, ex King in Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 662: 352.

1897.

Other synonyms given by Bentham are Inga cinerea Humb. &
Bonpl., Inga salutaris H.B.K., Mimosa pubifera Poir., Calliandra
tubulosa Benth., and Pithecolobium cinereum Benth.

Sama?iea Saman, though apparently a native of the northern part
of South America, is now widely distributed in cultivation in most tropi-
cal countries. It is remarkable for its exceedingly fast growth, the
ease with which it can be transplanted, and the rapidity with which it
recovers from the most severe pruning when transplanted. The tree
reaches large proportions, and on account of its widely spreading
branches forms a magnificent shade tree. The sweet pulpy pods are
produced in great abundance and are relished by cattle. In fact in
some countries the cultivation of the tree has been recommended on
account of the forage value of its pods. Because of the ease with
which it can be propagated and its very rapid growth it gives promise
of being of great value in reafforestation work in some tropical coun-

48 MERRILL: SYSTEMATIC POSITION OF THE RAIN TREE

tries. While of comparatively recent introduction into the tropics
of the Old World, it is now of very wide distribution and in some coun-
tries has already established itself. It was introduced into the Philip-
pines in about the year 1860 and is now by far the most common shade
tree to be found in the larger towns throughout the Archipelago. The
wood, which is dark in color, appears to be of some value, especially
for interior finishings.

In tropical America Samanea Saman is known as guango, samdn,
cenizaro, and arbol de la lluvia, in the Philippines as acacia, in various
British tropical colonies as rain tree, and in Hawaii as monkey pod.
The common English name, rain tree, and its Spanish equivalent, arbol
de la lluvia, probably owe their origin to the fact that the "sleep" or
closing of the leaflets is a very conspicuous phenomenon, occurring
at the approach of and during rains, and at night. The author has
never observed, in this species, any dripping of water from hydathodes,
such as has been noted in some tropical trees. In tropical countries
with which the author is familiar flowering occurs at the height of the
dry season. In those countries having a decided dry season the tree
is deciduous, but the new leaves appear within a few days after the fall
of the old ones, followed at once by anthesis which continues for several
months.

ABSTRACTS

GEOPHYSICS. — Researches of the department of terrestrial magnetism
(vol. II): Land magnetic observations, 1911-1913, and reports on
special researches. L. A. Bauer and J. A. Fleming; Carnegie
Institution of Washington Pub. No. 175 (Vol. II). 278 pages.
13 plates, and 9 text-figures. 1915.
The first portion of this publication contains the results of all mag-
netic observations made on land by the Department of Terrestrial
Magnetism from January, 1911 to the end of 1913.

New magnetic instruments of light and portable types are described ;
these include two universal-magnetometer designs, viz., a combined
magnetometer and dip circle, and a combined magnetometer and earth
inductor. The stations at which magnetic observations were made be-
tween 1911-1913 ma}^ be summarized as follows: Africa, 207; Asia, 83
Australasia, 264; Europe, 38; North America, 48; South America, 247
Islands of the Atlantic Ocean, 16; Islands of the Indian Ocean, 14
Islands of the Pacific Ocean, 16; Antarctic Regions, 30; the total num-
ber of stations is thus 978. The table of results gives names of
stations, geographic positions, values of the three magnetic elements,
dates and local mean times of observations, references to instruments
used, and the initials of observers. From about 18 per cent of the re-
sults, data for the determination of the secular variation have been
obtained. Extended extracts from the observers' field reports are
given; following these are descriptions of the magnetic stations occupied
during the period of 1911-1913.

The first special report describes in detail the newly-erected research
buildings of the Department at Washington. The second report is
devoted to L. A. Bauer's inspection trip of 1911, in the course of which
he visited various magnetic institutions, and to the observations secured

50 abstracts: zoology

at Manua, Samoa, during the total solar eclipse on April 28, 1911.
On Plate 10 is a full-size reproduction of the photograph obtained of
the eclipse, showing the coronal extensions corresponding to a period
of minimum sun-spot activity.

The concluding report is concerned with the results of the comparisons
of magnetic standards obtained by observers of the Department, dur-
ing 1905 to 1914, both at magnetic observatories and in the field among
themselves. It has been found possible with the aid of the accumulated
data to fix on world or "international magnetic standards" designated
I.M.S., which apparently yield values of the magnetic elements within
an absolute accuracy of about O.'l or 0/2 in declination and inclination,
and about 0.01 or 0.02 per cent in the value of the horizontal intensity.

J. A. F.

ZOOLOGY. — A review of the American moles. Hartley H. T. Jack-
son. North American Fauna No. 38, Bureau of Biological Sur-
vey, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Pp. 100, plates 6, text
figures 27. September 30, 1915.
This paper includes descriptions of the 28 species and subspecies of
moles inhabiting America. One subspecies, Scapanus orarius schefferi
is described as new. Pages 5 to 26 are devoted to introductory matters,
in which are discussed among other topics the habits and economic
status of moles, characteristics and development of the young, pelages
and molts, time of molting, manner of molting, geographic variation,
individual variation, sexual variation, age variation, seasonal variation,
and history. There are two keys to the genera of American moles;
one based upon external characters, the other upon cranial and dental
characters.

The American moles include five genera: Scalopus, Scapa?ius,
Parascalops, Condylura, and Neiirotrichus. A detailed description of
each genus is given, following which are a key to the species and sub-
species of that genus and a systematic discussion of each form. Under
each species or subspecies are given the synonymy, type locality, data
of type specimen, geographic range, general characters, color, descrip-
tion of skull, measurements, remarks upon the relationships and dis-
tribution of the form, and an enumeration of the specimens examined.
The illustrations include maps of the distribution of each form,
etchings of external parts showing generic characters, and half-tones of
skulls. H. H. T. J.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED

SOCIETIES

THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 760th meeting was held on October 16, 1915, at the Cosmos
Club, President Eichelberger in the chair; 35 persons present.

Mr. E. C. Crittenden presented an illustrated paper giving the re-
sults of an investigation in collaboration with Messrs. E. B. Rosa and
A. H. Taylor on Effect of atmospheric pressure on the candlepower of
various flames. In order to calibrate flame standards of candlepower
by comparison with electric standards it is necessary to know the
effects of various atmospheric conditions on the flames. Humidity and
atmospheric pressure are the conditions which cause most variation.
The former varies considerably from season to season, and its effect
has been determined by observations extending over several years.
The natural variations in pressure from time to time at any one place are
not great enough to determine their effect with precision, and at any
rate extrapolation to other pressures would be unreliable. By using
a set of tanks in which air could be supplied at high or at low pressure,
the variation of the candlepower of pentane and Hefner lamps over a
wide range of barometric pressure has now been determined. The varia-
tion is not linear. In general the intensity of a flame increases with in-
creasing pressure, but at a decreasing rate, until the flame becomes
smoky, when a further increase in pressure may cause a slight decrease
in intensity. Conversely, decrease of pressure in general causes a de-
crease of candlepower, which is more and more rapid as the flame gets
farther from the smoking condition. The pressure presumably affects
the rate of diffusion, of oxygen through the fuel. When the pressure
is increased the diffusion is slower, the process of combustion is re-
tarded, and the time during which the carbon particles exist in the
glowing state is increased. Consequently at any one time there are
more particles giving out light. On the other hand the average tempera-
ture of the particles is lowered, as is shown by the increasing redness of
the flame, so that the light emitted by each particle is greatly reduced.
Eventually such a condition is reached that the decrease in temperature
counterbalances any further increase in number of glowing particles.
Besides the data for the standard lamps, curves were shown to indicate
the effect of variation in air pressure on the candlepower of gas burned
in several types of burners. The effect of humidity on a gas flame, an
acetylene flame, and a kerosene standard lamp was also shown. As an
application of the data presented, a detailed discussion of the signifi-
cance of gas candlepower tests, as made at present, was given.

52 proceedings: philosophical society

Mr. P. D. Foote then spoke on The "center of gravity" and "effec-
tive wave-length" of transmission of pyrometer color-screens, and the
extrapolation of the high temperature scale. (Published in full in Journ.
Wash. Acad. Sci. 5:526. 1915.)

The same speaker then presented informally some remarks on
A new relation from Planck's law. Numerous displacement laws may be
derived from the Planck relation representing the spectral distribution
of the energy radiated by a black body. A new displacement law was
derived which states, that the product of the absolute temperature #
and the X-component of the center of gravity of the spectral energy
curve Xc is a constant, as follows: Xc = 0.37021c2, where c2 is the charac-
teristic constant of the Planck equation.

The two communications by Mr. Foote were discussed by Messrs.
Swann, C. A. Briggs, Gray, Priest, Crittenden, and Sosman,
particularly with reference to details of optical arrangements, the use
of absorbing mirrors, and variations between observers.

Mr. E. F. Mueller then presented a paper on Methods of resist-
ance measurement. In the design of a Wheatstone bridge, the 0.01,
0.001, and 0.0001 decades were to be provided by varying the shunts
on three coils, r%, r2, and r3, permanently connected in the variable arm
of the bridge. The problem is to select suitable values for n, r2, r3,
and for the shunting-coils. The values will be completely determined
if the condition be imposed that r\ + r2 -\- r3 = p and that the r's
be so chosen that the effect of errors in the shunting-coils, clue, e.g.,
to contact resistances in the dial switches, shall be a minimum.
There are, however, obvious advantages in choosing the r's so that
the shunting-coils for all decades are the same. This requires that

r1 = r2"V 10 = r3"10 as may be seen from the formula used: viz., that the

change in r, due to a shunt R, is equal to — r-=. If r2 is chosen so as to

r -f- K

be divisible by the numbers from 1 to 10, e.g.,r2 =0.6048, simple values

for the shunting-coils are obtained.

The paper was discussed by Mr. White with regard to variations in

shunts.

J. A. Fleming, Secretary.

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VI FEBRUARY 4, 1916 No. 3

GEOLOGY. — Some littoral and sublittoral physiographic features
of the Virgin and northern Leeward Islands and their bearing
on the coral reef problem. Thomas Wayland Vaughan,1
Geological Survey.

The Virgin Islands rise above a bank extending eastward from
Porto Rico from which they are separated by water up to 17
fathoms deep. The St. Martin group, comprising Anguilla,
St. Martin, St. Bartholomew, and a number of islets, lie a little
south of east from the Virgins across the Anegada Passage,
which exceeds 1000 fathoms in depth. St. Croix is due south
of the Virgins across a chasm, a great fault valley, which at a
distance of 22^ miles south of St. Thomas attains a depth of
2580 fathoms (15,480 feet). Saba is south of St. Martin. The
west end of the St. Christopher Chain, to which St. Eustatius,
St. Christopher, and Nevis belong, is south of St. Bartholomew;
while Antigua and Barbuda are east of the St. Christopher Chain.

The ocean bottom off the shores of the Antilles shows three
distinct types of profiles, and a fourth type is furnished by Saba
and other banks. The first is that found off the volcanic islands,
such as Saba and the members of the St. Christopher Chain,
into the sides of which the sea has cut relatively narrow plat-
forms (see fig. I).2 There are suggestions of submerged flats
off the northwest end of St. Eustatius and southeast of Nevis.

1 Published by permission of the Director of the U. S. Geological Survey and
of the President of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

2 The profiles illustrating this paper were draw by Miss Irene Pistorio, who
also drew the contours on the hydrographic charts here discussed.

vaughan: virgin and leeward islands

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PROFILES OFF SOUTH COAST OF ST JOHN. TORTOLA
AND VIRGIN GORDA ISLANDS.

PROFILES OFF THE NORTH COAST OF ST THOMAS

SEA LEVEL

PROFILES OFF THE EAST COAST OF ANGUILLA

Nautical Miles

I 0 1 2 3 « 5 6

Fig. 3. Profiles off Virgin Islands and Anguilla.
the horizontal.

Vertical scale 70 times

The Second type of submarine profile is well represented off
the north shore of St. Croix and the south shore of Cuba (see
fig. 2). The precipitous character of these profiles indicates
faulting and the geologic structure supports this interpretation.
There is a downthrown block between St. Croix and the Virgin
Group, and another downthrown block between Cuba and
Jamaica.

The third type of profile (see fig. 2), represented by shores
off which are extensive shallow flats, occurs where planation agen-
cies have long been active. Here the rocks often, if not usually,
dip under the sea at relatively gentle angles.

vaughan: virgin and leeward islands

PROFILES DFF THE WEST INDIES AND CENTRAL AMERICA

J-.tOO'

HAVANA HARBOR NORTH COAST Or ST T^CMA$

0?f EAST COAST OF ANGUILLA

Cora! reef

OFF THE SOUTH EAST COAST OF ANTiGUA

ACROSS MOSQUITO BANK OFF NICARAGUA

PROFILES OF BANKS IN CARIBBEAN SEA
OF FUNAFUTI ATOLL

PEDRO BANK

ROSALINO BANK

FUNAFUTI ATOLL

Fig. 4. Profiles off West Indies and Central America, of banks in the
Caribbean Sea, and of Funafuti atoll. Vertical scales on sides, horizontal
distance stated below profiles.

The fourth type of profile is represented by the extensive
submerged banks or platforms which have no bordering lands
and whose upper surfaces range in depth from 9 to 30 fathoms
(54 to 180 feet). Good examples are Saba Bank, southwest
of Saba Island; Pedro Bank, southwest of Jamaica; and Rosa-
lind Bank, off Mosquito Bank, which is the Continental Shelf
northeast of Nicaragua and Honduras (see fig. 4). That the
depth of water on these banks is essentially the same as in many
atolls of the Pacific, especially the Paumotus, has been repeatedly
pointed out, but apparently the fact has not yet been sufficiently
emphasized. The profile of Funafuti atoll in figure 4 is very
similar to the profiles of the West Indian banks, which are many
times its dimensions.

58 vaughan: virgin and leeward islands

The third type of profile (that showing submarine terraces
around islands) will now be discussed in some detail. From
shore line characters and other evidence the conclusion was
reached that the Virgin Islands, the members of the St. Martin
Group, and Antigua and Barbuda have recently undergone
submergence to an amount of about 20 fathoms.3 Assuming
this conclusion to be correct, should the sea level have remained
stationary for a period of appreciable length before this submer-
gence, there should be a submerged scarp or facet indicating
its former stand; should there have been a succession of tem-
porary stands there should be a series of submarine terrace
flats separated by scarps. The available sources of informa-
tion were the charts of the U. S. Hydrographic Office and of the
British Admiralty. The Virgin Bank and the St. Martin Plateau
were selected for special study. The charts of the former, on
a scale of slightly more than 1 mile to an inch, and that of the
latter, on a scale of about 2\ miles to an inch, were contoured
on a 2 fathom interval from the shore to a depth of 40 fathoms,
and on an interval of 10 fathoms from 40 to 100 fathoms.

The Virgin Group will be described first. The shore line shows
indentations indicative of submergence, and that the sea has
stood at its present level long enough for alluvial filling of the
heads of harbor digitations, while sea-cliffs occur at the ends of
promontories. The chart of the nearby sea-bottom shows
that south of St. John, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda there are two
distinct submerged terraces and a less definite third terrace
(see fig. 3). The outer terrace flat lies at depths between 26
and 28 fathoms on its landward and between 28 and 30 fathoms
on its seaward margin, and it ranges in width from \ mile to 3
miles. On its sea-front is a ridge which is inferred to be a sub-
merged barrier coral reef. On its landward side a scarp rises
from a depth of 26 to 28 fathoms to about 17 fathoms. Above
this scarp is a second terrace flat, which has a depth of 14 to
15 fathoms on its landward and a depth of 14 to 20 fathoms on
its seaward face, and ranges in width from one-third of a mile
to 2 miles. Apparently the outer margin of this flat also bears

1 Bull. Am. Geog. Soc, 46: 426-429. 1914.

vaughan: virgin and leeward islands 59

a coral reef. These are the two principal terrace flats. The
scarp separating them is indicated by crowded contours, and
chart No. 1832, U. S. Hydrographic Office, shows its continuity
for 36 nautical miles or about l£ land miles farther than from
Washington to BaRimore. A third, still higher terrace flat is
suggested between depths of 6 and 10 fathoms, above which a
fourth terrace may now be in process of formation, but the in-
formation regarding these is at present not definite enough to
warrant a positive statement. The continuity of the upper one
of the two well-marked flats needs to be emphasized. It should
be noted that east of Virgin Gorda there has been an uptilt.

On the windward (northern) side of St. Thomas, there is an
extensive outer flat, bounded on its landward side by a steep
escarpment which in places is nearly 160 feet high (see fig. 3).
The landward margin of the plain is between 26 and 28 fathoms
in depth; the seaward margin has a depth between 30 and 34
fathoms; the width is as great as 10 miles and for distances as
great as 8| miles, in depths between 29 and 31 fathoms, the
range in relief of the surface may be as small as 2 fathoms. Its
outer margin is cut by reentrants which have bottoms about 40
fathoms deep and simulate hanging valleys. There are also
near the outer margin of this flat, banks or ridges the upper
surfaces of which are relatively flat, between 17 and 20 fathoms
in depth. One of these banks has a total basal width of about 4
miles and a length of more than 5 miles. As its form is not
that of a coral reef, it can only be the base of what was an island,
which had been reduced almost to a smooth surface by marine
planation and then, as indicated by other evidence, submerged.
As all the other shoals with one exception are truncated at nearly
the same level it seems that most of them should be ascribed
to a similar origin. These shoals usually show escarpments
between 20 and 30 fathoms on their windward sides and more
gradual slopes on the leeward sides. The outer flat on the north
side of St. Thomas corresponds to the lower flat on the south
side of St. John, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda. Both are sub-
marine plains, which several lines of evidence show were de-
veloped when sea-level was about 20 fathoms or slightly more,

60 vaughan: virgin and leeward islands

lower than now. The escarpment extending from the islands
north of Culebra Island, east of Porto Rico, across the Virgin
Passage, and along the north side of St. Thomas, and the es-
carpment on the face of the outlying shoals apparently can be
explained in no other way.

The indentations on the outer margin of the outer flat may have
been caused by emergence and stream cutting after its formation,
or they may be due to initial marginal irregularities which have
not been obliterated.

The approximate accordance in level of the tops of the out-
lying shoals at depths between 17 and 20 fathoms has been
mentioned. These summits accord in height with a flat or
gently sloping zone, which lies above and nearer shore than the
deeper flat and represents the 14 to 20 fathom flat south of St.
John and Tortola. It is scarcely represented on the seaward
side of the promontories, viz. : Cockroach and Cricket rocks,
and Outer Brass and Little Hans Lollick islands. However,
it spreads out on the flanks of the promontories and ranges
from half a mile to nearly 1| miles in width; it is separated
on its seaward side by a steep slope or escarpment from the
deeper flat and on its landward side by a less distinct escarp-
ment, in places about 26 feet in height, from a less developed
flat which has a depth of 7 to 10 fathoms. The descent is
sudden from the shore to about 6 fathoms which is near the
landward margin of the highest submarine flat. This flat, also,
is narrow on the tips of the promontories mentioned, but widens
on their flanks and along the shores of the main island. The
submerged valley in Charlotte Amalia Harbor has a depth of
10 fathoms.

The narrowness or absence of the 14 to 20 fathoms flat on
the promontory tips, while it is so well preserved in protected
places, especially off the south sides of St. John and Tortola,
shows that it is older than the deeper flat and in exposed places
was cut away during the formation of the latter, subsequent to
the formation of which, after perhaps a brief interval of still
lower stand of sea-level, the entire area has been re-submerged,
to an amount about the same as that of the initial submergence.

vaughan: virgin and leeward islands 61

There is doubt as to the interpretation of the 7 to 10 or 12
fathoms flat. In places it seems to be distinct and older than the
one next lower, but it may represent the submarine terrace
being formed at present sea-level.

According to the physiography of the sea-bottom, the Vir-
gin Islands were joined to Porto Rico during the cutting of the
scarp separating the deepest from the next higher flat. The
biogeographic evidence shows conclusively that the two were
united and have been severed in Recent time by submergence.
Stejneger says in his Herpetology of Porto Rico: "It is then
plain that the 16 species of reptiles and betrachians found in
St. Thomas and St. John form only a herpetological appendix
to Porto Rico." Doctor Bartsch informs me that the testi-
mony of the land Mollusca is the same as that of the reptiles
and batrachians. The biogeographic evidence substantiates the
deductions based on the purely physiographic study.

There are three tiers of coral reefs in the Virgin Islands. They
rise above (a) basements 10 fathoms or less in depth; (b) above
the outer edge of the 14 to 20 fathoms flat; (c) above the outer
edge of the 28 to 34 fathoms flat. As the escarpment within
the outermost reef could not have been cut during the presence
of such a reef, the flat must be older than the reef and the reef
must have developed during subsequent submergence. The
flat therefore cannot be due to the growth of the reef.

The members of the St. Martin Group have indented shore-
lines, seacliffs, and an unusually fine development of bay bars.
The relations on the windward side of the St. Martin plateau
are similar to those north of St. Thomas (see fig. 3) . The outer,
deeper flat, from 26 to 36 fathoms in depth, has a maximum
length east and west of over 30 miles. It seems composed of
two terraces. The scarp on its landward side is distinct and
in places is about 50 feet high, in depths between 20 and 28 fath-
oms, as off the east end of Scrub Island, east of Anguilla Island.

As some of the submerged valleys on the east side of the St.
Martin plateau resemble valleys in the Upper Cretaceous Ana-
cacho limestone of Texas, it appears that not only must the
scarp line which has been pointed out be interpreted as a former

62 vaughan: virgin and leeward islands

shore-line but these channels, with steep heads must be inter-
preted as former drainage lines which were subaerially cut and
afterwards submerged. The Anacacho limestone in the Brackett
quadrangle (of the U. S. Geological Survey) is similar in general
character to the limestone which composes Anguilla and Tinta-
marre.

While the shore-line stood some 20 fathoms lower than now,
most of the St. Martin plateau must have been above sea-
level. The biologic evidence is in accord with this interpre-
tation, but at present it alone is not sufficient to be decisive.

Antigua is another island with an indented shore-line. It
shows typical instances of submerged valleys, and fairly good
examples of pouch-shaped harbors. Profiles off the southeast
shore are shown in figure 4. These exhibit essentially the same
features as the profiles on the Virgin Bank and the St. Martin
plateau. If sea-level stood 20 fathoms below its present stand,
Antigua and Barbuda would be united. Dr. Bartsch has
especially studied the land Mollusca and says: "The land shells
show that these islands must have been connected in very recent
time."

The deduction that there has been in Recent geologic time
submergence to an amount of about 20 fathoms in the Virgin
Islands, on the St. Martin plateau, and on the Antigua-Bar-
buda bank, it seems to me, may be accounted demonstrated.

The upper part of figure 4 shows a set of profiles, all on the
same vertical scale. They represent profiles (a) across Havana
Harbor, showing depth of filled channel; (b) off the north side
of St. Thomas ; (c) off the west side of Anguilla ; (d) off the south-
east coast of Antigua; (e) Mosquito Bank, off Nicaragua. All
these profiles indicate a rise of sea-level by an amount of about
20 fathoms. There is in the Virgin Islands and in Cuba clear
evidence of a lowering of sea-level by about 20 fathoms, perhaps
more, previous to resubmergence. Although the evidence for
the other areas is not definite as to the return of sea-level to a
former stand, the similarity of the profiles suggests that it also
occurred in them. What caused this lowering and subsequent
rise of sea-level? As it affects a large area, it appears too wide-

vaughan: virgin and leeward islands

spread to be explained by local crustal movement. The changes
in position of strand line here noted are more reasonably ex-
plained by a lowering of sea-level due to the withdrawal of
water in the Pleistocene ice epochs to form the great Continental
glaciers and the raising of sea-level after each epoch through
the melting of the glaciers, but the volume of evidence supplied
by this area is perhaps not large enough to justify a general
conclusion as to the relations of Re-
cent coral reef development to gla-
ciation and deglaciation.

Figure • 5 is a map of Florida
showing the superposition of upper
Oligocene reef corals and coral reefs
on the Ocala limestone, which has
been traced under and beyond the
reefs by means of natural exposures
and numerous well borings. The
general geologic history of the
Floridian plateau has been especi-
ally considered by Vaughan4 and by
Matson and Sanford.5 A paper by
Vaughan and Shaw in which the
oscillations of the Florida reef tract
are discussed is also cited.6

A brief comparison will now be
made with the Great Barrier Reef
of Australia. Figure 6 presents pro-
files, all on the same horizontal and

vertical scales, the latter about seventy times the former. The
uppermost profile, along a line running due east from Virginia
Beach, Virginia, is introduced for comparison with those of
the Continental Shelf and the Great Barrier Reef off the eastern
Queensland coast. The Australian profiles are based on the

4 A contribution to the geologic history of the Floridian plateau. Carnegie
Inst, of Washington, Pub. 133, pp. 99-185, 15 pis. 1910.

5 Geology and ground waters of Florida. U. S. Geol. Surv., Water-supply Paper
319. Pp. 445, 17 pis. 1913.

6 Carnegie Inst, of Washington, Year Book No. 14, pp. 232-238. 1916.

Fig. 5. Map of Florida show-
ing depth in feet below sea-level
to upper surface of the Ocala
limestone and the location of the
superposed upper Oligocene coral
reefs and reef corals. Oc = Ocala
limestone; Al. B. = fossil reef
corals or coral reefs in the Alum
Bluff formation; Ch = fossil reef
corals or coral reefs in the Chatta-
hoochee and Tampa formations.

vaughan: virgin and leeward islands

•—

c
a>

o>
CO *

~* c

o3 O

.S js

o .5

— -4-

■S.S

_ o
r e>
(3
>

_c3

'3b
s-

vaughan: virgin and leeward islands 65

British Admiralty charts. The latitude at the intersection of
each profile with the shore-line is followed by a statement of
the direction of the profile from the shore.

South of the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef.

1. From Burleigh, S. Lat. 28° 4' 30", North 73° East.

2. From North Point, S. Lat. 27° 1' 45", North 3° East.

3. From Shore east of Leading Hill, S. Lat. 25° 26' 15", South

82° East.

4. From base of Sandy Cape, S. Lat. 24° 53' 40", North 68° East.
Southern end of the Great Barrier Reef.

5. From Toowong Hill, S. Lat. 24° 22' 4", North 45° East, passing

between Lady Elliot and Lady Musgrove islands.
Across the Great Barrier Reef.

6. From Rodd Peninsula, S. Lat. 24° 0' 0", North 50° East.

8. From Georges Point, Hinchinbrook Island, S. Lat. 18° 25' 40",

North 72° 30' East.

9. From Malbon Thompson Range, S. Lat. 17° 7' 15", North

68° 30' East.

10. From Yarrabah Mission, S. Lat. 16° 54' 30", North 37° East.

11. From mouth of Daintree River, S. Lat. 16° 18' 25", North 78"

30' East.

12. From half way between Cape Flattery and Lookout Point,

S. Lat. 14° 56' 10", North 46° East.

13. From Cape Sidmouth, S. Lat. 13° 25' 45", North 85° East.

14. From Cape Grenville, S. Lat. 11° 58' 25", North 85° East.

These profiles show the continuity of the platform from the
area south of the Great Barrier, and that there is an outer, deeper
flat about 200 feet deep. As except near its north end the reef
stands back from the seaward edge of the Continental Shelf,
apparently the idea that the platform was formed by infilling
behind the reef may be permanently set aside. The similarity
of the conditions here presented to those off Nicaragua and in
the West Indies is obvious. The evidence in favor of a shore
line between about 25 and 30 fathoms below present sea-level
antecedent to Recent submergence is strong, if not conclusive,
and supports the deduction that the living barrier reef is grow-
ing on what was a land surface in Pleistocene time, an inter-
pretation essentially that proposed by E. C. Andrews in 1902.

The relations around the Pacific Islands off which barrier reefs
occur are those of continuous platforms surmounted or mar-
gined by discontinuous reefs. These relations indicate the super-

66 vaughan: virgin and leeward islands

position of reefs on antecedent platforms which have undergone
geologically Recent submergence. E. C. Andrews so interprets
the conditions of formation of the barrier reefs off the Fiji Is-
lands.7 It appears to me that the conditions governing the
development of the living reefs in the West Indies, Central
America, Brazil, Florida and Australia are clear. The reefs
have grown upon antecedent basements during Recent sub-
mergence. The history of these basements is complex, but dur-
ing Pleistocene time they stood higher with reference to sea-level
than now, their outer margins were remodeled by marine cutting
and marine planatidn, and they were then resubmerged. These
changes in height of sea-level accord with the demand of the
glacier control theory. It would be remarkable if the conditions
in the tropical western Pacific Ocean were exceptional, and
the present available facts indicate that they conform to the
principles governing reef development in the other areas. Here
it should be said regarding the charts for the Pacific, that as
they have been made primarily for navigation purposes the
depths of lagoons and lagoon channels are often given in a way
fairly satisfactory, but on only a few charts can the submarine
profiles outside the reefs be determined. The coral reef prob-
lem cannot be regarded as satisfactorily solved until the rela-
tions in the Pacific islands have been ascertained. In my opinion
but little further advance in understanding the problem can be
expected from purely biologic studies or from physiographic
investigations of the dry land surface alone. As apparently
the greatest present need is for more accurate information on
the detailed submarine relief in depths between 15 and 50 fathoms,
especially on the seaward margins of the platforms, both outside
the reefs and off the breaks in the reef lines, the efforts of those
interested in such investigations should be concentrated on
getting additional hydrographic surveys in coral reef areas.

1 Am. Jour. Sci. 41: 135-141. 1916.

SCHALLER AND BAILEY: INTUMESCENT KAOLINITE 67

MINERALOGY. — Intumescent kaolinite. W. T. Schaller and
R. K. Bailey, Geological Survey.1

A sample of kaolinite from eastern Oklahoma was sent in to
the Geological Survey for identification by Dr. C. N. Gould of
Oklahoma City. According to Dr. Gould, the mineral was re-
ceived by him from Mr. Tom Wall of Poteau, Oklahoma, who
stated that it forms vertical white streaks, one of which appears
to be about 20 inches thick, on Back Bone Mountain, about two
miles north of Williams, Le Flore County, Oklahoma. The de-
posit lies near the boundary of sections 2 and 3, T. 8 N., R. 26
E., Le Flore County. The mineral formed small compact lumps
with a glistening or fine satiny appearance. Examined micro-
scopically, the material was seen to be pure, homogeneous, and
well crystallized in minute hexagonal plates and crystals which
had all the appearance of kaolinite. The crystals average about
the following dimensions: c axis = 0.02 mm., b axis = 0.04 mm.,
a axis = 0.06 mm. In testing the fusibility of the mineral it
was found to intumesce strongly and as no reference to any in-
tumescent kaolinite was found in the literature the material was
examined further for definite identification. It was found to
differ from kaolinite only in its intumescence.

The crystals are too small and the birefringence too low for re-
liable results as to extinction angles and interference figures.
The refractive indices were readily determined and are as
follows :

a(approx. parallel to c axis) = 1.561
/3(approx. parallel to a axis) = 1.563
7 (parallel to b axis) = 1.567

Birefringence (7 — a) = 0 . 006

These values are close to those given for kaolinite. Kaiser2
gives the refractive index as between 1.551 and 1.559, with a
birefringence of 0.005-0.006. His values for the refractive in-
dices are slightly lower than those here given. A possible ex-

1 Published with the permission of the Director of the U. S. Geological Survey.

2 Kaiser, Erich, tJber Verwitterungserscheinungen an Bausteinen I. Neues
Jahrb. f. Min. Geol. Pal., 1907: Band 2, 42-64.

68 SCHALLER AND BAILEY: INTUMESCENT KAOLINITE

planation is that the liquids used were not checked for their
indices. It is very essential to redetermine frequently the index
of these liquids. It was found, for instance, that our liquids
had increased 0.003 from the value determined a year ago.
Dick3 gives the mean index as 1.563 with a birefringence of 0.006.
Further Dick gives (7 — (3) = 0.004 (on basal plane) and (/3 — a)
= 0.002, values identical with those found on the material from
Oklahoma. The value 1.54, given in some books as the mean
index of kaolinite is doubtless too low.

The mineral after intumescence, examined microscopically,
is opaque and nearly all of it has lost its perfect crystal outline.
Most of the pieces have a form which suggests that during the
heating (and intumescence?) the escape of the water took place
in such a way as to practically disrupt the crystal structure of the
mineral.

The chemical analysis, by R. K. Bailey, gave the results shown
under (1), and for comparison under (2) is given an analysis of
kaolinite from Saitzewo near Nikitowka (Donez-Becken) by
Samojloff,4 and under (3) the theoretical composition.

(1) (2) (3)

Si02 46.55 46.51 46.50

A1S03 38.90 39.45 39.56

H2Oa 14.04b 14.10 13.94

99.49 100.06 100.00

a Loss on ignition.
b Average of the two determinations, 13.97 and 14.10.

A comparison of the figures given above shows the chemical
identity of the mineral from Oklahoma with kaolinite. The water
in it apparently behaves normally, for it was found that the total
loss on heating the mineral to 330° was insignificant, the total
loss of water being 0.09 per cent at 145°, 0.11 per cent at 220°,
and 0.12 per cent at 330?

3 Dick, A. B., Supplementary notes on the mineral Kaolinite. Mineral Mag.
16:124-127. 1908.

4 Samojloff, J., Uber das Wasser des Kaolinits. Bull. Acad. St. Petersburg,
3:1137-1152. 1909.

standley: tidestromia, a new generic name 69

BOTANY. — Tidestromia, a new generic name. Paul C. Stand-
ley, U. S. National Museum.1

The three species of Amaranthaceae, tribe Gomphreneae,
generally known under the name Cladothrix form a very natural
and well defined genus. All are natives of the more arid regions
of the western and southwestern United States and northern
Mexico, two of them being rather local in their distribution,
the third, however, ranging from Kansas and Utah to Texas
and to Zacatecas and Sinaloa in Mexico. All three are much
alike in general appearance, but they differ constantly among
themselves in details of floral structure. The genus is distin-
guished from all the other genera of the Gomphreneae by hav-
ing the flowers merely glomerate rather than regularly capitate
or spicate. Moreover, the leaves subtending the inflorescence
become indurate and more or less connate in age, so as to form
a sort of involucre.

The oldest and best known species was published by Nuttall
in 1820 as Achyranthes lanuginosa. In 1849 it was transferred
by Moquin to Alternanthera. Watson in 1880 established the
genus Cladothrix, including not only this species but another de-
scribed by Torrey in 1859 as Alternanthera suffruticosa. The
first appearance of the generic name Cladothrix in literature is
in 1849, when Moquin cites a manuscript or herbarium name of
Nuttall, Cladothrix lanuginosa, as a synonym of his own Alter-
nanthera lanuginosa. The mere citation of the generic name in
synonymy would not, of course, give it any standing under either
of the codes of nomenclature now followed by most botanists
and Cladothrix when used in this connection must, consequently,
date from 1880. Unfortunately for the maintainance of this
name in the Amaranthaceae a genus Cladothrix of the Schizomy-
cetes had been proposed by Cohn in 1875. Cohn's genus is
properly published and is generally accepted by mycologists.
It is evident, therefore, that the name Cladothrix can not be main-
tained in the Amaranthaceae and that another must be sub-
st tuted for it. Since none is available, the writer proposes the

1 Published by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

70 standley: tidestromia, a new generic name

name Tidestromia, given in honor of Mr. Ivar Tidestrom, an
indefatigable student of the plants of the United States, who has
given many years to systematic herbarium and field studies of
the plants of many parts of our country, especially of Maryland
and Virginia, California, Arizona, and Utah.

TIDESTROMIA Standley, nom. nov.
Cladothrix Nutt. ; Moq. in DC. Prodr. 132 : 359. 1849, as synonym ;
S. Wats. Bot. Calif. 2: 43. 1880.

Tidestromia lanuginosa (Nutt.) Standley.
Achyranthes lanuginosa Nutt. Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. n. ser. 5:

166. 1820.
Alternanthera lanuginosa Moq. in DC. Prodr. 132: 359. 1849.
Cladothrix lanuginosa Nutt.; Moq. in DC. Prodr. 132: 360. 1849,
as synonym; S. Wats. Bot. Calif. 2: 43. 1880.

Western Kansas to southeastern Utah, south to Arizona, western
Texas, and Zacatecas and Sinaloa, Mexico.

Tidestromia oblongifolia (S. Wats.) Standley.

Cladothrix oblongifolia S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 17: 376. 1882.
Cladothrix cryptantha S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 26: 125. 1891.

Southeastern California to western Nevada and Arizona.

Tidestromia suffruticosa (Torr.) Standley.

Alternanthera suffruticosa Torr. U. S. & Mex. Bound. Bot. 181.

1859.
Cladothrix suffruticosa S. Wats. Bot. Calif. 2: 43. 1880.

Western Texas and southern New Mexico to Coahuila, Mexico.

ABSTRACTS

TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM.— Results of observations made at the
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Magnetic Observatory at
Cheltenham, Md., 1918 and 1914- Daniel L. Hazard. U. S.
Coast and Geodetic Survey Serial Publication No. 19. 1915.
This publication is in continuation of the series giving the results
obtained at the Cheltenham magnetic observatory since its estab-
lishment in 1901 . It contains a summary of the monthly determinations
of the scale-values of the horizontal intensity and vertical intensity
variometers; the base-line values derived from the weekly absolute
observations; diurnal variation tables for the magnetic elements D,
H, and I, the total force F, and the rectangular components X, Y, Z;
hourly values of D, H, and Z, together with daily and hourly means
for each month; a tabulation of the earthquakes recorded on the seis-
mograph; a list of the magnetic disturbances of considerable magni-
tude and reproductions of the magnetograms showing the more marked
disturbances. Attention is called to the fact that beginning with 1913
intensity results obtained by this Bureau have been reduced to the in-
ternational standard of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of
the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Published results for earlier
years must be diminished by one part in a thousand to reduce them
to that standard.

D. L. H.

GEOLOGY. — A peculiar oolite from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Edgar

T. Wherry. Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum, 49:

153-156, pi. 40-41. Aug. 13, 1915.

The material described occurs in a quarry in magnesian limestone.

In one layer the ooids are divided parallel to the bedding into a light

72 abstracts: geology

and dark portion, the latter being the lower. Analyses of the rock
of this bed and of 06 ids which have weathered out are given. By
calculating the mineral compositions from these, and also the composi-
tion of the matrix, assuming that the ooids make up half the rock, it
is shown that the ooids are notably higher in dolomite, quartz, kaolin,
limonite, and carbon, and lower in calcite and sideritethan the matrix.
This oolite has probably formed by solution of original aragonite, caus-
ing the insoluble carbon and nuclei to fall to the bottom of the cavities;
secondary dolomite subsequently filled the latter; and still later the
carbon precipitated some pyrite, which has altered to limonite. Fig-
ures are given to bring out the various stages of the. process.

E. T. W.

GEOLOGY. — An ancient volcanic eruption in the upper Yukon Basin,
Alaska. Stephen R. Capps. U. S. Geological Survey Prof.
Paper 95-D, pp. 59-64, with text figure and illustrations. 1915.

In the upper Yukon Basin there is a persistent and widespread layer
of volcanic ash, commonly overlain by a few inches or a foot or two of
soil, silt, or vegetable humus, but in places appearing in great drifts
or dunes devoid of vegetation. In general the ash follows closely the
present topography, and, although locally overlain by recent stream
deposits, is much younger than the glacial materials deposited during
the last great period of glaciation. In thickness, the ash ranges from
a thin film, at the borders of the area within which it is known, to
several hundred feet near the point from which it is thought to have
been ejected. It covers a known area of about 140,000 square miles
and the estimated volume of the ash is about 10 cubic miles. Micro-
scopic study shows the ash to be an andesitic pumice.

On White River a stream bluff shows the ash to be covered by 7 feet
of peat. An estimate of the rate of accumulation of the peat there,
gives a figure of approximately 200 years to the foot of peat. On that
basis the volcanic eruption that caused the ejection of the ash took
place some 1400 years ago. S. R. C.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED

SOCIETIES

THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 761st meeting was held on October 30, 1915, at the Cosmos
Club. President Eichelberger in the chair, 33 persons present.

Regular Program

Mr. F. E. Fowle presented a paper on The transparency of air and
water vapor. Radiant energy (e0\) coming through the air from a
heavenly body suffers five losses: 1, non-selective, as to wave-length,
in the permanent gases of the air; 2, non-selective associated with water
vapor; 3, selective in the permanent gases; 4, selective in the water
vapor; 5, losses due to the dust. The losses (1) have been shown to be
due to the scattering by the molecules of the air and may be com-
puted accurately from the number of molecules in the path; it is ex-
pressed by coefficients, aa\ (Astrophysical Journal, 40:435. 1914;
38:392. 1913). The losses (2) are greater than would be expected
from the number of molecules of water vapor and are treated in the
same paper; they are expressed by coefficients, aw\; coefficients for (1)
and (2) vary slowly with the wave-length. The losses (3) and (4)
are treated in detail in the present communication. The first
are practically only in bands of limited wave-lengths and are expressed
empirically as a function of the length of path, m, through the
air. The losses (4) are similar to (3) but are expressed as a function
of the amount of water vapor, w, in the path. The losses (5) due
to dust vary at sea level from day to day but are nearly invariable
with the wave-length in the region considered here. At Washington
they may vary on good days from 3 to 11 per cent or more; above an
altitude of about 1000 meters they are generally negligible. The

resultant energy may be expressed by e = e0\ \aa\<£w) ■ Tables were
given showing the losses from the incomng solar energy in calories and
per cents due to scattering and absorption for sea level and other alti-
tudes, various amounts of water vapor and zenith distances of the sun;
also percentage absorptions due to water vapor at various wave-
lengths and formulae for computing the various losses for particular
cases.

Discussion: Mr. C. A. Briggs cited a practical application of absorb-
ing power of water vapor by the use of a steam curtain before doors of
steel-heating furnaces. Messrs. Swann, Wells, and Bauer asked
regarding presence of dust and possible effects at higher altitudes. Mr.

proceedings: philosophical society

Humphreys referred to the assumption of three regions of dustiness
which offers the easier explanation of sky polarization measurements,
viz: (1) lower atmosphere hardly reaching the altitude of Mt. Wilson
and a region of large dust particles ; (2) region of smaller dust particles
extending from (1) to an altitude of about two miles, about the height
of the ordinary convection clouds, and (3) thence to highest limit of
convectional atmosphere and under surface of isothermal region and
beyond, ordinarily very free of dust; region (1) would be most effective
in scattering. Mr. Fowle noted that the losses at altitudes above 1000
meters were practically nothing, probably \ per cent. Messrs. C. A.
Briggs and Priest referred to certain anomalous halo phenomena
which Mr. Humphreys explained as well-known cases discussed in
works on meteorological optics.

Mr. I. G. Priest then spoke on A simple spectral colorimeter of the
monochromatic type. The possibility of so-called "monochromatic
color analysis" is due to the experimentally observed fact that any color
sensation (except purples) can be "matched" by the sensation caused
by a suitable mixture of some one monochromatic light with white
light. From a philosophical point of view, this is the most natural and

the simplest method of denning a color, but
I A C J the experimental difficulties and uncertain-

ties of putting it into practice have been
considerable. The chief trouble has been
due to the necessity of making a photo-
metric comparison between colored light and
white light in each color determination.
The purpose of the present device is to
eliminate this difficulty. The novel and
L B D K essential feature of the instrument is the

system of slits shown in the diagram.
A B C D is a bilateral slit the width of which can be adjusted and
measured by a micrometer screw. E F G H is a slit cut in the jaws of
slit A B C D and perpendicular to it. (Actually, the jaws of slit A B
C D consist of four wings, adjustable on two plates so that the width
of the slit E F G H can be adjusted by sliding.) I J K L is a bilateral
slit similar to A B C D with its jaws sliding on the jaws of the latter and
placed so that their center-lines are coincident. This slit system is
mounted in the focal plane of the collimator of a spectroscope so that
the slit E F G H has the ordinary position of a spectroscope slit ; and
provision is made for moving the whole system in its own plane, in
the direction A B in such a way that the displacement can be
measured. The whole slit system is illuminated by a uniform white
diffusing surface. A slit parallel to the direction E F is placed in the
focal plane of the observing telescope of the spectroscope; and obser-
vations are made with the eye at this slit. "Dominant hue" is varied
by displacement of the slit system in the direction A B and is deter-
mined by the position of the slit E F G H. "Purity" is varied by
varying the relative widths of the slits A B C D and I J K L and is

MN
0

-F

proceedings: philosophical society 75

computed from these slit widths, the ocular slit width, the width of
EFGH, the "visibility" function, and the dispersion. Comparison
with a sample is made by means of a Lummer-Brodhun cube before
the objective of the observing telescope. Relative "brightness" is de-
termined by relative slit widths. Scale values of slit width A C can
be changed by means of neutral absorbing films covering A C N M and
B P 0 D and not covering EFGH. This instrument was planned
in April, 1915. The new slit system has been constructed, mounted,
and tried qualitatively with improvised accessory apparatus. A com-
plete instrument adapted to precise work is now to be designed and
constructed, after which quantitative tests of its functioning will be
undertaken.

INFORMAL COMMUNICATIONS

Mr. I. G. Priest exhibited a newly-designed slide-rule for the rapid
computation of the ratio tan #/tan X where the angles have values be-
tween 6° and 84°; this slide-rule is particularly useful for laboratory
reductions of observations with Marten's photometer and the Koenig-
Marten spectrophotometer. Mr. Priest also exhibited a graphical
device designed to evaluate equations of the form y = xn for values of
x and y between 0.01 and unity and for values of n between about
0.1 and 10; this device is especially useful and permits rapid compu-
tation of transmission for a given thickness when the transmission for
some experimental thickness of material is known.

Mr. J. A. Fleming exhibited a combined magnetometer and earth
inductor with a portable galvanometer of the Kelvin type for field
use designed and constructed by the Department of Terrestrial Mag-
netism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington and spoke of some
severe field trials showing the availability of this instrument for such
use. The high degree of accuracy attainable was indicated by a resume
of recent observatory intercomparisons of magnetic standards using an
instrument of this type at Eskdalemuir in Scotland, Kew, Greenwich,
and Stonyhurst in England, Cheltenham, Maryland, and Honolulu,
Hawaii; these results indicate a readily attainable absolute accuracy
of 0'.2 to 0'.3 in declination and inclination and about one five-thou-
sandth part or less in horizontal intensity. The work reported on is
the first practical successful application to field use of the earth inductor.
Mr. Bauer, discussing this communication, referred to the great improve-
ment effected in magnetic instruments since his comparisons of obser-
vatory standards in 1899, and to the work of Schering at Darmstadt
about 1899 with an earth inductor and galvanometer of moving-coil
type which was used with great inconvenience at field stations but could
not be considered practically applicable for field work.

Mr. F. E. Wright stated that in his work with microscopes he
had found that the better position of the plane of vibration of the
polarizer is parallel to the vertical cross-hair of the eyepiece when ob-
servations are made in the early morning or late afternoon and parallel
to the horizontal cross-wire at noon. (Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci. 5:
641. 1915.)

76 proceedings: philosophical society

Mr. H. L. Curtis reported on a method to measure the thickness
of a moisture film which forms on a metallic plate by determining the
increase of capacity caused by the deposit between two metallic plates.

Mr. W. J. Humphreys spoke on the cause and results of a terrific
explosion outside of a 250-gallon tank of "casing-head" gasoline, an
especially volatile gasoline, in south Oklahoma, due to volatilization
of the gasoline because of exposure to the heat of the sun and careless-
ness in opening the screwcap over the dome of the tank instead of
applying some cooling agent, as water, to reduce the vapor tension
inside the tank. Some curious effects on nearby structures, due to
the explosion, were detailed.

The 762nd meeting was- held November 13, 1915, at the Cosmos
Club; President Eichelberger in the chair; 52 persons present.

Regular Program

Mr. D. L. Hazard presented a communication on The magnetic work
of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. The growth of the work to meet
the needs of the navigator and surveyor was traced from the reorgani-
zation of the Coast Survey in 1843 to the present day, and showed
the progress made in the systematic magnetic survey of the United
States, begun in 1899. Since that date an average of about 250 new sta-
tions and 75 repeat stations have been occupied annually. The first
stage of the survey, the establishment of a network of stations 25 or
30 miles apart, is nearly completed as far as the accessible portion of
the country is concerned, and the investigation of areas of local dis-
turbance is in progress. The work on land has been supplemented
by observations at sea on the vessels of the survey. The observations
at repeat stations have supplied the data needed to determine the
change of the earth's magnetism with time. Magnetic observatories
have been in continuous operation at Cheltenham, Md., since 1901;
Honolulu and Sitka since 1902; Vieques, P. R., since 1903; Baldwin,
Kansas, from 1900 to 1909, and Tucson, Arizona, since 1909. The
results are published as promptly as possible in suitable form to meet
the varying demands. The success of the work is due largely to Charles
A. Schott, for 50 years chief of the Computing Division, and to Dr.
L. A. Bauer, inspector of magnetic work from 1899 to 1906.

Discussion: Mr. W. Bowie stated that this work was an excellent
example of applied science or engineering and praised the comprehen-
sive and systematic scheme followed which supplies both theoretical
and practical needs; the prompt publication of results is an admirable
feature.

Mr. R. L. Sanford then gave an illustrated paper on Uniformity
of magnetic test bars. This paper dealt with the examination of test
bars for magnetic uniformity, the nature of non-uniformities that
commonly exist in such bars and their effect on the accuracy of magnetic
measurements. All precision methods for magnetic measurement on
straight bars assume uniformity along the length of the specimen. If
this assumption is not met, errors are introduced which are impossible

proceedings: philosophical society 77

to calculate and may be of considerable magnitude. It is therefore
important that bars, which are to be used as standards for comparison
of different methods, or whose properties it is desired to measure with
high accuracy, should be examined for uniformity. A method was
described which clearly indicates the position, nature, and magnitude
of non-uniformities. which exist in a test bar. Curves were given show-
ing the effects of non-uniformities on the accuracy of magnetic measure-
ments. Such results naturally lead to a consideration of the possibility
of examining ferrous material for soundness and the detection of flaws.
Curves were given showing some of the possibilities in this direction.

Mr. J. H. Dellinger then spoke on Rationalization of the magnetic
units. There are two distinct sets of magnetic units in common use.
The first set consists of the eg s units, which are consistent with the
ordinary electromagnetic equations. The second set involves the use
of the ampere-turn, which introduces certain changes into the equations.
In the first set of units, the current use of the name "gauss" both for the
unit of induction and the unit of magnetizing force is questionable. The
two quantities are sometimes looked upon as physically the same.
There are preponderating reasons, however, for considering them to
have an essentially different nature, induction corresponding to the
magnetized state of the medium, and magnetizing force being the
agency tending to produce that state. The double use of "gauss" is an
inconvenience in practice. There have been various proposals from
time to time to rationalize the units, i.e., to use units such as to redis-
tribute the factor 4ir in the equations. The first proposal, that of
Heaviside, had much to recommend it but required a radical change of
all the electric and magnetic units. Subsequent proposals have in-
volved less change of existing units, but have all had the disadvantage
of incorporating 4x in the value of permeability of vacuum. It is
pointed out herein that the use of the ampere-turn leads to a rationalized
set of units, without either of these disadvantages.

Discussion: Messrs. Swann, Silsbee, and Rosa discussed this com-
munication. Such proposals for rationalization are of distinct value
to emphasize the sometimes illogical designation of units; the advisa-
bility, however, of radical changes from the existing systems is to be
questioned since it is difficult to revolutionize practice. Although the
two systems of magnetic units sometimes cause ambiguity, simplifi-
cation as proposed would lead probably to greater confusion, particu-
larly so because of radically different usage by investigators. The in-
corporation of the factor 4tt is quite natural since it has a physical
significance in distribution of force over a spherical surface. Mr. Rosa
suggested that an International Committee on units and nomenclature
is desirable.

INFORMAL COMMUNICATIONS

Mr. F. E. Wright exhibited a graphical device for solving equations

of the general form A = B • C. (Published in full in Journ. Wash. Acad.

Sci. 6: 1-3. 1916.)

J. A. Fleming, Secretary.

78 proceedings: biological society

THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 545th meeting of the Biological Society of Washington was
held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club, Saturday evening,
November 20, 1915; called to order by President Bartsch with 50
persons present.

On recommendation of the Council Leo D. Miner, E. 0. Wooton,
A. M. Groves, all of Washington, D. C, were elected to active mem-
bership.

Under the heading Brief Notes: Mr. Lewis Radcliffe called atten-
tion to recent efforts of the Bureau of Fisheries in rearing shad in
ponds. Young fish thus raised attained twice the size of those of the
same age in their natural environment. Specimens of both kinds were
exhibited.

The regular program consisted of three papers, as follows: Frederick
Knab, The dispersal of some species of flies; Alex. Wetmore, Notes
on the habits of the duck hawk; Elmer D. Merrill, Geographic relation-
ships of the Philippine flora.

The 546th meeting of the Society was held in the Assembly Hall
of the Cosmos Club, Saturday evening, December 4, 1915; called to
order by President Bartsch, with 55 persons present.

On recommendation of the Council Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, Washington,
D. C, and Arthur deC. Sowerby, Tien Tsin, were elected to active
membership.

On recommendation of the Council the following resolutions were
read and adopted:

Whereas: Dr. George M. Sternberg, former Surgeon General of the
U. S. Army, a distinguished worker in the biological sciences as applied
to medicine, long time an active member of the Biological Society of
Washington and its President during the years 1895 and 1896, has
passed from this life, therefore be it

Resolved: That the Biological Society of Washington keenly regrets
his death and offers its warmest sympathy to Mrs. Sternberg, and
will always be grateful to his memory for the important part which
he took in the affairs and discussions of the Society and for the dis-
tinction which his eminent name adds to its list of past Presidents.

Signed, L. 0. Howard,

Frederick V. Coville,
Paul Bartsch.

Under the heading Brief Notes, Exhibition of Specimens: Dr. O. P.
Hay exhibited the skull of a walrus from the southern Atlantic coast
of the United States and called attention to other specimens of walrus
from localities now far south of its present range. It was Dr. Hay's
opinion that the walrus had followed the retreating ice sheet northward.
Dr. L. O. Howard called attention to the cluster-fly (Pollenia rudis),
an insect resembling the house fly but collecting in houses in autumn
and leaving a yellow stain when crushed. Its life history was unknown
until recently, a foreign entomologist having now shown that the

PKOCEEDINGS: BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY 79

larvae are parasitic in earthworms in France. Dr. Howard is having
large numbers of earthworms examined for such larvae, but so far
without success. He hoped that anyone finding any grubs parasitic
in earthworms would communicate with him.

The first paper of the regular program was by Dr. Charles H. T.
Townsend, "Identification of the stages in the asexual cycle of Bartonella
bacilliformis, the pathogenic organism of verruga, and their bearing on
the etiology and unity of the disease." (Published in full in this Journal,
5: 662-667, December 19, 1915.)

The second and last paper of the program was by A. A. Doolittle,
"The Mississippi River dam at Keokuk, Iowa: Its effect upon biological
conditions, especially those of the plankton. The speaker stated that the
Bureau of Fisheries has been examining the new conditions caused by
the damming of the Mississippi River at Keokuk, Iowa, to develop
electric power. The water is raised to 40 feet above 0 of the river
gauge at Keokuk, that is, to the 525-foot level above sea. The water
power company must maintain the lake between the 519 and 525-foot
levels. The effect of the dam runs out at Oquawka, 111., 54 miles from
Keokuk. In the lower third of its course Lake Cooper, as the im-
pounded waters are called, fills the gorge of old Des Moines Rapids.
In the middle third of its course is the greatest lateral expanse, 4 miles
or more, covering much island and farm lands. Forests are removed
from only a little of the submerged area. Water persicaria seems to
be the only water weed establishing itself in great quantity. In the
upper third the threatened banks are being enclosed by levees and will
be drained by pumping stations. Tributaries are filled for some dis-
tance from the river-lake, the larger ones being navigable for upwards
of 3 miles in small launches.

There are present the usual characteristics of a river lake : increased
regularity of water stages; decreased current; decreased turbidity;
establishment of rooted aquatic plants. The most immediate effects
of economic importance, biologically, are the destruction of the famous
mussels of the rapids, and the interference with the usual passage of
fish up and down the river, especially the periodic migrations.

The dominant zooplankton were several species of Entomostraca
(Moina, Diaphanosoma, and Cyclops viridis); the phytoplankton in-
cluded Conferva spp., Anabaena spp., and Clathrocyctis. Estimates
of the abundance of plankton were based upon the cubic yard. Above
the influence of the dam about 50 entomostracan individuals con-
stituted the plankton, with traces of algae. At Keokuk this was in-
creased in July to 1500 individuals, in August to 270,000 (volume
estimated at 26 cc), and in September to 1500. Green algae measured
0.14 cc. in July, 29 cc. in August, and 5 cc. in September. Blue-green
algae measured traces in July, 2.6 cc. in August, and the same in early
September. Below the dam at the maximum for the season the run-
off contained 3,000 Entomostraca per cu. yd., 1.17 cc. green algae,
and traces of blue-greens, a marked enrichment over that of normal
river conditions. In weedy waters, additional heavy-bodied Euto-

80 proceedings: biological society

mostraca occurred (Sida, Scapholeberis, Simocephalus) , varying in num-
bers with the density of growth to a maximum of 178,000 individuals,
with estimated volume of 23 cc. per cubic yard.

Streams and sloughs filled with back flow from the lake "ripened"
earlier than the main lake body, and contained upwards of 50,000
Entomostraca per cu. yd. in July, with less, usually, in August. Algae
were less than in the lake. Where tributaries were filled by their own
waters, plankton was of different character. When in flowing streams
often protozoans (Euglena) or rotifers (Asplanchna) were dominant,
with little algae. When tributaries were filled with seepage water
the plankton again was of special character, holozooplanktonic, with
one or another Entomostracan species dominant, as Cyclops leuckarti
and Diaptomus spp. Some of these characteristic forms could be
traced into the main stream, but they did not survive. It is evident that
there is a vast increase of fundamental food for some species of fishes.

The paper was illustrated with map, diagram and slides showing
the conditions existing in the summer of 1914. It was discussed by
the Chair, and by Messrs. Coker, Marsh, and William Palmer.

The 547th and 36th annual meeting of the Society was held in the
Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club, Saturday, December 18, 1915;
called to order by President Bartsch, with 27 persons present.

On recommendation of the Council the following persons were
elected to active membership: H. R. Rosen, U. S. National Museum;
Miss Virginia Boone, U. S. National Museum; Ira N. Gabrielson,
Biological Survey; James Silver.

Annual reports of officers and committees were submitted.

Election of officers for the year 1916 resulted as follows: President,
W. P. Hay; Vice-Presidents, J. N. Rose, A. D. Hopkins, Hugh M. Smith,
and Vernon Bailey; Recording Secretary, M. W. Lyon, Jr.; Corre-
sponding Secretary, W. L. McAtee; Treasurer, W.W.Cooke; Coun-
cillors, N. Hollister, J. W. Gidley, William Palmer, Alex. Wet-
more, E. A. Mearns.

President Hay was elected as the Society's representative upon the
board of the Washington Academy of Sciences.

The president announced the following committees: Committee on
Publications: N. Hollister, W. L. McAtee, W. W. Cooke; Com-
mittee on Communications: Wm. Palmer, Alex. Wetmore, Lewis
Radcliffe, J. W. Gidley, William R. Maxon, H. S. Barber.

M. W. Lyon, Jr., Recording Secretary.

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VI FEBRUARY 19, 1916 No. 4

ELECTRICITY. — Quantitative experiments with the auction.
L. W. Austin, U. S. Naval Radiotelegraphic Laboratory.

The extent to which vacuum tube detectors of electrical waves
have come into general use both for damped and undamped
oscillations has made it desirable to determine the law of response
of these instruments, especially as they are often used with
shunted telephones for making estimates of the strength of
received signals in radiotelegraphy.

The form of vacuum detector chosen for investigation was the
DeForest three-electrode audion.1

As is well known the audion can be used either as. an ordinary
detector (old audion connection) with the secondary receiving
circuit connected to the hot filament and the intermediate
electrode (grid), or by connecting to the grid and cold plate
(ultraudion connection) local oscillations may be set up in the
receiver so that signals may be received by the beat method.

For determining the laws relating to the strength of the received
waves and the response of the detectors, the circuit containing
the audion was excited by a wave meter in which oscillations of
varying strength were produced either by an oscillating audion
for undamped or by a buzzer for damped excitation.

As it is impossible to use a galvanometer directly in the tele-
phone circuit of the audion on account of the continuous current
flowing through it from the dry battery, the following arrange-

1 For description, see Bulletin Bureau of Standards, 6: 540. B,eprint 140,
1911.

AUSTIN! EXPERIMENTS WITH THE AUDION

ment of apparatus was employed: The primary of an iron core
telephone transformer was placed in series with the telephones
and to its secondary a silicon detector in series with a sensitive
galvanometer was connected. The changes in current strength
which affect the telephones produce similar effects in the tele-
phone transformer and give rise to alternating currents in the
secondary which in turn are rectified in the silicon detector
and are thus made to affect the galvanometer. The galva-
nometer deflections have been shown to be proportional to the
square of the alternating currents in the detector2 and there-
fore to the square of the telephone pulses in the main circuit.
When the audion was made to produce local oscillations these
were found to affect the detector slightly, but their influence
was entirely eliminated by placing a condenser of 0.1>f across the
detector.

The strength of the high frequency oscillations which were
sent out from the sending wave meter was measured by means
of a thermoelement connected in the wave meter circuit.

TABLE I

Old Audion

DAMPED EXCITATION

14.1

15.0

13.9

14.2

107

14.2

121

14.5

154

107

14.9

•173

145

14.4

The first experiment was intended to determine the law of
response of the circuit in old audion connection, the sending
wave meter being excited by a buzzer. The results are shown
in Table 1. Here I) represents the readings of the thermo-

2 Bulletin I'ureau of Standards, 6: 530. 1911.

AUSTIN: EXPERIMENTS WITH THE AUDION

element galvanometer in the sending circuit and I2 the readings
of the detector galvanometer in the telephone transformer.
Ii is proportional to the high frequency sending currents and
therefore to the high frequency currents received; I2 is propor-
tional to the value of the current pulses in the receiving telephone
circuit. Column three, Table I shows that the telephone pulses
(response) are proportional to the square of the high frequency
currents received. An experiment similar to the above except
that the receiving circuit had the ultraudion connection, but so
adjusted that no local oscillations were produced, shows that the
same law holds as in the case of the old audion connection.

TABLE II
Oscillating Ultraudion

DAMPED EXCITATION

h
h

1.11

1.02

1.06

1.05

1.03

TABLE III
Oscillating Ultraudion

UNDAMPED EXCITATION

0.71

0.87

0.79

0.80

0.75

Tables II and III show the results with the audion in ultra-
audion connection and oscillating. In Table II the sending
waves are damped as in Table I, while in Table III the sending
waves are undamped, the sending wave meter being excited by

84 AUSTIN: EXPERIMENTS WITH THE AUDION

an oscillating auction. Here the note in the receiving telephone
is produced by the beats between the local and incoming oscil-
lations, being rough from the damped oscillations but clear and
musical from the undamped.

Column three in each of the last two tables shows that the
response in the case of the local oscillations is proportional to
the received high frequency current and not to its square as was
the case in the non-oscillating audion. The value of the ratios
in the third columns shows that the response of the receiving-
telephone is greater for undamped oscillations than for damped,
other things being equal, in the ratio 1.4 to 1. But assuming
equal decrements in the sending and receiving circuits, which is
probably at least approximately correct, this represents equal

sensitiveness, since in the case of undamped waves I = — and

E 5i

in the case of damped I = . where - represents the

V- ■ 6i """ s'

ratio of decrements in the two circuits.

In addition to the experiments with the detector and gal-
vanometer, determinations have also been made of the relative
sensibility of the old audion and the oscillating ultraudion con-
nections. For this the shunted telephone method was used with
spark excitation, either distant signals or from the buzzer. It
was found that for unit audibility with the old audion connection
the oscillating ultraudion gave from three hundred to one thou-
sand audibility, but as the law of response is different in the
two cases the ratio will of course decrease as the signals grow
stronger. With the non-oscillating ultraudion the signals are
from twenty to forty times as strong as with the old audion.
This ratio becomes greater if the ultraudion is brought nearer
to the oscillating condition.

The experiments show that the atmospheric disturbances are
but little louder in general with the oscillating audion than with
the old audion; the sounds are more continuous in the former,
however.

knowlton: conifers from pleistocene asphalt 85

PALEOBOTANY. — Notes on two conifers from the Pleistocene
Rancho La Brea asphalt deposits, near Los Angeles, Cali-
fornia.1 F. H. Knowlton, Geological Survey.

The famous asphalt deposits or so-called "tar-pits" of the
Rancho La Brea, near Los Angeles, California, are now well
and widely known from the vast numbers of animal remains
that have been exhumed from them. From the many hundreds
of skulls and tens of thousands of skeletal bones that have been
brought to light, it is said that more than fifty species of birds,
and nearly or quite as many kinds of mammals, have been
identified. Considering the marvelous degree of perfection
with which these animal remains have been preserved, it has
been — at least to the writer — a matter of speculation as to why
it was not equally fitted to preserve such hard parts of plants
as seeds, fruits, cones, wood, etc., as must have chanced to fall
into it. Be this as it may, plant remains, at least so far as re-
corded observations go, appear to be exceedingly rare, and it is,
therefore, with especial pleasure that I am able to record the
discovery of two perfectly preserved coniferous cones that were
recently sent me for identification.

These cones were received, through Mr. H. W. Henshaw of
the Biological Survey, from Mr. Frank S. Daggett, Director of
the Museum of History, Science, and Arts of Los Angeles, in
which institution they are now deposited. They are said to
be the only cones thus far discovered in these deposits, which,
if true, seems a very remarkable condition. They are, of course,
thoroughly impregnated with the asphaltum and are black in
color. They have suffered no distortion and are in practically
perfect condition. The species represented are: Pinus attenuata
Lemmon, Cupressus macrocarpa Hartweg.

The knobcone pine, according to Sudworth's "Forest Trees
of the Pacific Slope," ranges throughout the Coast Mountains
of southern Oregon and of California, and also in the southern
Cascades of Oregon and northern California Sierras, while the
Monterey cypress is confined to a few miles of the central Cali-

1 Published with the permission of the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey.

86 cook: quichua names of sweet potatoes

fornia coast on the peninsula between Monterey Bay and Car-
mel Bay. This shows that the knobcone pine is, at least in part,
living in the same general area it occupied in Pleistocene time,
whereas the cypress has retreated for some hundreds of miles
up the coast, where apparently it has made its last stand.

It is perhaps presumptuous with the data available to venture to
draw any conclusion as to the climatic and other conditions that
obtained when these cones were entombed in the Rancho La Brea
deposits, but such as it is it may be presented. According
to Sudworth the knobcone pine now occurs usually on dry,
exposed, steep southern slopes, but often in deep gulches and
protected ravines, growing on poor, dry, rocky, or gravelly and
sandy soils. It endures seasonal changes of temperature from
zero to 95° F., with occasional heavy snows and an annual rain
fall up to 45 inches.

The Monterey cypress in its natural state appears to re-
quire quite different conditions. It grows on rocky sea cliffs
in clay loam soil, under a mild equable temperature, never at
freezing point and rarely above 90° F. The annual rain fall
is about 17 inches, but the moist sea winds keep the air humid
for the greater part of the year. As it is often planted in other
parts of California for wind-breaks, it has been found that it
will not only thrive in fresh soils away from the influence of
the sea, but is capable of withstanding a greater range in tem-
perature than that of its native range. If planted in dry soils
where the temperature falls below freezing, it will grow well and
mature its wood before frost.

Inasmuch as the trees themselves, judging from these two
cones, appear to have changed very little between the Pleisto-
cene and the present time, it at least suggests that their climatic
requirements have likewise suffered little change.

ETHNOBOTANY.— Quichua names of sweet potatoes. 0. F.
Cook, Bureau of Plant Industry.

Quichua was the language of the Incas at the time of the Span-
ish conquest of Peru, and is still spoken by a large native popula-
tion. The ancient center of the Quichuas is in the region about
Cuzco on the eastern slope of the Andes, from an altitude of

cook: quichua names of sweet potatoes 87

over 14,000 feet at the Pass of La Raya, down to Santa Ana,
at an altitude of 3000 feet. The lower valley of the Urubamba
river was visited by the writer in May, June, and July, 1915,
as a member of the Yale Peruvian Expedition conducted by
Prof. Hiram Bingham, of Yale University, in cooperation with
the National Geographic Society and the United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture.

At 6000 feet and below, the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas)
is one of the principal root-crops. At Santa Ana it appears
to be somewhat less important than rumu (Manihot) or uncucha
(Xanthosoma), but much more important than achira (Canna).
Two classes of sweet potatoes are recognized under separate
names, apichu for the sweet varieties and cumara for the starchy.
A similar distinction is often made in the United States between
"sweets" and "yams." The Quichua language seems to have
no inclusive term that can be applied to all kinds of sweet potatoes.
For this purpose Spanish-speaking Quichuas use the word
^camote.'n

Both cumaras and apichus are represented by numerous
varieties differing in shape and color of roots and foliage. At
San Miguel, in the valley under Machu Picchu, with an alti-
tude of 6000 feet, three varieties of cumaras were noted: yuracjcu-
mara (white), pucacumara (red), and co??ipillicjlla, the last a
very short turnip-shaped purple root. Of apichus there were
also three varieties, yuracjapichu, pucaapichu, and azulapichu
(blue, a combination of Spanish and Quichua). Other names,
learned at Santa Ana, are oqquechuto, cusicumara, and pucacusi-
cumara, the last mentioned said to mean "red-long-cumara."
Another with deep purple flesh like a beet, that stains the tongue,
is called incampamaccasccan. At Lima the Quichua names
are not recognized, only camote being used. Two varieties grown
between Lima and Callao are called supano and luriniano,
the former with leaves very deeply cut, the latter with nearly
entire leaves. Supe and Lurin are places on the coast not far
from Lima.

Wild sweet potatoes are said to be of common occurrence in
the valleys of the interior. At San Miguel a plant identified
by the Indians as cusiapichu was found growing spontaneously

88 cook: quichua names of sweet potatoes

in a place not recently cultivated. At Santa Ana three distinct
kinds, to judge from the foliage, were found as common weeds in
cultivated land. But to certify that any plant is a genuine native
species seems out of the question in a region where all of the land
has probably been cleared many times and cultivated inter-
mittently for centuries. On the other hand, there is no reason
to deny that the sweet potato may have been domesticated in
the Peruvian region, as many other plants appear to have been.

The words apichu and cumara have been recorded before,
but without indications of their concurrent use and distinct
applications among the Quichuas. Markham's Quichua Vo-
cabulary gives apichu as the name of the sweet potato, but over-
looks cumara altogether. Reference might also be made to
Holguin's Arte y Diccionario without finding cumara, since the
word does not appear in its alphabetic position, but under apichu
we find: "Apichu, cumar, nom. Camote." Martius's Ethno-
graphic has neither apichu nor cumara, but gives camote as the
Quichua name, with a derivation from the Mexican camotli.
Cobo, whose Historia was written in Peru less than seventy years
after the conquest (though not published till 1890), recorded
apichu as the Quichua name, tutuca as the Aymara name, and
camote as the name used by the Spaniards of Peru, borrowed from
the language of Mexico. Cobo appears to have visited the in-
terior of Bolivia, but not the interior of Peru.

No reason is apparent for questioning the status of apichu
and cumara as genuine Quichua words. Etymologies would
be easy to invent. For apichu such a combination as api (maize
pudding) and pichu (flesh) or pichi (root) would be appropriate,
while cumara might be related to ccumu or kumu, meaning
crooked or hunch-backed. Other Quichua names analogous to
cumar or cumara are pallor (Phasaeolus), quinuar (Buddleia),
quisuar (Polylepis), ancara (gourd), sara (Zea), tara (Caesalpinia
tinctoria), and achira (Canna).

The sweet potato was not known to Europeans before the
discovery of America. The first name that the Spaniards
learned and carried back to Spain was batata, the original of our
word potato, but the Mexican name camote is now more widely

cook; quichua names of sweet potatoes 89

known in Spanish America. Many names in local languages
have probably been lost, but some have been placed on record.
Martius collected the following series from native tribes of
Brazil: coutarouti, coundi, gnunana, hetich, ictig, imazaka, jetica,
joto, mapas (?), mtiporu, mapuey, mouka, napi, orairai, quaiu,
tsa, and zamaygua.

In the Kekchi language of eastern Guatemala, a member of
the Maya family, the sweet potato bears the name is. The
Kekchis do not raise many sweet potatoes, this crop being dis-
tinctly less important than osh (Xanthosoma) or piyak (Dios-
corea), yet sweet potatoes often grow as weeds in cultivated lands.
The potato (Solatium tuberosum) is called by the Kekchis kash-
lanis, meaning "foreign sweet potato."

Several of the early Spanish historians of the West Indies
recorded the name age or aje, but whether this belonged properly
to the sweet potato or to some other root-crop has been uncer-
tain. Some of the accounts evidently refer to Manihot, but
Gray and Trumbull settled upon Dioscorea as the correct appli-
cation.1 Gomez de la Maza claims both age and boniato as in-
digenous Cuban names of sweet potatoes. More than a score
of Cuban varieties are listed, mostly with names derived from
native languages of the Island. Boniato is the name in regular
use in Cuba, batata being scarcely known.2 Batata is used in
Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Panama; but two indigenous names,
araba and deki, are reported by Pittier from primitive tribes
living on the Atlantic slope of Costa Rica.3

Among all these names of sweet potatoes in other parts of
America there appears to be no definite resemblance to either
of the Quichua words, apichu and cumara. Perhaps the nearest
approach to similarity is between cumara and the Mexican
camote or camotli. Yet the number and diversity of the native
names are not without significance as indications of the American

1 Gray A., and Trumbull, J. H. Review of de Candolle's Origin of Cultivated
Plants; with annotations upon certain American species. American Journal of
Science, Third Series, 25: 250. 1883.

2 Gomez de la Maza, M. Diccionario Botanico de los Nombres Vulgares
Cubanos y Puerto-Riquenos. 1889.

3 Pittier, H. Plantas Usuales de Costa Rica, 105. 1908.

90 cook: quichua names of sweet potatoes

origin of the sweet potato or, at least, of its wide distribution
in prehistoric times.

The general interest of the Quichua names lies in the fact that
cumara or kumara is also the name of the sweet potato in the
Polynesian Islands. This was first pointed* out by Seemann,
a botanist who had visited the Pacific Islands and the west
coast of South America about fifty years ago. Seemann's ob-
servation appeared as a brief editorial note in connection with
a statement by the ethnologist Crawfurd, to the effect that no
communication could have taken place between the American
continent and the Pacific Islands.4

The presence of the Quichua name in Ecuador is readily under-
stood, the native kingdom of Quito having been conquered and
occupied by the Incas. Some of the early Spanish historians of
Peru recorded Inca traditions of voyages to islands in the Pacific,
but such a possibilit}^ of communication between the American
continent and the Pacific Islands has not seemed worthy of serious
consideration. Nevertheless, cultivated plants of American
origin appear to have crossed the Pacific before the arrival of
Europeans. Among these trans-Pacific plants are the coconut
palm, the bottle-gourd, and the sweet potato. Coconuts and
gourds may be supposed to have floated to the Islands and es-
tablished themselves without human assistance, but the sweet
potato and its name could hardly be conveyed in this manner.
Nor is it to be taken as a mere coincidence that a Quichua name
not shared with other American languages should be associated
with the same crop in the Pacific Islands.

4 Crawfurd, John. On the migrations of cultivated plants in reference to
ethnology. Seemann's Journal of Botany, 4: 328. 1866.

"The Sweet Potato, or tuber-yielding Convolvulus, appears to be a native of
many parts of the tropical Old and New World. Some have alleged that it was
first made an object of cultivation by the native Americans, but when the South
Sea Islands, which had assuredly no communication with the American people,
were discovered, the sweet potato was found to be in cultivation, and known by
a native name throughout, the word being essentially the same, and a native one
varying only in pronunciation, as kumava, human, and gumala abbreviated mala."

Seemann's comment on the above statement was as follows: "{Kumara or
umara, of the South-Sea Islanders, is identical with cumar, the Quichua name for
sweet potato in the highlands of Ecuador. — Ed.]

ABSTRACTS

CHEMISTRY. — Some qualitative tests for gum arabic and its quantita-
tive determination. C. E. Waters and J. B. Tuttle. Bureau
of Standards Technologic Paper No. 67. Pp. 15. 1916.

A study of many of the published tests for the gum, as well as a
search for others than the few that proved to be reliable. It was found
that basic lead acetate gives the most characteristic reaction, while
mixtures of copper sulphate and sodium hydroxide, and of neutral
ferric chloride and alcohol are of value as confirmatory tests. Dex-
trin and gum ghatti were subjected to the same tests.

A summary of the more important methods that have been proposed
for the quantitative estimation of gum arabic is next given, followed
by a description of the steps that led the authors to the use of alcoholic
copper acetate-ammonia solution for this determination. C. E. W.

CHEMISTRY. — The determination of barium carbonate and barium
sulphate in vulcanized rubber goods. John B. Tuttle. Bureau
of Standards Technologic Paper No. 64. Pp. 5. 1916.

Specifications for purchasing rubber goods frequently permit the
use of barytes (barium sulphate) as a mineral filler without having the
sulphur which if contains count as part of the specified total sulphur.
In such cases the barium sulphate must be determined in order to
properly correct the total sulphur.

When barium sulphate only is used, the amount present is readily
ascertained by determining the total amount of barium present. If
barium carbonate is used, it is necessary to separate the two salts.
By means of tests made on compounds of known composition pre-
pared at the Bureau of Standards, a method has been devised which
permits the quantitative determination of barium carbonate in the

92 abstracts: geology

presence of either lead sulphate or barium sulphate, the two sulphates
most commonly used in rubber goods. The accuracy of the determina-
tion is satisfactory for all practical purposes. J. B. T.

GEOLOGY. — The stratigraphy of the Montana group. C. F. Bowen.
U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper No. 90, pp. 95-153.
1915.

Because of differences of opinion which have arisen regarding the
age and stratigraphic position of the Judith River formation, a study
of the stratigraphy of the Montana group was undertaken.

It is shown that the Judith River formation has been traced continu-
ously from areas wher^ its position beneath the Bearpaw shale is un-
disputed into the western part of the type area (namely, at the mouth
of Judith River) and has been found to be identical with the Judith
River at that locality.

The paleontologic evidence shows: (1) that the argument that the
Judith River formation overlies the Fox Hills is unfounded; (2) that the
flora of the Judith River formation is of Montana age; (3) that the
invertebrates of the Judith River formation are more closely allied
to the Belly River than to the Lance; (4) that if the Judith River is
to be made the equivalent of the Lance on the basis of the similarity
of the vertebrate fauna, the Belly River must on the same evidence
also be made the equivalent of the Lance formation; (5) that the Cera-
topsidae, which form so important an element of the Lance fauna,
are generically and specifically unlike the representatives of that family
in the Belly River and Judith River faunas. The palaeontologic evi-
dences therefore indicating a closer relationship between the Belly
River and Judith River than between either of these formations and
the Lance are in accord with the stratigraphic evidence, which shows
conclusively that both the Judith River and Belly River formations
are separated from the Lance by a marine formation which is of un-
doubted Cretaceous age. R. W. S.

GEOLOGY. — Erosion intervals in the Eocene of the Mississippi embay-
ment. E. W. Berry. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper
No. 95, pp. 73-82. 1915.
The older Tertiary deposits of the Gulf Coastal Plain, comprising
several thousand feet of sands, clays, marls, lignites, and impure lime-
stones, have always been considered as forming an uninterrupted and
conformable series, extending from the lower Eocene to the top of the

abstracts: geology 93

Oligocene. It is shown in this paper that the sedimentation of Eocene
time was interrupted during several intervals, which were of consider-
able duration in terms of organic evolution. Such intervals occurred
between the Midway or basal Eocene deposits and the overlying
Wilcox group and between the Wilcox and the Claiborne.

It is concluded that the strand line migrated back and forth over
the Mississippi embayment several times during the period represented
by the older Tertiary deposits. R. W. S.

GEOLOGY.— The Willow Creek district, Alaska. S. R. Capps. U. S.
Geological Survey Bulletin No. 607. Pp. 86, with maps, sec-
tions, and illustrations. 1915.

The geologic formations exposed consist of mica schists, possibly
of Paleozoic age; quartz diorites and gneisses, probably Mesozoic;
Eocene arkoses, conglomerates, shales, and sandstone, with some
interbedded basaltic lava flows; and Quarternary glacial deposits and
recent stream gravels. The Tertiary beds are somewhat folded,
but have prevailing dips of 20° to 50° to the southward.

Gold quartz veins fill fissures in the quartz diorite, and occur in
two predominant sets, one striking northwest, and the other north-
east. The prevailing dip is 30° to 50° to the westward. The veins
show little surface oxidation and no secondary enrichment and prom-
ise to maintain the same characters with depth that they display
near the surface.

Some gold placer deposits have been worked, but most of the con-
centrations of placer gold that must have resulted from the erosion
of the gold-bearing quartz veins were swept away and scattered by
the vigorous glaciers which occupied the valleys during the height of
the Quarternary ice invasion. S. R. C.

GEOLOGY.— The Ellamar district, Alaska. S. R. Capps and B. L.

Johnson. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin No. 605. Pp. 125,

with maps, sections, and illustrations. 1915.
The rocks exposed include the Valdez group of interbedded slates
and graywackes, possibly of Paleozoic age, and the Orca group, possibly
Mesozoic, including in ascending order: (1) fine black slates; (2) slates
and graywackes; (3) ellipsoidal lavas and massive diabase flows with
some interbedded sediments; (4) conglomerates and sandstones; and
(5) another series of slates and graywackes. The dominant structural
trend is northwest-southeast, and the beds have prevailing dips to

94 abstracts: geology

the northeast. The rocks of the Valclez group overlie those of the
Orca group, as the result of a great overthrust fault. In the almost
complete absence of fossils the age of the various formations has not
been conclusively determined.

The sulphide ore veins of the district, most of which are mined chiefly
for their copper content, but one of which is now producing gold ores,
occur in zones of fracture and shearing along fault planes. Most of
the mines and prospects occur in the greenstones, but the largest mine
is in slate and graywacke, stratigraphically beneath the greenstone.
The shear zones in many places are particularly well developed in slates
and graywackes interbedded with the greenstones, as these sedimentary
beds yielded to the deformational stresses more readily than the green-
stones themselves. The ores are, in part at least, replacements of the
crushed rock, but in the largest mine they are believed to replace cal-
careous sedimentary beds. The copper in the veins as well as the
gold is believed to be genetically connected with granitic intrusives
and not derived from the greenstones as has been previously suggested.

S. R. C.

GEOLOGY. — Rhode Island coal. George H. Ashley. U. S. Geo-
logical Survey Bulletin No. 615. Pp. 62, 5 plates. 1915.

Coal occurs at a number of places near Providence and Newport,
Rhode Island. Attempts to use it as fuel began nearly 150 years ago,
but in spite of its favorable situation as regards markets and trans-
portation these have not met with success.

The rocks of the Rhode Island coal field have been subjected to in-
tense lateral pressure which folded them in great folds with accom-
panying crushing, squeezing, and shearing. As in regions of intense
pressure and folding the softer rocks tend to yield, flowing away from
points of greatest pressure, so the Rhode Island coal has moved under
pressure and accumulated as irregular lenses in places of less pressure.
The pressure and accompanying heat changed the coal to anthracite
containing a high percentage of fixed carbon, and in places to graphite.
The graphite is localized where the metamorphism was greatest. In
general, the thinner the coal at any point, the larger the percentage
of graphite it contains.

Crevices in the coal have locally become filled with quartz or
asbestos.

The breaking open and recementing of the coal appears to have let
into it more or less of th?> adjoining shale, so that where the coal is

abstracts: geology 95

thin from having been squeezed it is higher in ash. The coal in the
same mine therefore may be high in graphite and ash where it is thin,
and freer of both ash and graphite in the wider pockets.

The field as a whole appears to have been subjected to large regional
differences in pressure and there are corresponding regional differences
in the coal.

Rhode Island coal is a high-ash, high-moisture, graphitic anthracite
of high specific gravity. R. W. S.

GEOLOGY. — The Broad Pass region, Alaska. Fred H. Moffit,
with sections on Quarternary deposits, igneous rocks, and glaciation,
by Joseph E. Pogue. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin No. 608.
Pp. 80, with maps, section and views. 1915.

The region described lies south of the axis of the Alaska Range and
includes part of the headwaters of Susitna, Chulitna, and Nenana
rivers. Rocks ranging in age from Devonian to Tertiarj7 are exposed
and in addition unconsolidated deposits of glacial, glacio-fluvial, and
fluvial origin are present.

The Devonian rocks include limestone, slate, and conglomerate, all
of which are folded and otherwise altered. In places the slate and con-
glomerate have become schistose. Rocks tentatively referred to the
Triassic are basaltic lavas apparently overlain by dark-blue and black
slates with interstratified arkose and graywacke. Other dark-blue
and black slate s interbedded with graywacke and conglomerate are
tentatively referred to the Jurassic and a complex of sedimentary rocks,
chiefly slate and limestone, are considered to be probably Mesozoic.
The principal Tertiary rocks are the Cantwell formation (Eocene),
a massive conglomerate, locally containing fossiliferous shale beds.
It is folded and in its eastern extension takes on a schistose structure.

All the consolidated sediments are cut by intrusives, most of which
are granitic or porphyritic and of felsic (acid) character. The youngest
intrusives are of Tertiary age.

The Broad Pass region has been profoundly glaciated, as is plainly
shown by its topography.

Mining has not been established here. The region, however, is
favorable for prospecting. F. H. M.

REFERENCES

Under this heading It Is proposed to Include, by author, title, and citation, references to all
scientific papers published in or emanating from Washington. It Is requested that authors cooperate
with the editors by submitting titles promptly, following the style used below. These references are
not Intended to replace the more extended abstracts published elsewhere in this Journal.

MAMMALOGY

Allen, G. M. The water shrew of Nova Scotia. Proceedings of the Biological
Society of Washington, 28: 15-17. February 12, 1915. (Description of
Neosorex palustris acadicus, subsp. nov. — N. H.)

Bailey, V. Revision of the pocket gophers of the genus Thomomys. North Ameri-
can Fauna No. 39. Pp. 1-136, plates 1-8, figs. 1-10. November 15, 1915.
(Monograph of the species and subspecies, with maps of distribution; Tho-
momys sheldoni, from Tepic, is described as new.- — N. H.)

Dearborn, N. Silver fox farming in eastern North America. Bulletin of the
U. S. Department of Agriculture No. 301. Pp. 1-35, figs. 1-22. October 29,
1915. (Complete account of breeding foxes of the genus Vulpes for com-
mercial purposes. — N. H.).

Figgins, J. D. Diagnosis of a new subspecies of marmot from Colorado. Pro-
ceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 28: 147-148. September
21, 1915. (Describes Marmota fiaviventer campioni, from Jackson County,
Colorado.— N. H.)

Goldman, E. A. A new spider monkey from Panama. Proceedings of the Bio-
logical Society of Washington, 28: 101-102. April 13, 1915. (Description of
Ateles dariensis, sp. nov. — N. H.)

Goldman, E. A. Five new rice rats of the genus Oryzomys from Middle America.
Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 28: 127-130. June 29,
1915. (New forms: Oryzomys guerrerensis, 0. nitidus alleni, 0. alfaroi dari-
ensis, 0. couesi regillus, and O.fulvescens lenis. — N. H.)

Goldman, E. A. Five new mammals from Mexico and Arizona. Proceedings of
the Biological Society of Washington, 28: 133-137. June29, 1915. (Describes
new forms of Potos, Geomys, Neotoma, and Noctilio. — N. H.)

Hollister, N. The type locality of Pecari tajacu. Proceedings of the Biological
Society of Washington, 28: 70. March 12, 1915.

Hollister, N. A new name for the white-tailed jack rabbit. Proceedings of the
Biological Society of Washington, 28: 70. March 12, 1915. (Lepus campanius
proposed, to replace L. campestris, preoccupied. — N. H.)

Hollister, N. The systematic name of the Mexican spider monkey. Proceedings
of the Biological Society of Washington, 28: 142. June 29, 1915. {Ateles
neglectus Reinhardt, 1872, replaces A. tricolor Hollister, 1914. — N. H.)

references: mammalogy 97

Hollister, N. The genera and subgenera of raccoons and their allies. Proceed-
ings of the U. S. National Museum, 49: 143-150, pis. 38, 39. August 13, 1915.
(New genus: Nasuella, for the mountain coati mundi, Nasua olivacea, and
its related forms. — N. H.)

Hollister, N. The specific name of the striped muishond of South Africa. Pro-
ceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 28: 184. November 29,
1915. (The Cape form of the striped muishond to be known as Ictonyx
striatus. — -N. H.)

Howell, A. H. Revision of the American marmots. North American Fauna No.

37. Pp. 1-80, plates 1-15. April 7, 1915. (History, habits, economic rela-
tions, and systematic account of the American woodchucks and marmots.
Marmota monax petrensis, from British Columbia, and Marmota flaviventris
sierrae, from California, are described as new. — N. H.)

Howell, A. H. Descriptions of a new genus and seven new races of flying squirrels.
Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 28: 109-113. May 27,
1915. (The generic name Eoglaucomys is proposed for the Himalayan Sci-
uropterus fimbriatus, and new species and subspecies of American flying
squirrels are named. — N. H.)

Jackson, H. H. T. A review of the American moles. North American Fauna No.

38. Pp. 1-100, plates 1-6, text figs. 1-27. September 30, 1915.

Lantz, D. E. Field mice as farm and orchard pests. U. S. Department of Agri-
culture, Farmers' Bulletin No. 670. Pp. 1-10. June 3, 1915. (Describes
the habits, geographic distribution, and methods of destroying meadow
mice and pine mice, and discusses the value of protecting their natural
enemies. — N. H.)

Lyon, M. W., Jr. Eureodon as the generic name of the warthogs. Proceedings of
the Biological Society of Washington, 28: 141. June 29, 1915. (Eureodon
Fischer, 1817, replaces Phacochoerus.- — N. H.)

Lyon, M. W., Jr. Macaca versus Pithecus as the generic name of the macaques.
Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 28: 179. November
29, 1915. (Macaca to be restored in place of the recently used Pithecus. —
N. H.)

Miller, G. S., Jr. A new squirrel from northeastern China. Proceedings of the
Biological Society of Washington, 28: 115, 116. May 27, 1915. (Describes
Tamiops vestitus from 65 miles northeast of Peking. — N. H.)

Osgood, W. H. The name of Azara's agouarachay . Proceedings of the Biological
Society of Washington, 28: 142-143. June 29, 1915. (Discusses the nomen-
clature of two South American species of Canis. — N. H.)

Osgood, W. H., Preble, E. A., and Parker, G. H. The fur seals and other life
on the Pribilof Islands, Alaska, in 1914. Bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries
No. 34. Pp. 1-172, plates 1-18, maps 1-44. June 19, 1915.

Shufeldt,-R. W. Comparative study of certain cranial sutures in the primates.
Anatomical Record, 9: 121-124. January 20, 1915. (Abstract of a more
formal paper in preparation. — N. H.)

Shufeldt, R. W. On the taxonomy of the Procyonidac. Science, n. s., 61: 691,
692. May 2, 1915. (Advance abstract of a memoir containing complete and
comparative accounts of the osteology of the various genera of Procyonoidea,
which will be published later, with plates. — N. H.)

n '

98 references: engineering

Thomas, 0. Determination of Vesperugo vagans Dobson from "Bermuda." Pro-
ceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 28: 69. March 12, 1915.
(Vesperugo vagans proves to be identical with Chalinolobus tuberculaius of
New Zealand, and the locality, "Bermuda," is unquestionably erroneous. —
N. H.)

Thomas. (). The generic name Connochaetes of Lichtenstein. Proceedings of the
Biological Society of Washington, 28: 69. March 12, 1915. (Connochaetes
Lichtenstein, 1814, considered a valid name. — N. H.)

Thomas, O. Phacochoerus as the generic name of the warthogs. Proceedings of
the Biological Society of Washington, 28: 181. November 29, 1915. (Phaco-
choerus Cuvier not to be replaced by Eureodon Fischer. — N. H.)

TECHNOLOGY

Bureau of Standabds. Standard tables for petroleum oils. Circular No. 57.

Pp. 64. 1916. (For finding the density at a standard temperature when

the density at another temperature is known.)
Boughton, E. W. The detection of resin in drier. Bureau of Standards Tech.

Paper No. 66. Pp. 9. 1916.

ENGINEERING

Marshall, R. B. Profile surveys in Willamette River basin, Oregon. U. S. Geo-
logical Survey Water-Supply Paper 349. Pp. 9. 1914.
Marshall, R. B. Profile surveys in Bear River basin, Idaho. U. S. Geological

Survey Water-Supply Paper 350. Pp. 9. 1914.
Marshall, R. B. Profile surveys in Snoqualmine, Sultan, and Skykomish rivers,

Washington. U. S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 366. Pp. 7.

1914.
Marshall, R. B. Profile surveys in Missouri River from Great Falls to Three

Forks, Montana. U. S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 367. Pp. S.

1914.
Marshall, R. B. Profile surveys in Wenatch.ee River basin, Washington. U. S.

Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 368. Pp. 7. 1914.
M arshall, R. B. Profile surveys in Chelan and Methow River basins, Washington.

U. S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 376. Pp. 8, 5 profiles. 1915.
M \rshall, R. B. Profile surveys in 1914 in JJmpqua River basin, Oregon. U. S.

Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 379. 23 profiles. 1915.
Pierce, C. H., and Larrison, G. K. Water resources of Hawaii, 1912. U. S.

Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 336. Pp. 392. 1914.
Ste\ ens, Guy C, and Hall, W. E. Surface water supply of South Atlantic and

eastern Gulf of Mexico basins, 1915. U. S. Geological Survey Water-Supply

Paper 352. Pp. 84. 1915.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED

SOCIETIES

BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 106th regular meeting of the Botanical Society of Washington
was held at the Cosmos Club, Tuesday, October 5, 1915, at 8 p.m.
Thirty members and two guests were present. The following scientific
program was given:

Some recent investigations in sugar-beet breeding (lantern slides) :
F. J. Pritchard. The speaker presented a large number of tables and
figures based upon 10 years' experiments in sugar-beet breeding from
which the following conclusions were drawn: Differences in the size,
total sugar content, and percentage of sugar of individual beet roots
show no evidence of inheritance. There is no correlation between
percentage or quantity of sugar of roots of ordinary sizes and their
yield of seed nor between their yield of seed and the average percentage
of sugar in their progeny. Fluctuations in percentage and yield of
sugar of beet families planted in progeny rows in alternation with check
rows greatly exceed their real differences. The discontinuance of selec-
tion for one generation caused no deterioration but some apparent
gain in percentage of sugar. No improvement was obtained in yield
or percentage of .sugar from continuous selection ; both the good and
the poor families transmitted average qualities. Fluctuations in per-
centage and yield of sugar are caused chiefly by irregularities of the
soil; the nutritive conditions which favor the production of a large
root cause a large tonnage of beets but a low percentage of sugar; even
with a uniform stand certain rows and certain parts of the field produce
a relatively small root and consequently a high percentage of sugar,
while neighboring areas produce a large root and a low percentage of
sugar. As the fluctuations in percentage and yield of sugar are large
they obscure real differences between varieties or families, but real
differences may be distinguished by planting each variety or family
a large number of times.

Notes on plant-parasitic ne?natodcs (lantern slides) : L. P. Byars.
After a few introductory remarks concerning the general characteristics
of the three groups of nematodes — the free living, animal-parasitic,
and plant-parasitic — the speaker indicated some of the more important
anatomical and life-history features of species belonging to the last
group. Emphasis was laid on the economic importance of and present
distribution of Tylenchus dipsaci, the bulb and stem-infesting nematode;
Tylenchus tritici, a nematode living in wheat kernels; Aphelenchus
armerodis, the violet bud organism; and Heterodera radicicola, the
gall-forming nematode, all of which are parasites introduced into this
country. Illustrations and drawings were used to show the speaker's

100 proceedings: botanical society

method of growing Heterodera radicicola in pure culture and to indicate
the effect of this parasite on its host.

The first Washington Botanical Society: P. L. Ricker. While collect-
ing material for the bibliography and biography in the forthcoming-
Flora of Washington the speaker first learned1 of the existence of a
Washington Botanical Society organized on March 13, 1817 with thirteen
charter members: John Boyle, W. A. Bradley, Dr. John A. Brere-
ton, Samuel Elliot, Jr., William Elliot, J. W. Hand, Dr. Henry
Huntt, Maj. James Kearney, Rev. Dr. James Laurie, Dr. Alex-
ander McWilliams, J. M. Moore, John Underwood, and George
Watterson. Subsequently six additional members were elected and
three honorary members: Dr. Jacob Bigelow, Dr. William Darling-
ton, and Dr. William P. C. Barton. Meetings of the society were
held until March 27, 1826, when the society adjourned sine die. It
was ordered that the library of the society be deposited in the Wash-
ington Library. The herbarium was placed under the care of Dr.
McWilliams, but its subsequent disposition has not been learned. The
records of the society eventually found their way into a local second
hand book store and were presented to the late Lester F. Ward in
1883, remaining in his possession until his death, when his library was
given to Brown University. After correspondence with the librarian
of Brown University, formal request was made to the Trustees of that
institution by the Secretary of this Society for the return of the records
to Washington, which request was granted. The proceedings of the
meetings for the first few years show considerable progress in the study
of the local flora and offer many interesting historical data.

The 15th annual meeting of the Botanical Society of Washington
was held at the Department of Agriculture, Tuesday, October 19, 1915
at 1.30 p.m., with twenty-four members present. The report of the
Executive Committee showed the following facts concerning the activi-
ties of the society for the preceding year. Average attendance of 73
members and guests. Seven members were lost during the year: one
by resignation and six by change of residence. Eighteen new members
were elected, making a total net membership of 143. One joint meet-
ing was held with the Washington Academy of Sciences. Twenty-one
formal scientific papers were presented and the following visiting-
botanists were entertained: Prof. J. C. Bose, Dr. Camillo Schneider,
Dr. F. Kolpin Ravn, Dr. Otto Appel, and Dr. Gentaro Yamada.

The customary reports were presented and approved and the fol-
lowing officers elected for the ensuing year: President, Prof. A. S.
Hitchcock; vice-president, Dr. J. W. T. Duvel; recording secretary,
Chas. E. Chambliss; corresponding secretary, Mr. W. E. Safford;
treasurer, Dr. C. E. Leighty. Dr. R. H. True was nominated as the
representative of the Society upon the Board of the Washington Acad-
emy of Sciences.

Perley S paulding, Corresponding Secretary.

1 Coville, Frederick V. Early Botanical Activity in the District of Columbia.
Records of the Columbia Historical Society, 5: 176-194. 1901.

proceedings: botanical society 101

The 107th regular meeting of the Botanical Society of Washing-
ton was held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club, at 8 p.m., Tues-
day, November 2, 1915. Forty-five members and six guests were
present. The following papers were presented:

Relation of catalase and oxidases to respiration in plants (with lan-
tern) : Chas. O. Appleman. (To be published in full as Bulletin No.
191 of the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station.)

The chemical mechanism of respiration in plants is very complex
and imperfectly understood. Enzyme action undoubtedly plays the
most important role. Among the enzymes which have been assigned
various functions in respiration we find the oxidases and catalase, al-
though their relation to this process is almost entirely hypothetical.
Respiration in potato tubers is not only greatly accelerated by various
artificial treatments, but is subject to fluctuations under natural con-
ditions, such as greening and sprouting. The rate of respiration also
varies in different parts of the same tuber and tubers of different varie-
ties. Since these tubers also contain very active catalase and oxidase,
they were chosen as specially favorable material in making a quanti-
tative study of the relation of both catalase and oxidase activity to
the intensity of respiration. The data seem to justify the following
conclusions :

1. The oxidase content in potato juice gives no indication of the
intensity of respiration in the tubers. In other words, there is no
correlation between oxidase activity and the rate of respiration in these
organs. The author does not disclaim any role of the demonstrable
oxidases in respiration, but they certainly are not the controlling fac-
tor in regulating the rate of respiration in potato tubers.

2. Catalase activity in the potato juice shows a very striking corre-
lation with respiratory activity in the tubers.

Some Philippine botanical problems: E. D. Merrill. (To be pub-
lished in full elsewhere.)

Botanical notes of a trip to Japan: W.T. Swingle. (To be published
in full elsewhere.)

The 108th regular meeting of the Society was held in the Assembly
Hall of the Cosmos Club, Tuesday, December 7, 1915, at 8 p.m. Thir-
ty-two members and three guests were present. Messrs. A. T. Speare,
James Johnson, H. R. Rosen, and H. C. Rose were elected to mem-
bership. The following papers were presented:

Dr. W. Ralph Jones: An appreciation: C. L. Shear.

Dr. Jones was quiet and retiring in disposition and of excellent habits.
He had a great aversion to taking animal life and would not take
courses in zoology involving the death of higher animals ; neither would
he hunt nor fish. His chief recreation and amusement were novel
reading and music. He was very fond of reading good French novels
in the original, and of the opera. He showed an interest in natural
science early in life and as a boy began a collection of minerals and
also an herbarium of flowering plants. His interests in botany were

102 proceedings: botanical society

broad and his training in languages, chemistry, and physiology were
such as to give a broad and substantial foundation for research. He
possessed three of the fundamental requirements for success in scientific
work, namely, love for truth, combined with thoroughness and ac-
curacy. His notes, drawings, and manuscripts were models of neat-
ness and accuracy. He had undertaken several lines of investigation
in connection with blackberry, currant, and gooseberry diseases, but had
practically completed only one of these. This was a study of what
appears to be a new species of Thielavia isolated from diseased dewberry
plants. It is to be deeply regretted that a man so well equipped by
temperament and training for research should be cut down in the
prime of life and usefulness.

Experimental study of the life duration of seeds (with lantern) : Wm.
Crocker. (To be published in full elsewhere.)

Notes on variations in Chinese chestnuts (specimens) : P. L. Ricker.
(To be published in full elsewhere.)

The 109th regular meeting of the Society was held in the Assembly
Hall of the Cosmos Club, Friday, January 14, 1916, at 8 p.m. Seventy
members and five guests were present. Messrs. Rodney B. Harvey,
G. McMillan Darrow, and Roland McKee were elected to mem-
bership. The program consisted of the following papers:

Economic botanical exploration in China (with lantern) : Frank N.
Meyer.

Mr. Meyer, an agricultural explorer of the United States Department
of Agriculture, has spent nine years in China and adjoining countries
studying the flora of this region and searching for plants of economic
value for introduction into the United States. He found quite re-
cently a hickory in China which has never been recorded in botanical
literature. As yet no sycamores nor any papaw {Asiminia triloba)
or leather-wood (Dirca paiustris) have been found in China. Field
work in botany in China is extremely difficult because most of the
wild vegetation near densely settled parts has been exterminated.
However Buddhist and Tavist priests have preserved many speci-
mens in their temple compounds. Mr. Meyer made reference to the
discovery of the wild peach in the provinces of Shansi, Shensi, and
Kansu, and to the expertness of Chinese gardeners in grafting. He
expressed the opinion that in this country there is great need of national
arboreta and permanent botanical collections.

The recent outbreaks of white pine blister rust: Perley Spaulding.

When this disease first reached this country, it was thought, repeated
annual' inspections of the lots of diseased trees would soon result in
the complete eradication of the disease. Experience since that time,
together with increasing knowledge of the characteristics of the dis-
ease, show that this is not true. Apparently the only method of
completely eradicating this disease in any lot of infected trees is that
of total destruction of that lot. While large numbers of plantings of
diseased imported trees were made in 1909, the careful inspection work

proceedings: botanical society 103

done since that time by the states has kept the disease in them almost
completely in control. It has become increasingly evident that our
great danger lies in lots of diseased trees which were imported before
1909. These in most cases we know nothing about and of course
have not been able to give them the necessary inspection. In the years
1909 to 1914, inclusive, there were 11 outbreaks of this disease, that
is, cases where it escaped from the diseased pines onto neighboring
currents or gooseberries. In 1915 the weather conditions were so
favorable for the disease that it spread very readily and for relatively
long distances. Last year 12 outbreaks occurred. These areas vary
in extent from only a few currant or gooseberry bushes up to a single
area of some 400 or 500 square miles. Experiments have shown that
the wild currants and gooseberries of the Pacific Coast and Rocky
Mountain regions are susceptible to it. In fact it may be stated that
all species of currants and gooseberries, so far as they have now been
tested, are susceptible. The ordinary cultivated black currant, Ribes
nigrum, however, is far more susceptible than any other species.
While it is not grown in large quantities, it is very widely scattered;
enough so that the disease during the past season readily spread upon
this single species for miles. The future of the white pine, which
has been quite largely depended upon for the forests of the north-
eastern states, is very seriously threatened by this disease, unless effi-
cient efforts are made to control it. The character of this fungus is
such that the removal of all wild and cultivated currants and goose-
berries from the affected areas will stop its further spread in those
areas. If the cultivated black currant could be eliminated from the
nursery trade, so that it would not be sold and its use could gradually
be discontinued everywhere within the affected states, a great step.
would be taken toward the control of this disease. But more than
this, state officers must have absolute power to destroy diseased pines
and currant and gooseberry bushes, in order that unanimous action can
be carried out within these affected areas. With this power should
also be given the power to declare and enforce quarantines against
shipments of stock from other states. When compared with the
minute search which is required in finding gypsy and brown-tail moth
nests in southern New England, the search for wild and cultivated cur-
rants and gooseberries is comparatively simple. It also is comparatively
easy to carry out when compared with the climbing of trees 75 to 100
feet in height in certain sections of New England for the removal of
brown-tail moths' nests, as is done every year. An efficient fight
against this disease even now is not impossible, but it very shortly will
be if not started at once.

Catha edulis: A narcotic of the southern Arabs (with specimens):
Paul Popenoe.

The kat (Arabic qat) shrub is a native of Africa, but much cultivated
in Yaman, where its use is increasing so that the town of Aden now
consumes annually more than 2,000 camel-loads of the leaves and twigs,
which are chewed for their stimulating properties. The plant contains

104 proceedings: biological society

small quantities of an alkaloid called katrine, which seems to resemble
cocain. It has been introduced into the United States by the Office
of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction, United States Department
of Agriculture, and grows well in the South. The dangers from its
use have probably been much exaggerated. This plant may present
commercial possibilities as the source of a new beverage to compete
with tea.

W. E. Safford, Corresponding Secretary.

THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 548th meeting of the Biological Society of Washington was held
at the Cosmos Club on Saturday evening, January 15, 1916; called
to order by President Hay, with 40 persons present.

The President noted the recent death of F. M. Webster, long a
member of the Society.

Upon recommendation of the Council the following were elected
to active membership: H. F. Taylor, Bureau of Fisheries, Douglas
C. Mabbott, Biological Survey; Wallace M. Yatees, Department
of Agriculture.

Under the heading of Brief Notes and Exhibition of Specimens
Mr. Wm. Palmer exhibited a specimen of seahorse which actually
came from near Colonial Beach, Chesapeake Bay, but which had at-
tained much newspaper notoriety as having been caught in the Tidal
Basin, D. C. He also exhibited the collector's sketch of a pipefish
which had actually been captured in the Tidal Basin.

The regular program consisted of a communication by W. W. Cooke,
Notes on Labrador birds. Mr. Cooke gave an interesting account of
Mr. Clarence Birdseye's experiences and travels in Labrador dur-
ing the past four years while engaged in farming silver gray foxes for
their fur, describing the difficulties under which he labored and the
disastrous effect of the European War on the fur market. The speaker
then gave an historical survey of Labrador ornithology from the early
days of Cartwright to Mr. Birdseye's latest observations which include
the extension of range of several species of birds. Mr. Cooke's paper
was illustrated with lantern slide views of maps of Labrador, maps
of migrations of certain birds, and views of several birds which had
lately been observed for the first time in eastern Labrador. Mr.
Birdseye's observation on Labrador birds will appear in full in the
April Auk.

The paper was discussed by Messrs. Wm. Palmer and Alex.
Wetmore.

M. W. Lyon, Jr., Recording Secretary.

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VI MARCH 4, 1916 No. 5

MINERALOGY.— A peculiar intergrowth of phosphate and sili-
cate minerals. Edgar T. Wherry, National Museum.1

A green and white substance occurring associated with varis-
cite in fissure veins in metamorphosed slate near Manhattan,
Nevada, was recently submitted to the U. S. National Museum
for identification by Mr. Percy Train of that place.2 It appears
to be of sufficient interest to justify this preliminary announce-
ment of its character.

The material presents the form of a "sulphate" green, glassy
mass, traversed by numerous sub-parallel wavy white lamellae,
varying from 1 mm. down to 0.05 mm. in thickness, but at the
latter size becoming too translucent to be distinguished, so that
the variation may well continue to still thinner dimensions.
Both minerals are practically amorphous, showing between
crossed nicols only traces of weakly doubly refracting material.

A small sample of the purest green material which could be
separated by hand picking was submitted to J. E. Whitfield for
analysis; it was free from visible lamellae, although it may have
contained indistinguishable ones. Its composition proved to
be: CaO 6.30, CuO 1.25, MgO 0.80,3 A1203 25.90, Fe203 2.14,
P205 24.76, Si02 7.32, H20 below 100° 21.90, above 100° 9.20,
sum 99.57. These figures lead to no simple formula, but as it

1 Published by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

2 U. S. National Museum Catalogue No. 92909.

3 Determined by the writer on a separate sample.

105

106

wherry: phosphate and silicate minerals

seemed probable that the silica might be due to lamellae which
are present but unrecognizable because of their thinness, an
attempt was made to determine the composition of the white
lamellar mineral. It proved impracticable to separate the
lamellae from the green ground-mass with any. degree of com-
pleteness, but a very small sample, containing perhaps one-third
of the latter, was analyzed by the writer with the following results :
CaO+CuO 9.0, MgO 0.5, Al203+Fe203 23.3, P205 12.1, Si02
30.0, H20 below 100° 10.4, above 100° 14.8, sum 100.1.

Although amorphous colloidal minerals like these do not
necessarily possess definite formulas, it seemed worth while to
attempt to determine at least their approximate nature. The
known aluminium phosphate minerals fall into four divisions
with reference to the ratios of the A1203 to P205, as shown in the
following table:

Al203:P20s

1 : 1

3:2

2 : l

3: 1

Formula

AlPOi

(AlOH) "3 (P04)2"'

(AlOH) " (AlOiHo) '
(POO'"

(AIO2H2V (POO '"

Excess

H20:Al2Ob

0: 1

berlinite

trolleite

augelite

1: 1

planerite

peganite

spherite

2: 1

ceruleolactite
(and turquois)

some ''rich-
mondite"

3: 1

wavellite

fischerite

4: 1

callainite, lucin-
ite and varis-
cite

some "rich-
mondite"

evansite

5: 1

vashegyite

(two varieties)

6: 1

some "richmon-
dite"andzeph-
arovichite

The ratio Al203(+Fe203) : P2O5 shown in analysis 1 is 3.1: 2,
so that this mineral evidently belongs to the second of these
divisions. It is also very high in water, and accordingly lies
toward the bottom of the table. The possibility of its identity with
vashegyite must therefore be considered. The latter mineral was

wherry: phosphate and silicate minerals

107

described by Zimanyi4 as a dense (dicht, derb) white, meerschaum-
like substance with the (rather improbable) ratios A1203 : P2O5 : H20
= 4:3: 30, associated with a similar material with the ratios 3:2:17.
It seems likely that these are really the same mineral, the ap-
parent difference, in ratios being due to the impure character
of the samples analyzed. In Doelter's Handbuch der Mineral-
chemie this mineral is listed as amorphous,5 but a specimen
labeled vashegyite in the collection of Colonel Roebling has been
found by Dr. E. S. Larsen, Jr., to be cryptocrystalline with an
index of refraction of 1.480 and double refraction 0.002. 6 A com-
parison of the properties of the present mineral and vashegjdte
is given below:

Manhattan mineral Vashegyite

Color pale green white to yellowish

Luster vitreous dull

Hardness 3.5 2.5

Specific gravity 1.9S 1.964

Structure amorphous, glass-like compact, meerschaum-

like
Optical character isotropic anisotropic, cryptocrys-

talline

Index of refraction variable, 1.48 to 1.50 1.480

Double refraction absent very weak, about 0.002

Ratio A1,03: P206: H20... . about 3: 2: 18 3: 2: 17 or 4: 3:30

Impurities considerable, including very small in amount

copper oxide, yield-
ing the green color

Occurrence associated with variscite "In the immediate

neighborhood of var-
iscite"

The differences in optical properties can be explained as due
to the vashegyite examined by Dr. Larsen being a "metacolloid,"
a colloid exhibiting incipient crystallization, while the Man-
hattan mineral is still essentially amorphous; the difference in
color is attributable to the presence of copper in the latter.7
The two minerals thus agree to a sufficient extent for them to
be regarded as identical.

4 Math. term. Ert. 27: 64. 1909; Zeits. Kryst. Min. 47: 53. 1909.

5 Handbuch der Mineralchemie, 3: 465. 1914. ,

6 Private communication.

7 The copper probably replaces either some of the (AlOH)* groups or H therein.

108 wherry: phosphate and silicate minerals

The nature of the white lamellar mineral can not be definitely
made out from the data at hand. Of the constituents found in
the second analysis, all of the P205 and part of the A1203 and H20
are undoubtedly due to the admixed green material; if this
amounted to one third of the whole, then the approximate com-
position of the white mineral would be CaO 17, A1203 17, Si0247
and H20 19, corresponding roughly to the ratios of these four
constituents, respectively, 2 : 1 : 5 : 7. No amorphous mineral
of this composition appears to be on record, although the crystal-
line zeolite laubanite differs only in having slightly less water.
However, the mean index of laubanite, as determined by Dr.
Larsen8 is 1.475, while that of the present mineral is higher, vary-
ing from 1.53 to 1.54, so the two must be entirely distinct. It
may be noted that the mineral fuses with intumescence before
the blowpipe, so that it evidently belongs to the zeolite group,
but under the circumstances it would be unsafe to assign a name
to it.

Although in many aluminium phosphates siliceous impurities
have been found to be present, no definite intergrowth relations
have heretofore been reported to exist between the two. The
structure here shown is not difficult to explain, however, when
the colloidal character of the materials is considered. The lamel-
lae have the aspect of forms produced by rhythmic precipitation
in gels, such as obtained in many of the experiments described
by Liesegang9 and others. In this case if, while the phosphate
gel was still soft, a solution containing calcium and silica flowed
over it, reaction might readily have occurred, with removal of
part of the phosphoric acid and formation of a calcium aluminium
silicate with the liberated alumina.

The material studied is regarded, then, as a colloidal vashegyite
traversed by rhythmically precipitated laminae of a calcium
aluminium silicate of probably zeolitic nature.

8 Private communication.

9 Geologische Diffusionen, Dresden and Leipzig, 1913.

cockerell: lower cretaceous flora 109

PALEOBOTANY. — A Lower Cretaceous flora in Colorado. T.
D. A. Cockerell, University of Colorado.

During the past summer Mr. Terry Duce, working for the
Geological Survey of Colorado, was so fortunate as to find a
new locality for Mesozoic plants, with fairly abundant remains.
The locality is on the high point between Cutthroat Gulch and
Hovenweep Canyon, Lat. 37°, 53' N., Long. 108°, 57' W. The
greater part of the section there exposed is assigned to the
McElmo, presumed to be Jurassic. Above the McElmo black
shales alternate with massive sandstone, the two combined in-
cluding the uppermost 131 feet of the whole exposure, which
measures some 410 feet. The plants are preserved in hard white
quartzose sandstone, with occasional iron concretions, about
10 feet below the top of the section. This flora is of peculiar
interest, not only for the light it throws on the age of the strata,
but especially because it belongs to the period when angiosper-
mous plants were just beginning to appear. One of the greatest
puzzles in evolution is the apparently sudden arrival of the an-
giosperms during the Mesozoic ; at first represented by few species,
but presently developing a remarkable series of broad-leafed
trees, including generic types apparently identical with those
now living. Any plant material from the period which saw the
dawn of the higher plants in North America is therefore of par-
ticular value, although we must doubtless go to some very differ-
ent part of the globe to find, if they ever are found, the immediate
ancestors of the Cretaceous angiosperms.1

At the beginning of my studies of Mr. Duce's material I sent
photographs of the best specimens to Dr. A. C. Seward and Dr.
Edward W. Berry, both of whom very kindly reviewed and
criticised my preliminary determinations. There is in the col-
lection only one species which can claim to be an angiosperm.
Elongate-lanceolate willow-like leaves, at first rather suggesting
some Podozamites,2 are seen on closer inspection to have lateral

1 For a most interesting discussion of this problem, see Weiland, G. R. : Amer.
Journ. Sci. 38: 541-460. 1914.

2 See, Seward, A. C, Jurassic Plants from Caucasia and Turkestan: Mem. d.
Comite-Geolog. (St. Petersbourg), N. S., 38: pi. 8, fig. 68. 1907.

110

cockerell: lower cretaceous flora

veins leaving a midrib, curving more or less, and at least toward
the apex of the leaf uniting to form a series of arches. These
leaves are evidently those of Sapindopsis, and may well belong
to the species S. variabilis Fontaine, although the lateral veins
appear to form a more acute angle with the midrib than in that
species as figured by Berry." Berry refers this genus with con-
fidence to the modern family Sapindaceae, but we should like
to see the reproductive parts. Is it possibly something more
than a coincidence that the venation is of the same type as
that of Gnetum, the modern broad-leafed gymnosperm?

Equisetaceous stems, the larger about 8 mm. in diameter,
with about nine striae, may well represent the species Equisetum

Fig. 1. Cycadospadix (?) sp. About natural size.

burchardti (Dunker) Brongn., but the sheaths are unfortunately
wanting.

Some curious palmlike structures, certainly not palms, closely
resemble Cycadospadix.4 They represent possibly more than
one organism, and one of the specimens, Dr. Berry notes, has
some resemblance to the base of a fern such as Matonidium;
it appears that Lignier, some years ago, actually described fern-
remains of this type as a Jurassic palm.

The best preserved specimens in the collection are elongate

3 Maryland Geol. Surv., Lower Cretaceous, pi. 83. 1911.

4 Schenk, A., in Zittel, Handb. Palaeontologie, Abt. II, Palaeophytologie, 228.
1890. Also, Dr. Seward, after examining the photographs, suggests comparison
with Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh, 47: 099, pi. 7, fig. 18. 1911.

cockerell: lower cretaceous flora

111

pinnae which I refer with confidence to Matonidium althausii
(Dunker) Ward. Although the sori, from the nature of the sand-
stone matrix, are poorly preserved, the structure appears to
agree exactly with this species, especially as figured by Seward.5
Dr. Seward, also, after examining the photographs, states that
he has little doubt that the specimens belong to Matonidium.
This plant is a fern of peculiar interest, as it appears to be the
ancestor of the isolated modern genus Matonia, found in Borneo
and the Malay peninsula. Matonidium althausii is a well-known
European fossil, but the Colorado specimens present no differ-
ences that can be seen.

The collection also
contains some ferns
which agree very well
with Todites, so far as
appearances go, but
there are no sori, and
exact determination is
not possible. Some
specimens could belong
to Weichselia, or even
better, as Dr. Berry
suggests, to Cladophle-
bis. One fragment ap-
pears to agree exactly with Onychiopsis.

Searching for a corresponding flora in the records, we find
the nearest approach in the Fuson formation of the Black Hills,
from which 26 species have been recorded by Ward and Fontaine.6
The Fuson list contains Matonidium althausii, Sapindopsis
variabilis, Equisetum burchardti, Cladophlebis, and Weichselia.
According to Berry this is approximately contemporaneous
with the Patapsco of Maryland and Virginia; which, however,
contains a much greater variety of angiosperms. The Fuson
list includes, in addition to Sapindopsis, fragments referred to
Ulmiphyllum, Qaercophyllum, and Ficophyllum. Berry notes

5 Jurassic Flora. I. The Yorkshire Coast, 76. fig. 7A. 1900.

6 U. S. Geol. Surv., 19th Ann. Rept., pt. 2. 1899.

Fig. 2. Matonidium althausii (Dunker) Ward.
About natural size.

112 pittier: new genus of mulberry family

that the first of these is really a fern, and that the last is at any
rate not a true Ficophyllum. The Quercophyllum could possibly
be Dictyophyllum, a fern. Thus the angiospermous flora of
the Fuson is not beyond suspicion, and apparently the beds
may be regarded as somewhat older than the Patapsco. It
would be possible to regard the Colorado material as contempo-
raneous with the Fuson, or somewhat older, but apparently
younger than the Kootanie.

A note may be added concerning Weichselia reticulata (Stokes
& Webb) Ward, reported from the Fuson. Seward7 gives a
detailed drawing of the venation of a specimen from Bernissart,
Belgium, and it must be said that this is rather strikingly differ-
ent from the venation of the pinnules of the Black Hills plant,
as shown in Ward's report. It may be, therefore, that our
Lower Cretaceous plant is a distinct species. Seward remarks
on the absence of fructification in specimens of Weichselia,
and suggests that it may not be a true fern, but Zeiller,8 re-
cording specimens from Peru, states that he found fertile fronds,
and that the plant is really a fern, perhaps a member of the
Marattiaceae.

BOTANY. — Inophloeum, a new genus of the mulherry family.
Henry Pittier, Bureau of Plant Industry.

Under the name Olmedia? armata Miquel described briefly
in 1854 a remarkable moraceous tree, a meager specimen of
which was collected by Seemann on the Cupica River in the
Colombian Darien. That he remained in doubt as to the proper
place of the species is shown by the question mark following the
generic name and by the following remark preceding the de-
scription: "Valdopere dolendum, stirpem admodum memorabilem
ex unico parvulo ramulo vix certe definiendam nee apte de-
scribendam esse."1

In the course of the botanical survey of Panama I have col-
lected specimens of the same tree at several places in the forests
to the east of the Canal, and from a specimen of the bark in the

7 Fossil Plants, 2: 495. 1910.

8 Compt. Rend., Acad. Sci. (Paris), June 6, 1910.
1 In Seemann, Bot. Voy. Herald, 196.

pittier: new genus of mulberry family 113

Museum of the National Institute at Panama City it may be
inferred that its area extends to the westward as far as the Code
Mountains, on the Atlantic water-shed.2

Unfortunately, though the material now at hand is more
copious, it hardly throws more light on the systematic position
of the tree under consideration, because, notwithstanding strenu-
ous efforts, I have been unable to obtain specimens of the male
inflorescences. It is obvious, however, that this species cannot
continue figuring under Olmedia, which is characterized by hav-
ing its female flowers single in a many-bracteate, more or less
loose involucre, while in the former these are in clusters of 4
or more, connate, and with the receptacle bractless, or the
bracts coalescent so as to be singled out only with difficulty,
except for an occasional free tip. The next possible genus would
be Castilla, which, however, differs in having the many-flowered,
cuplike receptacles provided with several rows of imbricate
bractlets, and in the pulpous mesocarp of the nutlets.

The aculeate limbs, bracts, petioles, and main nerves of the
leaves and the habit of the tree are secondary characters which
may be of some weight in justifying the recognition of this species
under a new generic name, Inophloeum, which I have selected
on account of the thick, fibrous bast, to which further reference
will be made later.

Following are the characters of the proposed genus and a
description of its only species:

Inophloeum Pittier, gen. nov.

Flores dioici. Masc. ignoti. Fern.: Receptaculum pauciflorum
obsolete bracteatum, vel bracteae confertim coalescentes. Perianthia
crassa, tubulosa basi inter se connata, apice libera, 4-dentata. Ovarium
semiinferum uniloculare, ovulo unico ex apice cavitatis pendulo ana-
tropo. Stylus brevis, crassus, inclusus, stigmatibus 2 brevibus angus-
tis acutis. Nucula perigonio concrescente coriaceo obtecta. — Arbor
armata, foliis distichis 3-nerviis integerrimis, stipulis amplexicaulibus
aculeatis, inflorescentiis axillaribus, receptaculis parvis cum perianthiis
concrescentibus. Species unica panamensis.

2 If I remember correctly, the specimen, consisting of a large piece of bark
made into a garment, is labelled: "Vestido de un Indio de Penonome, hecho de
La corteza de unapalmera," which, translated, means: "Clothing of a Penonome
Indian, made /rom the bark of a palm." This label had been written by a Dr (?)
Marquis, professor of botany and author of an extensive and extraordinary paper
on the palms of Panama!

114 pittier: new genus of mulberry family

Inophloeum armatum (Miquel) Pittier.

Olmedia f armata Miquel in Seemann, Bot. Voy. Herald, 196. 1854.

Arbor mediocris, ramulis, petiolis, costa foliorum subtus, stipulisque
aculeatis, foliis distichis, coriaceis, petiolo crasso subtereto laminis lato-
ovatis, obliquis, basi rotimdatis vel subcuneatis apice obtusiusculo-
apiculatis, glabris, utrinque 7-8-costatis, costis subtus prominentibus,
stipulis convolutis, subspathaceis, cicatricem obliquam circularem re-
liquens; receptaculis foemineis axillaribus, 3-7-floribus, perianthio
ovoideo-tubuloso, coriaceo, stylo incluso, stigmatibus linearibus, erectis,
contiguis, fere adnatis. Bacca coriacea, et caetera ignota.

Arbor 10-20 metralis, trunco erecto, cortice crasso, sublaevi. Aculei
conici, basi crassi, apice acuto, hyalino, ampulliformi, circa 3 mm.
longo. Petioli 1.5-2.5 cm. longi; laminae 14-40 cm. longae, 11-25
cm. latae. Stipulae 2-2.5 cm. longae. Perianthium foemineum ca.
6 mm. longum.

Panama: Around Dos Bocas, Fato Valley, province of Colon, in
forests, female flowers, August 16, 1911, Pittier 4202. Alhajuela, on
the shady banks of the Chagres River, leaves only, May 25, 1911,
Pittier 3731. Lake shore in the Gatun Valley, in forest, May, 1914,
Pittier, without number. Around Pinogana, southern Darien, April,
1914, Pittier, without number.

Miquel mentions white, setulose hairs mixed with the aculei of the
stipules and bracts. In our specimens such hairs, when extant, are
so scarce and inconspicuous as not to be worth mention. The larger
dimensions of the leaves are those given by the same author; in our
specimens they are not over 25 cm., long and 18 cm. broad.

The liber of this tree is very thick and the fibers of its many layers
are strong and crossed. After a convenient preparation, which con-
sists mainly of soaking in running water for several days and a thorough
beating with a wooden club to separate the outer cortical part, it is
used by the Choco, Cuna, and Guaymi Indians as the usual covering
of the women, as well as for small hammocks, blankets, etc. In for-
mer times, as reported by Seemann,3 the larger pieces were made into
sails for the native canoes. This use of the bark of Inophloeum, how-
ever, is not exclusive, others being similarly applied. For instance,
it is said that in Costa Rica and Panama species of Brosimum and
Castillo, are treated in the same way for identical purposes, while in
other parts the bark of Ficus species is preferred.

The known natives names of Inophloeum armatum are namagua in
the Cupica district of the Colombian province of Choco, maragua in
Darien, and cocud in the negro villages on the Atlantic coast, close to
the territory of the San Bias Indians.

3 Bot. Voy. Herald, 196.

CLARK: NEW GENERA OF ECHINODERMS 115

ZOOLOGY. — Seven new genera of echinoderms.1 Austin H.
Clark, National Museum.

The past ten years has witnessed an activity in the study of
the echinoderms far surpassing that of any previous decade.
In] every class important and comprehensive memoirs, many
of them monographic in scope, have been published which in-
clude more or less complete revisions of genera, of families,
and of higher groups. Little by little the former wide differences
of opinion in regard to the internal systematic arrangement in
each class have disappeared, and today such diversity as exists
chiefly relates to the refinement of generic limits and the allo-
cation of a few anomalous types.

Along these lines there is still much work remaining to be
done, and it is in the hope of throwing additional light on cer-
tain obscure points that I am calling attention to the following
four crinoid and three starfish types which appear to me to be
well worthy of generic rank.

Comatonia, new genus

Genotype. — Actinometra cristata (P. H. Carpenter, MS.) Hartlaub,
1912.

A genus of Capillasterinae (Comasteridae) in which the size is small;
there are 10 arms only; the cirri are not excessively slender; there are
no carinate processes on the basal segments of the proximal pinnules;
terminal combs occur only on the pinnules of the first pair (Pi and P2),
from one or both of which they may be absent; the combs usually arise
about, or within, the proximal third of the pinnule, and are composed of
exceptionally large rounded teeth which usually much exceed in height
the lateral diameter of the segments which bear them; the fourth-seventh
brachials bear prominent spinous median knobs or keels; usually one
or more of the earlier segments of Px are twice as long as broad, or even
longer.

The only species of this genus, Comatonia cristata (Hartlaub),

ranges from North Carolina to Key West, Florida, in from 1\ to 132

fathoms.

Austrometra, new genus

Genotype. — Oligometra thetidis H. L. Clark, 1909.

This new genus of Colobometridae is most closely related to Anal-
cidometra, with which it agrees in possessing expanded genital pinnules,
a character not known elsewhere in the family. Both Austrometra

1 Published with the permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

116 CLARK! NEW GENERA OF ECHINODERMS

and A nalcidometra are related to Oligometrides more closely than to
any other type.

The third-fifth segments of the genital pinnules are more or less
expanded to protect the genital glands; there is a single median trans-
verse ridge of moderate height on the cirrus segments; Pi, though
longer and stouter than P2, is not exceptionally so.

Austrometra thetidis (H. L. Clark), the only species of the genus,
occurs off the coast of New South Wales in 55 to 56 fathoms.

Cotylometra, new genus
Genotype. — Oligometra gracilicirra A. H. Clark, 1908.
This genus of Colobometridae in general resembles Oligometra;
but there are 30 or more cirrus segments of which only the basal bear
transverse ridges, these after the proximal fourth of the cirrus trans-
forming into very long dorsal spines, and P2 has at most 12 segments
instead of at least 15.

The single species of this genus, Cotylometra gracilicirra (A. H.
Clark), ranges from the Andaman Islands to the Malay Archipelago
and the Philippine Islands in from 44 to 49 fathoms.

Daidalometra, new genus

Genotype. — Antedon hana A. H. Clark, 1907.

A genus of Thalassometrinae (Thalassometridae) in which the centro-
dorsal is small, low, hemispherical or thick discoidal, the broad dorsal
pole beset with irregular rather long spines, the sides bearing 10 closely
approximated columns of cirrus sockets of from one to three (usually
two) each; the cirri are XII-XX, 51-75, slender, from about one-half
to three-fourths as long as the arms; the longer proximal segments are
usually about three times as long as broad ; the basal three or four seg-
ments bear dorsally a fine median carination ending distally in a small
but prominent spine; the disk is moderately plated; the division series
and arms in general are as in Stenometra, but the arms are only from 10
to 12 in number, and the earlier brachials have only a faint low median
keel; the pinnules are as in Stenometra.

Of the two species referable to this genus, one, Daidalometra hana
(A. H. Clark), occurs off southwestern Japan in between 107 and 139
fathoms; the other, Daidalometra acuta (A. H. Clark), was dredged
south of Timor in 40 fathoms.

Mariaster, new genus

Genotype. — Johannaster giganteus Goto, 1914.

This new genus belongs to the subfamily Goniasterinae of the family
Goniasteridae.

The general form is stellato-pentagonal, with greatly produced, nar-
row, evenly tapering rays which are somewhat more than two and one ,

claek: new geneka of echinoderms 117

half times as long as the distance from their base to the center of the
disk. The size is very large, up to R = 338 mm., r = 87 mm. ; R,: r = 3.9
to 4.8:1.

The abactinal plates are very numerous, irregularly polygonal,
largest in the radiating papular areas and along the center of the arms,
diminishing in size slightly toward the center of the abactinal surface
and very markedly toward the superomarginals bordering the disk
and the proximal third of the arms; on the outer two thirds of the arms
the abactinal plates are subequal, irregularly polygonal; an irregular
carinal row of plates is sometimes traceable from the outer half of the
disk along the arms.

The madreporic plate, which is large, conspicuous, and polygonal,
is situated near the center of the abactinal surface and is covered with
very fine striae which radiate from the center.

The abactinal plates are uniformly covered with crowded granules,
which are much finer than those on the actinal intermediate plates.

The papulae are segregated in conspicuous petaloid areas which
extend from a central papular region and radiate onto the arms, reach-
ing nearly to the middle of the latter.

Many of the plates in the papular areas bear small pedicellariae,
of which there may be as many as three or four on the larger plates;
the plates of the interradial areas also bear pedicellariae, though here
they are much less numerous.

The superomarginals increase gradually both in length and in breadth
from the center of the interbrachial arc to the arm bases; in the
interbrachial arc they are confined to the side wall of the body and
overhang the inferomarginals ; on the arm bases they become more
recumbent, so that a greater part of their breadth (about two thirds)
lies on the dorsal surface. Pedicellariae, sometimes three or four to
a plate, occur in the interbrachial arcs, but they gradually become
less frequent and are rare in the distal half of the arms.

The inferomarginals increase in length, but decrease in breadth,
from the center of the interbrachial arc to the arm bases. In the
interbrachial arc they lie well within the actinal surface, the margin of
the body being delimited by the superomarginals; on the arms both
superomarginals and inferomarginals reach the same vertical plane.
The inferomarginals are slightly shorter than the superomarginals;
in the center of the interbrachial arc the two series correspond, but
from the arm bases outward the former alternate more or less with the
latter. The inferomarginals bear pedicellariae similar to those on the
superomarginals, mostly situated near the intermarginal suture.

Both superomarginals and inferomarginals are somewhat tumid,
and both are covered with small closely packed hemispherical granules.

The actinal intermediate plates are very numerous and decrease
in size from the adambulacral series toward the center of the inter-
brachial arc; those adjoining the adambulacrals are relatively large
and regular in arrangement; within these there is a more or less regular
second row which may be traced for about half of the distance to the

118 CLARK: NEW GENERA OF ECHINODERMS

arm bases; but within and beyond these the plates are small, irregularly
polygonal, and with no obvious arrangement. All of the actinal inter-
mediate plates are slightly tumid and are uniformly covered with
crowded granules; many bear pedicellariae, of which those on the
plates adjoining the adambulacrals are conspicuously larger than the
others; a plate in this series may bear as many as four pedicellariae.
At the oral angle of the interradial area there is usually a large odd
plate which may bear as many as six pedicellariae.

The adambulacral plates are about as long as broad, becoming pro-
portionately longer distally; the furrow border is angular; the furrow
series consists of from 10 to 15 flattened spines, the outer flattened
parallel with, the inner transverse to, the furrow; within these there is
a bare area, followed by a row of from four to five prominent stout
spines, beyond which are numerous tubercles decreasing in size toward
the outer edge of the plate. Most of the adambulacral plates bear one,
proximally often two, large high pedicellariae on the inner part near the
proximal border.

The mouth plates are small; each of them bears from 12 to 15 very
.stout flattened spines along the furrow, and a half dozen or more short
spines, either forming a single row along the suture line, or more ir-
regularly arranged, on the actinal surface.

Mariaster differs markedly from Johannaster in the lack of regularity
in the arrangement of the actinal intermediate plates, in the absence
of spines on the same plates, and in several other important features.
It agrees more nearly with Ly Master and Circeaster (especially the for-
mer), showing its relationship in the character and arrangement of the
actinal intermediate plates, in the character of the armament of the
adambulacral plates, in the character and distribution of the pedicel-
lariae, in the form and size of the madreporite, and in other ways; it
differs most strikingly from these genera in having narrower and
longer arms on which the abactinal plates are not conspicuously larger
than those of the disk.

The single species referable to this genus, Mariaster giganteus (Goto),
is known only from near Misaki, Sagami Bay, Japan, in from 160 to
1120 meters. Five specimens in all are known to have been collected,
four of which are in the museum of the Science College at Tokyo.

Pseudonepanthia, new genus

Genotype. — Pseudonepanthia Gotoi, new species.

The characters of this new genus, which appears to be referable
to the family Asterinidae and the subfamily Asterininae, are included
in those of the type species, the description of which follows :

Pseudonepanthia Gotoi, new species
Eight arms; R = 72mm.;r= 11 mm.; R: r = 6.5: 1; inferomarginals 111.
The rays are very long and narrow, almost circular in cross section,
evenly tapering to the tip; only three are of full size, the remainder

CLARK : NEW GENERA OF ECHINODERMS 119

being very small; two of the very small rays alternate between the
three of full size; the other three are side by side between two of the
later.

The gonads extend to the ninth superomarginal.

The interbrachial septum is very deep, extending from the stomach
to "the lateral interradial body wall, and is membranous except for a
broad centrally situated pillar composed of large overlapping plates.

Prominent superambulacral plates are present.

The pedicels are in two rows; they carry large sucking disks and are
connected internally with double ampullae.

The plates of the abactinal surface are very numerous, greatly re-
duced in size, narrow, crescentic with swollen and rounded ends, im-
bricating outward in the median line and perpendicularly to the mid-
radial line elsewhere. Three parallel rows of larger plates occupy the
mid-dorsal line of the arms; from the outer of these on either side the
smaller plates extend in regular diagonal rows to the superomarginals,
in such a maimer that the diagonal rows arising at any one point in
the median line run both distally and proximally at the same angle with
the superomarginals, while the plates of the succeeding rows also form
straight and regular transverse rows between, and perpendicular to, the
mid-dorsal rows and the superomarginals with which, however, they
do not quite coincide.

Externally the lateral plates appear as crescents regularly decreasing
in size from the dorsal region to the margin, each crescent partially
surrounding a single large papula situated in its concavity, on its
abactinal side; the plates of the median rows, while commonly crescentic
with the concavity proximal, may be triangular or irregular in shape.
The plates of the disk are irregular; most of them are of about the same
size as the median plates of the arms, but they become smaller about the
anal opening.

To the naked eye the appearance of the abactinal skeleton is some-
what similar to that in such species of Henricia as H. leviuscula, though
the arrangement of the plates is much more regular.

The surface of the abactinal plates is thickly beset with numerous
fine spines, of which the larger may bear from 20 to 25. In the proxi-
mal third to half these spines are stout, rounded-conical, with a dull
surface, but the distal portion is glassy and transparent, in lateral
view increasing in diameter at first slowly, later more rapidly, to the
coarsely serrate tip, so that they appear narrowly fan-shaped; in end
view they are seen to consist of three very delicate glassy calcareous
laminae united by their inner edges.

The papulae are large and conspicuous, decreasing in size from the
mid-dorsal region of the arms to the superomarginals; they are arranged
in very regular diagonal, and also transverse, rows. They are absent
from the region between the central portion of the disk and patches
at the base of the arms, and from a region including the actinal half of
each interbrachial angle and extending thence in a long triangle to
about the eighteenth inferomarginal. On the arms there is one papula

120 CLARK : NEW GENERA OF ECHINODERMS

in the concavity of each of the crescentic abactinal plates, except in
the mid-dorsal line, where some plates may be without them, and at the
end of the arms, where they occur in a single line on either side of the
median line, and a quadruple, later triple and double, line just above
the superomarginals. The tip of the arm is entirely without papulae.
On the disk papulae occur one to a plate in a more or less triangular
area within each arm base; scattered papulae occur in the center of
the disk.

In the proximal three-fourths of the arm the superomarginals cor-
respond with the inferomarginals, and are of about the same size;
in the distal fourth of the arm they become irregular in position and
indistinguishable from the abactinal plates; at first they are narrow
and transversely oblong, becoming triangular after the fourteenth.
Their armature is the same as that of the abactinal plates, from which
they are distinguishable only by their shape.

The inferomarginals, 111 in number, are at first longitudinally oblong,
becoming squarish at the middle of the arm, and transversely oblong
distally; their armature resembles that of the superomarginals.

The actinal intermediate areas are narrow; the plates are arranged
in rows parallel to the furrows; one row reaches to the distal fourth
of the arm, or possibly beyond; a second reaches the 25th inferomarginal ;
the third reaches the twelfth inferomarginal ; the fourth extends to the
seventh superomarginal ; and the fifth to the fifth; beyond the fifth
row there are a few additional plates. The armature consists of from
7 to 16 (usually about 12) well spaced sacculate spines with fluted and
spinous sides, ending in a tuft of spinelets. On the arms the spines on
the actinal intermediate plates resemble those on the abactinal plates
rather than those on the interradial regions of the disk (just described),
but are larger and longer.

The armature of the adambulacral plates consists of four or five
long furrow spines, the inner very slightly the longer, set in a slightly
curved comb ; beyond these there is a row of four or five spines resem-
bling those on the actinal intermediate plates, but somewhat longer and
stouter; this row is rather more strongly curved than the furrow series
and is placed diagonally, so that the proximal end is farther from the
groove than the distal ; this obliquity decreases distally and is not notice-
able in the outer two thirds or half of the arm; beyond this second row
there are a few additional shorter spines, not distinguishable from those
on the adjacent actinal intermediate plates.

The mouth plates are small, bearing on the furrow margin five
long flattened spines decreasing in length and stoutness outwardly;
these spines are finely fluted, with saw teeth on the ridges; within this
furrow series is a second series of five similar but shorter spines; the
remainder of the surface of the mouth plates bears four or five spaced
spines similar to those on the actinal intermediate plates.

Color in alcohol dark reddish brown.

Type.— Cat. No. 36899, U. S. N. M., from "Albatross" Station
3746, Sagami Bay, Japan, in 49 fathoms.

CLARK: NEW GENERA OF ECHINODERMS 121

Glabraster, new genus
Genotype. — Porania magellanica Studer, 1876.
This new genus is referable to the family Echinasteridae. The
whole animal in enclosed in a thick skin which entirely conceals the
plates and all but the tips of the spines; this investment carries minute
scattered spicules.

The ampullae are single.

The gonads are attached to the dorsal wall on either side of the inter-
brachial septum.

The interbrachial septum is complete and rather large, though
entirely membranous; it is crossed in the middle, in a line more or less
parallel to its curved inner border, by a narrow band of elongate cal-
careous ossicles placed end to end and not always touching, which
actinally curves inward and runs adorally to the mouth plates. This
band is more or less interrupted and may be present only in part.

The first ambulacral ossicle is much larger than those succeeding
and is widely forked in its proximal half.

The abactinal skeleton is very wide-meshed, reticulate, formed of
very narrow elongate overlapping plates with usually pentalobate
spiniferous plates at the more important nodes.

There is a central pentalobate plate, the lobes being radial in posi-
tion, which bears a prominent conical spine; in each interradius
about one third of the distance between the central plate and the
marginals there is a similar spiniferous pentalobate plate; these five
spiniferous pentalobate plates about the central abactinal plate are
connected by narrow lines of plates, and from the middle of each of
these lines a similar line (radial in position) runs to the central plate;
also from each of these five interradial lobate plates lines of plates run
out on either side parallel to the interbrachial margin, those from
adjacent plates uniting at an obtuse angle in the mid-radial line, so
that five triangles which are about twice as wide as high are formed, of
which the lines directly connecting the interradial pentalobate plates
are the bases. From the apex of each of these triangles, which is marked,
by a pentalobate plate bearing a small spine, a more or less irregular
series of from four to seven similar spiniferous lobate plates runs down
the mid-dorsal line of each arm; these plates are connected in the mid-
dorsal line by low elongate plates. From the large spiniferous lobate
plates in each interradius a double series consisting of five pairs of
elongate plates runs to the marginals; the second pair beyond the
lobate plate consists of plates with the adcentral ends broadened, and
from these there runs to the proximal mid-radial lobate plate at the
arm base a series of narrow plates; from a point midway on this series
to the arm tips there is a very irregular interrupted series of similar
but smaller plates, from which lines of plates run to each superomarginal
and to each node in the mid-radial line.

Within the wide meshes between the very narrow lines of plates
are large papular areas, the integument of which is abundantly dotted
with calcareous granules.

122 CLARK : NEW GENERA OF ECHINODERMS

The anal opening, which is large and surrounded with short spines,
lies near the apical spiniferous plate.

The madreporite is a separate skeletal element lying between the
plates of the first pair below the large lobate plate at the base of the
interradial area.

The superomarginals are trilobed and strongly imbricating; in the
proximal two thirds of the arm the imbrication is toward the center of
the interbrachial arc, in the distal two thirds it is toward the arm tips;
a quadrilobate plate imbricating both ways marks the transition.

Except for slightly greater size the inferomarginals are not different
from the plates forming the outermost row of the actinal intermediate
series, just within them; they are much broader than long in the
interbrachial arc, but increase in length outwardly; their imbrication
which is slight, is outward. Each inferomarginal bears a prominent
flattened spine with a truncated gouge-shaped tip, except for the three
or four in the center of the interbrachial arc which bear two similar
but smaller spines.

The actinal intermediate plates are elongate, imbricating adcentrally,
arranged in regular bands between the inferomarginals and the adam-
bulacrals which correspond to the former but not to the latter. The
plates composing these lines form about five regular transverse rows.
The row adjoining the inferomarginals has an additional plate in the
center. There are no actinal papulae.

The aclambulacral plates have a prominent, slender, sharp-pointed
spine deep in the furrow, and a much longer and stouter chisel-shaped
spine with a truncated gouge-shaped tip on the inner border of the
actinal surface; in the terminal portion of the arm there are two of
these latter to each plate instead of one.

The mouth plates bear two long flattened spines distally, which
increase in diameter to the truncated tip, and a similar spine at the
border of the first adambulacrals.

Glabraster magellanica (Studer) is confined to the Magellanic region,
occurring in the Straits of Magellan and along the shores of Patagonia
from the shore line down to 45 fathoms; Glabraster antarctica (E. A.
Smith), the only other species of the genus, is known from Kerguelen,
Marion Island, Prince Edward Island, the Crozet Islands, and South
Georgia, in from 50 to 1600 fathoms.

REFERENCES

Under this heading it Is proposed to Include, by author, title, and citation, references to all
scientific papers published in or emanating from Washington. It is requested that authors cooperate
with the editors by submitting titles promptly, following the style used below. These references are
not intended to replace the more extended abstracts published elsewhere in this Journal.

CHEMISTRY

Clarke, Frank Wigglesworth. The data of geochemistry (3d edition). U. S.
Geological Survey Bulletin 616. Pp. 821. 1916.

GEOLOGY

U. S. Geological Survey. Shorter contributions to general geology, 1915. U. S.
Geological Survey Professional Paper 95. Pp. 120. 1916.
Contains the following papers:
Hicks, \V. B. The composition of muds from Columbus Marsh, Nevada, pp.

1-11.
Atwood, W. W. Eocene glacial deposits in southwestern Colorado, pp. 13-26.
Lee, W. T. Relation of the Cretaceous formations to the Rocky Mountains

in Colorado and New Mexico, pp. 27-58.
Capps, S. R. An ancient volcanic eruption in the upper Yukon Basin, pp.

59-64.
Hicks, W. B. Evaporation of potash, brines, pp. 65-72.
Berry, E. W. Erosion intervals in the Eocene of the Mississippi embay ment,

pp. 73-82.
Van Orstrand, C. E., and Dewey, F. P. Preliminary report on the diffusion

of solids, pp. 83-96.
Smith, P. S. Notes on the geology of Gravina Island, pp. 97-105.
Cooke, C. W. The age of the Ocalla limestone, pp. 107—117.-

ORNITHOLOGY

Bailey, F. M. A family of North Dakota marsh hawks. Bird-Lore, 17:431-438,
5 figs. November-December, 1915.

Beal, F. E. L. Food of the robins and bluebirds of the United States. Bulletin of
the U. S. Department of Agriculture, No. 171. Pp. 1-31, figs. 1-2. February
5, 1915.

Beal, F. E. L. Food habits of the thrushes of the United States. Bulletin of the
U. S. Department of Agriculture, No. 280. Pp. 1-23, figs. 1-2. September
27, 1915.

Cooke, W. W. The migration of North American sparrows. Bird-Lore, 16: 176-
178. May- June, 1914; 16: 267-268. July-August, 1914; 16: 351. September-
October, 1914; 16: 438-442. November-December, 1914; 17: 18-19. Janu-
ary-February, 1915.

123

124 references: ornithology

Cooke, W. W. The migration of North American kinglets. Bird-Lore, 17: 118-
125. March-April, 1915.

Cooke, W. W. New bird records for Arizona. Auk, 31: 403-404. July, 1914.
(Records 9 species previously unknown from Arizona, with additional records
for several others. — C. W. R.)

Cooke, W. W. Distribution and migration of North American rails and their
allies. Bulletin of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, No. 128. Pp. 1-50,
figs. 1-19. September 25, 1914.

Cooke, W. W. Preliminary census of birds of the United States. Bulletin of the
U. S. Department of Agriculture, No. 187. Pp. 1-11. February 11, 1915.

Cooke, W. W. Bird nligration. Bulletin of the U. S. Department of Agriculture,
No. 185. Pp. 1-47, pis. 1-4, figs. 1-20. April 17, 1915.

Cooke, W. W. Some winter birds of Oklahoma. Auk, 31: 473-493. October,
1914. (Notes on 110 species— C. W. R.)

Cooke, W. W. The migration of North American birds. Bird-Lore 17: 199-203.
May-June, 1915; 17: 378-379. September-October, 1915; 17: 443-445. No-
vember-December, 1915.

Cooke, W. W. Bird migration in the Mackenzie Valley. Auk, 32: 442-459, figs.
1-5. October, 1915.

Cooke, W. W. Distribution and migration of North American gulls and their
. allies. Bulletin of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, No. 292. Pp. 1-70,
figs. 1-31. October 25, 1915.

Cooke, W. W. Our shorebirds and their future. Yearbook of the U. S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture of 1914, pp. 275-294, pis. 21-23, figs. 16-18. 1915.

Dearborn, N. Bird houses and how to build them. U. S. Department of Agri-
culture, Farmers' Bulletin No. 609. Pp. 1-19, figs. 1-48. September 11,
1914.

Fleming, J. H. A new Turnagra from Stephens' Island, New Zealand. Pro-
ceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 28: 121-123. May 27, 1915.
(Describes Turnagra capensis minor, subsp. nov., and adds note on the plum-
age of T. c. capensis. — C. W. R.)

Kalmbach, E. R. Birds in relation to the alfalfa weevil. Bulletin of the U. S.
Department of Agriculture, No. 107. Pp. 1-64, pis. 1-5, figs. 1-3. July 27,
1914.

McAtee, W. L. Five important wild-duck foods. Bulletin of the U. S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture, No. 58. Pp. 1-19. figs. 1-16. February 7, 1914.

McAtee, W. L. Birds transporting food supplies. Auk, 31: 404-405. July, 1914.
(Calls attention to several records of birds observed to place snails and ants
under their wing feathers for later use as food. — C. W. R.)

McAtee, W. L. How to attract birds in northeastern United States. U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin No. 621. Pp. 1-15, figs. 1-11. De-
cember 14, 1914.

McAtee, W. L. Eleven important wild-duck foods . Bulletin of the U. S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture, No. 205. Pp. 1-25, figs. 1-23. May 20, 1915.

Mearns, E. A. Diagnosis of a new subspecies of Gambel's quail from Colorado.
Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 27: 113. July 10, 1914.
(Describes Lophortyx gambelii sanus, subsp. nov. — C. W. R.)

references: ornithology 125

Mearns, E. A. Descriptions of new African birds of the genera Francolinus,
Chalcopelia, Cinnyris, Chalcomitra, Anthreptes, Estrilda, Halcyon, Melitto-
phagus, and Colitis. Proceedings of the TJ. S. National Museum, 48: 381-
394. January 19, 1915. (Describes 14 new subspecies from East Africa. —
C.W.R.)

Mearns, E. A. Descriptions of seven new subspecies and one new species of African
birds (plantain-eater, courser, and rail). Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collec-
tions 6513: 1-9. November 26, 1915. (Describes new subspecies of Turacus,
Corythaeola, Cursorius, Rhinoptilus, and Sarothrura. — C. W! R.)

Oberholser, H. C. A synopsis of the races of the long-tailed goatsucker, Capri-
mulgus macrurus Horsfield. Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum,
48: 587-599. May 3, 1915. (Recognizes 9 subspecies, of which Capri?nulgus
macrurus mesophanis and C. m. anamesus are new. — C. W. R.)

Oberholser, H. C. A review of the subspecies of the ruddy kingfisher, Entomo-
thera coromanda (Linnaeus). Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum,
48: 639-657. May 18, 1915. (Nine forms are admitted, of which five are
new.— C. W. R.)

Oberholser, H. C. Critical notes on the subspecies of the spotted owl, Strix
occidentalis (Xantus). Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum, 49:
251-257. July 26, 1915.

Oberholser, H. C. A synopsis of the races of the crested tern, Thalasseus bergii
(Lichtenstein). Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum, 49: 515-526,
pi. 66. December 23, 1915. (Recognizes 10 subspecies, of which Thalasseus
bergii halodramus is new. — C. W. R.)

Richmond, C. W. Note on the generic name Bolborhynchus Bonaparte. Proceed-
ings of the Biological Society of Washington, 28: 183. November 29, 1915.
(Finds the type of this genus to be Psittacula lineola Cassin and proposes the
generic name Amoropsittaca for Arara aymara, the alleged type of Bolbor-
hynchus.—C. W. R.)

Richmond, C. W. Notes on several preoccupied generic names (Aves). Proceed-
ings of the Biological Society of Washington, 28: 180. November 29, 1915.
(Renames five genera of birds, chiefly neotropical — C. W. R.)

Ridgway, R. Bird Life in southern Illinois. I. Bird Haven. Bird-Lore, 16:
409-420, 7 figs. November-December, 1914.

Ridgway, R. Bird-Life in southern Illinois. II. Larchmound: a naturalist's
diary. Bird-Lore, 17: 1-7, 3 figs. January-February, 1915.

Ridgway, R. Bird-life in southern Illinois. III. Larchmound: a naturalist' s
diary. Bird-Lore, 17: 91-103, 2 figs. March-April, 1915.

Ridgway, R. Bird-life in southern Illinois . IV. Changes tohich have taken place
in half a century. Bird-Lore, 17: 191-198. May-June, 1915.

Ridgway, R. Descriptions of some new forms of American cuckoos, parrots, and
pigeons. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 28: 105-108.
May 27, 1915. (Describes twelve new subspecies from tropical America,
and Notioenas as a new genus of pigeons. — C. W. R.)

Ridgway, R. A new pigeon from Chimqui, Panama. Proceedings of the Bio-
logical Society of Washington, 28: 139. June 29, 1915. (Describes Oenoenas
chiriquensis, sp. nov. — C. W. R.)

126 references: ornithology

Ridgway, R. A new pigeon from Jamaica. Proceedings of the Biological Society
of Washington, 28: 177. November 29, 1915. (Describes Chloroenas inornata
exigua, subsp. nov. — C. W. R.)

Riley, J. H. On the remains of an apparently reptilian character in the Cotingidae.
Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 27: 148-149. July 10,
1914. (Note on the presence of pores or pitlike depressions on hind tarsus
in species of this family. — C. W. R.)

Riley, J. H. An apparently new Sporophila from Ecuador. Proceedings of the
Biological Society of Washington, 27: 213. October 31, 1914. (Describes
Sporophila incerta, sp. nov. — C. W. R.)

Riley, J. H. Descriptions of three new birds from China. Proceedings of the
Biological Society of Washington, 28: 161-164. September 21, 1915. (De-
scribes Tetrastes bonasia vicinitas, Dryocopus martins silvifragus, and Eophona
melanura sowerbyi. — C. W. R.)

Riley, J. H. Note on Chlorostilbon puruensis. Proceedings of the Biological
Society of Washington, 28: 183. November 29, 1915. (Finds the above
species is a member of the genus Chlorestes, and probably a subspecies of
C. caeruleus. — C. W. R.)

Shtjfeldt, R. W. Osteology of the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius).
Auk, 31: 358-362, pi. 34. July, 1914. (Description of the skeleton of this
species. — C. W. R.)

Shtjfeldt, R. W. On the oology of the North American Pygopodes. Condor, 16:
169-180, figs. 50-54. July 25, 1914. (Discusses the eggs of the grebes and
loons.— C. W. R.)

Shufeldt, R. W. Reder og aeg Nor darner ikanske Kolibrier (Trochili). Dansk
Ornithologisk Forenings Tidsskrift, 8: 187-195, pis. 2-8. August, 1914. (De-
scribes the nests and eggs of North American humming birds. — C. W. R.)

Shufeldt, R. W. Contribution to the study of the "tree-ducks" of the genus Dendro-
cygna. Zoologische Jahrbiicher (Abth. fiir Syst.) 38: 1-70, pis. 1-16. 1914.
(Describes the osteology of this genus, and ranks it as a subfamily. — C. W. R.)

Shufeldt, R. W. Unusual behavior of a ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus
colubris). Auk, 31: 536-537. October, 1914.

Shufeldt, R. W. Anatomical notes on the young of Phalacrocorax atriceps georgi-
anus. Science Bulletin of the Museum of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts
and Sciences, 2: 95-102, pis. 17-18. November 5, 1914. (Account of the
anatomy of the young of this species. — C. W. R.)

Shufeldt, R. W. On the skeleton of the ocellated turkey (Agriocharis ocellata),
with notes on the osteology of other Meleagridae. Aquila, 21: 1-52, pis. 1-14.
Nov. 15, 1914. (Describes the skeleton of this species and offers compara-
tive notes on the genus Meleagris. — C. W. R.)

Shufeldt, R. W. Anatomical and other notes on the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes
migratorius) lately living in the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens. Auk, 32:
29-41, pis. 4-6. January, 1915.

Shufeldt, R. W. Fossil birds in the Marsh collection of Yale University. Trans-
actions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 19: 1-109, pis.
1-15. February, 1915. (Gives revised determinations of species and genera
described by the late O. C. Marsh, and describes 18 new species and 4 new
genera. — C. W. R.)

references: ornithology 127

Shufeldt, R. W. The fossil remains of a species of Hesperornis found in Mon-
tana. Auk, 32: 290-294, pi. 18. July, 1915. (Describes Hesperornis montana
as a provisional new species. — C. W. R.)

Shufeldt, R. W. On the comparative osteology of Orthorhamphus magnirostris
(the long-billed stone-plover). Emu, 15: 1-25, pis. 1-7. July 1, 1915. (De-
scribes the osteology of this species and gives a colored figure of the head.—
C. W. R.)

Shufeldt, R. W. On the comparative osteology of the limpkin (Aramus vociferus)
andits place in the system . Anatomical Record, 9: 591-506, figs. 1-16. August,
1915. (Describes the osteology of this bird and concludes it belongs in a
family, Aramidae, near the Rallidce. — C. W. R.)

Shufeldt, R. W. Fossil remains of the extinct cormorant Phalacrocorax macropus
found in Montana. Auk, 32: 485-488, pi. 30. October, 1915.

Shufeldt, R. W. A critical study of the fossil bird Gallinuloides wyomingensis
Eastman. Journal of Geology, 23: 619-634, figs. 1-2. October-November,
1915. (Compares the skeleton of this species with several recent forms and
concludes it was a true grouse, allied to Bonasa. The new name Palaeo-
bonasa is suggested, since Gallinuloides is "very misleading." — C. W. R.)

Todd, W. E. C. Preliminary diagnoses of seven apparently new neotropical birds.
Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 28: 169-170. November
29, 1915. (Describes Euscarthmus olivascens, Attila arizelus, Coryphistera
alaudina campicola, Phoethornis snbochraceus, Columba inornata proximo,
Asturina nitida pallida, and Crax annulata. — C. W. R.)

Watson, J. B., and Lashley, K. S. Homing and related activities of birds.
Papers from the Department of Marine Biology of the Carnegie Institution
of Washington, 7: 1-104, pis. 1-7, figs. 1-9. (Under the above general title
are included the following papers: "An historical and experimental study of
homing," by Watson and Lashley; "Notes on the nesting activities of the
noddy and sooty terns," by Lashley; "Studies on the spectral sensitivity
of birds," by Watson.— C. W. R.)

Wetmore, A. A new Accipiter from Porto Rico with notes on the allied forms of
Cuba ant] San Domingo. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washing-
ton, 27: 119-121. July 10, 1914. (Includes description of Accipiter striata*
venator.—C. W. R.)

Wetmore, A. The development of the stomach in the Euphonias. Auk, 31: 458-
461. October, 1914.

Wetmore, A. A peculiarity in the growth of the tail feathers of the giant hornbill
(Rhinoplax vigil). Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum, 47: 497-500.
October 24, 1914.

Wetmore, A. Mortality among waterfowl around Great Salt Lake, Utah. Bulle-
tin of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, No. 217. Pp. 1-10, pis. 1-3. May
26, 1915.

Wetmore, A. An anatomical note on the genus Chordeiles Swainson. Proceed-
ings of the Biological Society of Washington, 28: 174-176, fig. 4. November
29, 1915. (Notes the presence of a small gall bladder in this genus, con-
trary to published records. — C. W. R.)

Williams, R. W. Notes on the birds of Leon County, Florida, — third supplement.
Auk, 31: 494-498. October, 1914. (Notes on 10 species not previously re-
corded, with additional data on other species. — C. W. R.)

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED

SOCIETIES

THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 763d meeting was held on November 27, 1915, at the Cosmos
Club. President Eichelberger in the chair, 42 persons present. The
minutes of the 762d meeting were read in abstract and approved.

Mr. E. D. Tillyer presented a paper entitled A spectrograph for
photographing E talon rings. A systematic determination of the wave-
lengths of a spectrum such as the iron arc by means of the Etalon in-
terference rings requires a spectrograph giving sharp definition along
the spectrum lines and not necessarily sharply defined lines. The
spectrograph described was intended to be used in the ultra-violet
region from about 0.220 ju to 0.320 /jl and it was desired to obtain the
best possible definition through this region. A true flattening of the
field being impossible because of the absence of necessary materials
it was decided to use only quartz and rock salt in the optical system
and to so proportion the relative powers as to produce a flat though
inclined field when used with a 60° rock-salt prism. After setting up
the optical equations a solution was obtained which gave the neces-
sary flatness of field when the collimator was an ordinary quartz-rock-
salt objective achromatised to reunite X = 0.220 fj, to X = 0.320 /j. and
the camera lens was composed of two quartz lenses close together and
having almost normal field curvatures. The maximum curvature
in the hundred millimeters of field is less than a millimeter and could
have been further reduced except for the uncertainty of the indices
of the materials in the ultra-violet region. In practice this spectro-
graph will give fairly good definition throughout the visible spectrum
by a change of adjustment as well as in the region for which it was
designed.

Mr. H. E. Merwin then spoke on Linear interpolation of wave-
lengths in spectrograms. That the curve for the spacing of lines on a
spectrogram is of the same form as a dispersion curve is shown thus:
Let i = angle of incidence on prism, A = angle of prism, n = refractive
index of prism, /3 = angle between photographic plate and normal to
back face of prism, d = distance from line on plate to normal to face
of prism; A, B, etc., are constants. Then d = (A/sin /3) (s/n2 — sinH
— sin i. cot A), or, approximately, d = A (Bn — C) or A (Dn2 = F) or d

= (Gn-H) or (Kn2 — L) . But the dispersion formula is n2 = a+r^— — rfX.2

\~— c

128

proceedings: philosophical society 129

Then d = M+N (^-^A2). A table of the complex factor, call it

n', is easily computed from Barlow's Tables of Squares and Recipro-
cals if b, c, and d are taken equal to 0.01, as they are approximately
for quartz. But the same table of values of n' will fit values of X in-
creased or decreased by as much as 30 ju/z, which is ample to allow three
comparison wave-lengths in a spectrogram to be brought into coin-
cidence with the curve. Other wave-lengths are then interpolated
by d = M + Nn.' The paper was discussed by Mr. Burgess.

Mr. P. D. Merica then presented an illustrated paper on Some
metallographic methods. The term metallography connotes in its gen-
eral sense the study of the structures of metallic substances and the
properties of these substances as related to structure ; it has often been
confused with the microscopic study of metallic substances, which is
really only one phase of metallography. Slides were shown to illus-
trate the crystalline structure and growth of metals and alloys. De-
fective materials are often to be detected by microscopic examination,
such as, for example, the presence of slag or oxide, the application of
improper heat treatment, etc. The method of thermal analysis is used
to determine the melting points and transformation temperatures of
metals and alloys ; it has been used to detect the presence of impurities
in metallic tin, for example, the presence of 0.3 to 0.5 per cent of zinc.
Initial stresses are found in most metallic materials, due to unequal
rate of cooling or working; it has been shown that these are often re-
sponsible for failures of materials, for example, in the case of brass rods
and tubes. A method for determining structural identity or differ-
ence according to Hanemann was described. The theories of plastic
deformation of metals were discussed and evidence described bearing
upon these theories. In conclusion a plea was made for a fuller de-
scription of metallic materials used in determinations of constants.
The paper was discussed by Messrs. White and Tillyer with reference
to methods of getting wire of certain properties for thermo-elements.

The 764th regular meeting and 45th annual meeting of the Society
was held at the Cosmos Club, December 11, 1915. Vice-President
Briggs in the chair ; 33 persons present. The minutes of the 44th Annual
Meeting were read.

The report of the Secretaries was read by Mr. Fleming, showing an
active membership of 149. Sixteen regular meetings have been held.
The report was ordered accepted. The Treasurer's report through
December 9, 1915, was read by Mr. Sosman. The total receipts for
the year were $1075.09; total expenditures, $1420.09, including pur-
chase of bond of par value $500; total investments, $12,000; cash in
hand, $109.72. The report of the Auditing Committee consisting of
Messrs. Kimball, Ferner, and Wallis was read by Mr. Kimball. This
Committee reported the statements in the Treasurer's report to be
correct. The report was ordered accepted and to be filed with that
of the Treasurer. The Treasurer's report was ordered accepted.

130 proceedings: anthropological society

The following officers were duly elected for the ensuing year:

President: L. J. Briggs.

Vice-Presidents: E. Buckingham, G. K. Burgess, W. J. Humphreys,
and William Bowie.

Treasurer: R. B. Sosman.

Secretaries: J. A. Fleming and P. G. Agnew.

General Committee: H. L. Curtis, N. E. Dorsey, R. L. Faris,
E. G. Fischer, D. L. Hazard, R. A. Harris, W. F. G. Swann, W. P.
White, and F. E. Wright.

It was moved and carried unanimously that this meeting recom-
mend to the General Committee that Messrs. Dall and Abbe, both
charter members of the Society, be made honorary life members, and
be exempt from payment of further dues.

Jno. A. Fleming, Secretary.

THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

At the 490th meeting of the Society, held November 2, 1915, in the
Public Library, Dr. Walter Hough, of the National Museum, spoke
on Progress in Anthropology in California. He first discussed the prob-
lems connected with the populating of California by the Indians,
giving a general view of the geographical obstacles and the avenues
to the* north and south by which migrants entered. The conditions
as to food, water, and means of transportation were shown to have
greatly influenced the condition and direction of the migrations. A
brief review was given of the numerous stocks of Indians in California
and attention was called to the similarity, as regards the large number of
tribes present, to the Mexican Gulf area studied by Dr. J. R. Swanton.
The Pacific Coast was described as a vast ethnic enclave, a veritable
swarming place of tribes, whose origin, antecedents, and development
in most instances perplex the ethnologist. California presents a most
interesting field of study to anthropologists. Californian historians
are alive to the value of these studies as a groundwork for history,
and the speaker mentioned the work of H. H. Bancroft, Charles F.
Lurnmis, Robert E. Cowan, and others who have contributed valuable
work.

Progress in museum display of anthropological material was noted
and the great collections in San Francisco and Los Angeles described.
The speaker found evidence of the increasing growth of civic pride in
sustaining the work and adding to the effectiveness of museums. It
was said also that the University of California is a force for anthropolog-
ical science in California, and the intelligent patronage of Mrs. Phoebe
A. Hearst in this direction was praised since she had made possible
the important researches of Dr. A. L. Kroeber and others and the en-
riching of a great museum through exploration. An account was given
of the work in the more than 400 shell mounds of San Francisco Bay
carried on by Gieford, Nelson, and Waterman and of the explorations
among the Indian tribes.

proceedings: anthropological society 131

The two great expositions which California has successfully carried
on this year are of great importance to anthropology, especially that at
San Diego, where this subject was preeminent, the San Francisco Exposi-
tion being mainly devoted to modern progress. The anthropological
exhibit of the former was prepared by Prof. W. H. Holmes, Dr. Ales
Hrdlicka and others of the United States National Museum in coopera-
tion with Dr. E. L. Hewett, and furnished a superb contribution to
the study of man. The speaker said in closing that there is being
built up on the West Coast a people of general culture who are
appreciative and receptive of the researches of science. It augurs well
for the science of anthropology here that it has an alert public which
aids in the extension of its activities — a public that demands it and can
assimilate its results.

At the 491st meeting of the Society, held in the Public Library,
December 7, 1915, Francis LaFlesche, of the Bureau of American
Ethnology, read a paper entitled Right and left in Osage rites. The
Osage, at the formative period of their tribal organization, had arrived
at the idea that all life proceeded from the united fructifying powers of
two great forces, namely, the sky and the earth They also perceived
in these two forces an inseparable unity by which was made possible
the continuity of the life proceeding from them It was upon these
conceptions that they founded their complex gentile organization.
They first divided the people into two great divisions, one of which
they called Tsi-zhu (household), symbolically representing the sky,
and the other, Hon-ga (sacred), representing the earth. These two
great symbolic divisions they brought together to form one body which
they likened to a living man. He stood facing the east, the left side
of his body, the Tsi-zhu division, being to the north, and the right side
of his body, the Hon-ga, being to the south.

When a war party including men of both the great tribal divisions
was being organized, the people pulled down their wigwams and reset
them in a ceremonial order, which was in two squares, with a dividing
avenue running east and west. In this arrangement the position of
the symbolic man was changed so that he faced the west; consequently
the right side of his body, the Hon-ga division, was at the north, and
the Tsi-zhu divisions, at the south. All the ceremonial movements
were made in reference to the right and left sides of the symbolic man,
as was also the placing of the symbolic articles used in the ceremonies.
The portable shrine has a right and a left side. When the ceremonies
of the tribal war rites were being performed, the shrine was put in its
place so that the left was toward the Tsi-zhu and the right toward the
Hon-ga. When a man was initiated into the mysteries of the war rites,
the shrine of his gens was temporarily transferred to his keeping.
If he belonged to the Hon-ga division he hung the sacred article at the
right side of his door when viewed from within; if he belonged to the
Tsi-zhu division, he hung it at the left of his door. A woman for whom
a sacred burden-strap had been ceremonially made hung the sacred

132 proceedings: anthropological society

article at the right side of her door if she belonged to the Hon-ga division,
at the left side if she belonged to the Tsi-zhu division. The observance
of right and left pertained to many details connected with the tribal
ceremonies and appeared in the daily customs of the people.

The paper was discussed by Miss Alice C. Fletcher and Messrs.
Hodge, Swanton, Fewkes, Mooney, and Michelson, among others.
Similar dualistic concepts regarding right and left or earth and sky
as determining social relationships and fundamental modes of con-
duct were reported as found in widely separated tribes, such as the Hopi
of the Southwest and the Piegan of the north. The discussion cen-
tered largely upon the significance of 7 and 6 as sacred numbers, which
are found widely spread in ancient and oriental nations as well as in
America. Several members referred the origin of 6 as a sacred or
occult number to the six "cardinal points," north, south, east, west,
up, and down. The number 7 adds to these the concept of the center
between the points. Dr. Fewkes referred at length to his earlier
studies of the preference given the left hand in the sacred mysteries
of the Zunis and what he has called the "sinistral circuit," which was
followed, for instance, in Zuni processions and by anyone approaching
the kiva. Some theories account for this significance of the left side
by this being the side where lies the heart and the side which sup-
ports the shield in battle. Miss Fletcher dwelt upon the intellectual
and especially the poetic and anthropomorphic character of the con-
cepts of the Indian thinker who faces nature in the open and feels im-
pelled to think out and give reasons for things. Is not the sky side,
the left in the Osage conception, given the place of honor because of a
deep feeling of its religious significance?

Daniel Folkmar, Secretary.

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VI MARCH 19, 1916 No. 6

BOTANY. — A remarkable new Eysenhardtia from the west coast
of Mexico.1 William E. Safford, Bureau of Plant Industry.

In a recent paper on Eysenhardtia polystachya2 the author called
attention to the variability of that species and to the consequent
difficulty in delimiting the species included in the group to which
it belongs. Of those already described Eysenhardtia orthocarpa
S. Wats, and E. adenostylis Baill. are held by some authorities
to be specifically identical with E. polystachya (Orteg.) Sarg., and
E. amorphoides H.B.K. is undoubtedly a synonym of it. So
distinct from this group and from Eysenhardtia spmosa Engelm.
and its allies is the plant I am about to describe, that it ought
to be placed in a section apart from them. Its ten stamens are
monadelphous instead of diadelphous, the style is not genicu-
late or hooked, the calyx is deeply instead of shallowly and
broadly lobed, and it differs conspicuously from hitherto de-
scribed species of Eysenhardtia in its spreading, compound,
paniculate inflorescence and its very large retuse leaflets.

A critical study of the entire genus is greatly to be desired.

Eysenhardtia Olivana Safford, sp. nov.

A tree, 8 to 10 meters high, glandular-punctate throughout; heart-
wood dense and blackish; branches slender and spreading. Leaves
alternate, usually odd-pinnate (only those of flowering branches ob-
served); rachis 10 to 11 cm. long, grooved above; leaflets 7 or 8 pairs,

1 Published with the permission of the Secretary of Agriculture.

2 Eysenhardtia polystachya, the soiirce of the true lignum nephriticum mexi-
canum. Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci. 5: 503-517. 1915.

133

134 safford: a remarkable eysenhardtia

subopposite, stalked, oval or oblong-elliptical, finely granular-dotted,
retuse at apex, rounded at base, the largest (near the middle of the
rachis) 4 cm. long, 1.6 cm. broad, glabrous above, sparsely puberulent
beneath (as seen under the lens) ; petiolules about 4 mm. long, densely
glandular-tuberculate (in type specimen without stipels). Flower
small (about 8 mm. long), white, turning yellow in drying, crowded in
spicate racemes, these forming the ultimate divisions of a spreading
terminal compound panicle; branches of inflorescence finely cinereous-
tomentose and glandular-punctate; pedicels very short and slender (1
mm. long), subtended by a minute acute sessile lanceolate deciduous
bracteole. Calyx funnel-shaped, deeply divided into 5 nearly equal
linear-oblong lobes (rounded at the tips), clothed on the outside with
minute cinereous hairs and irregularly dotted with resinous globules.
Corolla subpapilionaceous, composed of 5 distinct unguiculate petals,
the standard (vexillum) twice as broad as the wings and keel petals,
emarginate or retuse at the apex, carinate; wings and keel petals nearly
similar, equalling the standard in length. Stamens 10, graduated in
length, united into a cleft tube, the upper (vexillar) the shortest, the
lower slightly exceeding the style; anthers similar, the pollen cells
united by a relatively broad connective. Ovary nearly sessile, 1-ovuled,
clothed with minute hairs; style terete, slender, not hooked at the tip,
but with a slightly broader terminal stigma. Legume not observed.

Type in the United States National Herbarium, No. 385587, col-
lected at La Correa, State of Guerrero, Mexico, at an altitude of 150
meters, October 1, 1898, by E. Langlasse (No. 395). " Arbre 8-10 m.,
bois pr£cieux noiratre; fleurs blanches. Nom indigene, Palo de arco
[bowwood]."

This species is named in honor of the late Dr. Leonardo Oliva, Pro-
fessor of Pharmacology in the University of Guadalajara, who first
indicated the true botanical classification of the Mexican lignum
nephriticum and identified Eysenhardtia amorphoides H.B.K. with
Viborquia polystachya Ortega.

The accompanying figure is from a drawing of the type by Mrs. R.
E. Gamble.

Explanation of Fig. 1.

Type specimen of Eysenhardtia Olivana Safford, showing the branching inflor-
escence, leaves, a flower, and the essential parts: a, flower with one petal
removed, to show the stamens and pistil; b, resinous globule, detached from the
calyx; c, cleft staminal tube with stamens, some of them deprived of their an-
thers; d, carpel, showing pilose ovary and style with terminal stigma; e, ver-
tical section of ovary, showing solitary ovule;/, vexillar petal (standard); g, a
wing petal; h, one of the keel petals. Leaves and inflorescence natural size;
a, c, d, f, g, h, scale 5; b, e, scale 6.

Fig. 1. Type specimen of Eysenhardtia Olivana Safford.

135

136 swanton: aboriginal name "aje"

ETHNOBOTANY — Note on the aboriginal name "aje." John
R. Swanton, Bureau of American Ethnology.

In Mr. Cook's article in this Journal for February 19, 1916,
entitled "Quichua names of sweet potatoes" my attention was
attracted to the word age, or aje, applied to a native root by the
aborigines of the West Indies. Mr. Cook says of this: " Several
of the early Spanish historians of the West Indies recorded the
name age or aje, but whether this belonged properly to the
sweet potato or to some other root-crop has been uncertain.
Some of the accounts evidently refer to Manihot, but Gray and
Trumbull settled upon Dioscorea as the correct application.
Gomez de la Maza claims both age and boniato as indigenous
Cuban names of sweet potatoes."

Dr. Cayetano Coll y Toste in his Prehistoria de Puerto-Rico
also identifies it with the yam and says regarding it:1 "Dr.
Chanca noted in his letter to the Seville corporation: 'All come
laden with ages, which are like turnips (nabos), very excellent
food.' Oviedo says (lib. VII, cap. Ill): 'In this island of His-
paniola and in all the other islands and the Mainland, there is
a plant which is called ajes, which look something like the turnips
(nabos) of Spain, especially those which have the bark or surface
white above, because there are of these ajes white and red, which
verge upon violet, and some yellow, and they are very much
larger than turnips (nabos) commonly are.' The same author,
in chapter 82, distinguishes the ajes from the batatas. Peter
Martyr in his third Decade, book V, chapter III, describes the
ajes and the batatas. Las Casas does not confound them when he
says (t.v. page 307) : ' There are other roots which the Indians
call ajes and batatas: and there are two species of these: these
last are more delicate and of a nobler nature: thy are sowed in
hills after the manner of yuca, but the plant is different.' There
are modern writers like Seflor Pichardo, who think that the aje
is the white name (yam). This plant, the name, was brought
from Africa with the importation of the negroes into America."

1 Cayetano Coll y Toste. Prehistoria de Puerto-Rico, pp. 197, 198. San
Juan, 1907.

cook: determining types of genera 137

The fact to which I wish to call attention is the close resem-
blance between this term age or aje and the terms applied to all
kinds of " potatoes" by many of our southern tribes. The Creek
and Alabama word is aha, but that of the Choctaw and the
Hitchiti, the ancient inhabitants of southern Georgia, ahe. Along
with some qualifying words this is used for the Irish potato,
sweet potato, and yam, but it is also applied to a wild root which
it is natural to suppose was the original plant so designated.
The root to which the Alabama Indians apply the term, plus a
qualifying adjective meaning " rough," tcagawa, has been iden-
tified for me by Mr. Paul C. Standley, of the National Her-
barium, as Apios apios (L.) MacM. Presumably this is the
same as the Creek aha akiiwahi, "mud potato," and the Choctaw
ahe kamassa or ahe ahkamassa, "hard potato."

We have here the perplexing problem of a very similar name
applied originally, to all appearances, to entirely unrelated plants
and by derivation 'to the very same plants. The resemblance
may be purely accidental, but I think it more likely that the
word was borrowed from the West Indies by the southern tribes,
or vice versa, as the name of several roots not perfectly discrimi-
nated from each other. Precisely the same thing has happened
in the case of the name kunti. This was originally applied by
the Creek Indians to the roots of several species of Smilax; but
after those Creeks who came to be known as Seminole had
invaded Florida, they found a Zamia in use there to which they
gave the very same term. At first the older kunti was distin-
guished as the "red kunti" and the new plant as the "white
kunti;" but later, or at least where only one of them was to be
had, the qualifying adjective was dropped. It thus came about
that the same word had a totally different application in different
sections of the territory occupied by the same people.

TAXONOMY. — Determining types of genera. O. F. Cook,
Bureau of Plant Industry.

Biological taxonomy is being rebuilt on a new foundation.
The older method of naming by concepts is giving place to nam-
ing by types. Names are no longer thought of as relating pri-

138 cook: determining types of genera

marily to the definitions of the natural groups, but as attached
to the groups themselves, through the medium of types. Each
species has its type specimen, each genus its type species.

The method of naming the concepts was used by Linnaeus
and his followers for over a century, but had to be abandoned
on account of the confusion caused by names slipping away from
their original application. Types not being recognized, the ap-
plications of the names varied with interpretations of the defini-
tions. Two or more names often became current for the same
genus, or the same name for two or more genera. How to place
the older names on a type basis is still a problem.

Priority governs the acceptance of names and should also
determine the application of names. Priority of application
means that a name should remain with its original type. Cer-
tainly no practical purpose is served by accepting a name unless
the application is determined. Names without applications are
worse than useless.

Generic names that have been misapplied need to be re-
stored to their original applications and fixed by the recognition
of types. But by using wrong methods in the work of restora-
tion it is possible to damage the taxonomic structure still more.
Historical continuity is sacrificed when names are carried away
from their original applications. This objection lies against all
of the arbitrary methods of fixing types, whether we take as
types the last species by elimination, the first species named, or
the first species to be designated as type by a later author. The
method of elimination is most defective, because it does not give
the same results in the hands of different students and because
it often leads away from the true type. Obscure names are
brought out for prominent genera, and prominent names trans-
ferred to obscure species. The confusion is worse than if the
transferred names had been discarded altogether.

The need of more care in determining the original applications
of names may be illustrated by an example from millipeds.
The generic name Spirobolus has been used for a very large group
of tropical species with their chief center in South America.
The genus was established by Brandt in 1833, with two species

cook: determining types of genera 139

named, S. olfersii from Brazil and S. bungii from northern
China. The generic description relates entirely to the char-
acters of the antennae and refers to a drawing of S. olfersii,
the only species figured. The characters as stated and illus-
trated are applicable only to S. olfersii, so that a strict inter-
pretation would exclude S. bungii. It seems plain that Spiro-
bolus was based wholly on S. olfersii, and that this species must
be considered as the true historical type of the genus.

Nevertheless, Spirobolus bungii has been designated as the type
of the genus, on the ground that the establishment of Rhino-
cricus in 1881 had the effect of removing olfersii, so that only
bungii was left. But now it appears that olfersii was not really
removed, since Rhinocricus needs to be maintained as a distinct
genus, with the Porto Rican Rhinocricus parous as type. Even
if olfersii and parens were congeneric, there would still be no ade-
quate reason why the publication of Rhinocricus should be sup-
posed to take away the historical type of Spirobolus and change
the application of the name. Obviously, any later name based
on olfersii, or on any species truly congeneric with olfersii, should
be treated simply as a synonym of Spirobolus.

Under the law of priority a name has to be replaced if another
is older, but elimination often has the effect of replacing an older
name by a later one. Changing the type makes it possible for a
later synonym to supplant an old, well-known generic name,
which is then slipped along to a different application. To
assume that the naming of Rhinocricus could have the retro-
active effect of transferring the name Spirobolus from a Brazilian
genus represented by olfersii to a Chinese genus represented by
bungii, is neither consistent with priority nor in the interest of
stability.

Transferring Spirobolus to China has the effect of giving the
same name to a second genus. Altering the application of the
name subverts the law against homonyms. Future writers and
readers must guard themselves against confusing the two genera
to which the name Spirobolus has been applied.

Some taxonomists hold that the first formal designation of a
type species, however arbitrary or erroneous, must be main-

140 cook: determining types of genera

tained; but such a rule leads, in cases like the present, to a
mere shuffling of names, without historical warrant or practical
advantage. It seems more reasonable to hold that in using
olfersii exclusively as the basis of his genus Brandt himself des-
ignated the type of Spirobolus. The original application of the
name should not be subject to change by any later author, either
by proposing a new genus in the place of Spirobolus or by desig-
nating a different type for Spirobolus. Instead of being taken
as the type of Spirobolus, bungii should be associated with
Arctobolus, the genus of Spirobolidae that is dominant in the
temperate regions of North America.

The case is one of many where types are not to be determined
from considerations of nomenclature alone. It would be use-
less to ask a nomenclatorial expert or commission to rule upon
Spirobolus without the pertinent facts. Instead of premature
regulations and decisions, the need is for more facts and more
thorough study of taxonomic problems. Adequate investigation
might lead to simple and practical solutions that could be applied
by any careful student.1

Complications have been increased unnecessarily in the effort
to force a general adoption of an imperfect system. Priority
has been pushed to extremes in the acceptance of names, only
to be disregarded in determining the applications of names.
Abortive names and synonyms that might well have remained
in oblivion have replaced many well-known names, and others
are being misapplied as a result of the practice of elimination.
That botanists and zoologists are using different methods of
typifying genera also shows how casual the study of taxonomic
problems has been. Such divergence of views can only mean
that the subject is not adequately understood, for the need of a
stable taxonomy is the same in both branches of biological science.

1 Other phases of the question have been treated in previous papers. See,
Terms relating to generic types, The American Naturalist, 48: 308; and Fiat
nomenclature, Science, N.S., 40: 272.

CLARK: EXTENDED RANGE OF GENUS LYDIASTER 141

ZOOLOGY. — A new starfish (Lydiaster americanus) from the
Gulf of Mexico, representing a section of the subfamily Go-
niasterinae hitherto knoivn only from the Indo-Pacific region.1
Austin H. Clark, National Museum.

One of the most interesting of the new starfishes described in
1909 by Professor Koehler from the collections of the Royal
Indian Marine Survey Ship Investigator was Lydiaster johannae
which, with the closely allied genus Circeaster decribed at the
same time, represented a hitherto unknown type of Gonias-
terinae. Lydiaster johannae was dredged only in a single locality
off the southwestern coast of Ceylon in 401 fathoms, while the two
species of Circeaster were found off the western coast of Ceylon
and southern India in from 912 to 1053 fathoms. Thus, so far
as known up to the present time, these two genera are confined
to the Arabian Sea. The only genus closely related to these two,
Mariaster, occurs off southern Japan.

But it appears that Lydiaster also inhabits the Gulf of Mexico,
being represented in this region by a remarkable new species, in
some respects intermediate between Lydiaster and Circeaster.
This may be known as

Lydiaster americanus, sp. no v.

Five arms; R = 100 mm.; r = 35 mm.; R:r = 2.9: 1; superomar-
gi rials 24.

General form pentagonal, with relatively narrow, evenly tapering-
arms, the length of which, measured actinally along the curve from a
point directly below the commencement of the enlarged plates, is equal
to the distance from the same point to the center of the interbrachial
arc opposite. The diameter of the arms at the base (at the level of the
distal border of the fifth supermarginal) is 19 mm. In the outer half
the arms bend gradually upward, so that their terminal portion makes
an angle of about 60 degrees with the plane of the disk.

Compared with L. johannae the interbrachial arcs are more nearly
straight and the arms, which are narrower, appear to arise more
abruptly.

The abactinal surface, which is somewhat swollen, is covered with
small polygonal plates which are mostly subequal in size and irregular
in arrangement; they vary from about 1 mm. to about 2 mm. in diame-
ter, being usually about 1.5 mm.; just before the base of the arms the

Published with the permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Insti-
tution.

142 CLARK! EXTENDED RANGE OF GENUS LYDIASTER

plates become shorter radially, so that they appear to be transversely
elongated; on the arms they slowly increase in size, though not in
regularity, the largest being something over 3 mm. in diameter; in the
distal half of the arm only one row of plates separates the superomar-
ginals, and the last four or five superomarginals are in contact along
the mid-dorsal line of the ray.

Each of the abactinal plates is bordered by a ring of flattened gran-
ules, there being from 20 to 24 about the largest; in the central portion
of the abactinal surface each plate bears from two to six rounded
granules, each inserted in a small pit; toward the periphery these be-
come less numerous and less prominent, though they occur nearly to
the marginals ; the plates on the abactinal surface of the arms are some-
what more flattened than those of the disk, and the isolated granules
are less common in their central portion; most of the plates on the
disk bear spatulate pedicellariae with usually strongly dentate jaws,
each sunk in a deep depression, but on the rays, except for one or two
very small and imperfectly formed, these are lacking.

The papular areas, which are confined entirely to the disk, are
very large; the only regions free from papulae are the center of the disk
and low triangles about three times as broad as high based upon the
superomarginals, in which areas also the plates decrease in size toward
the border and do not bear pedicellariae. The papulae are smaller and
less abundant in the mid-line of each ray than elsewhere, and this
causes the mid-radial plates in the peripheral half of the disk to appear
somewhat prominent.

The marginal plates of both series are 24 in number; but the infero-
marginals are somewhat longer than the superomarginals, so that,
although the two series correspond in the interbrachial arcs, in the
distal part of the arms they alternate in position. The interbrachial
arc as defined by the superomarginals is straight, as defined by the
inferomarginals gently concave.

In abactinal view the superomarginals, which are markedly tumid,
are seen to increase very slightly in width to the fifth, at the base of
the rays, thence decreasing gradually distally; in lateral view they de-
crease regularly in height from the center of the interbrachial arc,
where they are twice as high as the inferomarginals, to the distal third
of the arm, where the plates of the two series are of about the same
height. In the interbrachial arc the outer third of the superomarginals
is vertical, and the inner two-thirds bends inward so that the inner half,
which is flat, extends at an angle of about 45 degrees over the dorsal
(abactinal) margin ; on the arms the inner half becomes more nearly
horizontal ; here also the inner border of the superomarginals is straight,
but on the arms it becomes slightly convex or angular. On the aver-
age the superomarginals, as viewed abactinally, are about twice as
deep as long, those at the arm bases being somewhat longer, those
toward the arm tips slightly shorter.

Each superomarginal carries on its surface numerous widely spaced
deciduous granules arranged in the interbrachial arc roughly in five

CLARK: EXTENDED RANGE OF GENUS LYDIASTER 143

alternating rows of seven or eight each, becoming less numerous dis-
tally; the granular area is confined to the median portion of the plate,
though in the interbrachial arc it may reach the proximal border; in the
interbrachial arc nearly all the superomarginals bear near their actinal
border a very small deeply sunken spatulate pedicellaria; a narrow
border of flattened squarish granules surrounds each superomarginal.

The inferomarginals are essentially similar to the superomarginal;
viewed actinally they are seen to decrease in size from the center of the
interbrachial arc to the arm bases, thence much more gradually to the
arm tips; in the interbrachial arc in lateral view the inferomarginals
are only half as high as the superomarginals (2.5 mm.), but they rapidly
increase in height so that on the outer half of the arm the plates of the
two series are nearly equal. The inner portion of the inferomarginals is
everywhere horizontal, and the inner border is everywhere convex. A
border of small squarish granules similar to that on the superomarginals
is found on the inferomarginals, and the same granular ornamentation
occurs on their surface, though the granules are rather more numerous.
In the interbrachial arc the inferomarginals usually carry small exca-
vate spatulate pedicellariae just within the upper border, and one or
two additional on the ventral (actinal) surface; pedicellariae of both
series occur irregularly to the terminal portion of the arms.

The actinal intermediate areas are extensive; the row of actinal
intermediate plates adjacent to the adambulacrals, which extends to the
sixteenth superomarginal (the distal third of the arm), is regular and the
next row is regular to the arm bases ; a partial third row may be traced,
but within the triangular area between this and the inferomarginals the
plates, which decrease in size, tend to become arranged in columns
perpendicular to the inferomarginals.

In the center of each of the actinal intermediate plates is a large
pedicellaria which resembles those on the adambulacrals, and is more
or less proportionate in size to the plate; on the larger plates this is
surrounded by several large rounded tubercles, beyond which are the
lower tubercles forming the bordering series of the plates ; on the smaller
plates only the latter occur.

The adambulacral plates are oblong, from one-third to one-half
again as broad as long, with a very slightry curved furrow margin which
is not quite parallel to the groove, the proximal end being slight^ more
distant. The furrow series consists of five stout subequal truncated
spines, mostly rounded-quadrate in section, the most proximal of which
is so situated that it overlaps the most distal of the preceding series.
Behind the furrow spines is a series of three or four tubercles, the most
distal abruptly the largest, and behind these a long, low, Hippasteria-
like bivalved pedicellaria placed somewhat diagonally with its distal end
slightly nearer the mid-radial line. Beyond the pedicellaria is a series
of two or three large tubercles, and beyond these a series of several
smaller tubercles which, with similar tubercles, at right angles to the
two ends of this series, delimit the borders of the plate.

The mouth plates are triangular and inconspicuous, about twice as

144 mooney: the Greenland eskimo

long as broad; the furrow margin is about equal to the edge adjoining
the first adambulacral ; the furrow series consists of seven short blunt
spines, stouter than those on the adambulacrals, of which the inner-
most is broad, flat, and trapezoidal; just behind the two terminal spines
in this series are two large tubercles ; the remaining portion of the sur-
face of the mouth plates is covered with about 18 spaced polygonal
tubercles resembling those on the actinal intermediate plates, but
somewhat larger.

The color in alcohol is white.

Type.— Cat. No. 10872, U. S. N. M., from "Albatross" Station
2395, Gulf of Mexico, in 347 fathoms.

ANTHROPOLOGY.— The Greenland Eskimo: Pastor Frederik-
sen's researches. James Mooney, Bureau of American
Ethnology.

The great Arctic island of Greenland is held by Denmark,
having been first colonized by the Norse about the year 1000,
and re-occupied from Denmark in 1721, the first colony having
become extinct long before, possibly through inroads of the
Eskimo. Since the second occupation Lutheran and Moravian
missionaries, under the auspices of the home government, have
labored with such devotion and success among the aborigines
that of approximately 10,000 Eskimo of pure or mixed blood all
but a few hundreds along the most remote coasts are civilized,
Christianized, self-supporting, and able to read and write in
their own language, while living on the best of terms with the
handful of colonists. So carefully has the Danish government
safeguarded their interests that famine, intemperance, and foul
diseases which are so rapidly destroying the race in Alaska and
British America are virtually unknown in Greenland, as well as
wars and rumors of wars with their white neighbors. Since 1861,
with a few breaks, there has been published at Godthaab
(Nungme) on the west coast, a small monthly journal, the
Atuagagdliutit or "Reading Miscellany," entirely in the Eskimo
language, which for press-work, illustrations, and literary con-
tent is fairly equal to anything of the same size in this country.
Another mission monthly journal, the Avangnamiok, is pub-
lished under the supervision of Rev. V. C. Frederiksen, resident
missionary at Holstensborg, one of the northernmost outposts of

mooney: the Greenland Eskimo 145

civilization and well within the Arctic circle. Between pastoral
visits and sick calls in an open skin kayak, or by dog sledge,
from one to another of the small native settlements scattered for
three hundred miles along the dangerous west coast, this de-
voted missionary — whose only white companions are his wife
and two children and a couple of assistants — has found time to
give to his charges in their own language a volume of church
hymns, a brief history of Greenland, and several literary trans-
lations, besides making some important archeologic explorations.

In a paper upon "Eskimo Migrations," published originally
in the native language in Atuagagdliutit, Mr. Frederiksen arrives
at the conclusion, from linguistic, geographic, and archeologic
evidence, that the Eskimo tribes reached Greenland from an
original nucleus body in the extreme west. He believes that they
traveled southward around the coast to the east, the Eskimo of
the East Greenland coast representing the oldest migration, and
decreasing in number toward the north by reason of the scarcity
of game and of building material. The houses also dwindle in
size as we proceed northward along the east coast. The Norse
occupation about the year 1000 made a wedge of separation be-
tween the Eskimo of the east and west coasts for several cen-
turies, but with the extinction of the Norse colony about 1490,
probably from attack and final absorption by the natives, some
of the eastern bands again moved down toward the south. Of
those who remained behind, the most northerly, beyond Angmag-
salik, finally became extinct by starvation through the gradual
diminution of the whale and seal, while the more southern
tribes were saved from the same fate only by the kindly care
of the later Danish colonists. The Eskimo of South Greenland
have probably a considerable strain of the old Norse blood,
which may help to account for their superior capacity for
civilization.

The prevailing early house type of the South Greenland
Eskimo, on both the east and west coast, as shown by the ruins,
was rectangular, but about Sukkertoppen and Holstensborg, 65°
to 68° N., Mr. Frederiksen has discovered numerous remains
of semi-subterranean houses of circular form, always in groups,

146 michelson: an archeological note

sometimes of twenty together, resembling those about Cape York
in North Greenland and about the mouth of the Mackenzie and
westward. These round houses he considers to represent a later
migration or period; in fact, in one instance he found the
ruins of the round house within the remains of a larger rect-
angular house. The stone lamps found in these round houses
have always a partition wall, as among some of the far west-
ern Eskimo, to separate the oil from the blubber. Other objects
found, obtained from whaling ships, would indicate a period
not earlier than 1700. The modern Greenland house type is
also rectangular, except in the extreme north. In the same
neighborhood he found also the remains of a great circular struc-
ture, of the type of the assembly house of the Alaskan Eskimo.

ANTHROPOLOGY. — An archeological note. Truman Michel-
son, Bureau of American Ethnology.

Squier and Davis in their Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi
Valley, pages 249, 250, discuss a gray sandstone pipe now depos-
ited in the museum of the Historical Society of New York. They
show quite clearly that this is the original of the drawing by
Choris in his Voyage Pittoresque; and they demonstrate that there
must be some mistake as to the provenience of this pipe, for there
are no ancient tumuli in Connecticut. The purpose of this note
is to elucidate this last point. I call attention to the fact that
the Sauk pipe shown in the plate at the end of volume 2 of Bel-
trami's Pilgrimage belongs to the same culture as the one shown
in figure 149, page 249, in the work of Squier and Davis. I have
seen a photograph of the original of the latter, and it is far closer
to the Sauk pipe than the drawing indicates. If the drawing of
Beltrami is no closer to the original than is that of Squier and
Davis to its original, it is possible that the originals of both are
the same. Even if they are not the same, I think the above will
have made clear that the provenience of the pipe shown in the
work of Squier and Davis must be the upper Mississippi region,
near the Rock river, where the Sauk had their principal encamp-
ment when Beltrami visited their country, viz., 1823.

ABSTRACTS

PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY.— The preparation of -pure iron and iron
carbon alloys. J. R. Cain, E. Schramm, and H. E. Cleaves.
Bureau of Standards Scientific Paper No. 266. Pp. 26. 1916.
As previous work on the iron-carbon diagram is unsatisfactory be-
cause of the great variation in the materials used, it was thought desir-
able to produce at the Bureau of Standards a series of alloys of great
purity to form the basis of a redetermination of the diagram. The
general method pursued consisted in melting electrolytic iron with
sugar carbon in magnesia crucibles. The electrolytic iron was pre-
pared from ingot iron anodes in a chloride bath with or without the use
of porous cups. The operation of melting the iron with carbon gave
great trouble at first, because the ingots obtained were full of blow-
holes and contained considerable quantities of impurities. These
difficulties were overcome by melting in a vacuum furnace, and making
the crucibles of especially pure magnesia, made and calcined with great
care at the Bureau of Standards. A satisfactory procedure was finally
worked out and a series of alloys prepared of the composition Fe + C =
99.96 per cent. H. E. C.

GEOLOGY. — Mount Shasta — some of its geological aspects. J. S.

Diller. Mazama, 4: December, 1915, 11-16, illustrations and

maps.

Stress is laid on the geologic basis for differentiating the Cascade

Range and the Klamath Mountains' from the Sierra Nevada and Coast

Ranges. Mount Shasta is a mass of hornblende and hypersthene

andesites rising more than 10,000 feet above its base of Paleozoic and

Mesozoic rocks. It is bordered on the east by later basalts and

147

148 abstracts: geology

crowned by 5 small glaciers of which the Whitney glacier, the largest, is
2l miles in length. Near the summit are several fumaroles, a residual
of its waning volcanic heat. J. S. D.

GEOLOGY. — Geology and mineral resources of Kenai Peninsula, Alaska.
G. C. Martin, Arthur Hollick, Bertrand L. Johnson, and
U. S. Grant. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin No. 587. Pp.
243, with maps, sections, and views. 1915.
The volume consists of five papers entitled:
General features of Kenai Peninsula. G. C. Martin.
The western part of Kenai Peninsula. G. C. Martin.
Correlation of the Kenai flora. Arthur Hollick.
The central and northern parts of Kenai Peninsula. Bertrand

L. Johnson.
The southeastern coast of Kenai Peninsula. U. S. Grant.
This volume contains the results of reconnaissance investigations of
a region about 9400 square miles in area situated on the Pacific coast
of south-central Alaska. It presents a summary of what is known
of the geography, geology, and mineral resources. Some parts of the
peninsula have been studied in considerable detail, others have been
traversed only hastily, and information concerning considerable areas
is almost lacking.

The Kenai Peninsula includes two sharply defined, and geographically
and geologically dissimilar, districts, the Kenai Mountains and the Kenai
lowland. The Kenai Mountains have a general altitude of from 3000
to 5000 (maximum, 6400) feet and are in large part occupied by glaciers.
They are composed of thoroughly indurated, partly metamorphosed,
and highly folded rocks that include slates and graywackes of un-
determined age in the main mountain mass, and Upper Triassic and
Lower Jurassic limestones and pyroclastics on the western border.
Some intrusive masses, chiefly granitic, but including also felsic (acidic)
dikes, are present. The Kenai lowland has a general elevation of from
50 to 200 (maximum, 2000) feet. It is composed of slightly indurated
and gently folded Tertiary (Eocene?) coal-bearing (non-marine) sands
and clays overlain by extensive Quarternary deposits.

The general stratigraphic sequence in the Kenai Peninsula is as
follows :

Quarternary

Recent alluvial deposits
Glacial and terrace gravels

abstracts: mineralogy 149

Tertiary

Kenai formation (sands and clays, with lignite beds, and contain-
ing fos-il plants)
Lower Jurassic

Tuffs with marine fossils
Upper Triassic

Limestone and tuff with marine fossils
Chert
Triassic (?)

Ellipsoidal lavas
Paleozoic (?)

Slates and graywackes
Schists
Metalliferous deposits occur as veins, stringer lodes, and mineralized
felsic (acid) dikes, and these follow two sets of Assuring approximately
at right- angles to each other. The ore deposits are chiefly auriferous,
but some copper-bearing lodes have been found. The mineralization
is probably due to the action of mineral-bearing solutions (magmatic
waters) that were forced out of the deeper parts of the igneous magma
during its solidification. G. C. M.

MINERALOGY. — The chemical composition of bornite. Edgar T.
Wherry. Science, 42: 570-571. 1915.
Discussion of a paper by Rogers (Science 42: 386. 1915.) It is
suggested that the variability in the composition of bornite (normally
Cu5FeS4) is due to the presence of submicroscopic inclusions of one or
more of the minerals often occurring as visible inclusions in it, namely
chalcocite, chalcopyrite, and pyrite. E. T. W.

MINERALOGY. — Notes on allophanite,fuchsite, and triphylite. Edgar
T. Wherry. Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum, 49:
463-467. 1915.
A description is given of a specimen of allophanite from Utah.
Its index of refraction varies with the water content, being the average
of the indices of the constituents, which is regarded as evidence that no
complete chemical combination between them exists. Occurrences of
fuchsite in Pennsylvania and Colorado are described, and the per-
centages of chromium oxide present are given. A new locality for
triphylite in New Hampshire is announced and its composition dis-
cussed. It contains 60 per cent lithio-ferro-triphylite and 37 per cent
lithio-mangano-triphylite. E. T. W.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED

SOCIETIES

THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 765th meeting was held on January 8, 1916, at the Cosmos
Club. President Briggs in the chair, 50 persons present. The min-
utes of the 763d meeting were read in abstract and approved.

Mr. H. N. Heck presented by invitation a communication entitled,
Detailed submarine relief, a practical method of development. The
amount of detail required for submarine relief depends upon whether
the point of view is scientific or utilitarian. The standard methods of
obtaining knowledge of submarine relief were described and the reason
given why these are insufficient in manjr parts of the earth. The de-
velopment of the wire-drag method was described and that method
mathematically defined. The importance of geological accidents in sub-
marine relief was emphasized and two forms of especial importance
pointed out. Slides were shown to illustrate cases where submarine
relief agrees closely with the adjacent land forms and also to show, by
examples selected from all parts of the United States, Alaska, and else-
where, where there is marked disagreement, or forms entirety unex-
pected. Two ways were indicated in which geology can assist in de-
termining where the wire-drag method must be applied. The question
is open whether it is possible to predict from available geological in-
formation the existence or absence of certain forms of submarine relief .
The effect of submarine relief on the three principal motions of the sea
was briefly discussed.

Discussion: Mr. Wright referred to dangers from hidden rocks ex-
perienced during geological expeditions in Alaskan waters. Mr.
Hazard asked how often it was necessary to change the height of the
drag. Mr. Sosman called attention to the recent discovery of a pin-
nacle of rock in the Liverpool Channel. Mr. Heck stated that it was
sometimes necessary to change the height of drag every 20 minutes.
The Chair expressed to Mr. Heck the thanks of the Society for his
very interesting communication.

Mr. A. L. Thuras presented a paper entitled, A method of deter-
mining densities at sea and its use in locating ocean currents. A new
method of ocean-density measurement particularly adapted to sea
conditions was briefly discussed. The temperature of the water
sample was varied until its density was just equal to that of a glass
"bobbin." A calibration curve was shown giving the density of the
sample at 15°C. in terms of the equilibrium temperature. The
accuracy attained was greater than 0.008 per cent. A continuous

150

proceedings: philosophical society 151

record of the ocean temperature near the surface was also obtained,
and each gave evidence of the location of ocean currents. Charts
giving these data and thus locating the Labrador Current and the Gulf
Stream in the vicinity of the Great Bank were shown. The density
(reduced to 15° C.) of the Labrador Current was about 1.0245, of the
Gulf Stream 1.0270; but the actual densities in situ were respectively
1.0267 and 1.0266. The width of the Labrador Current at latitude
45° N. was 65 miles and at 44° N. only 25 miles. Detail temperature
curves showed beautifully the interdiffusion of the two streams at the
southern end of the Great Bank. The results in general corroborate
the current charts of Captain C. E. Johnston.

Discussion: Messrs. Sosman, White, and Humphreys discussed
the possibility of the Labrador Current diving under the Gulf Stream.
Captain Johnston stated that by observing icebergs he had come to
the conclusion that the Labrador Current acts like a band; when a
great quantity of cold water accumulates it sweeps under the Gulf
Stream or breaks through irregularly. Mr. Stillman asked whether
it was feasible to measure densities by measuring resistances. Mr.
Dickinson stated that salinities could be measured by electrical
methods in the laboratory but that difficulties would be encountered
at sea. Mr. Swann suggested the use of the string galvanometer for
work on board ship.

Mr. P. V. Wells then spoke on The study of fog at sea. The speaker
described the work on fog clone aboard the ice-patrol cutter Seneca
during a cruise in May, 1915. The nucleation, the number of persistent
nuclei per cubic centimeter, was measured three times daily by the
corona method of Barus. The error was less than 15 per cent. Gen-
erally the nucleation was high in cyclonic areas, from which it was
inferred that the nuclei at sea are mainly salt particles — evaporated
spray. The nucleation was never below 400, normally 1000, and three
times rose to 50,000. The liquid content, or grams of liquid water per
cubic meter, was determined by evaporating the fog electrically and
measuring the humidity at the higher temperature. A value, 0.7,
with an error of less than 20 per cent, was obtained. The size of the
fog particle was 5X10-4 cm. A rise of 1?4 C. would dispel this fog,
and as an inversion of 2?5 was observed at the masthead, the fog-
did not extend that high. The speaker suggested the possibility of
seeing from the masthead a powerful light or a flag on the masthead
of a nearby ship.

Discussion: Mr. Swann stated that the measured ionization over the
sea is about as great as over the land; on land it is possible to account
for 5 ions per cubic centimeter, while over the sea it is possible to ac-
count for only 1| ions per cubic centimeter. Mr. Wells stated that
the nuclei over the sea were less numerous than over the land, which is
in agreement with observations of atmospheric electricity. Barus sus-
pected a connection between nuclei and ionization; it would have been
an improvement had it been possible to observe nucleation and ioniza-
tion simultaneously.

152 proceedings: philosophical society

The 766th meeting was held on January 22, 1916, at the Cosmos
Club. President Briggs in the chair, 51 persons present. The min-
utes of the 765th meeting were read in abstract, corrected, and
approved.

REGULAR PROGRAM

Mr. C. G. Abbot presented a paper entitled, New proofs of the solar
variability. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory has inves-
tigated for 12 years the intensity of solar radiation. In speaking of
the variability of the sun we do not refer to variations caused by the
atmosphere of the earth or by the yearly fluctuations of the earth's
solar distance. The latter are readily eliminated. The elimination of
atmospheric influences depends on spectrobolometric observations at
different altitudes of the sun, reduced in accordance with sound theory.
Experiments at Washington, Mount Wilson, Mount Whitney, and Bas-
sour (Algeria), under circumstances differing widely as to atmospheric
temperature, pressure, humidity, and length of path, are in close
agreement in their indications of the intensity of solar radiation out-
side the atmosphere. The results are further checked by confirmatory
observations at different altitudes ranging on the earth from sea-level
to Mount Whitney, and by manned balloons to 8000 meters, and by
sounding balloons to 25,000 meters. Variations of solar emission of
radiation were indicated by Mount Wilson observations and confirmed
by simultaneous work at Bassour, Algeria. A correlation coefficient of
50=*= 7 per cent is found between the variations noted at the two sta-
tions. This leaves the chance of accidental correlation 1 in 25,000.
Four years of pyrheliometry at the Arequipa, Peru, station of the
Harvard College Observatory, under direction of Professor E. C.
Pickering, are now being published by the Smithsonian Institution.
This work confirms the solar variability from day to day, and from
year to year, found at Mount Wilson. Measurements of the distri-
bution of radiation along the diameter of the solar image have been
made by the Smithsonian observers at Washington and at Mount
Wilson. Fluctuations of contrast between the center and the edge
of the sun are found to occur in all wave-lengths, but greater for short
wave-lengths than for longer ones. These fluctuations occur from day
to day and from year to year. Both kinds of changes are correlated
in time with changes in solar radiation. Curiously the correlation is in
opposite senses for long-period and short-period changes. When
great solar activity prevails, as shown by sun-spots, faculac, etc., high
solar-radiation values predominate, and a greater contrast of bright-
ness between the center and the edge of the sun is found. But when
irregular changes of the solar radiation occur in the short period, they
are associated with less contrast of brightness between the center and
the edge of the sun. The first type of change was explained as a tem-
perature effect, the second as due to changes of transparency of the
outer solar envelope. The paper was illustrated by lantern slides.

Discussion: Mr. Swann pointed out that some of the data deter-
mined from variation in the sun's atmosphere were suggestive of solec-

proceedings: philosophical society 153

tive absorption; he also questioned the extent to which the sun may
be treated as a black body, particularly in the ultra-violet region.
Mr. Humphreys asked whether there was any connection found be-
tween the daily fluctuations of the solar constant and the changing
barometric pressure at the same time. Mr. Abbot stated that the
work did not indicate selective absorption since the differences from all
wave-lengths are not found to be in the same sense; there appears to
be no connection between the daily variations of solar constant and
barometric pressure.

Mr. L. A. Bauer then presented a paper entitled, Corresponding
changes in the earth's magnetic field and the solar radiation. Recent in-
vestigations with the aid of later solar and magnetic data have con-
firmed the author's preliminary conclusions of 1914 and 1915. It
is again found in the majority of cases (about 80 per cent) that in-
creased intensity of solar radiation, as shown by the changes in solar-
constant values possessing the accuracy of those of the Smithsonian
Institution, is accompanied by an appreciable decrease in the constant
used as a measure of the intensity of the earth's magnetic field. While
the magnetic effect, observed on the average, is such as accompanies
the heating of a magnet, it is, apparently, not to be referred to such a
cause. A preliminary examination of the magnetic effects in different
parts of the earth indicates that the seat of the system of forces caus-
ing the effects is not within the earth itself but in the regions above us.
In conclusion, it was pointed out that, from the standpoint of terres-
trial magnetism, observations dependent solely upon the thermal en-
ergy of solar radiation can not be given any greater significance than
that they may indicate some change in solar activity. Thus changes
in the solar constant may not be regarded as a true, or adequate,
measure of the various ionizing agencies (ultra-violet light, corpuscu-
lar radiations, electrons impinging upon our atmosphere, etc.) which
are, at present, believed to be ultimately the cause of the magnetic
effects. To the pyrheliometer, the bolometer, and meteorological ap-
pliances, must be added the magnetic needle, if we wish to get as com-
plete a representation as possible of the various effects attributable to
our sun, directly or indirectly.

Discussion: Mr. Swann stated that computations, assuming the
total energy of the spectrum could be wholly absorbed in the upper
atmosphere, indicated the resulting ionization would be only 1/100 of
that required to account for the diurnal variation if we accept Schuster's
theory. Mere heat and light radiation could not account for the
conductivity.

INFORMAL COMMUNICATIONS

An apparatus for making hydrostatic weighings, developed for finding
the volumes of precision weights, was shown and described by Mr.
A. T. Pienkowsky. The chief aim in designing the apparatus was
to allow fairly accurate measurements to be repeated quickly, and to
provide for the easy handling of several different sized objects in succes-
sion. A scale-pan, essentially a flat grid, is suspended by a wire coated

154 proceedings: philosophical society

with a rough, spongy coating of gold, applied electrolytically. An
arrestment table, meshing with the scale-pan and raised or lowered
by a rack and pinion, allows the object to be put on or taken off from
the scale-pan with the least possible disturbance. A guard ring sur-
rounds the suspension-wire at the surface of the water to help main-
tain a uniform surface-tension on the wire.

The 767th meeting was held on February 5, 1916, at the Cosmos
Club. President Briggs in the chair, 58 persons present. The min-
utes of the 766th meeting were read in abstract and approved.

REGULAR PROGRAM

Mr. E. C. Bingham presented by invitation a communication, illus-
trated by lantern slides, entitled, Plastic flow. (To be published in
a later number of this Jouivnal.)

Mr. E. Buckingham then presented a paper entitled, Notes on the
theory of efflux viscosimeters. The paper was concerned with the rela-
tive determination of the viscosities of liquids, in terms of the viscosity
of some standard liquid, by the commonly used efflux method. In-
struments for making such comparisons must, in general, be standard-
ized, or have their "scales" determined, by means of a series of liquids
of which the relative viscosities have already been found by other
methods. The speaker's purpose was to show how the necessity for
such a standardization might be obviated and the series of standardiz-
ing liquids dispensed with. It was shown, by dimensional reasoning,
that whatever be the nature of the orifice or mouth-piece through which
the liquid is discharged, if the driving head be so adjusted that its
square root is proportional to the rate of discharge, the rate of discharge
will itself be proportional to the kinematic viscosity of the liquid.
Hence when this adjustment of the conditions has been effected, the
kinematic viscosities of two liquids are directly as their observed rates
of efflux. A viscosimeter which is so arranged that this adjustment
may be made need not be standardized at all, unless absolute values
are required; and in that event a single standard liquid of known
kinematic viscosity suffices. It was shown that if the viscosimeter is
a cylindrical burette with a small oriffice at the bottom, and if the ob-
servations consist in readings of the times at which the surface of the
liquid passes the marks on the burette as the liquid flows out at the
bottom, the inconvenient process of adjustment previously mentioned
may be dispensed with and the result obtained graphically. The
paper concluded with several suggestions regarding the practice of the
proposed method of viscosimetry.

Discussion: Mr. Bauer asked what liquid would be best suited as
a standard. Mr. Abbot asked what degree of accuracy is practically
desired; if the accuracy wanted is high, is not the adhesion to the side
of the tube a difficulty? Mr. Buckingham stated that water would
be the best standard but that the practical requirements would make
necessary other intermediate standards as the viscosity increases.

proceedings: geological society 155

Mr. Herschel stated that an accuracy of 5 per cent is sufficient for
technical purposes. In investigating efflux viscosimeters he has found
a modification of Griineisen's diagram very helpful. Plot as ordinates ,

— and as abscissas Ji — . If the commonly accepted Ubbelohde

form of equation were correct, we would have a straight line cutting the

X-axis at a distance — = — from the origin, where (I + X) is the effective

32Z
length of capillary, and making an angle whose tangent is — 7 with

ma .

the X-axis; m is the kinetic-energy coefficient which is 1.12 according

to Boussinesq. Mr. Herschel finds that m is variable when a certain

velocity is exceeded.

INFORMAL COMMUNICATION

Mr. L. A. Bauer discussed Some corresponding changes in solar
radiation, terrestrial magnetism, and astronomy . With the aid of lan-
tern slides, striking similarities were shown to exist between the follow-
ing 3 curves: (1) Curve of changes in the solar constant, 1905-1914;
(2) curve of anomalies in the regular^ progresing secular variation
of the earth's magnetic field, 1905-1913; and (3) curve of mean irregu-
larities in motion of Mercury, Venus, the moon, and the earth, 1905-
1913. Astronomers having exhausted the possibilities of explaining
the outstanding astronomical motions by gravitational causes, are
now seeking for some connection with effects arising from possible inter-
acting magnetic fields of planets. Inquiries received at various times
from astronomers, notably from the late Professor Newcomb, have led
the speaker to undertake an examination into the various questions
involved. As the first step, he has established a tentative formula
which gives the magnetic field strength of the sun within 10 per cent
of Hale's provisional value, and shows that a magnetic field possibly
to be associated with Jupiter may have a strength almost that of the
sun, namely, about 68 times that of the earth.

The Chair expressed to Mr. Bingham the thanks of the Society for
his most interesting communication.

J. A. Fleming, Secretary.

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 300th meeting was held in the lecture room of the Cosmos
Club on November 24, 1915.

informal communications

D. F. Hewett: Manganese deposits in Virginia. Among six de-
posits examined five showed a striking relationship to topographic
features. The deposits lie at the base of the Blue Ridge, where the
Tertiary plain merges with the hills, and occupy old river channels

156 proceedings: geological society

in the plain. It seems plausible that they were formed while the plain
was being developed and during a climatic cycle more favorable than
the present one; i.e., under milder and more humid conditions.

Discussion: Sidney Paige inquired as to the source of the manganese.
Hewett replied that there had been considerable speculation on this
matter; it seems likely that it was derived from basic silicates in cer-
tain shale beds. T. Wayland Vaughan spoke of the climate of the
Eocene in the Gulf States, as shown by marine fossils. In the early
Eocene the climate was tropical, in the middle Eocene somewhat
cooler, and in the late Eocene tropical again.

REGULAR PROGRAM

L. W. Stephenson: Correlation of the Upper Cretaceous deposits
of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain. (Illustrated.)

The Upper Cretaceous sediments of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal
Plain are chiefly medium to fine-grained clays, sands, chalks, and marls,
ranging in origin from those laid down on low coastal plains, in estuaries
or in very shallow seas, to those formed in waters perhaps exceeding
100 fathoms in depth. In our present state of progress the fossils
most usable in determining the age relations of the marine sediments
formed in waters ranging in depth from moderately shallow to 50
fathoms or more are the representatives of the genus Exogyra, which
were adapted for life in all but the very shallowest of the Upper Cre-
taceous marginal seas and which underwent evolutionary changes
with sufficient rapidity to form faunal zones traceable through con-
temporaneous formations.

Three principal zones have been differentiated, which, in ascending
order, are: (1) The zone of Exogyra upatoiensis, which is at the base
of the Eutaw formation in the Chattahoochee region; (2) the zone of
Exogyra ponderosa, which has been traced from New Jersey to the Rio
Grande. On the basis of fossils other than Exogyra this zone is sepa-
rable into two parts, — lower and upper. The former is traceable from
Georgia to the Rio Grande, and the latter from New Jersey to the Rio
Grande; (3) the zone of Exogyra costata, which has been traced from
New Jersey to Mexico. This zone is roughly separable into three
parts: a lower, characterized by a variety of Exogyra costata with
broad costae; a middle, characterized by a variety with costae of
medium breadth ; and an upper, characterized by a variety with narrow
costae.

The correlations based on the Exogyra zones and subzones are sup-
ported by many other molluscan species of restricted stratigraphic
range and more or less extended geographic range.

Tables and charts were shown illustrating the physical and age re-
lations of the formations, the stratigraphic position of the species and
varieties of Exogyra, and the correlation of the formations with each
other and with the Upper Cretaceous deposits of the Western Interior
and of Europe.

proceedings: geological society 157

G. R. Mansfield and P. V. Roundy: Some Jurassic and Cretaceous
formations of southeastern Idaho. (Illustrated.)

In the Montpelier and Wayan 30-minute quadrangles of south-
eastern Idaho parties of the Geological Survey have found great thick-
nesses of strata, aggregating 17,000 feet or more, that have hitherto
been assigned to the Beckwith and Bear River formations. On the
maps of the Hayden Surveys both formations are included in the
Laramie. The Beckwith has been assigned to the Cretaceous or Juras-
sic, and the Bear River to the Upper Cretaceous. There is such
lack of agreement between the formations in the quadrangles named
and the Beckwith and Bear River formations in their type localities
that it now seems inadvisable to continue the use of the names Beck-
with and Bear River in this district. Three groups of strata are recog-
nized, the lowest of which is marine Jurassic and rests unconformably
upon the Twin Creek limestone, the main Jurassic formation of the
region. The two higher groups are non-marine and probably Lower
Cretaceous. They are separated from each other by an unconformity,
but the lower group appears to be conformable on the Jurassic beds
below. The two higher groups have some resemblances to the Koo-
tenai, but the data are at present insufficient for their correlation with
that formation. No characteristic Bear River fossils have been found
in the district, though such have been found farther north, and there
is a possibility that the doubtful beds may grade upward into the true
Bear River in that direction. The beds formerly called Beckwith
are divided into seven formations and a new name is given to the strata
hitherto called Bear River. The paper gives a statement of the strati-
graphic problems involved, together with a description of the formations.

Discussion. C. J. Hares asked if the pebbles of the conglomerate
described could be attributed definitely to any older formation. Mans-
field replied that many different formations were probably represented
but could not be definitely recognized. T. W. Stanton remarked on
the lithologic and successional differences in this section from those
in adjacent sections. He said also that the formations between the
marine Upper Jurassic and the marine Upper Cretaceous still needed
much study before it would be possible to make definite correlations.

A. C. Spencer: Gold deposits of the Atlantic and South Pass Dis-
tricts, Wyoming. (No abstract.)

At the 301st meeting, held December 8, 1915, the presidential ad-
dress was delivered by the retiring president, T. Wayland Vatjghan:
Some problems in the geologic history of the perimeters of the Gulf of Mexico
and. the Caribbean Sea. The address will be published at a later date.

At the twenty-third annual meeting the following officers were elect-
ed for the ensuing year: President, Arthur C. Spencer; Vice-Presi-
dents, W. C. Mendenhall and F. H. Knowlton; Secretaries, Carroll
H. Wegemann and H. E. Merwin; Treasurer, S. R. Capps; Members-at-
large of the Council, B. S. Butler, C. W. Gilmore, G. F. Loughlin,
H. S. Gale and R. W. Pack. C. N. Fenner, Secretary.

158 proceedings: botanical society

THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 110th regular meeting of the Botanical Society of Washington
was held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club at 8 p.m., Tuesday,
February 1, 1916. Fifty-three members and four guests were present.
Messrs. Chas. H. Clark, Felix J. Schneiderhan, and T. Tanaka
were elected to membership. The following papers were presented:

Egyptian use of date tree products other than fruit (with lantern) :
S. C. Mason. (To be published in full elsewhere.)

Botanical and economic notes on the dasheen (with lantern and ex-
hibit): R. A. Young.

The dasheens represent one type of the taro, which is well known
in the Orient and the islands of the Pacific. All belong to the genus
Colocasia. The variety under special consideration was the one known
as the "Trinidad," from the island of Trinidad; it is believed to have
come originally from China. Slides were shown illustrating the dif-
ferences in floral and other characters between two very distinct types
of Colocasia, which for the past sixty years have been included under
the name C. antiquorum (L.) Schott. One of the types, which includes
the dasheen, was recognized tentatively by Schott, in 1832, as a good
species under the name C. esculenta (L.) Schott. In 1856 he reduced
it to a varietal rank. The other type, which is represented by the
"qolqas" or "colocasia" of Egypt, is the species C. antiquorum. It
is contended that the reduction of C. esculenta to varietal rank, was an
error and it is proposed to restore it to specific rank. The true C. anti-
quorum properly includes the common elephant-ear plant, generally
referred to as Caladium esculentum of Ventenat.

The dasheen is gaining in importance in the far south, and a northern
market is developing. Many culinary experiments have been made
and a number of delicious and attractive dishes have resulted.

After the program, dasheens which had been parboiled and baked
with electric stoves, were served.

The pathological inspection work of the Federal Horticidtural Board.
Geo. R. Lyman.

The Plant Quarantine Law seeks to prevent the introduction into
the United States of injurious plant diseases from abroad by requir-
ing the inspection of imported plant material. The inspection of com-
mercial importations presents few difficulties, inasmuch as the variety
of host plants involved is not great and the importations are ordinarily
from countries where the diseases are well known. But importations
by the Department of Agriculture for experimental and introduction
purposes present many problems, since they come from every quarter
of the globe and are practically unlimited in variety of host plant.
Both host and disease may be new and hence potentially dangerous.
All such importations are received in a specially constructed inspection
house in Washington, and the packages are opened in the presence of
the inspectors, all wrappings being burned. The plant material is
closely examined and suspicious specimens are referred to experts of
the Department of Agriculture for study and determination. Extra-

proceedings: biological society 159

ordinary precautions are taken to prevent infection being carried on
the hands or clothing of the inspectors.

After inspection the material may be (1) passed, if it is apparently
clean; (2) burned, if dangerous diseases are found; (3) ordered fumigated
or cleansed when the pests found can be eradicated by such treatment
(facilities for treating material are present in the inspection room) ;
or (4) ordered grown in quarantine. The quarantine greenhouse ad-
joining the inspection room is divided into small units where sus-
picious plants may be isolated and grown under close observation until
the proper disposition of them is determined.

Moreover, much of the material which passes inspection is ordered
grown in the propagation gardens of the Government, one of which is
situated at Yarrow, Maryland. Here the plants are propagated and
grown under observation and are given a last close inspection when
finally ready for distribution.

W. E. Safford, Corresponding Secretary.

THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 549th regular meeting of the Biological Society of Washington
was held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club, Saturday, January
29, 1916, at 8 p.m.; called to order by President Hay with thirty
persons present.

The recent deaths of three members of the Society, G. D. Elliot,
A. M. Groves, and C. E. Slocum, were noted by the President. On
recommendation of the Council Dr. Walter K. Fisher, of Stanford
University, was elected to active membership.

Under the heading "Brief Notes" Dr. L. 0. Howard told of some
of the published anecdotes regarding the entomologist General Dejean
who served under Napoleon I, and of his zeal as a collector even under
the excitement of battle. Also, Dr. H. M. Smith called attention
to the successful introduction of the tilefish into the markets, restaurants,
and homes of the United States.

Under the heading "Exhibition of Specimens" Dr. Howard exhibited
a photographic lantern slide of Orsini's statue, Proximus Tuus, repre-
senting a malarial-stricken Italian peasant. The statue was exhibited
at the San Francisco fair and illustrations of it are used in a California
antimosquito campaign. By way of contrast Dr. Howard showed a
group of healthy children on the formerly malaria-infested Roman
Campagna.

Under the same heading Mr. William Palmer exhibited several
bones of extinct cetaceans recently collected by him at Chesapeake Beach,
Maryland. He called attention to the work of Cope and of other
paleontologists on this group and pointed out the relationships of the
forms with some of the modern cetaceans.

The regular program consisted of a paper by Dr. Ned Dearborn,
Fur farming in Alaska. Dr. Dearborn pointed out the possibilities
of fur farming in Alaska, stating that at present there are seventy-

160 proceedings: biological society

three localities in that territory where such farming is carried on to
a greater or less extent. The possible animals that may be bred for
fur are the fox, mink, marten, otter, and beaver; but so far it has only
proved practicable with foxes and minks. Silver foxes are successfully
bred in the interior and fed on salmon and rabbits to a large extent.
Blue foxes are successfully raised along the coast, especially on cer-
tain of the islands.

The paper was discussed by Dr. C. W. Stiles who called attention
to the prevalence of certain forms of hookworms in the dogs and foxes
of Europe and Alaska but seldom found in the dogs of the United States.

The 550th regular meeting of the Biological Society of Washington
was held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club, Saturday, February
12, 1916, at 8 p.m., fifty persons being present.

On recommendation of the Council, Walter P. Taylor, of the Mu-
seum of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley, California, was elected to active
membership.

Under the heading Brief Notes and Exhibition of Specimens, L. O.
Howard called attention to the work lately done by Dr. W. V. King,
of the Bureau of Entomology, in demonstrating that Anopheles puncti-
pennis was a carrier of both tertian and aestivo-autumnal malaria
parasites. He exhibited lantern slides of this mosquito and photo-
micrographs of the stages of the malaria organism in this hitherto sup-
posedly harmless species of mosquito.

Under the same heading W. L. McAtee gave some of his recent
observations on the vegetation of Virginia in the region south of
Washington.

The first paper of the regular program was by Henry Talbott:
Nepigon. Mr. Talbott gave an entertaining account of a trip made
by himself and others to Lake Nepigon. The fishes of the lake and
neighboring region were especially dwelt on. Mr. Talbot's paper was
discussed by Dr. Howard.

The second and last paper of the regular program was by Vernon
Bailey: Game and other mammals of the Yellowstone Park region. Mr.
Bailey gave a short outline of his recent trip through the Yellowstone
Park and the neighboring region, particularly to the south. The
ground covered was mainly off the tourist track. The speaker de-
scribed the beauties of the park from the viewpoint of the lover of
wild life; he called particular attention to the loss of fear of men by
wild life when protected from guns, dogsandcats; he called tonoticethe
thriving condition of herds of ruminants in the park and the successful
efforts now made to supply hay to the needy in winter, and to keep the
antelope from wandering out of the park. Mr. Bailey's communica-
tion was profusely illustrated with lantern slide views of the park and
of its wild life, especially the white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, moose
(recently described as Alces shirasi), antelope, bison, some of the smaller
mammals and Canada geese.

M. W. Lyon, Jr., Recording Secretary.

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VI APRIL 4, 1916 No. 7

ASTRONOMY.— The distances of the heavenly bodies.1 W. A.
Eichelberger, U. S. Naval Observatory.

A year ago our retiring president took the members of the
Society into his confidence as follows:

Cognizant of the fact that my election to the presidency of the
Philosophical Society a year ago, obligated me to give an address of
some sort one year later, I confidently waited for the inspiration that
I felt would suggest a fitting subject for the occasion. The expected
inspiration did not, however, materialize.

Undoubtedly because of that fact, and out of the goodness
of his heart, towards the close of his address he turned to the
present speaker, then presiding, and said:

I have said nothing whatever about the determination of the dis-
tances between the planets nor of the units used by astronomers in
reckoning distances of the stars. . . . They form, so to speak,
other chapters of the subject which I shall leave to some future ex-
president of our Society.

This call, I suppose, was intended to take the place of an
inspiration, and wherever I have gone during the past twelve
months the call has ever been ringing in my ears. The subject
of the evening is presented therefore not as a matter of choice but
from compulsion.

Before any attempt was made by the ancients to determine
the distance from the Earth of any celestial body, we find them

1 Presidential address before the Philosophical Society of Washington on March
4, 1916.

161

162 eichelberger: distances of heavenly bodies

arranging these bodies in order of distance very much as we
know them to-day, assuming that the more rapid the motion
of a body among the stars the less its distance from the Earth ;
the stars, that were supposed to have no relative motions, were
assumed to be the most distant objects.

The first attempt to assign definite relative distances to any
two of the bodies was probably that of Eudoxus of Cnidus who,
about 370 B.C., supposed, according to Archimedes, that the
diameter of the Sun was nine times greater than that of the Moon,
which is equivalent to saying that, since the Sun and the Moon
have approximately the same apparent diameter, the distance
of the Sun from the Earth is nine times greater than that of the
Moon.

A century later, about 275 B.C., Aristarchus of Samos gave
a method of determining the relative distances of the Sun and
Moon from the Earth as follows: When the Moon is at the
phase first quarter or last quarter, the Earth is in the plane of
the circle which separates the portion of the Moon illuminated
by the Sun from the non-illuminated part, and the line from the
observer to the center of the Moon is perpendicular to the line
from the center of the Moon to the Sun. (Diagram shown.)
If, at this instant, the angular separation of the Sun and Moon
is determined, one of the acute angles of a right-angle triangle —
Sun, Moon, and Earth — is known, from which can be deduced
the ratio of any two of the sides, as, for instance, the ratio of the
distance from the Earth to the Moon to that from the Earth
to the Sun. Aristarchus gives the value of this angle as differ-
ing from a right angle by only one-thirtieth of that angle, i.e.
it is an angle of 87°, from which it follows that the distance from
the Earth to the Sun is nineteen times that from the Earth to
the Moon. This method of Aristarchus is theoretically correct,
but in determining the angle at the Earth as being 3° less than a
right angle, he made an error of about 2° 50'.

Hipparchus, who lived about 150 B.C. and was called by

Delambre the true father of astronomy, attacked the problem

of the distances of the Sun and Moon through a study of eclipses.

Assuming in accordance with the result of Aristarchus that the

eichelberger: distances of heavenly bodies 163

Sun is nineteen times as far from the Earth as the Moon, having
determined the diameter of the Earth's shadow at the distance
of the Moon and knowing the angular diameter of the Moon he
found 3' as the Sun's horizontal parallax. By the Sun's parallax
is meant the angle at the Sun subtended by the Earth's semi-
diameter and if a = the semi-diameter of the Earth, A - the
distance to the Sun, and n = Sun's horizontal parallax, the
relation (diagram shown) between these quantities is expressed
by the equation:

Sinn = -
A

The next attempt to determine the distance of a heavenly
body was made about 150 A.D. by Claudius Ptolemy, the last
of the ancient astronomers and one whose writings were con-
sidered the standard in things astronomical for fifteen centuries.
To determine the lunar parallax he resorted to direct obser-
vations of the zenith distance of the Moon on the meridian, com-
paring the result of his observations with the position obtained
from the lunar theory. He determined the parallax when the
Moon was nearest the zenith, and also when it crossed his merid-
ian at its farthest distance from the zenith. From his obser-
vations he obtained results varying from less than 50 per cent of
the true parallax (57'0) to more than 150 per cent of that value.
According to Houzeau the definitive result of Ptolemy's work i-
58'7.

It is thus seen that the astronomers of two thousand years
ago had a fairly accurate knowledge of the distance of the Moon
from the Earth, but an entirely erroneous one of the distance of
the Sun, the true distance being something like twenty times that
assumed by them. This value of the distance of the Sun from
the Earth was accepted for nineteen centuries from Aristarchu>
to Kepler, having been deduced anew by such men as Copernicu-
and Tycho Brahe.

W ith the announcement by Kepler, early in the seventeenth
century, of his laws of planetary motion, it became possible to
deduce from the periodic times of revolution of the planets around

164 EICHELBERGER : DISTANCES OF HEAVENLY BODIES

the Sun their relative distances from that body, and thus to
determine the distance of the Sun from the Earth, by determin-
ing the distance or parallax of one of the planets.

From observations of Mars, Kepler obtained the distance of
the Sun from the Earth as about three times that accepted up to
his time. His value, however, was but one-seventh of the true
distance. About fifty years later Flamsteed and Cassini work-
ing independently and using the same method as that employed
by Kepler obtained for the first time approximately the correct
value of the distance of the Sun from the Earth. In a letter,
dated November 16, 1672, to the Publisher of the Philosophical
Transactions, Flamsteed says:

September last I went to Townley. The first week that I intended
to have observed c? there with Mr. Townley, I twice observ'd him,
but could not make two Observations, as I intended, in one night.
The first night after my return, I had the good hap to measure his
distances from two Stars the same night; whereby I find, that the
Parallax was very small; certainly not 30 seconds: So that I believe
the Sun's Parallax is not more than 10 seconds. Of this Observation
I intend to write a small Tract, when I shall gain leisure; in which I
shall demonstrate both the Diameter and Distances of all the Planets
by Observations; for which I am now pretty well fitted.

During the two and a half centuries since Flamsteed's de-
termination there have been more than a hundred determinations
of the solar parallax by various methods. In the method used
by Flamsteed, the rotation of the Earth is depended upon to
change the relative position of the observer, the center of the
Earth, and Mars. (Diagram shown.) Another method is to
establish two stations widely separated in latitude, and in ap-
proximately the same longitude. At one station, the zenith
distance of Mars will be determined as it crosses the meridian
north of the zenith; at the other station, the zenith distance will
be determined as it crosses the meridian south of the zenith.
The sum of the two zenith distances minus the difference in
latitude between the two stations will give the displacement of
Mars due to parallax. These two methods have been success-
fully applied to several of the asteroids whose distances from the
Sun are very nearly that of Mars.

eichelberger: distances of heavenly bodies 165

The nearest approach of Venus to the Earth is during her
transit across the face of the Sun, and these occasions, four
during the last two centuries, have been utilized to determine
the solar parallax. Here as in the case of Mars two different
methods may be used, either by combining observations at two
stations widely separated in latitude, or at two stations widely
separated in longitude. (Diagrams shown.)

The methods just described for obtaining the solar parallax,
the geometrical methods, were made available, as has been said,
by the discovery of Kepler's laws of planetary motion. New-
ton's discovery of the law of gravitation gave rise to another
group of methods, designated as gravitational methods. The
best of these is probably that in which the distance of the Sun
from the Earth is determined from the mass of the Earth, which,
in turn, is determined from the perturbative effect of the Earth
upon Venus and Mars. This method is long and laborious but
its importance lies in the fact that the accuracy of the result
increases with the time. Professor C. A. Young says:

this is the "method of the future," and two or three hundred years
hence will have superseded all the others, — unless indeed it should
appear that bodies at present unknown are interfering with the move-
ments of our neighboring planets, or unless it should turn out that the
law of gravitation is not quite so simple as it is now supposed to be.

A third group of methods of determining the distance of the
Sun from the Earth, called the physical methods, depends upon
the determination of the velocity of light in conjunction either
with the time it takes light to travel from the Sun to the Earth
obtained from observations of the eclipses of Jupiter's satel-
lites, or with the constant of aberration derived from observa-
tions of the stars.

In August, 1898, Dr. Witt of Berlin discovered an asteroid,
since named Eros, which was soon seen to offer exceptional
opportunity for the determination of the solar parallax, as at
the very next opposition, in November, 1900, it would approach
to within 30,000,000 miles of the Earth. At the meeting of the
Astrographic Chart Congress in Paris in July, 1900, it was re-
solved to seize this opportunity and organize an international

166 EICHELBERGER : DISTANCES OF HEAVENLY BODIES

parallax campaign. Fifty-eight observatories took part in the
various observations called for by the general plan. The merid-
ian instruments determined the absolute position of Eros from
night to night as it crossed the meridians of the various observa-
tories; the large visual refractors measured the distance of
Eros from the faint stars near it, at times continuing the meas-
ures throughout the entire night; and the photographic equa-
torials obtained permanent records of the position of Eros
among the surrounding stars. In addition long series of obser-
vations had to be made to determine the positions of the stars
to which Eros was referred.

When several years had elapsed after the completion of the
observations, and no general discussion of all the material had
been provided for, Prof. Arthur R. Hinks of Cambridge, Eng-
land volunteered for the work. The undertaking was truly
monumental. He first formed a catalogue of the 671 stars
which had been selected by the Paris Congress for observation
as marking out the path of Eros from a discussion of the results
obtained by the meridian instruments and from the photographic
plates. This done, with these results as a basis, a larger catalogue
of about 6000 stars had to be formed from measures on the
photographic plates. He was then ready to commence the
discussion of the observations of Eros itself. From 1901 to
1910 there appeared in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astro-
nomical Society eight articles covering 135 pages giving the results
of his labors.

From a discussion of all the photographic observations he
obtained a solar parallax of

8".807 ± 0".0027

a probable error equivalent to an uncertainty of about 30,000
miles in the distance to the Sun.

From a discussion of all the micrometric observations he
obtained

8".806 * 0//.004

The observations with the meridian instruments gave

EICHELBEEGER : DISTANCES OF HEAVENLY BODIES 167

8".837 ± 0".0185

a determination relatively much weaker than either of the others.
A parallax of 8". 80, the value adopted for all the national
almanacs twenty years ago, corresponds to a distance of 92,900,-
000 miles. At present it seems improbable that another paral-
lax campaign will be undertaken before 1931, when Eros ap-
proaches still nearer to the Earth, its least distance at that time
being about 15,000,000 miles.

TABLE I

Approximate Distance from Earth to Sun as Accepted at Various Times

275 B.C. to 1620 A.D.

1620 Kepler

1672 Flamsteed

1916

DISTANCE

miles

4,500,000
13,500,000
81,500,000
92,900,000

When Copernicus proposed that the Sun is the center of the
Solar System and that all the planets including the Earth revolve
around the Sun, it was at once seen that such a motion of the
Earth must produce an annual parallax of the stars. Tycho
Brahe rejected the Copernican System because he could not
find from his observations any such parallax. However, the
system was generally accepted as the true one and the determi-
nation of stellar parallax or the distance of the stars became a live
subject. Picard in the latter half of the seventeenth century,
using a telescope and a micrometer in connection with his divided
circle, showed an annual variation in the declination of the pole
star amounting to 40". In 1674 Hooke announced a parallax of
15" for y Draconis. About this same time Flamsteed announced
a parallax of 20" for a Ursae Minoris, but J. Cassini showed
that the variations in the declination did not follow the law of the
parallax.

The period which we have now reached is so admirably treated
by Sir Frank W. Dyson, Astronomer Royal, in his Halley Lee-

168 eichelberger: distances of heavenly bodies

ture delivered at Oxford on May 20, 1915, that I ask your
indulgence while I quote rather freely from that source.

Thus in Halley's time, it was fairly well established that the stars
were at least 20,000 or 30,000 times as distant as the sun. Halley
did not succeed in finding their range, but he made an important dis-
covery which showed that three of the stars were at sensible distances.
In 1718 he contributed to the Royal Society a paper entitled Con-
siderations of the Change of the Latitude of Some of the Principle Bright
Stars. While pursuing researches on another subject, he found that the
three bright stars — Aldebaran, Sirius, and Arcturus — occupied posi-
tions among the other stars differing considerably from those assigned
to them in the Almagest of Ptolemy. He showed that the possibility
of an error in the transcription of the manuscript could be safely ex-
cluded, and that the southward movement of these stars to the extent
of 37', 42', and 33', — i.e. angles larger than the apparent diameter of
the sun in the sky — were established. . . .

This is the first good evidence, i.e. evidence which we now know to
be true, that the so -called fixed stars are not fixed relatively to One an-
other. It is the first positive proof that the distances of the stars are
sensibly less than infinite.

At the time of the appearance of Halley's paper there was
coming into notice a young astronomer, James Bradley, then
26 years old. He was admitted to membership in the Royal
Society the same year that Halley's paper was presented. He
was exceedingly eager to attack the problem of the distances
of the stars. At length the opportunity presented itself. To
quote again from Sir Frank Dyson:

Bradley designed an instrument for measuring the angular distance
from the zenith, at which a certain star, y Draconis, crossed the merid-
ian. This instrument is called a zenith sector. The direction of the
vertical is given by a plumb-line, and he measured from day to day
the angular distance of the star from the direction of the vertical.
From December, 1725, to March, 1726, the star gradually moved
further south; then it remained stationary for a little time; then moved
northwards until, by the middle of June, it was in the same position
as in December. It continued to move northwards until the beginning
of September, then turned again and reached its old position in De-
cember. The movement was very regular and evidently not due to
any errors in Bradley's observations. But it was most unexpected.
The effect of parallax — which Bradley was looking for — would have
brought the star farthest south in December, not in March. The
times were all three months wrong. Bradley examined other stars,
thinking first that this might be due to a movement of the earth's

eichelberger: distances of heavenly bodies 169

pole. But this would not explain the phenomena. The true expla-
nation, it is said, although I do not know how truly, occurred to Bradley
when he was sailing on the Thames, and noticed that the direction
of the wind, as indicated by a vane on the mast-head, varied slightly
with the course on which the boat was sailing. An account of the
observations in the form of a letter from Bradley to Halley is published
in the Philosophical Transactions for December, 1728:

When the year was completed, I began to examine and compare my obser-
vations, and having pretty well satisfied myself as to the general laws of the
phenomena, I then endeavored to find out the cause of them. I was already
convinced that the apparent motion of the stars was not owing to the nutation
of the earth's axis. The next thing that offered itself was an alteration in the
direction of the plumb-line with which the instrument was constantly rectified;
but this upon trial proved insufficient. Then I considered what refraction might
do, but there also nothing satisfactory occurred. At length I conjectured that
all the phenomena hitherto mentioned, proceeded from the progressive motion
of light and the earth's annual motion in its orbit. For I preceived that, if light
was propagated in time, the apparent place of a fixed object would not be the
same when the eye is at rest, as when it is moving in any other direction than
that of the line passing through the eye and the object; and that, when the eye
is moving in different directions, the apparent place of the object would be differ-
ent.

When Bradley's observations of 7 Draconis were corrected
for aberration, they showed, according to himself, that the
parallax of that star could not be as much as 1".0, or that the
star was more than 200,000 times as distant from the Earth as
the Sun.

On December 6, 1781 there was read before the Royal Society
a paper by Mr. Herschel, afterwards Sir William, on the Parallax
of the Fixed Stars. We read:

The method pointed out by Galileo, and first attempted by Hook,
Flamstead, Molineaux, and Bradley, of taking distances of stars from
the zenith that pass very near it, though it failed with regard to paral-
lax, has been productive of the most noble discoveries of another nature.
At the same time it has given us a much juster idea of the immense
distance of the stars, and furnished us with an approximation to the
knowledge of their parallax that is much nearer the truth than we ever
had before. . . .

In general, the method of zenith distances labours under the fol-
lowing considerable difficulties. In the first place, all these distances,
though they should not exceed a few degrees, are liable to refractions;
and I hope to be pardoned when I say that the real quantities of these
refractions, and their differences, are very far from being perfectly
known. Secondly, the change of position of the earth's axis arising
from nutation, precession of the equinoxes, and other causes, is so
far from being completely settled, that it would not be very easy to
say what it exactly is at any given time. In the third place, the aber-

170 EICHELBERGER : DISTANCES OF HEAVENLY BODIES

ration of light, though best known of all, may also be liable to some
small errors, since the observations from which it was deduced laboured
under all the foregoing difficulties. I do not mean to say, that our
theories of all these causes of error are defective; on the contrary, I
grant that we are for most astronomical purposes sufficiently furnished
with excellent tables to correct our observations from the above men-
tioned errors. But when we are upon so delicate a point as the parallax
of the stars; when we are investigating angles that may, perhaps, not
amount to a single second, we must endeavour to keep clear of every
possibility of being involved in uncertainties; even the hundredth
part of a second becomes a quantity to be taken into consideration.

Herschel then proceeds to advocate selecting pairs of stars
of very unequal magnitude and whose distance apart is less than
five seconds, and making very accurate micrometric measures
of this distance from time to time. The first condition, should
give, in general, stars very unequally distant from the Earth,
so that the changing perspective as the Earth revolves in her
orbit would give a variation of the apparent distance between
the stars, while the small distance, less than five seconds, would
eliminate from consideration entirely any effect upon this dis-
tance of the uncertainties in refraction, precession, nutation,
aberration, etc. Herschel had already commenced the catalogu-
ing of such double stars and in January, 1782, submitted to the
Royal Society a catalogue of 269. This work did not enable
Herschel to determine the distances of the stars but did enable
him to demonstrate that there exist pairs of stars in which the
two components revolve the one around the other. In twenty
years he had found fifty such pairs.

Coming forward another generation, that is, to a time a little
less than a hundred years ago, we find Pond, then Astronomer
Royal, writing:

The history of annual parallax appears to me to be this: in pro-
portion as instruments have been imperfect in their construction,
they have misled observers into the belief of the existence of sensible
parallax. This has happened in Italy to astronomers of the very first
reputation. The Dublin instrument is superior to any of a similar
construction on the continent; and accordingly it shows a much less
parallax than the Italian astronomers imagined they had detected.
Conceiving that I have established, beyond a doubt, that the Green-
wich instrument approaches still nearer to perfection, I can come to no
other conclusion than that this is the reason why it discovers no parallax
at all.

EICHELBERGER : DISTANCES OF HEAVENLY BODIES

171

Within fifteen years after this statement by Pond, obser-
vations had been obtained which showed a measurable parallax
of three different stars. The announcements of these results,
each by a different astronomer, were practically simultaneous.

W. Struve, using a filar micrometer, determined the distance
of a Lyrae from a small star about 40" distant on 60 different
days over a period of nearly three years. He obtained a parallax
of 0//.262 ± 0".025. Bessel, using his heliometer, determined
the distances of 61 Cygni from two small stars distant about
500" and 700" respectively. He obtained for this star a parallax
of 0".314 ± 0".020. Henderson, using determinations of the
position of a Centauri by meridian instruments, deduced a
parallax of 1".16 ± 0".ll. All three of these results were
announced in the winter of 1838-39, and indicate that the three
stars are distant from the Earth about 750,000, 650,000, and
200,000 times the distance of the Sun from the Earth.

TABLE II
Parallax of 61 Cygni

MEAN DATE

1837 August 23....
September 14
October 12. . .
November 22.
December 21.

1838 January 14. . .
February 5. . .

May 14

June 19

July* 13

August 19

September 19

OBSERVED
DISPLACEMENT

+0.20
+0.10
+0.04
-0.21
-0.32
-0.38
-0.22
+0.24
+0.36
+0.22
+0.15
+0.04

COMPUTED FROM
0"314

+ 0.18
+ 0.08

-0.05
-0.22
-0.27
-0.27
-0.23
+0.20
+0.28
+0.28
+0.19
+0.06

Table II exhibits the observed displacement of 61 Cygni by
monthly means as given by Main from Bessel's observations.
The last column gives the computed displacement on the assump-
tion of a parallax of 0".314. The reality of the parallax is seen
at a glance.

172 EICHELBERGER : DISTANCES OF HEAVENLY BODIES

In 1888, fifty years after the first determination of what we
now know to be a true stellar parallax, Young in his General
Astronomy gives, in a list of known stellar parallaxes, 28 stars
and 55 separate determinations. Within the next ten years the
number of stars whose parallaxes had been determined about
doubled, due principally to the work of Gill and Elkin.

Probably the most extensive piece of stellar parallax work in
existence is that with the Yale heliometer. The results to date
were published in 1912 and contained the parallaxes of 245
stars, the observations extending over a quarter of a century,
the entire work having been done by three men, Elkin, Chase,
and Smith. In selecting a list of stars for parallax work an
effort is made to obtain stars which give promise of being nearer
than the mass of stars. At first the brighter stars were selected,
and then those with large proper motions. The Yale list of
245 stars contains all stars in the northern heavens whose annual
proper motion is known to be as much as 0".5. Of these 245
stars, 54 are given a negative parallax. A negative parallax
does not mean, as some one has expressed it, that the star is
" somewhere on the other side of nowhere," but such a result
may be attributed to the errors of observation or to the fact that
the comparison star's are nearer than the one under investigation.
It is safe to say, however, that somewhat more than half of the
245 stars have a measurable parallax.

Another series of stellar parallax observations, comparable
in extent with the one just mentioned, is that of Flint at the
Washburn Observatory. This series includes 203 stars and
extended from 1893 to 1905. These observations were made
with a meridian circle, but not after the method of a century ago.
The observations were strictly differential, the general plan
being to select two faint comparison stars, one immediately
preceding and the other immediately following the parallax
star, and to determine the difference in right ascension, the ob-
servation of the three stars occupying about five minutes. Here
as in the case of the Yale heliometer work a large proportion
of the resulting parallaxes are negative ; somewhat more than half,
however, were found to have a measurable parallax. The

eichelberger: distances op heavenly bodies

173

average probable error of a parallax was the same in each of
these two pieces of work, about 0".03. The progress of the work
during the last two or three generations is given in Table III
which contains also a brief statement of the discoveries made
during the preceding century due chiefly to efforts to measure
stellar parallaxes.

TABLE III

Approximate Number of Known Stellar Parallaxes

DATE

ASTRONOMER

NUMBER OF STARS
WITH KNOWN PARALLAXES

DISCOVERIES

1718

Halley

No parallax.

Proper motion.

1728

Bradley

No parallax.

Aberration.

1750

Bradley

No parallax.

Nutation.

1790

Hersehel

No parallax.

True binary systems.

183S

1888

28.

1898

50 to 60.

1916

200 to 300.

A generation ago photography entered the field of stellar
parallax work, and has outdistanced all the previously employed
methods for efficiency. In 1911, two publications appeared
giving the results of photographic stellar parallax work, one
by Russell, giving the parallaxes of forty stars from photo-
graphs taken by Hinks and himself at Cambridge, England, the
other by Schlesinger, giving the parallaxes of twenty-five stars
from photographs taken mostly by himself at the Yerkes Obser-
vatory, Williams Bay, Wisconsin. In speaking of these two
series of observations, Sir David Gill said:

On the whole, the Cambridge results, when a sufficient number of
plates have been taken, and when the comparison stars are symmetri-
cally arranged, give results of an accuracy which, but for the wonder-
ful precision of the Yerkes observations, would have been regarded as
of the highest class.

Schlesinger has shown that with a telescope of the size and char-
acter of the Yerkes instrument "the number of stellar parallaxes
that can be determined per annum, with an average probable
error of 0''013, will in the long run be about equal to the num-
ber of clear nights available for the work."

174

eichelberger: distances of heavenly bodies

In other words, the Yerkes 40-inch equatorial used photographi-
cally determines stellar parallaxes with one-tenth the labor re-
quired with an heliometer and with twice the accuracy.

In July, 1913, stellar parallax work was undertaken with the
60-inch reflector of the Mount Wilson Solar Observatory, and
at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society at San
Francisco in August, 1915 a report on that work was made.
The parallaxes of thirteen stars had been determined, with a
maximum probable error of 0".010 and an average probable
error of less than 0".006, giving twice the accuracy of the
Schlesinger results with the Yerkes 40-inch and from three to
five times that obtained fifteen years ago. What may we not
expect when the 100-inch reflector gets to work on Mt. Wilson.

At the meeting of the American Astronomical Society to which
reference has just been made, two other observatories reported
upon their stellar parallax work. Lee and Joy of the Yerkes
Observatory reported the parallaxes of nine stars with a maximum
probable error of 0."014 and an average probable error of 0".010,
and Mitchell of Leander McCormick Observatory reported the
parallaxes of eleven stais with a maximum probable error of
0".012 and an average probable error of 0".009.

The progress made in the accuracy of parallax results is shown
at a glance in Table IV.

TABLE IV
The Accuracy of Stellar Parallax Determinations

DATE

1838

1880-1898

1888-1912

1893-1905
1910
1915
1915
1915

INSTRUMENT

o
o

Dorpat refractor

Konigsberg heliometer

Cape heliometer

Yale heliometer

Washburn meridian circle

Yerkes refractor

Leander McCormick refractor
Mt. Wilson 60-inch reflector. . .

PROBABLE
ERROR

OBSERVERS

0!025

Struve.

0.02

Bessel.

0.017

Gill and Assistants.

0.03

Elkin, Chase, and

Smith.

0.03

Flint.

0.013

Schlesinger.

0.010

Lee and Joy.

0.009

Mitchell.

0.006

Van Maanan

CLARK: ABYSSAL TEMPERATURES 175

From these results it appears that any star whose parallax
is as much as 0".02, i.e., whose distance from the Earth is less
than ten million times that from the Earth to the Sun, should
give a positive result when subjected to the treatment now
employed in parallax investigations, and as eight or ten observa-
tories are devoting their energies to stellar parallax work at
present, the combined programs containing over 1000 different
stars, we ought soon to have lists of at least a few thousand
stars whose parallaxes are known where our present lists contain
but a few hundred.

OCEANOGRAPHY. — On the temperature of the water below the
1000-fathom line between California and the Hawaiian Is-
lands.1 Austin H. Clark, National Museum.

From October 11, 1891 until January 15, 1892 the United
States Fisheries steamer Albatross was engaged in a cable survey
between California and the Hawaiian Islands. On this cruise
she occupied 556 stations (Nos. 2655 to 3202 in the records of the
Albatross as published by the Bureau of Fisheries, Nos. 1 to 556
in the report published by the Navy Department), at nearly half
of which the temperature of the bottom water was ascertained.
Although these records are individually not so accurate as
might be desired, it has seemed possible to make use of them by
employing a system of broad averages; that is, by accepting as
approximately true the mean of all the readings not obviously
erroneous within units of five degrees of longitude.

Abyssal temperatures in the Pacific vary so slightly that if
given in the actual figures it is difficult to appreciate the differ-
ences. The most graphic exposition of these differences is by
presentation as plus or minus departures from the mean tem-
perature for the whole ocean at the depths considered, as as-
certained by comparison with the table published by Murray and
Hjort.2

1 Published with the permission of the Commissioner of the Bureau of
Fisheries.

2 Depths of the Ocean, p. xvi. 1912.

176

CLARK: ABYSSAL TEMPERATURES

Using this method we find the following departures from the
mean for the depth given between California and the Hawaiian
Islands :

TABLE I

DEPTH (FATHOMS)

1000-1500

1500-2000

OVER 2000

120° to 125° W. long

-0?20(3)*
^0 (1)

-0?25(6)
+0?15(2)

-0?26 (7)
-0?17 (23)
-0?11 (11)
-0?12 (24)
-0?04 (16)
-0?02 (15)
+0?15 (15)
+0?15 (9)

125° to 130° W. long

130° to 135° W. long

135° to 140° W. long

140° to 145° W. long

145° to 150° W. long

150° to 155° W. long

155° to 160° W. long

Maximum variation

0?20

0?40

0?41

* The numbers in parentheses are the numbers of observations.

Below 2000 fathoms we find a maximum variation of only 0?41
Fahrenheit. The abyssal water is coldest on the California
coast; it gradually becomes warmer to long. 130°-140°W., then
becomes gradually warmer again at almost the same rate to
long. 145°-160°W., from which point it becomes rapidly warmer
to long. 150°-160°W. The water between 1000 and 2000 fathoms
is also warmer about the Hawaiian Islands than on the Cali-
fornian coast. (See fig. 1.)

♦01

*0.0

-01

-0.2

-4)3

+01
±0 0

-03

Fig. 1. Diagram illustrating the increase in the temperature of the water
below 2000 fathoms between California and the Hawaiian Islands. The tempera-
tures, recorded as plus or minus departures from the mean of the ocean as a whole,
are given as averages of all the observations for each five degrees of longitude.

BINGHAM: PLASTIC FLOW

177

On the basis of the data it would be hazardous to attempt any
generalizations; but the regular sequence of the figures suggests
that in spite of the individual variation of the observations the
averages are more or less reliable, and that the warming of the
abyssal water from the California!! coast toward the mid-Pacific
may be accepted as a fact.

In this connection it is well to call attention to the relatively
high abyssal temperatures on the South and Central American
coasts, as contrasted with those from southern California north-
ward, especially off southern California and in the Gulf of Alaska.

5
5

PHYSICS.— Plastic flow.1 E. C. Bingham, Richmond College.
(Communicated by C. W. Waidner).

Bingham and Durham2 showed experimentally that the fluidity
of a suspension is a linear function of the concentration. The
zero of fluidity is reached at a comparatively low volume con-
centration, as is shown in
figure 1. The concentra-
tion which has zero fluidity
serves to sharpty demarcate
viscous from plastic flow.
All concentrations less than
this are viscous and any
shearing force, no matter
how small, will produce a
permanent deformation if
exerted long enough. Con-
centrations greater than
this are plastic and it is
necessary to use a shearing-
force of definite magnitude
in order to produce a per-
manent deformation. The
laws of plastic flow have never been studied. The method of
attack was to force suspensions of clay in water under known

1 This work has done at the Bureau of Standards.

2 Amer. Chem. Journ. 46: 278. 1911.

100

J
1

\ / l

200

01
100^

25 SO 75

VOLUME PERCENTAGE CLAY

100

Fig. 1.

Relation of fluidity and friction to
concentration.

178

BINGHAM.* PLASTIC FLOW

pressure through capillaries of different dimensions and measure
the rates of flow. Some of the values obtained are shown in
figure 2. For medium pressures the volume of flow is given

100

150 200

PRESSURE

250

3O0

Fig. 2. The flow (in cc.) of 50 per cent clay suspension in water containing
0.1 per cent of potassium carbonate in solution, for pressures (g. per sq. cm.)
as shown, and at 25 °C, except one series of experiments with Capillary No. 1
which was made at 40°C. The following are the numbers and dimensions of
the capillaries used:

'umber of Capillary

Radius in cm.

Length in on

1.0

0.02848

2.468

6.1

0.05785

5.011

6.2

0.05811

2.509

6.3

0.05850

9.998

by the formula v = k (P — /), where P is the pressure em-
ployed and / is the " friction, " i.e., the force required to start
the flow. Putting (P — /) in place of P in the ordinary Poiseuille
formula for calculating the fluidity, we have a means for cal-
culating the "mobility" of plastic substances, analagous to the

BINGHAM: PLASTIC FLOW

179

>5
h

o
S3

fluidity of viscous substances. The friction increases as a linear
function of the concentration of solid present (fig. 1). It is
independent of the length and diameter of the capillary and of
the viscosity of the medium. It is, however, affected by the
presence of alkalies or acids in the medium. The mobility
decreases rapidly as the concentration of the solid is increased, as
is seen in figure 3. The mobility is enormously sensitive to the
presence of alkalies or acids,
the mobility of a neutral clay
suspension being increased 330
per cent by the addition of 0.1
per cent of potassium carbon-
ate. At pressures little if any
greater than those necessary to
overcome the friction there was
detected a seepage of the me-
dium past the solid particles
(see capillary 6.1, fig. 2). At
high pressures there was some-
times a sudden increase in the
rate of flow, which is apparently

due to slipping (see capillary 0*.3, fig. 2) . If the solid material con-
sisted of spheres of equal size, the pore space left when the spheres
were as closely packed as possible would amount to about 26
per cent, quite irrespective of the radius of the spheres. How-
ever, due to the friction of the spheres on each other, the pore
space may be larger than this, and this is particularly true if the
material is finely divided. As a matter of fact, it was found that
on shaking dry clay into a flask the pore space amounted to
81.6 per cent of the total volume. This corresponds closely
to the percentage of liquid present in the mixture having zero
fluidity, which is 80.5. It is upon this friction that plasticity
depends and the plasticity is thus closely related to the fineness
of subdivision of the material.

Fig. 3.

25 50 75 100

VOLUME PERCENTAGE CLAY

Relation of mobility to
concentration.

180 knowlton: age of morrison formation

GEOLOGY. — Note on a recent discovery of fossil plants in the
Morrison formation. x F. H. Knowlton, Geological Survey.

There has been a good deal of discussion within the past few
years regarding the stratigraphic position of the Morrison for-
mation, that is, as to whether it should be placed in the upper
part of the Jurassic or the lower portion of the Cretaceous.
The divergence of opinion on this point among stratigraphers
and paleontologists was well brought out in the symposium on
the " Close of Jurassic and opening of Cretaceous time in North
America," given before the Paleontological Society at the
Philadelphia meeting in 1914, 2 though the concensus of opinion
appeared to favor placing it in the Cretaceous.

Heretofore, with the exception of some 20 nominal species of
cycad trunks found in the Freezeout Hills in Carbon County,
Wyoming, no fossil plants have been reported from the Morrison.
This deficiency is now in a small measure supplied by the fortun-
ate discovery of a plant-bearing horizon in the Morrison near
Little Cottonwood Creek, in the eastern part of Bighorn Basin,
Wyoming. Mr. C. T. Lupton, of the United States Geological
Survey, found this locality in 1915 and sent in a small collection.
Mr. Lupton has kindly supplied ,me with the following data
regarding the location and stratigraphic relations:

The fossil leaves I sent in were collected by my assistant, Mr. E. M.
Parks, in the NW. | sec. 14, T.47 N., R. 89 W., on the east side of Little
Cottonwood Creek, an intermittent tributary of No Wood River.
This place is about 5 miles west slightly north of the town of Ten Sleep,
and about 1^ miles north of the Worland-Ten Sleep road where it
crosses the former stream.

The leaves occur in a thin bed of light shaly sandstone which lies
just beneath a prominent 50-foot bed of white ledge-making sandstone
containing a little conglomerate at its base. This prominent sandstone
is variable in thickness and constitutes the basal part of the Cloverly
formation as identified by Darton. The varicolored beds below this
conglomeratic sandstone are characterized in many places by gastro-
liths ('stomach-stones').

1 Published with the permission of the Director of the U. S. Geological Survey.

2 Papers by Osborn, Lee, Mook, Lull, Berry, and Stanton. Bull. Geol. Soc.
America 26: 295-348. 1915.

wherry: cavities in zeolite deposits 181

The matrix in which the plants is preserved is a white, fine-
grained, shaly sandstone, well fitted to retain the details of
nervation, and there can be no question as to the identification.
The two species present are: Nilsonia nigricollensis Wieland3
and Zamites arcticus Goppert.4 The first species has previously
been found only at its type locality in the lower part of the
Lakota sandstone, near the summit of the Black Hills rim, 5
miles north of Sturgis, South Dakota. The other species
(Zamites arcticus) is very abundant in the Kootenai of Montana,
and several Canadian localities. It has been reported also
from the so-called Shasta flora of California, and from the Kome
(Urgonian) of Greenland.

While it is manifestly unsafe to build much of a generalization
on two species, yet so far as they go they indicate that the
Morrison is Cretaceous.

A word may be added as to the evidence to be derived from
the cycad trunks above mentioned from the Freezeout Hills.
Although they are referred to a distinct genus (Cycadella) they
are certainly very close to, if not indeed identical with, similarly
silicified trunks of the genus Cycadeoidea, which are so abundant
in the Lakota sandstone of the Black Hills rim and which occur
also in the Patuxent formation of Maryland. The internal
structure has not been fully investigated in Cycadella, about the
only obvious difference between it and Cycadeoidea being the
profusion of ramentum in the former, which is a character of
doubtful generic value. This evidence also — so far as it goes-
argues for the Cretaceous age of the Morrison.

MINERALOGY. — The lozenge-shaped cavities in the First Watch-
ung Mountain zeolite deposits. Edgar T. Wherry, Na-
tional Museum.1

The zeolite deposits in the basalt of First Watchung Mountain
in Passaic County, New Jersey, frequently contain angular
cayities representing minerals which crystallized out at an

3 Wieland, G. R., in Ward: U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 48, 319, pi. 73, figs. 15a-d.
1905.

4 Op. cit., 306, pi. 73, figs. 1-6.

1 Published by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

182 wherry: cavities in zeolite deposits

early stage, became surrounded by quartz, prehnite, or zeolites,
and at some subsequent time dissolved away. Replacement by
quartz also took place at various stages in the history of these
crystals, so that the cavities sometimes show lamellae where
the quartz entered along cleavage planes, and in other cases
have been completely filled by quartz, occasionally yielding
a removable core. Two types of crystals are represented, one
rectangular in outline, thick to thin tabular in habit, and evi-
dently orthorhombic, the other lozenge or " diamond "-shaped
in cross section, prismatic in habit, and monoclinic in symmetry.

Babingtonite was suggested by Dr. C. N. Fenner2 as the original
mineral of the rectangular cavities, and possibly of the lozenge
shaped ones as well, while Mr. F. I. Allen3 has shown that
anhydrite was the original occupant of the former in many cases.
Reasons are here presented for believing the mineral of the lozenge
shaped cavities to have been glauberite, Na2Ca(S04)2-

In connection with studies of the Triassic rocks of the eastern
United States the writer has long been interested in the angular
cavities occasionally found in the shales, and while examining
specimens of these from one mile south of Steinsburg, Bucks
County, Pennsylvania, obtained a clue to the nature of the
original mineral. Plaster casts of the well-preserved cavities
in this shale were prepared, and found to have the angles, habit,
and type of oscillatory combination of faces, resulting in stria-
tions and rounding of faces, characteristic of glauberite. No
trace of the original mineral is here preserved; but in another
occurrence, described by Mr. A. C. Hawkins,4 the crystallization
of the mineral in the muds in downward-radiating groups of
long slender monoclinic (or triclinic) prisms and the filling of
its cavities by secondary analcite and calcite (which contain
sodium and calcium respectively) indicate that the original
mineral here also was probably glauberite.

Comparison of the lozenge-shaped, prismatic cavities in the
First Watchung Mountain zeolites with glauberite thereupon

2 Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci. 4: 552-558, 598-605. 1914.

3 Amer. Journ. Sci. 39: 134. 1915.

4 Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 23: 163. 1914.

wherey: cavities in zeolite deposits 183

suggested itself, and the angles, habit, and curvature of faces
(due to oscillatory combination) of plaster casts of a few of them
were found to be essentially identical with those of glauberite.5
That glauberite has not been considered in this connection before
is probably due to the fact that the crystals figured in Dana's
System of Mineralogy happen to be all of tabular habit, although,
as noted in the text, this species is not infrequently prismatic,
owing to the extension of the form s. This form is usually
regarded as the unit pryamid, but it may well be questioned
whether it might not be made the unit prism.6 The forms which
have been observed on the cavities in the zeolites are c (100),
«(334), e(445), s(lll), ro(110), a(100), and e(311); the most
important angles are sas' 63°42' (the prismatically developed
form), cas 43° 2', CAa' 112°11', sAe 4°55', sa« 6°21', and a'*e
31°42', variations of several degrees owing to the oscillatory
combination of forms being frequent in these angles, a phenom-
enon observed also in many crystals of the mineral.

The identification of the mineral of these cavities as glauberite,
though based primarily on crystallographic data, is confirmed
by geological and genetic considerations. At Steinsburg and at
Princeton the mineral crystallized in the sediments as a result
of concentration of the water in enclosed lakes. Most of the
known occurrences of this mineral are in this sort of deposit, and
it is always one of the earliest to form. The basalt lava of the
First Watchung Mountain, as shown by Dr. Fenner,7 flowed
locally into a similar lake, the waters of which contributed to
the formation of the zeolites and other minerals and could
readily have furnished the calcium sulphate of the anhydrite
and the additional sodium sulphate of the closely associated
glauberite. It is noteworthy that glauberite has been observed,8

5 Dr. W. T. Schaller of the U. S. Geological Survey has made an extensive
series of measurements of the angles of the quartz "cores" found in some of the
cavities, and he kindly lent his notes to the writer for comparison; complete
agreement with the artificial casts was shown.

6 In a subsequent paper this new orientation of the mineral will be fully dis-
cussed by Dr. Schaller.

7 Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 20: 93-187. 1910.

8 Bergeat. Zeit. prakt. Geol. 7: 43. 1899.

184 wherry: cavities in zeolite deposits

on the island of Vulcano, in fumarole deposits, which are geneti-
cally related to these "zeolite- veins." There is also a quite
analogous occurrence of this mineral at Rosenegg, Wiirttemberg,
the igneous rock being in that case a phonolite tuff, while the
glauberite has been replaced by both calcite and quartz.9

Sumrnary: The lozenge-shaped, prismatic, monoclinic cavi-
ties which occur in Triassic shales and especially in the First
Watchung Mountain zeolite deposits are believed to represent
the mineral glauberite, the crystallographic, geological, and
genetic evidence all pointing in the same direction. A full
report on this subject, with descriptions of the geologic occur-
rences, the crystallographic measurements, figures of specimens,
etc., is in preparation.

9 Leuze. Jahresh. Ver. vaterl. Naturk. Wiirttemberg 1886, 62; 1889, 305;
abstracted in Zeit. Kryst. Min. 14: 408. 1888; 20: 303. 1892.

ABSTRACTS

CHEMISTRY. — The colorimetric determination of acetylene and its
application to the determination of water. E. R. Weaver. Bureau
of Standards Scientific Paper No. 267. Pp. 39. 1916.

A colorimetric method for the detection of small amounts of acety-
lene has been developed in the course of an investigation upon the
determination of small amounts of water by the use of calcium carbide.
The results upon the quantitative determination of water have not
been satisfactory, but a simple and very sensitive qualitative test for
water is easily made.

The method for the determination of acetylene has been worked
out successfully. The determination is made by conducting the gas
to be investigated into an ammoniacal solution of cuprous chloride con-
taining gelatine and alcohol, and comparing the red colloidal solution
so obtained with a suitable standard, which may be either a solution
of red dye or a piece of ruby glass.

The method is very sensitive. Amounts of acetylene as small as
0.03 mg. may be detected and amounts up to 2 mg. may be determined
with an accuracy of better than 0.05 mg.

Hydrogen sulphide and large amounts of oxygen and carbon dioxide
interfere with the test, but all of these may be removed by passing the
gas to be tested through a hot alkaline solution of pyrogallol without
loss of acetylene.

A qualitative test for water, sensitive to less than 0.1 mg., may be
very easily and quickly made by bringing the substance to be tested into
contact with calcium carbide in the presence of a solvent for acetylene,
which is then decanted or distilled into an ammoniacal solution of
cuprous chloride. E. R. W.

185

186 abstracts: anthropology

PALEONTOLOGY. — Bibliographic index of American Ordovician and
Silurian fossils. Ray S. Bassler. U. S. National Museum
Bulletin 92. Pp. 1521, 4 pis. (tables). 1915.
This work gives the entire bibliography and synonomy of the hun-
dreds of genera and thousands of species found in North America
in the rocks of the Ordovician and Silurian periods. In addition, the
genotypes of the genera are given, and also the formation, the type
locality, and the known wider distribution of the species. In cases
where the U. S. National Museum has type material, this is noted and
the Museum catalog numbers are cited. At the end of the bibliog-
raphy proper is given an index of specific names and their generic
combinations (pages 1342-1406), a bibliographic classification and
index of genera (1407-1440), faunal lists of American Ozarkian to low-
est Helderbergian species (1441-1509), and a list of American Ordovic-
ian and Silurian formations showing their place in the geologic column
(1511-1521). Finally at the end of the work are four very important
correlation tables of the geologic divisions and their occurrence in the
various basins of deposit. R. S. B.

ANTHROPOLOGY. — Kickapoo tales. William Jones and Truman
Michelson. Publications of the American Ethnological Society,
9:1-143. 1915.

The texts of these tales were collected by the late William Jones in
1903; the translations are nearly all by Truman Michelson, as are
all the comparative notes. The notes on Kickapoo grammar are based
mainly on the materials left by William Jones, edited by Truman
Michelson, though some observations by the latter have also been in-
corporated. The notes on the conditions of the texts are likewise
by the latter.

The tales are, so far as is known, the first extended publication of
Kickapoo folk-lore. They are eleven in number: three Culture Hero
tales, three Animal tales, and five miscellaneous tales. A compara-
tive study shows that both woodland and plains elements occur. The
question as to which predominates cannot be answered until more
material is available. That European elements also occur is clear.
Tentatively we may say that Kickapoo folk-tales and mythology are
closest to Fox, which is in accordance with the linguistic facts. T. M.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED

SOCIETIES

THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 768th meeting was held on February 19, 1916, at the Cosmos
Club; President Briggs in the chair, 41 persons present. The minutes
of the 767th meeting were read in abstract and approved.

Mr. William Bowie presented an illustrated paper on Determi-
nation of the intensity of gravity on land in the United States. Numerous
attempts have been made to determine accurately the absolute gravity
by the reversible pendulum, but the results were not very satisfactory
for there were a number of errors which entered into the determination.
The principal ones were probably in the determination of the distances
between the two knife edges on the pendulum, the flexure of the pen-
dulum support, and the temperature changes. Later attempts were
made by using the invariable pendulums which were swung only in
the direct position, the period being determined at the base station and
then at the new station. Since the length of the pendulum is invariable,
the difference in gravity at the two stations could be obtained by a
simple formula involving only the two periods. Because of the great
length of the second pendulum used at first, great accuracy was not
obtained from the observations. A great step forward was made when
Baron von Sterneck of Vienna designed and constructed the half-
second invariable pendulum which he swung in a closed case from which
the air had been almost entirely exhausted. These pendulums give a
high degree of accuracy in the determination of the relative intensity of
gravity at any two stations. All the gravity determinations in the United
States during the last 25 years have been made with the Mendenhall
pendulum, which is a modification of the von Sterneck pendulum,
and the results have been most satisfactory. The value of the intensity
of gravity at each station in the United States has been corrected for
topography and isostatic compensation, as well as for elevation above
sea level. The resulting anomalies (the differences between the ob-
served and computed values) are small in comparison with the anomalies
obtained by the older methods which are not based upon the theory of
isostacy.

Discussion: Mr. Swann asked whether the proposed use of invar
in the construction of the pendulum would not require correction for
magnetization. Mr. Humphreys stated that some invars were practi-
cally non-magnetic. Mr. Abbot asked how much time was required to
make a satisfactory determination. Mr. C. A. Briggs thought that

187

188 proceedings: philosophical society

the transfer of the knife edges from the pendulum to the support
would introduce inaccuracies. Mr. Bowie stated that, on the average,
4 stations were occupied per month; the transfer of knife edges from
the pendulum to the support causes no sensible error.

Vice-President Humphreys took the chair and Mr. L. J. Briggs then
presented an illustrated communication on Measurement of the acceler-
ation of gravity at sea. The different Methods which have been proposed
and used in the measurement of the acceleration of gravity were first
discussed. Two other methods, the first based on the current-balance
and the second on the viscosimeter, were suggested. The speaker
then presented a series of gravity measurements at sea from New York
to San Francisco via Panama with instruments of the type already
used in trans-Pacific measurements; in this type the pressure of an in-
closed mass of gas is balanced by a column of mercury of variable
height. The apparatus is so designed that the volume of gas is con-
stant at the time of making the observations and, since the temperature
is maintained constant by a bath of melting ice, the heights of the
mercury column at two stations are theoretically inversely proportional
to g at the two stations. The average probable error of the mean of
the readings of 3 instruments at base stations on the voyage from New
York to San Francisco was 1 part in 60,000. Apparent anomalies
were observed at sea on both sides of the Isthmus, off the coast of
Lower California, and off the California coast near San Francisco.

Discussion: Mr. Swann stated that one should expect systematic
differences for observations during rough weather because of the effect
of centrifugal action on the mercury column and called attention to a
possible method for compensation. Mr. Bowie thought that the
results presented indicated a decided improvement in the accuracy of
determination at sea over previous work ; along the shallow waters
near the coast the errors doubtless would be greater than those due to
topography, but over the deep-sea areas the data obtained should be
valuable. Mr. Abbot asked how much time was required for ob-
servations at base stations. Mr. Curtis referred to the difficulties
experienced with reference to designation of units for gravity work.
Mr. White referred to possible improvements in details of contraction
of the apparatus. Mr. Briggs stated that he thought further improve-
ment could be effected by exercising greater precaution with reference
to the cleaning of the mercury and the apparatus before sealing.

The 769th meeting was held on March 4, 1916, at the Cosmos Club:
President Briggs in the chair, 68 persons present.

The evening was devoted to the address of the retiring President,
Mr. W. S. Eichelberger, The distances of the heavenly bodies. (This
Journal, pp. 161-175).

J. A. Fleming, Secretary.

proceedings: geological society 189

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 302d meeting was held in the lecture room of the Cosmos Club
on January 12, 1916.

INFORMAL COMMUNICATIONS

Max W. Ball exhibited photographs of the results of an earthquake
which occurred about 50 miles south of Winnemucca, Nevada. The
pictures were taken by S. L. Gillan, Mineral Inspector, General Land
Office.

REGULAR PROGRAM

T. Wayland Vaughan: Some littoral and sub-littoral physiographic
features of the Virgin and Leeward Islands. A discussion of submarine
terraces, their significance, the criteria for determining their relative age,
and their relation to the development of coral reefs. Illustrated.
(Published in full in Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci. 6: 53-66. 1916.)

0. E. Meinzer: Physical features of Guantanamo Bay and adjacent
areas in Cuba. The rocks in the region comprise: (1) a basal complex
of metam orphic and igneous rocks; (2) a sedimentary series, several
thousand feet thick, consisting chiefly of conglomerate, limestone, and
shale resting unconformably on the basal complex and in general
dipping away from its outcrops; (3) horizontal beds of conglomerate
and coralline limestone underlying a series of terraces and resting
unconformably on the basal complex and on the tilted beds of conglo-
merate, limestone, and shale; (4) stream gravels; and (5) recent marine
and delta deposits. Fossils collected in 20 localities have not yet
reached Washington. Four marine terraces are well developed —
in most of the region at altitudes of about 40, 200, 500, and 750 feet.
They consist largely of benches cut into the older rocks (Series 1 and 2)
and mantled with coralline limestone (Series 3). Their development
in the interior valleys indicates that the present major topographic
features were in existence prior to the terraces. They rank in age
according to their altitudes. All bear evidences of geologic youth
and were apparently formed in the Quaternary period. After the 40-
foot terrace was formed the region stood higher than at present, as is
indicated by innumerable small bays and estuaries which were created
through the dissection of the 40-foot terrace limestone, and by a sub-
merged bench (or series of benches) 100 feet or less below present sea
level. That the shore line has for a long time been stationary is shown
by the existence of a well-developed bench at present sea level.

G. S. Rogers: Oil field waters and their chemical relations to oil;
particularly the conversion of sulphates into carbonates by hydrocarbons.
It has long been known that oil and gas are commonly associated with
water, but of the chemical relations between the two we know little,
and scientific literature contains only a few references to the chemical
composition of the waters themselves. The study of several hundred
analyses of water from the oil fields of the San Joaquin Valley, Cali-

190 proceedings: geological society

fornia, discloses the following facts, (a) Some of the deepest waters are
as salty as sea water, while in others chlorides are practically lacking.
The distribution of the chlorides is apparently a function of the freedom
of the underground circulation, which is controlled largely by geologic
structure, (b) Sulphates, which are the predominating salts in the
normal ground water on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley,
diminish rather regularly in amount as the oil zone is approached and
finally disappear, but outside of the oil fields their quantity remains
constant to great depths or even increases, (c) Carbonates increase
as the oil zone is approached, and if no chlorides are present constitute
the only dissolved salts in the waters associated with the oil.

These marked variations in the character of the waters are presum-
ably due to reaction between them and the hydrocarbons, by which
the sulphate is reduced to H2S and the hydrocarbons oxidized to car-
bonate and C02. Carbon dioxide, doubtless derived in this way, is
present in the hydrocarbon gas in these fields and usually occurs in
greatest quantity (up to 35 per cent) nearest the outcrop, where the
sulphate waters enter the strata and where the reaction would be most
vigorous. It is probable also that part of the H2S formed is oxidized
to sulphur, which would react with the oil and make it heavier and
more asphaltic. In general, the heaviest oil is that nearest the outcrop
and that in the zone of "tar sands" above the main oil zone, where the
sulphate water would exercise its greatest effect. The occurrence of the
heavier oil nearest the surface has hitherto been ascribed to oxidation,
but the action of sulphur derived from the sulphate waters is believed
to have been more important.

The 303d meeting was held in the lecture room of the Cosmos Club
on January 26, 1916.

REGULAR PROGRAM

G. F. Loughlin: Faulting in the Tintic Mining District, Utah. Five
periods of faulting are recognized: (a) faulting during the later stages
of the period of folding; (b) faulting during the subsequent period of
recoil; (c) faulting due to igneous intrusions, especially that of the
main monzonite stock; (d) Assuring and faulting just after igneous
intrusion, providing channels for the ore-forming solutions; (e) post-
mineral Assuring and faulting. The largest faults in the mining district
proper are included in groups (a) and (c). They had only minor
influence in determining the locations of ore bodies.

A detailed discussion of the faulting will be included in a forth-
coming report of the United States Geological Survey on the geology
and ore deposits of the Tintic District.

Philip S. Smith: Notes on the geology of the Lake Clark-Iditarod
region, Alaska. The speaker described the areal geology of the Lake
Clark-Iditarod region, Alaska. This region is located in southwestern
Alaska, extending from the Pacific Mountains to the central part of
the Yukon Plateau province. The rocks are dominantly sedimentary

proceedings: botanical society 191

strata of Mesozoic age, but some Paleozoic limestones are also exposed.
Igneous rocks both of intrusive and effusive origin occur at a number of
places and certain of them seem to have been closely associated with
the deposits of commercial value such as gold and quicksilver. Un-
consolidated deposits are widespread and throughout much of the
region mantle and hide the underlying bedrock. These deposits are
mainly of glacial and glacio-fluviatile origin, though lacustrine, fluvi-
atile, and volcanic ash deposits are also described.

F. W. Clarke: The inorganic constituents of marine invertebrates.
Two hundred analyses of hard parts of corals, mollusks, echinoderms,
worm tubes, algae, etc., throw much light on the origin of magnesian
limestone and phosphatic rock. (No abstract; the complete paper
will be published as a Professional Paper of the U. S. Geological Survey).

Carroll H. Wegemann, Secretary.

THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 111th regular meeting of the Botanical Society of Washington
was held in the Crystal Dining Room of the New Ebbitt Hotel, Wed-
nesday evening, March 8, 1916. Eighty-two members and 117 guests
were present. Mr. A. S. Hitchcock, president of the Society, pre-
sided. Dr. Rodney H. True, as retiring president, delivered an ad-
dress, an abstract of which is given below. A dinner preceded the
address, after which there was dancing.

Relation of Thomas Jefferson to Botany: Rodney H. True. It is
not generally known that Thomas Jefferson, who was perhaps the
center of a more intense partisan activity than any other man of his
time, was at the same time a great lover of outdoor life and took a keen
interest in an amateur way in botany. Throughout his life he main-
tained a correspondence with many of the prominent botanists of his
time and exchanged garden plants with William Hamilton, Bernard
McMahon, John Bartram, and other gardening botanists. Like
many of his planter neighbors, Jefferson accumulated a rather extensive
collection of rare and interesting plants and built up what was perhaps
one of the best botanical libraries in the United States. He wrote
only one book dealing chiefly with matters of science, his Notes on
Virginia, printed while he was in France in 1784. This book dealt
with the State of Virginia in all its aspects and in proper chapters dis-
cussed the botany and natural history of the state. This book was
translated into the French and German languages and ran through many
editions during the first fifty years of our country's history. While
in France he kept in close touch with the various developments of
European science and wrote long letters to various American corre-
spondents, including friends at Harvard, Yale, and other institutions,
summarizing the most important results coming to his attention. His
belief that the future of the United States was closely connected with
the country beyond the Mississippi led him to endeavor to secure the
exploration of that country soon after the close of the Revolution.

192 proceedings: botanical society

But it was not until he received authority to launch the Lewis and
Clark expedition that he was able to achieve his object. He planned
the expedition with the greatest of care, appointed chief officers, gave
them very detailed instructions concerning what they should attempt
to do, and after the return of the expedition was finally successful in
getting the results collected for publication. After his retirement to
Monticello he maintained an active correspondence with many bota-
nists and other scientists on the important scientific questions then
under consideration. In his old age he was the means of securing the
appropriation making possible the University of Virginia. He was
made head of the institution, planned its buildings, supervised their
construction, chose the faculty, and determined the policy of this
great state institution. It seems clear that, notwithstanding the promi-
nent position which Jefferson attained in the political life of his country,
he was also an important figure in the American scientific world of his
time.

Willtam E. Safford, Corresponding Secretary.

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VI APRIL 19, 1916 No. 8

PHYSICS. — A misconception of the criterion for gray body radia-
tion. Paul D. Foote and C. O. Fairchild, Bureau of
Standards.

Some 15 years ago Lummer and Pringsheim1 investigated
spectrophotometrically the radiation of carbon and platinum by
comparison with a black body at various known temperatures.
It was found, when the carbon was maintained at a constant
temperature and the temperature of the black body was altered,
that the graph of the logarithm of the ratio of the intensities of
the two sources at any given wave length plotted against the
reciprocal of the absolute temperature of the black body was a
straight line, and further that these linear graphs for various
wave lengths in the visible spectrum intersected at one common
point. The fact that such a common point of intersection existed
was casually suggested as a possible proof of the "grayness" of
carbon where the term gray is understood to denote that the
material has an emissivity independent of the wave length.
Consequently the value of the temperature coordinate corre-
sponding to this point of intersection would be the true tempera-
ture of the gray radiating material.

Recently an extensive paper on this subject has been published
by Elisabeth Benedict2 working under the direction of Lummer
and Pringsheim in which the following questions among others
proposed by Dr. Lummer are considered.

1 Lummer and Pringsheim. Verh. d. Deut. Phys. Ges. 3: 36-42. 1901.
s Benedict. Ann. d. Phys. 47: 641-678. 1915.

193

194 FOOTE AND FAIRCHILD : GRAY BODY RADIATION

1. Are there materials which show true intersections of the
logarithmic isochromatics?

2. Do these intersections furnish an exact measure of the true
temperature?

Carbon was found to show the intersections referred to. The
conclusion was accordingly made that carbon is gray and that
the temperature corresponding to the point of the intersection is
the true temperature of the carbon.

It is the purpose of this note to point out that these conclu-
sions can not be drawn from the experimental data. It will be
shown that even though the logarithmic isochromatics of vari-
ous wave lengths do intersect in one common point, this point
of intersection is no immediate indication whatever of the true
temperature of the non-black radiator, and is no proof that the radi-
ator is even approximately gray.

The radiation of a black body is compared spectrophotometri-
cally with that of a non-black body.

J i = intensity of radiation of wave length X from black body.

J2 = intensity of radiation of wave length X from non-black
body.

6 = absolute temperature of black body.

T = absolute true temperature of non-black body.

A = emissivity coefficient of non-black body which in gen-
eral is a function of both T and X.

The question of A as a function of T is not considered in the
present note. We shall accordingly assume A to be a function
of X only.

(1) J1 =c,X e M

{Wieri's law for black body.)

(2) J2 = d \~bAe~*r

(Analogous law for non-black body.)
Whence

^ ^jrx^A+ci(j-i)

FOOTE AND FAIRCHILD : GRAY BODY RADIATION 195

Suppose that A can be represented, within observational er-
rors, by a function of the following form, where p and A' are
constants

{C2P
,loge4=logeA' + ^

Substituting in (3)

(5) log.^-log.A'-S^i + p-I

Since by the method in question T is maintained constant, the
only variables being J2/Ji, A and 6, the above equation is of the
form

(6) (y — a) = m (b — x)

i.e. a family of straight lines with the variable parameter c2/X.

The common point of intersection has the coordinates loge A'

i 1
and - + p.

We have accordingly shown that the intersection may occur
when the material is not gray and that the temperature corre-
sponding to the point of intersection T' is not the true tempera-
ture T but related to it by the reciprocal expression — - = — \- p,

where p is a constant which requires an entirely different mode
of experimentation for its determination. It is of course recog-
nized that only a- few functions of the type represented by equa-
tion (4) will satisfy the condition that intersections of the iso-
chromatics occur, and that there is probably no physical reason
why the true emissivity relation should take this one peculiar
form, which invalidates the conclusion that the emissivity must be
independent of the wave length. But it may be remarked that
the intersections are never perfect, that the straight lines at best
are only a smoothed mean of the observed points, that there are
only a few radiating materials which do show intersections, and
finally that within the observational errors involved in work
upon radiation the proper choice of A' and p of equation (4) will
satisfactorily determine almost any function desired.

196

FOOTE AND FAIRCHILD I GRAY BODY RADIATION

As a particular illustration of the possible erroneous conclu-
sions which may be drawn from the intersection of isochromatics,
viz. that the radiating material is gray and that the temperature
corresponding to the intersection is the true temperature of the
radiator, the following example may be cited, in which the radia-
tion from a black body at various temperatures is compared
with that from a non-black and non-gray body. There can be
no question that this particular radiator is not gray. We have
purposely made it as far from gray as conveniently possible.

Temperature of non-black radiator = 1400° abs.

WAVE LENGTH EMI3SIVITY

OAfi

0.102

0.5

0.280

0.6

0.549

0.7

0.889

The logarithmic isochromatics obtained by (theoretically) com-
paring this radiator with a black body at temperatures 1200°,
1300°, 1500°, and 1600° absolute are shown in figure 1. A per-

.0006E 64

7£ Yq 74 76

Fig. 1

feet intersection occurs at the temperature 1170° absolute. Fol-
lowing the criterion of Lummer and Pringsheim as applied by
Benedict we would conclude that this radiator is gray and is at

safford: new genus rolliniopsis 197

the temperature 1170° absolute. Actually this radiator is very
far from gray and has the temperature 1400° absolute.

Using the valuable method of isochromatics and considering
the constant p of equation (4) the writers hope to present later
experimental data on the emissivity of carbon. It may be re-
marked that the intersections used directly give simply the tem-
perature at which a color match is obtained. It is also interest-
ing to note that a non-black material may show the energy dis-
tribution of a gray body and still not be gray. That is, it is
theoretically possible to obtain a color match against a black
body with certain materials which have an emissivity coefficient
varying greatly with the wave length. It is theoretically pos-
sible to have two radiators at different temperatures, one gray
and the other far from gray, giving an exact color match, and
an exact intensity match at every wave length.

BOTANY. — Rolliniopsis, a new genus of Annonaceae from Bra-
zil. W. E. Safford, Bureau of Plant Industry.1

Among the plants collected by Messrs. Dorsett, Shamel, and
Popenoe while on their mission of agricultural exploration in
Brazil, in 1914, there is one of peculiar interest, belonging to the
Annonaceae, with 3-winged flowers resembling those of a Rol-
linia but with clusters of small, one-seeded, orange-colored fruits
very much like those of a Guatteria or Aberemoa. A photo-
graph of the flower and fruit was taken in the field, and plants
propagated from the seeds were distributed by the Office of
Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction, Bureau of Plant Industry,
bearing the label " Guatteria sp., S. P. I. No. 37902."

A second species having the same botanical features was
brought back from Brazil more recently by Dr. J. N. Rose and
Air. P. G. Russell, who collected it in the state of Bahia, in the
summer of 1915, while carrying on botanical exploration under
the auspices of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

For these and two allied plants hitherto assigned to the genus
Rollinia (R. parmflora St. Hil. and R. leptopetala R. E. Fries) must
be created a new genus, for which I here propose the name
Rolliniopsis.

1 Published with the permission of the Secretary of Agriculture.

198 safford: new genus rolliniopsis

Rolliniopsis Safford, gen. nov.

Flowers resembling those of Rollinia, solitary or in clusters of 2 or 3.
Calyx gamosepalous, 3-lobed. Corolla gamopetalous, the lobes cor-
responding to the outer petals of other Annonaceae produced into
three spreading obtuse spurs or compressed rounded wings, the three
alternate inner lobes connivent in such a way as to leave only a very
small opening above the gyncecium. Stamens minute, numerous,
closely crowded on the torus, the connective produced into a thin
transverse shield above the pollen sacs, these linear, parallel, and con-
tiguous, opening extrorsely by a longitudinal fissure. Carpels several
to many, forming a cluster (gyncecium) in the center of the mass of
stamens just below the opening of the corolla; ovaries 1-ovuled. Re-
ceptacle (torus) at length indurated and bearing a cluster of distinct
fruits, these closely crowded but not concrescent nor compressed into
prisms or angular pyramids. Fruits small, pyriform or ovoid, contain-
ing a single seed surrounded by a thin layer of aromatic pulp (mesocarp),
very much as in the genus Guatteria. Seeds pyriform, obovoid, or
ovoid, the thin testa somewhat wrinkled by the inclosed ruminate
endosperm and marked by a longitudinal line from the small basal
hilum to the rounded apex.

Type species: Rolliniopsis discreta Safford.

Geographical range: Brazil, from the State of Bahia to Minas
Geraes.

This genus is separated sharply from Guatteria by its 3-winged
flowers. From Rollinia2 it differs chiefly in its fruits, which consist
of a cluster of separate, or discrete, carpels instead of a fleshy Annona-
like syncarpium. Its relation to Rollinia is very much the same as that
of Aberemoa or Duguetia to the genus Annona. The seeds differ from
those of a typical Rollinia in their minute hilum; and the fruits, instead
of having a sugary, juicy pulp like that of the commercial custard-
apples, possess a thin aromatic mesocarp surrounding the seed, very
much like that of certain species of Xylopia known in Brazil as "mon-
key peppers" and in Panama as "malaguetas," suggesting also the flavor
of the Mexican xochinacaztli, or "ear-flower" (Cymbopetalum penduli-
florum), whose petals were used by the Aztecs as an ingredient of their
chocolate.

KEY TO THE SPECIES

Leaf blades oblong-elliptical or oblong-lanceolate.

Nerves 7 to 9 on each side 1. R. discreta.

Nerves 9 to 13 on each side 2. R. simiarum.

2 Prantl, in an analytical key of the section Xylopieae, briefly distinguishes the
genus Rollinia as follows: "Kronenb. ilber dem holen Grunde seitlich zusam-
mengedrilckt; Fr. verschmolzen." Nat. Pflanzenfam. 32: 35. 1891.

safford: new genus rolliniopsis

199

Leaf blades broadly elliptical

Flowers minute ; young branches f erruginous-tomen-

tose; leaf blades acute 3. R. parviflora.

Flowers medium-sized (winged petals about 1 cm.
long); 3'oung branches fulvous-tomentose; leaf
blades round-tipped 4. R. leptopetala.

1. Rolliniopsis discreta Safford, sp. nov.

A small tree, 6 to 9 meters high. Vegetative branches not observed;
flowering branches slender, grayish brown, thickly dotted with gray
lenticels and bearing prominent leaf scars. Leaf blades oblong-ellipti-
cal, rounded or obtuse at the base, usually rounded or obtuse or some-
times slightly refuse at the apex, variable in size, when normal 7 to 8
cm. long, 2.5 to 3 cm. broad, with 7 to 9 nerves on each side; smaller
blades near extremities of branchlets 5 cm. long, 1.5 cm. broad; petioles '
5 to 7 mm. long, often recurved, broadly
grooved above, clothed with fine gray-
ish tomentum; blades membranaceous
but firm, minutely tomentose with
short whitish hairs on both surfaces,
more densely so beneath; midrib im-
pressed above, prominent beneath and
tomentose like the petiole. Flowers
(fig. 1) solitary or in 2's or 3's; pe-
duncles extra-axillary or opposite a
leaf, straight or curved and wirelike,
10 to 17 mm. long, clothed with minute
reddish brown tomentum, subtended
at the base by a small sessile tomentose
bracteole and usually bearing a second
minute clasping bracteole at or below
the middle; calyx 3-lobed, clothed outside with reddish tomentum like
that of the peduncle, the divisions broadly triangular, 5 mm. broad,
3 mm. high; corolla reddish brown, the 3 lobes corresponding to outer
petals compressed laterally into thin orbicular vertical wings 1 1 to 12 mm.
in diameter, minutely tomentellous (as seen under the microscope) , the

3 lobes corresponding to inner petals minute, grayish-puberulent,
connivent. Stamens numerous, minute (0.6 mm. long, 0.2 mm. broad),
with the reddish brown connective expanded above the two straw-
colored parallel pollen sacs. Gyncecium composed of about 50 carpels,
these remaining distinct and developing into a cluster of small drupes.
Mature fruit cluster 4 cm. in diameter; indurated receptacle 8 to 12 mm.
in diameter; drupes pyriform, sessile, often somewhat oblique, 12 to
14 mm. long, 7 to 8 mm. in diameter, rounded at the apex and termi-
nating in a short oblique point, gradually narrowing toward the base;
pericarp bright orange, turning dark brown in drying; seeds pyriform
or obovoid, enveloped in a thin layer of aromatic pulp, 9 to 10 mm. long,

4 to 5 mm. in diameter, the testa light brown, slightly wrinkled by

Fig. 1. Flower of Rolliniopsis
discreta, with portion removed to
show crowded stamens surround-
ing the central gyncecium. Scale
about 1.5.

Fig. 2. Rolliniopsis discreta Safford.
200

safford: new genus rolliniopsis 201

the corrugations of the enclosed ruminate endosperm, marked on one
side by a longitudinal line extending from the small basal hilum to the
rounded apex.

Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, No. 865593, collected and
photographed at Januaria, State of Minas Geraes, Brazil, February 15,
1914, by Messrs. Dorsett, Shamel, and Popenoe (No. 371 b; photograph,
Field No. 1855, File No. 15508; seeds, No. 125a). "A small tree 20
to 25 feet high, common between Januaria and Brejo, 4 miles back
from the river. Fruits bright orange; called 'fruta de macaco1 [monkey-
fruit]."

EXPLANATION OP FIG. 2.

The type specimen of Rolliniopsis discreta, showing flowering branches with
leaves, flower, and fruits both immature and mature; a, stamen, dorsal view; b,
stamen, ventral view;c, two mature carpels which have fallen from the receptacle;
d, seed. Branches with flower and fruits, and detached carpels and seed, c, d,
natural size; a, b, scale 10.

2. Rolliniopsis simiarum Safford, sp. nov.

A small irregularly branching tree with small narrow round-pointed
leaf blades, 3-winged flowers, and dense clusters of small yellow aro-
matic berries. Young growth grayish-tomentulose, the branchlets
soon becoming glabrous, those of the vegetative growth slender, zigzag,
with reddish brown bark sparsely dotted with lenticels, those termin-
ating the limbs often irregular, with grayish bark, short internodes,
and prominent leaf scars. Leaf blades variable in shape, those at
the base of the branchlets smaller and relatively broader than the
succeeding ones; normal leaf blades oblong-lanceolate, rounded or
very slightly retuse at the apex, rounded at the base, 8 to 10 cm. long,
2.8 to 3.5 cm. broad, with 9 to 13 nerves on each side, membranaceous,
deep green above, paler beneath, yellowish green or olivaceous when
dry, apparently glabrous on both faces but as seen under the micro-
scope clothed with scattered minute curved whitish hairs; midrib
impressed above, prominent beneath, reddish brown, sparsely clothed
with grayish hairs; parenchyma between the lateral nerves divided
into polygonal areoles by fine reticulating veins; petioles broadly
grooved above, clothed at first with grayish tomentellum, those of the
normal leaves 6 to 8 mm. long, of the smaller leaves 3 to 5 mm. long.
Flowers (only the detached petals of one flower observed) reddish
brown when dry; petals laterally compressed, winglike, suborbicular,
abruptly contracted at the base, 11 mm. long, 9 mm. broad; calyx
persistent (observed only on dry fruits), 3-lobed, the divisions rounded
or obtuse at the apex, 2 mm. broad, 1.8 mm. high; peduncles (only
those of fruit observed) at length woody, 12 to 21 mm. long. Fruit
a cluster of small distinct sessile carpels borne on the indurated recep-
tacle; mature carpels aromatic, pyriform or obovoid, 8 to 12 mm. long,
5 to 6 mm. in diameter, rounded or abruptly beaked at the apex,
gradually narrowed at the base; pericarp glabrous, yellow when fresh,
dark brown or blackish when dry; seed solitary, obovoid or pyriform,

202 safford: new genus rolliniopsis

sometimes slightly compressed, 7 to 10 mm. long, 4 to 5 mm. in diam-
eter, the testa light brown, slightly wrinkled by the corrugations
of the inclosed ruminate endosperm, the hilum basal, small, and
inconspicuous.

Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, No. 762291, collected in the
vicinity of Machado Portella, State of Bahia, Brazil, June 19-23,
1915, by J. N. Rose and P. G. Russell (No. 19963).

The specific name chosen for this plant was suggested by its Portu-
guese vernacular name, fruta de macaco [monkey fruit].

3. Rolliniopsis parviflora (St. Hil.) Safford.

Rollinia parviflora St. Hil. Fl. Bras. Merid. 1 : 30. 1825.

A small tree with rufous-pubescent branchlets. Leaf blades 4 to
6.4 cm. long, 1.8 to 2.5 cm. broad, oblong, acuminate at the apex,
acute at the base, glabrous above, puberulous beneath, the midrib
prominent, ferruginous-pubescent, the lateral nerves parallel; petioles
about 4 mm. long, nearly terete, ferruginous-pubescent. Flowers
small, the peduncles solitary, 4 to 6 mm. long, recurved, slightly thick-
ened at the apex, ferruginous-villous. Calyx ferruginous-villous,
3-lobed, the divisions broadly ovate, acute. Corolla 3 to 5 mm. long
and broad, villous, green to rufescent, 6-lobed; lobes thick and obtuse,
horizontally spreading, those corresponding to the inner petals of other
Annonaceae a little narrower than the others, nearly orbicular. Torus
convex on top, bearing a cluster of about 15 carpels at its apex and
below these a mass of minute, closely crowded stamens (about 1 mm.
long). Fruit a cluster of small oblong-ovoid sessile drupes, these 1 cm.
long, 5 mm. in diameter, closely crowded on the indurated receptacle,
but quite distinct and falling off separately when mature, like those of
Guatteria.

Type collected by Augustin St. Hilaire "in sylvis primaevis montis
Tejuca prope Sebastianopolim [Rio cle Janeiro]. Florebat Novembre."

Rolliniopsis parviflora can readily be distinguished from the two pre-
ceding species as well as from R. leptopetala by the minute size of its
flowers and the relatively short and thick lobes of the corolla.

In the type material collected and described by St. Hilaire there were
no specimens of fruit and the fruit remained unknown until 1905,
when R. E. Fries described it from specimens collected by Riedel in
the vicinity of Rio de Janeiro.3 In the amended description of this

3 "Die Friichte, die fur diese Art bisher nicht bekannt sind, bieten ein sehr
eigenthumliches Aussehen dar. Die Einzelfriichte sind nicht in einem Syncar-
pium vereint; sie sind liinglich eiformig . . . und sitzen ungestielt auf dem
Receptaculum dicht zusammen, unter einander jedoch frei; sie fallen auch von
einander getrennt ab, wie z. B. bei den Guatterien. Hierin weicht R. -parviflora
von den allermeisten iibrigen Rollinia-Arten ab, von denen man Friichte kennt;
nur R. leptopetala R. E. Fr. hat die Frucht auf ahnliche Weise gebaut." — R. E.
Fries, in Arkiv for Botanik, 54: 20. 1905.

safford: new genus rolliniopsis 203

species by Martius4 the leaves are described as " ovate, ovate-lanceolate,
or lanceolate," and two varieties are indicated: var. a latifolia and var.
/3 angustifolia. Whatever varieties may be established, that which
corresponds with the original description of the species must be regarded
as the type form ("Rollinia foliis oblongis, acuminatis, basi acutis").
A specimen in the U. S. National Herbarium (No. 703471), collected
by Riedel "in sylvis montosis prope Rio Janeiro, 1829," with most of
the leaf blades broadly elliptical or oval and acuminate, belongs un-
doubtedly to the variety latifolia. The blades of the smaller leaves at
the base of the flowering branchlets of this specimen are orbicular. It
is quite possible that the leaves of vegetative branches would be rela-
tively narrower, like those of the type described by St. Hilaire.

Distribution : Known only from Brazil. Primeval forests of Mount
Tejuca, vicinity of Rio de Janeiro, St. Hilaire (type, as cited above);
Glaziou 6077 ; Mount Gabia and neighboring hills, Martius, Sellow, and
Lhotzky; Serra Tingud, Schott; Rio de Janeiro, without definite locality,
Selloio, Riedel; "Versant de Copacabana," January 26, 1870, Glaziou
3859; without definite locality, Glaziou 2120.

4. Rolliniopsis leptopetala (R. E. Fries) Safford.

Rollinia leptopetala R. E. Fries, Kongl. Sv. Vet. Handl. 345: 50. pi.
7, f. S, 4. 1900.
A tree or shrub, with gray to blackish gray bark, that of the young
branches dotted with numerous light-colored lenticels; young branch-
lets, petioles, and peduncles tomentose with projecting yellowish hairs.
Leaf blades broadly elliptical, rounded at the base and rounded or sub-
emarginate at the apex, variable in size, reaching the dimensions of
8 cm. in length and 4.5 cm. in breadth, membranaceous, clothed on the
upper surface more or less densely with short white hair's, at length
glossy though still bearing scattered hairs; on the lower surface clothed
with a uniform tomentellum of yellowish white hairs; midrib impressed
above, beneath prominent, reddish brown like the principal lateral
nerves (6 to 8 on each side) ; petioles 5 to 8 mm. long, narrowly grooved
above. Peduncles 1 to 1.5 cm. long, bearing at the base and at the
middle two small acute hairy bracteoles (1 mm. long). Flowers red,
fragrant. Calyx lobes 2 mm. long, 2.5 mm. broad, rounded and abrupt-
ly acuminate at the apex, united at the base, clothed outside with
reddish hairs, glabrous within. Outer petals obtuse, each bearing a
thin ferruginous-pilose, rounded or cuneate wing 8 to 11 mm. long and,
near the rounded apex, 6 to 8 mm. broad; inner petals (corolla lobes)
2.5 mm. long, 3 mm. broad, suborbicular, obtuse, clothed outside with
minute grayish hairs, glabrous within. Stamens scarcely 1 mm. in
length. Fruit (observed only on 1 specimen) spheroidal, 1.5 cm. in

4 Fl. Bras. 13': 19. 1872.

204 COLLINS AND KEMPTON : A FIELD AUXANOMETER

diameter, composed of a few smooth ovoid carpels 8 mm. by 6 mm. in
size, borne on the indurated receptacle. Seeds oval, 7 mm. long, 5 mm.
in diameter, light yellow, smooth.

Type in the Berlin Botanical Museum, collected in the state of Piauhy,
Brazil, in 1840, by George Gardner (No. 2033).

Fries compares the leaves of this species to those of Rollinia longifolia,
which, however, are relatively narrower and are not rounded at the
apex. He says that the flowers and fruit are more like those of Rol-
linia emarginata, but specimens of the latter in the U. S. National
Herbarium show its fruit to be a solid syncarpium. To this species he
assigns as a variety, angustifolia, a plant in the Berlin Botanical Museum
collected at Rio de Janeiro by Glaziou, No. 13508, but of this he figures
only a single leaf and gives no account of the flower or fruit. In his
figure of the type6 the wings of the corolla are shown as different from
those of Rolliniopsis discreta in size and form, and the mature carpels
as ovoid instead of pyriform as in the latter species; moreover he de-
scribes R. leptopetala as a tree or shrub with "ramulis, petiolis, pedun-
culisque fulvo-tomentosis" . ... and its "jungsten Sprosse
von abstehenden gelblichen Haaren wollig." These characters readily
serve to disinguish his species from both R. discreta and R. simiarum,
as well as from the ferruginous-tomentose R. parvifolia.

PLANT PHYSIOLOGY.— A field auxanometer. G. N. Collins
and J. H. Kempton, Bureau of Plant Industry.

In studying the effect of different environmental factors, such
as light, temperature, and water supply, on the rate of growth
of maize varieties, the lack of some means of measuring the
elongation of plants growing naturally in the field has for several
years been recognized as a serious obstacle. There are two prin-
cipal requirements in securing satisfactory measurements: (1) In
order to ascribe any observed difference in the behavior of two
varieties to its environmental cause it is necessary to make the
measurements at short intervals; (2) that due allowance may be
made for individual diversity, it is essential to make simultaneous
measurements of a number of plants. These conditions have
been met by devising a form of auxanometer well adapted to

* Op. cit. pi. 7, f. 3, 4.

COLLINS AND KEMPTON I A FIELD AUXANOMETER

205

__ a,

field conditions and sufficiently simple and inexpensive to permit
the use of a number of instruments at one time. The following
description is published in the belief that the instrument may-
be found useful in other fields.

The instrument is illustrated diagrammatically in figure 1. It con-
sists of a light wooden box, a, 4 inches square and 12 inches in height
constructed of \ inch material. Passing en-
tirely through the box is a glass rod or tube,

b, about f-inch in diameter and about 20 *>-
inches long. The lower end of this rod is
attached to the growing plant by means of a
copper wire and a light clip or wire hook.
The rod is supported b}' a cord attached to
a close fitting cork, e, through which the
rod is passed. The cord leads over a pulley,

c, to a counterpoise, d. The recording pen,
/, is made of thin sheet copper bent into a e_
shallow trough and attached to a light
wooden arm supported on the cork. The
driving mechanism consists of an ordinanr
alarm clock, g, placed face down. The
milled head used in setting the hands is
removed and replaced by a f-inch brass
rod, 7 inches long, drilled and slotted at the
lower end in the same manner* as the dis-
carded milled head. A shallow groove also
is cut in the upper end of the rod. The
drum, h, for carrying the record paper is
made of a section of a pasteboard mailing
tube filled at either end with a perforated
cork, through which the brass rod passes.
A pin passed through the cork at the upper
end rests in the shallow groove in the top
of the brass rod. The counterpoise string
for lifting the glass rod is attached near the
edge of the cork, e, and the pressure of the pen on the drum
regulated by a slight turning of this cork.

A convenient method of supporting the machine is to drive a round
wooden stake by the side of the plant to be measured, on which a

Fig. 1. Field auxanometer.

ian

CM _

01 sm « $2 9 o »o »^ ou

CM - O^

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<*.

-M

ert

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3 .2

o ■

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o c

^- £

03 ^

— ' 0?

03 -C

> +=

03 •-

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03

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J— 1

—

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-*—

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200

COLLINS AND KEMPTON : A FIELD AUXANOMETER 207

wooden shelf is supported. A narrow slot is cut from one end of the
shelf to within an inch or two of the other, and near the open end the
slot is enlarged to pass over the stake. A bolt provided with a wing
nut is passed edgewise through the board behind the opening for the
stake, permitting the shelf to be fastened at the desired height. The
auxanometer is attached to the shelf by means of a wood screw or bolt
which passes through the slot and into the bottom of the box. This
arrangement permits movement in either direction, and allows the
instrument to be brought directly over the plant to be measured.

Satisfactory clocks can be had for $5.35 per dozen. The value of
all other materials is trifling and the cost of the finished machines,
including the labor, need not exceed $15.00 per dozen.

Since the recording pen is attached directly to the growing part of the
plant by an inelastic rod, the accuracy of the measurements is not
affected by lack of precision in the construction of the instrument.
The only essential is that the parts move freely and with a minimum of
friction. If the axis of the recording drum and the glass rod are not
parallel, there will be a slight error in the absolute elongation recorded,
but this error will be constant throughout the record and will not affect
the comparative elongation of different periods. In this particular
this simple auxanometer may claim advantages in accuracy over the
more elaborate and expensive forms, in which the motion is transmitted
by a flexible thread and the direction of the motion is changed by
passing the thread over a revolving drum. With such instruments
it is difficult to eliminate slight errors due to hygroscopic changes in
the thread, and any inaccuracies in the curvature or centering of the
drum* are reflected in the measurements.

In the making of continuous measurements of plants in the open,
the movement of the plant due to wind is always a disturbing element.
With the instrument here described the displacement of the plant, of
course, depresses the pen; but as the highest point that the pen can
reach at any given time is the position of rest, the effect of wind is to
cause a series of almost vertical lines always below the horizontal
line that marks the true elongation. In very gusty weather, when the
plants are unprotected, this may result in the formation of an almost
continuous band, but even then the upper margin of this band records
the correct elongation. The effect of a moderate wind is shown in the
last two hours of the record reproduced in figure 2.

It is believed that the relatively high cost of the auxanometers that
are on the market, together with the fact that they are not adapted

208

COLLINS AND KEMPTONI A FIELD AUXANOMETER

for use in the open, has seriously retarded the accumulation of infor-
mation regarding individual and varietal diversity in the reaction of crop
plants to changes in environment. In designing the present instru-
ment, therefore, an effort was made to use only the cheapest material
and the simplest form of construction, so that the cost might be kept
down to a point that would permit the use of the instrument in sufficient
numbers to acquire extensive data for statistical treatment .

Ia.o

L3.0

02.3
0-n

0c 1.0

a .s

ID U 12 12 34-S6 7S9 10 111E.1E3AS67 3 9 lO 11 12

NOON P.M. MIDNIGHT A.M. NOON

Fig. 3. Graph of hourly elongation, taken from record shown in figure 2.

Our observations on the rate of elongation in maize plants
have led to the belief that in many of the investigations of peri-
odicity in growth individual variation in the plants has not been
adequately considered. For example, it was found that some
plants showed a definite reduction in the rate of elongatidh be-
tween the hours of 8 and 10 a.m., while other plants of the same
variety showed no such reduction. To detect differences of this
kind it is necessary to secure records from a number of plants
simultaneously, for if the records were taken on different days
it would be difficult to exclude the possibility that differences in
behavior were due to differences in the climatic conditions.

In many investigations it is equally important that measure-
ments should be made on plants growing naturally in the field.
With maize, at least, results obtained under greenhouse or lab-
oratory conditions are quite at variance with results obtained
in the open. In our experiments the only maize plants to ex-
hibit a greater rate of elongation at night than in the day have

michelson: fox ritualistic myths 209

been greenhouse individuals. The question naturally arises,
then, as to what extent the accepted belief that elongation is
generally more rapid at night than in the day may be due to the
fact that most experments on periodicity have been conducted
under greenhouse or laboratory conditions.

ANTHROPOLOGY. — Ritualistic origin myths of the Fox Indi-
ans.1 Truman Michelson, Bureau of American Ethnol-
ogy.

The Fox Indians of Iowa, who are probably the most primi-
tive of all Algonkins within the borders of the United States,
have an extremely extensive folk-lore and mythology. Their
long systematic myths accounting for existing ceremonies are
especially noteworthy, and it should be mentioned that the par-
ticular type of these myths is thus far unique.

To go into some details: The plots are all of one type. The
hero is usually poor and sometimes ill-treated, but fasts and in
a vision sees his supernatural helper or helpers. Ordinarily he
has a vision of them four times and receives a little instruction
each time. He then goes home, informs the people, and holds
the ceremony in which he has been instructed. The ceremony
is the one in actual use today. The songs are the existing ones,
as are some of the set speeches. Usually the people subse-
quently are attacked by their enemies or there is a famine. In
any case the hero always succors them.

Such topics as taboos, facial paintings, localizations in clan-
feasts, descriptions of drums, positions in dancing, the number
of ceremonial attendants and the gentes to which they belong,
songs, set speeches, contents of sacred packs, and instruction re-
garding exogamy of gentes come up incidentally in these ritualis-
tic origin myths. In so far as the actual ceremonies can rarely,
if ever be witnessed in their entirety, owing to the conservative
character of the Fox Indians, these myths are extremely valu-
able for strictly ethnological studies.

] Summary of an address delivered before the Anthropological Society of Wash-
ington, February 15, 1916. Published with the permission of the Secretary of
the Smithsonian Institution.

210 michelson: fox ritualistic myths

It is the profusion of information contained in the Fox ritual-
istic origin myths that gives them their unique character in primi-
tive literature. This applies especially to the incorporation of
existing songs and set speeches.

Among the Piegans, as Wissler has pointed out, myths occur-
ring in many other tribes in certain cases have been utilized for
ritualistic myths. Thus it is patent that they are secondarily
adapted for such uses. Among the Menomini (Skinner) such is
not the case; the myths do not occur elsewhere out of their ritu-
alistic setting. But the ritualistic myths of both these tribes
are not comparable with those of the Foxes in the details given.
Yet there is one point in which the Fox ritualistic origin myths
resemble those of the Menomini; that is, that the elements do
not occur elsewhere outside their setting.

Some of the songs of the Fox ritualistic origin myths occur
among the Kickapoo, which shows that they must be rather an-
cient. Unfortunately the Kickapoo as well as the Sauk ritualis-
tic origin myth is at present unknown. In so far as Kickapoo
folk-lore and mythology are extremely close to Fox (as I have
recently shown), and as Fox, Sauk, and Kickapoo are extremely
closely related linguistically, it is the more to be regretted, for
it might prove that not only the same type of ritualistic origin
myths occurs in all three, but also the same myths, which in
this case would go back to a hoary antiquity unless they have
spread by dissemination. In this connection it must be stated
that our knowledge of Sauk folk-lore and mythology is too
scanty to permit us to determine how close it is to Fox.

In so far as Fox origin myths are all of one type, it is clear that
literary systematization has taken place. In other words we
cannot regard the Fox ritualistic origin myths as the actual his-
tory of how certain ceremonies were introduced among the Fox
Indians. This is somewhat confirmed by the fact that the Ojibwa
have some of the ceremonies that the Fox ritualistic origin myths
account for, but apparently lack the origin myths. It is, how-
ever, possible that they have simply not been thus far recorded.
Yet today there is a large amount of Ojibwa mythology pub-
lished, and Dr. Jones' unpublished material (which I am editing

michelson: fox ritualistic myths 211

for publication) is very bulky; nevertheless in both the sys-
tematic origin myth of the Fox type is absent. Only a single
Ojibwa myth in Dr. Jones' collection shows a resemblance to
the Fox type of ritualistic origin myth. Both the Potawatomi
and Cree to my own knowledge also possess certain ceremonies
which Fox ritualistic origin myths account for, but unfortunately
our knowledge of their folk-lore and mythology is too limited to
compare these with those of the Foxes. Summing up, we must
say that at present we cannot prove that the Fox ritualistic ori-
gin myths were invented -to account for the existing ceremonies,
though this may have been the case. On the other hand it is
entirely possible that certain individuals did have religious ex-
periences and did initiate ceremonies which subsequently were
utilized in ritualistic origin myths. Unfortunately there is too
little comparative material from closely cognate Algonkin tribes
at present available to settle these problems.

As to the language employed in the Fox ritualistic origin
myths: The words are unusual and archaic. The set speeches
are interspersed with variations of a mystic word no tti (so writ-
ten in the current syllabary), the exact translation of which is
difficult. Words are considerably mutiliated in the songs and
would rarely be intelligible in themselves. They must be ex-
plained in full by informants, to make their meaning at all clear.
Padding by mere vocables also occurs in considerable profusion.
Though these are blemishes from our point of view, from the
native standpoint they are not. A single word or phrase will
recall to the Fox Indian the entire thought, which is all that is
desirable from their point of view.

In closing, I may say that the genuineness of these ritualistic
origin myths is attested by the facts (1) that some of the songs
contained in them occur among the Kickapoo; (2) that I have
heard some of the songs in the appropriate existing Fox cere-
mony; (3) that in other cases the informant has been gauged by
his other stories — if this latter material checks up well, there be-
ing reason to doubt his honesty in regard to the ritualistic origin
myths; and (4) that Indians are quite incapable of inventing
long, sustained, origin myths without internal evidence of fraud.

212 FEWKES: RELATIONSHIP OF SUN TEMPLE

ARCHEOLOGY. — The relation of Sun Temple, a new type of
ruin lately excavated in the Mesa Verde National Park, to
prehistoric "towers."1 J. Walter Fewkes, Bureau of Ameri-
can Ethnology.

During the summer of 1915, under the direction of the Sec-
retary of the Interior I carried on excavation and repair of ruins
in the Mesa Verde National Park. This work was a continu-
ation of that already accomplished on these cliff-dwellings : Cliff
Palace, Spruce-tree House, and Balcony House. The general
plan was to bring to light any types of ruins existing in the Park
different from those already known, in order to enlarge our knowl-
edge of the character or culture of prehistoric man on this res-
ervation.

Cliff Palace, which lies in one of the canyons of the Mesa Verde,
was excavated and repaired in 1909, and at that time a pile of
stones was discovered on the point of Chapin Mesa, across Cliff
Canyon. The artificial character of marking found on stones
on the surface of this mound and the great quantity of debris
suggested the former existence of a building of large size. A
small fragment of wall projected above the surface of the mound
on which grew many old trees and bushes, giving evidence that
the place had long been deserted by human beings.

The government work on this mound extended from August
10 to the close of October, 1915, and a report on the more popular
phases of this work has already been transmitted to the Secre-
tary of the Interior,2 to be followed by a more extended account
for the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. The follow-
ing account gives a summary of the work thus far accomplished
and a brief description of the ruin.

There was brought to light a type of ruin hitherto unknown in the
park, and the building excavated shows the best masonry and is the
most mysterious structure yet discovered in a region rich in so many
prehistoric remains. Although at first there was some doubt as to
the use of this building, it was early recognized that it was not con-

1 Published by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

2 See, Excavation and Repair of Sun Temple, Mesa-Verde National Park. Dept.
of Interior, 1916. Also, newspaper bulletin released January 16, 1916.

FEWKES: RELATIONSHIP OF SUN TEMPLE 213

structed for habitation, and it is now believed that it was intended for
the performance of rites and ceremonies ; the first of its type yet recog-
nized in the Southwest.

The ruin was purposely constructed in a commanding situation in
the neighborhood of large inhabited cliff houses. It sets somewhat
back from the edge of the canyon, but near enough to present a marked
object from all sides, especially the neighboring mesas. It must have
presented an imposing appearance, rising on top of a point above
inaccessible, vertical cliffs. No better place could have been chosen
for a religious building in which the inhabitants of many cliff dwell-
ings could gather and together perform their great ceremonial dramas
(see fig. 1).

The ruin was found to have the form of the large letter D, as shown
in the accompanying illustration (fig. 2). It was composed of two
sections, one of which may be called the original building, and the
other the Annex. The side wall, which was situated on the south
side, is 121.7 feet long. The whole building is 64 feet wide. The
walls, including the central core of rock and adobe, average four feet
in thickness. The entire outer facing of the wall is composed of well
cut stones, some of which were smoothed by rubbing. There are
about 1000 feet or more, containing 28,000 cubic feet of masonry. It
is estimated that the building was once several feet higher than it is
at the present time.

The rooms in this building vary in form and type, one kind being
circular, the other rectangular. The circular rooms are identified as
kivas, or sacred rooms; the purpose of the rectangular rooms is un-
known. There are two circular rooms, or kivas, of about equal size
in the original building, and a third occupies the center of the Annex.

There are 23 other rooms; 14 of these are in the original building,
and have parallel walls; several have curved walls, others straight.
Of the rooms with curved walls three had entrances from the roofs,
four had lateral doors into the plaza, and the remainder are arranged
in two series, the members of which communicate with each other.

Not a single room, either circular or rectangular, shows any signs
of plastering, but all joints between stones from the bottom to the
top were carefully pointed with adobe and generally chinked with
stones, the impressions of human fingers and palms of small hands of
the workmen, probably women, still showing in the clay mortar.

The principle of the arch was unknown, but the corners were practi-
cally vertical, implying the use of a plumb bob. The curved walls
are among the best in the ruin. Outside the main building is a cir-
cular building with walls four feet thick, which closely resembles the
base of a tower. This was probably intended for ceremonial rites.
One of the most interesting features is the embellishment of the walls
by geometrical figures cut in their surfaces — a rare form of decoration.
Several stones bearing incised figures were set in the walls. Generally
the designs are geometric, but there are others, including the figure

214

FEWKES: RELATIONSHIP OF SUN TEMPLE

03
0>

FEWKES: RELATIONSHIP OF SUN TEMPLE

215

of a ladder leaning against a wall, turkey tracks, and the conventional
sign for flowing water.

The importance of these incised figures on stones set in walls lies
in the fact that they seem to indicate an advance in architectural
decoration not represented in other prehistoric buildings in the South-
west. They may be regarded as first steps in mural sculpture, a form
of decoration that reached such an advanced stage in old ruins in
Mexico and Central America. Each figure may have had a special
meaning or symbolic significance connected with the room in which
it was placed, but these figures seem to me to have been introduced
rather for ornament or decorative effect.

Fig. 2. Perspective view of Sun Temple from the southwest.

The argument that appeals most strongly to my mind as supporting
the theory that Sun Temple was a ceremonial building is the unity
shown in its construction. A preconceived plan existed in the minds
of the builders before they began work on the main building. Sun
Temple was not constructed haphazard, nor was its form due to addi-
tion of one clan after another, each adding rooms to an existing nucleus.
There is no indication of patching one building to another, so evident
at Cliff Palace and other large cliff dwellings. The construction of
the recess of the south wall, situated exactly, to an inch, midway in
its length, shows it was planned from the beginning.

We can hardly believe that one clan could have been numerous
enough to construct a house so large and massive: its walls are too
extensive; the work of dressing the stones too great. Those who
made it must have belonged to several clans fused together; and if
they united for this common work, they were in a higher state of socio-
logical development than the loosely connected population of a cliff
dwelling.

216 FEWKESI RELATIONSHIP OF SUN TEMPLE

In primitive society only one purpose could have united the several
clans who built such a structure, and this purpose must have been a
religious one. This building was constructed for worship, and its
size is such that we may practically call it a temple.

The fine masonry, the decorated stones found in it, and the unity
of the plan stamp Sun Temple as the highest example of Mesa Verde
architecture. The walls were constructed of the sandstone of the
neighborhood. Many stone hammers and pecking stones were found
in the neighborhood.

One of the most remarkable features of the structure is a fossil set
in the outer wall near the southwest corner. Mr. F. H. Knowlton of
the U. S. Geological Survey has identified this as the fossil leaf of a
palm tree of the Cretaceous epoch. The point is that the rayed leaf
resembles the sun, and that the ancient races were sun worshipers.
A natural object resembling the sun would powerfully affect a primitive
mind. At all events they partially inclosed their emblem with walls
in such a way that the figure is surrounded on three sides, leaving the
opening on the fourth, or west side. There can be no doubt that the
walled inclosure was a shrine, and the figure in it may be a key to the
purpose of the building. The shape of the fossil on the rock suggests
a symbol of the sun, and if this suggestion be correct, there can hardly
be a doubt that solar rites were performed about it.

It is impossible to tell when Sun Temple was begun, how long it
was building, or when it was deserted. There are indications that its
walls were never completed; and from the amount of fallen stones
there can hardly be a doubt that when it was abandoned they had been
carried up in some places at least six feet above their present level.
The top of the wall has been worn down at any rate six feet in the inter-
val between the time it was abandoned and the date of my excavation
of the mound. No one can tell the length of this interval in years.

We have, however, some knowledge of the lapse of time, because
the mound had accumulated enough soil on its surface to support the
growth of large trees. In the Annex, near the summit of the highest
wall, there grew a juniper or red cedar of great antiquity, alive and
vigorous when I began work. This tree undoubtedly sprouted after
the desertion of the building and grew after a mound had developed
from fallen walls. Its roots penetrated into the adjacent rooms and
derived nourishment from the soil filling them. It is not improbable
that this tree began to grow on the top of the Sun Temple mound shortly
after the year 1540, when Coronado first entered New Mexico, but how
great an interval elapsed during which the walls fell to form the mound
in which it grew and how much earlier the foundations of the ruined
walls were laid no one can tell. A conservative guess of 250 years is
allowable for the interval between construction and the time the cedar
began to sprout, thus carrying the antiquity of Sun Temple back to
about 1300 A.D.

From absence of data the relative age of Sun Temple and Cliff
Palace is equally obscure, but it is my firm conviction that Sun Temple

FEWKES: RELATIONSHIP OF SUN TEMPLE 217

is the younger, mainly because it shows unmistakable evidences of a
higher sociological condition of the builders; but here again we enter a
realm of speculation which merely adds to the mystery of the building.
Comment has been made on the fact that practically no household
implements were found in the rooms, which has been interpreted to
mean that the building was never finished. It also signifies that the
workmen did not live in or near it during construction. On the theory
that this building was erected by people from several neighboring cliff
dwellings for ceremonies held in common, we may suppose that the
builders came daily from their dwellings in Cliff Palace and other
houses and returned at night, after they had finished work, to their
homes. The trails down the sides of the cliffs, which the workmen
used, are still to be seen. The place was frequented by many people,
but there is no evidence that any one clan dwelt near this mysterious
building during its construction.

Perhaps the most important result of my explorations at the
Mesa Verde National Park last summer was the unearthing for
the first time of this large, mysterious building bearing evidence
that it was constructed solely for religious purposes. This in-
terpretation is very important, if correct; and in order to test
the theory by reference to other ruins I have studied in a com-
parative way related structures that have certain architectural
features in common with Sun Temple. Among the most strik-
ing of these are the problematical buildings known as "towers,"
represented by a number of examples in southwestern Colorado
and southeastern Utah.

The existence along the Lower Mancos, on the San Juan, and
in the canyons of the McElmo, of a type of ruins hitherto un-
recorded in the Southwest, designated as " towers," was made
known in 1876 and 1879 by Mr. W. H. Jackson8 and Mr. W. H.
Holmes.4 Since that date, now almost 40 years ago, the figures
they published have been frequently reprinted,5 but the buildings
themselves still await systematic excavation and study. Work

3 Ancient Ruins in Southwestern Colorado. Rept. U. S. Geol. & Geog. Surv.
1876.

4 Report on the Ancient Ruins of Southwestern Colorado examined during
the Summers of 1875 and 1S76. 10th Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. & Geog. Surv. 1879.

5 In Search for a lost race, Illustrated American, Ma}^ 1892. In this ar-
ticle Mr. Gunckel adds a few new observations of interest, mainly regarding
distribution of towers; no excavations were made. See also, Peet, Stephen
Denison: The Cliff Dwellers and Pueblos. American Antiquarian, Chicago, 1899.

218

FEWKES: RELATIONSHIP OF SUN TEMPLE

at Sun Temple has stimulated my desire to know more of archi-
tectural details and especially the use to which these towers were
formerly put. So far as the question of use is concerned their
resemblances to ceremonial rooms called kivas would appear con-
clusive. Let us consider some of the known architectural fea-
tures of these towers, on the theory that they are ceremonial in
character.

Fig. 3. Tower ruin in Ruin Canyon, Utah.

The central room of one of these towers is circular in form,
suggesting a kiva, but its inner walls show no evidences of the
former presence of pedestals, or pilasters, or supports of a roof.
Evidently if a roof once covered the central room, it was not
vaulted as in the majority of circular kivas, but flat, the beams
supporting it having been laid parallel, with ends resting on top
of the walls. One of the characteristic features of a typical
tower is the double wall with intervening rooms separated by
partitions.6 Unfortunately we do not know the character of the
floors of these towers, as they still await the spade of the arche-

6 I am inclined to doubt the existence of triple walled towers.

FEWKES: RELATIONSHIP OF SUN TEMPLE 219

ologist; but so far as I am aware, evidence is strong that they
belong to the second type of circular kivas, those with flat roofs
and destitute of columns for support of the roof beams.

One of the so-called towers described by Professor Holmes is
said by him to be 140 (138) feet in diameter, this dimension sug-
gesting a large ceremonial building like Sun Temple rather than
a tower or kiva. I suspect that, if the architecture of the build-
ing containing the tower referred to by Professor Holmes were
better known, it would be found to- have a straight wall on the
side above the cliff and a D-shaped, rather than a circular, wall
about it.

Another " tower" described by the same author as set in the
midst of secular rooms is evidently a kiva with two encircling
walls, surrounded by rooms separated by partitions. The strong
resemblence of the Annex, or western end of Sun Temple, to such
a tower leaves little doubt that both were identical in use, being
sacred enclosures. In a comparison of the Annex with one of
the McElmo towers we find in the middle a circular room around
which are arranged other rooms, irregularly placed in the former,
and modified on one side by confluence with an attachment to
the original (main) building. Both have, in the center, cere-
monial rooms known as kivas which belong, however, to a type
different from the subterranean kivas of Cliff Palace.7

As has been elsewhere pointed out, we have in the Mesa Verde
culture area circular kivas belonging to two types, one of which,
the more common, is subterranean, with vaulted roofs supported
on pilasters attached to the inner walls, characteristic ventilators
and deflectors, and (generally) a ceremonial opening in the floor
styled the sipapn. These may be designated vaulted-roofed
kivas. The second, or flat-roofed type, to which, en passant,
it may be said the towers above considered are related, appar-
ently had no pilasters to support the low vaulted roof; conse-
quently the roofs are flat, the ends of the supporting beams ex-
tending across the chamber with their extremities resting on the
walls of the room, not from one pilaster to another. Some

7 Semicircular, or D-shaped, Sun temples occur also in Peruvian ruins.

220 FEAVKES: RELATIONSHIP OF SUN TEMPLE

kivas of the flat-roofed type are so surrounded by other rooms
that their walls have a sunken appearance, but the chambers
are not subterranean. When isolated from the room groups, as
are certain modern kivas, they suggest the towers found in the
Mesa Verde culture area.8 The tower kiva is more closely allied
to kivas of the second type, represented in Cliff Palace by 0
and R, and possibly by W (see my account of the excavation
and repair of that ruin). I do not regard this type as a transi-
tion form connecting circular and rectangular kivas, as suggested
by Nordenskiold, for I find they have distinct origins, but a cir-
cular subterranean kiva with pedestals and an arched roof may
be related to a round kiva of the second type.9

The comparisons that have been made above between the
ceremonial rooms in cliff dwellings, towers, and the ruin called
Sun Temple have led me to believe that certain of the structures,
known as towers, were in reality not lookouts, as commonly be-
lieved, but were constructed solely for religious purposes as sug-
gested by the discoverers. On the other hand, some of the tow-
ers cannot be regarded as places of worship. Some served prob-
ably as lookouts, while many were built for storage, defense, or
other purposes. All our theories about their use are tentative,
awaiting the time when we shall have more exact knowledge of
details, which can be discovered only by scientific excavation of
the debris that has fallen around their foundations, obscuring
the floors and the connections with other buildings in the im-
mediate neighborhood.

In closing this comparison of Sun Temple or its kivas with
San Juan tower kivas, a word may be said in explanation ol the
term "type ruin." Our Southwest is dotted with prehistoric
habitations of several distinct forms, indicating different culture
areas, so far as it is possible to determine them in the light of

8 The circular kivas without pilasters are common lower down the San Juan
in the Navaho National Monument. The modern circular kivas belong to the
group without vaulted roofs, which includes also towers. A D-shaped kiva of
the second type, suggesting D-shaped tower kivas of Ruin Canyon, is found in
Oak Tree House.

9 Antiquities of the Mesa Verde National Park: Cliff Palace. Bull. 51, Bur.
Amer. Ethn. 1911.

FEWKES; RELATIONSHIP OF SUN TEMPLE 221

architecture. Manifestly it is not necessary to excavate care-
fully and repair all these ruins, even if money were available for
that purpose. We need to determine, however, how many kinds
of ruins there are, and to get clearly in mind the essential features
of each kind, in order to discover culture groups of the prehis-
toric Southwest. The problem is not unlike that with which
the biologist has to deal, and which he has so well worked out in
biological textbooks. An intimate knowledge of the anatomy of
the starfish, crayfish, frog, cat, and other animals representative
of the groups to which they belong, respectively, makes it pos-
sible for the zoological student to get a good idea of the anatomy
of other members of these groups, the knowledge being gained
largely through dissection or through study of "preparations"
made by others. These animals serve as types. The same
method, with modifications, may be applied in the study of
Southwestern archeology, although from the nature of the case
preparations of types should be made, for beginners or even for
advanced students, by experts.

A few of these type ruins already have been prepared for in-
spection and for study. The famous Casa Grande in the Gila
valley is a good example of a type ruin of the great house ruins
of that valley, while Cliff Palace and Spruce-tree House are ex-
cellent type ruins of cliff dwellings. Sun Temple seemingly rep-
resents a type of ruined buildings of a well defined prehistoric
culture area, and as a type will afford the student information
bearing on the architecture of other members of a group of ruins
one of the main features of which is a specialized building con-
structed for religious ceremonies.

ABSTRACTS

PHYSICS. — The illumination from a radiating disk. Paul D. Foote.
Bureau of Standards Scientific Paper No. 263, pp. 583-586. 1916.
A knowledge of the illumination from a radiating disk is of practical
value to engineers, but certain solutions of this problem which have
appeared in technical journals have been in error. In this paper is given
the correct expression for the illumination produced by a diffusely and
uniformly radiating circular disk, at any point on any surface parallel
to the disk. P. D. F.

PHYSICS. — Inclusions in the silver voltameter deposits. G. W. Vinal
and W. M. Bovard. Bureau of Standards Scientific Paper No.
271, pp. 147-172. 1916.

For the purpose of determining the absolute value of the electrochemi-
cal equivalent of silver and the absolute value of the faraday it is neces-
sary to learn the amount of "inclusions" in the silver voltameter de-
posits. Lord Rayleigh1 advocated heating the platinum cups with de-
posits to incipient redness as the simplest method of expelling the in-
clusions, which are chiefly water and silver nitrate. Richards and An-
deregg2 have recently used this method also, finding the inclusions to
be large and variable in amount.

When silver deposits are heated in the platinum cups alloying of the
two metals takes place, and on removing the silver the platinum cup
shows stains which are brownish or black.

We have found that these stains are platinum black and that they
render the weight of the empty platinum crucible very uncertain unless
the precaution is taken to heat the cups to incandesence, or to remove

1 Phil. Trans. A. 175: 411. 1884.

2 J. Am. Chem. Soc. 36: 15. 1915.

2212

ABSTEACTS: PHYSICS 223

the stains by aqua regia before making further deposits. This heat-
ing process transforms the platinum black to platinum gray and the
loss in weight apparently suffered by the cups may be anything from
0.1 mg. to 5.0 mg., depending on the amount of material adsorbed by
the platinum black. The presence of either platinum black or plati-
num grey in the cup renders the cup unfit for use in measuring the
electric current since they exercise a catalytic action on the hydrogen
ions present in the solution and therefore the amount of silver deposited
is too small to represent all of the electricity which actually passed
through the voltameters.

Taking these sources of error into consideration we have made de-
terminations of the losses in weight of deposits from pure electrolyte
and find, as the mean of 25 determinations, that it amounts to 0.0040
per cent.

The Bureau of Standards published some time ago an absolute value3
for the electrochemical equivalent of silver which was obtained by the
silver voltameters containing especially pure electrolyte and an abso-
lute current balance of the Rayleigh type. The value found was 1.11805
mg. per coulomb which may be now corrected by subtracting 0.0040
per cent. It thus appears that the value 1.11800 mg. per coulomb
which was adopted by the International Electrical Conference in 1908
is in reality within one part in one hundred thousand of the best value
which we can now assign to this constant. On this basis, and using
the present value for the atomic weight of silver (107.88), we find the
farady to be 96,494 coulombs. G. W. V.

PHYSICS.- — A study of instruments for measuring radiant energy in
absolute value: an absolute ihermo-pile. W. W. Coblentz and W.
B. Emerson. Bureau of Standards Scientific Paper No. 261.
Pp. 49. 1916. The 'present status of the determination of the con-
stant of total radiation of a black body-. W. W. Coblentz. Bureau
of Standards Scientific Paper No. 262. Pp. 30. 1916.

The first paper gives the results of an investigation of an instru-
ment for measuring radiant energy in absolute value. The instrument
consisted of a thin blackened strip of metal with a thermopile back of
it. The strip of metal functions (1) as a receiver for absorbing radiant
energy, (2) as a source of radiation (by heating it electrically) which can
be evaluated in absolute measure and (3) as a standard source of radia-

3 Bulletin Bureau of Standards 10: 477. 1914.

224 abstracts: geology

tion for calibrating the radiometer which includes the galvanometer
and the thermopile.

Various widths and thicknesses of metal were used in the receiver
which was covered with various kinds of absorbing surfaces of lamp
black and platinum black. The instrument was found satisfactory
for refined radiometric measurements.

The second paper gives the results of an inquiry into the probable
value of the coefficient of total radiation of a uniformly heated en-
closure or so-called black body. Experimental data are given on the
lack of blackness of the radiator, on the absorption caused by atmos-
pheric water vapor, on the reflecting power of lamp black, etc.

W. W. C.

GEOLOGY. — Ground water in Lasalle and McMullen counties, Texas.
Alexander Deussen and R. B. Dole. U. S. Geological Survey
Water-Supply Paper No. 375-G, pp. 142-181, with geologic and
artesian water maps and sections. 1916.
Lasalle and McMullen counties lie in the Coastal Plain of south-
west Texas, where irrigation supplies are valuable. Physiographically
they consist of uplands and valleys, the uplands being divided into
several parallel belts trending northeast, the valley lands including
two groups of Pleistocene terraces. On the uplands are remnants of a
late Pliocene plain now nearly destroyed by erosion. The sediments
exposed comprise several formations belonging to two systems, the
Tertiary and the Quaternary. Deep wells encounter also formations
belonging to the underlying Cretaceous system. The beds older than
the Quaternary have been elevated and tilted toward the Gulf. The
upland gravels and valley deposits were laid down after some tilting
and erosion had taken place. An important feature is a difference in
the direction in which the formations dip on the opposite sides of a line
extending diagonally across the area from the northwest corner of
Lasalle County, as suggested by the structure contours. A normal
fault having a vertical displacement of probably 40 feet is inferred on
the evidence of well sections and the quality of the water. There are
several extensive sandy beds separated by beds of impervious clay or
shale. The sandy beds are artesian reservoirs and supply flowing-
wells. Numerous analyses given in the report indicate that almost all
the waters exceed 500 parts per million in total mineral content, and
nearly two-thirds of them exceed 2000 parts. Sulphate and chloride
waters predominate and more than half contain notable amounts of

abstracts: technology 225

black alkali. The best water is found in the northwestern part of the
area, in the deepest formations. Irrigation on a small scale is practi-
cable west of the fault line. 0. E. M.

ENGINEERING.— Water powers of the Cascade Range, Part III,
Yakima River basin. Glenn L. Parker and Frank B. Storey.
U. S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper No. 369. Pp. 1-169,
with text figures and illustrations. 1916.
This is the third of a series entitled "Water powers of the Cascade
Range," prepared by the United States Geological Survey and the
Washington State Board of Geological Survey. Part I, containing
data on the drainage basins of Klickitat, White Salmon, Little White
Salmon, Lewis, and Toutle rivers, in southwestern Washington, was
prepared by John C. Stevens and was published in 1910 as Water-
Supply Paper 253. Part II, relating to the drainage basins of Cowlitz
(except the Toutle), Nisqually, Puyallup, White, Green, and Cedar
rivers, on the west side of the Cascade Range, was prepared by Fred
F. Henshaw and Glenn L. Parker and was published in 1913 as Water-
Supply Paper 313. The Yakima River basin described in this report
lies east of the Cascade Range.

The data on which this report and the others are based consist of
stream-flow records, river plans and profiles, reservoir surveys, and
field reconnaissances of the rivers and the various tributaries. The
physical characteristics, economic conditions, and industrial develop-
ment of the region are described rather fully in order that the limitations
to the development of power may be more clearly understood.

G. L. P.

TECHNOLOGY. — Determination of carbon in steels and irons by direct
combustion in oxygen at high temperatures. J. R. Cain and H. E.
Cleaves. Bureau of Standards Technologic Paper No. 69.
Pp. 10. 1916.
A method has been devised for the determination of carbon in steels
and irons by direct combustion in oxygen at 950° to 1100° C, finishing
above 1450°, so that the oxides of iron are kept fused for several min-
utes, in order to give the best possible chance for liberating all the
carbon. This method was tested by analyzing various types of plain
carbon and alloy steel standards of the Bureau and some of the pig
iron standards, and the results obtained for carbon in this way were
in the mean about 0.01 per cent carbon above the certificate averages.

J. R. C.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED

SOCIETIES

THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

The 104th meeting of the Washington Academy of Sciences, the
17th annual meeting, was held in the lecture room of the Cosmos Club,
the evening of January 13, 1916, with Vice-President W. S. Eichel-
berger in the chair and about 75 persons present.

The Corresponding Secretary reported a total membership of 486, 179
nonresident, 297 resident, 1 life, 6 honorary, and 4 patrons (1 of whom is
also a regular member) . This is a net gain of 72 over the membership
at the time of the last preceding annual meeting. During the year
the Academy lost by death several of its most noted members : Charles
E. Bessey, Lincoln, Nebraska; Karl E. Guthe, Ann Arbor, Michigan;
Joseph H. Holmes, Washington, D. C; Morris Longstreet, Cam-
bridge, Massachusetts; F. W. Putnam, Cambridge, Massachusetts;
Frank A. Sherman, Hanover, New Hampshire; Geo. M. Sternberg,
Washington, D. C; and Mrs. Matilda Coxe Stevenson, Washing-
ton, D. C.

The Recording Secretary reported the previous annual meeting and
the 7 subsequent meetings at which scientific papers were presented.

The report of the Treasurer, confirmed by the report of the auditors,
showed :

Cash balance, January 1, 1915 $1,597.31

Total receipts during 1915 3,991.31

$5,588.62

Disbursements, 1915 $3,560.55

Investments, 1915 500.00

Balance, December 31, 1915 1,528.07

$5,588.62

The Academy's total investments are: $13,090.00.

The following were elected officers for the ensuing year: President,
L. O. Howard; Corresponding Secretary, F. E. Wright; Recording
Secretary, W. J. Humphreys; Treasurer, William Bowie; Vice-
Presidents, representing the: Anthropological Society, J. Walter
Fewkes; Archeological Society, Mitchell Carroll; Biological
Society, W. P. Hay; Botanical Society, R. H. True; Chemical Society,
R. B. Sosman; Electrical Engineers Society, C. B. Mirick; Engineers
Society, J. C. Hoyt; Entomological Society, W. D. Hunter; Foresters
Society, Geo. B. Sudworth; Geographical Society, O. H. Tittmann;

226

proceedings: the Washington academy of sciences 227

Geological Society, T. W. Vaughan; Historical Society, J. D. Morgan;
Medical Society, E. Y. Davidson; Philosophical Society, L. J. Briggs;
Non-Resident Vice-Presidents, A. G. Mayer and E. C. Pickering;
Managers, Class of 1919, G. K. Burgess and C. L. Alsberg.

After the election of officers the Academy continued its meeting
jointly with the Chemical Society to hear the address of Dr. Carl L.
Alsberg on The chemical analysis of animal nutrition, — an instruc-
tive survey of the beginning, development, present status, and immedi-
ate problems of this exceptionally difficult yet all-important branch of
chemistry.

The 105th meeting of the Academy was held in the auditorium of the
New National Museum on Thursday evening, March 2, 1916, with
President L. O. Howard in the chair. Dr. Douglas W. Johnson,
Professor of Physiography in Columbia University, gave an illustrated
lecture on the Surface features of Europe as a factor in the war.

The geologic history of Europe was briefly outlined and the result-
ing present physiographic features explained and illustrated in some
detail. It is these features, especially the steep walls on the eastern
margin of the "Paris basin," and the lakes, rivers, and swamps of
western Russia, that throughout the war have largely determined the
routes of advance and retreat, the lines of defense, and the points of
attack.

The 106th meeting of the Academy was held in the auditorium of the
New National Museum on Tuesday evening, March 23, 1916, with
President L. O. Howard in the chair and a large audience present.
Dr. L. H. Baekeland, Member of the Naval Consulting Board, gave
an address on Chemistry in relation to war. Early experiments were
described that led to the chemical discovery and commercial develop-
ment of dynamite, gun cotton, "T. N. T.," and the various other
modern high-power explosives, and the processes of their manufacture
outlined. It was explained that in the manufacture of these substances
nitric acid is indispensable. The only large-scale sources of this acid,
as now manufactured, are "Chili saltpeter" and the nitrogen of the air.
Three methods of "fixing" the nitrogen of the air are now in use, two
of which were first developed commercially in the United States, though
subsequently abandoned owing to the high cost of the necessary power.
Both processes are now extensively used abroad, especially in Norway
and Germany.

Whether nitrogen shall be "fixed" in America, and aniline dyes and
other chemicals manufactured on a large scale, is merely a question of
business and dividends, the speaker pointed out, and in no sense a
question of scientific ability and chemical knowledge, both of which of
high order exist in this country.

W. J. Humphreys, Recording Secretary.

228 proceedings: biological society

THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 551st regular meeting of the Biological Society of Washington
was held at the Cosmos Club, Saturday, February 26, 1916; called to
order at 8 p.m. by President W. P. Hay. Fifty persons were present.

The first paper of the program was by D. E. Lantz, An Early
Seventeenth Century mammalogist. This was a review of Edward Top-
sell's History of Foure-footed Beastes, published in London in 1607.
Topsell was born about 1538 and at the completion of this, the first
general work on mammals published in the English language, was
chaplain of the church of St. Botolph, Aldergate, under Richard Neile,
Dean of Westminster, to whom the book is dedicated. The work,
including illustrations, is largely translated from Conrad Gesner's
Historia Animalium, published in 1551; but the author quotes also
from the works of over 250 other writers — Hebrew. Greek, Latin.
German, Italian, and French authorities — including 76 medical trea-
tises. The speaker gave many curious extracts from Topsell, illustrat-
ing them with lantern pictures of the animals under discussion, taken
from the old wood cuts in the book. The pictures included those of
the antelope, an ape monster, the American sloth, the beaver, various
kinds of hyenas, the unicorn, the riverhorse, and the Su, an untamable
and ferocious animal that has been identified with the American opossum .

The second and last paper of the program was by J. W. Gidley,
A talk on the extinct animal life of North America. Mr. Gidley defined
the terms fossil and petrifaction, explained how fossils were formed
under various conditions, and how they are discovered by the collector.
He discussed the evolution of certain animals as shown bjr their fossil
remains, and as particularly exemplified by horses, elephants, and
dinosaurs. He emphasized in especial the unfortunate tendency on the
part of paleontologists to try to see in fossil remains ancestral forms of
later fossils or of existing animals. The speaker thought that many
fossils represented highly specialized types of their kind, some extinct
animals being more highly specialized than their present day represen-
tatives; in fact in many cases their extreme specialization led to their
extinction. In a general way fossil forms represent the evolution of
certain groups, but the immediate connecting forms are for the most
part lacking.

Mr. Gidley's communication was profusely illustrated with lantern
views of fossil-bearing localities, of fossils, and of certain artists' re-
storations of fossils. It was discussed by Dr. L. 0. Howard.

M. W. Lyon, Jr., Recording Secretary.

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VI MAY 4, 1916 No. 9

PHYSICS. — Polarized skylight and the petrographic microscope.1
W. S. Tangier Smith. (Communicated by F. L. Ransome.)

When skylight is used with the petrographic microscope, there
is often a notable loss of available light owing to its partial
polarization. This polarization, like the blue color of the sky,
is due to the effect of light waves on particles of matter in the
atmosphere, the diameter of which is small compared with the
wave-length of light, so that the light which strikes them, instead
of being reflected, sets up harmonic vibrations in the particles
or the surrounding ether, these vibrations in turn giving rise
to light waves and resulting in what is commonly referred to
as "scattered light." This scattered light, composed mainly
of blue and violet rays, is polarized to a greater or less extent,
since at any one point the vibrations which give rise to it are
confined to a single plane transverse to the direction of trans-
mission of the original beam of light.

The more numerous the minute particles which scatter light,
and the fewer the larger reflecting particles which mask the
scattered light, the bluer is the sky and the greater the polariza-
tion of its light when viewed in certain directions.

The blueness of the sky and the polarization of its light being
due to the same cause, they vary for the most part together,
and the polarization is therefore greatest under those circum-

1 Read before the Cordilleran Section of the Geological Society of America.
April 11, 1913. ,

229

230 smith: polarized skylight and the microscope

stances which give the bluest skies. Hence it is that the polari-
zation of the skylight and the resulting loss of light in the micro-
scope are most evident on the brightest days, with the clearest,
bluest skies, and from those parts of the sky which are the
deepest blue ; moreover it is especially noticeable in the more arid
parts of the country and at considerable altitudes.

The polarized skylight, reflected from the mirror of the micro-
scope, enters the lower nicol vibrating in a plane which may
or may not coincide with the plane of vibration of the nicol.
If the two coincide, there is of course no loss of light. When
they do not, however, there is always more or less loss, some-
times amounting to one-half or more of the total illumination
received by the microscope.

Any remedy for the difficulty must involve either some change
in the illumination, or else a shifting of the microscope or a
modification of its optical parts. Among the possible devices
which would reduce or prevent the loss of light are the following:

(1) Artificial light may be used as the source of illumination,
or a translucent screen may be interposed between the microscope
and direct sunlight. A cloudy or foggy sky has the same effect
as an interposed screen, the light from clouds being non-polarized.

(2) The microscope may be so placed that the light will come
from a favorable part of the sky. As already noted, the degree
of polarization of the skylight varies in different parts of the sky,
being greatest in those portions from which lines to the sun
and the microscope make an angle approximating 90° with each
other, and decreasing rapidly on either side of this zone, more
especially with approach toward the sun (fig. 1). It also de-
creases close to the horizon, on account of the large number of
reflecting particles present in this portion of the sky. The
horizon belt, however, is generally too narrow and often too low
to be of much practical use; while near the sun the intensity of
the light becomes too great. Thus, while the selection of favor-
able parts of the sky may somewhat decrease the polarization
effects, it is not always a satisfactory remedy, especially when
the choice is restricted to those parts visible from a single
window.

smith: polarized skylight and the microscope 231

Fig. 1. Diagram to illustrate the variation in the polarization of scattered
right from different parts of the sky. The short lines perpendicular to the lines
representing the sun's rays are the traces of planes of vibration of harmonic
motions which give rise to scattered light . A-B marks the approximate maximum
limits of the sun's diffraction glow, the circle of intense illumination close to the
sun, within which the effects of scattering are more or less masked and polariza-
tion is at a minimum.

(3) The microscope may be rotated on its base until the plane
of vibration of the reflected polarized skylight coincides with
that of the lower nicol of the instrument. This is a simple
expedient, applicable at all times, and when the observer can
move with the microscope it is entirely satisfactory. When he
cannot, however, it necessitates his becoming familiar with the
use of the micropscope and its accessories in varied positions,
and even with such familiarity it is likely to lead to some
confusion.

In this connection it may be noted that the orientation of
the plane, of vibration in the polarizer of the microscope may
have some effect in increasing or decreasing the difficulties with
polarized skylight. The plane of vibration of the lower nicol is
differently oriented in different instruments, even of the same
make. In the common type of the Bausch and Lomb petro-
graphic microscope, for example, this plane of vibration is square
with the instrument, in some cases running from front to rear, in
others from right to left. In the "Larson Model" the plane of
vibration is diagonal, sometimes in one direction, sometimes in
the other. The difficulties with polarized skylight are met with

232 smith: polarized skylight and the microscope

in all four of these types, and in this respect there is little to
choose between them; what slight preference there may be for
one type or the other will depend on the sky facing which one
adopts — or often must adopt ; on the time of day when the micro-
scope is most used; and on the importance of sky polarization as
a factor at noonday. F. E. Wright,2 in a recent paper, has
concluded that for Washington, D. C, where "at noon time there
is always an abundance of light from a clear sky" (so that the
polarized scattered light may be disregarded) , and for a northern
facing, and a use of the microscope at any hour of the day,
"there is a slight advantage in having the plane of vibration
parallel to the vertical cross-hair."

(4) A suitable compensator introduced below the polarizer of
the microscope, and capable of independent rotation about the
axis of the instrument, may effect practically complete correction
of the polarization of the skylight and at the same time give a
whiter and more favorable light. A simple type of such compen-
sator is a thin, parallel-faced plate of some transparent, bire-
fringent material — as quartz or muscovite — cut so as to give,
theoretically, with monochromatic light of 518 nn wave length
(the value which yields, with the petrographic microscope, results
most nearly in accord with the conditions of ordinary white light),
a phasal- difference of a half wave length between the entering
and emerging rays of light. Practically, it is cut so as to give
with ordinary light and between crossed nicols pure white of the
first order as an interference color. This compensator or half-
wave plate, mounted in a movable ring, should be free to rotate
about the axis of the microscope through an angle of not less
than 90°, and in use should be so turned that, theoretically,
its planes of vibration, for light with normal incidence, bisect
the angles between the planes of vibration of the reflected polar-
ized skylight and the polarizer of the microscope (see fig. 2) ;
practically, so as to obtain the maximum illumination. If the
compensator is tested between the nicols of a microscope — the
most severe test which can be applied — there is no observable

2 Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci., 5: 641-644. 1915.

smith: polarized skylight and the microscope 233

loss of light, even when the nicols are crossed. The writer
has used such a compensator in his own work and finds it entirely
satisfactory.

Fig. 2. Diagram to illustrate the action of the
polarized-skylight compensator or half-wave plate.
S-S is the trace of the plane of vibration of polarized
skylight. P-P is the trace of the plane of vibration
of the polarizer of the microscope. C-C and c-c are
the traces of the planes of vibration in the compensa-
tor. They bisect the angles between S-S and P-P.
The polarized skylight which enters the compensa-
tor, vibrating in the direction S-S and with ampli-
tude OS, is resolved into two plane polarized rays,
C-C and c-c, with amplitudes OC and Oc, respec-
tively, and with no phasal difference. Emerging
with a phasal difference of one-half wave length,
these rays combine to form a single plane polarized
ray, R-R, whose direction of vibration coincides with
that of the polarizer, P-P, and whose amplitude, OR,
equals that of the original ray, OS. Theoretically,
therefore, there is no loss in the light entering the
polarizer.

The compensator just described can be used, of course, only
with a stationary polarizer. In order to use it with the type of
microscope in which both nicols can be rotated simultaneously, it
is necessary to connect the mounting of the compensator with that
of the polarizer in such a way that, when the polarizer is turned
through any angle, the compensator will be rotated, automatically,
through half that angle, the movements of both being in the same
direction. This rotation of the mounting, however, is inde-
pendent of that of the compensator itself, already referred to.
When both nicols are rotated simultaneously without the com-
pensator, the intensity of the light transmitted by the polarizer
may vary considerably, while with the compensator the illumi-
nation is uniform during rotation.

It may happen, during the middle of the day, that the full
skylight, even from the zone of maximum polarization (which, it
may be noted, is also the zone of minimum illumination), is too
intense for the most satisfactory work with the petrographic
microscope. At such times, when using light from this zone or

234 cockerell: uropods of acanthotelson stimpsoni

near it, the compensator may be used, not only to correct the
loss of light resulting from a lack of correspondence between
the planes of vibration of skylight and polarizer, but also to
adjust the light to the needs of the worker, either by an incom-
plete correction of the light loss or, where there is already es-
sentially complete correspondence between the vibration planes,
by a reduction of the illumination through a reverse movement of
the compensator.

PALEONTOLOGY. — The uropods of Acanthotelson stimpsoni.
T. D. A. Cockerell, University of Colorado.

Among some fossils kindly presented by Mr. L. E. Daniels to
the University of Colorado Museum is a specimen of Acanthotel-
son stimpsoni Meek & Worthen in a nodule from the Carbon-
iferous of Mazon Creek, Illinois. I have examined many ex-
amples of this species, but the present one is re-
markable for the perfect preservation of the uro-
podal rami, permitting a more exact interpretation
of their structure than was possible to Meek and
Worthen, or to Packard.1 The rami are about
9.5 mm. long, hard and perfectly spiniform, and
strongly longitudinally grooved. The outer one is
straight, the inner gently curved. Stiff spinelike
bristles occur at intervals of somewhat less than a
millimeter on both sides of the inner ramus; and
also on the outer side of the outer ramus, where
they are more closely set. There are in addition
many very fine, soft setae fringing the rami, forming
an especially long fringe on the inner side of the
outer ramus. Packard's figure is, therefore, in er-
ror in showing numerous quite closely set bristles of one sort only.
Acanthotelson is an animal of more than ordinary interest. It
belongs to a group of Crustacea which Packard named Syncarida,
peculiar freshwater Malacostraca in which there is no carapace
whatever. In the Carboniferous and Permian strata of the

Fig. 1. Uro-
podal rami of
Acanthotelson
stimpsoni.
About scale 4.

> Mem. Nat. Acad. Sci., 3: 15th Memoir, pi. 1, fig. Id. 1886.

cockerell: uropods of acanthotelson stimpsoni 235

northern hemisphere there is evidence of the existence of several
genera. Formerly it was supposed that the group became extinct
in later Paleozoic times, but in 1893 a living representative
(Anaspides Thomson) was discovered in deep pools in the moun-
tains of Tasmania. Still more recently two other living gen-
era have been found: Par anaspides G. Smith in Tasmania and
Koonunga Sayce in the vicinity of Melbourne, Australia. As
early as the Mazon Creek Carboniferous, the appendages known
as uropods had become greatly modified from a strictly primi-
tive type. In Palaeocaris typus Meek & Worthen, of which an
example from Mazon Creek is before me, the rami are flattened
and expanded, approaching the form usual in Malacostraca, and
evidently used for swimming, i.e., for propulsion in water. In
Acanthotelson, on the other hand, the rami are of a very different
nature, slender and spinelike, apparently suited for executing
springing movements (comparable to those of the Collembola)
in the soft sand or mud at the bottom of the water. Thus two
types of modification were present ; one became nearly universal,
while the other, that of Acanthotelson, died out. Acanthotelson
must be regarded as the type of a distinct family, Acanthotel-
sonidae, and the groups of Syncarida may be tabulated thus :

Rami of uropods spinelike Acanthotelsonidae.

(Acanthotelson Meek & Worthen. Mazon Creek Carboniferous.)

Rami of uropods flattened swimming organs 1-

1. First thoracic somite quite distinct, though short. . . . Uronectidae.2
(Permian of Europe; Carboniferous of Europe and America.)

1. First thoracic somite fused with head, the point of junction more or

or less indicated by a groove (living forms) 2.

2. Eyes sessile Koonungidae (Koonunga.)

2. Eyes stalked Anaspididae.

No dorsal hump; mandible with three-jointed uniramous palpus.

Anaspidinae (Anaspides).
With a dorsal hump; mandible with four-jointed biramous palpus.

Paranaspidinae (Paranaspides) .

2 Packard called this family Gampsonychidae, basing it on Gampsonyx Jordan
& V. Meyer. It appears, however, that this generic name was earlier used
for a genus of birds; so the next available name, Uronectes Bronn, has to be used.
This is the Permian form; the Carboniferous one is Palaeocaris Meek & Worthen
(Praeanaspides H. Woodward). Palaeocaris typus has a more or less distinct
dorsal hump, though Packard's figure does not show it.

236 standley: floras of new Mexico and Argentina

The fact that the three living genera are extremely distinct
from one another, and are monotypic, indicates that they are
ancient forms, the group having apparently lost all tendency
to produce new species. The curiously restricted geological and
recent distribution of the whole series shows how little we know
of some types of life, which must have had a long evolutionary
history now hidden from us.

I take this opportunity to note that the Arachnid family Holo-
tergidae Petrunkevitch,3 which occurs at Mazon Creek, must be
called Curculioididae, as " Holotergidae" is not based on a gen-
eric name.

BOTANY. — Comparative notes on the floras of New Mexico and
Argentina. Paul C. Standley, National Museum.1

That there exists a marked relationship between the flora of
the southwestern United States and that of central and southern
Argentina is a fact fairly well known to botanists. The close-
ness of this relationship is scarcely realized, perhaps, except by
one familiar with the flora of either region when he inspects a
collection of plants or goes over a list of species characteristic
of the corresponding area. About three years ago Mr. Walter
Fischer, at that time director of the Escuela Experimental de
Agricultura at Rio Negro, in the Department of Rio Negro,
southern Argentina, secured some three hundred numbers of
plants in that vicinity. His collections were studied and named
by Dr. Crist6bal M. Hicken, Professor of Botany in the Univer-
sity of Buenos Aires. Dr. Hicken has published recently2 an
extended report upon these specimens. The collection, although
not a large one, is interesting to the student of the Argentine flora
because of the considerable number of new species and of species
previously unknown in Argentina which it contains.

A set of Mr. Fischer's plants was received recently by the U. S.
National Museum. When the writer had occasion to inspect
the specimens, he was impressed at once by the strong resem-

3 Trans. Connecticut Acad. Arts & Sciences, 18: 81. 1913.

1 Published by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

2Physis,2: 1-18,101-122. 1915-16.

standley: floras of new Mexico and Argentina 237

blance of many of the species to others of the same genera
with which he is familiar in New Mexico. A comparison of the
flora of this limited area with that of the Rio Grande Valley of
New Mexico may be of some general interest. It is not certain
that the flora of this particular region of the southwestern United
States is the one with which that of the Rio Negro might best be
compared; but the writer, being more familiar with the vegeta-
tion of the Rio Grande Valley, is better able to use it as a basis of
comparison, than some similar area in Arizona or southern Cali-
fornia with whose flora, also, that of the Argentine region shows
an equally close or possibly even closer alliance.

Rio Negro is sitfiated in southern Argentina, in about latitude
39°, upon the Rio Negro, one of the larger streams of the region.
The Mesilla Valley of New Mexico, with which it is proposed to
compare its flora, lies along the Rio Grande in southern New
Mexico, in latitude about 32° North. Judging from the data
available from Mr. Fischer's notes, the two regions must bear a
strong resemblance topographically : a wide river valley with large
areas of heavy clay soil under irrigation, broken by stretches of
sand dunes, the valley bordered by elevated sandy mesas or low
hills. In the Argentine region part of the uplands appears to
consist of clay soil, but in New Mexico all the mesa land is
sandy, at least until the foothills of the mountains are reached.
From the information at hand it is not possible to compare the
composition of the corresponding zones of vegetation; conse-
quently it seems more practicable to compare the related specific
elements which constitute each flora as a whole.

It is remarkable to find that several species of plants are actu-
ally common to these two regions. These are as follows:

Agrostis verticillata Vill.
Andropogon saccharoides Swartz
Echinochloa zelayensis (H. B. K.)

Schult.
Eragrostis cilianensis (All.) Link
Festuca octo flora Walt.
Paspalum distichum L.
Phrag mites phragmites (L.) Karst.
Polypogon monspeliensis (L.) Desf .
Cyperus inflexus Muhl.
Eleocharis palustris (L.) R. Br.
Juncus mexicanus Willd.

Rumex persicarioides L.
Monolepis nuttalliana (Roem. &

Schult.) Greene
Silene antirrhina L.
Halerpestes cymbalaria (Pursh)

Greene
Dancus pwsillus Michx.
Heliotr opium curassavicum L.
Petunia parviflora Juss.
Solatium elaeagnifolium Cav.
Linaria canadensis (L.) Dum.

238 STAND LEY-. FLORAS OF NEW MEXICO AND ARGENTINA

Most of these are species of wide distribution, some of them,
like Phragmites phragmites, Polypogon monspeliensis, and Eleo-
charis palustris, extending to the Old World. Polypogon mon-
speliensis may even be adventive in the Western Hemisphere.
Others of the list, like Paspalum distichum, Juncus mexicanus,
Heliotropium curassavicum, and Petunia parviflora, have an ex-
tended range in the warmer parts of North and South America.
Several of the other species, however, are not continuous in
their ranges, being restricted to the temperate parts of the two
American continents. Among them are Festuca octoflora, Mono-
lepis nuttalliana, Silene antirrhina, Halerpestes cymbalaria,
Daucus pusillus, Solanum elaeagnifolium, and Linaria canadensis.
Some of these are plants which range widely in the United States,
but the Monolepis, Halerpestes, Daucus, and Solanum are typi-
cally southwestern plants. Solanum elaeagnifolium is a charac-
teristic plant of southern New Mexico and Arizona and of western
Texas.

In addition to the species listed which are common to the two
regions, certain others occurring in the Argentine area appear
elsewhere in the southwestern United States. Veronica anagallis-
aquatica L. occurs in New Mexico and Arizona, and Lythrum
hyssopifolium L. and Scirpus riparius Presl in California. Pani-
cum urvilleanum Kunth is known only from Arizona, California,
Chile, and Argentina. Malacothrix coulteri Gray is common to
southern California and Argentina. Chenopodium ambrosioides
L., Potamogeton filiformis Pers., and Hordeum pusillum Nutt. are
widely diffused in North America.

More interesting and suggestive is the following list of paired
species. The species listed in the lefthand column are Argentine,
while those in the righthand column are certain New Mexican
ones which bear a close resemblance to them. A few of those cited
from New Mexico do not actually occur in the Mesilla Valley out
they are found at New Mexican points not far distant.

Argentine Species New Mexican Analogues

Azolla filiculoides Lam. Azolla caroliniana Willd.

Ephedra ochreata Miers Ephedra trifurca Torr.

STAND LEY: FLORAS OF NEW MEXICO AND ARGENTINA 239

Setaria3 villiglumis Hicken

Salix chilensis Mol.
Parietaria debilis Forst.
Atriplex ameghinoi Speg.
Chenopodium hircinum Schrad.

Dondia divaricata (Moq.) Stand-
ley4
Clematis dioica campestris (St.

Hil.) Kuntze
Draba australis ameghinoi Speg.
Radicula philippiana (S p e g.)

Standley5
Hoffmanseggia falcaria Cav.
Prosopis juliflora DC.
Strombocarpa strombulifera (Benth.)

Gray
Lupinus microcarpus Sims
Vicia graminea Sims
Covillea cuneifolia (Cav.) Vail.
Covillea divaricata (Cav.) Vail.
Covillea nitida (Cav.) Vail.
Euphorbia ovalifoUa argentosa

Muell. Arg.
Tithymalus portulacoides (L.)

Standleys
Condalia lineata Gray
Sida leprosa (Orb.) Schum.
Sphaeralcea miniata (Cav.) Spach
Nuttallia albescens (Gill. & Arn.)

Standley9
Menodora integrifolia (Cham. &

Schlecht.) Steud.
Androsace salasii Kurtz

Chaetochloa composita (H. B. K.)

Scribn.
Salix exigua Nutt.
Parietaria obtusa Rydb.
Atriplex argentea Nutt.
Chenopodium incanum (S. Wats.)

Heller
Dondia intermedia (S. Wats.)

Heller
Clematis ligusticifolia Nutt.

Draba cuneifolia Nutt.
Radicula obtusa (Nutt.) Greene

Hoffmanseggia densi flora Benth.6
Prosopis glandulosa Torr.7
Strombocarpa pubescens (Benth.)

Gray
Lupinus pusillus Pursh
Vicia exigua Nutt.

Covillea glutinosa (Engelm.) Rydb.

Chamaesyce serpyllifolia (Pers.)

Small
Tithymalus montanus (Engelm.)

Small
Condalia spathulata Gray
Sida hederacea (Dougl.) Torr.
Sphaeralcea lobata Wooton.
Nuttallia multiflora (Nutt.) Greene

Menodora scabra Gray

Androsace occidentalis Pursh

3 The names Setaria and Chaetochloa apply to the same genus.

4 Suaeda divaricata Moq. Chenop. Enum. 123. 1840.

5 Nasturtium philippianum Speg. Bol. Agr. Buenos Aires, 1: 200. 1901.

6 It is doubtful whether this is distinct from H. falcaria. It ranges from
western Texas to southern Arizona and adjacent Mexico. H. falcaria is found
in southern South America.

7 The relationship of this to P. juliflora, and the range of the latter species
are very uncertain. The Argentine plant may not be P. juliflora, but on the
other hand, P. glandulosa may not be sufficiently distinct from P. juliflora. The
same species, or else two closely related ones, occurs in Argentina and New Mexico.

8 Euphorhia portulacoides L. Sp. PI. 456. 1753.

9 Bartonia albescens Gill. & Arn. Edinb. Phil. Journ. 2: 273. 1831.

240 standley: floras of new Mexico and Argentina

Cressa australis petiolata Meissn.
Gilia valdiviensis Griseb.
Lappula redowskii (Lehm.)

Greene10
Phyla nodiflora (Michx.) Greene11
Verbena gracilescens Cham. &

Schlecht.
Lycium floribundum Dunal
Lycium pubescens Miers
Lycium wilkesii Ball
Nicotiana monticola Dunal
Plantago patagonica Jacq.
Plantago rocae Lorentz
Ambrosia tenuifolia Spreng.
Aster squamatus (Spreng.) Hieron.
Baccharis juncea Desf .
Baccharis salicifolia Pers.
Flaveria bidentis (L.) Kuntze
Gaillardia megapotamica scabio-

soides Baker
Gnaphalium cheiranthifolium

Lam.12
Solidago microglossa DC.

Tessaria absinthioides DC.
Thelesperma scabiosoides Less.

Cressa truxillensis H. B. K.
Gilia inconspicua (Smith) Dough*
Lappula occidentalis (S. Wats.)

Greene
Phyla incisa Small
Verbena neomezicana (Gray) Small

Lycium parvifiorum Gray

Lycium torreyi Gray
Nicotiana trigonophylla Dunal
Plantago purshii Roem. & Schult.
Plantago major L.
Ambrosia artemisiaefolia L.
Aster exilis Ell.
Baccharis wrightii Gray
Baccharis glutinosa Pers.
Flaveria campestris Johnston
Gaillardia pinnatifida Torr.

Gnaphalium chilense Spreng.

Solidago arizonica (Gray) Woot.

& Standi.
Tessaria borealis Torr. & Gray
Thelesperma gracile (Torr.) Gray

In some of the cases cited the resemblance is very striking, for
example, in the instance of Ephedra, Atriplex, Draba, Lupinus,
Vicia, Sida, Nuttallia, Androsace, Solidago, and Thelesperma.
The two Sidas belong to a small group which, in the United States,
is chiefly southwestern. Other instances of representatives of
genera or groups of species which with us are typical of the arid
southwest, are found in species of Ephedra, Hoffmanseggia,
Strombocarpa, Covillea, Condalia, Sphaeralcea, Menodora, Cressa,
Gilia, Lycium, Baccharis, Flaveria, Tessaria, and Thelesperma.
It is interesting to note that in Argentina the cresote bush,
Covillea, is represented by three species, while in the southwest

10 The determination of this species is doubtfully correct. At any rate, the
plant is very close to L. occidentalis.

11 The plant so determined may not really be P. nodiflora, but it is very like
P. incisa.

12 The specimens so determined are different from the plant of western South
America found in herbaria under this name.

standley: floras of new Mexico and Argentina 241

we have but a single one. Strombocarpa strombalifera is in many
respects similar to S. pubescens, the well-known screw-pod mes-
quite or tornillo of the Southwest, especially in its fruits, which are
almost identical. But the Argentine plant can scarcely, like its
New Mexican ally, be an important source of firewood, for it is
only two or three decimeters high.

Besides the instances just mentioned, certain Argentine species
of Persicaria, Gutierrezia, Grindelia, Astragalus, Clycyrrhiza, Le-
pidium, Pappophorum, Monnina, Phacelia, Polygala, Ximenesia,
Senecio, Disiichlis, Stipa, Poa, Sophia, and Heliotropium bear a
general resemblance to New Mexican species of the same genera.
There are also represented in the collection such genera as Myri-
ophyllum, Tissa, Allocarya, Amsinckia, Bowlesia, Pectocarya, Bud-
dleia, and Hydrocotyle, which are not represented in the Mesilla
Valley, although they occur in regions not far distant. Most of
these genera, also, consist in the United States of characteris-
tically southwestern plants. It is significant to find about Rio
Negro a curious xerophytic shrub belonging to the Caper Family,
Atamisquea emarginata Miers, a species found also in Lower Cali-
fornia but unknown in the intervening countries. Several genera
which occur in the Southwest are represented in Argentina by
species very unlike the North American ones. Some of these are
Lippia, Elymus, Frankenia, Verbena, Menodora, Prosopis, Atri-
plex, Sida, Eupatorium, Eryngium, and Sporobolus. The Ver-
benas are specially interesting; species of this genus are very
numerous in southern South America, but many of them are strik-
ingly different from our North American ones, all of which fall
into two groups, each composed of similar plants. Some of those
of Argentina are shrubs, often with curious leaf form, and some
of them have yellow flowers.

Of course, there are represented in this Argentine locality
genera of which no species are found in the southwestern United
States. Among them are Mulinum and Asteriscium (Apiaceae),
Chuquiragua and Cyclolepis (Mutisiaceae), Adesmia (Fabaceae),
Fabiana and Treclionaetes (Solanaceae), Facelis and Hysterionica
(Asteraceae) ,♦ Turrigera and Oxystelma (Asclepiadaceae) , Schinus

242 standley: floras of new Mexico and Argentina

(Anacardiaceae) , Cristaria (Malvaceae), Hippeastrum (Amaryl-
lidaceae) , Margyricarpus (Rosaceae) , Boagainvillea (Allioniaceae) ,
Arjona (Santalaceae) , and Hypochaeris (Cichoriaceae) . Most
of these have no obvious analogues in the United States, al-
though Oxystelma and Turrigera may correspond to our Phili-
bertella, and Adesmia in a manner take the place of Astragalus
or perhaps Lotus. The family Mutisiaceae reaches its greatest
development in the arid regions of western and southern South
America. In North America it is represented in Mexico and the
southwestern United States chiefly by the genera Trixis and
Perezia.

Many of our characteristic New Mexican genera, on the other
hand, are not found in Argentina. Among them may be men-
tioned Tridens, Sitanion, Yucca, Eriogonum, Abronia, Dithyraea,
Koeberlinia, Fouquieria, Oreocarya, Hymenopappus, Toivnsendia,
and Chrysothamnus.

From all the analogies of the two floras that have been cited it
is evident that the relationship between the vegetation of southern
Argentina and that of New Mexico is strongly marked. The
limited size of Mr. Fischer's collection affords, of course, an in-
sufficient basis for an extensive comparison of the vegetation of
these areas, but the data afforded by other collections only accen-
tuate the closeness of the relationship. It is evident that stu-
dents of the flora of the southwestern United States would do
well to devote more- attention to the flora of the corresponding
regions of South America. No doubt many of our United States
species find their closest allies in those regions, and it may well be
that in some cases identical forms common to the two areas have
been described independently by botanists who relied too much
upon geographic isolation in establishing their species. Prob-
ably, however, such instances are few. The botanists of Cali-
fornia long have been aware of the relationship of their xerophytic
flora to that of Chile, and have profited by this knowledge. Un-
fortunately the plants of southern and western South America
are too poorly represented in United States herbaria at present
to furnish an adequate basis for comparative studies* of the flora.

standley: floras of new Mexico and Argentina 243

Before finishing his comparison of these floral areas, the writer
feels it desirable to make some mention of the adventive and nat-
uralized plants of the Rio Negro Valley represented among Mr.
Fischer's collections. Of the native Argentine species two are
of interest to United States botanists because they have become
more or less naturalized in this country. Poinciana gilliesii
Hook., the bird-of-paradise bush, is one of the commonest cul-
tivated plants of the arid southwestern United States and of
Mexico, and is often found as an escape from cultivation. Ama-
ranthus crispus (Lesp. & Thev.) A. Br. has been collected at
Albany and New York City, New York, at Wilmington, North
Carolina, and at Mobile, Alabama. It was described originally
from plants adventive in France, and only in very recent years
has it been ascertained that its native habitat is Argentina. A list
of the more noteworthy plants adventive in Argentina, as shown
b}r the present collection, is as follows:

Agrostis alba L.
Dactylis glomerata L.
Holcus halepensis L.
Hordeum murinum L.
Phleum pratense L.
Poa annua L.
Polygonum aviculare L.
Rumex crispus L.
Atriplex rosea L.
A triplex semibaccata R. Br.
Salsola pestifer A. Nels.
Portulaca oleracea L.
Bursa bursa-pastoris (L.) Web.
Sisymbrium altissimwn L.
Medicago lupulina L.
Medicago saliva L.

Melilotus alba Desr.

Melilotus indica (L.) All.

Trifolium repens L.

Tri folium pratense L.

Erodium cicutarium (L.) L'Her.

Convolvulus arvensis L.

Marrubium vulgare L.

Plantago lanceolata L.

Cichorium intybus L.

Sonchus asper (L.) Hill

Sonchus oleraceus L.

Taraxacum taraxacum (L.) Karst.

Xanthium spinosum L.

Anthemis cotula L.

Senecio vulgaris L.

All of the above are Old World plants which occur in New
Mexico, and many of them are common in the irrigated lands of
the Mesilla Valley. In addition, the following species may be,
mentioned which have become established in the Rio Negro Val-
ley but are not known from New Mexico, although they have be-
come established elsewhere in the United States, most of them in
the Southwest:

244 standley: floras of new Mexico and Argentina

Lolium italicum A. Br.
Notholcus lanatus (L.) Nash
A triplex hortensis L.
Amaranthus deflexus L.
Brassica napus L.
Brassica nigra L.
Cer ostium vulgatum L.
Medicago denticulata Willcl.

Medicago orbicularis All.
Conium maculatum L.
Daucus carota L.
Veronica peregrina L.13
Dipsacus fullonum L.
Lactuca scariola L.14
Centaur ea melitensis L.
Cirsium lanceolatum (L.) Scop.

Several of these European plants, notably Dipsacus fullonum,
Centaurea melitensis, Hordeum murinum, Medicago sativa and
M. denticulata, Melilotus indica, Marrubium vulgar e, Er odium
cicutarium, and Sonchus asper, are either confined in the United
States to the Southwest or else are particularly abundant there,
and are known to have occurred in that region at an early date.
It is probable that they reached the United States through the
same agency by which they were transported to Argentina — the
early Spanish settlers.

While some of the European plants cited have become widely
scattered with the development of international commerce, many
thrive only in temperate regions, and several of them, like the
Salsola, Erodium, Hordeum, and Centaurea, seem to thrive best
in arid or subarid regions. These adventive plants, combined
with the more than slightly familiar aspect of the native flora,
would make a botanist accustomed to our Southwestern vegeta-
tion feel very much at home when he first made the acquaintance
of the Rio Negro Valley of Argentina.

13 In New Mexico we have V. xalapensis H.B.K. as a native species. While
all botanists may not consider it specifically distinct from V . peregrina, it cer-
tainly is distinguished readily from the naturalized European plant.

14 In New Mexico only L. integrata (Gren. & Godr.) A. Nels. is known. It is
often considered a subspecies of L. scariola.

REFERENCES

Under this heading It is proposed to include, by author, title, and citation, references to all
scientific papers published in or emanating from Washington. It is requested that authors cooperate
with the editors by submitting titles promptly, following the style used below. These references are
not intended to replace the more extended abstracts published elsewhere in this Journal.

PHYSICS

Bureau of Standards. The testing of hydrometers. 4th ed. Circular No. 16.
1916.

Bureau op Standards. Invar and related nickel steels. Circular No. 58. Pp. 68.
1916.

Bureau of Standards. Standard density and volumetric tables, 5th ed. Circu-
lar No. 19. Pp. 64. 1916.

Foote, Paul D., and Fairchild, C. O. Luminosity of a black body and tempera-
ture. Bureau of Standards Sci. Paper No. 270, pp. 137-145. 1916.

CHEMISTRY

Berg, W. N. Biochemical comparisons between mature beef and immature veal.

Journal of Agricultural Research, 4: 667-712, figs. 1-6. January 10, 1916.
Gile, P. L., and Carrero, J. O. Ash composition of upland rice at various stages

of growth. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 357-364. November 29, 1915.
Gore, H. C. Studies of fruit juices. Bulletin of the IT. S. Department of Agri-
culture, No. 241. Pp. 1-19. June 14, 1915.
Hasselbring, H., and Hawkins, L. A. Carbohydrate transformations in sweet

potatoes. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 543-560. December 27, 1915.
Headden, W. P. Occurrence of manganese in wheat. Journal of Agricultural

Research, 5: 349-356. November 22, 1915.
Russell, G. A. A study of the soft resins in sulphured and unsulphured hops in

cold and in open storage. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 282.

Pp. 1-19. August 11, 1915.
Shedd, O. M. Variations in mineral composition of sap, leaves, and steins of the

wild-grape vine and sugar-maple tree. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5:

529-542. December 20, 1915.
Thatcher, R. W. Enzyms of apples and their relation to the ripening process.

Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 103-116. October 18, 1915.
Withers, W. A., and Carruth, F. A. Gossypol, the toxic substance in cottonseed

meal. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 261-288, pis. 25-26. November

15, 1915.

245

246 REFERENCES: HORTICULTURE

SOILS

Alway, F. J., and Bishop, E. S. Nitrogen content of the humus of arid soils.

Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 909-916. February 14, 1916.
Brown, P. E. Relation between certain bacterial activities in soils and their crop-
producing power. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 855-870. January

31, 1916.
Bouyotjcos, G. J. Effect of temperature on the movement of water vapor and capil-
lary moisture in soils. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 141-172, figs.

1-11. October 25, 1915.
Giltner, Ward, and Langworthy, H. Virginia. Some factors influencing the

longevity of soil micro-organisms subjected to desiccation, with special reference

to soil solution. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 927-942. February

14, 1916.
Koch, G. P. Soil Protozoa. Journal of Agricultural Research, 4: 511-560.

September, 1915.
Koch, G. P. Activity of soil Protozoa. Journal of Agricultural Research,' 5:

477-488. December 13, 1915.
Kopeloff, Nicholas, Lint, H. C., and Coleman, D. A. Separation of soil

Protozoa. Journal of Agricultural Research. 5: 137-140. October 18, 1915.
LeClair, C. A. Influence of growth of cowpeas upon some physical, chemical, and

biological properties of soil. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5:439-448,

figs. 1-2, pi. 42. December 6, 1915.
Oskamp, Joseph. Soil temperatures as influenced by cultural methods. Journal

of Agricultural Research, 5: 173-180, figs. 1-4. October 25, 1915.
Plummer, J. K. Petrography of some North Carolina soils and its relation to

their fertilizer requirements. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 569-582,

pi. 52. December 27, 1915.

BOTANY

Hedgcock, G. G. Parasitism of Comandra umbellata. Journal of Agricultural
Research, 5: 133-136. October 18, 1915.'

Mason, S. C. Botanical characters of the leaves of the date palm used in dis-
tinguishing cultivated varieties. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bulletin
No. 223. Pp. 1-28. June 23, 1915.

Piper, C. V., and Morse, W. J. The bonavist, lablab, or hyacinth bean. U. S.
Department of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 318. Pp. 1-15. November 18, 1915.

Sudworth, G. B. The spruce and balsam fir trees of the Rocky Mountain region.
U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 327. Pp. 1-43. February 19,
1916.

Westgate, J. M., Coe, H. S., Wiancko, A. T., Robbins, F. E., Hughes, H. D.,
Pammel, L. H., and Martin, J. N. Red-clover seed production: pollination
studies. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 289. Pp. 1-31.
September 21, 1915.

HORTICULTURE

Coville, F. V. Directions for blueberry culture, 1916. U. S. Department of
Agriculture, Bulletin No. 334. Pp. 1-16. December 28, 1916.

references: agronomy 247

Husmann, G. C. The raisin industry. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bulle-
tin No. 349. Pp. 1-15. March 17, 1916.

Mason, S. C. Dates of Egypt and the Sudan. U. S. Department of Agriculture,
Bulletin No. 271. Pp. 1-40. September 28, 1915.

FORESTRY

Humphrey, C. J., and Fleming, Ruth M. The toxicity to' fungi of various oils
and salts, particidarly those used in wood preservation. U. S. Department of
Agriculture, Bulletin No. 227. Pp. 1-38. August 23, 1915.

Weir, J. R. Larch mistletoe: some economic considerations of its injurious effects.
U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 317. Pp. 1-27. January 20,
1916.

AGRONOMY

Babcock, F. R. Cereal experiments at the Williston Station. U. S. Department

of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 270. Pp. 1-36. July 29, 1915.
Briggs, L. J., and Shantz, H. L. Effect of frequent cutting on the water require-
ment of alfalfa and its bearing on pasturage. Bulletin of the U. S. Department

of Agriculture, No. 228. Pp. 1-6. May 22, 1915.
Cates, H. R. Farm practice in the cultivation of corn. U. S. Department of

Agriculture, Bulletin No. 320. Pp. 1-67. January 24, 1916.
Chilcott, E. C., Cole, J. S., and Burr, W. W. Barley in the Great Plains area;

relation of cultural methods to production. U. S. Department of Agriculture,

Bulletin No. 222. Pp. 1-32. May 24, 1915.
Chilcott, E. C, Cole, J. S., and Burr, W. W. Oats in the Great Plains area;

relation of cultural methods to production. U. S. Departmentof Agriculture,

Bulletin No. 218. Pp. 1-42. May 28, 1915.
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relation of cultural methods to production. U. S. Department of Agriculture,

Bulletin No. 219. Pp. 1-31. June 2, 1915.
Chilcott, E. C, Cole, J. S., and Burr, W. W. Crop production in the Great

Plains area; relation of cultural methods to yields. U. S. Department of

Agriculture, Bulletin No. 268. Pp. 1-28. July 20, 1915.
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in the southern Great Plains area; relation of cultural methods to production.

Bulletin of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, No. 242. Pp. 1-20. June 19,

1915.
Dillman, A. C. Breeding millet and sorgo for drought adaptation. U. S. De-
partment of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 291. Pp. 1-19. January 25, 1916.
Grace, O. J. The effect of different times of plowing small-grain stubble in eastern

Colorado. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 253. Pp. 1-15.

June 29, 1915.
McLachlan, Argyle. Community productioyi of Durango cotton in the Imperial

Valley. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 324. Pp. 1-16.

December 22, 1915.
Meade, R. M. Single-stalk cotton culture at San Antonio. U. S. Department of

Agriculture, Bulletin No. 279. Pp. 1-20. August 24, 1915.

248 references: phytopathology

Salmon, Cecil. Cereal investigations on the Belle Fourche Experiment Farm.
U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 297. Pp. 1-43. October 28,
1915.

Scofield, C. S., Kearney, T. H., Brand, C. J., Cook, O. F., and Swingle, W. T.
Community production of Egyptian cotton in the United States. U. S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 332. Pp. 1-30. January 13, 1916.

Saunders, D. A., and Cardon, P. V. Custom ginning as a factor in cotton-seed
deterioration. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 288. Pp. 1-8.
September 7, 1915.

Shaw, H. B. Sugar beets: Preventable losses in culture. U. S. Department of
Agriculture, Bulletin No. 238. Pp. 1-21. July 14, 1915.

Stanton, T. R. Cereal experiments in Maryland and Virginia. U. S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 336. Pp. 1-52. February 10, 1916.

Surface, F. M., and Pearl, Raymond. A method of correcting for soil hetero-
geneity in variety tests. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 1039-1050, fig. 1,
February 28, 1916.

Vinall, H. N., and McKee, Roland. Moisture content and shrinkage of forage;
and the relation of these factors to the accuracy of experimental data. U. S.
Department of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 353. Pp. 1-37. March 16, 1916.

Zook, L. L. Tests of corn varieties on the Great Plains. U. S. Department of
Agriculture, Bulletin No. 307. Pp. 1-20. December 14, 1915.

BACTERIOLOGY

Cooledge, L. H. Agglutination test as a means of studying the presence of Bacillus
abortus in milk. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 871-876. February
7, 1916.

PHYTOPATHOLOGY

Allard, H. A. Distribution of the virus of the mosaic disease in capsules, fila-
ments, anthers, and pistils of affected tobacco plants. Journal of Agricultural
Research, 6: 251-256, pi. 23. November 8, 1915.

Brooks, Charles, and Fisher, D. F. Brown-rot of prunes and cherries in the
Pacific Northwest. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 368. Pp.
1-10. March 6, 1916.

Brown, Nellie A. A bacterial disease of lettuce. Journal of Agricultural
Research, 4: 475-478. August, 1915.

Bryan, Mary K. A nasturtium wilt caused by Bacterium solanacearum. Jour-
nal of Agricultural Research, 4: 451-358, figs. 1-3, pis. 63-66. August, 1915.

Carpenter, C. W. Some potato tuber-rots caused by species of Fusarium.
Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 183-210, pis. A-B, pis. 14-19. Novem-
ber 1, 1915.

Cobb, N. A. Tylenchus similis, the cause of a root disease of sugar cane and banana.
Journal of Agricultural Research, 4: 561-568, figs. 1-2. September, 1915.

Coons, G. H. Factors involved in the groivth and the pycnidium formation of
Plenodomus fuscomaculans. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 713-770.
January 17, 1916.

Edson, H. A. Histological relations of sugar-beet seedlings and Phoma Betae.
Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 55-58, pis. 1-2. October 4, 1915.

references: plant physiology 249

Harter, L. L. Siveel-potato scurf. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 787-
792, pis. 57-58. January 24, 1916.

Hedgcock, G. G., and Long, W. H. A disease of pines caused by Cronartium
pyriforme. Bulletin of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, No. 247. Pp.
1-20. July 20, 1915.

Jackson, H. S. An Asiatic species of Gymnosporangium established in Oregon.
Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 1003-1010, pis. 78-79. February 28,
1916.

Long, W. H. Two new hosts for Peridermium pyriforme. Journal of Agricul-
tural Research, 5: 289-290, pi. 27. November 15, 1915.

Long, W. H. A honeycomb heart-rot of oaks caused by Stereum subpileatum.
Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 421-428, pi. 41. December 6, 1915.

Melhtts, I. E. Hibernation of Phytophthora infestans of the Irish Potato. Jour-
nal of Agricultural Research, 5: 71-102, figs, 1-3, pis. 4-8. October 11, 1915.

Melhus, I. E. Perennial mycelium i)i species of Peronosporaceae related to
Phytophthora infestans. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 59-70, fig. 1,
pi. 3. October 11, 1915.

Pool, Venus W., and McKay, M. B. Relation of stomatal movement to infection
by Cercospora beticola. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 1011-1038,
figs. 1-6, pis. 80-81. February 28, 1916.

Rand, F. V. Dissemination of bacterial wilt of cucurbit*. Journal of Agricultural
Research, 5: 257-260, pi. 24. November 8, 1915.

Rosenbaum, J. Pathogenicity and identity Of Sclerotinia libertiana and Sclero-
tica smilacina on ginseng. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 291-298,
fig. 1, pis. 28-29. November 15, 1915.

Rosenbaum, J., and Zinnsmeister, C. L. Alternaria panax, the cause of a root-
rot of ginseng. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 181-1S2, pis. 12-13.
October 25, 1915.

Smith, Erwin F., and Bryan, Mary K. Angular leaf-spot of cucumbers. Journal
of Agricultural Research, 5: 465-476, pis. 43-49. December 13, 1915.

Stakman, E. C., and Jensen, Louise. Infection experiments with timothy rust.
Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 211-216. November 1, 1915.

Taubenhaus, J. J. Soilstain, or scurf, of the sweet potato. Journal of Agricultural
Research, 5: 995-1002, pis. 76-77. February 21, 1916.

Valleau, W. D. Varietal resistance of plums to brown-rot. Journal of Agri-
cultural Research, 5: 365-396, pis. 37-39. November 29, 1915.

Weir, J. R., and Hubert, E. E. A serious disease in forest nurseries caused by
Peridermium filamentosum. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 781-786.
January 24, 1916.

Wolf, F. A. Further studies on peanut leafspot. Journal of Agricultural Re-
search, 5: 891-902. February 7, 1916.

PLANT PHYSIOLOGY

Bartram, H. E. Effect of natural low temperature on certain fungi and bacteria.
Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 651-656. January 3, 1916.

Briggs, L. J., and Shantz, H. L. Influence of hybridization and cross-polli-
nation on water requirement of plants. Journal of Agricultural Research, 4:
391-402, fig. 1, pi. 58. August, 1915.

250 references: animal husbandry

Briggs, L. J., and Shantz, H. L. An automatic transpiration scale of large
capacity for use with freely exposed plants. Journal of Agricultural Research,
5: 117-132, figs. 1-18, pis. 9-11. October 18, 1915.

Briggs, L. J., and Shantz, H. L. Hourly transpiration rate on clear days as
determined by cyclic environmental factors. Journal of Agricultural Research,
5: 583-650, figs. 1-22, pis. 53-55. January 3, 1916.

Buckner, G. D. Translocation of mineral constituents of seeds and tubers of
certain plants during growth. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 449-458.
December 13, 1915.

Cook, F. C. Boron: Its absorption and distribution in plants and its effect on
growth. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 877-890. February 7, 1916.

Fred, E. B. Relation of green manures to the failure of certain seedlings. Jour-
nal of Agricultural Research, 5: 1161-1176, pis. 83-84. March 20, 1916.

Harris, F. S. Effect of alkali salts in soils on the germination and growth of crops.
Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 1-54, figs. 1-48. October 4, 1915.

Hart, E. B., and Tottingham, W. E. Relation of sulphur compounds to plant
nutrition. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 233-250, pis. 20-22. No-
vember 8, 1915.

Hasselbring, H., and Hawkins, L. A. Respiration experiments with sweet
potatoes. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 509-518. December 20, 1915.

McGeorge, W. T. Fate and effect of arsenic applied as a spray for weeds. Jour-
nal of Agricultural Research, 5: 459-464. December 13, 1915.

Pitz, Walter. Effect of elemental sulphur and of calcium sulphate on certain of
the higher and lower forms of plant life. Journal of Agricultural Research.
5: 771-780, pi. 56. January 17, 1916.

EVOLUTION

Belling, John. Inheritance of length of pod in certain crosses. Journal of
Agricultural Research, 5: 405-420, pi. 40. December 6, 1915.

Rietz, H. L., and Roberts, Elmer. Degree of resemblance of parents and off-
spring with respect to birth as twins for registered Shropshire sheep. Journal
of Agricultural Research, 4: 479-510. September, 1915.

Sievers, A. F. Some effects of selection on the production of alkaloids in bella-
donna. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 306. Pp. 1-20.
October 15, 1915.

Wentworth, E. N., and Aubel, C. E. Inheritance of fertility in swine. Jour-
nal of Agricultural Research, 5: 1145-1160, figs. 1-4. March 20, 1916.

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

Curtis, Maynie R. Frequency of occurrence of tumors in the domestic fowl.
Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 397-404. November 29, 1915.

Pearl, Raymond. Measurement of the winter cycle in the egg production of domes-
tic fowl. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 429-438. December 6, 1915.

Steenbock, H. Diuresis and milk flow. Journal of Agricultural Research,
5: 561-568. December 27, 1915.

Woodward, T. E., Turner, W. F., and Griffiths, David. Prickly-pears as
a feed for dairy cows. Journal of Agricultural Research, 4: 405-450, fig. 1,
pi. F, pis. 61-62. August, 1915.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED

SOCIETIES

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 304th meeting assembled in the lecture room of the Cosmos
Club on February 9, 1916, and immediately adjourned out of respect
to the memory of Dr. C. Willard Hayes, past President.

The 305th meeting was held in the lecture room of the Cosmos Club
on February 23, 1916.

REGULAR PROGRAM

Charles Butts: Faults of unusual character' in central Pennsyl-
vania (Illustrated). In the vicinity of Henrietta, in the southeast
corner of the Hollidaysburg quadrangle, Pennsylvania, a wedge-shaped
block 8 to 10 miles long and 2 miles wide at base is thrust up between
younger rocks. The maximum throw is at the point of the wedge
at the north end where the Waynesboro formation, of Middle Cambrian
age, is in contact with dolomite of Beekmantown age. The relations
resulting from the converging faults are abnormal for the Appalachian
valley. The fault block is overthrust along the west fault and rela-
tively downthrown along the east fault. The west fault is the major
one and seems to extend northward for a long distance. It, or one in
the same line of disturbance, is revealed in a cut of the Pennsylvania
Railroad at Birmingham, Pennsylvania, where the fault plane dips
eastward about 15?

Several possible explanations were given for the abnormal relations
along the fault on the west side of the wedge: First, that it is a nor-
mal fault downthrown on the east; second, that it was formed long
subsequent to the west fault and after deep erosion, the movement
being along the bedding plane of the base of the Beekmantown lime-
stone; and third, that it took place along a second original fissure
east of that along which the main overthrust occurred, at a time
when the arch was completely overturned in such a way as to bring
the second fissure into line with the direction of the maximum pressure
of the overthrusting force.

Laurence LaForge: Resume of the geology of southeastern New
England in the light of field work since 1908 (Illustrated). No abstract.

251

252 proceedings: geological society

Alfred H. Brooks: The physiographic provinces of Alaska (Illus-
trated).

Five principal physiographic provinces, each divisible into sub-
provinces, are recognizable in Alaska. These are (1) Pacific Mountain
system, (2) Central Plateau region, (3) Rocky Mountain system, (4)
Arctic Mountain system, and (5) Arctic Slope region.

The Pacific Mountain system is made up of a number of parallel
ranges forming a rugged highland of crescentic outline sweeping around
the Gulf of Alaska. Its central part is upwards of two hundred miles in
width, but the system narrows to the southeast and to the southwest.
It is continued to the southeast by the Coast Range of British Colum-
bia and to the southwest by the rugged Aleutian Islands. Several sub-
provinces of lesser relief are included within the Pacific Mountain
system. In most places the inland slope of this system falls off abruptly
to the Central Plateau region, though the line of demarcation between
the two provinces is not everywhere well defined.

The Central Plateau region is characterized by flat-topped inter-
stream areas separated by broad valleys and lowlands and broken by
minor ranges and peaks that rise above the general level. The plateau
feature is best developed in the upper Yukon basin, for it loses its
definition on approaching Bering Sea. Here the characteristic topog-
raphy consists of low rounded highlands rising island-like from broad
lowlands.

The Rocky Mountain system maintains its northwesterly trend
through western Canada to within about 400 miles of the Arctic
Ocean and then bends to the west and enters Alaska as a single range
(Ogilvie Mountains). Crossing the boundary just south of the 66th
parallel it loses its definition and soon merges with the fiat summits of the
Central Plateau region. The Crazy and White Mountains of the
Yukon-Tanana region that stand above the plateau level lie in the
continuation of the Rocky Mountain axis.

A new name, Arctic Mountain system, is proposed for the east and
west trending mountain system of northern Alaska formerly regarded
as part of the Rocky Mountain system. Recent investigations by
Canadian and American geologists have shown that this is a distinct
system from the Rocky Mountains, although they are connected by the
flat-topped Richardson Mountains forming the Mackenzie-Porcupine
divide. The Arctic Mountain system stretches westward from the
International Boundary to the Arctic Ocean north of Kotzebue Sound.
It is not everywhere sharply differentiated from the plateau region
to the south, for in many places the dissected plateau remnants merge
with the foothills of the ranges. In its western part the northern limit
of the lowland of the Kobuk Valley affords a definite line of demarca-
tion. On the north the mountains, so far as known, everywhere fall
off abruptly to the Arctic Slope. This scarp affords a definite boundary
line between the two provinces. The system is made up throughout
its extent of two or more parallel ranges and includes some broad low-
lands. These lowlands are specially striking topographic features in

proceedings: geological society 253

the western half of the chain. The Arctic Mountain system is con-
tinued east of the boundary by some mountains of lesser altitude.
These end in a scarp at the Mackenzie delta, east of which they have
not been recognized.

The Arctic Slope region has two subdivisions, the Anaktuvuk
Plateau and the Coastal Plain. The first forms a piedmont plateau
sloping northward from the base of the range. Along the Colville
River it has a width of about 50 miles, but it narrows to the east.
At the boundary it appears to be entirely absent, for here only a nar-
row coastal plain intervenes between the mountains and the sea. The
westward extension of Anaktuvuk Plateau is unexplored. On the
north the plateau is bounded by a scarp which separates it from the
Coastal Plain. This plain varies from a width of less than 10 miles
at the bounary to over 150 south of Point Barrow.

All of the features described, except those of the Arctic Slope region,
form a part of the North American cordillera. Tectonically, however,
the Arctic Mountain system is a discordant element in this cordillera.
Its structures parallel the Arctic Ocean, and its folding was probably
caused by movements from the Polar Sea. Tectonically and possibly
physiographically it is to be correlated with the Werojanski Range and
its northeastward extension of Siberia.

The 306th meeting was held in the lecture room of the Cosmos Club
on March 8, 1916.

REGULAR PROGRAM

C. F. Bowen: Review of the stratigraphy and structure of the Hanna
Basin, Wyoming.

In the early Territorial surveys under King, Hayden, and Powell
the 20,000 feet of coal-bearing rocks overlying the uppermost marine
sediments of the Hanna Basin — the Lewis shale — were grouped in
a single formation, for which the name Laramie was adopted.

In 1907, A. C. Veatch (U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 316, p. 246. 1907.)
subdivided this group into two formations which he designated as
"Upper and Lower Laramie." Correlating a conglomerate at the
base of the "Upper Laramie" on the west side of the basin with a con-
glomerate that marked a pronounced unconformity on the east side
of the basin, he announced that the "Upper and Lower Laramie" were
separated by an unconformity that involved the removal of 20,000
feet of strata. Veatch's upper division became the type of the "Upper
Laramie" formation, and the flora which it yielded was adopted as a
standard for comparison in other fields.

Recent detailed work over three quadrangles in the Hanna Basin
has demonstrated that the unconformity which Veatch assigned to the
base of the "Upper Laramie" is really near the middle of that forma-
tion or 6,500 feet above the position to which he assigned it. The
"Upper Laramie" of Veatch is thus divisible into two formations sepa-

254 proceedings: geological society

rated by a marked unconformity which permits the upper part of
that formation to transgress across all of the older formations exposed.

There are no structural evidences of the supposed unconformity
between the "Upper and Lower Laramie" as defined by Veatch. No
angular or erosional discordance or apparent evidence of overlap be-
tween the two formations was noted. Furthermore both seem to have
been equally affected by diastrophic disturbances. The only apparent
evidence in support of an unconformity at this horizon is the presence
of a conglomeratic zone, the base of which has been taken as the bound-
ary between the two formations. Recent petrographic studies seem,
however, to indicate that this conglomerate was not derived from the
surrounding mountains but was obtained from a more remote source —
apparently that which furnished the sediments of the "Lower Lara-
mie." The conglomerate seems to have been deposited before the
orogenic disturbances which gave rise to the present mountain ranges
surrounding the Hanna Basin and without any great physical break
between it and the underlying formation.

These observations seem to indicate that the great post-Cretaceous
orogenic disturbance and resultant unconformity occurred about the
middle of the so-called "Upper Laramie" epoch rather than preceding-
it; that is, it is pre- Wasatch instead of pre-Fort Union.

Carroll H. Wegemann: The discovery of Wasatch fossils in so-called
Fort Union beds of Powder River Basin, Wyoming, and its bearing on the
stratigraphy of the region.

The rocks overlying the Fox Hills in the region southeast of the
Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming have been divided by most writers
into two formations, — the Lance or Triceratops beds below and the
Fort Union above. The Fort Union is separable, on lithologic grounds,
into two divisions; the lower carries abundant fossil leaves and con-
sists of shale and fine-grained bluish-white sandstone, together with
numerous thin beds of highly ferruginous sandstone; the upper is
composed of gray shale and rather coarse-grained yellow and buff
sandstone (the color of the whole formation being predominantly
yellow), ferruginous beds are lacking, and fossil leaves are not abun-
dant. During the past season specimens were obtained, by R. W.
Howell and the writer, of teeth of Coryphodon molestus from beds near
the top of the upper disvision of the Fort Union as exposed in the
Pumpkin Buttes, and from beds near the middle of the formation.
Coryphodon molestus is known only from the Wasatch, and the finding
of its remains in the upper division of the Fort Union appears sufficient
evidence for the correlation of that division with the true Wasatch.
Former collections, near the base of the upper division of the so-called
Fort Union, of small mammal teeth resembling species collected from
the Torrejon of New Mexico and the Silbcrling Quarry of Montana
are not considered by Dr. J. W. Gidley as necessarily establishing
the correlation of the beds in which they were found with the Fort
Union, since recent discoveries in the Clark Fork and Sand Coulee
beds of Wyoming and in the Ignacio beds of Colorado have proved

proceedings: geological society 255

that these primitive mammals are not confined to the Fort Union
but are present also in the Wasatch beds.

The fresh-water formations above the marine Fox Hills appear,
therefore, to belong to three formations: The Lance at the base, bear-
ing Triceratops; the Fort Union in the middle, bearing abundant leaves;
and the Wasatch at the top, containing remains of Coryphodon. The
Kingsbury conglomerate in the vicinity of Buffalo is probably basal
Wasatch, and the great erosional unconformity on which it rests repre-
sents the one which is present at many localities between the Fort
Union and Wasatch formations.

C. J. Hares: Stratigraphic relations of some.' of the Cretaceous and
Tertiary formations of the Hanna and Powder River basins with those
of the Wind River Basin.

Mountains did not exist or were very small between Hanna, Wind
River, Big Horn, and Powder River basins until the lower group of the
Upper Laramie of Hanna Basin, the Great Pine Ridge beds of Powder
River Basin, and the beds mapped as Fort Union in Wind River Basin
were deposited. Only in the Bighorn Basin has an unconformity been
demonstrated below a formation correlated. with these beds. The posi-
tion of the so-called Fort Union beds, only 250 feet above the Lewis
Shale at Alkali Butte, is now believed to be due to extraordinary
thinning of the Lance formation. These widely separated so-called
Fort Union beds contain the same cherty conglomerate, but contain,
so far as satisfactorily shown, no pebbles of Upper Cretaceous age, ex-
cept possibly west of Rawlins and at Alkali Butte. Should the pebbles
at these localities prove to be Mowry shale, then it is still necessary to
prove that the containing beds are pre-Wind River in age. These
formations contain no dinosaur bones, but many Fort Union leaves.
Succeeding their deposition orogenic movements were pronounced be-
tween the present intermontane basins; in the Granite Mountains
relative uplift amounting to nearly 20,000 feet took place, but in the
middle of the basins the algebraic sum of the movements was nearly
zero.

Succeeding these greatly deformed so-called Fort Union beds occurs
the only profound, angular, and overlapping unconformity in the
Cretaceous-Eocene series of Wj^oming. This occurs at the base of the
Wind River formation and is believed to be obvious at all places except
in the middle of the basins of deposition. The Wind River formation
rests on upturned Cambrian to Fort Union strata, and the relief of
this old surface even in short distances is certainly 1000 feet and
may have amounted to 5000 feet. The Wind River formation con-
tains fragments of all underlying formations including Madison lime-
stone pebbles with Niobrara fossils and ferruginous material contain-
ing Fort Union leaves, all derived from the adjacent mountains. Strata
below the unconformity contain no recognizable local material. Thin
sections of Mesaverde, Lower Laramie, lower group of the Upper
Laramie, Lance, and so-called Fort Union show no marked differences.
The Wind River formation contains much arkosic material and granite

256 proceedings: biological society

bowlders up to 5 by 10 by 20 feet, which are now found 8 miles or
more from the nearest granite outcrop. They were probably trans-
ported by sapping and water. The type Wind River is like the "Wa-
satch" at Whiskey Peak, which can be traced southward to the U.
P. Railway, and is of the same age as the beds above the angular un-
conformity in the Hanna Basin. It is like the Wasatch of Bighorn
Basin and the Coryphodon bearing beds of Powder River Basin,
which include the Kingsbury conglomerate resting on upturned for-
mations including Madison limestone and the Great Pine Ridge beds.
The unconformity below the Kingsbury is of more than local impor-
tance and corresponds to the pronounced angular unconformity in the
other basins. The formations above this unconformity in each basin
except the Hanna Basin contain a Coryphodon fauna that varies
somewhat from basin to basin, more because of incompleteness of
collections than of difference in age.

Two alternatives appear to be possible; first, the terms Fort Union,
Wind River, and Wasatch may apply to the same group of strata or,
second, the type Fort Union of North Dakota may include at the top
beds of Wind River age and should therefore be separable into Fort
Union below and Wind River above. The first alternative appears
the more probable.

The Wind River is unconformably overlain by the White River
formation, which is highly arkosic, volcanic, clayey, and conglomeratic,
and contains pebbles of lava and andesitic porphyry, the latter derived
from the intrusives in the Rattlesnake Mountains. The porphyry
pebbles are not found in the Wind River, and hence are post-Wind
River and pre-White River in age. The North Park formation of Hanna
Basin and possibly the Browns Park formation of Colorado, which are
of like composition and position, are of the same age.

Carroll H. Wegemann, Secretary.

THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 552d regular meeting of the Biological Society of Washington
was held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club, Saturday, March 11,
1916, at 8:00 p.m.; called to order by President Hay, with 28 persons
present.

On recommendation of the Council the following persons were elected
to active membership: Dr. Molyneux L. Turner, R. T. Jackson,
H. L. Viereck.

Under the heading Brief Notes and Exhibition of Specimens, Dr.
Shufeldt exhibited lantern slide views of some of the aquatic and ter-
restial vertebrates of the District of Columbia and vicinity.

Under the same heading Mr. Wm. Palmer made remarks on, and
exhibited, the bones of a hitherto unknown cetacean lately collected
by him at Chesapeake Beach, Maryland.

The first paper of the regular program was by M. W. Lyon, Jr.:
Hemolysis and complement fixation. Dr. Lyon outlined the steps in

proceedings: biological society 257

the discovery of hemolysis by normal and immune serums from the
early observation following transfusion by Landois in 1875, through
Pfeiffer's phenomenon of bacteriolysis in 1899, Bordet's discovery of
of complement in 1899, and Borclet and Gengou's discovery of com-
plement fixation in 1901 to the practical application of the latter
phenomenon as utilized by Wassermann in 1905 and by later workers
in the diagnosis of syphilis, glanders, Malta fever, dourine, tuberculosis,
infectious abortion, etc. The graphic conceptions of amboceptor,
complement, antigen, and fixation as understood by Ehrlich, and as
understood by Bordet, were illustrated by movable models. The
action of hemolytic amboceptors and complement on blood cells of the
ox and of the sheep was demonstrated by test tube mixtures, and some
positive and negative results in complement fixation were exhibited.

The last paper of the regular program was by D. L. Van Dine:
A study of malarial mosquitoes in their relation to agriculture. Mr.
Van Dine said that the Bureau of Entomology is making a study of the
relation of malaria to agriculture and of the malaria-bearing mosquitoes,
on a plantation in the lower Mississippi valley where typical conditions
as regards malaria and plantation operations occur. The object is
to devise measures for prevention of malaria which will apply practi-
cally to farming conditions. Lines of work include determination of the
manner in which malaria operates in reducing farm profits, of the rel-
ative efficiency of Anopheles to act as transmitting agent and their
distribution, of behavior of each species under known conditions of
environment, and consideration of preventative measures which involve
control of mosquito hosts. Solution centers around prevention of
malaria among tenants, since it has been shown that the direct loss to
planters occurs through lost time and reduced efficiency in labor.
Detailed study was made of tenants, their relation to the plantation,
their habits, and the prevalence of malaria among them, the conclusion
being that it will be more practical to control the mosquito than the
human host.

One measure of prevention consists in the favorable location of ten-
ants' houses, requiring information on habits of flight, food, and
breeding of the mosquitoes. Where drainage is impracticable, sur-
face water must be rendered unsuitable for Anopheles development.
Food requirements and natural checks to larval development are being
studied, the Bureau of Fisheries cooperating in the study of the re-
lation of fish to mosquito development.

Anopheles quadrimaculatus, A. punctipennis, and A. crucians were
the species studied. A. quadrimaculatus is the common house-fre-
quenting species of that region, A. crucians occurs in very limited
numbers, and A. punctipennis is more restricted in its house habits
but is common in nature. The work thus far has dealt almost entirely
with A. quadrimaculatus, but following the demonstration of tertian
and estivo-autumnal malaria in A . punctipennis by King in cooperation
with Bass it will be expanded to include this species. The study includes
the habits of mosquitoes under low temperature conditions; also the

258 proceedings: biological society

resistance of malaria organisms to low temperatures in the body of the
mosquito host.

Mr. Van Dine's paper was illustrated with lantern slide views of
the various conditions on the plantation. Messrs. William Palmer,
Doolittle, and Knab took part in the discussion.

The 553d regular meeting of the Biological Society of Washington
was held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club, Saturday, March
25, 1916, at 8 p.m.; called to order by President W. P. Hay, with 40
persons present.

The President called attention to the recent death of Henry Talbott,
a member of the Society.

Under the heading Brief Notes and Exhibition of Specimens, General
Wheeler showed lantern slide views of the country along the Mexican
border of the United States. Mr. A. A. Doolittle exhibited a speci-
men of Amblystoma puncta um from the District of Columbia. Dr.
O. P. Hay exhibited the mutilated braincase of an elk which had caused
much difficulty in identification; he showed also a remarkably well
preserved skull of an extinct horse. President Hay exhibited a number
of lantern slides of biological interest, chiefly of aquatic animals in the
vicinity of Beaufort, North Carolina. Medical Inspector Ames asked
if any member present had positive knowledge as to the ability of
camels to swim; this question was discussed by several members. He
also inquired as to the possible existence of a South American animal
with dorsally placed mammae.

The regular program was as follows:

W. P. Hay: Notes on the growth of the loggerhead turtle (Illustrated by
lantern slides and chart). Mr. Hay gave an account of two young
loggerhead turtles now under observation at the U. S. Fisheries Bio-
logical Station at Beaufort, North Carolina. They are the survivors
of a lot of 77 hatched September 9 to 11, 1912, from eggs obtained from a
nest on Bogue Bank about six weeks earlier. When first hatched the
average size and weight of the young were: Total length 77.3 mm.;
length of carapace, 46.2 mm.; weight, 20.1 gram. At the age of three
years the survivors measure 493 and 515 mm. in total length and 343.75
and 365 mm. in length of carapace, and weigh 6690 and 7967 grams,
respectively. The increase in size and weight has been steady and the
measurements, which have been taken twice a year, can be plotted as
points on a curve. This curve continued indicates that the maximum
size of this species, about 1000 mm. in length of carapace, may possibly
be obtained in the tenth or eleventh year and that sexual maturity is
probably reached in the sixth or seventh year. This is considerably
more rapid growth than has usually been attributed to animals of this
kind.

The paper was discussed by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, Dr. O. P. Hay,
Medical Inspector Ames, and Mr. Doolittle.

R. W. Shufeldt: The restoration of the dinosaur, Podokesaurus
holyokensis. Dr. Shufeldt gave an historical account of a discussion

proceedings: biological society 259

upon the restoration of the dinosaur Podokesaurus holyokensis of Talbot,
which took place in the autumn of 1915. This discussion was carried
on in correspondence and participated in by Dr. Richard S. Lull,
Dr. Mignon Talbot, Dr. Gerhard Heilmann, and the speaker. Lan-
tern slide illustration and blackboard demonstration were employed to
point out what were held to be inconsistencies in the restoration of this
animal, as figured in Dr. Lull's Triassic Life of the Connecticut Valley
(fig. 31). Lull and Talbot contend that the pubic element in the
matrix of Podokesaurus holyokensis occupies the position in relation to
the other bones of the skeleton that obtained in life. Shufeldt and
Heilman controvert this decision by pointing out that all the bones in
the slab containing the remains of this dinosaur are far removed from
their normal articulations and that if the pubic element were articulated
as Lull has figured it, it would have come, in life, forcibly in contact,
anteriorly, with the sternal ribs and been a constant menace to the
abdominal viscera in various movements of the animal.

R. E. Coker: A biological and fish cultural experiment station (Illus-
trated by lantern slides). Mr. Coker said that since biologists, at least,
are generally familiar with the functions of the Fairport Biological Sta-
tion in the propagation and study of the fresh-water mussels, particular
attention would be given to the purposes of that station in experimental
work relating to the rearing of fishes. As in horticulture the problems
of the nurseryman and those of the fruit grower are distinct, so in fish-
culture and in fish-culture experimental work there is the phase of the
hatchery, with its product of fry and fingerling, and that of the fish
farm where it is intended to rear fish to adult size in commerical quan-
tities. The Fairport station is concerned with problems of rearing
rather than of hatching. The grower of fish has problems similar to
those of the stock farmer or the poultry raiser, while in addition he
must take thought of conditions affecting the respiration of fish. He
cannot always regulate the numbers of fishes in his ponds by direct
means, but may have to accomplish this end by proper association of
species. It may even be necessary to group together species which
are to an extent "incompatible." The problem of the fish pond has
its mechanical, physical, chemical, and zoological aspects; more espe-
cially, however, it is a problem of appropriate vegetation, promotion
of food supply, and proper association of species of fish.

Following the adjournment of the Society several members examined
a microscopic preparation of a living embryo of Filaria bancrofti obtained
by Dr. M. W. Lyon from a former inhabitant of British Guiana, for
several years resident in the District of Columbia.

M. W. Lyon, Jr., Recording Secretary.

THE CELEBRATION OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVER-
SARY OF THE ORGANIZATION OF THE U. S.
COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY

In 1816 the U. S. Coast Survey was organized under Mr. Ferdinand
Rudolph Hassler as Superintendent and field work was begun. This
event was fittingly celebrated in Washington on the 5th and 6th of
April last by meetings to which the public was invited in the auditorium
of the New National Museum. At these meetings papers were pre-
sented by representative men in the fields of Science, Engineering, Com-
merce, the Federal Government, and Military Affairs. The celebra-
tion closed with a banquet at the New Willard hotel on the evening
of the sixth, at which the President of the United States was the princi-
pal speaker. The present Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic
Survey, Mr. E. Lester Jones, presided at the banquet and at the three
public sessions at the Museum. Abstracts of the addresses delivered
at the Museum and at the banquet are given below.

AFTERNOON OF APRIL 5TH

Dr. Hugh M. Smith, Commissioner of Fisheries: The Bureau of Fish-
eries and its relation to the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. Dr.
Smith said that early in the history of the Bureau of Fisheries there
began close cooperative relations with the Coast and Geodetic Survey.
The former has always depended upon the latter for its basic triangula-
tion whenever a biological survey of any kind has been undertaken in
a region in which the Coast and Geodetic Survey has operated, which
of course means anywhere on the coast of the United States. On the
other hand, the hydrographic and topographic results of this biological
work have always been made available to the Survey. On both the
Atlantic and the Pacific coasts a considerable part of the offshore sound-
ings found on the charts was made by the steamers Fish Hawk and
Albatross in pursuance of their fishery investigations, and some of the
inshore data of certain of the earlier charts came from reconnaissances
by the Albatross. While much of the latter has been superseded by
more accurate work, as the Coast Survey was able to extend its oper-
ations, it served a good purpose for some years.

Dr. L. A. Bauer, Director of the Department of Terrestrial Magne-
tism, Carnegie Institution of Washington : The work done by the United
States Coast and Geodetic Survey in the field of terrestrial magnetism.
From the earliest days of the Coast Survey magnetic observations have
been considered a legitimate and useful part of its work, but it was not

260

COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY CENTENNIAL 261

until 1899 that an increased appropriation made it possible to under-
take a systematic magnetic survey oi the United States. The first
chart issued by the Survey (in 1855) showing the lines of equal mag-
netic declination was based on only about 150 values distributed very
irregularly near the seacoast. At the close <>f 1915 the number of sta-
tions was about 5000, distributed over the whole country with a fair
degree of uniformity, and observations had been made at about 500
stations in our outlying possessions. Meridian lines for the use of sur-
veyors had been established at many county seats, magnetic data at
sea had been obtained by vessels of the Survey, and magnetic obser-
vatories (5 since 1903) had been maintained for recording continuously
the countless fluctuations of the earth's magnetism. An extensive
compilation of the available data relating to the change of the compass
direction with lapse of time, combined with the systematic reoccupation
of old magnetic stations, has made it possible for the Survey to furnish
promptly information of great value in the settlement of disputed land
boundaries, established by compass as much as 100 or 150 years ago.
It may be said, without fear of contradiction, that the contributions
of the Coast and Geodetic Survey to the advancement of our knowledge
in terrestrial magnetism have not been excelled by those of any other
national organization.

Dr. S. W. Stratton, Director of the United States Bureau of Stand-
ards: The Bureau of Standards and its relation to the United States
Coast and Geodetic Survey. The speaker sketched the history of the
various standards which have been used in this country and paid a high
tribute to Mr. Hassler for creating the division of weights and measures
of the Survey. This division became in 1904 the present Bureau of
Standards, a separate organization. He spoke of the close coopera-
tion which has always obtained between the Bureau of Standards and
the Coast and Geodetic Survey.

Rear Admiral J. E. Pillsbury, United States Navy (Retired) :
Ocean currents and deep sea explorations of the United States Coast and
Geodetic Survey. After mentioning the early voyagers who came in
contact with and noticed the Gulf Stream, the speaker gave a brief
description of the first American investigation, that of Benjamin Frank-
lin. It was not until 1845, under the administration of A. D. Bache,
that the Coast Survey began a systematic study of the Gulf Stream.
From that year until 1853 many vessels were engaged in the work under
the most comprehensive orders. In 1867 Prof. Henry Mitchell of the
Coast- Survey began an investigation of the Gulf Stream by a new
method. He sounded between Key West and Havana and observed
currents to 600 fathoms by means of cans floating or suspended from a
floating can. In 1883 the first attempt was made to investigate the
actual flow of the Gulf Stream by a vessel at anchor, when the Schooner
Drift, under Lieutenant Fremont, anchored with wire rope and ob-
served the currents between Jupiter Inlet, Florida, and Memory Rock,
Bahama. The results were of so great value that the Superintendent
decided to continue the work. The Blake, under Lieutenant Pillsbury,

262 COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY CENTENNIAL

was the vessel chosen, and during the following five years she was
engaged in Gulf Stream work each winter season and several summers.
As to results, it was found that the velocity of the Gulf Stream varied
daily, according to the moon's transit, and monthly, following its
declination, and that these variations could be predicted with fair
accuracy. A calculation as to its volume, deduced from many hun-
dreds of observations in the narrowest part of the Straits of Florida,
was 90,000,000,000 tons per hour.

Dr. George Otis Smith, Director of the United States Geological
Survey : The United States Geological Survey and its relation to the United
States Coast and Geodetic Survey. The Coast and Geodetic Survey and
the Geological Survey have much in common. The field of endeavor for
each is nation-wide; they are scientific in spirit and civil in organiza-
tion; both are primarily field services; and the product of most of the
work of each reaches the public in the form of maps. With full oppor-
tunity to overlap their fields of operation, to duplicate work, and thus
to waste public money, there has been economical coordination rather
than wasteful competition. In these days when, as American citizens,
we have such deep concern in the question of public regulation of private
business, it may be opportune for some of us as public officials to pause
and consider the question of regulation of public business. In making
the informal comparison of the actual and ideal in the administration
of the scientific bureaus of the Government, the speaker had ever in
mind the existence of a real basis for optimism in the splendid record
of the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Geological Survey in abso-
lutely coordinating their endeavors in the public service.

EVENING OF APRIL 5TH

Hon. J. Hampton Moore, Member of the United States House of
Representatives: The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey's part in
the development of commerce. Mr. Moore spoke of the relation of the
Coast and Geodetic Survey to Commerce and, after paying high tribute
to the perseverance and loyalty of the men of the Service, said that
commerce itself did not fully appreciate the importance of the work.
He spoke in particular of the needs of extending the surveys along the
Atlantic coast. Along the coasts of Florida there are 172,000 square
miles of water area which should be charted accurately for the use of
ships engaged in commerce and in national defense. He also called
attention to the changes made by the waves and currents on the North
Carolina, Virginia, and New Jersey coasts. He stated that inlets close
and open according to the whims of nature and that it is an interesting
historical fact that no living man is now able to locate the inlet through
which passed the expedition of Sir Walter Raleigh which made the first
English settlement on Roanoke Island in 1584. That the vessels of
Amadis and Barlow entered Croatan Sound is well established, but the
channel through which they came has long since disappeared.

COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY CENTENNIAL 263

Brigadier General W. M. Black, Chief of Engineers, United States
Army: The United States Corps of Engineers and its relation to the
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. The speaker said that the asso-
ciation in work of the Corps of Engineers and the United States Coast
and Geodetic Survey began with the organization of the Survey. In
1802 the Corps of Engineers was organized as a separate body, of which
the U. S. Military Academy formed a part. The first Superintendent
of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, Ferdinand R. Hassler, was appointed
from the Corps of Instructors of the Academy, having served there as
Acting Professor of Mathematics from 1807 until 1810. From 1843
through a period of many years officers of both the Army and Navy
served by detail with the Coast Survey Bureau. When a harbor is
to be improved the first recourse of the Army Engineer is to the charts
of the Coast and Geodetic Survey. The triangulation points estab-
lished by the Survey are used, when available, as a basis for the work
of the Engineers. Free interchange of information is made between the
two organizations, and the work of one supplements that of the other.
In yet another way the work of the Coast and Geodetic Survey is useful
to and is utilized by the Corps of Engineers, namely, in the preparation
of projects for national defense; for this purpose the charts of the
Survey are at once available. The work of the Survey and that of
the U. S. Engineers touch at many points, but their respective spheres
of duty are well defined and separate. The great work done by the
Coast and Geodetic Survey in its hundred years of existence and the
traditions of faithful labor well performed will always be an inspiration
for further effort.

Hon. George R. Putnam, Commissioner of Lighthouses: The Light-
house Service and its relation to the United States Coast and Geodetic
Survey. The speaker said that all progressive countries recognize their
obligations to survey, light, and mark their coasts, and that when a
country builds a lighthouse or publishes a chart, it aids the whole family
of nations. An accurate survey of the coast is a necessary preliminary
to the location of aids to navigation; without an accurate chart an aid
may be so stationed as to lead a vessel on to some hidden danger. The
two bureaus under discussion have the important common object of
protecting the mariner and keeping him out of danger. One gives him
the chart showing where the course is safe; the other gives him aids to
guide him over the course. The Coast and Geodetic Survey has made
special surveys for choosing sites of lighthouses, and accurately deter-
mines their positions. The Lighthouse Service marks new dangers
located by surveys, and moves aids as new surveys show the need.
Much work is required in keeping charts corrected for changes in aids,
and in this work there must be close cooperation. On a single chart,
that of New York Harbor, there are shown 299 aids. As both nature
and the works of man are ever changing the coast line, channels, and
harbors, and as the needs of commerce are continually varying, both
charts and beacons must ever be corrected and modified; therefore, the
cooperation in these two important works must always be continued.

264 COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY CENTENNIAL

Mr. George Washington Littlehales, Hydrographic Engineer,
United States Hydrographic Office : Hydrography and charts with special
reference to the work of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.
The speaker pointed out that a century ago the United States insti-
tuted a survey of its coasts and authorized as an aid large drafts from
the Army in earlier years and yet larger ones from the Navy as long as
they could be spared from the battle fleet. It is the province of marine
hydrography to chart the features of the submerged border to the land,
thereby indicating the hidden dangers to be avoided and the safe chan-
nels, for the guidance of shipping to and from our ports, not only at
home but also in the distant countries under our jurisdiction. It must
be with no small degree of pride that men should feel that their calling
has made the coast of the United States its best known geographical
feature, a calling so enriched with the heroisms of the sea and so unex-
celled for the aggregate of its influence in promoting the security of
shipping and in safeguarding the lives of seamen.

AFTERNOON OF APRIL 6TH

Prof. William Henry Burger, College of Engineering, North-
western University: The contribution of the United States Coast and
and Geodetic Survey to geodesy. Previous to 1843 the geodetic function
was little in evidence in the work of the Coast Survey; but upon the
reorganization in that year, the broad and far-reaching plans advocated
by Superintendent Hassler were adopted and the corner stone was laid
for that fine system of geodetic operations which the Survey has at
present. A further impetus was given when the geodetic connection
between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States was author-
ized, the result of which was the great arc of triangulation along the
39th parallel. Another arc of note is the Eastern Oblique Arc from the
Bay of Fundy to New Orleans, which binds together the surveys of the
harbors on the Atlantic coast. Many other arcs have been measured
by the Survey, until now the length of the combined arcs is more than
three-sevenths of the circuit of the globe. The precise leveling work
by the Survey stands without a rival in the world, as judged by the
very magnitude of its operations, by the instruments employed, and in
the speed and cost. The formation of the great telegraphic longitude
net of the Coast and Geodetic Survey is a geodetic feat worthy of special
notice. The problem of determining the shape and size of the earth
may be said to be the climax in geodetic work, from a scientific point of
view, and in this the Coast and Geodetic Survey has contributed much
to the field of geodesy.

Rear Admiral Richard Wainwright, United States Navy (Retired) :
The Civil War record of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey
and what the Survey is doing towards preparedness. Mentioning his
acquaintance with the Coast and Geodetic Survey for over GO years
as warrant for attempting to give the record of the field force of the

COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY CENTENNIAL 265

Survey during the Civil War, the speaker referred to the officers of the
Survey as early volunteers of their services to the country and to their
assistance, which was eagerly sought by generals in the field and admirals
afloat. They gave valuable military service during the Civil War, and
afterward returned to their regular duties without any of the rewards
of rank or pay or pension for themselves or families so freely distributed
at this time for military services. In a future war the field force of the
Coast and Geodetic Survey will be needed as it was during the Civil
War. The Army and Navy are both very short of officers and there is
little likelihood of its being otherwise for many years. A trained
topographer will always be of value on the staff of a general. In modern
war with long-range guns the general must visualize his work by
close reference to the map, and a topographer from the Coast Survey
would find little training necessary to keep the new features and move-
ments of the troops plotted ready for the commanding general. In
the Navy a skilled hydrographer would prove a most valuable addition
to the staff of an admiral. His power of quickly locating his position
on a chart would be of assistance in bombardment, blockading, mining,
and countermining. On the practical side, the work of the Survey
has been done well and with economy. The Coast and Geodetic Survey
charts stand at the head of all others for accuracy of execution and in
general usefulness.

Dr. Otto Hilgard Tittmann, President of the National Geographic
Society. The international work of the United States Coast and Geo-
detic Survey. Speaking of the international work of the Coast and
Geodetic Survey done in direct cooperation with other countries, Mr.
Tittmann said that it may justly give satisfaction to the members of
the Survey that the results of its work are nearly all international in
their scope. The hydrographic and tidal surveys are obviously for the
benefit of all mankind, because they safeguard the commercial inter-
course of nations. Its geodetic work contributes to the knowledge of
the Earth's dimensions and constitution. The world's knowledge of
terrestrial magnetism would be incomplete without the record of the
observation of magnetic phenomena as they occur in the vast territory
inhabited by us, and so with those relating to tides. Thus, in the
prosecution of its tasks the Survey adds to our knowledge of the planet
which we inhabit and thereby furthers the ultimate aim of all civili-
zation, the intellectual development of mankind.

After reviewing briefly the delimitation by the Survey of the Alaska
boundary, extending over a length of about 1800 miles, Dr. Tittmann
described the part taken by the Survey in the delimitation and remonu-
menting of our Canadian and Mexican boundaries, an undertaking
which he considered the most striking of the Survey's international
accomplishments. He then spoke of the relation of the Survey to the
International Geodetic Association and described the Survey's share
in the scientific work leading to the establishment of the International
Bureau of Weights and Measures.

266 COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY CENTENNIAL

Dr. Charles Lane Poor, Professor of Celestial Mechanics, Co-
lumbia University: Oceanic tides, with special reference to the work of
the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. The mathematical theory
of the tides first assumes a solid Earth surrounded by a shallow, fric-
tionless ocean, in which the moon would cause waves to travel around
the earth from east to west. While this is apparently a simple problem,
conditions which actually exist, with the ocean varying in depth and
broken up by continents, present a most complex one. Yet scientists
for years considered the tides as an ideally simple wave, modified and
broken up by the continental barriers and the varying depths of the
ocean. Tins world wave theory, based on a study of European tides,
which are exceptionally simple, became the basis of all tidal work and
theories. Later the tides of the Pacific were studied; and although
they differed greatly from those of Europe, the discrepancy was ex-
plained away as a modification of the theory, due to some local condition.

The Coast and Geodetic Survey has for a century collected and dis-
cussed an enormous amount of tidal data in the Pacific and Atlantic-
Oceans. These data revealed so many departures of the observed tides
from those predicated upon the world wave theory, that the accepted
general tidal wave would have to be so radically modified, in order to
represent the observed phenomena, as to lose all semblance to a single
uniform progressive wave. Gradually a feeling was evolved that the
tides were not a world phenomenon, but were strictly local in character;
that the tides of the Atlantic were due to oscillations in the waters of
the Atlantic, independent of what might be happening in the Pacific.
This idea has been developed by the Coast and Geodetic Survey into
a thoroughly consistent theory, and stands out as the great scientific
contribution of the survey to the theories of oceanic tides.

Dr. Douglas Wilson Johnson, Associate Professor of Physiography,
Columbia University: The contribution of the United States Coast and
Geodetic Survey to physical geography. Every division of physical
geography has been enriched by the contributions of the Coast and
Geodetic Survey during the century of its existence. We are indebted
to this Bureau for notable additions to our knowledge of the size and
form of the Earth and associated phenomena as developed in its work
in latitude, variation of latitude, longitude, azimuth, triangulation,
gravity, and terrestrial magnetism. To the physical hydrography of
the ocean it has supplied data for detailed study of material and relief
of the bottom. Its studies of the Gulf Stream and other currentsPhave
produced notable results. The Survey's treatment of the subject of
the tides and tidal currents has been exhaustive, culminating in a monu-
mental expansion of the equilibrium theory of tides. Its charts record
the changes in coastal topography and exemplify the laws which govern
the action of wave and current. To the physical geography of the
atmosphere this organization has contributed a study of the winds and
related phenomena.

COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY CENTENNIAL 267

EVENING OP APRIL 6TH

Dr. Paul Ritter, Minister of Switzerland: Hassler, the organizer of
the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.

The Minister of Switzerland said that he owed his presence at the
banquet to the circumstance that the first Superintendent of the Coast
and Geodetic Survey was the Swiss engineer, Ferdinand R. Hassler.
He sketched the life and career of Mr. Hassler in Switzerland, his native
land, and also in the United States, to which country he migrated in
order to satisfy his desire for wider fields of activity. In 1807 Hassler
submitted a plan to Congress for the survey of the coasts, which was
adopted. In 1816 he was appointed Superintendent of the Coast
Survey, and in that year field work was begun.

Hon. Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy: The cooperation
of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey with the Navy.

The Secretary of the Navy spoke of the cooperation between the
Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Navy and called particular atten-
tion to the fact that for a number of years naval officers were detailed
for duty in the Survey, where they had charge of the vessels engaged
upon the hydrographic work. When the Spanish war began, the naval
officers returned to the regular naval duties on the fleets. Since that
time all of the work of the Survey has been done by civilians.

Hon. William C. Redfield, Secretary of Commerce: The scope and
needs of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.

The address of the Secretary of Commerce was a tribute to the mem-
bers of the Survey and a plea for support for the Survey by the public
and by Congress, in order that it might be able to render still greater
usefulness to the nation in the safeguarding of ships and lives on the
oceans and in assisting in the development of the country.

Dr. T. C. Mendenhall, former Superintendent of the Coast and
Geodetic Survey: The superintendents of the United States Coast and
Geodetic Survey.

Dr. Mendenhall took as his theme the salient features of the careers
of the various superintendents of the Survey, starting with Hassler.
He sketched the development and progress of the Survey during its
one hundred years of existence and expressed the hope that its work
during the next century might compare in character Avith that of the
first one.

The President of the United States: The scientific spirit of the
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.

During the course of his address, in referring to the Coast and Geo-
detic Survey, the President said:

"This is one of the few branches of the public service in which the
motives of those who are engaged cannot be questioned. There is
something very intensely appealing to the imagination in the intellec-
tual ardor which men bestow upon scientific inquiry. No social ad-
vantage can be gained by it. No pecuniary advantage can be gained
by it. In most cases no personal distinction can be gained by it. It is

268 COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY CENTENNIAL

one of the few pursuits in life which gets all its momentum from pure
intellectual ardor, from a love of finding out what the truth is, regardless
of all human circumstances, as if the mind wished to put itself into
intimate communication with the mind of the Almighty itself. There
is something in scientific inquiry which is eminently spiritual in its
nature. It is the spirit of man wishing to square himself accurately
with his environment not only, but also wishing to get at the intimate
interpretations of his relationship to his environment; and when you
think of what the Geodetic Survey has been attempting to do — to make
a sort of profile picture, a sort of profile sketch, of the life of a nation,
so far as that life is physically sustained, — you can see that what we
have been doing has been, so to say, to test and outline the whole
underpinning of a great civilization; and just as the finding of all the
outlines of the earth's surface that underlie the sea is a process of mak-
ing the pathways for the great intercourse which has bound nations
together, so the work that we do upon the continent itself is the work
of interpreting and outlining the conditions which surround the life of
a great nation."

E. Lester Jones,
Superintendent, U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VI MAY 19, 1916 No. 10

BIOCHEMISTRY. — The biochemical analysis of nutrition.1
Carl L. Alsberg, Bureau of Chemistry.

There are a number of ways in which nutrition may be studied.
By the statistical method the effect of diet upon definite social
or geographical groups of individuals or upon inmates of hos-
pitals, asylums, or barracks is determined. The physical
method determines the energy income and outgo of the individual.
The physiological method determines the role in nutrition of
individual organs. Nutrition may, furthermore, be studied
by the method of biochemical analysis. This method seeks
to follow each one of the many chemical complexes that enter
into the composition of food in its course through the animal
organism. Therefore, for the purposes of this method the
component chemical radicals of the food must be known. This
information can be obtained only by resolving the food elements
into their component parts, that is, by analyzing them bio-
chemically. This paper, therefore, presents a discussion of
some of the component parts of the food elements and of the
fate in the metabolism of some of the individual chemical com-
plexes that are found free or combined in food, in so far as their
fate is understood or surmised.

My reason for selecting this particular subject is that during
recent years perhaps the most interesting contributions to
knowledge made by biochemists have been in this field. Among

1 The address of the retiring President of the Chemical Society of Washing-
ton, given at a joint meeting of that Society with the Washington Academy of
Sciences, January 13, 1916.

269

270 alsberg: biochemical analysis of nutrition

the most important contributions of recent years to the study
of nutrition are investigations upon the role of the proteins
and of the nitrogenous constituents of the food in the animal
organism. You know, no doubt, that in Liebig's time proteins
were regarded as that element of the food which supplied the
material for growth,- tissue maintenance, and repair, as well
as for most of the energy. Though it was soon demonstrated
that while proteins did and could furnish energy, under ordi-
nary conditions this was supplied in the main by sugar and other
carbohydrates and by catabolized fats. The proteins were, how-
ever, still regarded as all of about equal value, and their value
was estimated as proportional to the amount of nitrogen they
supplied to the animal organism. One protein was regarded
as of about as much dietary value as another. This was, how-
ever, soon found to be an erroneous notion. It was learned that
with certain proteins, gelatine for example, as the sole source
of nitrogen in the diet, life could not be supported. The proteins
then came to be divided into two classes, the true proteins and
the albuminoids. Gelatine was classed as an albuminoid. The
fact that it and some other proteins were found to be incapable
of supporting life was regarded as corroborative evidence that
they were not true proteins. Why they are incapable of sup-
porting life was not known. It was known that animals could
not live without proteins in the diet, but it was believed that rela-
tively few of the proteins were incapable of supplying all the
nitrogenous needs of the animal organism.

That is about where matters rested for a long time. Then
in 1901 Loewi published a most startling investigation, so startling
in fact that it received scant attention. He subjected the pan-
creatic gland, which all of you know as sweet-bread, to self-
digestion, the process that is technically known as autolysis.
As you know, practically all cells and tissues contain many en-
zymes or ferments, some of them similar to those secreted in
the stomach and intestines for the purpose of digesting pro-
teins. Therefore, under suitable conditions tissues can be made
to digest themselves. Loewi caused the self-digestion of the
pancreas to proceed until the digestion of the proteins in the gland

alsberg: biochemical analysis of nutrition 271

was so complete that no trace of any reaction for protein could
be obtained. This predigested material as the sole nitrogenous
element of the diet was then fed to dogs and it was found that
upon such a diet the animals maintained their weight. These
results were remarkable because they tended to show that it
was not absolutely necessary to life that protein be an element
of the diet. For a time these findings were ignored, but it has
since been shown that life can be supported for a time at least
upon a diet containing no complexes known as protein, but
instead a suitable mixture of amino-acids.

For the information of those of you who have not followed
the chemistry of the proteins during recent years I may say
that the proteins are combinations of the amino-acids, by which
we mean ordinary organic acids in which one or two hydrogen
atoms have been replaced by the amino group, NH2. The
simplest amino-acid found in protein is glycine which, as you
see, is derived from acetic acid.

NH20

I II
H— C— C— OH

I
H

There are seventeen of these amino-acids commonly found
in proteins. Several others have been reported more or less
definitely. Perhaps the commonest one is leucine, which has
six carbon atoms.

O NH2H H H

II I I I I
HO— C— C— C— C— C— H

I I I I
H H H

H— C— H

. H

As you see, in all these substances the amino group is associated
with the carbon atom adjacent to a carboxyl, COOH, group, the
alpha position, as it is known technically. When two amino

272 alsberg: biochemical analysis of nutrition

groups are present one is in the alpha position ; the other is associ-
ated with the terminal carbon atom at the other end of the chain,
the omega position. Lysine is such a diamino-acid, as you can
observe from the .formula CH2(NH2)(CH2)3 . CH(NH2)COOH.
In these acids the atoms are arranged in a chain. However,
the protein molecule may contain amino-acids in which the
arrangement is such that a ring is found. Tyrosine, a benzol
derivative, is a good example.

H NH2 O

I I II
C C— C — C— OH

/% I I

H— C C— H H H

II I

H— C C— H

c
I

OH
Histidine is another ring compound:

H H

I I

II >CH

I
H— C— H

I
H— C— NH2

I
HO— C=0

Tryptophane, which is related to indigo, is still another. The
proteins are combinations of a number of these amino-acids
with one another. Most of the seventeen or eighteen amino-acids
are found in each protein. In all probability each molecule of
protein contains a number of hiolecules of a given amino-acid,
so that the protein molecule may be very large. The union
of the amino-acids with one another is, so far as now known,
always of the same kind; the amino group of one acid is united

alsberg: biochemical analysis of nutrition 273

with the carboyxl group of another. One of the simplest com-
pounds of this type is glycylleucine :

NH,CH2— CO ' NH-CH-COOH

Giycyi I I

Leucine

These compounds are known as peptides and were first made
artificially. They were later discovered among the decom-
position products of proteins. A peptide with a molecular
weight of more than one thousand, composed of eighteen mole-
cules of amino-acids, has been made. Substances with still
larger molecular weights could be made, were it worth while.
Thus substances which are believed to have a structure similar
to that of proteins, and which have a molecule approaching in
size that qf some proteins, have actually been made.

After this digression in explanation of the chemical structure
of proteins let us return to the problem of the nutrition of ani-
mals with amino-acids. Loewi found that animals could be kept
for a time without loss in weight upon a mixture of completely
digested protein. It was not at that time known that such
mixtures contained peptides, which, as I have explained, have
certain resemblances to proteins. It was therefore a most
important discovery when it was later determined that an animal
could be maintained for a time upon an artificial mixture of the
pure crystalline seventeen or eighteen amino-acids found in
proteins free from peptides. If these observations are correct,
it is theoretically possible to supply the so-called protein needs
of animals by wholly artificial substances.

Certain investigators have very recently gone still further
by endeavoring to show that some of the nitrogenous needs
of the animal organism can be supplied by simple salts of am-
monia such as are used in fertilizers. It has hitherto been be-
lieved that only plants are capable of utilizing ammonia. The
matter has not been settled; but there is good reason to believe,
as will appear later, that even if it be shown that animals can
utilize ammonia, it is impossible to support animal life upon
ammonia as the sole source of nitrogen.

alsbeeg: biochemical analysis of NUTRITION

Whatever may be the ultimate practical significance of the
observations that animals can supply themselves with most
or all of their nitrogen needs by means of synthetic amino-acids.
th— xperiments have led to investigations that have explained
much that has been obscure in the physiology of nutrition.
Formerly it was believed that proteins when ingested were
digested by the enzymes of the intestinal tract and converted
into simpler substances, in the main albiunoses and peptones,
which were - rbed. These albumoses and peptones, while
simpler than most food proteins, are. nevertheless, still very
complex substances. It was believed that they are absorbed
and then converted by the animal into the protein characteristic
of that particular animal. How that conversion was accom-
plished - oot understood. Xow every species of animal
and plant has its own characteristic proteins. The proteins
of even closely related species are different. The proteins of
the food supply are quite different from those of the animal
taking that food. Much work was done to explain how the
proteins of the food were converted into the proteins of the
body and where this conversion took place. At first it was be-
lieved to occur in the blood. Later a difference of opinion arose

- to whether it took place in the tissues or in the intestinal wall.

s food proteins could be demonstrated in neither place, the
matter remained unsettled. We know today that neither hy-
pothesis is tenable. Proteins are not ordinarily absorbed
such. They -are completed dismembered within the intestinal
canal into their component amino-acids and these are absorbed.
As long as it was not known that an animal can be maintained
upon pure synthetic amino-acids. no one had any reason to
believe that proteins were completely digested before absorption.
w what happens to these amino-acids after they are ab-
sorbed? As ordinary diets may contain more nitrogenous
material than is needed by the organism, a part of the amino-
acids is changed within the walls of the intestinal canal by the
removal of the amino group to form ammonia. As this takes
place in the presence of carbonic acid, ammonium carbonate
and ammonium carbamate are formed. It has recently been

alsberg: biochemical analysis of nutrition

found that there is an equilibrium between these — sub-
stances, so that where one is -ent in solution ther- -
found a definite amount of the other. I easy stej :: >m

ammonium carbamate to urea. Thus the amino group split off
from the ami no-acid in the intestinal wall or elsewher- ri-

mately converted into urea and excreted. There are probably
other methods of the formation of lire:: 3 xample

cleavage from arginine which con* guanidir. _ ingclos

related to urea. After the removal of the amino group from the
amino-acids there is lei" arbona - -idue which may be
burned to furnish energy, perhaps directly, perhap- n-

version into sugar. A portion of the amino-aeic - - rbed
the intestines is not. however, deprived of its nitrogen, but passes
into the blood stream from which it :»rbed by each indi-

vidual cell according to that cell's particular needs. The cell
then reconstructs from these amino-ac: h its wn ch ric

protein. Thus it is possible to explain in a comparatively sim-
ple manner how. for example, wheat protein when fed t
animal is converted into the characteristic proteins of that ani-
mal. It is done by the cells of the tissues from amino-: : Is
supplied to the cells by the blood,, the blood receiving the amir -
acids from the intestinal wall.

This theory concerning the fate of food proteins in the ani-
mal body is supported by certain very interest!: a a x"peri-
ments. In these experiments animals, usually whit- - were
fed upon definite mixtures containing only a few pure food
substances. These mixtures consisted of sugai I mineral
salts, and a single pure protein. In each set oi experiments a
different pure protein was used in each series, all oi
remaining constant. It is in this way possible to determine
the nutritive value of individual proteins. The results of 1 -
work indicate that many proteins are incapable either
of supporting life or of producing growth. On the whole
it may be said that many more vegetables than animal
proteins are defective in this wa Now, when the compo-:-
tion of such defective proteins is compared with that of
proteins that are not defective in this respect, it is found thj I

276 alsberg: biochemical analysis of nutrition

the defective proteins lack one or more of the amino-acids which
are found in the proteins that are not defective. This is very
much oftener true for the vegetable proteins than for the animal
proteins. Some lack lysine, others tryptophane or histidine, or
cystine. The latter is an amino-acid containing sulphur, the
usual form in which sulphur is contained in proteins. Some
proteins lack more than one amino-acid. Gelatine, for example,
contains no cystine, tyrosine, or tryptophane. Now it has been
shown in certain cases that if to a diet of thetkind just described,
containing a single defective protein, there be added the amino-
acids which that protein lacks, the value of the diet is greatly
increased; in certain instances it may even become entirely
capable of supporting life and growth. We have here a direct
proof that the animal organism is capable of utilizing amino-
acids and incapable of manufacturing for itself certain amino-
acids. Herein it differs from the plant organism which is cap-
able of making all the amino-acids necessary to support its life.
The animal organism is, however, capable of making certain
amino-acids. It can, for example, make glycine. It has not
as yet been finally determined exactly which amino-acids can
be made by animals and which can not.

There are a number of ways in which the lack of certain
amino-acids may affect the functioning of the animal organism.
Their lack may, of course, make it impossible for the animal
to manufacture its own tissue protein. It suffers a kind of
starvation. There are, however, more indirect ways in which
the absence from the diet of a necessary amino-acid may be
important. It has recently been found that the iodine com-
pound of the thyroid gland, the gland that you feel in the neck
about the Adam's apple, is a derivative of the amino-acid trypto-
phane. It has long been known that the normal functioning
of the thyroid gland is essential to life and health. It has
been found that the normally functioning gland contains the
iodine compound now believed to be formed from tryptophane.
It is therefore possible that when there is no tryptophane in the
diet, difficulty in the formation of the iodine compound necessary
for the thyroid gland results with corresponding disturbance
of the gland's function.

alsberg: biochemical analysis of nutrition 277

The iodine compound of the thyroid gland is physiologically
active; that is to say, it is poisonous. It is not, however, the
only physiologically active substance produced from amino-
acids in the animal metabolism. ^Adrenaline

CH
(HO)C^ '\>CH(OH)CH2-NHCHr,

(HO)C< ^C

is another such substance probably derived from an amino-acid.
As you may see by comparing the formulae, it is related to the
amino-acid tyrosine. It is formed in the adrenal glands, two small
glands found in the kidney fat just above the kidneys. Hence
their name, which was given to them before it was known that
they have no direct relation to the kidneys. They apparently
furnish adrenaline to the blood. Adrenaline when injected into
the blood causes the small blood vessels to contract and therefore
the blood pressure to rise, since the heart then pumps against
the increased resistance of the contracted vessels. When the
adrenal glands do not function normally, as for example when
they are tuberculous, Addison's disease develops, which is
characterized among other symptoms by a low blood pressure.
The substance adrenaline is probably known to you, since it is
used therapeutically in a number of ways, for instance, to con-
strict capillary blood vessels to stop bleeding from the capillaries
on wound surfaces. If there is an absence from the diet of the
material necessary to form adrenaline, it is conceivable that
symptoms other than those of starvation might result.

There is a small gland at the base of the brain known as the
pituitary gland, which is apparently necessary to life and which
manufactures a physiologically active substance, probably de-
rived from the amino-acid histidine. Disease of this gland
seems to occur in certain giants and in the disease akromegaly,
in which among other symptoms is . found enlargement of the
bones of the face and the extremities.

A very interesting physiologically active substance, para-

278 alsberg: biochemical analysis of nutrition

oxyphenylethylamine, is formed in the self-digestion of the
pancreas from tyrosine, as shown by Emerson. It is tyrosine
from which carbonic acid has been removed. This is of great
interest, since it was at one time believed that carbonic acid
was formed in living organisms solely by oxidation. This ob-
servation shows that it can also be formed by enzymatic cleav-
age. This is of profound biological interest, since in all prob-
ability the energy which is required by organisms living in an
environment free from oxygen is obtained by reactions of this
type. Ordinarily we think of such organisms as being limited
to the fungi, but there are quite highly organized animals which
live in this way; for example, parasitic intestinal worms. The
gases of the intestines are practically free from oxygen. In all
probability these worms obtain the energy necessary for the
maintenance of life by cleavages, rather than by direct oxidation.
Finally, it is interesting to note that most of these physiologically
active substances are amines, probably derived from amino-
acids by removal of carbonic acid, that is, by the elimination
of the carboxyl, COOH. This method of the formation of
amines is probably quite common in plants and leads to the
formation of various poisonous plant bases. It has been sug-
gested that the active principle of ergot is formed in this way.

In making this digression to explain that physiologically
active substances may be formed from amino-acids, it was my
purpose to suggest that the defective or incomplete proteins,
when the main or sole nitrogenous element of the diet, may
not merely produce a form of starvation, but that they may
also have an indirect action through failure to supply the raw
materials which are needed by certain glands to elaborate their
specific products.

It should not be inferred from what has been said that these
incomplete or defective proteins are without food value. On
the contrary they may be of great food value. They are merely
not of themselves sufficient, but they can be made sufficient
if supplemented in relatively small amounts by other proteins
that contain the lacking elements. This is a matter of the
greatest practical importance in the feeding of farm animals.

alsberg: biochemical analysis of nutrition 279

Animal feeds consist in the main of vegetable proteins which
are often incomplete. Obviously such a feed can be used most
economically if it is supplemented by small amounts of pro-
teins which supply the missing elements. To do this it is neces-
sary to know what amino-acids are contained in the different
vegetable foods. Agricultural chemists are now engaged in
studying this problem. In this connection it must be pointed
out that there is a distinction between maintenance and growth.
It is perfectly possible to maintain an animal in good health
upon a diet which will not permit it to grow. It is possible to
stop the growth of an animal by putting it upon such a diet.
When the diet is changed growth may be resumed. The capacity
for growth has not been destroyed. Furthermore, it has been
shown that it is not safe to conclude that a given diet is sufficient
if it permits an animal to develop to adult life. It is necessary
to show that it will also permit it to reproduce. There are
diets that apparently permit perfect development but do not
permit reproduction. It has also been found that more growth
will take place upon a diet containing a mixture of incomplete
proteins than upon a diet containing only one or two of them.
Thus growing pigs will utilize for growth only about 24 per cent
of the proteins of corn or wheat, whereas upon a mixture of
the two grains they will utilize for growth about 33 per cent.
It may be stated by way of comparison that pigs will utilize
for growth about 60 per cent of the milk proteins fed.

Some of the investigators who put animals upon these restricted
diets found that the animals throve a great deal better if small
quantities of certain substances were added to the diet. The
presence of so small a quantity of milk that its protein was a
negligible factor kept animals growing or in good condition
upon diets that would not otherwise permit the animals to
remain in good health. A diet which does not permit normal
growth will do so if a small quantity of butter is added. Appar-
ently there are present in certain foods small quantities of
substances of unknown nature which are necessary to growth
and life. What this substance in butter is is not known. It
seems to contain neither nitrogen nor phosphorus. This is

280 alsberg: biochemical analysis of nutrition

of importance, since it proves that the substance is not a lipoid.
Lipoids are complex fat-like substances containing both nitrogen
and phosphorus. It has been claimed that a diet without lipoids
will not support life. The absence of nitrogen from the growth-
promoting substance of butter indicates that it is not related
to the vitamine of rice which is almost certainly a nitrogenous
base. The vitamines are substances of unknown composition,
found in certain foods and essential to life. In the polishing
of rice the vitamine is removed. An individual living upon a
diet of polished rice will develop a disease known as beri-beri,
frequently found among rice eaters. There is apparently a
whole series of substances found in foods which are necessary
to life. The absence of certain of them is believed to produce
scurvy. A similar hypothesis has been advanced concerning
the disease pellagra.

Little is known as yet concerning the chemical nature of these
substances. They are very unstable, being decomposed by
heating, especially by sterilizing under pressure. Lime juice
has been used for many years as an antiscorbutic. It is not
particularly rich in these substances, but in lime juice they
seem unusually stable. It has been suggested that the free
organic acid present in the lime juice protects the antiscorbutic
substances.

It is therefore quite evident that the last decade has brought
forward many contributions of the greatest hygienic and economic
importance. It is quite certain that more important discoveries
are still to come. It is therefore well to look askance at popular
prophecies concerning the approaching inadequacy of the world's
food supply. When our viewpoint has changed so radically
in a few years, it is idle to speculate about the future. If I
have been able tonight to present this point to you clearly,
I have accomplished my purpose.

NORTON! MIGRATIONS OF SMILAX 281

PHYTOGEOGRAPHY.— 77ie eastern and the western migra-
tions of Smilax into North America. J. B. Norton, Bureau
of Plant Industry.

It is generally recognized by students of that group that Smi-
lax and its allies must have spread over the earth from a point
somewhere in southeastern Asia. This conclusion is borne out
by several facts, particularly by the presence in that region of
all the related genera with their subgenera, and by the breaking
down there of certain group characters separating sections of
the large genus Smilax, the last circumstance indicating a sur-
vival of the links that are often mourned as missing in other
groups of organisms, but which are a source of trouble to a key
maker when present. The evidence offered by paleontology
likewise leads to the above conclusion.

In addition to these reasons for considering the region east
of the Himalaya as the home of this group, the distribution
of the species of Smilax in North America has a very distinct
bearing on the question. Smilax hispida Michx. and S. rotundi-
folia L. are often confused by collectors, so closely do they re-
semble each other in some characters. S. rotundifolia and the
related S. Walteri Chapm. have their nearest relatives in the
Azores, the Canary Isles, the Mediterranean region, Asia Minor,
Turkestan, and western India This chain is broken in a few
places from the complex group of spieces in northern India includ-
ing S. ferox Wall., through S. excelsa L. and S. canariensis Willd. to
S. Walteri and S. rotundifolia in America. The trail across the
Atlantic is partly hidden, as the Bermudian species, S. Bonanox
L., is apparently connected with the other European species, S.
aspera L. But the relationship of S. rotundifolia to S. excelsa from
the Azores is too striking to overlook. Throughout this group
the stems have few large spines, which are never at the nodes.
In S. hispida and its allies, on the other hand, the spines are slen-
der and needle-like and numerous, at least below, where they of-
ten make a definite ring at the node. In S. hispida and its allies
the berries are always greenish-black without a glaucous bloom,
while in the rotundifolia group the berries are red or blue, with
a distinct glaucous coat.

282

NORTON: MIGRATIONS OF SMILAX

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NORTON! MIGRATIONS OF SMILAX 283

Smilax hispida has no European relatives but can, however, be
traced back to India in another direction. S. californica Gray,
a closely allied form, is found in a small area in northern Cali-
fornia and southern Oregon, where it was apparently stranded
when its connection with the rest of the world was destroyed by
some disturbance in the past. The next species in point of rela-
tionship is S. Sieboldi Miq. of Japan and Korea. South of Korea
we find no near relatives until we reach Yunnan, where S. sco-
binicaulis Wright fills in a space in the trail, both geographically
and phylogenetically. S. scobinicaulis links up closely with the
imaginary primitive types that can be constructed from the
maze of inter-related species in the home area of the genus. In
this migration we have a fine case of simple orthogenetic pro-
gression, with each successive step set off from the last by a bar-
rier and with its nearest relatives in their proper places in the
sequence.

Smilax herbacea L. and its relatives have followed the same
path taken by S. hispida but have spread further, both in area
and in differentiation of characters. While the other American
groups have not left so plainly the tracks of their migrations from
their Asiatic home, there can be little doubt that careful research
will connect them all with the original stem.

The eastern and western migrations of Smilax have met and
overlapped in the eastern United States, but it is probable that
both waves are still moving. S. hispida has not as yet reached
the Atlantic ocean, while S. rotundifolia is plainly stretching west
through Texas to the Pacific. Eventually it is to be supposed
that the waves will meet again in China. When this has oc-
curred in any group the geologic record is necessary in tracing
the course of the migration. In this connection it is interesting
to note that the type of the fosssil S. lamarensis Knowlton, from
the Yellowstone, has been examined and found to show an un-
doubted intermediacy between S. californica and S. hispida.
To complete the geographic trail it is only necessary to find a
fossil form from the North Pacific coast. In the accompanying
chart (fig. 1), based on M creator's projection of the globe, the
longitudinal separation of the successive steps in the northern
zones is greatly exaggerated.

284 cook: vegetation in southern peru

BOTANY. — Agriculture and native vegetation in Peru. 0. F.
Cook, Bureau of Plant Industry.

Alternation of forests with open grass lands or sparse desert
vegetation is one of the most striking of the biological phenomena
of tropical countries. Since the time of Humboldt many travelers
in tropical America have sought to explain the presence or absence
of the different types of vegetation by reference to differences
of geological formations, altitudes, prevailing winds, or other
natural features. More recent observations in Central America
have led to the opinion that the chief factors governing the
distribution of the forest vegetation are the agricultural occupa-
tion of the land and the continued action of fire on lands aban-
doned from cultivation.

There are reasons for believing that most of the forests of Central
America do not represent original or virgin growth, but different
stages of reforestation. Likewise most of the open grass lands
and deserts appear to be consequences of the native system
of farming — to be interpreted as artificial conditions rather than
as natural features. The climatic, geologic, or topographic
factors, though not without influence in determining the rate
of reforestation, seem in general to have very little importance
in comparison with human activities and exposure to fire. The
complete reforestation of fireswept grass lands is a long and
gradual process, but the successive stages can be recognized
by taking account of the habits of the different kinds of trees.1

Opportunities of studying the relations of agriculture to forest
vegetation under a different combination of natural conditions
have been afforded during four months (April to July, 1915)
spent in southern Peru and Bolivia as a member of the Expedi-
tion conducted by Professor Hiram Bingham, under the aus-
pices of Yale University and the National Geographic Society,
with the cooperation of the United States Department of Agri-
culture. Most of the time was spent in the region traversed
by the Urubamba River and its tributaries, from the Pass of

1 Cook, O. F. Vegetation Affected by Agriculture in Central America. Bull.
145, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 1909.

cook: vegetation in southern peru 285

La Ray a, at an elevation of 14,000 feet, down to Santa Ana, at
an elevation of 3000 feet, including a visit to the Panticalla
Pass and the Lucumayo Valley. The region includes Cuzco,
Pisac, Ollantaytambo, and Machu Picchu, the chief centers of
the Inca and pre-Inca or Megalithic civilizations, and is of great
agricultural and ethnological interest as the original home or
place of domestication of numerous species of cultivated plants.
In this part of Peru, as in Central America, it apears that
the present distribution of the principal types of vegetation is
not a natural effect of altitudes, climates, or soils, but an artificial
result of an intensive agricultural occupation of the land, extend-
ing through a long period of time. If we wish to think of an
original condition, a biological background, so to speak, of the
primitive agricultural civilization that occupied this region,
we must imagine a country well covered with forests. The
destruction of forests appears to have been carried much further
than in Central America, in many localities to the complete
extermination of all forms of arboreal vegetation. The chief
considerations that seem to support these conclusions are stated
in the following paragraphs.

BIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS FAVORABLE TO FOREST GROWTH

Though many districts are now entirely treeless and true
forests are found in only a few localities, there appear to be no
natural conditions that are definitely unfavorable to arboreal
vegetation. Light, heat, and moisture are sufficient to sup-
port the growth of trees and there is ample fertility of soil, at
the higher elevations as well as in the lower and more tropical
valleys. In other words, there seems to be no climatic or biologi-
cal factor to preclude the growth of trees on any part of the
land surface except the bare rocks and snow fields at the summits
of the high cordilleras.

From the positions of the moraine deposits and the lack of
soil accumulations above them it may be inferred that the
glaciers have receded in comparatively recent times, perhaps
following the destruction of the forests. Some of the moraines

Fig. 1. Native agriculture iu a branch of the Ushcopata Valley above Sicu-
ani, Peru, at an altitude of nearly 13,000 feet, with fields of potatoes, barley,
and broad beans, and remnants of the native forest flora — the white trees qui-
shuar, the others mostly quenuar and capuli.

286

cook: vegetation in southern peru 287

are as low as 9000 feet, with the present glaciers ending from
2000 to 4000 feet above. Under the Peruvian conditions it does
not seem unreasonable to believe that the removal of a forest
covering might tend to bring about a recession of the glaciers.
Greater exposure of the rocky slopes would bring increased heat
and dryness of atmosphere. Less snow would fall and the ac-
cumulations on the high summits would be exposed to longer
periods of melting under direct sunlight.

As trees are often found above the moraines, there is no reason
to doubt that the ancient forest covering extended up to the
glaciers, as forests are known to do in other glacial regions.
Several isolated tracts of forests have been found by Professor
Bingham at very high elevations, even up to 15,000 feet. These
high-altitude forests are of interest as affording the most definite
demonstration of the fact that tree growth is not limited by
elevation alone.

ANDINE FOREST FLORA .

The possibility of a forest covering for all of the inhabited
areas of this region is shown not only by the fact that trees
grow when planted, but also by the presence of an indigenous
forest flora whose different components are well adapted to the
various natural conditions afforded by different exposures and
elevations, up to the line of glaciers.

Two of the high-altitude trees, quenuar (Polylepis) and quisuar
(Buddleia), have been noted frequently by travelers because
they are often planted in villages or allowed to grow among the
fields. (See fig. 1) Other members of the Andine forest flora
of southern Peru are lambran (Alnus), chachacoma (Escallonia),
unca (Eugenia), lengli (Hesperomeles), quisca (Berberis), mulli
(Schinus), chicjlluromay (Vallea), and numerous other trees,
including various arboreal Compositae. Several of the genera
are represented by two or more species. Some of these, such
as the species of Escallonia, are reported by botanical writers
only as shrubs, but under favorable conditions they attain true
arboreal proportions, especially at altitudes of 10,000 to 12,000
feet.

288

cook: vegetation IN SOUTHERN PERU

REFORESTATION OF TERRACED VALLEYS

Though no original or virgin forests are now known to exist
in this part of Peru on any lands that could be cultivated, re-
forestation with native trees is in progress in many places,
notably in the valley above Ollantaytambo, and in the next
valley to the west, leading up to the Panticalla Pass. In both
valleys the growth of the native trees has progressed so far that

Fig. 2. Valley above Ollantaytambo, Peru, at an altitude of about 10,000
feet, showing terraced slopes partly overgrown with forests of native trees,
including quishuar, quenuar, lambran, unca, and lengli.

genuine forest conditions have been restored, in the Ollantay-
tambo Valley covering several hundred acres, in the Panticalla
Valley thousands of acres. Reforestation is demonstrated by
the fact that the trees stand on ancient agricultural terraces
supported by skilfully constructed stone walls. (See fig. 2.)

The survival of native trees in these valleys may be ascribed
to the presence of lateral ravines too deep, narrow, and precipitous
for cultivation. Such places may well have escaped the other-

cook: vegetation in southern peru 289

wise complete clearing of the land for agricultural purposes.
Hardy types of woody vegetation, growing in the ravines and
on the rocky slopes above, might survive even long perods of
agricultural occupation of the terraced lands below. The neigh-
boring areas might be seeded easily from the old trees. Such a
ravine, leading up from the other side of the spur shown in the
figure, is now heavily wooded and contains many well matured
trees of the same species that now cover the terraces, although
very few of the trees appear to be very old or to have reached
the stage of natural decay. Some of the terraces in the Panti-
calla Valley are covered with much older trees than any found
in the valley above Ollantaytambo.

HABITS OF SURVIVING NATIVE TREES

Although the genera of native trees, as mentioned above,
belong to as many different families, there is a general similarity
in habits of growth, in that all of them sprout readily from the
stumps and endure repeated cutting. Seed is produced in a
few years, if the sprouts are allowed to grow. The limitation
of the present forests to such trees may be taken to indicate that
persistent vitality was necessary to pass through the periods
when these valleys were occupied by large agricultural popu-
lations, as shown by the extensive terracing of the slopes. A
period of complete denudation of a valley would mean the
extermination of all kinds of trees that were unable to sprout
from the stumps, but trees like Escallonia, Eugenia, and Schinus
might survive centuries of pollarding. The last is familiar as
the "pepper-tree," now grown by thousands in southern Cali-
fornia for shade and ornamental purposes. Other members of
the Andine tree flora are even more attractive in appearance
and promising for introduction into the United States.

DENUDATION OF UNCULTIVATED LANDS

The former presence of large agricultural populations accounts
not only for the clearing of all the lands that could be cultivated,
but also for the denudation of lands that were not capable of

290 cook: vegetation in southern peru

cultivation. The growth of each native community means
that supplies of fire-wood have to be sought farther and farther
away. A large Indian town is usually surrounded by a broad
belt of denuded lands, no forest being allowed to remain within
two or three leagues. Judging the past by the present, a period
of denudation of all the neighboring slopes must have followed
the building of the extensive systems of terraces in the valleys
about Ollantaytambo, Torontoy, and Machu Picchu. The
country around these centers must have reached the same
treeless state as the districts that now have large agricultural
populations, such as the Vilcanota Valley and the slopes around
Lake Titicaca.

reforestation prevented by fire

In many localities cultivation is confined to the bottoms of
the valleys or to the lower slopes, while the higher slopes have only
a sparse covering of grass or low bushes. This gives the im-
pression that the interior of the country is naturally treeless,
like the desert regions along the coast. But the coast deserts
are explained by the rainless climate, whereas in the interior the
rainfall is sufficient to support forest growth.

The former cultivation of many of the higher slopes is indi-
cated by the ridges and terraces that still remain. These show
in turn the previous existence of forests, since forests must have
preceded cultivation in order to accumulate soil and make it
possible to clear the land by the primitive method of burning.
This method is ineffective on grass lands, which have, to be re-
forested before they can be re-occupied by a primitive agricul-
tural people. At tfye higher altitudes grassy slopes are culti-
vated by spading, but this method is used only where turf is
formed.

When treeless slopes are seen in tropical valleys meeting the
tropical forest vegetation, it is plain that some active enemy
of forest growth must be at hand, and this is fire. The fires that
are set to clear land for cultivation commonly escape and over-
run the slopes above. As the grass-covered slopes are used
only for grazing, no effort is made to protect them from fire.

cook: vegetation in southern peru 291

forests in inaccessible places

Trees are often found growing under very unfavorable natural
conditions, in places that are too steep, rocky, or isolated to
be cleared for cultivation or for providing fuel. In the lower
Urubamba Valley it was observed that the driest and rockiest
hillsides in the vicinity of Santa Ana are covered with forests
of huillca (Piptadenia) and other tropical trees, while the smooth-
er and more fertile lands on either side have no trees, but a
heavier growth of grass.

Tree seedlings often appear in grass lands, but are killed
when fires sweep over them. Hence, the forests are confined
to the rocky slopes as long as the adjacent grass lands are visited
by fire. Grazing reduces the danger of fire, and this assists
in reforestation; but the forests themselves may burn after
sufficiently long periods of drought. In the lower Urubamba
Valley, at altitudes of from 4000 to 8000 feet, the forests have
been burned on many slopes altogether too steep for cultivation.
This not only kills the trees but often has the effect of loosening
the soil and rocks, causing destructive landslides.

PAUCITY OF THE HUMUS FAUNA

Another indication of the more complete denudation of this
region in former times is the paucity of the humus fauna, com-
prising the insects, millipeds, centipeds, and other small ani-
mals that live normally in the upper layers of the soil. These
creatures become very abundant under conditions that afford
permanent moisture in the soil, but are killed when the land is
burned over or parched by severe drought. In southern Peru
the humus-inhabiting animals are everywhere extremely scarce,
and often lacking altogether. The number of species is very
small, as well as the number of individuals. Of millipeds only
three orders are represented, Merocheta, Anocheta, and Diplo-
cheta; in many localities only Merocheta, and most of these of
Antarctic types rather than tropical. The three orders of very
primitive arthropods, Symphyla, Rhabdura, and Dicellura, are
present, but were nowhere found in abundance, even in places

292 cook: vegetation in southern peru

where reforestation has advanced so far that ample deposits of
humus have accumulated. Humus-inhabiting insects of other
orders, including the Thysanura and Collembola, are also few.

absence of palms in tropical forests

The flora of the valley between San Miguel at 6000 feet and
Santa Ana at 3000 feet is distinctly tropical, and large areas are
forested, but not with original or virgin growth. That reforesta-
tion is still far from complete is shown by the general scarcity
and often complete absence of palms. Instead of a normal
palm flora, no locality in the Urubamba Valley was found to
have more than two species, a large Geonoma and a small
Chamaedorea.

This deficiency seems the more significant because the natural
conditions are extremely favorable and the palm flora of the
adjacent regions of South America is one of the richest in the
world. The original palm flora of this district can not be esti-
mated at less than a dozen species, and may have included two
or three times that number. But denudation would involve
a complete extermination of the palms, and these plants are
very slow to return, even after forest conditions have been re-
established.

RECONSTRUCTION OF THE FLORA AND FAUNA

In view of these indications of prolonged interference with
the original conditions of plant and animal life it does not seem
reasonable to ascribe the present distribution of the native
vegetation entirely to differences of soil, temperature, altitude,
or rainfall. An ecological account of the Peruvian flora that
ignores the factor of human activity, as in the treatise by Weber-
bauer, does not convince. To present an adequate conception
of the native flora and its relations with the external conditions
would require a process of reconstruction, a careful collecting
and piecing together of the parts of the flora and fauna that
are left. Then there would need to be a careful comparison
with the floras and faunas of neighboring regions that were not
occupied and denuded by the ancient civilizations, if such re-
gions can be found. This would give a better appreciation of

cook: vegetation in southern peru 293

the extent to which the presence of man has modified the original
conditions of the environment along the eastern slopes of the
Andes.

AGRICULTURE AT HIGH ALTITUDES

Corresponding with the wide range of altitude there is great
diversity in the forms and habits of the wild vegetation and in
the agricultural arts of the native inhabitants. In the lower
valleys where corn is the principal crop the method of clearing
the land and the relation of agriculture to the native vegetation
are much as in Central America.

The high plateaus of Peru, where the native agricultural
population is now chiefly centered, are unlike any part of Central
America, the nearest approach being found in the tablelands
of Guatemala. In Central America cultivation is hardly carried
above 8000 feet; whereas in Peru potatoes and other Andine
crops are commonly grown at 13,000 feet and in some places at
14,000 feet. Moreover, it is in these elevated districts that the
native system of agriculture attained its highest development
and was least disturbed by the Spanish •' conquest.

conclusions

The native agriculture of southern Peru is self-limiting.
Cultivation may be maintained for longer periods on the table-
lands and higher slopes, but when the soil is once exhausted and
removed by erosion there is less prospect of renewal through
reforestation than at the lower elevations. Although under
the high altitude conditions the accumulation of soil goes on
to a certain extent in open grass lands, without the aid of forests,
such gains evidently do not make good the losses incidental to
cultivation. Large areas of the higher slopes that appear to
have been cultivated intensively in former times are now com-
pletely sterile and abandoned.

Thus Peru may be said to afford even more striking evidence
than Central America of the fact that the primitive agricultural
civilizations were not permanent, but of limited duration.
Eventually the soil became unsuited to cultivation by the native
methods.

ABSTRACTS

GEOLOGY. — Lavas of Hawaii and their relations. Whitman Cross.
U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper No. 88. Pp. 93, 4
plates. 1915.

The Hawaiian Islands have been built up by a long continued series
of volcanic eruptions beginning at a point far west of the principal
islands of today. While basalt of a common type is the predominant
rock of the islands, there is much greater variety among the rocks
than has heretofore been recognized. As indicated by the work of
Cohen, E. S. Dana, Lyons, and Silvestri, the rocks range chiefly between
normal basalts rich in olivine, augite, and highly calcic plagioclase to
pyroxene andesites either free from or poor in olivine and containing
andesine or more richly sodic plagioclase. There are, however, more
basic rocks such as limburgite, nephelite and melilite basalt, and
picritic basalt, while xenoliths of peridotite are reported from several
islands. A soda trachyte is the most feldspathic rock so far collected.

The chemical characters are discussed on the basis of 43 existing
analyses showing many rocks of the so-called alkaline type. These
analyses evidently do not cover the entire range of rock types but,
classifying the analyzed rocks in the "quantitative system," all but
the three most salic rocks come within the range of two classes, that is,
in Class III or the adjacent halves of Classes II and IV.

The Hawaiian archipelago forms a simple petrographic province
whose rocks are clearly comagmatic and consanguineous. The region
is especially suited to furnish the means of testing several broad generali-
zations of the day regarding the genetic relations of igneous rocks.

Each of the larger islands contains several kinds of rocks showing
important differences in both chemical and mineral composition and
conversely several kinds of rocks are known in all or nearly all the
larger islands. In view of the meagerness of our knowledge concerning

294

abstracts: botany 295

all the centers of eruption it is believed that nearly all the varieties
described and perhaps some others occur on each of the principal islands.
Nephelite-melilite basalts are known on three islands — Kauai, Oahu,
and Maui. Strongly feldspathic andesites occur on Hawaii; and the
lavas of Kilauea, the youngest volcano of the islands, are predominantly
olivine-poor basalts.

The relations of the magmas as differentiation products are compared
with those of other island groups of the Pacific Ocean, and the distri-
bution of the Hawaiian types in other parts of the world is considered.
Their chemical characters and the circumstances of their association
demonstrate that the so-called alkalic and calcic magmas may and do
occur together as derivatives from a common source. The current
generalization that this distinction between alkalic and calcic series
("Atlantic and Pacific branches") of igneous rocks is of fundamental
importance in pedogenesis and may serve as a factor in a natural
system of classification is held to be fallacious and to lead to endless
confusion.

The series of Hawaiian lavas are concluded to have been derived
from a general magma of nearly the same character in all parts of the
province. It does not seem probable that there has been any note-
worthy differentiation in the main reservoir beneath the Hawaiian
district. During the active growth of each volcano the lavas presented
a moderate variability in composition, but definite system in this
variation was not detected. With decreasing eruptive activity and
possibly attendant contraction and limitation of lava chambers a
higher degree of differentiation was accomplished and is shown by more
salic and correspondingly more femic lavas than those of earlier date.
In the long period of parasitic or subsidiary eruptions conditions were
favorable to extensive differentiation. The processes of differentiation
are still problems for investigation. Movement under gravity of
crystal particles may have played a part. J. Fred. Hunter.

BOTANY. — On the characters and relationships of the genus Monopteryx
Spruce. Henry Pittier. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical
Club, 42: 623-627. 1915.
The genus Monopteryx (Fabaceae) was based upon flowering speci-
mens of a tree collected by Spruce on the upper Rio Negro, Brazil.
Because of the fact that the fruits were unknown, the genus has been
erroneously placed among the Sophoreae. Complete specimens of
a new Venezuelan species, Monopteryx jahnii, show that the genus is
closely related to Pterocarpus. H. P.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED

SOCIETIES

THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

The 107th meeting of the Washington Academy of Sciences was held
in the auditorium of the New National Museum at 4.45 p.m., April 7,
1916, with President L. 0. Howard in the chair and a large audience
present. Dr. Eugene F. DuBois, Medical Director of the Russel
Sage institute of Pathology, New York, gave an illustrated lecture on
The basal food requirement of man.

The lecture dealt chiefly with the amount of heat generated by the
body as affected by such factors as age, sex, size, labor, and disease.
It was shown that the metabolism, or sum-total of chemical changes
within the body, as manifested by the quantity of heat generated per
unit area of surface, is very low in the infant, rises to a maximum (1.5
that of the adult) at the age of 4 to 6 years, and then falls rapidly to
the metabolism of the normal adult, except at the age of puberty when
it rises slightly. From 20 to 30 it remains constant, after which it
slowly decreases.

Metabolism is somewhat greater in man than woman, increases prac-
tically in direct proportion to the total skin area, varies enormously —
even more than 5 fold — with different degrees of exertion, and in dis-
ease varies widely with the nature of the malady. In typhoid, for
instance it is roughly 50 per cent greater than in health, demonstrat-
ing that the typhoid patient needs to be fed, rather than starved.
Equally interesting and valuable results have been gained from the
studies of other diseases, so that scientific human feeding may soon be
expected, at least in hospitals.

The 108th meeting of the Academy was held in the auditorium of
the New National Museum, Friday afternoon, April 14, 1916, with Dr.
Carl L. Alsberg in the chair and a large audience present. Dr.
Graham Lusk, Professor of Physiology, Cornell Medical College, gave
an illustrated lecture on Nutrition and food economics.

An extremely interesting exhibit was shown of different kinds of
food, — hominy, oat meal, rice, flour, potatoes, etc. — each sufficient in
amount for an adult, if inactive, for 24 hours. At present prices the
cheapest food appears to be corn meal, or hominy, costing, if one lived on
this alone, about 4 \ cts. per day. Tables were shown that gave the
quantities and the costs of many kinds of food, assuming one to live
on each alone. Hominy, oat meal, and rice are the cheapest, while of

296

proceedings: Washington academy of sciences 297

ordinary foods meat is the most expensive. Other tables were pre-
sented that gave the actual quantities and kinds of food used at cer-
tain schools, some of which strikingly confirmed the general belief that
one eats more during his "teens" that at any other time of life.

The 109th meeting of the Academy was held in the Auditorium of
the New National Museum, Friday afternoon, April 21, 1916, with
President L. 0. Howard in the chair and an appreciative audience
present. Dr. E. B. Forbes, Chief of the Department of Nutrition of
the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, gave an illustrated lecture
on Investigations in the mineral metabolism of animals.

Careful investigations, especially with cattle and hogs, have shown the
importance of having sufficient amounts of certain mineral substances
in their food. Of these calcium in some assimilable form is needed in
greatest abundance, particularly during the period of rapid growth.
Hence blue grass, which is rich in calcium salts, is an excellent food for
growing stock, while an all-grain food, poor in such substances, is inade-
quate. Among the interesting developments of the work was the fact
that good milch cows secrete more mineral matter during the period of
full lactation than they assimilate from even the best food, and thereby
suffer a kind of mineral exhaustion.

The 110th meeting of the Academy was held jointly with the Geo-
logical Society of Washington in the lecture room of the Cosmos Club,
Wednesday evening, April 26, 1916, with Dr. A. C. Spencer presiding
and about 60 persons present.

Dr. K. F. Kellerman spoke of Bacteria as agents in the precipita-
tion of calcium carbonate. Illustrations were shown of spherulites formed
through bacterial agency from solutions of calcium sulphate, calcium
acetate, and artificial sea water, which are practically indistinguishable
from those formed in nature.

Dr. J. Johnston discussed Some factors which influence the deposi-
tion of calcium carbonate. The fundamental importance of the solu-
bility-product in relation to saturation was explained, and the different
methods of producing precipitation or inducing solution discussed.
The greater solubility of calcium carbonate in cold water obviously
must lead to its depletion in the higher latitudes and its accumulation
in equatorial regions, a process which appears to be in full operation.

Dr. H. E. Merwin described The forms of calcium carbonate and their
occurrence. There are at least three easily distinguishable crystallized
forms of calcium carbonate and a number of doubtful forms. The
form deposited from a solution depends very largely upon tempera-
ture, though there may also be other contributing causes.

In the discussion that followed Dr. T. Wayland Vaughan spoke of
the oolitic deposits of Florida and their problems, and Dr. Chas. D.
Walcott described the similar silicious deposits of the Yellowstone
Park.

298 proceedings: philosophical society

The 111th meeting of the Academy was held in the Auditorium of
the New National Museum, Friday afternoon April 28, 1916, with Presi-
dent L. O. Howard in the chair and about 200 persons present. Dr.
Carl Voegtlin, of the U. S. Public Health Service, Washington, D.
C, gave an illustrated lecture on The relation of the vitamines to nutri-
tion in health and disease. It formerly was supposed that any diet
was sufficient if it contained enough proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and
salts; but it is now known that under certain circumstances, even with
an abundance of food, nutrition diseases such as scurvy and beri-beri
are apt to develop. Beri-beri, for instance, is likely to develop when
polished rice forms the exclusive diet, but does not occur when the rice
is unpolished and even disappears when the patient is given rice-bran
or certain bran extracts. It follows that the bran contains something
essential to health which the rice-grain proper does not. Such prod-
ucts are found in many grains and plants and are known as vitamines,
that is, basic organic compounds essential to life. These compounds
are produced by plants only, but very unequally. In the animal body
they are found most abundantly in the spinal cord and other nerve
tissue,

W. J. Humphreys, Recording Secretary.

THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 770th meeting was held on March' 18, 1916, at the Cosmos Club;
President Briggs in the chair, 46 persons present. The minutes of the
768th and 769th meetings were read in abstract and approved. The
Secretary reported the action of the General Committee adopting an
amendment to Article V of the By-laws to class as life members all
who have maintained an active membership in the Society for 40 years.
Messrs. Abbe, Clarke, Dall, and Gilbert have been designated life
members under this amendment. The treasurer read a communica-
tion from the Secretary General of the Committee of the International
Association of Academies in charge of the publication of the Annual
Tables of Constants and Numerical Data expressing thanks for the con-
tinued financial aid received from the Society.

Mr. H. C. Dickinson presented an illustrated communication giv-
ing the results of an investigation in collaboration with Mr. M. S. Van
Dusen on Heat transmission through air layers. Measurements were
made of the heat transmission in unit time per unit area and unit tem-
perature difference through vertical air layers inclosed between plane
nickel-plated copper plates, for heights (h) of from 3 to 60 cm., for dis-
tances (D) between the plates of from 1 to 60 mm., and for differences
of temperature (A) of from 5° to 30° centigrade. The effect of direct
radiation was determined and all observations were corrected to include
only transmission due to gas conduction, quiet convection, and tur-
bulent convection. Transmission decreases to a minimum for increas-
ing D and for greater widths becomes nearly constant, the position of
minimum depending upon h. Transmission decreases with increasing

proceedings: philosophical society 299

h, and increases with increasing A. Applications of the results to calori-
metric problems in the laboratory as well as to many industrial prob-
lems were suggested. An approximate mathematical expression for the
results obtained was presented.

By invitation Mr. L. H. Adams presented an illustrated paper on
The thermoelectric power of pure metals. Thermoelectric force and the
closely allied thermal and electrical effects have an important bearing
on many aspects of the behavior of metals and an extended knowledge
of these quantities would go far toward a solution of the problems of
metallic conduction. The results enable one to calculate 4 other quan-

dE d2E
tities, viz. -77= , -7= , Peltier effect, and Thomson effect. The last named,
dr dl2

although extremely difficult to measure calorimetrically, can be deter-
mined by the electrical method with considerable accuracv. Curves

dE
illustrating the course of -r=. and of the Thomson effect from absolute

zero to very high temperatures show that the relations involved are
much more complicated than has hitherto been supposed, and explain
the difficulty of obtaining a suitable equation for representing the ther-
moelectric force as a function of the temperature. It is of interest to
note the extraordinary sensitiveness of the thermoelectric force to
slight impurities in the metal.

The communication was discussed by Messrs. Swann, Burgess, and
White. The Chair expressed to the speaker the Society's thanks for
his very suggestive paper.

Mr. A. Hall then spoke on The equatorial micrometers of the Naval
Observatory, illustrating his communication with lantern slides. The
micrometers constructed by Clark, Saegmiiller, Warner and Swasey,
and Repsold were compared. The last is a large instrument, made of
iron and steel, with a platinum-iridiuni position circle, purchased by
the Naval Observatory in 1913. An eye-piece microscope is provided
for the examination on the telescope of the micrometer screw. The
readings of the screw can be made in the usual manner or can be printed
on a Morse fillet, on two type-metal wheels which carry raised figures.
Great care is taken to have the illumination of the threads symmetrical,
and in every way provision is made to eliminate systematic errors.

The Secretary read an invitation from the Washington Academy of
Sciences inviting members of the Society to attend a lecture by Dr. L.
H. Baekeland at the New National Museum on March 23 at 8.30
p.m.

The 771st meeting was held on April 1, 1916, at the Cosmos Club;
President Brigg.s in the chair, 44 persons present. The minutes of the
770th meeting were read in abstract and approved.

Mr. R. S. Woodward presented a communication on The extraction
of square roots of numbers. Referring to a previous communication to
the Society by the author on the same subject some further applica-
tions were explained of the formula

300 proceedings: philosophical society

Vm=V(^6) = i(a + 6)|l - jj^p> (1)

In this m is any number and a and b are any two numbers whose pro-
duct is m. Attention was called to the rapid approximation which
may be secured by successive applications of the arithmetic mean
\{a + b). Special emphasis was given to the use of formula (1) when
m is an integer and not a square. In this case the square root of m is
involved in the two equations

y2 — mx2 = ix
y2 + mx1 = v

in which every symbol represents an integer. These equations give1

IH-'-^L.-^*- (2)

2xy 4 xy v 16 xyp3

The number ju is arbitrary within certain limits. For the present pur-
pose it is obviously most advantageous to have y. = + 1, and it is known
from Fermat's theorem that n = +1 is always possible. Moreover,
an infinite series of sets of values of x and y exists, each set satisfying
the equation y2 — mx2 = +1. Hence an infinite series of increasingly
rapid approximations to the y/m is furnished by equation (2).

The paper was discussed by Messrs. Wead, Farqtjhar, Van Os-
trand, and Harris, particularly with reference to earlier methods.

Mr. W. W. Fraser then presented a communication on Vectors and
quaternions; what has been done and what can be done. Among his defini-
tions we find that Hamilton has defined the quaternion as the quotient

of two vectors a, /3, as q = - ; and as a set of four, or q = x -f- iyx + jyi

-+- ky3 where if j, and k are algebraic extraordinaries such that i7 =
j2 = fca = —l}ij = k= — ji, etc., making the quaternion analysis an
algebra of sets in which the commutative law for the multiplication of
the extraordinaries is thrown out. Grassmann's Ausdehnungslehr dif-
fers chiefly from the quaternions in his definition of the product of two
vectors, being defined (inner), A.B = \A\\B\ cos (A,B); and (outer)
A X B = n | A|| B \ sin (A,B) (after Gibbs): The Borali-Forti assump-
tion that i X ( ) = i (of Hamilton) = V — 1 affords a means of unit-
ing the systems of Grassmann, Gibbs, and Hamilton, since we can effect
translations from scalars, rotations with complexes or quaternions, and
projective transformations with the dyadic of Gibbs. If Ohm's law for
alternating currents is expressed with Grassmann vectors instead of
complexes, as used by Dr. Steinmetz, the difficulties of the latter's sym-
bolic method are avoided.

Mr. W. J. Spillman then presented the results of an investigation in
collaboration with Messrs. H. R. Tolley, and W. G. Reed on A gra-

ft 7)1 X

1 Equation (2) may be derived from (1) by writing a = - and b = — .

x y

proceedings: philosophical society 301

phic method for the determination of the average interval between depart-
ures from the mean greater than a given departure. In determining the
absolute winter minimum below which the winter temperature would
not fall on the average oftener than once in thirty years, a problem
which arose in connection with the investigations of the methods and
cost of heating greenhouses, a curve was constructed for which the
abscissas are departures from the mean expressed in terms of the stand-
ard deviation, and the ordinates represent the reciprocals of the pro-
bability of departures greater than a given amount. Thus if the depart-
ure in question is an annual event, the ordinates of the curve represent
the average interval, in years, between successive occurrences of the
event. Periods of observations of meteorological phenomena are too
brief to give very reliable results from the method outlined. The
method is also applicable only to variables represented by normal fre-
quency curves. In the case of 569 stations the actual number of spring
frosts after the calculated date be3^ond which frost should occur on the
average only one jrear in ten gave no unexpected frosts in 73 per cent
of the stations and only one unexpected frost in 21 per cent of the sta-
tions. Thus in 94 per cent of the stations there was either no unex-
pected frost or only one. The mean of the standard deviation for these
stations was calculated from an average of about 23 observations.
The paper was discussed by Messrs. Woodward and Humphreys.

The 772d meeting was held on Thursday. April 20, 1916, at the Cos-
mos Club; President Briggs in the chair, 130 persons present.

The evening was devoted to an address by Dr. R. A. Millikan on
Some recent aspects of the radiation problem. Partly as the result of an
experimental situation and partly because of a theory, Planck's h first
made its appearance in 1900 in connection with the development of the
laws of black-body radiation. Since then it has unexpectedly revealed
itself (2) in the domain of specific heats, (3) in that of corpuscular emis-
sion under the influence of light and X-rays, (4) in the domain of spec-
troscopy, both of light and of X-rays, and (5) in the general radiation
which is stimulated by the impact of corpuscles against the atoms of
matter.

This is an extraordinary experimental situation which has not yet
been interpreted in the light of any consistent theory. After the pre-
sentation of the facts which have recently come to light in connection
with the last three of the foregoing fields, it was pointed out that the
work of Duane, Hunt, and Hull seems to permit of a real advance in
theory in that it appears to show that the h which is found in connec-
tion with the general X-ray radiation, and presumably in connection
with black-body radiation has nothing to do with the natural periods
of the atomic constituents of the radiating bodies as heretofore as-
sumed, since it is quite independent of the nature of these bodies. It
appears to be rather a property of the ether pulse which is generated
by the stopping of an electron.

302 proceedings: chemical society

The inverse problem, namely, that of obtaining any satisfactory con-
ception of the way in which a train of ether waves of frequency v can
eject an electron from an atom with an energy hv is as yet quite un-
solved. Yet the direction in which a solution must be found seems to
be indicated. For the conception of localized bundles of energy travel-
ing out through space from the radiating body is untenable in view
of the oil-drop experiment, while energy considerations preclude the
possibility that the ejected electron receives its energy from a single
spreading ether pulse. It seems therefore necessary to assume with
Planck and Bohr that the atom possesses such a structure that it can
absorb energy without radiating at all until a critical energy content
is reached when an explosion takes place and the electron is ejected
with the energy hv. How it can do this we do not yet know, but experi-
ments are presented which show that in any case this type of absorp-
tion is not a phenomenon of resonance. With Bohr's atom, however,
which is shown to have had notable success very recently in explain-
ing the relations between the lines of fluorescent X-radiations, it is not
surprising that absorption is unlike anything which we have observed
in the region of low frequency vibrations where the cause of absorption
is, in general, resonance.

The communication was discussed at length by Messrs. Duane,
Hull, Bateman, and Swann. Mr. Hull gave some additional experi-
mental data extending Bohr's theory.

A vote of thanks was unanimously extended to Dr. Millikan and the
other speakers for their kindness in addressing the Society.

J. A. Fleming, Secretary.

THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY

The '251st meeting of the society was held at the Bieber Building on
October 14, 1915, the society being the guests of the members of the
Bureau of Chemistry. Several reels of motion pictures showing vari-
ous activities of the Department of Agriculture were shown. Presi-
dent Alsberg, as Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry, gave a short ad-
dress of welcome, outlining the various phases of the work of the Bureau.
The laboratories of the Bureau were opened for inspection and a very
profitable and enjoyable evening was spent by the two hundred mem-
bers and guests attending.

The 252d meeting was held at the Cosmos Club on November 11, 1915,
for the annual election of officers. President C. H. Herty of the
American Chemical Society was present as a guest of the local section
and gave a brief address, especially emphasizing the important role the
American chemist is to play in the important matters now before the
American public.

The following were elected officers for the year 1916:

President: R. B. Sosman, Geophysical Laboratory.

First Vice-President: H. M. Loomis, Bureau of Chemistry.

Second Vice-President: A. Seidell, Hygienic Laboratory.

proceedings: chemical society 303

Secretary: E. C. McKelvy, Bureau of Standards.

Treasurer: F. P. Dewey, Bureau of the Mint.

Councilors: J. Johnston, Geophysical Laboratory; R. C. Wells,
Geological Survey; C. S. Hudson, Bureau of Chemistry.

Executive Committee: J. C. Hostetter, Geophysical Laboratory; E.
C. Schorey, Bureau of Soils; A. N. Finn, Bureau of Standards; M. J.
Ingle, Bureau of Chemistry.

It was the sentiment of the meeting that the previous custom of hav-
ing a presidential address by the retiring president be revived for the
January meeting and for the following years.

The 253d meeting, a special meeting of the society held jointly with
visiting members of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists,
was held through the courtesy of the Borden Condensed Milk Company
of New York City at the Circle Theatre, November 16, 1915. The pro-
gram consisted of motion pictures, illustrating the production and test-
ing of certified milk, ably explained by Mr. W. E. B. Kirk, a represen-
tative of the company. After the pictures were shown the members
adjourned to the research laboratories of the National Canner's Associa-
tion, 1739 H Street, N.W., for inspection of the laboratories and a
social hour.

The 254th meeting (special) was held at the New Willard Hotel on
December 8, 1915, the society being guest of the National Rivers and
Harbors Congress. The part of the program of especial interest to
the members consisted of motion pictures provided by the National
Tube Co., showing the manufacture of steel tubing from the ore to the
finished product. Explanatory remarks and a short history of the use
and manufacture of steel pipes were given by a representative of the
company.

The 255th meeting was held at the Cosmos Club on December 16,
1915. R. B. Sosman was elected to represent the society as a vice
president of the Washington Academy of Sciences during the year 1916.
The president appointed the following committee of three to consider
the arguments pro and con and present a report to the society regarding
the bill H. R. 528, introduced by Representative Albert Johnson of Wash-
ington State, to discontinue the use of the Fahrenheit scale of tem-
perature in government publications : W. F. Hillebrand, J. Johnston
and E. B. Sosman. The following were appointed as auditing com-
mittee: A. B. Adams, J. A. LeClerc, and R. C. Wells. The follow-
ing papers were presented.

R. B. Dole, Geological Survey: The action of natural waters on
boilers.

B. McCollum and K. H. Logan, Bureau of Standards (given by Mr.
Logan) : Chemical factors affecting electrolytic corrosion in soils and rein-
forced concrete.

304 proceedings: chemical society

Experiments on corrosion in soils from various sources show a wide
variation in the coefficient of corrosion. The rates of electrolytic cor-
rosion were not materially different for Ingot iron, wrought iron, cast
iron, and machine steel.

A series of tests in which nitrates, carbonates, sulphates, chlorides,
and chromates were added to the soil showed that only the chromates
retarded the electrolytic corrosion. The character of the corroded
surface depends upon the chemical in the soil. Pitting is not due en-
tirely to the non-homogeneity of the anode.

The coefficient of corrosion in normal concrete is usually about 1
per cent. High current density, temperatures above 50°C, the addi-
tion of salt to the cement, and the exposure of small green specimens to
C02 greatly accelerate the corrosion.

Electrolytic corrosions with alternating currents show low coefficients
of corrosion, unless the length of the cycle or the character of the soil is
such as to prevent the corroded iron from plating back on the reversal
of the current. The coefficient of corrosion is usually low, even when
the period of a complete cycle is several hours.

On account of the reversing polarity of the underground structures
throughout a large part of the areas affected by stray currents from
street railways, electrolytic damage will usually be much less than
might be expected.

Coefficients of corrosion greater than 100 per cent are only found
when the current density is low, and are probably due to accelerated
self-corrosion. (Author's abstract.)

G. K. Burgess and P. D. Merica, Bureau of Standards (given by
Mr. Merica) : Some examples of metal failures. The talk was illustrated
by many slides of great interest.

The question of metal failures is a very comprehensive one and may
indeed be said to embrace all cases in which a metal does not fulfill, as
well as may be, the use or uses to which it is put. Whether or not a
metal is a failure under given conditions may therefore be a relative
matter and there cannot usually be an ideal standard of service.

Metal failures may evidently be classified as to type or cause, whether
due to inherent chemical or physical imperfections or to some incor-
rect treatment (thermal, mechanical or chemical) which it may have
received either in manufacture or subsequently.

It is often necessary, in considering metal failures, to fix the responsi-
bility for failure, and it may be necessary at times to decide whether
the fault lay in the metal or in the specifications which may have been
so incorrectly or inadequately drawn as to be entirely unsuited to the
metal in question.

Examples of metal failures and of imperfections in metals were given
with illustrations, the same being taken from the experience at the
Bureau of Standards.

The effect of pipe, segregation, and blowholes in ingots of steel can be
readily traced in the properties of articles manufactured from these
ingots. Steel rails, for instance, will contain longitudinal seams, due

proceedings: chemical society 305

to cavities in the ingot, and will be found to be unduly brittle in the
web, due to the segregation of the impurities and carbon in the origi-
nal ingot.

The effect of wrong heat treatment of otherwise good material, such,
for instance, as overheating, was illustrated in the case of steel and of
naval brass.

Other cases of failure of a typical sort arc the oxidation of the tin
fillings of fusible tin boiler plugs, due to the presence in the tin of a
small content of zinc, the selective corrosion of Muntz metal sheet ex-
posed to action of sea water, and the season-cracking of brass, particu-
larly manganese bronze, which is due to the presence in the material,
particularly when in the wrought condition, of high initial stresses.
(Author's abstract.)

The 256th meeting, a joint meeting with the Washington Academy
was held at the Cosmos Club, January 13, 1916, The retiring presi-
dent, C. L. Alsberg of the Bureau of Chemistry presented as his
presidential address, The chemical analysis of nutrition, which consisted
of a brief survey of the advance during the last decade in our knowledge
regarding the chemical substances involved in animal nutrition and
metabolism. Particular reference was made to the advance in our
knowledge of the chemical nature of the active constituents of the
ductless gland secretions. The effect of vitamines and small quanti-
ties of other materials upon the assimilation of foods was considered.
The address called forth considerable interesting discussion. A. Sei-
dell spoke of his success in concentrating vitamines by means of
Lloyd's reagent, that is, by absorbing with hydrated aluminium silicate.

The reports of the officers for the year 1915 were read and approved.
The following committees were appointed by the president for the year
1916: Communications: E. B. Phelps, H. S. Bailey, W. H. Keen, R.
S. McBride and A. Seidell; Entertainment: F. A. Wertz, H. R.
McMillin, G. W. Morey, H. J. Morgan, E. E. Smith.

The following resolution regarding H. R. Bill 528 to discontinue the
use of the Fahrenheit thermometer scale in government publications,
presented by the committee appointed to prepare an expression of the
feeling of the society, was approved :

Resolved, That the Chemical Society of Washington favors unquali-
fiedly the purpose of Bill 528, now before the House of Represen-
tatives and in charge of the Committee on Coinage, Weights and Meas-
ures, and endorses said bill, provided it shall appear that its provisions
are such as will lead to the desired end with the least determinable
inconvenience to the public and to the Government service.

The 257th meeting of the society was held at the Cosmos Club,
February 18, 1916. Mr. H. C. Fuller presented a memorandum in
relation to the Sheppard bill (S 1082) now pending before the Senate.
The substance of the memorandum was adopted with the proviso that
a committee of three be appointed by the President to shorten the

306 proceedings: chemical society

memorandum in order to make it more effective. Messrs. Johnston,
Munroe and Fuller were appointed members of the Committee. The
resolution in its final form reads ;

Whereas the bill now before the Senate, known as S 1082, introduced
by Senator Sheppard, which is concerned with the manufacture and
sale of alcoholic liquors within the District of Columbia, in its present
form contains provisions which would prohibit absolutely the use of
grain alcohol for all chemical and technical purposes in all the many
laboratories, connected with Government departments or with educa-
tional or private institutions, now established in the District of Colum-
bia, and would also prohibit the delivery, for analysis or other purposes,
of samples and specimens containing alcohol;

And whereas the important work, highly beneficial to the public
welfare, carried on by these several laboratories would be very seriously
crippled, and much of it would be stopped altogether, by the prohibi-
tion of the delivery of alcohol to these laboratories, or of its use therein ;
for in many chemical operations pure alcohol is an absolute necessity
and irreplaceable;

And whereas Congress itself has specifically provided in the Food and
Drugs Act and in the Insecticide Act that the degree of purity of food
and drug products should be determined by certain prescribed tests,
few of which could be made if the use of alcohol be prohibited;

And whereas it is unreasonable to suppose that Congress would
enact a law which would effectually prevent the making of tests pre-
scribed in previous acts, work which moreover can not be interrupted
without detriment to public welfare; and it is the belief of this Society
that it is not the intent of Congress to prevent legitimate and neces-
sary scientific work in any laboratory, private or public, or to hinder
the advancement of science, or to interfere in any way with the train-
ing of technically skilled men, especially at this time when the advan-
tage— nay, the necessity — of proper technical training and advice has
been brought home to all of us;

Therefore be it resolved by the Washington Section of the American
Chemical Society, that the foregoing summary statement of facts be
brought to the attention of those in charge of this bill, with the plea that
they modify those provisions which, if the bill S 1082 were enacted in
its present form, would be highly prejudicial to the laboratory work,
scientific, technical, and educational, now carried on within the District
of Columbia, a work which is absolutely essential to the continued
progress of the country.

The program of the evening consisted of a lecture on Radium by
C. L. Parsons, of the Bureau of Mines. A concise survey of the re-
cent methods developed by this Bureau for the extraction of radium
from carnotite ores was accompanied by lantern slides and motion
pictures showing the entire range of operations from the mining of the
ore to the crystallization of the radium bromide. By means of the
new methods it is thought that 90 per cent of the radium is actually

proceedings: chemical society 307

recovered; by previous methods about 70 per cent was considered a
very good yield. An interesting discussion ensued, partaken in by
many members of the society.

The 258th meeting of the society was held in the Assembly Hall
of the Y. M. C. A. on March 9, 1916. The following program was
presented :

H. H. Custis, Bureau of Animal Industry: The action of light on
chlorine, with special reference to the formation of chloracetic acid.

The reactions between chlorine and other substances in the presence
of light were all classed with those reactions in which the light only
gives an impulse to the activity of chemical change. Several examples
of such reactions were cited. A brief outline of the history of the
study of phenomena accompanying reaction between hydrogen and
chlorine in the presence of light and a resume of the work previously
reported on the reaction between chlorine and acetic acid were given.

The speaker then reported that after unsuccessful attempts to chlo-
rinate acetic acid, benzene, and toluene under the influence of light from
a projection lantern he was able to make mono-chloracetic acid by
the action of chlorine on acetic acid at the temperature of the steam
bath under the influence of the rays from an iron arc. The reaction
was accelerated by the use of red phosphorus as catalyzer. He was
also able to chlorinate benzene and toluene at room temperature,
using an iron arc. In these experiments no catalyzers were used.
Though benzene was not chlorinated by chlorine subjected to the rays
from a quartz mercury arc while passing through a quartz tube, toluene
was chlorinated. (Author's abstract.)

Atherton Seidell, Hygienic Laboratory: The isolation of vitamine
from brewer's yeast.

Vitamine is the name which has been given to a recently recognized
essential food element necessary for normal metabolism. Although
vitamine (vitamines?) is undoubtedly widely distributed in food stuffs,
the amount actually present in any one is probably very minute.
Attempts which have so far been made to concentrate vitamine or
isolate it have been only partially successful. The material appears
to be destroyed or seriously altered by the manipulations involved in
the processes of isolation. It has therefore not been possible to make
extensive studies of the physiological action of vitamine uninfluenced
by accompanying substances.

Brewer's yeast has been shown to be comparatively rich in vitamine.
While attempting to concentrate the vitamine present in this product
it was ascertained that hydrous aluminium silicate (fuller's earth)
selectively adsorbs vitamine from the complex, aqueous, autolyzed
yeast solution. Experiments on pigeons receiving a deficient diet of
polished rice showed that the separation of the vitamine by means
of the adsorbent was complete. The yeast solution filtered from the

308 PROCEEDINGS : ( riEMICAL SOCIETY

solid was free of vitamine, whereas the solid adsorbent retained all
that was originally present in the yeast solution. The solid combina-
tion of fuller's earth and vitamine appears to be stable and shows un-
impaired vitamine activity even after several months. Since the in-
organic solid adsorbent is an inert substance, from the standpoint of its
action on the organism, the combination serves as a convenient source
of vitamine for nutritional experiments and possibly as a therapeutic
agent in the treatment of beri-beri and other nutritional deficiency
diseases. Experiments upon the separation of vitamine from its solid
combination with fuller's earth are under way and a crystalline product
possessing the vitamine action has already been prepared. (Author's
abstract.)

R. R. Williams, Bureau of Chemistry: The chemical nature of the
vitamines.

Alpha-hydroxypyridine exists in three isomeric forms. Two of
these forms can be isolated as needle and prism crystals respectively,
while the third enolic form is present only in the metallic salts of the
compound. Prism crystals may be converted into needles by dry
heat. The needles on standing in the air at ordinary temperatures
are transformed again into prisms. Water solutions of the needles
produce rapid cures of avian beri-beri when administered within five
or six days after the solution is made. The prism crystals have no
curative power. The enolic or metallic salt form probably possesses
no therapeutic value. A similar isomerism and physiological effect
appears to be common to all hydroxypyridines, suggesting that the
natural vitamines possess a similar chemical structure. (Author's
abstract.)

The 259th meeting (special) of the society was held in the Chemical
Lecture Hall of George Washington Medical School on March 21,
1916. The speaker of the evening, John Uri Lloyd, of Cincinnati,
presented a Practical demonstration of some of the principles of colloidal
chemistry. An experimental demonstration was given of the selective
absorption of alkaloids by what is now known as Lloyd's reagent, a
selected fuller's earth (hydrated aluminium silicate) especially treated
to give extreme fineness of grain and great absorptive power. The
absorption is carried out in acid solution and presents a distinct ad-
vance in the technique of alkaloid separation and manufacture. The
action is extremely rapid and applies to practically all alkaloids. How-
ever, though the application of the reagent as an absorbent for alka-
loids used in the therapeutics looks promising, its application as a
remedy in alkaloid poisoning has so far been unsuccessful, owing to
the liberation of the alkaloid in the alkaline parts of the alimentary
tract. A considerable number of slides were presented showing micro-
graphs of the reagent and its absorption compounds.

E. C. McKelvy, Secretary.

proceedings: geological society 309

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 307th meeting was held in the lecture room of the Cosmos
Club on March 22, 1916.

informal communications

E. T. Wherry presented a communication on the cavities in vein
fillings of the basalt near Paterson, New Jersey. He showed that
the lozenge-shaped cavities from a shale in eastern Pennsylvania
were like those in the basalt. These cavities correspond to glauberite
crystals. (Published in full in Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci. 6: 181-184.
1916.)

REGULAR PROGRAM

R. B. Sosman and J. C. Hostetter: Zonal growth in hematite and
its bearing on the origin of certain iron ores.

In studying the natural oxides of iron, the authors have observed
that some of these can be separated magnetically into fractions. They
have also shown (Journ. Ainer. Chem. Soc, April, 1916) that ferric
oxide (Fe203) and magnetite (Fe304) form a series of solid solutions in
which the percentage of FeO increases continuously from zero to 31.03,
which is the percentage in magnetite. The oxides become increasingly
magnetic as the percentage of FeO increases.

The powdered oxide from certain crystals of hematite from Elba
contains considerable FeO and can also be fractionated magnetically.
It is therefore not homogeneous, as would be the case if the crystal
were a uniform solid solution throughout. Analyses and magnetic
measurements on a cross-section of an Elba crystal showed that the
magnetic susceptibility and percentage of FeO vary, not irregularly,
but continuously, being highest at the base and lowest at the free-
growing tip of the crystal. The crystal is therefore zoned with respect
to its FeO content. The physico-chemical conditions which could
bring about such a zonal growth were discussed.

R. W. Pack: Structural features of the San Joaquin Valley oil fields,
California. (Illustrated.)

The general features governing the occurrence of oil in the San
Joaquin Valley are (1) the presence of material in which the oil origi-
nated; (2) an avenue affording an easy escape for the oil from this ma-
terial in which it originated; (3) lithologic and structural features
that together form a reservoir favorable for the accumulation of this oil.

The first condition is satisfied by the presence of thick formations
of shale composed largely of the remains of minute organisms — dia-
toms and foraminifers — and it appears certain that it is in these forma-
tions and from these organisms that the petroleum originated. The
escape of the petroleum from these shales is rendered easy by the
unconformable relation at the top of the shales. Adequate reservoirs
are afforded by the sandy beds that rest upon the truncated edges of

310 proceedings: geological society

the shale. Numerous anticlines heading in the central part of the
ranges on the west side of San Joaquin Valley, running out into and
plunging beneath that valley, form traps in which the oil has accumu-
lated and is now retained. Each of the productive fields on the west
side of the San Joaquin Valley shows all the features listed and the
intervening non-productive areas lack one or more of them.

The sandy beds that form the reservoirs for the oil outcrop in or
near the fields. Escape of the oil is prevented by a sealing of these
beds by tar. This tar is the result either of the fractional distillation
of the oil and removal of the lighter constituents or of interaction of
oil and mineral waters, both probably being effective. Oil moving
upward through the sandy beds overlying the shales, being prevented
by this tarry seal from further movement, moves outward down the
dip through sandy beds lying stratigraphically above the bed resting
unconformably upon the shale. Oil moves through these upper beds
away from the plane of unconformity until its further movement is
prevented by a sealing of these upper beds by tar. The tarry seal
in this case may be formed, as in the case with the outcrop, by natural
fractionation of the oil, but in the deeper sands it is evidently caused
chiefly by the action of "edge water" on the oil. The tarrification of
oil in the presence of water is well recognized in the fields, and this
knowledge is of practical value in drilling for the deeper sands, since
it furnishes a guide as to the proximity of water.

The productive sands, although occurring in a definite zone in the
lower part of the formation that rests upon the shale, are not con-
tinuous sands, but lie rather in a step-like arrangement, one small
oil sand above another, all of them abutting against the diatomaceous
shale on the flanks of the anticline, but diverging more and more widely
from the shale toward the axis of the syncline.

Charles T. Lupton: Notes on the stratigraphic and structural
relations in southern and eastern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming.

Bighorn Basin is a large topographic and structural depression in
northwest Wyoming nearly surrounded by Bighorn, Bridger, Owl
Creek, and Shoshone Mountains. It is drained by Bighorn River,
which flows through deep canyons in the mountain rim at the south
(Wind River Canyon) and at the northeast (Bighorn Canyon).

The rocks exposed in the basin range from Cambrian to Quarternary
in age. Only those formations between the Morrison and the base
of the Wasatch were considered in detail. Leaves of Cretaceous age
were found during the field season of 1915 in the upper part of the
Morrison formation near Ten Sleep. The overlying Cloverly forma-
tion, Thermopolis and Mowry shale, Frontier formation, Cody shale,
Mesaverde formation, Bearpaw (?) shale, Lance (?) and Fort Union
formations were described in considerable detail. Of these, the Clover-
ly, Mowry, and Frontier produce a light, high grade oil and some gas.
The Cody shale is equivalent to the upper part of the Colorado and
the lower part of the Montana groups. The Mesaverde on the south

proceedings: biological society 311

and east sides of the basin is believed to correspond to the Gebo on
the west side, Bearpaw (?) to part or all of the Meeteetse, and the
Lance (?) to the Ilo. No evidence has been obtained in Bighorn
Basin to prove that the beds designated Bearpaw (?) or Meeteetse
are marine.

Two unconformities are recognized in Bighorn Basin — one at the
base of the Fort Union and the other at its top. Discordance in dip
and lenses of conglomerate mark the unconformities.

Structurally Bighorn Basin is a vast geosyncline with minor folds
developed on its flanks. Its axis trends northwest-southeast. The
axes of the minor folds trend in the same general direction but more
nearly parallel to the adjacent mountains. The upfolds are character-
ized by narrow flanks and steep dips on the mountainward sides and
broad flanks and gentle clips on the basinward sides.

The anticlines and domes that produce most of the Oil and gas are
nearest the major axis of the basin. Many of the anticlines plunge
into the basin and are of little value as oil and gas reservoirs.

Most of the anticlines are developed in rocks older than Wasatch,
but in a few places that formation is deformed. Such a condition
suggests a greater deformation of the beds on which the Wasatch rests.

Only a few faults are present. The greater number of them extend
parallel to the strike of the beds. An unusual condition obtains at
Greybull, where dip faults throw out the middle of the oil and gas field.

Carroll H. Wegemann, Secretary.

THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 554th regular meeting of the Biological Society of Washington
was held at the Cosmos Club, Saturday, April 8, 1916, at 8 p.m.; called
to order by President Hay, with 65 persons present.

The President called attention to the recent death of Wells W.
Cooke, Treasurer of the Society, and announced the appointment of
Messrs. Hollister, Gidley, and Wetmore to draw up appropriate
resolutions. The President also announced the election of Dr. Ned
Dearborn to the office of Treasurer, made vacant by Mr. Cooke's
death, also the appointment of Dr. Dearborn to the committee on
publications.

On recommendation of the Council the following persons were
elected to active membership: Robert M. Libbey, Washington, D.C.;
G. K. Noble, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Massa-
chusetts; and Dr. Howard B. Ames, U. S. Navy (Retired).

The following informal communications were made :

Dr. R. W. Shufeldt commented upon and exhibited specimens of a
Japanese salamander, Diemictylus pyrrhogaster, obtained from a local
dealer in live animals.

Dr. Paul Bartsch called attention to the introduction of the Euro-
pean agate snail, Rumina decollata, in certain parts of the southern
states and to the recent publication by J. B. Henderson of a book

312 proceedings: anthropological society

entitled, The cruise of the Tomas Barrera, the narrative of a scientific
expedition to western Cuba and the Colorados Reefs, with observations
on the geology, fauna, and flora of the region.

Dr. M. W. Lyon, Jr., made remarks on the history of the Filaria
bancrofti embryos exhibited at the previous meeting of the Society.

Mr. F. Knab discussed the mosquito host of Filaria bancrofti, saying
that an appropriate species of Culex is found in Washington in the
late summer.

The regular program was an illustrated lecture by Mr. Edmund
Heller entitled, Hunting in the Peruvian Andes. Mr. Heller gave an
account of a recent collecting trip made by him from the west coast
of Peru up into the high Andes and down to the head waters of the
Amazon. He described the animals collected, mainly mammals, but
also birds and reptiles, including the rare spectacled bear, wild llamas,
etc. He also commented on the habits and customs of the natives,
and showed photographic lantern slides not only of the wild -life, the
inhabitants, and physiographic features, but also of many points of
archeologic interest.

M. W. Lyon, Jr., Recording Secretary.

THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

At the 492d meeting, held December 21, 1915, Dr. J. Walter Fewkes,
of the Bureau of American Ethnology, gave an illustrated lecture on
his archeological investigations in the Mesa Verde National Park dur-
ing the preceding summer. The substance of the address has since
been given in this Journal (6: 212-221. April 19, 1916), although
with a special view to a comparison between the "Sun Temple"
excavated by him on the Mesa Verde and the so-called prehistoric
"towers."

At the 493d meeting of the Society, held January 18, 1916, Dr. Tom
A. Williams read a paper on The origin of superstitions. He stated
that the forms which superstitions assume are imposed by traditional
survival, but that superstitious feeling occurs when extraneous support
is desired in too difficult situations. It is a reaction to inadequacy,
especially prone to occur when the brain is numb with drugs, infec-
tions, body poisons, or fatigue. An attitude of mind may also induce
it. Other refuges from the feeling of inadequacy or discomfort are
drug-taking, wine-bibbing, tobacco-smoking, wandering about, various
amusements, and even intemperate work. The fantastic personalities
of our dreams, of which so-called psychic phenomena are merely a
variety, give support to occultistic beliefs.

It is in the feelings themselves, however, that the origin must be
sought, belief being merely an attempted rationalization of these, as
when a person deduces from the exceptional character of his feelings
during the experience a supernatural quality of the force that must
have caused it. Such inferences need have no religious color. For

proceedings: anthropological society 313

instance, one patient with intact perceptions and intelligence declares,
"It is black all around; there is no world there; but you can not under-
stand, and I can not explain it." The root of this condition is a dis-
turbance of the internal feelings, the cause of which is usually a physi-
cal disorder, a perverted body chemistry. However, as the feelings
may be incited psychogenetically, and as the superstitious belief may
persist even when the body chemistry is restored, it is necessary in
dealing with them to understand the facts of human psychology, more
especially of morbid psychology. The comfort brought by the feeling
of support and the sense of refuge found in reliance upon a supernatural
agent make their appeal very strong to inadequate persons. That is
why the superstitious aspect of so many religions is clung to so fer-
vently; for, not differentiating this from the essence of the religion,
the devotee fears that the destruction of the superstition will entail
the loss of the comfort brought by his religion, which is, of course, an
improper inference.

That the religious aspect of these, however, is not that which makes
belief in them so strong is proved by what so often happens during
anaesthesia. For instance, Humphry Davy, on waking from nitrous
oxide narcosis, had so grandiose a feeling of having made wonderful
discoveries that he showed his contempt for those round him by walk-
ing about calling, "Nothing exists but thought; the universe is com-
posed of impressions, pleasure, and pain;" and it took him some time
to overcome his belief in the validity of this experience. Again, a
young man, who, during anaesthesia for an operation, had the awful
feeling of a world reverting to nothingness, could not shake off the
belief in the terribleness of this, so that special measures had to be
used to bring his mind into normal touch with the real world.

The color of the superstition depends upon the Zeitgeist; but its
fundamentals are psychopathological facts, and the study of their origin
demands an extensive knowledge of the cognate phenomena revealed
by persons with disturbed minds. Even in the case of amputated
limbs a patient may declare himself "more sure of the lost limb than of
the one he has." Like these instances the inexpressible wonderfulness
of the mystic's experience is pure illusion and its origin is in feelings
of similar kind.

The portion of the address on The craving for the supernatural
appeared in the Medical Record for February 12, 1916.

At the 494th meeting of the society, held February 1, 1916, two pa-
pers were read. The first, by Dr. Truman Michelson, of the Bureau
of American Ethnology, was on Ritualistic origin myths of the Fox Indi-
ans. This has appeared in the Journal of the Washington Academy of
Sciences (6: 209-211. April 19, 1916). In the discussion, a visitor, Mr.
Stewart, who said that he had grown up among the Kickapoo, in-
sisted that scientists should get behind the form of the myth to its mean-
ing and that, although the solar explanation of myths, for example, had
been overworked by Max Miiller, there is a real esoteric meaning of

314 proceedings: anthropological society

the ritual in certain American tribes. Mr. LaFlesche agreed, from
his knowledge of the Osage ritual, that all has a meaning and that noth-
ing is nonsensical. Every bodily movement even has a symbolic sig-
nificance; the prayers which the ritual contains are for safety, for health,
and to secure offspring, that is, for the welfare of the tribe. Mr.
Hewitt cited, in this connection, the Iroquois ritual for the installa-
tion of the chief, which recounted the history of the tribe and the for-
mation of the League. Dr. Michelson replied that it is necessary to
study the forms of rituals of different tribes in order to determine their
origins, because it is evident that the interpretations now placed upon
them are in nearly all cases secondary. Dr. Swanton, referring to the
old question as to whether myth or ritual were prior, stated as the
essential fact that myth and ritual are in association and that these
associations as they exist should be the object of our study.

The second paper, by Mr. William H. Babcock, was entitled Cer-
tain pre-Columbian notices of American aborigines. It dealt mainly with
records found in early Norse writings. Four regions were taken up
in geographical order: The eastern coast of Greenland; the western
coast of Greenland; Markland (probably Newfoundland), and Wine-
land and the neighboring regions. For the first he quoted from the
Floamanna Saga the account of the attack of Thorgisl on the two "giant
women" gathering driftwood; for the second, the statement of Islend-
ingabok concerning the Skrelling relics found by the first Norse settlers,
the mention in Historia Norwegiae of meetings between Norse hunters
and Skrellings in the districts north of the settlements, the narrative of
the far northward exploration of 1266 contained in a priest's letter (on
which voyage no Eskimo were discovered, only the sites of their
habitations), and the account of the two trolls who became servants of
a shipmaster visiting Greenland. The account of the Markland cap-
tives was given from the Hauksbok version of Eric the Red; both of
the accounts of the killing of Thorvald, as they present different views
of the natives on the southeastern border of the Gulf of St. Lawrence;
and both versions of the intercourse of Karlsefni and his people with
the more southerly Wineland natives and the hostilities, which ended
both it and the Norse scheme of colonization.

In answer to questions by Dr. Anderson, Mr. Stewart, Miss
Breton, Dr. Folkmar, and others, Mr. Babcock said that he con-
sidered it probable that Irish monks reached America before the Norse-
men. While some of the Celtic theories are fantastical, it is certain
that Irish relics were found by the Norse in Iceland; that Disnil tells
of a voyage made by them far beyond that island until they were stopped
by the ice ; that on such voyages they may have touched America ; and
that the western region which the Norsemen called Great Ireland, or
White Man's Land, was probably a part of our coast. The evidence for
a Chinese discovery of America was not considered sufficient to war-
rant quotations in the paper of the evening. "Fusang" may have
been Korea, Japan, or at most the Aleutian Islands, although some of
the products reported resemble those of Mexico. There is no positive

proceedings: anthropological society 315

evidence for priority of discovery by Basque or Breton fishermen.
Corte-Real's voyage to Newfoundland occurred in 1500 A.D. The
name Bacalaos applied to this land first appears on maps of a later date.
On being asked what degree of reliance is to be placed on the Norse
narratives, since they were handed down for a time by oral tradition
before they were written down , Mr. Babcock said that the earliest dates
of the writings are unknown; that the Erlendsspn copy of the Eric the
Red manuscript was made before 1334, perhaps about 1320; that the
narrative which it contains bears evidence of having been composed
in the eleventh century; and that a brief log of Karlsefni's voyage
seems to be the kernel of part of the sagas. Certainly all of the de-
tails are not to be relied on.

At the 495th meeting, held February 15, 1916, Mr. Paul Popenoe
addressed the Society on Progress in the study of human heredity. He
said that man offers by far the most difficult material for the study of
heredity and that the number of students who have undertaken to work
upon it is small. The Eugenics Record Office, at Cold Spring Harbor,
Long Island, New York, is the principal American agency; Dr. Alex-
ander Graham Bell has founded a Genealogical Record Office in
Washington for the study of longevity; many anthropologists are con-
tributing to the knowledge of heredity in man; and various physicians
and geneticists in colleges are also making contributions. The Galton
Laboratory of National Eugenics at the University of London, directed
by Karl Pearson, is the principal agency in England. On the conti-
nent of Europe the work is scattered among medical men and anthro-
pologists.

It is now regarded as established that physical and mental traits are
inherited with the same intensity and in the' same manner. Most of
the physical traits thus far studied have been abnormalities and are
therefore not of great significance to race betterment; but the study of
longevity and disease resistance points the way to important progress
in eugenics. The study of mental traits has also dealt largely with
abnormal or pathological conditions — feeble-mindedness, insanity,
epilepsy, and the like. At present students are showing a tendency to
take up the study of positive characters that are of more significance
to the progress of the race.

In many cases an attempt has been made to show exactly how a
given trait is inherited. Probably a hundred traits have been classed,
at one time or another, as "known," but this list is greatly exaggerated.
If the evidence for them were critically sifted, the traits of the exact
mode of inheritance of which there could be no doubt would be re-
duced to a group not much larger than the following: Huntington's
chorea, brachydactyly, and a white blaze in the hair (dominants); al-
binism and various rare diseases or pathological conditions (recessives) .
Some sexlinked characters are also definitely worked out, as one kind
of color-blindness, one kind of night-blindness, haemophilia, and a few
defects of the eye.

316 proceedings: anthropological society

Concerning the heredity of many other traits, such as feeble-minded-
ness, we have enough knowledge to be of great social value. Most of
our knowledge of the general principles of heredity will have to be
learned through experimentation with plants and lower animals. Work
with them has resulted in the elaboration of the "factorial hypothesis"
of heredity, which is accepted by most advanced workers today; it
assumes that every transmission of traits is due to the transmission of
hypothetical "factors" in the germ-plasm and that each one of these
factors influences an indefinitely large number of factors. These hy-
pothetical factors are perhaps to be looked on as chemical reactions,
one of which gives rise to another and so on in an unbroken chain dur-
ing the development and differentiation of the embryo.

The present knowledge of heredity in man is sufficiently ample to
form the basis for much sociological action — to guide a program of
national eugenics; but it will be a long time before we can confidently
give very much advice as to individual marriage matings.

Several speakers in discussing the paper maintained that environ-
ment is of more weight than heredity, notwithstanding the geneticists'
claim to the contrary. Dr. Folkmar suggested that the evolution of
man would be more rapid in the distant future than in the past, be-
cause it will be the result, in part, of artificial and not, as in the past,
merely of natural selection. In the future, "evolution per saltum" will
be possible, although it cannot explain the appearance of the Java man
or the Neanderthal, or any other race that has evolved in the past.

Following the suggestion that alcoholic drinks hasten the survival of
the fit by killing off the unfit, and that Indians are killed off faster than
the whites by the use of alcoholic liquors because their race has not
been weeded out through centuries of drinking, Dr. Anderson and
others stated that many American tribes did have alcoholic drinks be-
fore the Discovery. Mescal was found in the Southwest, and the chi-
cha, made from corn or bananas, still farther south. Dr. Michelson
said, however, that alcoholic beverages were known but slightly north
of Mexico prior to the Discovery.

Daniel Folkmar, Secretary.

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VI JUNE 4, 1916 No. 11

PHYSICS. — The relation between color temperature, apparent tem-
perature, true temperature, and monochromatic emissivity of
radiating materials. Paul D. Foote, Bureau of Standards.

In an earlier note1 the relation between color temperature and
true temperature was discussed. The present paper interrelates
the color temperature, apparent temperature, true temperature,
and monochromatic emissivity coefficient of a radiating mate-
rial. A new method of determining the temperature coefficient
of monochromatic emissivity is also considered.

Most metals are supposed to have practically zero tempera-
ture coefficient of monochromatic emissivity in the visible spec-
trum, a region of resonance where the well known Maxwell rela-
tions for emission coefficient do not apply. This supposition is
not thoroughly warranted by experimental data, since the accu-
racy of many of the data is not sufficient to detect a 10 per
cent change in emissivity over a temperature range of several
hundred degrees. For some metals, moreoever, a small tempera-
ture coefficient of monochromatic emissivity has been observed.
The following empirical equation may represent the emissivity
for wave lengths in the visible spectrum and a moderate tem-
perature range where A', c», p and q are constants, A the emis-
sivity coefficient, T the absolute true temperature, and X the
wave length in microns.

1 Foote and Fairchild, J. Wash. Acad. Sci. 6: 193-197. 1916. In this paper
the following corrections were overlooked in the manuscript. Eq. (3), change

+ — to — — , page 195, Eq (5) and lines 10 and 14, change +p to —p.

A A

317

318 foote: temperature and emissivity

C2J> q_

(1) A=A'e*eT

By proper choice of A', p, and q, the above equation can be
adjusted to fit almost any curve of emissivity which is likely
to be found experimentally. A type of dispersion of emissivity
which it can not represent is that in which the emissivity pos-
sesses a very decided maximum in the middle of the visible
spectrum. There is no experimental evidence of such a form
of emissivity as a function of the wave length for metals, possibly
excepting gold and copper. Over the small range of wave lengths
comprised by the visible spectrum the emissivity of most metals
is, within experimental observations, either increasing or de-
creasing linearly or exponentially with the wave length. All
such variations are accounted for by adjusting the constant p.
If the emissivity is constant with wave length, as in the case. of
a gray body, p = 0. Similarly, all probable variations in the
emissivity with temperature over a reasonable temperature range
are accounted for by adjusting the constant q. The only serious
restriction to equation (1) is that it assumes all wave lengths
of the visible spectrum have the same temperature coefficient
of emissivity. This assumption is probably practically correct —
there is no satisfactory experimental evidence bearing directly
upon this point.

If a material having an emissivity coefficient given by equation
(1) is compared spectrophotometrically with a black body at
various temperatures, and the logarithmic isochromatics are
plotted for various wave lengths (viz., logarithm of the ratio,
ait a definite wave length, of the intensity of radiation of the
non-black body at true absolute temperature T to that of a
black body at absolute temperature 6, versus 1/0) these isochro-
matics will show the following form. (Natural logarithms
throughout.)

(2) l0ig_(^+i).?g_(i.p)}

where

foote: temperature and emissivity 319

<*•
«/i = Ci X-5 e~ a7 for black body

Ji = Ci A X-5 e~ >^ for non-black body

Equation (2) represents a family of straight lines of variable

parameter — intersecting at log A' + — and — — p. At

A J- J-

the point of intersection the ratio of the intensity of the non-
black body to the intensity of the black body is the same for
every color. This by definition is a "color match" and the tem-
perature of the black body when the condition of color match
exists is the "color temperature"of the non-black body. Denote
the color temperature by T', then

(o) rp, = rp — P

If S denotes the apparent temperature of the non-black material
for a wave length X, equation (4) follows immediately from Wien's
law,

(A) 1 X log A _ 1

S c2 T

and from equations (1), (3) and (4)

,5) 1 1 _ Xg/logA' 1\

(5) ST' e,\ q +V+r)

which is a straight line of slope — ^r when ( -^ — — j is plotted

against — ;. The apparent temperature S and the color tem-
perature T', easily measured quantities, may therefore be used
to determine the constant q, and thus give the temperature
coefficient of monochromatic emissivity.

Color temperature of carbon. From the work of Elisabeth
Benedict2 and also from some unpublished work of the writer
it appears that the logarithmic isochromatics for a carbon lamp

2 Ann. d. Physik, 47: 641. 1915.

320

foote: temperature and emissivity

intersect at a point for any temperature of the lamp. That is,
a perfect color match against a black body is possible at all
temperatures. Hyde, Cady, and Forsythe3 have published a table
of color temperature versus apparent temperature (X = 0.665m)

for an untreated carbon filament lamp. If (- — —J is plotted

against —, using their observations, the relation is found to be

linear within observational errors, in accordance with equation
(5). From the slope of the line, q is found to be +462. Putting
this value of q in equation (1) the monochromatic emissivity
is seen to decrease with increasing temperature as follows.

TABLE I

TEMPERATURE ABSOLUTE

1500
2000
2400

RELATIVE MONOCHROMATIC EMISSIVITY

1.00

0.92
0.89

Mendenhall and Forsythe4 experimentally found the emissivity
at 1300 and 2300° absolute to be 0.86 and 0.79 respectively. This
is in qualitative agreement with the above table.

Color temperature of tungsten. A more interesting verification
of the correctness of the above equations is obtained by a con-
sideration of Hyde, Cady, and Forsythe's5 data on tungsten. In
this paper a table is given of the observed color temperatures,
true temperatures, and apparent temperatures (X = 0.665/t) for
a tungsten lamp. From the values of the apparent temperature
and true temperature the emissivity for X = 0.665/* may be
computed according to equation (4). Taking the value of

322

c2 = 14350 it was found that eT represents the tempera-
cure coefficient exactly. The coefficient p of equation (1) was
found to be +0.0000104 and the general equation for emissivity
of tungsten is as follows.

3 J. Frank. Inst. 181: 420. 1916.

4 Astrophys. J. 37: 389. 1913.

5 Loc. cit. p. 419. Also Worthing, idem, p. 417.

FOOTE : TEMPERATURE AND EMISSIV1TY

321

(6)

0.1492 322

A = 0.304 e x e?

Where X = wave length in microns and T = true absolute
temperature. The relation between the color temperature and
true temperature follows from equation (3) viz. 1/T' = 1/T —
0.0000104. The agreement between the computed and observed
values illustrated in the following table is surprisingly good,
and proves at once that the above theoretical relations have a
sound physical significance.

TABLE II

OBSERVED VALUES

COMPUTED VALUES

S0.665/i

A0.665m

322

A oc e T

obs comp

1627

1753
1840
1909
1967
2017
2062
2102
2113
2140
2174

1729
1875
1976
2056
2125
2184
2238
2286
2299
2332
2373

1763
1917
2025
2109
2179
2237
2290
2338
2350
2383
2425

0.458
0.448
0.446
0.448
0.442
0.441
0.439
0.438
0.438
0.436
0.435

0.458
0.451
0.447
0.445
0.442
0.440
0.439
0.438
0.437
0.436
0.435

1761
1912
2017
2101
2173
2235
2291
2342
2355
2390
2433

+2
+5
+8
+8
+6
+2
-1
-4
-5
-7
-8

Average d

ieviation

±0.0008

±5°

As seen from columns 6 and 7, the color temperature, computed
by equation (3) where p = 0.0000104, agrees far within experi-
mental errors with the observed color temperature, the difference
between the computed and observed values showing an average
deviation of only 5°.

Using equation (6) one can predict what the emissivity at any
wave length will be. Table III gives the emissivity of tungsten
for several wave lengths. Whether equation (6), obtained indi-
rectly from the color temperatures, can be used as far out as
X = 0A/x is of course questionable. It is not likely however
that the values are in great error.

322

foote: temperature and emissivity

TABLE

III

EMISSIVITY (Cn = H350)

0.7 m

0.665/1

0.6 m

0.5 n

0 4 ii

1700

0.455

0.460

0.471

0.50

0.53

1800

0.450

0.455

0.466

0.49

0.53

1900

0.446

0.451

0.462

0.49

0.52

2000

0.442

0.447

0.458

0.48

0.52

2100

0.439

0.444

0.454

0.48

0.51

2200

0.436

0.440

0.451

0.47

0.51

2300

0.433

0.438

0.448

0.47

0.51

2400

0.431

0.435

0.446

0.47

0.50

Color temperature of platinum. Koenigsberger has determined*
the emissivity for various wave lengths in the visible spectrum
for platinum at room temperature. If the logarithm of the
emissivity is plotted against 1/X the slope of the straight line is
Cop, whence p of equation (1) is directly determined. This com-
putation gives p = 0.0000287. Waidner and Burgess7 deter-
mined the emissivity of platinum at its melting point (assuming
melting point = 1 755 °C.) for three different wave lengths. Their
values give p = 0.0000185. It is quite possible that this latter
value of p is too low because of the difficulty in obtaining accu-
rate measurements of emissivity at high temperatures. If both
values of p are correct platinum must have a temperature coeffi-
cient of emissivity and the temperature coefficient must be a
function of the wave length. The following table shows the
relation between the color temperature and the true temperature
of platinum, based on both values of p.

TABLE IV

p = 0.0000287

p = 0.0000185

T'-T

1000
1500
2000 .

1030
1567
2122

122

1019
1543
2077

19
. , 43

•Ann. d. Physik, 43: 1205-22.

7 Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No. 11, p. 244. 1905.

foote: luminosity and temperature of metals 323

The interesting point is that the color temperature of plati-
num at the melting point must be 80° and possibly 120° higher
than the true temperature. This is at variance with the con-
clusions drawn by Paterson and Dudding,8 who claim that plati-
num is practically gray thus requiring that p = 0 and T = T' .

Conclusion. The various relations between color temperature,
apparent temperature, and true temperature are pointed out
for the first time. These relations are checked by observations
of Hyde, Cady, and Forsythe on tungsten and are found to agree
excellently with experiment. Color temperatures open a new
field in the subject of optical pyrometry which is certain to prove
highly interesting. Color temperature may be measured by the
spectrophotometer using the method of logarithmic isochro-
matics, or by an ordinary photometer if the observer is skilled
in color matching. A still better means perhaps of studying
the color temperatures of various materials is by use of a suit-
able form of colorimeter. Measurement of the dominant hue
of a black body and of metals at various temperatures is a field
of investigation as yet untouched.

PHYSICS. — Luminosity and temperature of metals. Paul D.
Foote, Bureau of Standards.

, Recently Mr. Fairchild and the writer published a paper on
the relation between the luminosity and temperature of a black
body.1 In the present note this work is extended to apply to
the case of radiation from metals, and from oxides for which
the emissivity coefficient can be represented by equation (4)
below. Luminosity of a black body is defined as the integral
from 0 to °° in respect to d\ of the product of visibility (V)
and energy (J) of the radiating source thus:

(1) L = J*o" VJdx

where V = f (X) and J = i\ X 5 e *d = Wien's law

8 Proc. Phys. Soc. London, 27: 253. 1915.

1 Bureau of Standards Sci. Paper No. 270. 1916.

324 foote: luminosity and temperature of metals

The integral of equation (1) obtained graphically using the data
of Ives, Nutting, and Hyde and Forsythe for visibility was
found to have the following form.

where, for c2 = 14450

B = - 105.92
C = + 265.46
D = + 72.166

The luminosity of a non-black body, such as a metal, is defined
by equation (3) where A is the emissivity coefficient of the non-
black material.

(3) U = j™ AVJdX

The writer has shown2 that for most metals the emissivity co-
efficient can be accurately represented by equation (4) where
A', p, and q, are constants, X the wave length in microns, d the
true absolute temperature.

(4) A = A'ex ee

If equation (4) is substituted in (3) one obtains the following:

(5) L' = A'e9 f CiX_5e~x^/^F(x) d\

(6) Let J> = -d-p

(7) then L' = A' tf \ c, X~5 e~ xT' V (X) d X

The integral in equation (7) is identical with that of (1) hence
from (2):

2 This Journal, 6: 317-323. 1910.

FOOTE I LUMINOSITY AND TEMPERATURE OF METALS

325

which represents the luminosity of a non-black body at tem-
perature 0 where 6r is given by equation (6) . It is well known
that 6' is the color temperature3 of the non-black body.

Application of equation (8) to the determination of the melting
point of tungsten. Langmuir4 found the luminosity of tungsten
to be 6994 candles per square centimeter at its melting point.
Equation (8) may be used to determine the temperature corre-
sponding to this value of the luminosity after the constants P,
A' p, and q have been evaluated. The constant P is obtained
by equation (2) from the work of Hyde, Cady, and Forsythe5
upon the brightness of a black body at various temperatures.
The result of this computation is shown in the following table.

TABLE I

candles/cm

P X 10 ~ 7

1700

5.3

1.94

1800

11.3

1.84

1900

24.4

1.92

2000

45.0

1.84

2100

80.0

1.80 .

2200

146.0

1.91

2300

248.0

1.97

2400

382.0

1.93

2500

600.0

1.98

2600

880.0

1.97

Mean P = 1.91 ± 0.05 X 107

The constants p and q, on the basis of Hyde, Cady, and For-
sythe's6 data for color temperature, true temperature and appar-
ent temperature of tungsten were found7 to have the values
p = +0.0000104 and q = + 322. On the basis of c2 = 14450
and these data A' = 0.303. From equation (6) 6' is found,
whence from equation (8) I/, the luminosity for various values

3 Foote and Fairchild, J. Wash. Acad. Sci. 6: 195. 1916. Foote, this Journal,
6: 317-323. 1916.

4 Phys. Rev. 6: 141. 1915.

5 J. Frank. Inst. 181: 421. 1916.

s J. Frank. Inst. 181: 419. 1916. Also Worthing, idem, p. 417.
7 Foote, this Journal, 6: 317-323. 1916.

326 WRIGHT! CRYSTALS AND CRYSTAL FORCES

of the true temperature 6 may be computed. From a curve of
U versus 6 the temperature corresponding to a luminosity of
6994 candles per square centimeter is found to be 3712° absolute.
If one uses Langmuir's values of the emissivity, the constants
A', p, and q have the values: A' = 0.388, p = + 0.0000079,
and q = 0. This gives a temperature of 3660° absolute for the
melting point of tungsten.

Summary. An equation has been derived giving the relation
between luminosity and temperature, of a non-black body, more
especially a metal. This has been applied for the computation
of the melting point of tungsten from Langmuir's determinations
of the luminosity of tungsten at its melting point. The value
of 3712° absolute is obtained on the basis of Hyde, Cady, and
Forsythe's and Worthing's measurements on the color tem-
perature, true temperature, and apparent temperature of tungs-
ten. If Langmuir's values for the emissivity are used, the melt-
ing point is found to be 3660° absolute. Both of these values
are computed on the basis of c2 = 14450 and upon Hyde, Cady,
and Forsythe's values of the luminosity of a black body at
various temperatures.

CRYSTALLOGRAPHY.— Crystals and crystal forces.1 F. E.
Wright, Geophysical Laboratory.

The object of this paper is to state a problem, namely, that of
the measurement of crystal forces, and to discuss briefly some of
the more important phenomena which result from the action of
these forces and which may possibly be of value in the solution
of the general problem.

A crystal is a body whose component atoms are arranged in
definite space lattices; this arrangement is probably the result
of the vectorial action of interatomic forces and, as a rule, finds
outward expression in the development of flat crystal faces. In
this definition no reference is made to the state of cohesion of
the body, whether solid or liquid ; nor to its homogeneity. Ordi-
narily these attributes are essential and are included in the
definition; but the discovery of liquid crystals by Lehmann has

1 Read before the Geological Society of America on December 29, 1915.

weight: crystals and crystal forces 327

rendered rigidity in a crystal a less fundamental characteristic
than it was formerly supposed to be; while the common occur-
rence of zonal growth in natural mix-crystals has taken away
some of the emphasis which used to be placed on chemical and
physical homogeneity. In general, crystals are rigid and show a
high degree of homogeneity and are bounded by flat faces; but
the fact that these characteristics are lacking in certain indivi-
vidual units has an important bearing on the theory of crystal
growth and crystal forces.

In crystals there is a regular periodic arrangement in space of
the component atoms. All theories of crystal structure are
based on this postulate which in recent years has been con-
firmed by the brilliant investigations, especially, of Professor
W. H. Bragg and his son, W. L. Bragg, on the phenomena of
diffraction and reflection of characteristic X-rays from oriented
crystal plates. From this it may be inferred that the orderly
arrangement of the atoms in interpenetrating space lattices is
the result of the action of interatomic forces which are spa-
cially vectorial in character. Little is known, however, of the
order of magnitude of these forces and of the law of their varia-
tion with distance. The problem of measuring these forces and
of ascertaining the laws describing their behavior may be treated
from different viewpoints.

Development of crystal forms. The development of crystal
forms as it has been stated by Victor Goldschmidt2 in his law of
complication is a remarkable expression of the action of crystal
forces; this law may, in a given crystal substance, enable us to
ascertain the directions of the primary poles of attraction in the
crystal structure.

Crystal growth. Studies on the rate and character of crystal
growth have added much to our knowledge of the individuality
of a particular crystal group and also of the mechanism of crystal
growth. The importance of diffusion and adsorption in crystal
growth is now clearly recognized; Marc3 and others have shown

2 Uber Entwickelung der Kristallformen. Zeitschrift fur Kristallographire,
28: 1. 1897.

3 Zeitschrift fur Physikalische Chemie, 67: 470. 1909; 67: 640. 1909; 68: 104.
1909; 73: 685. 1910; 75: 710. 1911; 79: 71. 1912; 81: 641. 1912.

328 WRIGHT! CRYSTALS AND CRYSTAL FORCES

that the presence, in the solution, of minute quantities of cer-
tain colloids or semicolloids may influence profoundly the rate
and character of crystal growth, these colloids probably enter-
ing into the surficial adsorbed layer and changing greatly the rate
at which the molecules diffuse through the adsorbed film to the
growing crystal. Gibbs concluded from thermodynamical rela-
tions that, because of the vectorial character of crystals, the
surface tension on different crystal faces is different and that,
therefore, a difference in the solubility of these faces must exist ;
Curie inferred that in a growing crystal the tendency exists, by
virtue of surface tensional forces, to develop in such form that
the total surface energy is a minimum. Ritzel and Marc4 con-
cluded further that because of the differences in solubility of the
different faces the tendency also exists for the less soluble forms
to develop at the expense of the more soluble and that, therefore,
the final crystal form represents the equilibrium adjustment
between these two tendencies, namely, toward total minimum
surface energy and toward faces of minimum solubility. The
same relations should, of course, obtain for vapor pressures
over different faces, since vapor pressure may be looked upon as
solubility in a vacuum. Experimentally these relations are very
difficult to test satisfactorily, partly because of the formation of
etch figures. It is probable that accurate vapor pressure meas-
urements will furnish results least open to criticism.

Field of atomic forces. The distances through which atomic
and molecular forces act effectively have been shown by differ-
ent methods to be of the order of magnitude of 5 mm- Lehmann
observed that small acicular liquid crystals of ammonium oleate
on precipitation from solution exert, if sufficiently close to-
gether, a mutual orienting influence; and that, finally, after having
attained strict parallelism, they coalesce. Certain liquid crys-
tals are susceptible, moreover, to the orienting influences of a
magnetic field. The analogy between a magnetic field and the
field of the atoms and molecules in a crystal is more significant
than may appear at first sight. In modern theories on the

4 Zcitschrift fur Physikalische Chemie, 76: 584. 1911.

weight: crystals and crystal forces 329

constitution of matter the atom is considered to consist of an
electrically positive nucleus surrounded by negative electrons.
The fields surrounding the atoms in a crystal may be electro-
magnetic in nature.

Influence of a crystal system of forces on other systems of forces,
especially light waves. Crystals exert a profound influence on
transmitted light waves. The effects which are thereby pro-
duced constitute the subject matter of crystal optics, in which
light waves are commonly treated from the viewpoint of the
electromagnetic theory. It is known that with change in pres-
sure or in temperature the distances between the component
atoms of a crystal are changed slightly and that these slight
changes induce corresponding changes in the optical constants
of the crystal. Under these conditions we are dealing with two
distinct systems of forces, the crystal system and the light wave
system; by measuring quantitatively the differential shifts which
these slight changes in the crystal system of forces produce in
the light wave system of forces we obtain a relation between the
differential changes in the two systems of forces; in short, a differ-
ential equation which, if we can integrate it and determine the
constants in terms of absolute elastic units, will enable us to
determine the form of the force-function of the crystal system
and thus to obtain a measure of atomic forces. This problem
is now under attack at the Geophysical Laboratory. Apparatus
has either been built or is under construction for measuring accu-
rately the changes in the crystallographical and optical con-
stants of crystals for temperatures ranging from —190° to
+ 1600°C. and for hydrostatic pressures ranging from 1 to 2000
atmospheres.

The fact that in a crystal each of the component atoms is
restricted largely to minute translational oscillations about a
point, in other words is limited in its degrees of freedom, is
exceedingly important from a thermodynamical standpoint.
Thermodynamics is a general system of statistical mechanics
applied to the energy relations involved in heat and work; because
of its generality thermodynamics is applicable to a great variety
of problems, but the mode of its application requires nice dis-

330 weight: crystals and crystal forces

crimination in problems which are essentially vectorial in char-
acter, as are problems involving differences in directional crystal
forces. A large number of the minerals which occur in nature
are of the monotropic type and many of the reactions are exam-
ples of thermodynamically false equilibria and yet these may
exist for geologic ages without change. In applying thermo-
dynamical reasoning to problems of equilibria between crystals,
it is essential that the individuality of the crystals be considered,
especially as this introduces factors which may be superior in
magnitude to the thermodynamical tendencies toward equi-
librium, i.e. a configuration for which at the given temperature
the total energy content is a minimum. Thus, to speak of the
lack of crystallization in a volcanic obsidian because of an ex-
ceedingly slow rate of reaction, does not describe the situation
adequately, because in the volcanic glass the internal friction at
ordinary temperatures is so high that it is superior to the crystal
forces and completely inhibits effective action on their part;
the viscosity serves as a brake and may bring the crystallizing
tendencies to a stop. Similar conclusions apply to the general
application of thermodynamical equations to problems involving
the elastic properties of crystals, especially to the deformation
of a crystal under load.

In the treatment of problems of this nature which involve
crystallization it is important to realizje that the influence of
certain forces which are grouped under the term " individuality"
of the crystal may exceed in importance the thermodynamical
tendencies toward equilibrium. In crystal as in other systems
thermodynamical relations are fundamental, but equally funda-
mental are the vectorial and polar force-relations which hereto-
fore have been little regarded because of the difficulty of defin-
ing and of measuring them satisfactorily. Many of the prob-
lems of crystal equilibria are of such a nature that in order to
effect a complete solution neither thermodynamics alone is ade-
quate, because of its inherent inability to treat vectorial and
polar properties properly, nor is crystallography alone adequate,
because it considers chiefly the single crystal. Progress can best
be made by bringing to bear on the problem both thermody-

WRIGHT! CRYSTALS AND CRYSTAL FORCES 331

namics and crystallography. The recognition and delineation
of the fields of application of thermodynamics and of crystallog-
raphy in problems of crystal equilibria is an essential step in
the solution of such problems ; but before this can be done satis-
factorily more quantitative data on interatomic crystal forces
are required.

The rock-making minerals. As a good example of the kind
of problem in which crystal configurations of certain types per-
sist over a great range of conditions of formation, the rock-
making minerals may be cited. The most remarkable fact in
petrology is the relatively few rock-making mineral species,
especially in igneous rocks. These few minerals persist the
world over and constitute the major part of the rocks of the
earth's crust; and yet their number can be counted on the
fingers of the two hands — thus quartz, the feldspars, micas,
amphiboles, pyroxenes, nephelite, and calcite predominate; mag-
netite, zircon, apatite are also common, but their total amount
is small. This persistency of a few mineral species, notwith-
standing great diversity in conditions of formation and in chemi-
cal composition, is fundamental. In magma solutions such fac-
tors as temperature, pressure, solubility relations, rates of reac-
tion, change in composition by virtue of escape of volatile com-
ponents, and crystal nucleation enter the problem; but it appears
that, in spite of the great diversity possible in such complex chemi-
cal systems, the crystal groupings of the chemical elements,
which do result, are exceedingly few in number. These group-
ings represent, of course, the resultant of all the forces involved;
the problem is in part to ascertain the relative importance of
these several factors. It may be inferred that possibly the domi-
nating factor in the crystallization of a magma is the stability
of certain crystal types or configurations and that these assert
themselves notwithstanding tendencies toward other groupings
which thermodynamically are more stable. Of crystallographic
interatomic forces we know but little. The facts of observation
are, however, too patent to be disregarded in any consideration
of rock genesis, and are here cited as the kind of problem in
which a better understanding of crystal forces and of crystals is

332 eakle: xanthophyllite in limestone

essential to an adequate solution. The study of crystals from
the viewpoint of crystal forces is an integral part of geophysical
and geochemical research.

MINERALOGY. — Xanthophyllite in crystalline limestone. Ar-
thur S. Eakle, University of California, Berkeley, Cali-
fornia. (Communicated by Edson S. Bastin.)

The rare brittle mica xanthophyllite has not been reported
from any localities other than those in the district of Slatoust
in the Ural Mountains, where it, and its variety waluewite, were
found.

The xanthophyllite described and named by Gustav Rose1
was a wax-yellow mineral in scales and plates, occurring as a
constituent of a talc-schist in the Shiskimskaya Mountains, in
the Urals, and this yellow color was probably exceptional.

Many years later the green variety was found, and named
waluewite by Kohscharof.2 The waluewite occurred as a con-
stituent of chlorite schist in the Nicolai-Maximilian Mine, near
Slatoust. Small veins of calcite which occurred in the schist
also contained flakes of the mineral, merely as inclusions, how-
ever. The original yellow xanthophyllite and green waluewite
were schist minerals; so it may be of value to note the occurrence
of the green waluewite in another locality, and as a contact
metamorphic mineral in crystalline limestone, in association with
monticellite.

The isolated hill of crystalline limestone and granodiorite
situated at Crestmore, about eight miles west of Riverside, Cali-
fornia, is one of the best studies in contact metamorphism that
exists anywhere, and upwards of fifty mineral species, among
them the recently described new mineral, wilkeite,3 have been
found in the same quarry. The white marbleized limestone
rests as a capping upon a base of granodiorite, and the general
metamorphism of the original limestone beds has probably been

1 Pogg. Ann. d. Phys. u. Chem. 50: 654. 1840. Also in his "Reise nach dem
Ural," 2: 120, 514, 527. 1842.

2 Zeits. fur Kryst. 2: 51. 1877. Also in his Mineral d. Russ. 7: 346.

3 Eakle, A. S., and Rogers, A. F. Amer. Jour. Sci. 39: 262. 1914.

eakle: xanthophyllite in limestone 333

due to intrusion of, and contact with, this igneous mass. Meta-
morphism has been repeated, however, in portions of the rock
mass by later injection of dikes and hot solutions, and in conse-
quence parts of the hill have been mineralogically enriched
by further development of lime-magnesia-silica minerals. The
Crestmore waluewite was thickly disseminated in some of the
sky-blue calcite of the Commercial quarry on the northeast side
of the hill, as indicated by the specimens saved from destruction.
It is said that tons of the sky-blue calcite containing the walue-
wite were quarried and used for road-making, for sugar refining,
and for cement, and in consequence, all of it has disappeared.

The waluewite occurs mainly as isolated, hexagon-shaped,
basal plates of a deep grass-green color. The sizes of the plates
vary greatly, some measuring 3 to 4 cm. in diameter and 2 to 3
cm. thick. The average size of the crystals is about 5 mm. in
breadth and 4 mm. in thickness. The plates are transparent
with a brilliant and somewhat pearly luster, but the edges are
dull, rounded and grooved, and the measured angles did not
approximate any of the forms given by Kohscharof . The plates
are very brittle with a hardness of 4-5. The thicker crystals
show polysynthetic twinning like the micas, and under the micro-
scope they extinguish in striated sectors and give a confused
axial figure. The thinner crystals and cleavage plates give a
good biaxial figure with an apparent optic angle of ahout 20?
Measurements of the optic angle in sodium light showed a
variation from 12° to 18? The optic axial plane is (100) and
the mineral is optically negative. The refractive indices j3 and
7 which lie in the basal section are practically the same and
were determined as 1.660.

Several analyses of the xanthophyllite and waluewite from the
Urals have been published and the analysis of the Crestmore
mineral agrees with them.

The associated monticellite is scattered through the calcite
as small masses and grains. It appears to be more segregated
along the cleavage planes of the calcite rhombohedrons, and is
often in close association with the flakes of waluewite and occa-
sionally includes the waluewite. One large specimen shows a

334

eakle: xanthophyllite in limestone

wide band of massive monticellite, indicating that it was an
abundant mineral. The color is pale brown and luster somewhat
greasy. There are no crystal faces visible. The analysis gave:
Si02, 36.02; FeO, 2.82; CaO, 34.36; MgO, 24.74; Ign., 1.25;
total, 99.19.

TABLE I
Analyses of Waltjewite from Crestmore and Slatoust

Si02

16.74

42.70

2.85

0.41

13.09

20.03

4.49

16.39

43.40

1.57

0.10

13.04

20.38

4.39

16.85

Ti02

tr.

A1203

Fe203

FeO

CaO

MgO

42.33

2.35

0.20

13.30

20.77

Ie:n

4.60

100.31

99.27

100.40

1. Average composition of waluewite from Crestmore, California. Sp. gr.
3.081.

2. Analysis by Nikolajen of waluewite from Nikolai-Maximilian Mine, Dis-
trict of Slatoust, Urals. Zeit. fiir Krys. 9: 579. (Abstract).

3. Analysis by Clarke and Schneider of waluewite from Nikolai-Maximilian
Mine, District of Slatoust, Urals. Amer. Jour. Sci. 43: 379. 1892.

The association of the two minerals is of particular interest,
because waluewite may be viewed as having the composition of
monticellite with the spinel and alumina hydrate molecules. In
the discussion by Clarke and Schneider of the constitution of
the members of the clintonite group it was suggested that walue-
wite may have the monticellite molecule in addition to its spinel
and olivine molecules, although no direct association of the two
was then known.

The two Crestmore minerals are products of hydrothermal
metamorphism of the limestone, and the waluewite has crystal-
lized in a lime carbonate solution in which the monticellite mole-
cule was the predominating component of the silicate mixture

swingle: new citrous genus, pamburus 335

and presumably governed the formation of the waluewite, the
small excess of silica and all of the alumina entering into the
waluewite which formed somewhat prior to the monticellite.

Monticellite occurred in large masses, while the waluewite was
quite subordinate in amount. The composition of waluewite
suggests a mineral mixture of monticellite + olivine + spinal +
diaspore in the respective approximate ratio of 6 : 1 : 5 : 6.

The recrystallization of the limestone produced a pure blue
calcite with coarse rhombohedral texture. Cleavage rhombo-
hedrons several centimeters in diameter can be broken from the
mass.

The source of the magnesia, alumina and silica is somewhat
problematical. The original limestone was not especially dolo-
mitic or argillaceous as the main limestone capping averages
about 2 per cent magnesia and about the same in insolubles.
The blue calcite with its monticellite, waluewite, vesuvianite,
diopside, wilkeite, etc., is very localized in its development,
occurring in patches and bands or zones. It suggests an occur-
rence near the contact with former dikes or apophyses of igneous
rock, and it appears highly probable that the assimilation of the
magnesian-felspathic constituents of these intrusions with the
lime carbonate by the action of hot magmatic solutions had
produced these localized occurrences of hydrometamorphic
minerals.

BOTANY. — Pamburus, a new genus related to Citrus, from India.
Walter T. Swingle, Bureau of Plant Industry.

In 1833 Dr. Robert Wight described as a new species Limonia
missionis, a small, spiny tree from the sandy coastal regions of
southern India. In 1861 this species was referred to the genus
Atalantia by Oliver, who notes, however, that it is " rather iso-
lated in its general fades as well as by precise characters."1
Subsequent botanical writers have followed Oliver in referring
this plant to Atalantia.

1 Oliver, D. Nat. order Aurantiaceae. Journ. Linn. Soc. 5 (suppl. 2) : 12.
1861.

336 swingle: new citrous genus, pamburus

In the course of a revision of the plants related to Citrus it has
been possible for the writer to examine much material referred
to the genus Atalantia and it has become evident that decidedly
diverse plants have been put into this genus. The true Atalan-
tias congeneric with the type species, A. monophylla (Roxb.)
DC, have fruit resembling miniature oranges, with pulp vesicles
somewhat like those of other citrous fruits. Atalantia missionis,
on the contrary, has, as noted by Wight in the original descrip-
tion, a small fruit with cells "containing a very glutinous muci-
laginous fluid." Besides this very significant distinction, A.
missionis differs from A. monophylla and its congeners in having
the anthers linear-oblong instead of broadly ovoid, and in hav-
ing a tall, narrow disk supporting the ovary, instead of a very
short, thick one. The leaves differ widely from those of the
true Atalantias in texture and venation, being thick, glabrous,
with both faces nearly alike, and velvety gray-green when dry,
showing only a very few obscure lateral veins and no reticulate
veinlets.

Because of these numerous points of difference, some of them
of much taxonomic value in this group, it seems necessary to
create a new genus, Pamburus,2 to include this remarkable species.

Pamburus Swingle, gen. nov.3

Much-branched thorny shrubs or small trees; young branches angled,
becoming rounded when older, with single stout sharp straight thorns
at one side of the bud in the axils of the leaves. Leaves unifoliolate,

2 From the Singhalese name pamburu.

3 Pamburus Swingle, gen. nov., Paramignyae affinis, sed frutex vel arbuscula,
foliis crassis, coriaceis, utrinque similibus, venis inconspicuis, petiolis brevibus,
rectis, pulvinis carentibus, ovario disco magno innixo.

Folia unifoliolata, petiolis brevibus apteris; laminae crassae, siccitate cinereo-
virides, superficiebus superioribus et inferioribus similibus, venis secondares
inconspicuis, tertiis carentibus; spinae singulae, rectae, axillares. Flores magni-
tudine mediocres, odoratae; petala alba, obovata, caduca; stamina libera,
filamentis tenuibus, subulatis; stylus tenuis; stigma subglobosum diametro
stylo multo majus; ovarium 5-4-loculare, ovulis in loculo binis. Fructus subglo-
bosus, cortice ut in Citro carnosa, loculis 1-2-spermis, liquoris glutinosi plenis.
Semina subglobosa.

Arbusculae vel frutices ramosi, spinosi, ramulis junioribus angulosis. Species
typica, Pamburus missionis (Limonia missionis Wight). Habitat in India.

swingle: new citrous genus, pamburus 337

thick; lateral veins inconspicuous, not visibly connected by reticulate
veinlets; petioles short, more or less margined but not winged, not
articulated with the lamina. Flowers small, 5- or 4-merous, borne in
short racemes in the axils of the leaves on rather long pedicels.
Calyx small, 4-5-lobed; sepals acute. Flower buds globose when
young. Petals 5 or 4, white, obovate. Stamens free, 8-10 (twice as
many as the petals); filaments free, slender, glabrous; anthers large,
erect, linear-oblong. Pistil stipitate, seated on the prominent cylindric
disk; style slender, short, ending in the much thicker subglobose stigma;
ovary subglobose 5- or 4-celled, with 2 ovules in each cell. Fruits
globose, like a small orange in appearance, with the cells usually con-
taining a single seed surrounded by a glutinous mucilaginous fluid
(lacking true pulp vesicles). Peel rather thick, firm, with numerous
oil glands. Seeds subglobose. Germination unknown.

Type species, P. missionis {Limonia missionis Wight), native to
India.

The genus Pamburus differs from Paramignyain having short petioles,
lacking the pulvini characteristic of the latter genus, and in the very
different character of the leaves which are nearly veinless and very
similar on both faces. The spines of Pamburus are straight or nearly
so, not recurved as in Paramignya. Pamburus is a tree or shrub, not
a perennial woody liane like Paramignya. Pamburus differs widely
from Merope in the character of the fruit and seeds, and from Lavanga
in having unifoliolate leaves. Hesperethusa, Triphasia, and Severina
differ widely in leaf and fruit characters.

Pamburus belongs with the genera mentioned above in a group
characterized by small soft-rinded fruits having the segments filled with
a sticky fluid. The true citrous fruits differ from this group in having
soft-rinded fruits, but the segments filled with pulp vesicles. The
hard-shelled citrous fruits are again different and have large fruits with
a hard, usually woody rind, though likewise cells filled with a sticky
fluid.

In the peculiar structure of its leaves Pamburus is unique in the
tribe Citreae, though possibly showing some analogy with the xero-
phytic Eremocitrus4 of Australia.

Only one species of Pamburus is known:5

4 Swingle, Walter T. Eremocitrus, a new genus of hardy drouth-resistant
citrous fruits from Australia. Journ. Agric. Research, 2: 86. 1914.

b. Chilocalyx ellipticus Turcz., cited in Index Kewensis and Hook. Fl. Brit.
Ind. (1: 513.) as a synonym of Atalantia missionis, is probably based on Atalantia
monophylla. It certainly is not synonymous with the present species.

338 swingle: new citrous genus, pamburus

Pamburus missionis (Wight) Swingle, comb. nov.

Limonia(?) missionis Wall. Cat. No. 6358. 1832 (nomen nudum).

Limonia missionis Wight in Hook. Bot. Misc. 3: 291, pi. 38. 1833.

Atalantia missionis Oliv. Journ. Linn. Soc. 5 (suppl. 2): 25. 1861.

A much-branched shrub or small tree, armed with stout straight
spines, these 2-3 cm. long, arising singly (or rarely in pairs?) on the
side of the bud in the axils of the leaves. Leaves oval, oblong-obovate
or elliptical, 6-10 cm. long, 2-A cm. broad, very thick, coriaceous, glan-
dular-punctate, the tip rounded, sometimes slightly emarginate, the
base narrowed rather abruptly into the petiole, the margin entire,
becoming gray and apparently crenate in drying; lateral veins incon-
spicuous, tertiary ones not apparent, the two faces very similar in
appearance, drying to velvety gray-green unlike those of any other
member of the subfamily Citratae. Flowers 12-20 mm. in diameter,
fragrant, with small pointed sepals and 5 or 4 white obovate caducous
petals about 1 cm. long. Pistil about 1 cm. long. Fruit about 2.5
cm. in diameter, orange-colored when ripe, with a thick peel dotted
with oil-glands, 5-4-celled, the cells containing 1 or 2 seeds surrounded
by a sticky gum.

Type locality: Tanjore District, Madras Presidency, Southern
India.

Distribution: Southern India and Ceylon, in low flat country near
the coast.

The writer has had opportunity to study authentic cotypes, collected
by Dr. Wight, in the Kew Herbarium, as well as other material from
India and Ceylon.

POSSIBLE UTILIZATION OF PAMBURUS

It is possible that Pamburus is closely enough related to the
true citrous fruits to serve as a stock upon which they can be
grafted. The peculiar leaves of this species, unlike those of any
other member of the orange subfamily, make it probable that it
will be found to possess climatic or soil requirements different
from those of related genera. This species has not yet been
introduced into the United States, but it is hoped that it may be
secured soon. It is native to southern India and Ceylon and,
according to Trimen,6 is rather common in the low country,
chiefly in the dry region of Ceylon.

« Trimen, H. Handbook Fl. Ceylon, 1: 228. 1893.

COOK AND COOK: NAMES OF SWEET POTATOES 339

ETHNOBOTANY. — Polynesian names of sweet potatoes. O. F.
Cook, Bureau of Plant Industry, and Robert Carter Cook.

The same word, cumara or kumara, serves as a name for the
sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) among the Quichua or Inca peo-
ple of Peru and in the Polynesian islands. The fact was recog-
nized over half a century ago when Seemann recorded the use of
the word in Ecuador. In the Urubamba valley of southern
Peru, on the eastern slope of the Andes below Cuzco, there are
two native names for different classes of sweet potatoes, apichu
for the sweet varieties and cumara for those that are merely
starchy.1

That an important crop plant should have the same name
among the Polynesians as in the interior of Peru might be taken
as proof of a recent introduction, just as the Polynesian name
pooka was taken at first to demonstrate that pigs were brought
by Europeans. Later it was pointed out that the Polynesian
pigs could not have come from Europe because they belonged to
an Asiatic or Malayan species. The name poaka, in spite of its
obvious likeness to the Spanish puerco or the English porker, is
accepted by the best authorities as a genuine Polynesian word.

To insist that kumara can not be a Polynesian word because
it appears in the Quichua language of Peru would be like saying
that puaka could not be Polynesian because the Greeks and
Romans had porcus. If kumara, poaka, or other words for par-
ticular animals or plants reappear in different languages, the fact
needs to be recognized and taken into account in tracing the ori-
gins of the domesticated species and their relation to the exten-
sion of agriculture in prehistoric times.

Thus far the word kumara seems not to have been challenged
as a foreign element by any student of the Polynesian language.
Certainly it does not appear un-Polynesian, in view of the fre-
quent occurrence of the sounds and syllables of which it is com-
posed. Among such words as kakara (odor), kapura (fire), ka-
roro (sea-gull), korora (mussel), mamara (charcoal), marara (fly-

1 Cook, O. F. Quichua names of the sweet potato. Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci.
6: 86. 1916.

340 CCOK and cook: names of sweet potatoes

ing-fish), tauama (outrigger canoe), and tamara (palm leaves),
kumara seems fairly at home. It is also very widely distributed,
with only slight modifications, conforming with the changes of
consonant sounds in some of the dialects. The following varia-
tions of the word are brought together by Tregear: kumaa
(Marquesas), kumala (Tonga), uala (Hawaii), umala (Samoa),
umara (Tahiti), uwala (Hawaii), with kumara recorded for New
Zealand, Rarotonga, Easter Island, Mangareva, and Paumotu.
Hooarra was recorded as the Hawaiian name of the sweet potato
in 1778, by Captain Cook's expedition.

Possible cognates or derivatives of kumara are numerous in
the Maori language, including kumanu, to tend carefully; ku-
more, cape or headland; kumete, dish, bowl, or trough; kume, to
pull out; kumu, to draw back. Whakakumu is the name of one
of the New Zealand varieties of sweet potato, and kumu also
means fist, or portions of food squeezed out with the hand. The
growing sweet potato crop was called maara in New Zealand,
reminding of malla, the Quichua word for a young plant. Ka-
mala is a word for thatch in Hawaii, where kumara vines were
often used for this purpose. Kalau is another Hawaiian word
which means either a thatch of leaves or vines of sweet potatoes,
or to work inefficiently, the sweet potato materials being but
poorly adapted to the purpose. Kalina is defined by Andrews as
"old potato vines that have done bearing," or "a garden of po-
tatoes where the old refuse potatoes only remain." Kalina and
ilina, the latter meaning burial-place in Hawaii, are suggestive
of the Quichua word illuni, meaning to dig for roots. Other
Quichua words are cullquini, meaning "to dig with a stick,"
and culluna, a silo or subterranean storehouse.

In New Zealand the words kapuka and kepura are both said to
mean "a handful of potatoes." Two native New Zealand plants,
Pomaderris elliptica and Quintonia serrata, are called kumarahou,
but the relation to kumara is not indicated. Hau is a general
name for Paritium tiliaceum, a shrub widely cultivated among
the Polynesians for the sake of its fibrous bark.

In Hawaii, where the name of the sweet potato is softened into
uala, the same word is applied to the large muscles of the upper

COOK AND COOK! NAMES OF SWEET POTATOES 341

arm, by an analogy easily understood. In Easter Island, where
the full form of the word kumara is used, there is a word, komari,
also applied to parts of the human body. Komala means pleas-
ant in Hawaii.

Dried sweet potatoes are called kao in New Zealand and ao
in Hawaii, where the same is applied to dried taro or to Alocasia.
Koiri, in New Zealand, means "to plant potatoes," and a variety
of sweet potatoes is called koiwi. Other meanings of kao are
rib, core, shoot, or terminal bud of a plant. The Hawaiians
called the sea-bread or hardtack of the English ships ao when they
first saw it. Kao suggests kaya, the Quichua name for dried
ocas (Oxalis). Kauno, in Quichua, means withered or dried in
the sun; kaunu, dried cane or corn stalks; potatoes after freezing,
chuno or chunu; potatoes left behind in the field, koyo. Kaunu
and chunu are obviously related, like the German kauen and the
English chew.

According to Martius the sweet potato is called coundi by two
tribes of Indians in Brazil, while in Florida kunti is the native name
of the edible cycad Zamia. In the Lucumayo valley of south-
ern Peru the rootstocks of Xanthosoma, an aroid closely simi-
lar to the taro of the Polynesians, are dried "to make chufws."
In the vicinity of Ollantaytambo, Peru, a native medicinal plant
with thickened roots, somewhat resembling the dried ocas, is
called kayakaya.

The Hawaiians had two words, haaweawee and pahulu for
second-growth sweet potatoes, or those that spring up from roots
left behind at the harvest, just as the Quichuas have koyo, acacha,
cachu, and ihua (eewa) for potatoes left in the ground or growing
in the old fields. In New Zealand gleanings of root crops are
called wairan, but the word kaunga is applied to sweet potatoes
that will not grow when planted. Another meaning of kaunga
is "smelling unpleasantly," which would be a natural connection
if the word related to stored potatoes that had begun to decay.

In some of the Polynesian islands kao is not defined as relat-
ing to dried sweet potatoes, but is used in the sense of "grabbling,"
taking a few of the roots from the hill without disturbing the
plant. In explaining the connection Tregear states that the im-

342 COOK and cook: names of sweet potatoes

mature roots are used to make kao, presumably because they
dry better while the flesh is still starchy, before much sugar is
formed.

Related perhaps, to kao and kaunga, are kauahi, kauati, kau-
hure, kaunaki, and kaunoti, which are Maori names relating to
the sticks that are used for making fire by friction, the wood for
this purpose being kept, of course, very dry. Kauati, in the
Paumotu islands, means to make fire; auwaki are fire-sticks in
Hawaii, and kahu is fire or to burn. In New Zealand again,
kauhuri means "to dig; to turn over the soil." Hurt, in some of
the islands, means to dig, but in others seed, suckers, or offshoots
used for planting. The Quichua name for a green corn-stalk or
sugar-cane is huiro.

That kao and kahu may be related words is further suggested
by the fact that one of the Hawaiian varieties is called kahe and
one of the New Zealand varieties pokerekahu. The Maori name
of the yam is uwhikaho. Although in the Maori language kahu
is not reckoned as a name of fire, it is the name of the hawk,
the god of fire, reckoned as a child of the fire-goddess Mahuika.
Moreover, Kahukura was the name of the rainbow-god of the
Maoris, and also the name of the man who, according to one
tradition, brought the kumara to New Zealand, together with
the taro, the bottle-gourd, and the yam. The traditions indi-
cate that the dried sweet potatoes had great importance in former
times among the Maoris, perhaps as affording their only supplies
of food that could be kept over from one season to another.

In addition to the drying of sweet potatoes to make kao, the
leaves of the plant were eaten, as they are by the Quichuas in
South America. The Hawaiian word palula is defined as the
leaf of the sweet potato, and as a dish made by roasting sweet
potato leaves on hot stones. The word resembles pahulu, de-
fined as "potatoes of a second growth," and ponalo, "the dying
or drying up of potato tops.'"

The status of sweet potato varieties among the Polynesians
affords the most definite evidence of long-standing possession
and familiarity. While almost nothing in the way of detailed

COOK AND COOK: NAMES OF SWEET POTATOES 343

information regarding the Polynesian varieties seems to have
been placed on record, the facts that have been noted incidentally
by writers on ethnology and language are sufficient to show that
numerous varieties of sweet potatoes are recognized and distin-
guished by native names, in the same way that large numbers
of potato and other root crop varieties are named among the
Quichuas in Peru, although very few of these names have been
recorded in the published vocabularies of the Quichua language.

Although domesticated plants afford significant data for the
study of the contacts and relations of primitive peoples, plant
names have seldom received much attention from philologists
and ethnologists. From New Zealand, however, about 40 na-
tive names of varieties of sweet potato have been published, from
different districts, the largest list, containing 25 names, sup-
posed to represent nearly as many different sorts.2

A similar diversity of varieties might be found in other islands,
but from most of the groups no varietal names have been re-
corded, while in others a few names have been noted incidentally,
such as Manana, "the name of a kind of sweet potato," in Ha-
waii. In the same group "very small potatoes with red veins"

2 Three lists of native varieties of sweet potato have appeared in the Journal
of the Polynesian Society (2: 102, 3: 144, and 3: 237). Arranged in alphabetical
order to facilitate comparison, the names are as follows:

List 1. (Locality not given.) Kaihaka, Kaipo, Kanawa, Kaoto, Korehe,
Kotepo, Maomao, Taurapunga, Toroamahoe, Tukau, Waina, Waniwani, Whaka-
kumu. The variety called Waina is noted as having been introduced early in
the nineteenth century.

List 2. East Cape district: Anutipoki, Huiupoko, Kawakawa, Kerikaraka,
Kokorangi, Koreherehe, Makakauere (Makakauri or Matakauri), Makutu, Mata-
waiwai, Moii, Monehu, Xgakaukuri, Paea, Papahaoa, Para-karaka (same as
Makutu), Paretaua, Patea, Pokere-kahu, Puatahoe (said to produce flowers),
Punuiarata, Tanehurangi, Taratamata, Taurapunga, Toroamahoe, Waiha (or
Waniwani) (same as Huiupoko), Wini. All of these varieties are said to have
been cultivated in New Zealand before the arrival of Europeans.

List 3. West Coast of the North Island: Anurangi, Aorangi, Arikaka, Kahu-
toto, Kopuanganga, Kotipu, Monenehu, Pehu, Pokere-kahu, Rangiora, Taputini,
Toroamahoe.

Other New Zealand varieties mentioned by Tregear are Koiwi, Ruamataki,
and Torowhenua, the last name said to be used also in the Marquesas group,
where Maori is also the name of a sweet potato variety.

344 COOK and cook: names of sweet potatoes

and " water-soaked potatoes" are called kokokooha, koko being
the name of the fibers of the leaf-bases of the coconut palm, or
a net of braided strings to hold a calabash. One of the Hawai-
ian varieties is called Apo, while apoapo means a hill of sweet
potatoes, reappearing in New Zealand as apuapu. Other Hawai-
ian names for varieties of sweet potatoes mentioned in Andrews'
Dictionary are Kahe, Kipawale, and Koloaha. The variety called
Kihi is said to be "the ancient potato of Hawaii."

Some writers have thought that the sweet potato must be a
recent acquisition among the Polynesians, because of the many
myths and traditions relating to its introduction. But such evi-
dence appears to have a different signification when we consider
how much the Polynesians were given to family pride and
genealogies. To say that one's forefathers came in the canoe
that brought the kumara certainly did not mean that the family
was recent, but was the Maori way of claiming a Mayflower
ancestry. White has given us a detailed account showing how
acutely the subject was debated by the Maoris, and the inten-
sity of feeling is reflected in the care taken by that author to
report the controversy in such a way as to avoid the appearance
of taking sides and thus offending some of his native neighbors.

If weight is to be given to traditions of the introduction of
sweet potatoes, account must also be taken of the myths and
cosmographies that represent the sweet potato as one of the
primeval possessions of the human race, the first plant to be
recognized among the heavenly gifts. Thus the Maori pan-
theon began with Void (Kore) and Darkness (Po) as the parents
of Heaven (Rangi) and Earth (Papa). In the third generation
of deities came Tane, god of trees, forests, and birds; Tango-
tango, god of day and night; and Wai-nui, the goddess of water.
Tane figures as the grandfather of sweet potatoes and the bottle-
gourd, the former by his oldest child, the latter by his youngest.
The passage treating of the sweet potato is as follows:

Tane took to wife Hine-rau-a-moa and begat Rongo-ma-Tane, who
was the parent, origin, or personification of the kumara (sweet potatoe)
and of cultivation and the arts of peace; and Hine-te-iwaiwa, the
guardian of motherhood; and Tangaroa, the Polynesian Neptune, who

COOK AND COOK: NAMES OF SWEET POTATOES 345

stands in the same relation to the ocean and the fish thereof as does
Tane to forests and birds.3

In this, as in many other myths and traditions of the Maoris,
the sweet potato has precedence over all other crops and plants,
and it may be significant that the bottle-gourd, another plant
that the Polynesians shared with the natives of South America,
is in this case the second in order of consideration, before the
taro or other plants cultivated by the Maoris.

Tregear has made a careful study of the ancient religious
myths of the Polynesians and finds many that are closely paral-
lel to those of the Mediterranean countries. He compares the
god Maui of New Zealand with the Egyptian Osiris, and his wife
Hina or Pani with Isis, Ceres, Diana, and other goddesses of
agriculture and fecundity among the Asiatic and Mediterranean
peoples. Maui is associated with the sun and Hina with the
moon. Kura-a-Maui is recorded as a poetic name of the sweet
potato among the New Zealanders, kura meaning red or royal,
or a wreath of red flowers, as worn by the ancient heroes, ac-
cording to the traditions. There was also a sacred or priestly
name of the sweet potato, kurawhiti. Maui was invoked in
planting kumaras, but the formal incantation was addressed to

3 Best, E. Notes on Maori mythology. Journal of the Polynesian Society,
8: 95.

The kumara figures in many of the myths of this collection, including several
that have to do with the sun and stars, as in the following passages:

"The sun has two wives. One wife lives in the south; her work is the culti-
vation of food, and her name is Aroaro-a-manu or Raumati (Warmth or Summer).
The other wife is Hine-takurua (Winter) ; she dwells on the ocean, and her task
is the taking of fish. In the winter the Sun goes to the ocean and dwells with
Hine-takurua. In the month O-toru [of the Maori year] the sun returns to land
to his wife Raumati, who cultivates the kumara. It is then summer."

"Hoko-kumara is a name for Matariki (Pleiades). When Matariki rises in
the east the kumara is sown."

"When Whanui [the star Vega] is seen flashing above the eastern horizon as
autumn approaches, then the cry resounds : 'Ko Whanui E-El Ko Wahnui!' For
that is the sign for taking up the kumara crop. If the kumara [sweet potato]
be not dug then, the crop will be spoilt and will not keep. Such kumara as are
left in the ground become houhunga, good to eat but will not keep. Potatoes are
dug in the month Pou-tu-te-rangi. If left too late they will be spoilt, in which
state they are termed tauhere or puakiweu."

346 COOK and cook: names of sweet potatoes

Pani. Large sweet potatoes of a special form were sacred to
Pani and were not eaten. They were called "Pani's canoe"
and the finding of them was considered a special omen from the
goddess, presaging fertility. Boats were among the symbols of
Isis, and one of her names was Pania.4

In New Zealand, elaborate ceremonies were performed when
the kumara crop was planted, the seed tubers being selected with
the greatest care by a priest, as was also the place in which they
were planted. Over each tuber a special incantation was chanted
and it was placed in the ground with the head slightly raised
and pointed toward the east. One of the legends dealing with
the introduction of the kumara tells how those who went to get
them traveled toward the rising sun, and how their canoe was
kept by enchantment for many days in the same place in the
ocean, meaning, perhaps, that no land was sighted for many
days.

Several times during the growth of the kumara crop religious
rites were observed, and when the roots were harvested still an-
other series of ceremonies was enacted, the first fruits of the
crop being given to the gods of kumara.5 The extent to which
the religious precautions were carried is indicated by Tregear's
definition of the word whakamahunga: "The ceremony of mak-
ing sacred those who planted or dug up the kumara. After the
first-fruits had been offered to Pani, the cultivators became com-
mon (noa), or no longer under restriction."

To judge from the facts noted in this brief review of the sub-
ject, the word kumara must still be accepted as the Polynesian
name of the sweet potato, notwithstanding that the same word
is applied to the same crop among the Quichuas of the eastern
valleys of the Andes, below Cuzco. In view of the general dis-
tribution of the plant and its name among the Polynesians, the
use of the leaves and the dried roots, and their special names,
the development and naming of numerous varieties, and finally
the many myths and traditions connected with the sweet potato,

4 Teegear, E. Asiatic gods in the Pacific. Journal of the Polynesian Society,
2: 145. 1893.

5 White. Ancient History of the Maori, vol. 3, preface.

DU BOIS: BASAL ENERGY REQUIREMENT OF MAN 347

it does not seem reasonable to believe that the introduction of the
plant occurred within the period of exploration of the Pacific by
Europeans. Nothing need be said of the reports of the early
explorers who found sweet potatoes already in the islands.

If the sweet potato had come to the Polynesians in recent
times from an outside source it is practically inconceivable that
the same name should have been distributed and adopted in so
many islands. In this respect there is a notable contrast with
the many distinct names for sweet potatoes among the native
tribes of the American continent. The many traditions or myths
regarding the kumara in the Pacific may mean nothing to which
any definite significance can be attached, but at least they show
how deeply the kumara was embedded in the existence of the
islanders. The sweet potato, like the coconut palm, had rela-
tively greater importance among the Polynesians than in other
parts of the world.

PHYSIOLOGY. — The basal energy requirement of man.1 Eugene
F. Du Bois, M.D.

It is not too much to say that the science of nutrition is founded
on the study of the basal energy requirement. Therefore it
seems advisable to spend our time today on this aspect of the
subject as an introduction to the subsequent lectures of the
series. First we shall consider the definition of the term, basal
energy requirement, next the manner in which it is studied, and
finally the factors by which it is influenced in health and disease.

The energy requirement of a man is represented by the number
of food calories, or heat units, required to balance the calories of
his heat production. The two are equal, because food oxidized
in the body gives off just as much heat as food burned outside
the body. The basal requirenent is the minimal requirement
or lowest heat production, and this condition is found only when
an individual is lying down, at complete rest in the morning,

1 A lecture delivered before the Washington Academy of Sciences, April 7,
1916. From the Russell Sage Institute of Pathology, in affiliation with the Sec-
ond Medical Division of Bellevue Hospital, New York.

348 du bois: basal energy requirement of man

fourteen hours or more after his last meal. There are many
synonyms for the ierai basal energy requirement, and it has
seemed advisable to group them in a list so as to straighten out
misunderstandings.

Synonyms of Basal Energy Requirement

Basal metabolism "Niichtern" metabolism

Basal caloric requirement Post-absorptive metabolism

Basal caloric production Total energy exchange

Basal heat production Total gaseous exchange

Minimal metabolism Total respiratory exchange
Total metabolism

Of all of these synonyms the term basal metabolism is perhaps
the best and most scientific. Metabolism includes the absorp-
tion of foods, their oxidations and transformations into body
constituents, and also the later oxidations of these tissues. Such
are the energy exchanges of the body, taking place with the con-
sumption of oxygen and the formation of carbon dioxid, these
gases being carried to and from the blood by means of the respi-
ratory apparatus.

On looking over this formidable list of synonyms one gets the
impression that scientists have spent much time in coining phrases
and have tried to make two words grow where one grew before.
Still we can have the recompense of knowing that when we have
understood the term basal metabolism we have mastered a con-
siderable portion of the dictionary.

Lavoisier was the first to make experiments on the respiratory
metabolism and to grasp their significance. A long time afterwards
Pettenkofer and Voit constructed the famous respiration cham-
ber in Munich that gave Voit the data on which he founded our
modern science of nutrition. His pupil Rubner with his own
hands constructed a respiration chamber which was at the same
time a calorimeter. By means of this Rubner was able to prove
that foods are oxidized in the animal body in very much the same
way that they are oxidized in the bomb calorimeter or the Liebig
combustion furnace. The process is slower but just as complete,
except for the urea portion of the protein molecule. No heat

DU BOIS: BASAL ENERGY REQUIREMENT OF MAN 349

is lost, for the law of the conservation of energy applies to the
animal organism.

Meanwhile Zuntz and his pupils were making very important
contributions to the science, using an apparatus which collected
the expired air during periods ten to twenty minutes long. They
were the first to grasp the importance of the modern standard
conditions used in determining the basal metabolism. Their
subjects were studied in the morning before breakfast, lying re-
laxed on a couch. Magnus-Levy examined a large number of pa-
tients in this manner and made great advances in our knowledge
of the metabolism in disease. Zuntz, Loewy, and Durig used a
portable apparatus in the study of the physiology of walking
and other forms of muscular exercise.

America's greatest contribution to the science of nutrition was
the Atwater-Rosa calorimeter, devised in Middletown, Con-
necticut. This was a small chamber about the size of a ship's
state-room, equipped with a folding bed, a chair, a table, and a
stationary bicycle. In it a man could live for a week or two,
comfortably, but perhaps monotonously. His heat production
was measured in two different ways. First, by the method of
direct calorimetry, which determined by physical methods the
heat of vaporization and of radiation and conduction; second,
by analysis of the oxygen consumption and carbon dioxid pro-
duction the grams of protein, fat, and carbohydrate oxidized each
hour, this being the method of indirect calorimetry. Results
obtained by these entirely different methods agreed perfectly.
Atwater and his associates, Rosa and Benedict, established the
fact that the law of the conservaton of energy applied to man.
They also made important contributions to our knowledge of the
utilization of foods, and of the dietary requirements under vari-
ous circumstances. After the retirement of Atwater two groups
of his assistants carried on his work. Langworthy and Milner
moved with the famous calorimeter to the Department of Agri-
culture in Washington. Benedict and Carpenter built several
new calorimeters and established in Boston the Nutrition Lab-
oratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Here they
have not only made great advances in technique but have also

Fig. 1. — Schematic diagram of the Atwater-Rosa-Benedict respiration calorimeter.

Ventilating System:

02, Oxygen introduced as consumed
by subject.

3, H2SO4, to catch moisture given
off by soda lime.

2, Soda lime to remove CO2.

1, H2SO4 to remove moisture given

off by patient.
Bl., Blower to keep air in circulation.
Indirect Calorimetry:
Increase in weight of H2C<04 (1) =

water elimination ol subject.
Increase in weight of soda lime (2) +

increase in weight of H2SO4 (3) =

CO2 elimination.
Decrease in weight of oxygen tank

= oxygen consumption of subject.
Heat-Absorbing System:

A, Thermometer to record temper-
ature of ingoing water.

B, Thermometer to record temper-
ature of outgoing water.

measuring

V, Vacuum jacket.

C, lank for weighing water which
has passed through calorimeter
each hour.

W, Thermometer for
temperature of wall.

Al, I hermometer for
temperature of the air.

R, Rectal thermometer for measur-
ing temperature of subject.
Direct Calorimetry:

Average difference of A and B X
liters of water + (gm. water
eliminated X 0.586) =>= (change
in temperature of wall X hydro-
thermal equivalent of box) =*=
(change of temperature of body X
hydrothermal equivalent of body)
= total calories produced.
Th, thermocouple; Cu, inner copper

wall; CU2, outer copper wall; E, F,

dead air spaces.

350

DU BOIS: BASAL ENERGY REQUIREMENT OF MAN 351

made experiments on many individuals under a great variety of
conditions. Their bed calorimeter in particular has been of
great service in the study of the basal metabolism.

The most ingenious apparatus constructed for the study of
metabolism is the small calorimeter of Langworthy and Milner.
In this the temperature control is automatic and small electrical
instruments day after day perform work that exhausts an expe-
rienced man after a few hours. Most calorimeters require two or
three men in constant attendance, but theirs will run accurately
all by itself.

The small calorimeter constructed by Dr. H. B. Williams for
Lusk at the Cornell University Medical College in New York
City has given results which are technically perfect even in
short experimental periods. Only those who have worked in the
subject can appreciate the brilliant planning of Lusk's experi-
ments on dogs and their profound significance in the study of
the fundamental laws of metabolism. As a result of this work
on animals and some work on patients with the small "unit"
respiration apparatus devised by Benedict, it seemed advisable
to construct a calorimeter for the study of disease. This was
made possible by the trustees of the Russell Sage Institute of
Pathology, who supplied funds to Dr. Lusk sufficient for the
construction and maintainence of a calorimeter and metabolism
ward in Bellevue Hospital, New York.8

This apparatus, which was built by Riche and Soderstrom, is
the latest development of the apparatus of Atwater and Rosa
as improved by Benedict, Milner, Williams, and others. It is
about the size of the lower berth of a sleeping car and is provided
with a comfortable bed, a shelf and a couple of windows. The
subject of the experiment lies quietly for three or four hours in
the well ventilated box at a comfortable temperature. During
this time his heat production is being measured by the inde-
pendent methods of direct and indirect calorimetry.

The direct method depends on the physical measurement of
the heat of radiation and conduction and also of vaporization,
about one quarter of the total heat produced being eliminated
by evaporation of water from skin and lungs. The indirect

2 Archives of Internal Medicine, 15: 793. 1915.

352 du bois: basal energy requirement of man

method is purely chemical. The carbon dioxid production of
each hour is measured, also the oxygen consumption. Knowing
these and the nitrogen elimination in the urine, we can calcu-
late out the grams of carbohydrate, fat, and protein metabolized
each hour, and from their well known caloric values can de-
termine the total heat production. In normal controls the two
methods agree very closely, if we take the averages of all the
experiments made. Even in periods as short as one hour the
agreement is usually within 5 per cent.

This calorimeter in Bellevue is particularly well adapted to
observations on patients. It is situated in a room next to a
small metabolism ward where the food can be weighed out ac-
curately and complete twenty-four hour specimens of urine
collected. The experimental period within the chamber is only
three hours, as contrasted with the long periods of one to ten
days needed in the old Atwater-Rosa chamber in Middletown.
The patient lies on a comfortable bed, breathing pure air at a
uniform temperature. Even patients who are seriously ill can
serve as subjects of the observation without the slightest harm
being done. As a matter of fact they are greatly benefited, be-
cause their diets can be arranged scientifically as a result of the
information obtained in the calorimeter.

In order to understand the results obtained in disease we
must first consider the basal metabolism of normal men. With
most individuals this is surprisingly uniform from day to day
and from year to year. Of course the heat production of a
man depends largely on his size, but it is by no means propor-
tional to the body weight. A large man gives off more heat than
a small man but for each kilogram of weight the small person
has the higher metabolism. On the other hand the metabolism
of men of various sizes and shapes is rather closely proportional
to the surface area of the body. Many years ago Rubner estab-
lished this law of surface area and was able to show that mice,
rabbits, dogs, men, and horses had almost the same metabolism
per square meter of skin.

Up to the last few years we were obliged to estimate the sur-
face area of men by Meeh's formula which was simple but, unfor-

DU BOIS: BASAL ENERGY REQUIREMENT OF MAN 353

tunately, not accurate. Recently a better method was devised
by Mr. Delafield Du Bois. This so-called height-weight formula
can be expressed in a chart which enables one to find the approxi-
mate surface area if the height and weight of the individual be
known. Using it to recalculate the results obtained upon nor-
mal persons, we find that the average heat production of men
between the ages of twenty and fifty is about 40 calories per
square meter per hour. There is a normal range of variation
amounting to plus or minus 10 per cent from the average, and
a few apparently normal individuals may depart as much as 15
per cent from the mean. Curiously enough very fat people and
very thin ones have almost exactly the same heat production,
measured in this way, while there may be a difference of 30 or
40 per cent between the two groups if we base the calculations
on kilograms of body weight.

The level of the metabolism varies greatly with age. During
the first few days of life it is very low, then rises rapidly during
infancy, and reaches its highest level in the almost unexplored
period between the ages of two and six years. After this it falls
rapidly until about the eighteenth year when the curve flattens
out. Between the ages of twenty and forty there is compara-
tively little change, but after this a slight fall, so that by the
eightieth year the line is about 10 per cent below the average
level for the ages of twenty to forty. There seems to be a stimu-
lation to the basal metabolism during the period of growth.

Women show an average basal metabolism about 7 per cent
lower than that of men of the same age. Athletes are about 7
per cent higher than men of sedentary habits. Confinement in-
doors or in bed reduces the metabolism, as does cage life for a
previously active dog. Prolonged undernutrition can reduce
the metabolism 30 or 40 per cent. Benedict's subject Levanzin,
who fasted for thirty-one days, showed a marked reduction in
basal metabolism, amounting to about 23 per cent after three
weeks starvation.

The basal metabolism is always measured fourteen hours or
more after the last meal, because food stimulates the heat pro-
duction. A meal containing 60 grams of protein can increase the

354 du bois: basal energy requirement of man

metabolism 10 or 12 per cent for six or seven hours. One hun-
dred grams of glucose may cause as great a rise, but for a shorter
period. The stimulation from fat takes place much more slowly
and does not reach its maximum until six hours after the meal.
This stimulation caused by food is the specific dynamic action
described by Rubner and studied in detail in the last few years
by Lusk at the Cornell Medical College, New York City.

Muscular work affects metabolism to far greater extent than
all other factors combined. Even walking at a moderate gait
may increase the energy consumption threefold, and riding on a
bicycle ergostat may increase it sixfold. Work of this type is
done with an efficiency of 22 per cent. Only 78 per cent of the
energy consumed is wasted, the rest being transformed into me-
chanical work. This is better utilization of fuel values than is
found in machines that use coal. The body works more econo-
mically than a steam engine, but we can see why a lumberman
in the Maine woods needs 9000 calories of food a day, which is
three times as much as most of us consume and six times as much
as our requirement would be were we to maintain it at its basal
level by staying motionless in bed all day without food.

BASAL METABOLISM IN DISEASE

It has been possible at Bellevue Hospital to study in detail a
large number of patients with typhoid fever. During the active
stage of this disease, when the temperature maintains itself at
104° Fahrenheit, there is an increase in the basal heat production
amounting to 40 or 50 per cent above the normal. The signifi-
cance of this is appreciated if we remember that most doctors
keep their typhoid patients on very small diet for weeks at a
time. The result of such underfeeding is a profound wasting
away of the patients own tissues, with great loss of weight and
the addition of the symptoms of starvation to those of typhoid
fever. Shaffer and Coleman, on the basis of studies of the nitro-
gen of metabolism, advocated a high calory diet in this disease.
Dr. Coleman and the writer have studied the effects of such

DU BOIS: BASAL ENERGY REQUIREMENT OF MAN 355

liberal feeding by means of the small Benedict apparatus and of
the Sage calorimeter. Curiously enough the taking of food does
not stimulate the heat production nearly so much in typhoid
fever as in health, and patients on the high calory diet have no
greater caloric production than those on the starvation diet.
This shows how groundless was the old dread of fanning the fever
by giving food. It seems to be well established that there is a
toxic destruction of protein in typhoid fever. Even if we give
the patient plenty of protein and enough calories in food to meet
his caloric output, he will show a steady negative nitrogen bal-
ance. This phenomenon indicates that protein is broken down
faster than it can be reconstructed. If we wish to maintain a
typhoid patient in nitrogen equilibrium we must give him 4000
or 5000 calories a day, whereas his calculated output seldoms ex-
ceeds 3000 or 3500 calories. Patients do very well on these
large diets if they be carefully administered; and at the end of
the fever they are well nourished, instead of starved. The
proper food in large amounts does not increase the intestinal
symptoms.

The disease which has the greatest effect on metabolism is exop-
thalmic goiter, sometimes called Graves' disease. This is due
to an overactivity of the thyroid gland, situated in the neck.
Patients who suffer from this hyperthyroidism usually show
some swelling of the gland, protrusion of the eyes, nervousness,
large appetite, and warm, moist skin. In severe cases of the
disease the resting metabolism may be increased 75 to 100 per
cent above the normal level. This explains the great demand
for food and the marked loss in weight if the diet be not liberal.
It also explains the warmth of the skin, since each square meter
of surface has to eliminate 75 to 100 per cent more heat than
normal. There is also a disease called myxoedema in which the
secretion of the thyroid gland is diminished. Patients with
myxoedema are lethargic and have small appetities and cool dry
skin. Their heat, production is much below the normal, but if
extract of thyroid gland be given them the normal level is at-
tained once more and their symptoms disappear.

356 du bois: basal energy requirement of man

There are several other diseases in which the metabolism is
increased 20 to 40 per cent. Among these may be included se-
vere anaemias, cancer, severe cases of heart or kidney disease,
high fevers, and perhaps other conditions that have not yet been
studied. Patients who are not very ill show little change from
the normal in their basal metabolism, and their food require-
ments are those of normal men under similar conditions.

DIABETES

In the very important disease of diabetes there are profound,
changes in the metabolism of all the foods. The study of
these changes has thrown an enormous amount of light on the
transformations of the food-stuffs which take place in normal
individuals, and physiology owes a great debt to the study of
this pathological condition. In severe cases the body being un-
able to oxidize any carbohydrate food, eliminates it in the urine
as glucose. Proteins are incompletely oxidized, and about half
of the protein molecule is changed into glucose and eliminated
as such. Fats are incompletely metabolized, reaching the stage
of beta-oxybutyric acid, which circulates in the blood as a poison
in diabetics because the tissues are unable to oxidize it beyond
this stage as they do in health. The level of the total heat pro-
duction is not much changed in diabetes in spite of this disturb-
ance of the intermediary metabolism. Direct evidence of the se-
verity of the disease can be obtained by the use of the calorimeter
or any other form of apparatus which determines the respiratory
quotient. It is the respiratory quotient which tells the exact
amount of carbohydrate that the patient is oxidizing. Severe
cases can oxidize none; mild cases can derive 20 to 40 per cent
of their calories from carbohydrates.

Quite recently Dr. F. M. Allen, of the Rockefeller Institute,
has found that patients with severe diabetes are much bene-
fited by periods of fasting and low diet. In almost all cases the
sugar can be made to disappear from the urine and stay away
as long as the diet is restricted. Several patients so treated have

DU BOIS: BASAL ENERGY REQUIREMENT OF MAN 357

been studied in the calorimeter in association with Dr. Allen,
and it has been found that during the period of low diet there is
a great reduction in the level of the basal metabolism. The
organism adapts itself to the new conditions and seems to
straighten out its internal difficulties when living economically.

In this short lecture we have been able to discuss briefly a
few of the factors which influence the basal metabolism in health
and disease. It is only through a study of such factors that we
can place dietetics and particularly hospital dietetics on a sci-
entific basis. In most institutions the patients are fed accord-
ing to customs and habits inherited by trained nurses from pre-
vious generations. Perhaps in the course of years the food of
sick men may be as scientifically administered as the food of the
chickens and cows on a modern farm.

• e

ABSTRACTS

TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM.— Results of observations made at the
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Magnetic Observatory near
Honolulu, 1913 and 1914. Daniel L. Hazard. U. S. Coast and
Geodetic Survey Serial Publication No. 21. 1916.
This publication is in' continuation of the series giving the results
obtained at the Honolulu magnetic observatory since its establishment
in 1902. It contains a summary of the monthly determinations of the
scale-values of the horizontal intensity and vertical intensity variom-
eters; the base-line values derived from the weekly absolute observa-
tions; diurnal variation tables for the magnetic elements D, H, and I,
the total force F, and the rectangular components X, Y, Z; hourly values
of D, H, and Z, together with daily and hourly means for each month ;
a tabulation of the earthquakes recorded on the seismograph; a list of
the magnetic disturbances of considerable magnitude, and reproduc-
tions of the magnetograms showing the more marked disturbances.
Attention is called to the fact that beginning with 1913 intensity results
obtained by this Bureau have been reduced to the international standard
of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institu-
tion of Washington. Published results for earlier years must be dimin-
ished by one part in a thousand to reduce them to that standard.

D. L. H.

PHYSICS. — Photometry of gas-filled lamps. G. W. Middlekauff and
J. F. Skogland. Bureau of Standards Scientific Paper No. 264.
17 pp. 1916.
The introduction of an inert gas into the bulb of an incandescent
electric lamp introduces new uncertainties in photometry by the ordi-
nary rotating lamp method. As this method of photometry is still in

358

abstracts: radiotelegraphy 359

common use it was deemed advisable for the Bureau of Standards to
investigate the effect of rotation of the gas-filled lamp on current and
candlepower, hoping to derive a practical method of photometry free
from the errors due to rotation.

During the investigation extreme care was exercised in the control
and measurement of speed of rotation, and the precision photometer
was used in making the photometric measurements. It was found that
there was for every lamp investigated a speed at which both current
and mean horizontal candlepower had the same values, respectively, as
when the lamp was stationary, and that this speed had a value which
might be conveniently employed in practice, thus suggesting a practical
photometric method. It is pointed out, however, that owing to the
unequal distribution of bulb discoloration during the life of the gas-
filled lamp an integrating sphere should be used in measurements made
during life test. G. W. M.

RADIOTELEGRAPHY.— The effect of imperfect dielectrics in the field
of a radiotele.gr aphic antenna. J. M. Miller, Bureau of Standards
Scientific Paper No. 269, pp. 129-136. 1916.

It has been shown by the measurements of C. Fischer and L. W.
Austin that the curve which represents the variation of the resistance
of an antenna with the wave length of the oscilliation has two character-
istic features. Starting from the wave length corresponding to the fun-
damental of the antenna, the resistance of the antenna rapidly decreases
with increasing wave length and reaches a minimum. As the wave
length is still further increased the resistance rises again, but in a linear
manner. The initial decrease in resistance is explained by a decrease
in the so-called "radiation resistance." It has been difficult, however,
to account for the linear increase which takes place at the longer wave
lengths and it is the explanation of this feature that is here considered.

Austin has explained this phenomenon as caused by dielectric absorp-
tion and has concluded that it takes place in the ground. Austin's
hypothesis with respect to dielectric absorption is confirmed but it is
found that the energy loss is not caused by the ground but by the pres-
ence of poor dielectrics in the field of the antenna. This conclusion is
based upon measurements of the resistance of an experimental antenna
constructed so as to eliminate poor dielectrics from its field and at
the same time to increase any effects which may be due to the ground.
The linear rise in its resistance at very long wave lengths (even at tele-
phone frequencies) was extremely small. It was then found that the

360 abstracts: botany

linear increase became considerable when poor dielectrics such as wooden
masts, trees, and buildings were in the field and that the resistance of
the antenna was also increased at all Avave lengths. It was also found
that considerable energy loss may be occasioned by running the lead
of an antenna into a building. It is most important to design an
antenna so as to minimize these sources of energy loss. J. M. M.

GEOLOGY. — Evaporation of brine from Searles Lake, California.

W. B. Hicks. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper No.

98-A. Pp. 8. 1916.
One thousand grams of brine from Searles Lake, California, were
evaporated in stages on the steam bath at 78°C. and the deposited
crystals were separated from the solution by filtration. The filtrate
was cooled to 30°C. and a second fraction of crystals was obtained.
Seven such successive stages reduced the brine to about 55 grams and
yielded 14 fractions of crystals — 7 deposited from the hot solution
during evaporation and 7 deposited as the solution was cooled from
78°C. to 30°C. Each fraction of crystals as well as the original brine
and the final filtrate was analysed. Most of the sulphate was de-
posited from hot solution in the first few fractions, and more than 60
per cent of the potassium was deposited as the solution was cooled
to 30°C. in the last three fractions. The tabulated results give the
percentage composition of the crystals deposited, the percentage of
each constituent deposited, and the changes in the composition of the
solution during evaporation. W. B. H.

BOTANY. — New or noteworthy plants from Colombia and Central
America — 5. Henry Pittier. Contributions from the United
States National Herbarium, 18: 143-171, ph. 57-80, figs. 88-97.
March 3, 1916.
The present paper is the fifth of a series dealing with new or little
known species from South and Central America. Besides descriptions
of a few species, either old or here proposed as new and belonging to
the Myristicaceae, Anacardiaceae, Hippocrateaceae, Flacourtiaceae,
Sapotaceae, Symplocaceae, and Verbenaceae, it contains a full discus-
sion of the genera Brownea and Browneopsis, based mainly on the au-
thor's collections. It includes also a comparison of Bombax and Pa-
chira, which has resulted in the establishment of a new and intermedi-
ate genus, Bornbacopsis, the two known species of which are natives
of Panama and the eastern part of Central America. H. P.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED

SOCIETIES

THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 773d meeting was held on April 29, 1916, at the Cosmos Club.
President Briggs in the chair, 43 persons present. The minutes of
the 771st and 772d meetings were read in abstract and approved.

Mr. C. W. Kanolt presented a paper entitled X-ray spectra. The
speaker presented a resume of the subject, including a review of the
state of the theories of the X-rays previous to the use by Laue of a
crystal as a diffraction grating, an explanation of the theory of the
three-dimensional grating presented by a crystal, and an account of
the experimental methods employed and the results obtained. These
results give information relative to the nature of the X-rays, permit
the determination of the arrangement of the atoms in the simpler
crystals, and give some information relative to the structure of the
atoms. It was pointed out that it is also possible to determine atomic
masses by the measurement of the angles of reflection of X-ray beams
from suitable crystals, and the determination of the densities of the
crystals. A knowledge of the wave-length of the rays is not required.
To obtain by this method an accuracy greater than that of the results
that have been obtained by chemical methods it would be necessary
to make more accurate measurements of spectra than most of those
made hitherto. However, in most of the work that has been done
great accuracy has not been required or attempted, and it appears
that the methods could be improved sufficiently to give atomic-mass
determinations of greater accuracy than most of those that have been
made by chemical methods.

The paper was discussed by Messrs. Crittenden, Bauer, and L.
J. Briggs with reference to the highest atomic numbers and the excep-
tions found by Moseley in the order of the elements.

Mr. F. E. Wright then presented a communication on The analysis
of crystal structure by X-rays. In recent years Laue and, especially,
W. H. and W. L. Bragg have developed effective methods for using
X-rays in the analysis of crystal structure. Laue's method is to send
general X-ray radiation through a thin crystal plate and thus to obtain
on a photographic plate a diffraction pattern which is an expression
of the symmetiy relations of the crystal plate. In the Bragg reflec-
tion method characteristic X-rays of definite wave-lengths are used
and the intensity of the reflected rays is measured by means of an
ionization chamber and an electroscope. The crystal plate is mounted
in a spectrometer and for a given wave-length, X, and a fixed distance,

361

362 proceedings: biological society

d, between successive layers of atoms parallel with the crystal face,
the rays are reflected at maximal intensity at the angle, 5, as defined
by the equation n\ = 2d sin5, in which n is a whole number indicating
the order of the spectrum obtained. By thus measuring the distribu-
tion and relative intensities of the different order spectra, it is possible
to determine the relative atomic spacing and the atomic density of the
different planes of the crystal space lattice. Models showing the dis-
tribution of the atoms in isometric crystals, such as halite, sylvite,
fluorite, diamond, zinc-blende, and pyrite were presented; also draw-
ings illustrating the relations in calcite and dolomite.

Mr. Swann remarked on the regularity of crystals used as gratings
and asked whether measurements made before and after magnetiza-
tion in substances capable of magnetization to saturation would show
different alignment through magnetization of the atoms. Mr. Wright
stated that experiments along that line of investigation were proposed.

Informal communications. Mr. E. F. Mueller exhibited a fused-
silicate tube with a transparent quartz window made by the Thermal
Syndicate to replace glass and the more expensive quartz tubes used
in the sulphur-boiling apparatus. The new type of tube is very satis-
factory.

Mr. E. G. Fischer then exhibited a new signal light designed for
use in the triangulation operations of the United States Coast and
Geodetic Survey. The oxyacetylene lamp heretofore used is costly
and expensive to use because of the bulkiness of the apparatus. The
new lamp consists of a tungsten lamp so made and mounted that the
filament is practically at the focal point of the parabolic reflecting
mirror; it is operated by dry cells. The Bureau of Standards after
test reported that the new lamp gives for 2 volts at 2 amperes 250,000
candle power in the beam at 100 feet while the old style of lamp gave
only 1500 candle power in the beam at the same distance. It will be
possible to make observations by the use of the new light on 20 to 30
per cent of the nights now lost in triangulation work. The relative
powers of the two lights were effectively demonstrated by throwing
the beam from each on the lantern screen. Mr. Bowie congratulated
the designer upon the development of the new signal.

J. A. Fleming, Secretary.

THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 555th regular meeting of the Biological Society of Washington
was held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club Saturday, April 22,
1916; called to order by President Hay at 8.00 p.m. with 24 persons
present.

On recommendation of the Council George H. Clements, Wash-
ington, D. C. was elected to membership.

On recommendation of the Council the following resolutions were
read:

proceedings: biological society 363

Whereas, Prof. Wells W. Cooke, distinguished ornithologist, au-
thority on bird migration, Treasurer of the Biological Society of Wash-
ington, and an active member of the Council of the Society, has passed
from this life, therefore be it

Resolved: That the Biological Society of Washington deeply regrets
the death of one for many years so keenly interested in the affairs of
the Society, one who was a peculiarly efficient officer, a wise counselor,
and a charming companion, and extends its warmest sympathy to the
family of Professor Cooke.

(Signed) N. Hollister
► J. W. Gidley

Alex. Wetmore

Under the heading Brief Notes, Dr. Howard E. Ames commented
upon a question raised at the 553d meeting as to the existence of a South
American mammal having the mammae on the dorsal surface of the
body. He had ascertained that this condition existed in the coypu
(Myocastor coypu). Dr. Ames also offered information in regard to
another question propounded at the same meeting as to the ability
of camels to swim: According to Dr. E. A. Mearns dromedaries used
in Abyssinia were able to swim; and in a book by an English Army
officer of experience Dr. Ames had found a statement to the effect that
camels were powerful swimmers. Comments followed by the chair
and by Dr. L. O. Howard.

Under the same heading Dr. F. H. Blodgett discussed the embry-
ology of the duck weed, Lemna, and exhibited seeds, remarking that
though the plant was common the seeds were seldom found. Dr.
Caldwell of Chicago had worked out the development of Lemna to the
point of fertilization. Studies made by Dr. Blodgett carried the em-
bryology from this point. The talk was illustrated by diagrams.
Discussion followed by Mr. W. L. McAtee.

The first paper of the regular program was by T. H. Kearney:
Native plants as indicators of the agricultural value of land. Mr. Kearney
outlined the results of field work carried on with Dr. H. L. Shantz
in the semiarid regions of the United States west of the 98th meridian.
Typical areas were surveyed in Colorado, the Great Basin, and in the
Southwest desert region. Detailed surveys defined the dominant
types of vegetation and their distribution, and these were correlated
with the varying degrees of salinity, moisture content, and other physi-
cal properties of the soil. Areas actually under cultivation gave a
check as regards productivity. From these studies it is now possible
to predict agricultural possibilities by examination of the original types
of vegetation in these regions. Typical plant growths and diagrams
showing distribution were illustrated by lantern slides.

Mr. Kearney's paper was discussed by Messrs. W. L. McAtee,
William Palmer, Alex. Wetmore, and L. O. Howard.

The last paper of the regular program was by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt:
Comparative study of certain, cranial sutures in the primates. Dr. Shu-

364 proceedings: biological society

feldt stated that no other single vertebrate structure had so much
written about it or was receiving more attention at the present time
than the skull in man and the primates in general. This study was
begun over two thousand years ago and certain names of bones be-
stowed by Galen in the second century are still retained. In a series
of 6000 human and about 1000 ape skulls in the collections of the U.
S. National Museum Dr. Shufeldt found that while the bones of the
face exhibited but little variation, in the bones' on the lateral aspect
of the cranium there were remarkable variations, many of which are
not referred to in modern works on anatomy. Frontal, parietal, tem-
poral, alisphenoid, and malar articulations show many variations in*
sutural lines. These again are varied by the presence or absence of
epactal or epipteric bones. By means of lantern slides and diagrams
these were illustrated and compared, and the speaker touched upon
their value in taxonomy and racial distinction and their pathological
significance. Discussion followed by Messrs. L. O. Howard, H. E.
Ames, and William Palmer.

Alex. Wetmore, Recording Secretary pro tern.

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VI JUNE 19, 1916 No. 12

PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY.— Further experiments on the vola-
tilization of platinum.1 G. K. Burgess and R. G. Wal-
tenberg, Bureau of Standards.

This is a continuation of an investigation2 undertaken at the
suggestion of the Committee on "Quality of Platinum Uten-
sils" of the American Chemical Society. Seven platinum cruci-
bles of various makes and purity have been subjected to suc-
cessive heatings at 700, 1000, and 1200°C. followed by deter-
mination of iron and other materials soluble in 1 : 4 boiling-
hydrochloric acid. Among the results obtained are the follow-
ing:

1. Platinum ware in the form of crucibles of whatever degree
of purity behaves, with respect to gain or loss of weight on
heating in air at ordinary atmospheric pressure, in a manner
characteristic only of the temperature of heating.

2. Each impurity, as iridium, rhodium, or iron, appears to
exert its effect on the volatilization of platinum independently.

3. For platinum crucibles of all degrees of purity containing
Ir, Rh, Fe, Si (up to a content of at least 3.0 per cent Ir) the
loss on heating is negligible below about 900°C.

4. Below this temperature there may even be a slight gain
in weight on heating platinum, owing to the iron content diffus-
ing to the surface and oxidizing. At higher temperatures the

1 To appear in detail as Bureau of Standards Scientific Paper No. 280 (Bull.
Bur. Stds., 13: 365 et seq.). 1916.

2 Bureau of Standards Scientific Paper No. 254 (Bull. Bur. Stds., 26: 289-316.
1915) . This Journal, 5 : 378-380. 1915.

365

366

BURGESS AND WALTENBERG! PLATINUM

presence of iron will lower the volatilization loss by amounts
depending on the quantity of iron present. There appears to
be no platinum made which does not contain some iron.

5. The volatilization of platinum containing rhodium is less
than that of pure platinum at all temperatures above 900°C.

6. The volatilization of platinum containing iridium is, above
900°C, very much greater than that of pure platinum, and
increases with the Ir content and with temperature.

7. It appears to make no material difference in the volatili-
zation results, in the range 700° to 1200°, what is the order of
heating, ascending or descending temperatures.

8. In an oxidizing atmosphere at temperatures of the order
of 1000°C, platinum, in the presence of but not in contact with
silica, will apparently take up small quantities of this substance.

9. The loss in crucible weight due to the solution of soluble
matter in HC1, after heating, is variable depending on the cruci-
ble and may be large. This loss in relatively greater at low than
at high temperatures.

10. All of the above losses, caused by heating, acid treatment,
and iron diffusion, apparently continue with undiminished
magnitude after the first treatment, which is usually erratic.

11. The following table gives the approximate changes in
weight to be expected for heating platinum containing iridium
or rhodium but nearly free from iron. The presence of iron
in appreciable quantities renders the prediction uncertain but
it always acts in the direction of lowering the volatilization
loss. Silica, if taken up from the furnace, will also tend to lower
the results slightly.

Approximate loss in milligrams per hour per 100 square centimeters at temperatures
indicated. Platinum nearly free from iron

TEMPERATURE

PLATINUM CONTAINING

Degrees C.

Pure Pt

1 per cent Ir

2.5 per cent Ir

8 per cent Rh

900 or less
1000
1200

0
0.08
0.81

0.30
1.2

0.57
2.5

0.07
0.54

WRIGHT: LITHOPHYSAE IN A SPECIMEN OF OBSIDIAN 367

PETROLOGY. — Note on the lithophysae in a specimen of obsidian
from California. F. E. Wright, Geophysical Laboratory.

In a specimen of obsidian1 from Little Lake, about 40 miles south
of Owen's Lake, Inyo County, California lithophysae occur which
resemble the lithophysae of the obsidian from Hrafnthmuh-
ryggur, Iceland2 and are of interest because of their bearing
on the general theory of the formation of hollow spherulites.
Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain the develop-
ment of lithophysae : (a) the total effect is ascribed to hydro-
static tension or uniform pull resulting from the contraction of
the magma during cooling; (b) emphasis is placed on the out-
ward pressure of the gases set free during the crystallization of
the spherulites. These two hypotheses are not mutually exclu-
sive and probably both factors, shrinkage of the cooling magma
and pressure of gas liberated on crystallization, play an impor-
tant role in the development of most lithophysae. In the case
of the Icelandic lithophysae it has been shown that gas pressure
was probably the more important of the two factors ; similarly
in the present specimen from California the evidence presented
below indicates that gas pressure rather than hydrostatic tension
was the effective agent.

The obsidian. The specimen as a whole is jet black in color
and of the characteristic vitreous aspect and conchoidal fracture
of obsidian; thin splinters are relatively clear and transparent.
The refractive index of the glass is low (n = 1.484) and indi-
cates high silica content. Small microlites of a lath shaped
mineral showing approximately parallel extinction and negative,
rarely positive, elongation are scattered through the glass. The
mineral is probably soda-potash feldspar. Minute particles of
magnetite are abundant. The total amount of crystallized mate-
rial is less than 2 per cent. The specific gravity is 2.353.

1 Collected by Mr. Chas. R. Fletcher of Los Angeles, Cal., and sent by him
for examination to Mr. F. L. Ransome, U. S. Geological Survey, who, in turn,
presented it to the writer for study. The specimen is now deposited in the
U. S. National Museum. Spec. No. 88922.

2 F. E. Wright. Obsidian from Hrafntinnuhyrggur, Iceland: Its lithophysae
and surface markings. Bull. Geol. Soc. America, 26: 255-286. 1915.

368 WRIGHT! LITHOPHYSAE IN A SPECIMEN OF OBSIDIAN

The sphericities and lithophysae. All the larger spherulites are
hollow and are lined with minerals similar to those contained in
the lithophysae of obsidian from other localities. The predomi-
nating mineral crystallizes in fibers arranged radially, is weakly
birefracting, extinguishes parallel with positive or negative elon-
gation, and has refractive indices: a > 1.520, y < 1.530. Some of
the sections extinguish in a manner indicative of submicroscopic
twinning. These properties agree with those of a potash-soda
feldspar. The size of the fibers is not uniform; near the outer
wall of the spherulite the individual fibers are exceedingly fine
but toward the center they increase in size, become clearer and
are there associated with a second, more transparent mineral,
tridymite, which appears in characteristic, small nodules and
clusters, studding the cavity walls. Under the microscope the
tridymite aggregates are weakly birefracting, and have an aver-
age refractive index slightly less than 1.480. Minute octahedra
and irregular grains of magnetite are disseminated throughout
the crystalline mass of each spherulite. These grains increase
also noticeably in size from the wall toward the center of the
cavity.

In addition to the above predominating minerals well devel-
oped, tabular crystals of brown transparent fayalite were observed
in some of the cavities. They are identical in optical properties,
so far as determined, with the Icelandic and Yellowstone Park
lithophysal fayalite. In several of the cavities single, small
crystals of a jet black mica of uncommonly high refractive in-
dex, apparently slightly above 1.70, were noted. The optic
axial angle is small (2E less than 50°) ; the dispersion of the optic
axes is noticeable. This mica is interesting because its pres-
ence, as a water-bearing mineral, proves that water vapor was
among the gases in the lithophysal cavity.

This mineral association and the pronounced increase in granu-
larity from the margin to the center of a cavity prove that dur-
ing the crystallization of the spherulite chemically active volatile
components were present and attacked part of the material of

WRIGHT! LITHOPHYSAE IN A SPECIMEN OF OBSIDIAN 369

the spherulites; new crystal compounds, such as tridymite and
fayalite, were formed which are absent in the solid spherulites
and in ordinary rhyolites, and indicate physico-chemical condi-
tions of formation different from those which ordinarily obtain
during the crystallization of a silicate magma. The pressure
of the liberated volatile components aided effectively in the origi-
nal formation and subsequent enlargement of the lithophysal
cavities; this is evident both from the shape of the outer walls of
the cavity whose radius of curvature is not constant and whose
thickness varies inversely with the radius of curvature, and also
from the fact that segments of the radial spherulite were forced
apart as crystallization proceeded. All these phenomena were
observed in the Icelandic lithophysae; and the conclusions there
drawn are corroborated in detail by the present specimen, although
here the lithophysae are less symmetrical and the mechanism
of the enlargement of the cavities is less difficult to understand.
Additional evidence in support of the gas pressure hypothesis
is presented by three parallel bands or planes which traverse the
specimen and probably represent contact planes between por-
tions of the thick viscous lava which flowed together; flow lines
occur in the obsidian parallel to these planes, which are now
marked by the crystallization of minute, chiefly solid, radial
spherulites. The fact that relatively few of the lithophysae are
elongated parallel to these flow planes proves that the cavities
are not original vesicles, from which crystallization subsequently
spread in the later stages of the flow; the directions of expansion
of the cavities bear, moveover, no relation to the structural planes
in the obsidian as they should do, were the lithophysal cavities
the result solely of contraction of the magma on cooling. In
this occurrence, therefore, the evidence is in favor of the hy-
pothesis that in the formation of the lithophysal cavities volatile
gases set free during the crystallization of the spherulites were
the active factor, and not a secondary phenomenon accompany-
ing the opening of the cavities by hydrostatic tension.

370

safford: classification of rollinia

BOTANY. — Proposed classification of the genus Rollinia, with
descriptions of several new species. W. E. Safford, Bureau
of Plant Industry.

Among the finest fruits of tropical America are certain custard
apples of the genus Rollinia. This genus, belonging to the
Annonaceae, is characterized by fruits closely resembling the
chirimoya (Annona cherimola Miller), the sugar-apple or pomme-
cannelle (A. squamosa L.), and the bullock's heart (A. reticulata
L.), but its flowers are very distinct in form from those of the
genus Annona.

Much confusion exists in the botanical classification of the
principal commercial species of this genus. This is owing chiefly

to the fact that, in
original descrip-
tions, either the
fruit and not the
flower was de-
scribed, or vice
versa, and that bo-
tanical names have
been applied to
fruits in the mar-
kets unaccompanied
by leaves or flowers,
which are necessary
to determine the
species. As a re-
sult, Martius, in his great work, Flora Brasiliensis, applies the
name Annona obtusiflora to a Rollinia sold in the markets of
Brazil under the name fructa do Conde, which he imagined to
have been introduced into Brazil from the Antilles; and a second
species of Rollinia, mentioned by Marcgrave under the name
biribd, he places in the genus Duguetia under the name D.
Marcgraviana. The only large-fruited Brazilian Rollinia which
he mentions under its true generic name he refers to Alphonse
De Candolle's R. orthopetala, sl species of British Guiana, the
fruit of which was not seen by De Candolle.

Fig. 1. Types of Rollinia flowers: a, R. Sieberi; b,
R. deliciosa; c, R. laurifolia; d. R. rugulosa; e, R. lan-
ceolata; f, R. emarginata.

safford: classification of rollinia 371

An examination of herbarium material and of fruits of several
species introduced into Florida by the Office of Foreign Seed
and Plant Introduction, United States Department of Agricul-
ture, shows that certain longstanding errors should be corrected
and that the genus needs revision.

It may be well to point out, in connection with the plants
above mentioned, that Annona obtusiflora was described by De
Tussac in 1808 from a cultivated plant growing in an orchard
near the western extremity of Haiti, and was regarded by Baillon
as a synonym of Rollinia mucosa, a species based on Jacquin's
Annona mucosa growing wild and in cultivation on the island of
Martinique. The biribd, which Correa, in his recent Flora do
Brazil, identifies with Martius's Duguetia Marcgraviana, must
be a Rollinia; it cannot possibly belong to the genus Duguetia,
since its fruit does not, as in Duguetia, consist of separate carpels
borne on the indurated receptacle, but is an edible syncarpium
with fleshy pulp from which a fermented drink is sometimes made.1
The only Brazilian species of Rollinia introduced into Florida
under the name Rollinia orthopetala which has yielded a large
edible fruit .cannot possibly be the true R. orthopetala A. DC,
since its flowers are not like the flowers of that species, but have
their outer corolla lobes broadly spreading and curving downward,
instead of " erect and incurved," as described by De Candolle.
Correa, in the work cited, refers the biribd of Pernambuco and
Matto Grosso to Duguetia Marcgraviana Mart, and the biribd
of Para to Rollinia orthopetala A. DC.

FLOWERS OF ROLLINIA

The flowers of Rollinia differ from those of Annona in having a
gamopetalous corolla composed of three large outer lobes and
three minute inner lobes alternating with them. The large
lobes, corresponding to the outer petals of Annona, are produced
into wings or spurs, the form of which differs so widely that they
offer a convenient basis for classification. In the accompany-
ing illustration (fig. 1) the principal types of Rollinia flowers are

1 "Os fructos sao comestiveis e submettidos a fermentacao ,dao bebida vinosa."
— M. Pio Correa. Flora do Brazil, p. 22. 1909.

372 safford: classification of rollinia

shown. The outer corolla lobes may be: (a) compressed, widely
'spreading, and more or less ascending or upcurved, as in Rollinia
mucosa (Jacq.) BailL; (b) decurved and obtuse or rounded at
the extremity, as in Rollinia deliciosa and R. Pittieri, to be
described below; (c) erect or ascending and incurved, as in
Rollinia orthopetala A. DC. and R. laurifolia Schlecht.; (d)
obovate and ascending, as in Rollinia rugulosa Schlecht.; (e)
short, thick, and spur-like, as in Rollinia lanceolata R. E. Fries;
or (f) suborbicular or broadly obovate and widely spreading, as
in Rollinia emarginata Schlecht.

FRUITS OF ROLLINIA

In the genus Rollinia the fruit is a fleshy syncarpium, composed
of a number of one-seeded carpels which become fused into a
solid spheroid or ovoid head. In some cases the surface of the
fruit is distinctly areolate, as in R. mucosa, the areoles being
marked by pentagonal or hexagonal outlines and bearing mamil-
late projections. These may point outward, or be recurved
toward the stem, or curved toward the apex of the fruit; or the
areoles may be gibbous or rounded and very distinct, like those
of the sugar-apple, Annona squamosa; or they may terminate in
a blunt point. In a few species, as in Rollinia glaucescens, the
surface of the fruit is nearly smooth, like that of the common
A. reticulata.

The species in which the mature carpels are quite distinct and
fall off separately from the indurated receptacle, or torus, have
been set apart by the writer under the generic name Rolliniopsis.2

BOTANICAL CLASSIFICATION

The groups suggested above, based upon the form of the
flowers, cannot be regarded as subgenera or even as sections, for
the line of demarcation is not always sharply drawn. In some
species, for example, the corolla lobes may be ascending or nearly
erect at first, and at length more widely divergent; while in

2 Rolliniopsis, a new genus of Annonaceae from Brazil. Journ. Wash. Acad.
Sci., 6: 197. 1916.

safford: classification of rollinia 373

others they may be nearly horizontal when immature and at
length more or less decurved. Moreover, the members of a
group are not always botanically close to one another. Never-
theless the arrangement of the various species into groups accord-
ing to the shape of the corolla is a great aid to classification and
will . prevent many errors. A striking example of erroneous
identification is that of the flower figured by Baillon and repro-
duced in Engler and Prantl's Natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien under
the name Rollinia mucosa. This is certainly, not the flower of
Jaequin's Annona mucosa, the cachiman morveux of Martinique,
which is the type of the species. The slender, ascending, in-
curved lobes place it at once in the same group with Rollinia
orthopetala A. DC. and R. laurifolia Schlecht. On the other
hand, the widely spreading lobes of Annona obtusijiora, as figured
by De Tussac, place that species in the same group with Rollinia
Pittieri and R. deliciosa, described below. In some cases two or
more species with similar leaves and fruits but with very distinct
flowers have been wrongly associated under a single name,
as in the case of R. sylvatica, as usually treated by botanists.

In a systematic study of any group of plants the desirability
of going back to the original description of each species will at
once be recognized. In certain monographs more easily acces-
sible to the student than the various publications in which the
species were first described, amended descriptions are often given,
based not on the species itself but upon some allied species mis-
taken for it. In many cases the monographer has never had
the opportunity of examining the type material. Martius, for
instance, in describing Annona obtusijiora and Duguetia Marc-
graviana could not possibly have seen the plants on which these
species were based; and nothing in De Candolle's description of
Rollinia orthopetala indicates that the fruit of the plant he de-
scribed was "of the size of a child's head." The plants growing
in the inundated forests along the banks of the Amazon, in the
province of Para, which yielded the fruits described by Martius,
may have been specifically distinct from the type of De Candolle's
species, which grew near Demerara, in British Guiana, of whose
fruit we know nothing but of whose flower we know certainly

374 safpord: classification of rollinia

that the corolla lobes were erect and incurved. To prevent
possible mistakes of this kind the exact locality in which a new
species was collected should always be indicated. If this is
done incomplete type material may possibly be supplemented by
future collections from the same plant or at least from a similar
plant growing very near it.

The present writer has not sufficient material to attempt to
monograph the genus Rollinia. In the following notes he has
been much aided by herbarium specimens from the Botanical
Museum of Copenhagen sent him for study through the kindness
of Dr. C. H. Ostenfeld.

GROUP A

COROLLA LOBES OBLONG, WIDELY SPREADING AND SLIGHTLY ASCENDING

OR UPCURVED

Rollinia dolabripetala (Raddi) St. Hilaire, Fl. Bras. Merid., 1: 29. 1825.

Annona dolabripetala Raddi, Mem. Soc. Ital. delle Sci. Modena,
18:394. 1820.

Rollinia longifolia St. Hil., loc. cit.

In this species, the type of the genus Rollinia, the corolla lobes
are laterally compressed and shaped like a hatchet or broad-bladed
knife (dolabriform), at first ascending, at length broadly spreading.

Type Locality: Mount Corcovado, near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Flowering specimens in the United States National Herbarium
were collected in the type locality by Messrs. Rose and Russell (No.
20311).

Rollinia mucosa (Jacq.) Baillon, Adansonia, 8: 268. 1868.

Annona mucosa Jacq. Obs. 16. 1764 (excl. syn. Rumph.).

The flowers of this species are described as having oblong corolla
lobes spreading outward in such a way as "not inaptly to represent
a tricorn hat." The areoles of the fruit are gibbous or convex, not
papillose or aculeate. The viscous pulp is edible but of poor flavor.

Type Locality: Martinique. Growing spontaneously in the for-
rests and very rarely cultivated; known locally as cachiman morveux.

This species is described as resembling in habit Annona reticulata
L. Specimens in the U. S. National Herbarium, collected by Pere
Duss in Martinique, have coarser leaves and larger flowers than Rollinia
Sieberi, and the gibbous areoles of the fruit are bounded by raised
polygonal outlines.

safford: classification of rollinia 375

Rollinia Sieberi A. DC. Mem. Soc. Phys. Geneve, 5: 200, pi. 2, fig. B.
1832.

This species resembles R. mucosa, from which it differs in its smaller
flowers, more slender pedicels, and thinner and more delicately veined
leaves. De Candolle, who regarded it as specifically distinct from
R. mucosa (which he mentions), figures the flower as solitary, with
laterally compressed corolla lobes, rounded at the extremities and
curving slightly upward.

Type Locality: Island of Trinidad, British West Indies, where it
was collected by Sieber (No. 96) and distributed under the name
Annona reticulata.

The fruit, according to Pere Duss, is usually larger than that of
Annona squamosa, which it resembles in its raised, squamose areoles
and its pleasantly flavored, sweet, fleshy pulp. A specimen in the
U. S. National Herbarium collected in Porto Rico by Sintenis (No.
4170) is referred to this species. Urban3 refers this plant to R. mucosa
but adds that the Porto Rico specimens have smaller flowers than
specimens of R. mucosa from other localities. To the writer R. Sieberi
appears to be a valid species. It is certainly quite distinct from Annona
obtusifiora De Tussac, of which Baillon believed it a synonym, and
also from the Mexican plants referred by Baillon to R. mucosa, collected
by Liebmann at Mecapulco (No. 27) and Mirador (No. 28), the origi-
nal specimens of which, with leaves velvety pubescent beneath, are
before me. Specimens with flowers and fruit from Trinidad, the type
locality of the species, are desired.

GROUP B

COROLLA LOBES OBLONG OR SPATULATE, HORIZONTAL OR CURVED

DOWNWARD

Rollinia deliciosa Safford, sp. nov. Figure 2.

Rollinia orthopetala Correa, Flora do Brazil, p. 22. 1909, not De
Candolle.

A medium-sized tree. Blades of the vegetative leaves obovate-oblong
or elliptical, rounded or acute at the base, normally acuminate at the
apex, 20 to 28 cm. long, 7.5 to 11 cm. broad, membranaceous, when
young sparsely canescent-hirtellous above, densely so beneath, espe-
cially along the midrib and nerves, at length glabrous above and beneath
except along the midrib and primary nerves (18 to 22 on each side),
these reddish brown, slender but prominent beneath; petiole about
10 mm. long; blades of the leaves of the flowering branches smaller,
the lowermost ones relatively shorter and broader, sometimes broadly

3 Symb. Antill., 4: 242.

376 safford: classification of rollinia

ovate or orbicular, 3.5 to 6 cm. long, 3.5 to 5 cm. broad. Peduncles
leaf-opposed, often in pairs, sometimes solitary, rarely in 3's, 25 to
40 mm. long, bearing a small ovate sessile bracteole near the middle,
strigillose with reddish hairs, like the petioles and nerves of the lower-
most leaves (prophylla) beneath. Flowers canescent-puberulous ; corolla
lobes compressed laterally, widely diverging and decurved, rounded
at the extremity. Stamens numerous, closely crowded, the expanded
connectives forming a pavement above the pollen sacs. Carpels
numerous; ovaries hairy; styles expanded, glandular-puberulous.
Fruit a solid subglobose syncarpium, 8 to 12 cm. in diameter, the
areoles distinctly outlined and terminating in an obtuse beak; peduncle
straight and woody, about 5 cm. long; flesh white or cream-colored,
juicy, fine-flavored; seeds compressed, 15 to 20 mm. long, 8 to 10 mm.
broad, rounded at the apex, gradually narrowing to the base; hilum
not prominent; testa thin, brown, wrinkled by the inclosed ruminate
endosperm.

Type material in the U. S. National Herbarium, accompanied by
photographs of the flowers and fruit, from a tree growing in the Experi-
mental Garden, Miami, Florida, propagated from seed from Para,
Brazil, sent by Mr. C. F. Baker in April, 1908 (No. 22512). Flower-
ing specimen, sheet No. 865973, collected at Miami, Florida, March
11, 1913; fruiting specimen, sheet No. 865976, from the same tree,
August 30, 1912; both collected by Edward Simmonds, in charge of
the Miami garden.

This plant was introduced into the United States under the name
Rollinia orthopetala, but it is readily distinguished from that species
by the decurved wings of the corolla. Both flowers and fruit were
received by the writer from Mr. Simmonds, through the kindness of
Mr. P. H. Dorsett, Plant Introducer, Bureau of Plant Industry, in
charge of Introduction Field Stations. Mr. C. F. Baker describes
its fruit, known in Brazil as the "biribd of Para," as the finest annona-
ceous fruit of Tropical America. The accompanying illustration
(fig. 2) is from a drawing of type material by Mrs. R. E. Gamble.

Rollinia Pittieri Safford, sp. nov.

A forest tree with leaves glaucous beneath and abruptly acuminate.
Blades of the vegetative leaves elliptical or obovate, 16 to 20 cm. long,
7 to 8.5 cm. broad, the midrib and primary nerves (16 to 20 on each
side) reddish brown beneath; leaves of flowering branches smaller,
with 10 to 12 pairs of lateral nerves. Pedicels in clusters of 3 or 4,
straight or curved, graduated in length, the longer ones 35 to 50 mm.
long, minutely rufous-puberulent, bracteolate near the middle. Flowers
minutely puberulent, as though composed of felt; calyx and spheroid
base of the corolla rufous; calyx lobes triangular, acute or acuminate,
appressed to the corolla, the tips reflexed; corolla wings 15 to 20 mm.
long, 6 to 10 mm. broad near the extremity, laterally compressed,

safford: classification of rollinia

377

Fig. 2. Rollinia deliciosa Safford. From the type material. Branches with
leaves, flowers, and fruit, one-half natural size; a, carpel, and b, stamen, much
enlarged.

378 safford: classification of rollinia

falcate, horizontally spreading and curved downward, rounded at the
apex, narrowed at the base; inner corolla lobes very small, triangular,
connivent, almost closing the orifice above the essential parts. Fruit
not observed.

Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, No. 679511, collected near
sea level, on the plain of Sperdi, near Puerto Obaldia, San Bias Coast,
Panama, September, 1911, by Henry Pittier (No. 4358, in flower.)

This beautiful species is remarkable for the pale under surface of
its leaves, beautifully veined with reddish brown, and its clustered
inflorescence. It differs from R. rufinervis Triana & Planch, in hav-
ing the corolla lobes curving downward instead of divergent-ascending.
Specimens of the fruit are desired.

Rollinia Jimenezii Safford, sp. nov. Figure 3.

A small tree of Costa Rica, resembling R. mucosa, but the flowers
in clusters of 2 or 3, the corolla wings horizontally spreading and slightly
decurved, the fruit when fresh resembling that of the common sugar-
apple (Annona squamosa), its component carpels rounded at the tips
but when dry more or less beaked. Leaves ovate to oblong-elliptical,
acuminate at the apex, those of the vegetative branches 18 to 30 cm.
long, 6.5 to 14 cm. broad, obtuse at the base, with 18 to 22 primary
nerves on each side, the leaves of the flowering branches smaller, with
12 to 16 pairs of primary nerves, usually rounded at the base; point of
acumen usually obtuse or retuse; young branches, petioles, and lower
surface of young leaves pubescent with ferruginous hairs, the leaves
at length glabrous or- nearly so except along the midrib and nerves
beneath. Peduncles extra-axillary, often leaf-opposed, in clusters
of 2 or 3, graduated in length, the longest about 2 cm. long, ferruginous-
tomentose like the ovate-acuminate calyx lobes. Corolla lobes ob-
long, rounded at the tip, slightly narrowed at the base, widely spread-
ing and usually decurved, never curving upward and inward, rufous-
puberulent. Fruit subglobose, about 6 cm. in diameter, 6 to 10 cm.
long, closely resembling that of Annona squamosa, the component
carpels loosely adhering, very gibbous, rounded or often retuse at the
tip when fresh; pulp white, acidulous, edible, but not so .agreeably
flavored as that of Annona squamosa.

Type material in the U. S. National Herbarium, collected by Oton
Jimenez at Nuestro Amo, Province of Alajuela, Costa Rica; flowers
collected March, 1912, (No. 427), and fruit from the same tree, October,
1912 (No. 543). The accompanying figure is drawn from type material
and from a field photograph of the fresh fruit.

The author takes great pleasure in naming this species in honor
of Mr. Oton Jimenez, of San Jose, Costa Rica, an accomplished young-
botanist to whom he is indebted for herbarium specimens of the plant,

Fig. 3. Rollinia Jimenezii Safford. From the type material. Natural size.

379

380 SAFFORD : CLASSIFICATION OF ROLLINIA

field photographs of the fruit, and descriptive notes. In a letter dated
September 12, 1912, Mr. Jimenez describes the plant as follows:

"At Nuestro Amo it is known as anonillo. The fruits are squamose
and are sometimes 10 cm. by 6 cm. when mature. The skin is then yel-
low; but while still immature it is of a greenish and somewhat glaucous
color. It is edible, with an acidulous pulp and a great quantity of
seeds which have a tendency to adhere to the skin when the latter is
removed. This fruit is little appreciated by the natives, but when it
is kept for some time among the leaves and allowed to become fully
ripe, it is rather appetizing. The trees reach a height of 8 meters.
On young [vegetative] branches the leaves are often quite large, and
of a beautiful green color. I hope to obtain for you fruits fully ripe,
but I shall have to send them to you in fragments as I have no facility
for sending them entire."

In another communication Mr. Jimenez states that all the Rollinia
material from Nuestro Amo was obtained from the same tree, and
that the specimens of fruits photographed in the field, so remarkably
like those of Annona squamosa, were the same as the dried fruit for-
warded to the writer, with the individual carpels much more distinctly
separated and terminating in many cases in a sharp point.

GROUP C

COROLLA LOBES LINEAR-OBLONG OR SPATULATE, ASCENDING OR ERECT

AND INCURVED

Rollinia orthopetala A. DC. Mem. Soc. Phys. Geneve, 5: 200. 1832.

A shrub or small tree resembling R. Sieberi. Branches and leaves
very much as in that species; petioles slightly longer; leaf blades oval-
oblong, acute at each end, pilose. Peduncles in pairs; calyx lobes
smaller than in R. Sieberi; corolla wings erect and incurved.

Type in Herb. De Candolle, collected near Demerara, British Guiana,
in 1824, by Charles S. Parker.

Martius, in his Flora Brasiliensis, gives an amended description
of this species, the fruit of which he describes as "the size of an in-
fant's head," with sweet, white, fleshy pulp. It is not certain, however,
that the trees producing the fruits described by him really belong to
this, species. It is probably owing to Martius's description that the
name R. orthopetala has been incorrectly applied to several species
of Rollinia with large edible fruit. Of these the principal species,
from an economic point of view, is R. deliciosa, described above, which
is readily distinguished from R. orthopetala by its widely spreading,
decurved corolla wings.

safford: classification of rollinia 381

Specimens of R. orthopetala, with photographs of its fruits, from
Demerara, its type locality, are much desired.

Rollinia laurifolia Schlecht. Linnaea, 9: 319. 1835.

A shrub or small tree. Leaf blade oblong-elliptical or oblong-lan-
ceolate, acuminate at the apex, obtuse at the base, the upper surface
glabrous to the naked eye, the lower surface clay-colored. Corolla
lobes ascending-erect, broadened and rounded or obtuse at the apex
and incurved; peduncles solitary or in 2's or 3's, graduated in length,
the longest about 3 times the length of the petioles. Fruit subglobose,
about the size of a horse-chestnut, composed of many distinctly out-
lined carpels, and containing an edible white mucilaginous pulp, with
a pleasant sweet taste.

Type material collected by Sellow in Brazil (Nos. 809, 1190). Known
locally as araticu mirim.

This species bears a certain resemblance to R. dolabripetala, but dif-
fers from it in having the flowers in clusters of 2 to several, while the
corolla wings are narrow, ascending, and incurved (instead of broad
and widely diverging), and the lateral nerves and midrib are usually
(but not always) hairy on the upper surface. A closely allied plant
collected by Riedel (October, 1823) in the forest near Mandiocca
has been described by R. E. Fries under the name R. laurifolia var.
longipes. A specimen with geminate fruits recently collected and pho-
tographed at Sitio, Minas Geraes, Brazil, by Messrs. Dorsett, Shamel,
and Popenoe (No. 37882) apparently belongs to this variety.

Rollinia incurva Moore, Trans. Linn. Soc. II. Bot., 4: 303. 1894.

A diffuse shrub with short-petioled leaves resembling those of R.
laurifolia, but obtuse at the apex and rounded at the base, glabrous
and glossy above and paler beneath. Corolla wings spatulate-oblong,
ascending and incurved, clothed with ferruginous tomentum.

Type in the British Museum, collected by the Matto Grosso Expedi-
tion in Santa Cruz, Brazil; duplicates of the type in the Herbarium
of Columbia University, New York Botanical Garden.

GROUP D

WINGS COMPRESSED, OBOVATE AND ASCENDING

Rollinia rugulosa Schlecht. Linnaea, 9: 316. 1834.

A shrub or small tree. Leaf blades lanceolate or broadly lanceolate,
obtusely short-acuminate at the apex, acute at the base, on both sides
subglabrous, beneath glossy; young branchlets, petioles, and midrib
appressed-puberulous. Peduncles usually recurved or pendulous and
thickened at the apex, warty and puberulous like the calyx, 8 to 10
mm. long. Corolla lobes obovate, ascending, rounded or obtuse at

382 safford: classification of rollinia

the apex, narrowed at the base, tomentose-canescent, 8 mm. long,
4 mm. broad. Fruit globose, 2.5 to 3 cm. in diameter, the component
carpels forming 20 to 30 slightly raised, rounded areoles. Seeds
small, pale brown, conoid, somewhat flattened.

Type in the Berlin Herbarium, collected in southern Brazil by Sellow.

Closely related to R. rugulosa and with very similar fruit but longer
and narrower leaves (suggesting those of R. salicifolia Schlecht.)
is R. Warmingii R. E. Fries, the type of which was collected on Mount
Tijuca, near Rio de Janeiro, by Glaziou (No. 6079).

GROUP E

COROLLA LOBES SHORT, STRAIGHT AND SPURLIKE, HORIZONTALLY

DIRECTED

Rollinia lanceolata Fries, Svensk. Vet. Akad. Handl., 345: 49, pi. 6,
fig. 6. 1900.

A small tree with small leaves, the blades lanceolate, acute at the
apex and base, above glabrous except along the midrib, beneath densely
ferruginous-villous along the midrib. Young branches, petioles, and
solitary or rarely geminate peduncles ferruginous-tomentose. Flowers
ferruginous-hirsute; outer corolla lobes spur-like, short, rounded, and
widely spreading. Fruit not observed.

Type in Botanical Museum of Copenhagen, collected in Brazil by
Glaziou (No. 13509).

GROUP F

COROLLA LOBES BROADLY OVATE OR SUBORBICULAR AND LATERALLY

COMPRESSED

Rollinia emarginata Schlecht. Linnaea, 9: 318. 1835.

A glabrescent shrub 2 to 3 meters high, growing in marshy places,
with slender branches. Leaf blades, thin, membranaceous, oval or ellip-
tical, obtuse at both ends or acutish at the base, emarginate or retuse
at the apex, on both sides subglabrous and opaque. Peduncles usually
solitary, slender, about 25 mm. long, minutely bracteolate at the
base. Corolla and calyx silky-hirtellous ; corolla wings obovate-orbic-
ular, widely spreading, laterally compressed. Fruit solid, about 25
to 30 mm. in diameter, ovoid globose, the component carpels scarcely
at all raised or distinctly outlined.

Type in the Berlin Herbarium, collected in the province of Rio
Grande do Sul, Brazil, by Sellow.

This species is very common in southern Brazil and Paraguay.
It is distinguished from most of its congeners by its small smooth
fruit and emarginate leaves.

safford: classification of rollinia 383

Rollinia glaucescens Sond. Linnaea, 22: 557. 1849.

A glabrescent shrub. Leaf blades thinly membranaceous, ovate or
lanceolate, obtuse or rarely acute at the apex, acute at the base, 5 to 7
cm. long, 2:5 cm. broad, glaucescent beneath; petioles 6 to 10 mm. long.
Peduncles in pairs, one shorter than the other, the longer one bearing
a small bracteole below the middle. Flowers canescent-puberulous;
corolla wings broadly obovate or suborbicular, widely spreading.
Fruit broadly ovoid or subglobose, small (about 2.5 cm. in diameter),
solid, and smooth, the component carpels scarcely outlined and not
at all gibbous.

Type collected in the Province of Minas Geraes, Brazil, by Regnell
on his second expedition.

This species is closely allied to R. emarginata Schlecht., a species
well known to Sonder. From this it differs in its leaves, which are
never emarginate, and in its smaller flowers. Specimens in the U. S.
National Herbarium were collected and photographed at Sao Joao
de Rey, Minas Geraes, in January, 1914, by Messrs. Dorsett, Shamel,
and Popenoe (No. 286). Plants have been propagated from the seed of
these specimens by the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction
(No. 37880).

Rollinia sylvatica (St. Hil.) Mart. Fl. Bras. IS1: 18. 1841.

Annona sylvatica St. Hil. PI. Usuelles, pi. 29; Fl. Bras. Merid., 1:
32. 1825.

A medium-sized tree. Leaves large, elliptical, somewhat resembling
those of Annona cherimola, but usually acutish at the base and obtuse
or very shortly cuspidate, rarely oblong-elliptical and acute or acumin-
ate, above usually puberulous, beneath softly pubescent. Peduncles
extra-axillary. Fruit usually solitary, edible.

Type collected by St. Hilaire in the forests of Minas Geraes, Brazil.
Fruit, locally known as araticu do mato (custard apple of the forest),
ripening in March.

At least two species are usually found in herbaria labelled R. sylvatica:
one with elliptical leaves, very much like those of the chirimoya, and
suborbicular corolla wings; the other with lanceolate leaves shaped
very much like those of R. laurifolia, and with spatulate corolla wings.
In both, the leaves are pubescent beneath. The first corresponds
more nearly to the type described by St. Hilaire, in which flowers
were lacking. Specimens in the National Herbarium recently col-
lected and photographed in the field by Messrs. Dorsett, Shamel, and
Popenoe at Bom Fim (No. 436) and Lavras (No. 250) are referred to
this species. Probably distinct from this is a tree growing to a height
of 20 to 25 feet, rarely cultivated in gardens at Sao Joao del Rey, in

384 CLARK : A NEW GENUS OF OPHIURANS

which the leaves are lanceolate, acute at the apex, and rounded at
the base, very much as in R. incurva Moore. A photograph of a fruit-
bearing branch (No. 1571) was secured. The fruit, about 4.5 cm. in
diameter, is composed of comparatively few large, pointed carpels.
It is yellow when mature and edible, but rather insipid. As no flowers
were secured, it is not possible to place this plant in one of the groups
here proposed.

ZOOLOGY. — Ophiomaria, a new genus of ophiurans from southern
South America and the adjacent portion of the Antarctic
continent.1 Austin. H. Clark, National Museum.

Two new species of ophiurans from the coast of Chile which
were dredged by the Albatross on her journey from the Atlantic
to the North Pacific represent a type which appears to be inter-
mediate between Ophioperla and such species of Ophiosteira
as 0. senoqui Koehler and 0. koehleri A. H. Clark, possessing the
general structure of the latter combined with the granular disk
covering of the former. Together with two other species, de-
scribed in 1901 by Professor Rene Koehler these forms appear to
represent a logical generic unit which may be known as

Ophiomaria, gen. nov.

Genotype. — Ophiomaria tenella, sp. nov.

Diagnosis. — The disk is pentagonal or more or less stellate. The
dorsal surface is beset with fine granules which to a greater or lesser
degree conceal the plates. In the central portion of the inter brachial
spaces below there are usually numerous granules which surround,
or even entirely conceal, the plates.

The arms are slender and evenly tapering, in length equal to about
four times the diameter of the disk, circular in section proximally,
becoming slightly flattened distally, rarely carinate.

The arm comb is represented by a narrow band of irregular plates
or beadlike granules beyond the radial shields which recall the supple-
mentary arm plates in Ophiopholis.

At the base of the arm the upper arm plates are usually very wide,
narrowly oblong; they rapidly become narrowly fan-shaped, and in
the distal half of the arm very small and widely separated from each
other.

There are from three to five minute spaced arm spines.

1 Published with the permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian
Institution.

CLARK : A NEW GENUS OF OPHIURANS 385

The other characters are essentially as in Ophiura (Ophioglypha).

Range. — From the Antarctic regions in the vicinity of Cape Horn
northward along the coast of Chile to 38° 8' N. lat., in from 260 to
677 fathoms.

Remarks. — In addition to the two species described below, this
genus includes Ophiomaria carinifera (Kcehler) and Ophiomaria doe-
derleini (Kcehler).

Ophiomaria tenella, sp. nov.

The disk is thin and stellate, the angles continuing uninterruptedly
into the arms, which taper very gradually and become very slender
distally. The disk is 11 mm. in diameter, and the arms are 40 mm.
long.

The central portion of the dorsal surface of the disk is covered with
a close and regular fine granulation through which, in some specimens,
the six small rounded primary plates are visible. Toward the periph-
ery of the disk this granulation becomes coarser and more irregular,
the granules transforming into small flat polygonal plates. In the
center of the strongly excavated interbrachial margin of the disk,
as viewed dorsally, there is a transversely oval or semicircular plate,
usually about twice as broad as long; between this and the radial shields
on either side there is usually a plate about half as large, more or less
circular or irregularly polygonal in outline, and a few, very irregular,
much smaller plates. Within this interbrachial border, as within the
most proximal plates in the columns separating the radial shields,
there may be a few irregular polygonal plates bordering the granular
covering of the central portion of the disk.

The radial shields are irregular rounded triangles, nearly or quite
twice as long as wide, about'as long as the width of the arm immediately
beyond the disk. The radial shields of each pair are separated interiorly
by a series of two or three plates of which the innermost is consider-
ably longer than the others; between this last and the granulation of
the center of the disk there are usually a few irregularly polygonal
plates of various sizes. From the distal end of the outermost plate
in the series between the radial shields there runs around the distal
borders of the latter a series of two or three or more irregular plates
(more rarely a double series) which takes the place of an arm comb.
The upper surface of these plates is even both with that of the radial
shields and with that of the arm plates beyond them.

The interbrachial spaces below are filled with irregular polygonal
scales which are largest along the lateral bord?rs, becoming smaller
and more or less surrounded by or covered with granules centrally;
toward the oral shields they tend to imbricate more or less.

The genital slits are long, reaching from a notch in the middle of
the sides of the oral shields to the border of the disk as viewed ven-
trally; they are bordered with small truncate closely crowded papillae.

The proximal edges of the oral shields are straight and' make nearly

386 CLARK : A NEW GENUS OF OPHIURAN3

a right angle with each other; the sides are roundedly incised by the
proximal ends of the genital slits; the outer corners are broadly rounded;
and the distal border is concave or sometimes convex. The length of
the oral shields is equal to, or slightly exceeds, the breadth.

The mouth papillae are five in number; the innermost is triangular
and sharp pointed, the others lower, truncated distally. Continuing
these is a series of five, more rarely six, papillae bordering the first
arm tentacle abradially, of which the outermost is broad and triangular,
with the apex over the proximal end, the others small, subequal, rounded
distally; opposite these on the first under arm plate are two, rarely
three, large tentacle scales, of which the outermost is about as large
as the outermost in the other series, and twice as large as the inner.

The side mouth shields are narrow, about four times as long, as broad,
with parallel sides, and incised near their outer ends by the furrows
lodging the first arm tentacles.

The first upper arm plate distal to the row of plates bordering the
radial shields is very narrow, almost bandlike, nearly spanning the
arm in dorsal view; the next is longer and wider, with converging sides
and a convex distal border; the following ones decrease regularly in
width, increasing in relative length, at the fifteenth or sixteenth becom-
ing triangular, twice as long as broad, with the distal border strongly
convex; beyond the sixteenth each upper arm plate is separated from
the preceding by an increasingly greater relative distance, as a result
of the increasingly broader union of the side arm plates.

The arm spines are very short and slender, on the first ten side arm
plates three or four, commonly in two well spaced pairs, beyond these
five, toward the end of the arm four, usually in two spaced pairs, and
at the tip of the arm three. At first the arm spines are equal in length
and size; beyond the basal third of the arm the lowest increases in rela-
tive length, soon becoming twice as long as the others.

The first under arm plate is fan-shaped, the outer border strongly
convex, the very short inner border strongly concave. The second is
usually slightly longer, twice as broad proximally, the lateral borders
slightly concave, the distal border with a median convexity and two
slight lateral concavities; the tentacles on either side are protected
by four scales inwardly and three outwardly. The third is similar,
but with a much narrower base and more converging sides. The fourth
is rhombic. The fifth is rhombic, shorter, in contact with the fourth.
The next two are shorter, rhombic, but with the outer angles cut away
by the tentacle grooves, widely separated from each other. The fol-
lowing ones have a low convex distal border and the outer part of
the proximal border cut away by the tentacle grooves. Beyond the
middle of the arms the under arm plates lie entirely between the ten-
tacle grooves; they become very minute in the distal portion of the arm.
Tijpe.— Cat. No. 38580, U. S. N. M., from Albatross Station 2785,
off the coast of Chile, in 449 fathoms.

lusk: food economics 387

Ophiomaria rugosa, sp. nov.

In the largest specimen the disk is 16 mm. in diameter, and the arms
are about 50 mm. long.

The disk is pentagonal with slightly concave sides, less stellate than
that of 0. tenella, thick, at the angles of the pentagon curving abruptly
downward to the arm bases. It is covered dorsally with fine granules
which become coarser toward the margin, where they tend to trans-
form into an irregular mosaic of small, very irregular, polygonal plates,
especially at the arm bases; the radial shields are covered.

The granulation of the disk may cover uniformly all of the plates,
but usually one or more of the following series are visible; six widely
separated circular or oval primary plates, much swollen and elevated
above the general surface; a similar plate at each arm base, with some-
times a small one beyond it; between the plates at the arm bases a
similar but smaller plate, about the size of the central plate, in the mid-
interradial line; a small plate on either side of a line between each pe-
ripheral primary plate and the plate at the base of the corresponding
arm; a plate in the middle of each interbrachial border, as viewed dor-
sally, which sometimes forms the center of a series of very irregular
plates between the arm bases.

The arms are essentially as in 0. tenella, but the side arm plates and
upper arm plates are rather strongly convex in profile, so that the arms
appear rugged.

The plates in the interbrachial areas below are much smaller than
the corresponding plates in 0. tenella, and the granules are more abun-
dant, smaller, and more generally distributed.

On the ventral surface there appear to be no essential differences
between this species and 0. tenella.

Very young individuals with the radial shields exposed differ from
young specimens of 0. tenella in having smaller and more numerous
central plates on the dorsal surface of the disk, and swollen arm plates.

Type.— Cat. No. 38579, U. S. N. M., from Albatross Station 2791,
off the coast of Chile, in 677 fathoms.

PHYSIOLOGY. — Food economics.1 Graham Lusk, Professor
of Physiology, Cornell University Medical College, New
York.

The consideration of the food supply from a national stand-
point was forced upon Germany at the outbreak of the great
war which is now in progress. Eminent scientists combined
in a report upon the prospects of the sustenance of the nation.

1 A lecture delivered before the Washington Academy of Sciences, April 14,
1916.

388 lusk: food economics

Imports from oversea had been restricted. Meat, butter, cheese,
and fish formerly obtained from Holland and Denmark were no
longer available. The North Sea fisheries which had yielded
179,000 metric tons (1 metric ton = 2200 lbs.) of fish were
closed, trained farm hands were fewer, crops in East Prussia
and Alsace had been destroyed; the situation appeared serious.
It was estimated that the annual amount of food fuel necessary
to support sixty-eight million Germans— men, women, and
children— was 56,750,000,000,000 calories. This is the equiva-
lent of 3000 calories per adult per day. The quantity of protein
required in this fuel, if the human machines were to maintain
themselves in self-repair, was estimated to be 1,605,000 metric
tons per annum. It was calculated that a mixed population of
sixty-eight millions (men, women, and children) required the
same amount of food as would 51,823,000 adults.

In order to increase the production of food and to diminish
the waste, the committee recommended increasing the crop of
beans, with its large protein content, reducing the unnecessarily
large meat supply, and increasing the intake of cheese and
skim milk (which latter should no longer be fed to pigs), im-
proving the yield of vegetables and fruits, and reducing the
quantity of butter and cream produced. A reduction in the
consumption of meat, butter, and cream was necessary, because
edible grains would be required for human food, and the main-
tenance of the usual number of cattle was no longer deemed
possible.

The estimated savings as above enumerated would result in a
total production of 81.25 billion food calories containing 2,022,800
tons of protein.

The conditions were summarized as shown in table I.

From these data it was concluded that the German people,
through cooperation of millions of inhabitants, would be able
to prevent suffering for lack of food. There can be no question
that respect for the scientific knowledge of specialists, of men
like Rubner, Zuntz, Oppenheimer, and Lehmann, was of highest
value in the hour of national exigency. Countries in which
highly educated men are very slightly esteemed would have

lusk: food economics

389

passed over this advice, would have consigned it to the news-
paper dung-hill of " highbrow" information, and starved to
death in consequence.

TABLE I
Showing the Annual Food Requirements of 68,000,000 People in Germany

Actual requirement

Used before the war

Available (unchanged habits)

Available (under present recommendations)

PROTEIN IN

1000 METRIC

TONS

1605
2307
1543
2023

CALORIES
IN BILLIONS

56.75
90.42
67.86
81.25

It is not unimportant to know something of the cost of these
great quantities of food fuel.

If one takes the wholesale cost in the United States of food
purchased on account of the Commission for Relief in Belgium
as a basis, one can estimate, in terms of the cost of various
simple food-stuffs, the lowest wholesale cost of the yearly food
fuel requirement of the German nation, as follows:

TABLE II
Wholesale Cost in America of Food Fuel for 68,000,000 People

COST PER
POUND

COST PER

1000
CALORIES

COST FOR

56,750,000,000,000

CALORIES

$0,016
0.023
0.03
0.033
0.045

$0,011

0.014
0.018
0.02
0.029

$634,000,000

Wheat .

794,500,000

1,022,500,000

1,135,000,000

1,634,000,000

The wholesale cost of sufficient food fuel exclusively in the
form of beans to provide the United States for a period of one
year would call for a sum of two and a half billion dollars. Beans
are more costly than rice and wheat, but have a larger protein
content.

Contrast the stupendous cost of food fuel for a nation with the
living expenses of a poor family in New York City (table III) .

390

lusk: food economics

To the man of large affairs the expenditure of twenty-five
dollars a month for food appears of little moment, and yet if
the 100,000,000 inhabitants of the United States lived as this

TABLE III
Family, Two Adults, Three Children

Wages.
Rent..

.$60 per month
.00

$15.

Food 25 . 00

Coal 4.50

Insurance 2 . 25

Soap, matches, etc 1 .00

Clothing and extras 12.25

$60.00

typical poor man's family lived the cost of food would aggregate
$6,000,000,000 per annum. To any man of large affairs the
maintenance at Boston of the Nutrition Laboratory of the
Carnegie Institution, with its budget of $60,000 per annum,
appeals impressively to the imagination; yet this work is ac-
complished at an annual expense of one-thousandth of one per
cent of what the American people would pay for food if each
family of five had an income of $720 per annum. Is it not a
little sad to think that the expenditure of thousands of millions
of dollars annually for food, an expenditure frequently amount-
ing to more than half of the income of the poor man, should
take place without any real idea as to the nature of what food is?

TABLE IV
Supplies for a Boarding School Containing 355 Boys

Food supply.

Waste

Food-fuel

PROTEIN

METRIC

TONS

FAT

METRIC

TONS

20.5
3.8

25.6
5.4

20.2

16.7

CARBO-
HYDRATE
METRIC
TONS

60.5
4.2

56.3

Mr. F. C. Gephart, of the Russell Sage Institute of Pathology,
has made a study into the food consumption of the boys at St.
Paul's school at Concord, New Hampshire, one of the largest

lusk: food economics

391

private boarding schools in the country. The total annual
food supply has been computed as shown in table IV.

This amount of nourishment was taken by 355 boys and by
about 100 adults (masters and servants). This quantity of
food when computed on the basis of the individual meal served
appears as follows:

TABLE V
Food Supply per Meal

POUNDS

■ GRAMS

CALORIES

Protein

0.1107
0.1332
0.3717

50.2

60.4

168.8

206
562
692

per cent

14*

Fat

Carbohydrates

1,460

100

* 70 per cent of this is in animal protein.

The cost of this food per meal was 20 cents, or 13.8 cents per
1000 calories. The food, which was bought by a purchasing
agent in the Boston market and was of the best quality, in-
cluded 193 separate varieties. Such a dietary taken by the
100,000,000 inhabitants of the United States would cost per
annum 11^ billion dollars, if the German minimum of 3000
calories daily per adult were allowed. This cost is twice what
the poor man in New York City pays for his food.

These growing athletic boys, however, were not satisfied
with 3000 calories daily. They not only took 4350 calories
daily at the table, but they bought 650 additional calories in
food at a neighboring store, the principal item being chocolate.

Data concerning the subjects of the investigation are epito-
mized in table VI.

The basal requirement of boys is, as Du Bois has shown, 25
per cent above that of the adult. The total fuel intake was
three times that of the basal level, which is the heat production
when a boy is resting or asleep. The 5000 calories contained
in the ingesta is half as much again as a farmer at work would
require. The quantity of the calculated intake would certainly
not be lowered by excluding the adults who unavoidably entered

392

lusk: food economics

into this computation. These results explain the ravenous
appetite of boys. Lack of appreciation of this factor and lack
of provision for it are the probable causes of much of the under-
nutrition seen in children of the school age.

TABLE VI
Table Showing the Nutrition Conditions at a School Containing 355 Boys

The Upper School

The School

The Lower School

AVER-
AGE
AGE

HEIGHT

WEIGHT

BODY

SUR-
. PACE

BASAL

METAB-
OLISM
(CALC.)

FOOD

years

cm.

kg.

sq. m.

cals.

cah.

172.7

60.6

1.73

1826

4997

14|

165.1

50.8

1.54

1737

5126

13|

157.5

43.8

1.40

1647

4949

FOOD

IN PER

CENT OF

BASAL

per cent

274
295
300

The distribution of the fuel values among the various more
common articles taken as food at the school is shown in the
following table :

TABLE VII

Percentage Distribution of the Calories Ingested at a Boys' Boarding

School

Bacon

Beef

Bread and flour

Butter

Cream

Eggs

Fowl

Per cent

6.7

Lamb

Milk

Pork loins . .

Potatoes

Sugar

Other items

Per cent

5.3
12. Q

1.1

5.9
11.6
24.5

It is interesting that twelve dietary items yield 75 per cent of
the fuel value, and that 181 other varieties yield the remaining
25 per cent. Bread, butter, milk, and sugar together yield 50
per cent of the food fuel.

According to the German minimum allowance an average
family of five (father, mother, and three children) would re-
quire 11,400 calories in food daily. If the family's dietary were
based proportionately upon that of the boy's school, it would
cost as follows (table VIII), provided its food supplies were pur-
chased on Second Avenue, New York City:

lusk: food economics

393

TABLE VIII

CALORIES

COST IN
CENTS

Total food

11,400

1,500
1,500
1,500
1,500

Bread

Butter

Milk

Sugar

6,000

Thirty cents will buy more than half the family's food require-
ment at an average cost of 5 cents per thousand calories, instead
of 14 cents, the average cost at the school. If $25 is spent each
month for food, 80 cents a day is available, or 7 cents for a
thousand calories. The margin is narrow.

It would be well if the family knew that more than half its
food supply could be had for 30 cents a day, and that this bread,
butter, milk, and sugar are of equal nutritive value to the best
the country affords. The remaining 5400 calories could then
be bought at a cost of 9 cents per thousand. This sum will
purchase most of the usual foodstuffs, with the exception of meat.

As a matter of statistics, the annual consumption of cane
sugar in the United States in 1912-13 reached 85.4 lbs. per
capita, which is the equivalent of 2000 calories daily for a family
of five, or twenty per cent of the energy requirement. This
quantity of sugar costs the nation a million and a half dollars
daily, and the rich harvest to be reaped by substitution of only a
part of this by saccharin, which has no fuel value whatever, is
obvious.

It has appeared to those at work in the laboratory that it
would be of great importance to associate the caloric value of
food with cost in dollars and cents. For the understanding of
this, table IX has been prepared, showing the cost of 2500
calories, which is the energy requirement of an average adult
of sedentary occupation.

True food reform demands the sale of food by calories and
not by pounds. Professor Murlin has advocated that the

394

lusk: food economics

TABLE IX

Weights of Various Foods Necessary to Furnish 2,500 Calories, and Cost
at Second Avenue and 90th Street, New York City

A man at moderate work requires 2,500 calories daily

ARTICLES

Corn meal

Hominy

Oatmeal

Flour

Sugar

Rice (broken)

Bread

Lard

Corn syrup

Molasses

Peanut butter

Pork (fat)

Beans (dried), pea

Oleomargarine

Potatoes

Dates

Olive oil

Hickory nuts (unhulled) . . .

Raisins (dried)

Applies (dried)

Cheese, American, pale

Butter

Brazil nuts (unhulled)

Cocoa

Lentils (dried)

Almonds (unhulled)

Apples (fresh)

English walnuts (unhulled)
Salt cod

WEIGHT

Pounds

Ounces

5§

o
O

50.04!
0.04|
0.05i
0.06

0.07|

0.08i

0.08A

0.09§

0.12H

0.14

0.15H

0.19

0.20

0.21

0.21f

0.23f

0.24 ^

0.27

0.29 A

0.30

0.36

0.38

0.41H

0.90

government compel manufacturers to place upon each can or
package of food sold the caloric content of the package.

Besides fuel value it must be remembered that the body must
have protein. The machinery of the living parts of the body
such as muscle is in a constant state of wearing away. The
wear and tear is slight, but protein must be taken in the food

lusk: food economics 395

to replace that destroyed in the body or the machinery of the
cells will wear out and death from lack of protein will ensue.

Different proteins have different values for this purpose.
Those of meat, fish, eggs, and milk will replace body protein
part for part. Such proteins may be classified as proteins of
Grade A. Gelatine has practically no power to replace body
protein and should be classified as protein of Grade D. Wheat
contains a mixture of proteins of Grades A and D in which those
of Grade A predominate, so that wheat may be classified as
containing protein of Grade B, whereas from analogous reason-
ing corn may be said to contain protein of Grade C.

An ordinary dietary with a liberal allowance of protein con-
tains 15 per cent of its calories in that form. A can containing
15 per cent of its calories in protein should have a star placed
with the letter determinative of the grade of protein. For
example the label on a can of corn should read, "This can con-
tains x calories of which y per cent are in protein of Grade C."
A further desirable statement would be as to whether the food-
stuff sold contained the natural mineral constituents from the
organic source from which it was derived.

I have elsewhere emphasized the desirability that the govern-
ment should give this information with regard to all foodstuffs
sold in packages. The determination of the heat of combustion
of a dried sample of food takes fifteen minutes. Probably
three hours would suffice to make a complete analysis by a
government expert. The manufacturer should send his sample
can to the Bureau of Chemistry at Washington, declaring that
to be his standard and requesting information regarding his
label. He should pay for this analysis as a patentee pays for
his patent. If at any time the government should find the
manufacturer selling on the market a material of different
character than the standard deposited with the government, the
manufacturer should be heavily fined.

It is not possible to consider the details of the great amount
of extremely valuable work accomplished by the scientific
departments of the Washington Government and in the individual

396 lusk: food economics

Agricultural Experiment stations in this country and abroad.
It may, however, be of interest to call attention to the results
of a study of the sale of food at Childs' restaurant2 which shows
how this principle of caloric feeding, now adopted in hospitals
and upon farms, may be worked out in the daily life of the
people.

The main objection that has been encountered to the sale of
food on the caloric basis has been the sensitiveness of the busi-
ness world to the introduction of a new and unknown quantity.
Why not leave well enough alone? A more highly educated
generation will, however, demand that its expenditures of thous-
ands of millions of dollars for food shall not continue to take
place in unfathomable depths of darkness.

2 Gephart and Lusk. Analysis and cost of ready-to-serve foods. Pub-
lished by Am. Med. Assoc, 1915.

ABSTRACTS

TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM.— Results of observations made at the
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Magnetic Observatory near
Tucson, Arizona, 1913 and 1914- Daniel L. Hazard. U. S.
Coast and Geodetic Survey Serial Publication No. 23. 1916.
This publication is in continuation of the series giving the results
obtained at the Tucson magnetic observatory since its establishment
in 1909. It contains a summary of the monthly determinations of the
scale-values of the horizontal intensity and vertical intensity variom-
eters; the base-line values derived from the weekly absolute observa-
tions; diurnal variation tables for the magnetic elements D, H, and I,
the total force F, and the rectangular components X, Y, Z; hourly
values of D, H, and Z, together with daily and hourly means for each
month; a tabulation of the earthquakes recorded on the seismograph;
a list of the magnetic disturbances of considerable magnitude, and repro-
ductions of the magnetograms showing the more marked disturbances.
Attention is called to the fact that beginning with 1913 intensity results
obtained by this Bureau have been reduced to the international stand-
ard of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institu-
tion of Washington. Published results for earlier years must be dimin-
ished by one part in a thousand to reduce them to that standard.

D. L. H.

TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM.— Solar radiation and terrestrial mag-
netism. L. A. Bauer. Terr. Mag., 20: 143-158. 1915.
Comparisons have been made between the records of magnetic varia-
tions and those of the solar constant as determined by Abbot. If the
local magnetic constant G be defined as (H- + \ Z-)h, where H and Z
are horizontal and vertical magnetic intensities respectively, it is found

397

398 abstracts: physics

that the 1913 results from 8 magnetic observatories indicate on the
average an increase of about 0.002 of a per cent in G, and a decrease of
about 1 per cent in the magnetic diurnal range for a decrease of 1
per cent in the solar constant.

It is shown further that the eclipse magnetic effects are of the same
sign, and of the same order of magnitude as the magnetic effects which
are, apparently, to be associated with about a 10 per cent decrease in
the value of the solar constant.

It is found that on consecutive quiet days the magnetic constant is,
on the average, larger on the second day than on the first by an amount
equal to that which would be caused by the average daily change in the
solar constant. If the quiet day magnetic effect were to persist through-
out the year, it would cause a secular variation fully 10 times that gen-
erally observed. However, the quiet days are in the minority, and on
the unquiet days the effect is in a direction opposite to that for the
quiet days. Since there is not a complete compensation between the
two opposing effects when integrated throughout a period of a year,
part of the observed secular magnetic change should be of a type related
to the annual change in solar constant. W. F. G. S.

PHYSICS. — On the ionization of the upper atmosphere. W. F. G.
Swann. Terr. Mag., 21: 1-8. 1916.

If the sun is taken as a black body, and if in accordance with the
experiments of Hughes, ionization does not set in below wave length
135 nn, it appears that only about 1.6 X 10-5 of the total solar radiant
energy is available for atmospheric ionization.

The results are applied to an example cited* by Schuster in connec-
tion with his theory of the diurnal variations of terrestrial magnetism.
Schuster concludes that if the upper atmosphere is treated as a shell
300 kilometers thick, at a pressure 1 dyne per square centimeter, a con-
ductivity of 10-13 e. m. u. would have to exist in it in order to account
for the necessary magnetic effects. The author finds that only about
10~3 of this amount can be accounted for in such a shell, by the ultra-
violet radiation, and even if the whole of the sun's energy could be
absorbed in producing ionization, the conductivity accounted for would
yet be far too small.

The above conclusion is not intended as a criticism of Schuster's
theory, however, since the ultra-violet light is not the only source of
ionization in the upper atmosphere. Further, it is shown that if the
calculation is not limited to a shell, but if account is taken of the infi-

abstracts: spectroscopy 399

nite extent of the atmosphere, the magnetic effects which result as the
ultimate consequence of a feeble source of ionization may be very much
greater than those calculated on the basis of a shell of finite thickness.

W. F. G. S.

PHYSICS. — Protected thermoelements. Arthur W. Gray. Bureau
of Standards Scientific Paper No. 276. Pp. 3. 1916.

The mounting described in this paper has been found to be very
convenient for protecting laboratory thermoelements from damage
by contamination or by mechanical strains.

The closed tube which covers the temperature determining end of
the thermoelement has its open end cemented into one end of a flexible
copper tube, through which the wires, properly insulated, pass to a
head at the other end. Projecting downwards, from this head is a
glass tube which contains the ice junction. The head is provided
with neutral binding posts for receiving the leads to the apparatus
employed for measuring the electromotive-force by which the tem-
perature is determined, and contains phosphorus pentoxide to prevent
moisture films from being deposited within the protective covering.

The ice-bath is contained in a vacuum jar which is protected by a
metal case. By means of a bayonet joint this is suspended from
the cover, which is fastened to a rod fitting the standard laboratory
clamps. The head of the thermoelement telescopes with moderate
friction into a split tube which projects upward from the top of the ice-
bottle cover. When it becomes necessary to renew the ice, a slight turn
of the case containing the vacuum jar frees the bayonet joint and per-
mits lowering of the ice-bath without disturbing anything else.

A. W. G.

SPECTROSCOPY. — Interference measurements of wave lengths in the
iron spectrum (3233A-6750A). Keivin Burns, W. F. Meggers,
and Paul W. Merrill. Bureau of Standards Scientific Paper No.
274, pp. 245-272. 1916.
The wave lengths of 403 iron lines have been measured by means of
interferometers in an effort to determine standards at intervals of
about 10 angstroms. This has been accomplished in the greater part
of the spectrum between 3233A and 6750A, the region in which the In-
ternational secondary standards exist. As far as possible, lines of all
intensities were measured.

400 abstracts: geology

The arc spectrum of iron was used in accordance with the recommen-
dations of the International Wave-Length Committee. The method
of procedure was that of Buisson and Fabry (Journal de Physique,
7: 169. 1908). Most of the wave lengths were determined by means of
three or more interferometers in which the orders of interference ranged
from 15 to 60 thousand waves. The International secondary standards
were used in this comparison instead of the fundamental cadmium
standard. The mean difference between the present observations and
the International standards is about one part in four million.

Comparisons with all the grating observations of iron lines which
have been made on the LA. system prove that more secondary stand-
ards were needed to obtain the highest accuracy in grating interpola-
tions. Some of the grating observations show a difference in wave
length which is a function of the intensity of the line. The measure-
ments with' the interferometer appear to be quite free from this effect.

In the course of the investigation over 600 lines were examined by
means of several interferometers in order to discover the limiting or-
ders of interference. This gave an idea of the width or sharpness of
each line. The data on sharpness were then correlated with intensity,
pole effect, and pressure shift. K. B.

GEOLOGY. — Geology and oil prospects of the Cuyama Valley, Califor-
nia. Walter A. English. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 631
M, pp. 191-215. 1916.
The Cuyama Valley area lies within the California Coast Ranges,
south of the important oilfields which border the San Joaquin Valley
along its southwest side. Although written primarily as a discussion
of the oil possibilities the report also brings out certain features of the
complicated Coast Range structure and stratigraphy.

The rocks outcropping are a thick Cretaceous formation of dark
shale, and Tertiary clayey and diatomaceous shales and sandstones.
The Cretaceous beds are quite uniform in lithologic character and vary
little from beds of the same age in other parts of the Coast Ranges.
The Tertiary formations, however, are of extremely variable lithology.
During parts of Tertiary time the shore line probably crossed the Cu-
yama area, for in going from west to east within this area the lower
and upper Miocene rocks are traceable from marine beds typical of
Coast Range deposition into non-marine beds of the type of the Ter-
tiary formations present in the Mojave and Tehachapi regions to the

abstracts: botany 401

east. Lithologic variations within the marine beds are due to local
differential uplifts which occurred during Tertiary time, and which
formed long island ridges in the sea which then covered the present
Coast Ranges. These Tertiary differential uplifts also served to com-
plicate the structural features of the region. The present Coast Ranges
are made up of a series of long northwestward trending ridges, the indi-
vidual ranges of the system, separated by wide valleys. These ranges
and valleys are of structural origin, having been formed by the pro-
nounced folding and faulting of early Pleistocene time. The structure
resulting from the comparatively recent folding is superimposed upon
structures formed by similar earlier movements. An interesting result
of this combination of structures is that, although the general trend of
the major lines of structure produced by the earlier movements was
northwest, and thus parallel to the later structure, the blocks subjected
to differential uplift during the earlier part of the Tertiary were not
always the same as those most recently uplifted. An area which
formed a range during the Tertiary and from which many thousand feet
of beds were eroded may now form the bottom of a structural valley,
and another area which was a structural trough during parts of the
Tertiary may now form a recently uplifted range. W. A. E.

BOTANY. — Studies of Tropical American 'phanerogams — No. 2. Paul
C. Standley. Contributions from the U. S. National Herbarium,
18: 87-142. 1916.
The paper consists of descriptions of new species and of taxonomic
notes upon various groups of plants, chiefly the Amaranthaceae, Alli-
oniaceae, Malvaceae, and Rubiaceae, and the association of families
formerly known as the Leguminosae. Most of the new species are
based upon material obtained in Panama by Mr. Henry Pittier. A
large number of species published in the genus Pisonia are transferred
to Torrubia. A new genus of the Malvaceae, Wercklea, based upon a
showy-flowered tree of Costa Rica, is published jointly with Mr. Pit-
tier. Peltaea, a new genus of Malvaceae, embracing 4 species, is pro-
posed and Lopimia, of the same family, is restored. There are included
descriptions of three new species of persimmons (Diospyros) from Mex-
ico, and 11 species of Psychotria from Panama. Two genera of Rubia-
ceae, Cassupa and Stachyarrhena, are reported from North America
for the first time. P. C. S.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED

SOCIETIES

THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 774th meeting was held on May 13, 1916, at the Cosmos Club,
President Briggs in the chair; 53 persons present. The minutes of the
773d meeting were read in abstract and approved. After discussion
the following resolution recommended by the Executive Committee was
unanimously carried:

Resolved: That the Philosophical Society of Washington most heartily
approves of House o£ Representatives bill No. 528 (known as the
Johnson bill) for the adoption of the Centigrade temperature scale in
Government publications with the amendments as approved by the
National Academy of Sciences.

Mr. C. W. Hewlett of the Johns Hopkins University presented a
communication on The analysis of complex sound waves and exhibited
and demonstrated the apparatus used in the investigation. The
speaker first gave an example to show what is meant by the analysis
of a complex sound wave. Suppose we have three tuning forks whose
frequencies are related to one another as are the numbers 1, 2, and 3,
and let us consider the sound waves passing through a point at some
distance from the forks. If each of the forks were excited separately
we should observe at the point in question three simple harmonic trains
of waves of definite intensities with frequencies corresponding to the
frequencies of the forks. If all the forks were excited together we
should observe a complex train of waves passing through the point,
and by a proper arrangement of apparatus this complex wave could
be analysed. If our analysis led to the conclusion that the complex
wave was composed of the three simple harmonic trains which we ob-
served when the forks were excited separately, then we should say that
the analysis was correct. But, as is well known, a Fourier analysis
could be carried out which would lead to an entirely different result,
and it would also be a correct analysis in the sense that the portion of
the complex wave analysed could be reproduced by the combination of
the components found by the analysis. Again suppose that the three
forks had frequencies whose relations to one another were the same as
the numbers 1, 2.1, and 3.5. The complex wave from these three
forks could again be analysed, and the analysis would be again re-
garded as correct if it gave us three simple harmonic trains of waves
with frequencies corresponding to those of the forks and intensities
which we would observe with the forks vibrating separately. But a
Fourier analysis in general would give us an entirely different result,

402

proceedings: philosophical society 403

and this analysis would also be correct in the sense that the portion
of the wave analysed could be reproduced by combining the compo-
nents found by the analysis. We thus see that a Fourier analysis
does not necessarily tell anything in regard to the physical apparatus
giving rise to the complex sound wave. If, however, the complex
wave be explored by a system of tunable resonators the analysis so
found does give information in regard to the source. The apparatus
exhibited consisted of such a series of resonators. The detecting de-
vice is a Rayleigh disc suspended in the opening of the resonator and
deflections are measured by a beam of light reflected from the disc.

Discussion. Mr. Swann raised questions regarding what was really
of importance to the ear and whether a physical analysis can be of the
same nature as that of the ear's system. In experimental work the
mounting and operation of a musical instrument is entirely mechani-
cal and without any of the effects due to a player's skill when using the
same instrument. The ear apparently appreciates the energy. Mr.
C. A. Briggs said that the mechanical receipt of sound by the ear
might be explained by the reed frequency indicator. Mr. Curtis
suggested that an improvement might be obtained by using a model
of the ear's system for experimental work. Mr. Wead called atten-
tion to the fact that a large part of detail of the ear's system as gener-
ally described is due to handling in cleaning and cutting, and does not
correspond to anything in the living ear. In music fixed pitch is not
wanted. Mr. Hewlett stated that he hoped to take up later experi-
mental work in connection with mechanical playing.

By invitation, Mr. J. A. Anderson of Johns Hopkins University
then presented a paper on Diffraction gratings; their preparation and
use. A reflecting diffraction grating consists of a polished plane or
spherical metallic surface on which are ruled a great number of lines
or grooves, all of which must be straight, parallel, and equidistant
from each other. In practice these conditions are never satisfied ab-
solutely, and the question arises as to what deviations from ideal con-
ditions may exist without impairing the quality of the grating. A dis-
cussion shows that the lines should not have a radius of curvature of
less than 3 kilometers, and the distance between them should be so
nearly constant that the deviation of the last line from its ideal posi-
tion should not exceed one-quarter of a wave-length. The design and
construction of a machine for ruling perfect gratings is a very difficult
problem, but it was solved so completely by Professor Rowland that by
following him intelligently it does not now present any insurmountable
difficulties. The parts of the machine must be carefully tested;
methods for doing this were explained. The machine is finally tested
by the method of "cross rulings," a method devised by Prof essor Row-
land, and Which is so sensitive that errors in spacing as small as

o Qrvr. r>An inch can be detected with ease.

j| Discussion. Following the exhibit of a number of gratings and
cutting tools Mr. Abbot asked regarding the life of a ruling tool and

404 proceedings: geological society

largest gratings made. Mr. Anderson stated that all of the gratings
were made on speculum metal. This is crystalline and therefore,
owing to occasional pitting, subjects the tool to slight falls with the
result that the diamond may chip ; the natural edges of the diamond are
used for cutting; with care one tool will rule from 6 to 10 miles. The
diamond would stand indefinite use on soft metals such as silver; if
soft metals could be given as high a polish as speculum metal it would
be possible to rule large gratings. Messrs. Humphreys and Wright
cited a number of examples of diamonds that cannot be cut by the
lapidary; they are designated as "knots." Mr. Bauer asked what is
the largest number of lines ruled to the inch. Mr. Anderson stated that
he had himself ruled 15,000 lines to the inch and was building a machine
to rule 30,000; Professor Rowland had ruled one grating with 86,000
lines per inch but that grating had been lost; among the gratings ex-
hibited was one with 43,000 lines per inch by Professor Rowland.

The chair extended to Messrs. Anderson and Hewlett the thanks of
the Society for their very interesting papers.

J. A. Fleming, Secretary.

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 308th meeting was held in the lecture room of the Cosmos Club
on April 12, 1916.

REGULAR PROGRAM

J. S. Diller: Geologic history of Lassen Peak. Lassen Peak is an
ancient volcano at the southern end of the Cascade Range and fills the
gap between the northern end of the Sierra Nevada and the Klamath
Mountains composed largely of old sedimentary rocks.

Its volcanic activity began near the close of the Eocene, was great-
est during the Miocene and Pliocene and decreased in the Quaternary
to near extinction.

Lassen Peak is a volcano of large type surrounded by many smaller
ones of later date, the whole being built up by many explosive and
effusive eruptions of a notable variety of lavas. The earliest lavas
are andesite, but the differentiated magma appeared later on the one
hand as dacite and rhyolite, and on the other hand as basalt and quartz
basalt.

In developing the peak the great volcanic vent migrated nearly 4
miles to the northwest, erupting first andesite, then dacite, which built
up Lassen Peak to its present height, 10,460 feet. Later, only a few
centuries ago, dacite was erupted at the northwest base of the peak
forming Chaos Crags, but finally activity began again May 30, 1914,
erupting dacite in the old crater of the highest summit. The basalts
are mainly in the peripheral region.

In the discussion Diller asserted that the flashes of light, cloud glows
and rocket-like incandescent bombs shot from the crater prove that at
least some of the new lava erupted was hot enough to be luminous, and

PKOCEEDINGS: GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY 405

the flow structure in some of the breadcrusted bombs shows them to
have been viscous.

Arthur L. Day: Volcanic phenomena at Lassen Peak. Since the
outbreak in 1914, Lassen Peak has shown four phases of activity which
may be called volcanic. The first phase began on May 30, 1914, with
a series of sharp explosions in the old summit crater, which developed
an opening in the scoriaceous debris at the bottom of the crater some
25 by 40 feet in size and perhaps 30 feet deep. These explosions were
followed by others with increasing violence for several weeks, until the
new opening reached a length of 900 feet or more. No fresh lava or
other evidences of heat or chemical action appeared during this phase
of the activity.

On May 21, 1915, the most violent explosion thus far noted took place,
and was accompanied by a horizontal blast down the northeast flank
of the mountain (phase 2), a mud flow (phase 3) following the blast,
and a summit upheaval (phase 4) of much greater magnitude than
any which had preceded it. The lateral blast was similar in its charac-
ter and effects to the "Nuees Ardentes" of Mont Pelee, so accurately
described by Lacroix. The temperature, however, though sufficient to
melt the vast accumulations of snow on this flank of the mountain,
and thus to cause the mud flow, was nevertheless insufficient to start
a general conflagration of the kind which was visited upon Saint Pierre.
The only evidences of combustion were confined to a single small area
where local conditions interrupted the path of the blast and increased
the time of exposure to its heat. A similar blast occurred on May 23.

That the mud flows were caused by the melting snow on the outer
flanks of the mountain, rather than by an outflow of mud from the
crater, as at first reported, is plainly established by the observation
that no mud is found within some 1500 feet of the summit. The devas-
tation caused by the mud flow was, nevertheless, of considerable mag-
nitude, and involved some 5 million feet of standing timber, much of
which was swept away, root and branch.

The upheaval at the summit, lifting a considerable portion of the
bottom of the old crater, including sections of the east and west rims,
but not being sufficiently powerful to hurl it completely off from the
mountain top, produced the appearance of an area which has been
effectively dynamited. At the east end, where the lateral blast found
vent, some large boulders were split off and were carried by the mud
flow into the valleys below. The remaining upheaved matter fell back
in a wild chaos of boulders, the summit of which is now 200 feet or
more above the lowest point of the old crater bowl.

A visit to this upheaved area about 4 weeks after the occurrence re-
vealed a few cracks, adjacent to the center of explosive activity, from
which hot gases were still escaping. Except for the rocks and ash
adjacent to these cracks, all the upheaved matter was cold. From this
and other surface indications, it seems impossible to conclude that any
fresh lava reached the surface, nor could any considerable evidence of
chemically active gases be found.

406 proceedings: biological society

On the northeast flank of the mountain, a mile or more from the
crater, a few breadcrust bombs were found, but these are angular in
contour and are deemed to have acquired their breadcrust surface from
superficial rather than from initial plasticity. Proof of this is found in
the fact that some of the breadcrusted material is nothing more than
scoriaceous tuff. No evidence was discovered that the breadcrusting
was associated with the May outbreak.

The absence of convincing evidence of very high temperatures, or
of chemically active gases, suggests the conclusion that the activity
may have been caused by explosions of superheated steam resulting
from the approach of meteoric water to the volcano hearth.

Carroll H. Wegemann, Secretary.

THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 556th regular meeting of the Biological Society of Washington
was held at the Cosmos Club, Saturday, May 6, 1916; called to order
by President Hay at 8 p.m., with 45 persons present.

On recommendation of the Council Victor J. Evans, Washington,

D. C, was elected to active membership.

The President announced the recent deaths of Charles A. Davis
and S. M. Gronberger, members of the Society.

The first communication of the regular program was by M. W.
Lyon, Jr., Longevity of bacteria. Dr. Lyon described a culture of
Bacillus paratyphosus B. which had been hermetically sealed in a glass
tube in ordinary culture medium for the past ten years, and exhibited
a living subculture which had been made from it. He called attention
to the short life of certain organisms and the long life of others, espe-
cially those producing spores.

This communication was discussed by Dr. L. 0. Howard and Mrs.

E. M. Enlows.

The second paper was by Dr. L. Stejneger: The amphisbaenoid
lizards and their geographic distribution. Dr. Stejneger called attention
to various theories that have been advanced to account for the distribu-
tion of animals, and explained how the amphisbaenoid lizards, with
their peculiar morphology and habits, were particularly adapted to
show former connections with now separated land masses and islands.
The distribution and relationships of these lizards clearly showed a
former land connection between South America and Africa.

Dr. Stejneger's paper was illustrated by charts, diagrams, and maps
showing the classification, the structural taxonomic characters, the
probable evolution, and the geographic distribution of the amphis-
baenoid lizards. The Chair, Dr. L. 0. Howard, Dr. C. H. T. Town-
send, Gen. T. E. Wilcox, and others took part in the discussion.

The last paper of the evening was by W. L. McAtee: Sketch of the
natural history of the District of Columbia. Mr. McAtee gave a very
interest historical account of the study of the natural history of the
District of Columbia from the earliest accounts of Capt. John Smith

proceedings: anthropological society 407

who ascended the Potomac River as far as Little Falls and made notes
on the fauna of the region, and the accounts of other early explorers
and travellers, down to recent times. The speaker gave many enter-
taining quotations from the writings of these early naturalists, told
about the early societies interested in the natural history of the District,
and described the faunal and floral lists that have appeared, mention-
ing the number of species in each and calling attention to the fact
that the District of Columbia is the type locality for many species.
Mr. McAfee's communication was discussed by the Chair, and by
Messrs. L. O. Howard, D. E. Lantz, and William Palmer.

M. W. Lyon, Jr., Recording Secretary.

THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

At the 496th meeting, held March 7, 1916, Dr. C. L. G. Anderson
read a paper on Old Panama. After reviewing the voyage of Colum-
bus along the Panamanian coast and incidents of the early history of
the Isthmus, especially the settlement of Balboa, Pizarro, and others
on the Gulf of Darien in 1510, he spoke particularly of early accounts
of the aborigines. West of the colony of Darien came the Indian
Province of Cueva, and west of that the province of Coiba, which ended
at Limon Bay and the Chagres River. Darien or Cueva is a better
name than Cuna for the Indians commonly known as San Bias, Mandin-
gas, etc. These, of course, do not include the Chocos of Columbia.
The natives of Uraba, east of the Gulf of Darien, were always called
Caribes; they fought with bows and poisoned arrows. The Dariens,
at the time of the Conquest, did not poison their weapons or make war
with bows and arrows, but with wooden swords, long lances, and jave-
lins hurled by the use of throwing sticks. Unlike the Mexicans and
Peruvians, they had no belief as to the coming of the white Messiah,
and fought the Spaniards from the start.

Oviedo mentions the following among the tongues between Uraba
and Cape Gracias a Dios: Cueva, Coyba, Burica, Lengua de Paris,
Lengua de Veragua, Chondales, Nicaragua, Chorotegas, Oroci, Orotina,
Giietares, and Maribios.

There were four kinds of houses: (1) quadrangular, (2) circular,
(3) communal dwellings similar to those among the San Bias today,
and (4) dwellings in the tops of trees. The first whites exaggerated
the nudity of the natives, for pages are devoted to descriptions of their
clothing. They possessed both ordinary and ceremonial garments.
Females wore a short skirt and often added a shirt. Chiefs wore
long white robes on ceremonial occasions. According to the same early
chroniclers the tribes believed in a supreme being, and worshipped
the sun, moon, and many spirits. They had medicine men and priests
who told the people what they should do. Puberty was attended with
ceremonies. There was much drinking of chicha at weddings and a
house was built for the young man by his friends. After confinement
a woman bathed herself and babe in the river and the newborn was

408 proceedings: anthropological society

fumigated with tobacco. When not warring, the bands bartered dry-
fish, sea-salt, shells, pottery, etc., among themselves. Slaves were
branded or had a particular tooth pulled out. Graves were covered
level with the ground, although the Chibchas constructed burial
mounds. The bodies of chiefs were desiccated over a slow fire. All
undertakings began with drink, singing and dancing.

The best recent description of the Chocos is by Mr. H. Pittier.
There is much discussion over the classification of the Indians of western
Panama. A memorial of 1606 A. D. mentions among the tongues in
Chiriqui Province those of the Cothos, Borisques, Dorasques, Utelaes,
Bugabaes, Zunes, and others. The Bureau of American Ethnology
was urged to study the Isthmian tribes before their primitive customs
are lost.

Mr. Pittier said, in discussing the paper, that it had been deter-
mined that Columbus was at Limon, and that the blowpipe, as well
as the bow and arrow, was used by certain tribes of the region. Dr.
Anderson agreed that Panama Indians used the bow and arrow to
some extent, but stated that they were not employed in warfare.
Following Mr. Pittier's statement concerning slaves farther north,
Dr. Swanton pointed out that there was no true slavery in North
America north of Mexico, excepting on the North Pacific Coast. The
so-called slaves of the Pawnee or the Green Bay tribes mentioned by
others were nothing more than war captives.

At its 497th meeting, held March 21, 1916, Miss Frances Dens-
more, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, addressed the society
on Mandan Music. The songs and legends presented by the speaker
were collected among the Mandan Indians on the Fort Berthold Reser-
vation, in North Dakota, during two visits to that reservation, the
first in 1912, the second in 1915.

A few facts concerning the history of the tribe were given by way
of introduction. The Mandan are of Siouan stock and first appear
on the page of history in 1738. About ten years later they are said
to have been living near the mouth of the Heart River, in North Dakota,
and remains of their villages at that point were found by Lewis and
Clark in 1804. An epidemic of smallpox almost obliterated the tribe
in 1837, the number of survivors being estimated at about 125. Lewis
and Clark give the number of Mandan previous to this epidemic as
1600. Since that time the tribe has increased and the report of the
Indian Office for 1914 gives the number of full-blood Mandan as 220.
Some of these are sturdy old people who have kept their tribal tradi-
tions, and from such men and women the material comprised in this
paper was collected.

To the minds of the Mandan their country was peopled with spirit
beings who lived in the trees and the buttes. From the spirit women
who lived in Eagle Nose Butte, about 30 miles south of the present
site, of Bismarck, they say they received a society called the Creek
Women Society, with its ceremonial songs. Some details concerning

proceedings: anthropological society 409

this society were given by the speaker, who also outlined the legend
of the Terrible Snake who lived in Thunder Butte.

After describing briefly the life in the old Mandan village the speaker
passed to the principal subject of the paper, which was the custom of
eagle catching. The tradition of the origin of this custom, as well
as of the wolverine fetish owned by every leader of the eagle catchers,
had been secured from the last Mandan who owns such a fetish and
has the inherited right to sing the songs connected with it. These
songs comprised those taught to the first eagle catcher by a wolverine,
and include songs given to the wolverine by the buffalo, black eagle,
coyote, and snake, as well as songs to be sung when the eagle trap was
constructed and the bait prepared, the cord for securing the eagle
made ready, and the sweat lodge built in the eagle camp. Other
songs were connected with eagle catching, which was an undertaking
having a deep significance and a somewhat ceremonial character.
Several of these songs were sung by the speaker, who also gave a song
said to have been learned from the Moon. A song connected with
the legend of the origin of the flute was given in connection with
the narrative.

Charts were presented giving a comparison of Chippewa, Sioux,
and Mandan-Hidatsa songs, as studied by the speaker. In these dia-
grams were included certain songs of the Hidatsa, who for many years
have lived in the same villages with the Mandan, and other songs
which cannot be accredited with exactness to either tribe. The musi-
cal material obtained on this reservation is therefore considered as Man-
dan-Hidatsa when placed in comparison with that of other tribes.
Comparison of tonality with Chippewa and Sioux shows the Mandan
to contain a larger percentage of major songs than either of these
tribes, the percentages of major songs being 57 among the Chippewa,
40 among the Sioux, and 65 among the Mandan-Hidatsa. Compari-
son of structure showed the percentage of harmonic songs (those whose
contiguous accented tones bear a simple chord-relation to each other)
to be 24 per cent among the Chippewa, 12 per cent among the Sioux,
and 35 per cent among the Mandan-Hidatsa. These comparisons
are based upon the analysis of 70 Mandan-Hidatsa songs, while the
number of Chippewa and Sioux songs examined is much larger. Fur-
ther investigation may somewhat change the results of the comparative
analysis.

The paper was illustrated throughout by lantern slides, and was fol-
lowed by two musical numbers under the direction of Mr. Heinrich
Hammer, showing the adaptation of Indian themes in musical composi-
tion. One of these was a fantasie for violin and piano, composed by
Mr. Hammer on a theme collected by Miss Densmore and presented
for the first time on this occasion.

At the 498th meeting, held April 4, 1916, Miss Adela C. Breton,
Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, read a paper on A ustral-
asian museums and their work. The natives are becoming absorbed

410 proceedings: anthropological society

into the white community and in many places are semicivilized and
losing their former crafts. Nowhere except in the museums can the
ethnologist get a thorough understanding of what they accomplished.
The Australian Museum at Sydney has immense series of all Aus-
tralian weapons, arborglyphs, etc., and a magnificent New Guinea
collection, including pottery, and bone daggers. Among American
things are Arkansas pottery; Peruvian figure pots, throwing sticks,
and celts with lance heads; and shell beads from Yucatan (received
from A. Bastian). The bone daggers are like those in the ear piercing
ceremony in the Mexican picture codices. They are said to be for
dispatching an enemy and are usually made from the tibia of a casso-
wary. The Perth Museum collection includes native string knotted
bags, stone implements of an early type, glass spear heads, spear throwers,
bull roarers, and the only known spear head of pottery; also pottery
from Zuni, Chiriqui, and Nicaragua, sent in exchange by the Smith-
sonian Institution; and ancient Patagonian arrow points, stone borers,
incised pottery, etc. The serrated glass spear heads of Australia
exhibit the highest skill and are still made for sale by natives imprisoned
at Broome on the northern coast.

The Adelaide Museum has rare, rudely made native canoes, axes,
quartzite daggers in sheaths, stone picks used for fighting at close
quarters, and big stone axes a foot long; also native skulls, a Pacific
Islands collection with models of houses, and metal bomerangs from
India and West Africa. The unwieldy stone axes are very heavy
and were set in short handles of pliant wood split for the stone to pass
through and fastened with resin, as in the case of tomahawks. The
Melbourne Library and Museum contains Australian ceremonial
objects of painted wood and feather decorations somewhat similar
to those of the Hopi, on which Baldwin Spencer is an authority; also
petroglyphs, boomerangs, lillil (or waggera), shields, axes, and wedges.
The Kenyon and Mahony collection has 10,000 stone implements,
showing a great variety of types from different places. At Portland,
paleolithic types were found; on the Gouldbourne, chipped river peb-
bles; in the interior, where brittle stone implements were scarce, they
were used and re-used to make pigmy types. The Hobart Museum
has the skeleton of the last Tasmanian. This state, like the others,
prepared interesting handbooks that contained much information
about the natives for the British Association for the Advancement
of Science, which met in Australia in 1914. The Auckland Museum
of New Zealand has much Maori ornamentation. An entire house has
been re-erected in the great hall, the interior walls finely carved in
panels. Still finer are some panels and long pieces of carved wood
from an old house that was taken down and the carved parts buried
for safety during a war. Small wooden coffins shaped like fetishes
and painted are shown and there is a skeleton and the unfinished stone
axes buried with it. There are many carved ceremonial clubs, and
all show evidence of a high state of art formerly prevailing among .
the Maori.

proceedings: anthropological society 411

Dr. R. W. Shufeldt (a member of the Royal Society of Melbourne),
Drs. S wanton, Michelson, and Folkmar, and others took part in
the discussion. Special mention was made of a skull, probably pleisto-
cene, recently discovered in the Darling Downs, this being the oldest
of human remains so far found in Australia. Many photographs
brought from Australia were shown by Miss Breton, including views
of a settlement of aborigines 40 miles from Melbourne ; also arrow heads
and other artifacts. Miss Breton also read printed and manuscript
accounts of the natives as seen about 1830 by her father, a naval officer,
who considered the Australians the lowest race he had met in any part
of the world.

Daniel Folkmar, Secretary.

At the 499th regular and 37th annual meeting held April 18, 1916,,
Dr. John R. Swanton, President of the Society, read a paper on The
influence of inheritance on human culture. The speaker stated that
he would apply the term heredity to the inalienable things which the
individual receives in body and mind through ancestors, and the
term inheritance to alienable ideas and things which have been trans-
mitted to him by the entire social body into which he was born.

The environment which one inherits is of two kinds, the environ-
ment of unaffected nature and the environment which previous genera-
tions have brought into being by their action upon nature. The direct
action of nature has been much dwelt upon and would appear at first
sight fundamental, but, on inquiring what environment is, we find that
all depends upon the amount of environment which a people is able
to grasp. Thus the same area may include tribes of very different
planes of development, and the culture of succeeding generations in
the same area may be wide apart. The history of man exhibits a
constantly greater grasp of environment by most peoples of the earth,
a grasp which extends farther and farther into the past, owing to
improved methods of recording, and brings humanity more and more
in touch with the future. Speaking in economic terms this heaped-up
wealth is the capital of humanity, with which more capital is created
in the present, to be again transmitted. All of it is not, however,
of social value. The ideas which come to us down the stream of time
may be false and the institutions and other creations may be injurious.
There is a conservative instinct which tends to preserve what is of no
real utility, an instinct comparable in many ways with that biological
conservatism which tends to preserve vestigial organs in animals.
Many such elements seem to have resulted from the perversion of
what was once of value, bat others appear never to have had any
excuse for being.

One of the most pernicious of all appears to be that which permits
the ownership of a disproportionate share of world capital to limited
or privileged classes. Monopoly in learning, however, has been gradu-
ally destroyed by the multiplication of books, journals, and other
means of education, while monopoly in things still continues. We are

412 proceedings: anthropological society

"the heirs of all the ages," but too many of us are younger sons, and
the owners of privilege always endeavor to transmit to their blood or
business descendants as much advantage as possible. One set of
privileges consists in patents of nobility and governmental privileges
attached thereto. Another is the ownership of some economic neces-
sity, such as land, mineral or oil deposits, power sites, franchises in-
volving control of means of communication or the furnishing of articles
of general necessity or utility, the control of industrial establishments,
and so on.

In connection with these various types of control it must not be
forgotten that the value of each, as a money making proposition, de-
pends without exception on society, because if society did not endorse
privileges and purchase commodities there would be no value in owner-
ship. To this must be added the service which society performs in
defending and preserving the source of income. Such considerations
limit very much our estimate of the service which even the most cap-
able beneficiary of privilege performs; and when, under the action of
our laws of inheritance, the source of income passes to another, the
moral right of the heir, measured in terms of service, becomes much
less. Nevertheless, it is possible that sources of income of the several
kinds enumerated may descend indefinitely in particular strains of
blood, and under such circumstances there appears to be little differ-
ence in position between those who enjoy titles of nobility and those
who enjoy titles to industrial sources of income. The fact that control
of income-yielding property may be ended by sale or bankruptcy does
not alter the fact, so long as the general condition exists, any more
than the banishment of a single nobleman and the confiscation of his
possessions alters the fact of the existence of a titled nobility.

The ultimate solution of this question appears to involve one of
two courses of action: either some method of binding together use and
ownership so tightly that he who uses a thing will not be excluded
from at least partial ownership in it, or ownership vested in the state
or some other collective and immortal body, use being granted individ-
uals during the limited period of their lives. The accumulations of
human society, its capital, are primarily collective accomplishments
and, therefore, society has a prior right to them. Whatever service
the individual may perform, he cannot properly maintain a vicarious
right to compensation after his death in the persons of his descendants
or successors.

The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: President,
Dr. John R. Swanton; Vice-President, Mr. William H. Babcock;
Secretary, Miss Frances Densmore; Treasurer, Mr. J. N. B. Hewitt;
Councillors, Dr. Truman Michelson, M*\ Neil M. Judd, Mr. Francis
LaFlesche, Dr. C. L. G. Anderson, and Dr. Edwtn L. Morgan.

Frances Densmore, Secretary.

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VI JULY 19, 1916 No. 13

OCEANOGRAPHY. — On the temperature of the water below the
500-fathom line on the west coast of South and North America.1
Austin H. Clark, National Museum.

A critical examination of the temperature observations taken
by the Albatross in water of over 1000 fathoms in depth between
California and the Hawaiian Islands2 appears to indicate that
in the oceanic abvsses of the north Pacific there is a distinct,
though slight, rise in temperature along this line from east to west.

A similar study has been made of all the Albatross records
for temperatures below 500 fathoms, 417 in number, from Chile
to and including the Bering Sea. The most striking feature of
the abyssal temperatures of the eastern Pacific is the very small
range of maximum variation (see last column of table), which
is much less than in the east Atlantic.

For water of over 2000 fathoms in depth we have no records
south of Mexico; on the southern coast of Mexico the water
below the 2000-fathom line is +0.65° (that is, 0.65° above the
average temperature for the whole ocean at that depth as given
by Murray and Hjort); off central Mexico it is slightly cooler,
+ 0.17°; off northern Mexico there is almost the same drop,
to —0.30°; the next reading, roughly between the Columbia
River and southern Alaska, is warmer again, —0.09°, while
in the Gulf of Alaska the temperature is nearly intermediate
between that off northern Mexico and that off the northwestern

1 Published with the permission of the Commissioner of Fisheries.

2 Journ. Wash. Acad. ScL, 6: 175-177. 1916.

413

414

CLARK: ABYSSAL TEMPERATURES

United States and British Columbia, -0.21°; in Bering Sea,
where depths greater than 2000 fathoms occur only in the western
part, the temperatures below 2000 fathoms are intermediate
between those off the northwestern United States and British
Columbia and those in the Gulf of Alaska, —0.15°.

The temperatures between 1500 and 2000 fathoms show a
maximum of +0.80° off northern South America and southern

TABLE I

DEPTH (FATHOMS)

Off Chile (45° 35' to
3S°0S' S.)

Galapagos Islands. . .

South and Central
America to Mexico

West coast of Mexi-
co to 16° 46' N....

Mexico ; 18° 23' N. to
the Gulf of Cali-
fornia

Gulf of California. . .

Gulf of California to
32° N

California; 32° to
33° 42' N

33° 42' to 45° N

45° to 55° N

55° to 59° 19' N

Bering Sea

Maximum range in
Temperature

500-750

-0.20 (1)

750-1000

+0.9S

(9)

+0.92

(4)

+0.75

(6)

+ 1.10

(1)

+0.50

(3)

+0.22

(16)

-0.40

(13)

-0 97

(17)

-1.72

(8)

-1.71

(20)

3?27

+0.93

J- 1.22
+0.75

+0.80
+0.50

(3)
(8)
(2)

(2)
(3)

+0.42 (4)

+ 1.51

+0.38

-0.46

0 85

0.91

(12)

(5)

(10)

(8)

(12)

1000-1

500

+0.40

(3)

+0.62

(4)

+0.66

(17)

1500-2000

over 2000

+0.25 (2)

+ 1.40 (3)

-0.04 (5)

+0.70 (1)

-0.36 .8)

-0.37 (7)

-0.69 (25)

2?36

9°

?09

—

+0.80

(19)

+0.66

(3)

+0.13

(14)

+ 1.10

(1)

-0.10

(4)

-0 03

(12)

-0.09

(20)

-0 23

(20)

1?33

+0.65 (2)

+0.17 (9)

-0.30 (5)

-0.09 (10)
0.21 (20)
-0.15 (26)

0?95

Central America, and a second more strongly marked maximum
of +1.10° in the pocket-like Gulf of California. North of the
Gulf of California the readings are all below normal, varying
from -0.03° between 45° and 55° N. lat. to -0.23° in the Bering
Sea. It is interesting that the temperature off northern Mexico
and the southwestern United States (—0.10°) is approximately
identical with that from 55° to 59° N. lat. (-0.09°), though
the two localities are separated by a region showing a deficiency
only one third as great (—0.03°).

CLARK: ABYSSAL TEMPERATURES 415

The temperatures between 1500 and 2000 fathoms correspond
closely with those below 2000 fathoms; but while south of the
Gulf of California the excess is the same for both levels, north
of that point the deficiency in the shallower water is approxi-
mately only one third of what it is in the deeper, excepting in
the Bering Sea, where it is half again as great.

The series of temperatures between 1000 and 1500 fathoms
is interesting in showing an excess of warmth off the Chilean
coast (+0.40°) increasing to off northern South and Central
America (+0.66°), where we noted the maximum in the pre-
ceding series, and decreasing again off central Mexico (+0.25°),
as in the 1500-2000 fathom level. In the Gulf of California
there is, as before, a second, higher, maximum (4-1.40°). Off
southern California there is apparently a considerable excess,
but this is based on a single record which is very likely erroneous.
Except for this the deficiency increases from the region north
of the Gulf of California ( -0.04°) to the Gulf of Alaska ( -0.37°),
becoming nearly twice as great again ( — 0.69°) in the Bering Sea.

The points of especial interest are the maximum off northern
South and Central America, and the uniformity between 45°
and 59° 19' N. lat., the latter contrasting with what we found
to be the case at the two preceding levels.

Between 750 and 1000 fathoms the points of interest are:
(1) A well marked maximum (4-1.22°) off northern South and
Central America; (2) a relatively low excess (+0.50°) in the
Gulf of California, which is continued to 32° N.; and (3) an
excess, instead of a deficiency as everywhere below 1000 fathoms,
as far as 33° 42' N.

Between 500 and 750 fathoms the chief excess is in the Galapa-
gos Islands ( + 1.30°) and in the Gulf of California ( + 1.10°).
There is a deficiency off Chile, and a progressively increasing
deficiency from 33° 42' N. to the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering
Sea.

If we except for the moment the pocket-like Gulf of California,
which is comparable to the Red Sea or the Adriatic, the abyssal
temperatures along the west American coast are found to fall
into two classes, one capable of further subdivision, as follows:

416 CLARK: ABYSSAL TEMPERATURES

(1) Temperatures all above the average (South and Central

America to the Gulf of California)

(2) Temperatures all below the average (southern California

and northward to and including the Bering Sea)

(a) Temperatures considerably below normal (south-

ern California and the Gulf of Alaska)

(b) Temperatures slightly below normal (central

California to Alaska)

The regularity in the rise in the temperature of the abyssal
water from Chile to the Panamic region and the subsequent
drop in temperature along the Mexican coast suggests that the
temperature of the deep water in the vicinity of the coast is
influenced by the volume of warm water delivered in the region
of Panama and southern Central America by the Equatorial
Counter Current which, unable to extend to the northward
because of the strong California Current which acts as a barrier,
is exerted to the southward along the South American coast,
within the region dominated by the Humbolt Current.

There is no need in this connection for assuming any ex-
tensive flow of water southward along the South American coast,
for a relatively slight amount of water delivered in the upper
layers on the northwestern South American coast would suffice
to depress the isotherms sufficiently to give the figures observed.

The Gulf of Alaska is essentially a backwater or cul-de-sac,
and the marked coldness of its abysses appears to indicate that
this condition extends to its greatest depths ; that is to say, that
the coldness of its abysses is due to local causes, chiefly the chill-
ing of its upper layers in winter. It is probably this chilled water
from the Gulf of Alaska moving southward which causes the
deficiency in the temperature of the deeper levels (as well as
of the upper layers), all the way to the region just north of the
Gulf of California. x

It would appear that the water off southern California in the
well known region of up-welling is colder than in the region
between southern California and the Gulf of Alaska. There
is no reason why this should be so unless the cold water along

CLARK: ABYSSAL TEMPERATURES 417

this coast is supplied, as I have already suggested (basing my
conclusions on biological data) may be the case, from the Antarc-
tic regions through the medium of an offshore abyssal current
which is drawn shoreward by the upwelling off southern Cali-
fornia and in the Gulf of Alaska. But the observations on the
bottom temperatures between California and the Hawaiian
Islands seem to cast serious doubt on the existence of such a
current. The biological data are adequate, and point to a
definite conclusion; but since animals readily pass from water
of a certain origin to water of quite a different origin, if the two
have the same biological coefficient (temperature, food value,
salinity, and silt in approximately the same relative proportions) ,
biological data are always unreliable. The physical data are
far from exact, and we have no chemical data. Thus the true
explanation of this phenomenon, if it be real and not merely the
result of inaccurate thermometer readings, must be left to the
future.

In the Bering Sea there are 103 temperature observations in
water of over 500 fathoms in depth which may be regarded as
approximately accurate.

Between 500 and 750 fathoms the average temperature for
the Bering Sea as a whole is —1.71° below that of the entire
ocean. There is an appreciable, though small, difference be-
tween the regions east and west of the 180th meridian, the former
being 0.63° warmer than the latter. But below 750 fathoms
there is no appreciable difference east and west of 180° — only
0.02° between 750 and 1000 fathoms, with the lower reading in
the east, and 0.01° from 1500 to the deepest readings, with the
lower reading in the west.

Between 750 and 1000 fathoms we find an average tempera-
ture — 0.91° below that of the ocean as a whole at that depth;
between 1000 and 1500 an average of —0.69°; between 1500
and 2000 an average of —0.23°; and below 2000 an average of
— 0.15°. This is in interesting contrast to the conditions in the
Gulf of Alaska where the temperature of the water is approxi-
mately the same as in the Bering Sea as a whole between 500
and 1000 fathoms, less cold between 1000 and 2000 fathoms,
more cold again below 2000 fathoms.

418 COBLENTZ: BLACK BODY RADIATION

PHYSICS. — Constants of spectral radiation of a uniformly heated
inclosure or so-called black body, II? W. W. Coblentz,
Bureau of Standards.

A knowledge of the exact value of the constants which enter
into the mathematical equation which represents the distribu-
tion of energy in the spectrum of a black body is necessary in
many physical problems, especially in extending the tempera-
ture scale higher than is possible by means of thermocouples.

Spectral energy curves have been obtained by means of a
vacuum bolometer, a mirror spectrometer, and a fluorite prism;
and the constants of spectral radiation of a black body have
been published in a previous paper.2

The present paper gives the result of a recomputation of
these constants. This recomputation was necessitated by the
adoption of a new and apparently more reliable calibration curve
of the fluorite prism used in the work, and by the discovery of
a small error which was found in the previous computations.
Although these errors are small (and would have been considered
negligible four years ago) they happen to be of the same sign
and, hence, have an appreciable effect upon the final result.

The results of the present computations give a mean value
of C = 14369, which is close to the mean value of all the published
data.

When the data of other investigators are summarized, it is
found that they lie close to C = 14350.

From a consideration of the data now available it appears
that the values of the constants of spectral radiation are close to

C = 14350 micron deg.
A = 2890 micron deg.

and that the coefficient of total radiation is of the order of <r =
5.7 X 10~12 watt cm.-2 deg.-4. This indicates that the con-
stant h of the quantum theory is of the order h = 6.56 to 6.57
X 10~27 erg sec.

1 Detailed paper to appear as Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No. 284 (Bull. Bur. Stds.,
13: 459-477). 1916.

2 Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No. 204 (Bull. Bur. Stds., 10: 1-77). 1913.

silsbee: inductance of resistance standards 419

PHYSICS. — A study of the inductance of four-terminal resistance
standards.1 Francis B. Silsbee, Bureau of Standards.

The precise measurement of alternating currents frequently
involves the use of standard resistances, the inductance of which
should be known. When the currents are large the standards
used are usually of low resistance, and a very small inductance
in such a standard may produce a very considerable phase angle
between the voltage drop across the resistance, and the current.
In the range below one ohm the resistances are almost invariably
of the four-terminal type and, therefore, require methods of
measurement which are quite distinct from those applicable
to higher resistances. The object of this investigation was to
develop methods for comparing the phase angles of such four-
terminal resistances and also to construct standards, having a
very small known inductance, with which other apparatus could
be compared.

If we consider a four-terminal resistance (or more briefly a
"shunt") which carries a sinusoidal alternating current, we will
find that the voltage between the potential terminals is not,
in general, in phase with the current, but may be resolved into
two components, one in phase and one in quadrature. The re-
sistance of the shunt is defined as the ratio of the in-phase com-
ponent of the voltage to the current, while the reactance is the
ratio of the quadrature component of the voltage to the current.
The angle whose tangent is the ratio of the reactance to the re-
sistance is the phase angle of the shunt. The inductance is,
of course, equal to the reactance divided by 2w times the
frequency; the time-constant is the ratio of the inductance to
the resistance. This latter quantity is very nearly constant
over the range of commercial frequencies and is a measure of
the amount by which a shunt departs from the ideal condition
of giving a voltage exactly in phase with the current.

In some of the measurements described below it was neces-
sary to use mutual inductances, and it was found that these
»

1 Detailed paper to appear as Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No. 281 (Bull. Bur. Stds.,
13:375-422). 1916.

420 silsbee: inductance of resistance standards

did not in general satisfy the ideal condition of giving a secondary
voltage in exact quadrature with the primary current but that
the voltage had a small in-phase component. By analogy with
the case of the shunt we may define the "resistance" of the mu-
tual inductance as the ratio of this in-phase component of the
voltage to the primary current. We will further define the
"phase defect" as the angle whose tangent is the ratio of the
in-phase component of the voltage to the quadrature component.

The method which was found most suitable for the comparison
of the time-constants of two shunts may be called the current
transformer method. It consists essentially in measuring the
apparent phase angle of a current transformer by one of the
usual null methods, using in succession, as the standard resist-
ance in the primary circuit of the transformer, the two shunts
to be compared. The apparent change in the phase angle of
the transformer is the difference in the phase angle of the two
shunts. A group of about twenty shunts were intercompared
by this method and form a basis for future comparisons. A
second method involving the use of mutual inductances was
tried out, and gave results in agreement with the first method,
but was found to be much less convenient.

Since the comparison methods just mentioned give only the
difference in time constants of two four-terminal standards,
some other measurement is needed to give the actual value of
the time-constant of one four-terminal shunt in terms of known
quantities. The simplest way to obtain this value is to construct
a shunt of such shape that its inductance can .be computed from
its measured dimensions. This procedure requires that cer-
tain assumptions be made as to current distribution, etc.; a
careful investigation using three different shapes of shunt showed
that the assumptions made are completely justified. As a check,
two other methods of measurement were tried; one involved
the use of mutual inductances of known phase defect, and the
other made use of two shunts constructed of identical dimensions
but of materials of different resistivities. These methods gave
results in agreement with the computed values, but were less
accurate and more laborious. It is believed that the time con-

blum: determination of aluminium 421

stants of this group of 20 shunts (ranging from 0.1 ohm to 0.00025
ohm) at the Bureau of Standards are known to an accuracy
of 1 or 2 X 10-7 second. With a frequency of 60 cycles and an
uncertainty of 2 X 10 ~7 second in the time-constant the phase
angle between the voltage and current is uncertain by about
15 seconds of arc.

Further measurements were made on other types of shunt
and also on the effect of stray magnetic fields on the apparent
time-constants of the shunts.

In the design of shunts for use with alternating currents it
appears that the liability to error can be minimized by so locat-
ing the potential leads that the inductive effects in them com-
pletely neutralize the inductance of the resistance material it-
self so that the shunt as a whole is strictly non-inductive. The
type in which the resistance material forms one or both of
two concentric tubes lends itself very readily to this form of
compensation.

A study of the phase defects of mutual inductances of large
current capacity showed that this source of error was by no
means negligible and that it was particularly large in cases
where the secondary was wound in several layers. Errors from
this source can be minimized by making one of the windings,
preferably the secondary, in the form of a uniformly wound
closed toroid of fine wire, in which case the other winding may
be of large cross-section.

CHEMISTRY. — The determination of aluminium as oxide.1
William Blum, Bureau of Standards.

From observations made with a hydrogen electrode and with
suitable indicators, it has been found that the precipitation of
aluminium hydroxide by ammonium hydroxide is complete when
[H +] = 10-6 5 to 10-7-5 — points which are approximately de-
fined by the color changes of methyl red and of rosolic acid.
From a study of the various factors, the following conditions
are recommended for the determination of aluminium. To

1 To appear in detail as Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No. 2S6 (Bull. Bur. Stds., vol.
13). 1916.

422 troxell: fossil birds' eggs

the solution containing 5 grams of ammonium chloride per 200
cc. of solution (or an equivalent amount of hydrochloric acid)
add a few drops of methyl red (0.2 per cent alcoholic solution)
and heat the solution just to boiling. Carefully add dilute
ammonium hydroxide, dropwise, till the color of the solution
changes to a distinct yellow. Boil the solution for one or two
minutes; filter. Wash the precipitate thoroughly with hot
2 per cent ammonium chloride, or nitrate, solution. t Ignite in
a platinum crucible and, after the carbon is all burned off, blast
for five minutes; cover the crucible and place it in a desiccator
till cool. Weigh (covered) as rapidly as possible. A second
blasting of five minutes is desirable to facilitate rapid weigh-
ing, and thus to secure what are probably more accurate results.

PALEONTOLOGY.— Oligocene fossil eggs. Edward L. Trox-
ell, Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Communicated by H. H.
Bartlett.)

Fossil remains of birds are rare. It is of unusual interest
therefore to note the finding of two fossil eggs from the Oli-
gocene bad-lands near Harrison, Nebraska. The specimens,
which are elongated and slightly smaller at one end, resemble
both in size and shape those of the domesticated chicken or of
the Mallard duck. The very rugose outer surface, not found
•on the eggs of most modern birds, is, however, characteristic
of those of the gull, and it is entirely in harmony with the theory
of their deposition that they should have been laid by a water
fowl. The shell, which measures about 0.6 mm. in thickness,
still retains its calcium phosphate, the only part of the specimen
which we can say definitely is a remnant of the original. (This
chemical test is due to the courtesy of Mr. R. W. Clark of the
Mineralogy Department of the University of Michigan.)

The first of the two specimens above mentioned was found
by Mr. Vernon Marsteller, of Wayne College, who was a member
of my party in 1915. Fossil eggs are mentioned in the South
Dakota Geological Survey Report, Bulletin 9, by C. C. O'Harra,
and one is fully described by 0. C. Farrington in Publication
35 of the Field Columbian Museum, 1899.

troxell: fossil birds eggs

423

Fig. 1. Fossil egg, first specimen,
view, about natural size.

Exterior

FIRST SPECIMEN

The first specimen (length 59 mm., diameter 43 mm.) has the
shell intact except at a few spots where it has been eroded away.
Immediately beneath the shell is a layer of chalcedony about

2 mm. thick, continuous,
though slightly irregular
on its inner surface.
The first half shows no
banding but is a homog-
enous layer of transpar-
ent material deposited
from the colloidal silica
within, while the inner
half, resulting from an
intermittent or periodic
deposition which soon
ceased, shows the band-
ing peculiar to agate.
Within, the egg is filled with calcite, except for a small sili-
ceous geode at one end; thus the calcite was formed after the
outer layer of agate was in place. The diverse lines of cleavage
show that the calcite is
not a single crystal, al-
though it now fills the
cavity completely.

There must have been
a hollow in the calcite
at the smaller end of the
egg which is now occu-
pied by the irregular
mass of chalcedony, for
the outer surface of the
latter, with its flat faces,

sharp angles, and irregU- Fig. 2. Same, sawed in two and polished.

lar Striations, indicates About natural size. Note the band of agate
,, , ., -, i next to the shell, the chalcedony geode at the

tnat it came alter and smaller end> and the cieavage pianes Gf the

fashioned itself to the calcite crystals.

424

troxell: fossil birds eggs

surfaces of the calcite crystals. On the other hand the space
within the calcite may have been left when the growth of the
crystals had reached its limit, or it may have been occupied by
the desiccated resi-
due of the egg ma-
terial. The inner
surface of the geode
is lined with minute
crystals of quartz.

SECOND SPECIMEN

The second speci-
men of fossil egg was
flattened to about
three fourths its
former diameter; be-
cause of this distor-
tion and because of
the total absence of
silica it presents some
added points of interest. The dimensions are: Length 61 mm.,
width 48 mm., thickness 34 mm.

The hump, as shown in figure 4, appears to be a result of

rigid opposition in the
center while the edges
were forced down. In
reality it is simply the
normal arch displaced.
There was pliable re-
sistance within the egg ;
the strain, therefore,
which shortened the
vertical diameter re-
sulted in an increase
in the horizontal di-
mensions ; quite probably the volume did not change appreciably.
Except for this there would have been real crushing or caving in
without a corresponding increase in size laterally.

Fig. 3. Fossil egg; second specimen. Top view,
about natural size. The very rough surface is un-
like that of most modern eggs. The cracks in the
edge as well as the change in form indicate the ex-
tensive crushing.

IIS*!

Fig. 4. Side view of specimen shown in figure
About natural size.

troxell: fossil birds eggs

425

The flattening and consequent increase in circumference
caused a series of perpendicular cracks around the edge, just
such as might be formed by flattening a mud ball. Although
fracturing occurred, the pressure within was sufficient to pre-
vent the entrance of clay or other solid material. It is quite
probable, therefore, that the egg was fresh when buried and that
the surrounding mud, after settling, solidified before the removal
of the animal matter and before the deposition of calcite began.

Fig. 5. Same as figures 3 and 4, showing the crystalline interior. About
natural size. The large amber crystal of calcite in the center seems to have taken
the place of the yolk, while the white crystals surround it. This similarity is
only an interesting coincidence, for the parts, except the shell, bear no relation
to the original egg.

Calcite is the only mineral occupying the cavity of this speci-
men; beneath the shell there is a 5 mm. layer made up of small
crystals and within this, occupying the center but not entirely
filling it, is a large double crystal of amber hue. One is struck
at once with the great similarity in appearance to a modern
egg in which are found the shell, white, and yolk in the same
position and relative proportions. It is an unusual case of
mimicry on the part of inanimate nature, for it is incredible
that the soft part of an egg should exert such an influence on
crystallizing calcite as to impose its form and color.

426 swingle: new genus pleiospermii \m

BOTANY. — Pleiospermium, a new genus related to Citrus, from
India, Ceylon and Java. Walter T. Swingle, Bureau
of Plant Industry.

In 1834 Wight and Arnott described1 as a new species Limonia
alata, putting it with Limonia missionis in a section Limoniae
spuriae, in contrast to Limonia acidissima, which constituted
a section Limoniae verae. All subsequent authors have retained
it in the genus Limonia.

It has been shown2 that the name Limonia is untenable, so
it becomes necessary to find another name for L. alata. The
Limonia acidissima of writers on Indian botany is the type of
the genus Hesperethusa, the oldest valid name being H . crenu-
lata (Roxb.) Roem.; but a comparison of these two plants,
both formerly put in the genus Limonia, has convinced the
writer that they are not congeneric. The genus Hesperethusa
has minute black fruits, usually 4-celled, with only a single
seed in each cell; the leaves are pinnate, with a broadly alate
rachis; the margins of the leaflets and of the wings of the rachis
are crenate. The plant in question, Limonia alata, has fruits
about an inch in diameter, usually with two seeds in each cell,
the seeds surrounded by a glutinous fluid. The leaves are usually
trifoliolate and the leaflets are entire.

These differences are of much taxonomic significance in this
group of plants and in consequence it seems necessary to create
a new genus to include Limonia alata and its little-known con-
gener, L. dubia Blume.

In 1896 Engler created under the genus Limonia a new section,
Pleiospermium,3 with a single species, Limonia alata. This
being the oldest name for the group, it may be retained as the
generic designation.4

1 Wight & Arnott. Prodr., 1: 92. 1834.

2 Swingle, Walter T. The name of the wood-apple, Feronia Limonia. Journ.
Wash. Acad. Sci., 4: 325-328. 1914.

3 Engler & Prantl. Nat. Pflanzenfam., 34: 189. 1896.

4 Pleiospermium Swingle, gen. nov. (Limonia §Pleiospermium Engl.). Genus
Pamburo affine, foliis 3-foliolatis (vel 1-2-foliolatis), tsnuibus, venis conspicuis,
disco parvo, parietibus ovarii vesiculis brevibus instructis.

Folia 3-foliolata vel 2-foliolata vel 1-foliolata, pi'tiolis plus minusve alatis,

swingle: new genus pleiospermium 427

Pleiospermium (Engler) Swingle, gen. now
Small trees with glabrous branchlets, sometimes with a single stout
spine (or two spines) at the side of the bud in the axil of the leaf, some-
times spineless, especially the fruiting branches. Leaves typically
trifoliolate with the lateral leaflets much smaller than the terminal
one, sometimes bifoliolate or unifoliolate (very often so in P. dubium),
of medium thickness, glossy above, finely netted-veined beneath;
lateral veins slender, not very conspicuous, making a very obtuse
angle with the midrib; margin entire, the apex obtuse or subacute,
rarely acuminate, bluntly rounded at the very tip, the leaflet blade
abruptly narrowed to a cuneate base; petiole variable in length, nar-
rowly winged (in P. dubium sometimes nearly apterous), articulated
with the blade. Flowers small, about 12 to 15 mm. in diameter,
4-5-merous, borne on rather short, finely pubescent pedicels, in clus-
ters in the axils of the leaves or in a terminal much-branched hoary
panicle. Flower buds cylindric, rounded at the tip, more or less pubes-
cent; calyx small, 4-5-lobed; sepals deltoid, finely pubescent. Petals
oblong or ovate, obtuse, entire, sparingly covered with fine pubescence
on the outer surface. Stamens free, 8 or 10 (twice as many as the
petals); filaments free; anthers large, erect, linear-oblong or oblong.
Pistil subsessile, seated on a low annular disk; style slender, gradually
merging with the tip of the ovary, ending in the somewhat thicker
capitate stigma; ovary ovate, 4- or 5-celled, with 2 ovules in each
cell. Fruits globose, like a small orange in appearance, the cells con-
taining one or two seeds surrounded with an aromatic, mucilaginous
fluid, and, at least in P. dubia, having short, slender pulp vesicles
scattered on the inner ovary wall. Peel rough, dotted with numerous
oil glands. Seeds oval, flattened; germination unknown.

Type species, P. alatum {Limonia alata Wight & Arm), native to
southern India and Cejdon.

Geographic range: India, Ceylon, Java, and adjacent islands (?).

The genus Pleiospermium is most closely related to Pamburus and
Merope, having soft-rinded fruits resembling very small oranges or
lemons in appearance but having only 4 or 5 cells, filled with a glutinous
fluid, each cell containing 1 or 2 seeds. All three of these genera are

laminis articulatis; laminae tenues superne nitidae subtus reticulatae. Spinae
rectae axillares solitariae vel binae vel carentes. Inflorescentiae pubescentes,
5-15-florae; flores mediocres, 4- vel 5-merae ; petala alba oblonga; stamina libera,
8 vel 10, filamentis tenuibus; stylus tenuis, ovario paulo longior; stigma capita-
turn diametro stylo paulo majus; ovarium 4-5-loculare, ovulis in loculo binis.
Fructus parvus, subglobosus, cortice ut in Citro carnosa, parietibus ovarii vesi-
culis brevibus instructis, loculis 1-2-spermis, liquore glutinoso aromatico re-
pletis. Semina complanata, ovalia.

Arbusculae ramosae spinosae vel inermes, ramulis junioribus tenuibus plus
minusve angulosis. Species typica, Pleiospermium alatum {Limonia alata Wight
& Arn.). Habitat in India, Zeylona, et Java.

428 swingle: new genus pleiospermium

small spiny trees. Paramignya and Lavanga have similar fruits,
but are woody lianes with recurved spines and aberrant leaf charac-
ters. The genus Pleiospermium differs from Pamburus in having
thinner, netted-veined, usually trifoliolate leaves, with the lamina
articulated with the petiole, instead of thick, nearly veinless, unifolio-
late leaves and the lamina not articulated with the petiole ; furthermore,
Pleiospermium has the ovary seated on a small annular disk, while
in Pamburus the disk is prominent and cylindric. The flower, fruit,
and seed characters of Pleiospermium are very different from those
of Merope. Pleiospermium is only rather remotely related to Hes-
perethusa, Triphasia, and Severinia, which all have very small red or
black berry-like fruits and the leaves also very different.

Pleiospermium (or at least P. dubium) differs, so far as known,
from all its relatives among the small, soft-rinded, gummy-celled group
of citrous fruits in having short and slender pulp vesicles arising
from the inner wall of the ovary. In this respect it resembles the sub-
genus Rissoa5 of the genus Atalantia, belonging to a different subtribe,
but it differs from that and from the other true citrous fruits in having
the cells of the fruits filled with an aromatic, sticky fluid. A thorough
study of the anatomy and morphology of the fruits of all of these
genera is urgently needed in order to classify them in natural groups.

Pleiospermium seems to be a primitive genus, showing analogies with
many rather diverse groups. It even shows a certain analogy in its
leaf characters with the Philippine Chaetospermum,6 one of the hard-
shelled citrous fruits belonging to another distinct subtribe.

Two closely related species of Pleiospermium are known, one from
southern India and Ceylon, the other from Java.

KEY TO THE SPECIES

Leaflets usually 3, obtuse; ovary glabrous 1. P. alatwm.

Leaflets 1, 2, or 3, acute or acuminate; ovary pubescent. . 2. P. dubium

1. Pleiospermium alatum (Wight & Arn.) Swingle

Limonia alata Herb. Madr. Wall. Cat. no. 6363. 1832 (nom. nud.).
Limonia alata Herb. Madr. Wight Cat. no. 324. 1834 (nom. nud.).
Limonia alata Wight & Arn. Prodr., 1: 92. 1834.
Illustrations: Wight, 111. Ind. Bot., 1: pi. 41 (1840); Beddome, FL
Sylvat., Outlines Bot., pi. 8, fig. 3.

Type locality: "Foot of the Neelgherries," Madras Presidency,
southern India.

5 Swingle, Walter T. Atalantia, in Bailey, Standard Cycl. Hort., 1:426.
1914.

6 Swingle, Walter T. Chaetospermum, a new genus of hard-shelled citrous
fruits. Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci., 3: 99-102. 1913.

swingle: new genus pleiospermium 429

Distribution: Southern India and Ceylon; common in the hot,
drier parts.

The writer has seen an authentic flowering twig of this species col-
lected by Wight unde^ his number 324 and now in the Kew Herbarium ;
on the same sheet are two twigs from Wallich's set under his number
6363. There is also in Kew Herbarium a sheet of three twigs with
full grown fruits, collected by Wight (No. 370) at Palagantcherry in
1850. In the Berlin Herbarium there is a sheet of material from
Wight's Herbarium distributed by Kew in 1866-7 under No. 370,
Peninsula Indiae orientalis, which has 7 twigs, 3 of them in flower.

This species is called Tumpat-kurundu in the Singhalese language
of Ceylon.

2. Pleiospermium dubium (Blume) Swingle.

fLimonia diphylla Houttuyn, Natuurl. Hist., II. 2: 440, pi. 9, fig.
2. 1774; [Christman] Linne Pflanzensystem nach. . . . Hout-
tuynisch. Werks Ubers., 1: 615, pi. 9, fig. 2. 1777.
Limonia? dubia Blume, Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind., 1: 133. 1825.
Paramignia Blumei Hasskarl, Tijdr. Nat. Gesch., 10 : 137-138. 1843.
Paramignya Blumei Hasskarl, Cat. PL Hort. Bogor., 216. 1844.
Type locality- "In collibus calcareis prope Kuripan, Provinciae
Buitenzorg," Java.

Distribution: Western Java.

Hasskarl in 1843 transferred this plant to the genus Paramignya, at
the same time changing the specific name to Blumei. Hochreutiner in
Plantae Bogorienses Exsiccatae, under No. Ill, Limonia dubia Blume,
says that the plant growing in the Buitenzorg Garden is undoubtedly
the original of Hasskarl and probably the same as that seen by Blume,
though the absence of Blume's type makes it difficult to be certain.7

Fortunately there is in the herbarium of the Museum d'Histoire
Naturelle at Paris an authentic specimen of this species from Blume. The
original label reads "Limonia dubia M. Blume 1836." This specimen
consists of a spineless twig of three seasons' growth with 19 nodes bear-
ing 1-, 2-, or 3-foliolate leaves, very like the specimens distributed by
Hochreutiner from the type plant of Paramignya Blumei Hasskarl.8

7 "Cette plante est sans aucun doute 1' original de Hasskarl qui a complete
tres exactement la diagnose de Blume. Quant a affirmer que c'est bien la 1'espece
que Blume avait en vue, cela est plus difficile en l'absence d'un type de cet auteur;
cependant c'est probable." — Hochreutiner, B. P. G., loc. cit.

8 Probably Blume planted in the Buitenzorg Botanic Garden the tree from
which the branch now in the Paris Herbarium was cut and upon which later on,
Hasskarl based his description of Paramignya Blumei. In this event all the
specimens cut from this tree (III. G. 64, in the Buitenzorg records) are merotypes
of HasskaiTs species.

430 swingle: new genus pleiospermium

It is possible that this plant is identical with the enigmatic Limonia
diphylla published in 1774 by Houttuyn, who received a twig collected
by Richter at Batavia, where it is said to produce fruits resembling
limes ("regte Limmetjes of Lemisjes"), the size of a pigeon's egg, on
spiny twigs. The leaves are said to be paired on the same petiole.
Houttuyn's plate shows a twig with 3 binate leaves with obtuse
leaflets, one small unifoliolate leaf, and a small terminal flower with
4 petals and 8 stamens. The figure seems to be diagrammatic and was
probably drawn from poor material. The plant is said to be called
Crandang by the Javanese.

It may be that Houttuyn's species was founded in part on Richter's
account of a true lime, Citrus aurantijolia (Christm.) Swing., and in
part on a twig which he brought to Holland from Batavia, possibly
from some very different plant, such as a Bauhinia. It seems impos-
sible to decide the matter unless Houttuyn's type can be found.

Pleiospermium dubium seems to be rather close to P. alata, but has
the leaflets acute, instead of obtuse, and many leaves with only 1 or
2 leaflets instead of 3-, as is common in P. alata; also it has the ovaries
pubescent instead of smooth, as figured in the Indian species. It is
said to be a small tree 3.5-4 meters high, with a twisted trunk branch-
ing at 1.5 meters and suckers from the base. It is called Kidjeroekan
in Java.

In its foliar characters this is one of the most polymorphic species
among all the relatives of Citrus. The leaves are simple or 2- or 3-
foliolate, sometimes all three forms occurring on the same branch.
The petioles are sometimes very short and sometimes rather long,
sometimes plainly winged, often nearly wingless. The spines are
sometimes single, sometimes paired, and often entirely wanting. It
is undoubtedly one of the most primitive of all the citrous plants,
showing as it does striking analogies with plants belonging to at least
three distinct subtribes.

The fruits of this species show small and slender pulp vesicles aris-
ing from the inner ovary wall 2 to 3 or even 4 mm. long. It is not
known whether P. alatum also has such rudimentary pulp vesicles.
Both species have fruits filled with dark-colored, strong-smelling,
mucilaginous gum.

POSSIBLE UTILIZATION OF PLEIOSPERMIUM

From the fact that Pleiospermium alatum grows abundantly
in the dryer parts of Ceylon it would be desirable to test it as

FORBES: MINERAL ELEMENTS IN NUTRITION 431

a stock on which to graft Citrus for culture on the dryer types
of soil. The other species, Pleiospermium dubium, was dis-
covered growing on limestone hills in western Java and may
perhaps be able to endure more lime than the stocks now com-
monly used in citrous culture. Certainly both species of Pleio-
spermium should be introduced into this country and tested
as stocks. In view of its primitive and polymorphic nature it
is possible that P. dubium may hybridize with Atalantia or with
some other true citrous fruit.

PHYSIOLOGY. — Studies on the mineral elements in animal
nutrition.1 E. B. Forbes, Ohio Agricultural Experiment
Station.

As agricultural scientists, our interest in the mineral elements
lies in that larger intermediary metabolism between the soil
and the sea which begins with the weathering of the rocks,
includes the whole of plant and animal metabolism, and ends
with the formation of new rocks. Throughout this vast sweep
of chemical change the mineral elements occupy a unique and
dominating position, entering in essential ways into every
process and exerting an influence in metabolism entirely out
of proportion to the amounts in which they are involved.

In a large and general way life may be regarded as a coordinated
system of responses to electrical stimulation. The ions, and
especially the inorganic ions, are the bearers of this electricity,
and it is because of this fact that they are able to play a leading
role in the direction of the whole process of metabolism. Gus-
tav Mann says, " So-called pure ash-free proteids are chemically
inert and in the true sense of the word, dead bodies. What
puts life into them is the presence of electrolytes."

This, then, is the basis of our interest. More specifically,
this subject concerns us because the mineral elements of soil
fertility — of plant nutrition — supply the mineral nutrients of
animals. All of those conditions of growth of plants, as to

1 A lecture delivered before the Washington Academy of Sciences, April 21, 1916.

432 FORBES! MINERAL ELEMENTS IN NUTRITION

soil fertility, heat, light, and moisture, which affect their mineral
content affect the food value of these products for animals.
Similarly all of those processes of treatment of foods, as to con-
ditions of harvesting, storage, manufacture, preservation, and
preparation which affect their mineral content have a bearing
on the nutrition of animals. Further, the almost unlimited
freedom of choice of foods afforded by our markets and our
prosperity, a freedom which may profoundly affect the mineral
content of the diet, furnishes a basis of interest and an obli-
gation to understand. Finally, the mineral requirements of
men and animals in their various conditions and stages of life,
growth, health, and activity differ greatly in such ways as to
demand our attention, since the whole range of success and profit
in practical animal nutrition lies close, and ever closer, to maxi-
mum possibilities.

As this subject relates to stock feeding, we find that modern
tendencies give it a special importance that it had not in times
past. The forced feeding of our early-maturing meat animals
and the selective improvement of our poultry and our dairy
cows for greater productive capacity call for a higher percentage
of mineral nutrients in foodstuffs than was necessary in the old
days of less intense production. The requirement of mineral
nutrients for mere maintenance is slight in amount, compared
with the requirement for the production of flesh, eggs, and milk;
hence, the more efficient the producer, the higher must be the
ash content of the food.

My own investigations in this field consist of studies of the
chemistry of foods, and metabolism experiments with swine
and milch cows. I shall review briefly some of the conclusions
from this program of work.

Our studies on foods comprise a series of complete ash analyses,
with computations of the elements to normal solutions, these
data being considered in relation to the balance of base and acid
in the organism; also a study of the mineral nutrients of blue-
grass, and factors which affect the quantities present; and a
study of the iodine content of foods in relation to the prevalence
of goiter.

FORBES: MINERAL ELEMENTS IN NUTRITION 433

It is an established fact of animal physiology that the vital
processes require the maintenance of a state of approximate
neutrality in the blood and lymph. Henderson has done much
to show how this balance of acid and base is maintained by
self-adjusting chemical and excretory equilibria. The mineral
elements of the food contribute to one side or the other of this
base and acid balance; and the extent and nature of this con-
tribution are matters of importance in relation to acid intoxica-
tion, even though this condition is not commonly caused by
the food. Our extensive series of ash analyses show that cereals,
meats, and eggs have acid ash, while fruits, roughages, vegeta-
bles, milk, and most legumes have alkaline ash. While healthy
animals have means of neutralizing all ordinary excesses of
acid in the food it is safest that the bases should predominate,
since we do not know that the neutralization of acids is always
accomplished without expense, and since in any such physiologi-
cal state as causes acid intoxication (and there are many such)
an excess of mineral acid to mineral base in the food is undoubt-
edly a matter of positive disadvantage.

Acid intoxication is met with most commonly in the feeding of
infants and older children suffering from fever, undernourish-
ment, or indigestion especially involving the fats of the food.
In these cases the use of whey in the diet furnishes mineral nu-
trients of value; and the administration of sodium citrate (1
to 2 grains per ounce of milk) is also a beneficial practise in that
it furnishes a readily oxidizable alkali salt. The presence of
this citrate is also favorable to the digestion of casein. Many
a so-called idiosyncrasy against milk protein has disappeared
under the influence of sodium citrate and a low-fat diet.

Our study of the mineral nutrients of bluegrass touches a
subject of deep significance. Through its habit of growth
grass is the great conserving factor in agriculture. As the basic
requirement of livestock breeding it makes for all the benefits
of this system of farming, especially the maintenance of the
fertility of the land and the maintenance upon the land of the
presence of the family of the owner. The permanent prosperity
of an agricultural community is assured by the excellence of
its grass lands.

434 FORBES: MINERAL ELEMENTS IN NUTRITION

Now we have shown that the mineral nutrients of bluegrass
vary more than 100 per cent in accord with the fertility of the
soil. The skeletons of growing animals respond readily to the
mineral nutrients of the food. There is no definite upper limit
of phosphate deposit in the bones. The quality of the grass
must affect the quality of the bones; and strength and sound-
ness of bone favor long-sustained efficiency. Probably the
greatest strain to which the bones of animals are subjected is
in the service of our large, early-maturing horses on hard-sur-
faced roads and pavements. The most famous horse-breed-
ing center of the United States is a region of limestone soils and
luxuriant bluegrass which our analyses show to be unusually
rich in bone food. We have always bowed while the Kentuckian
asserts that his state produces the most beautiful women and
the finest horses in the world, and now we know that in so far
as these claims depend upon a superior quality of bluegrass
they rest on a substantial basis of fact.-

It is also true that in many localities in this country, on im-
poverished soils, we find horses and cattle suffering from mal-
nutrition of the bones. This ailment is most common during
periods of rapid growth or milk production, especially during
and immediately after seasons of drouth and restricted food
supply. This condition responds readily to treatment with
calcium phosphate.

Among the several mineral elements present in foods in minute
quantities especial interest attaches to iodine, because of its
importance in metabolism. The only tissue in the bodies of
vertebrate animals which contains iodine in apparently essen-
tial relations is the thyroid gland. The iodine content of the
thyroid may be increased by the administration of iodine; one
of the active principles of the thyroid is its iodine-containing
constituent; and goiter in certain stages responds favorably to
iodine treatment. Further, there is a marked and continuous
local prevalence of goiter in many regions. These facts furnish
sufficient basis for our interest in the iodine content of foods.

In our study iodine was estimated in 927 samples of animal
and vegetable products. These products were in part common

FORBES: MINERAL ELEMENTS IN NUTRITION 435

foods from the market; a large number were from the fertilizer
plots of the experiment stations of the country; others were
from regions of interest because of the extreme prevalence or
rarity of goiter; still others were products from an extensive
metabolism experiment with milch cows. The method of esti-
mation used was accurate to three-millionths of a gram of iodine.

About one food sample in five contained iodine. The amounts
present were usually too small for expression otherwise than as
traces. In 18 samples each of cow's milk, urine, and feces no
iodine was found. Iodine was found in considerable quantity
only in agar and in Irish moss (from which blanc mange is made) .
No other seaweeds were examined. No iodine was found in
16 samples of table salt or in any one of seven kinds of nuts.
It is very rarely present in spices and condiments.

Among the animal products the only one containing iodine
in more than traces was hair and hoof, from swine, a sample
prepared in the course of a complete chemical accounting for
the bodies of some experimental subjects. Traces were found
in butter, in eggs, and in several kinds (but by no means in all
samples examined) of meat, fish, and Crustacea (shrimp and
lobster) .

Among the cereals iodine was found as an uncommon con-
stituent, usually in traces only. None of the fruits contained
more than the smallest recognizable traces of iodine, and very
few contained even so much.

Among the garden vegetables and root crops beets rather
commonly contained traces of iodine (9 samples out of 25),
and in one case a larger amount. Two out of three samples
of cucumber contained iodine; also one out of three samples of
celery. Iodine was found in single samples of endive, kohl
rabi, and lettuce. Among onions five samples out of 15 contained
iodine, and in parsnips two out of six. Six samples of potatoes
out of 21 contained iodine; it was also found in spinach and in
rhubarb. We found iodine in one sample of turnips out of 11,
but none in tomatoes, pumpkin, and squash.

Of the hays, silage, and forage crops about one sample in
four contained iodine. Among leguminous seeds iodine was

436 FORBES! MINERAL ELEMENTS IN NUTRITION

found in 11 samples out of 32, more commonly among beans,
peas, and cowpeas than among soy beans.

The manufactured foods, and milling and manufactory by-
products contained iodine in 13 samples out of 25; of those con-
taining iodine 10 were made from cereals. The offal portions
of the grains are apparently richer in iodine than the more starchy
parts.

The more important sources of iodine in the human dietary,
then, are the garden vegetables, though some is also found in
the cereal foods and in several foods of animal origin, mostly
of the sorts less commonly used.

Among the foods used by livestock the more important sources
of iodine are the hay, silage, and forage crops, and also the mill-
ing and manufactory by-products, comparatively little being
found in the natural grain foods.

No consistent or orderly geographic distribution of iodine
in foods was revealed; nor were there noticeable effects of the
type of soil or method of fertilization on the iodine content of
foods. We found nothing characteristic in the iodine content
of foods from regions where goiter was especially prevalent.
The iodine content of samples of the same crop from different
plots of the same field sometimes varied greatly.

The general conclusion from this study was that iodine is
a comparatively unusual food constituent and that its presence
is commonly accidental in the sense of standing in no essential
relation to the growth of the food products. Variations in the
iodine content of foods were not successfully correlated with any
associated conditions.

It is possible that the total iodine requirement of the organism
is gleaned from foods containing so little of this element that its
presence would escape detection by our best methods of esti-
mation. It is also possible that the iodine content of the drink-
ing water is of greater importance in relation to the cause of
goiter than is the iodine content of the foods.

The general effect of this study is to direct us elsewhere,
especially toward the metabolism of the organism, in our search
for the cause of goiter.

FORBES: MINERAL ELEMENTS IN NUTRITION 437

We shall now consider the results of mineral metabolism studies
with swine. This subject is of especial importance in this con-
nection because no other animals are so grievously sinned against
in the provision of their mineral requirements. Several fac-
tors unite in bringing about this state of affairs. Among these
are the extreme rapidity of growth of improved hogs, the great
weight of fat carried, the early age at which reproduction and
lactation occur, the custom of rearing hogs in comparatively
close confinement, and the feeding of too little else than corn.
This combination of conditions often results in the crippling of
hogs during shipment to market, the breaking down of sows
while suckling pigs, and a general abbreviation of the period
of usefulness of breeding stock.

Our studies with swine have been on the specific effects of
corn and of supplements to corn, and a comparison of the nu-
tritive values of several pure compounds of phosphorus, these
studies having been conducted by feeding, slaughter, and car-
cass analysis experiments, and by metabolism investigations.

In these feeding and carcass analysis experiments the specific
effects of corn as an only food for growing swine were shown
to be, in general, a retarded development of proteid and bony
tissues and an over-development of fatty tissue. This results
in the production of fine-boned, poorly muscled, undersized,
and over-fat animals, which reach their limit of growth pre-
maturely and which are characterized by less than normal breed-
ing capacity. Impaired fecundity seems to result from dis-
couragement of proteid increase generally and from the lessened
circulation of blood in the female reproductive organs, this
last being caused b}^ pressure of the excessive amounts of internal
fat which accumulate about these parts. With hogs fed on
corn alone, the bones, muscles, liver, kidneys, lungs, heart, and
spleen all compose an abnormally small proportion of the in-
crease in weight, and fat composes an abnormally large part of
the increase. The bones are lacking both in density, as indi-
cated by ash content, and in breaking strength.

Many of the specific effects of corn as an only food for grow-
ing- animals are due to its insufficient content of protein and to

438 FORBES! MINERAL ELEMENTS IN NUTRITION

the incomplete character of its largest protein constituent,
zein. The only effects which can safely be attributed to the
mineral constituents of corn are those affecting the skeleton.

In one experiment corn alone was compared with corn supple-
mented by soy beans, linseed oilmeal, wheat middlings, tankage,
and skim milk. The rations of corn alone and of corn and
soy beans produced the least bone. The rations of corn supple-
mented by tankage and skim milk produced the most bone.
Rations of cereals or other seeds will not produce normal growth
of bone in swine. These facts depend directly on the content
of these foods in the chemical elements which compose bone.

The proportion of calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus in
the bones tends strongly to remain constant, but may be modi-
fied to a certain extent by the limitations of the food. The
amounts of these elements in the bone, however, are susceptible
of much greater modification through the composition of the
food. Bone meal, when added to a ration which is low in cal-
cium and phosphorus, will greatly increase the ash and strength
of the bones. The change in external dimensions is slight, but
increase in the density and thickness of the walls of the bones
may proceed indefinitely. The readiness with which minerals
may be deposited in the bones, the lack of a definite upper limit
of such deposit, and the readiness with which these minerals
may be withdrawn constitute the skeleton a true store of min-
eral nutriment.

We have not been able by any method of feeding, in confine-
ment, to produce bones as strong as are the bones of pigs raised
on pasture. It seems quite possible that exercise, as well as
food, has its effect to strengthen the bones through inducing
an added avidity of the osteogenic cells for bone salts.

In a metabolism investigation with swine five pigs, all from
the same litter, were taken through eight 10-day collection
periods separated by 7-day intervals. The feeds, as in the
experiment last mentioned, were corn alone, compared with
corn supplemented by soy beans, linseed oilmeal, wheat middlings,
tankage, and skim milk; also one ration was composed of rice
polish and wheat bran. The pigs grew normally, and stored

FORBES: MINERAL ELEMENTS IN NUTRITION 439

nitrogen and sulphur liberally in each period, though, naturally,
less of these elements was stored from the ration of corn alone
than from rations containing more protein.

Potassium was stored in all periods except one; strange to
say, the ration composed of rice polish and wheat bran was the
one in which this element was supplied in the greatest amount.
Animals have no means of storage of large amounts of potassium
salts. The large excretion of potassium on this maximum in-
take may be considered as a protective measure. In this case
the negative balance did not signify insufficiency.

Sodium and chlorine balances were much affected by the water
drunk. The intake of these elements would have been insuffi-
cient had not the amounts present in the foods been supplemented
by the use of salt. Those individuals which drank the least
water retained the most sodium and chlorine.

The more significant results of this experiment have to do
with calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus. These elements are
closely associated in metabolism. In the two rations where the
corn was supplemented by skim milk and by tankage (contain-
ing a considerable amount of bone scrap) the calcium retention
was 9 to 10 times as great as in any of the rations composed of
grains and other seeds and seed products. On rations of corn
alone, of corn and soy beans, and of rice polish and wheat bran
the calcium balances were negative; that is, more calcium was
given off* in excreta than was received in the food. This result
emphasizes the fact that the cereals are very poor bone-foods.
The negative calcium balances from the ration of corn and soy
beans call attention to the fact that the phenomenally high cal-
cium content of legumes is true of the plants as a whole and not
of the seeds. This emphasizes the value of leguminous rough-
age as bone-food.

In these rations the retention of calcium was closely related
to the intake of the same, and not appreciably affected by the
excess of mineral acid. Physiologically, calcium and magnesium
are balanced opposites. An excess of magnesium in the blood
causes a counter-active liberation of calcium; but the propor-
tion of these elements in the blood does not follow closely their

440 FORBES: MINERAL ELEMENTS IN NUTRITION

proportions in the food, and we did not find the calcium reten-
tion to be limited by an excess of magnesium in the food except
perhaps in one ration, composed of rice polish and wheat bran
and containing 12 times as much magnesium as calcium. In this
case the great excess of magnesium seems to have been unfavor-
able to calcium retention. This proportion seems not to be a
matter of practical importance in ordinary rations.

The phosphorus balances in these rations were always posi-
tive, but the retention was much below normal on the ration of
corn alone. The more important reason for this deficient stor-
age of phosphorus from corn was the lack of calcium, since
calcium was more deficient than phosphorus, and since neither
can be stored in large quantity except as they are combined in
the calcium phosphate of the bones.

There were large excesses of inorganic acid elements in these
rations. They were neutralized by ammonia. We observed
no evidence of acid intoxication. We do not have knowledge
of any such prevalence of acid intoxication in domestic animals
as that with which we are familiar in human beings.

The urinary ammonia excretion was found to vary in the
same order with the excess acid of the ration, providing that the
protein remained about the same in amount; but any consider-
able increase in the food protein also increased the urinary
ammonia.

Another series of experiments with swine dealt with phos-
phorus metabolism. Considering the phosphorus compounds
of plants and animals the most obvious distinction among the
various groups is that in certain of these the phosphorus is
organically combined, as part of the living tissue, while in others
it is present as simple salts of the mineral bases, either in solu-
tion, or deposited in supporting structures (in animals), or as
crystals or incrustations (in plants). Our object was to learn
whether organic and inorganic phosphorus in the food could
serve equally well all of the purposes for which the animal needs
phosphorus.

Our practical interest in the problem is due largely to the
relative availability of organic and inorganic phosphorus. Inor-

FORBES! MINERAL ELEMENTS IN NUTRITION 441

ganic phosphorus may be had in unlimited quantities as pre-
pared from old bones and rock phosphate, and the inorganic
phosphorus content of foods may be greatly increased by the
fertilization of the soils upon which they are grown. Organic
phosphorus we get from such expensive foods as milk, eggs, and
beef, and from cereals. The organic phosphorus content of
foods is not susceptible of important modification by treatment
of the soil.

In this study we included orthophosphates because of their
cheapness and availability, hypophosphites because they are
so much used in human medicine, phytin as an especially abund-
ant phosphorus storage compound of vegetable foods, glycero-
phosphates because of their relation to lecithin, a universal cell
constituent, and nucleic acid because it is found in the nuclei of
all cells.

These compounds in the pure form were added to a low-
phosphorus basal ration in amounts contributing equal quanti-
ties of phosphorus. The subjects were growing pigs. Results
were obtained by the method of the metabolism experiment
and by the analysis of the carcasses of the animals.

It would seem, at first glance, that this problem should readily
yield to careful experimental investigation, but intimate ac-
quaintance has shown it to be extremely complicated and dif-
ficult. Many investigators have studied it, and the problem
has been finally answered many times but in many different
ways. If this problem is settled, in the end, as many such
subjects of controversy have been, most of those who have
studied it will be at first surprised, then chagrined, and then
gratified that so much of truth was found on both sides of the
discussion. Recent evidence has been mostly with those who
believe that inorganic phosphorus can serve all of the purposes
for which animals need phosphorus, but there is still much un-
controverted evidence that there are differences in the metabo-
lism of some organic and inorganic phosphoric compounds which
imply at least a greater usefulness of some organic compounds
for some purposes with some animals.

442 FORBES! MINERAL ELEMENTS IN NUTRITION

In our work orthophosphates, glycerophosphates, hypophos-
phites and yeast nucleic acid, when added in the pure form to
rations which are low in phosphorus but capable of maintaining
phosphorus equilibrium, were all to some extent absorbed and
retained.

Prominent differences were observed in the tolerance of the
pigs for these pure phosphorus compounds. The limit of toler-
ance for glycerophosphates was not reached in any of our tests,
but the other compounds were not so well taken. These drugs,
when taken into the alimentary tract in quantity, in readily
soluble condition, produced marked specific therapeutic effects
which were, at least to a large extent, unrelated to fundamental
nutritive values, and were likewise different from the effects of
the same compounds as occurring in their natural physical and
chemical relationships in foods. It is, therefore, impossible
to state, from investigations of this sort, on pure compounds,
what may be their nutritive values in common foods.

That the particular organic compounds used in this investi-
gation (nucleic acid, phytin, and glycerophosphates) have
nutritive values, to growing swine, superior to simple inorganic
phosphates was not shown. No fundamental differences in
the methods of usefulness of the phosphorus compounds studied
were established, though, under our experimental conditions,
they differed greatly in the extent of their usefulness; for in-
stance, glycerophosphates were acceptable and useful in large
quantities, the limit of which was not reached in our work;
orthophosphates were distinctly less acceptable; phytin and
nucleic acid were tolerated in still smaller amounts; while hypo-
phosphites were the least acceptable of all. Still, so far as our
results indicate, these compounds were all useful in the same way.

No basis was discovered for a differentiation between the
nutritive values of organic and inorganic phosphorus compounds
generally. It should be borne in mind, however, that no repre-
sentatives of the two classes, phosphoproteins and lecithins,
were included in this investigation, and results obtained under
conditions of such rigid experimental control may not accurately
represent the facts under optimum, normal conditions of life.

FORBES: MINERAL ELEMENTS IN NUTRITION 443

These results are not considered to controvert evidence as to
specific therapeutic effects of these phosphorus compounds in
relations other than those considered in this study.

Even granting the debated superior nutritive value of organic
or inorganic compounds of phosphorus, however, it is undoubted-
ly a fact that the organic phosphorus content of the animal body
is a very small part of the total phosphorus, and as certainly
true that a very much larger proportion of organic to inorganic
phosphorus prevails in the diet of all omnivora and herbivora
than in the bodies of these animals; and as for carnivora, the
consumption of flesh and bones together would give them ap-
proximately the same proportion of organic to inorganic phos-
phorus in the diet as in their own bodies. It would seem, there-
fore, that for purposes of growth, the usual diet of animals must
contain a sufficiently large proportion of organic to inorganic
phosphorus. In this relation, then, the important considera-
tion is simply one of the total phosphorus of the ration, and
any such supplemental phosphorus as is to be added to the diet
of the healthy, growing animal may be added as inorganic
phosphate.

The amount of phosphorus which an animal will tolerate,
when added to the ration in readily soluble form, is definitely
limited at an amount much less than will be acceptable in its
natural relationships in foods.

It seems unlikely that, with grown or growing animals, any
ration composed from natural foods, and supplying the nitro-
gen requirement, will fail to furnish enough total phosphorus
to maintain phosphorus equilibrium. That many such rations
are lacking in the amount of phosphorus essential to maximum
retention and growth, however, is as certainly true.

The results of our experiments indicate that the possibility
of influencing, to a practical extent, the relative development of
tissues and organs of livestock by the addition of isolated com-
pounds of phosphorus to the ration is probably limited to the
density and strength of the bones; but this is not saying that we
may not be able by the use of these same compounds profoundly
to influence physiological functions.

444 FORBES: MINERAL ELEMENTS IN NUTRITION

Throughout these studies of the influence of foods upon the
nutrition of swine numerous effects of the mineral constituents
of the rations on minor details of qualitative composition of
the tissues have been noted, but the importance of such effects,
as related to the functions of the parts, has not been demon-
strated.

Our latest study in mineral metabolism was with cows. The
milch cow greatly excels any of the other farm quadrupeds in
the rapidity and efficiency with which she produces proteid and
mineral nutriment. This unrivaled productive capacity calls
for as unusual supplies of the kinds of nutriment involved.
So far as protein is concerned this requirement is amply recog-
nized; but, with almost no evidence on the subject, we have
assumed that the cow's mineral requirements are fully met with-
out any attention being given to the matter. Our results show
this assumption to be unwarranted and untrue.

Six cows were used in this study, in two groups of three each.
Each cow was taken through three experimental periods, usually
of 19 or 20 days' duration, separated by 10-day intervals. The
excreta were caught by attendants sitting behind the cows.
Complete ash analyses, as well as ordinary proximate analyses,
were made on foods, milk, urine, and feces.

We found that liberal milk production, on common practical
winter rations fed in quantities sufficient to maintain the live-
weight and to cause regular and extensive nitrogen and sulphur
storage, caused large and consistent losses of calcium, magnesium,
and phosphorus from the skeleton. These losses occurred in
spite of liberal supplies of these nutrients in the food. The very
limited response of the cows to large increase in the intake of
these elements suggests that the selective improvement of the
milch cow, for milk production, has outrun her capacity to digest
mineral nutrients. A further study is in progress in which we
hope to learn whether under any circumstances it is possible
to protect the cow from loss of minerals during heavy milk
production.

An extensive metabolism of silicon was demonstrated ; and an
excess of inorganic acids over inorganic bases in the ration, due

FORBES! MINERAL ELEMENTS IN NUTRITION 445

largely to the silicon of timothy hay, caused an acid reaction
and an increase in the ammonia of the urine.

From this study it appears that a failure to maintain mineral
equilibrium must be so common among cows of the more profit-
able sort that it may be considered a normal condition during
the time of larger production, at least if this occurs during the
winter, that is, while the cows are off from pasture.

A common failure of cows to maintain exceptionally high
production during consecutive periods of lactation may be due
to mineral depletion, as may also be a frequent failure of cows
to breed after having been subjected to a period of forced pro-
duction, as in the establishment of records.

Since extensive milk production is sustained, in part, by drafts
upon the mineral reserves of the body; since this process can
not continue indefinitely; and since there is in cows a gradual
shrinkage and final cessation of milk production coincident
with this depletion of nutrient reserves, it is believable that this
mineral exhaustion may be among those factors which cause the
gradual shrinkage of milly, and that by preventing, as largely
as possible, these losses from the body we may be able to lessen
the shrinkage and to extend the duration of the production of
milk.

The results of this study indicate that especial attention should
be given to the calcium, magnesium and phosphorus contents
of the rations of heavily-producing cows, in order that the loss
of these elements from the skeleton may be kept as low as pos-
sible; and a liberal supply of foods rich in these elements should
be allowed after a cow has ceased to produce heavily, during
the latter part of the period of lactation, in order to refund pre-
vious overdrafts before the birth of the next calf.

It is impossible, of course, to draw any one conclusion which
will express the full significance of so varied a program as that
which I have reviewed with you, but to me the results of these
studies have appealed, more than in any other way, as related
to the service of lime and legumes in agriculture.

Calcium is very much the most abundant mineral in the ani-
mal body. Physiologically it is the great mineral stabilizer.

446 FORBES: MINERAL ELEMENTS IN NUTRITION

Practically, it is much more frequently lacking in the food of
men and animals than is any other mineral nutrient. Lime as
applied to the soil liberates organic nutriment and enriches the
grass in calcium. It stimulates the growth of grass and makes it
a better food for animals. In a sense, "All flesh is grass." Lime
also maintains in the soil conditions favorable for the growth
of legumes. The legumes draw heavily upon this lime and
furnish it to animals in quantities not approached by any other
food plants. Through the activity of the bacteria which cause
their root-nodules they are enabled not only to store nitrogen
in abundance but also to feed the grasses with which they are
associated. Thus the lime in the soil favors the growth of le-
gumes. Lime and legumes favor the growth of grass. Grass
and legumes control the breeding of livestock. Grass, legumes,
and livestock control the destinies of nations.

ABSTRACTS

PHYSICS. — Distribution of energy in the visible spectrum of an acety-
lene flame. W. W. Coblentz and W. B. Emerson. Bureau of
Standards Scientific Paper No. 279 (Bull. Bur. Stds., 13: 355-364).
1916.
Data on the distribution of energy in the visible spectrum of a
standard source of light are frequently needed in connection with inves-
tigations in physiology, in psychology, and in physics; especially in
photoelectric work, in photography, and in the photometry of faint
light sources. Frequent requests for such data have come to this
Bureau. The acetylene flame appears to be a promising source of
light having a high intensity and a white color. The present paper
gives data on the distribution of energy in the visible spectrum of a
cylindrical acetylene flame, operated under specified conditions.

In the region of the spectrum extending from the yellow to the
violet the spectral energy distribution of all the flames examined
appears to be the same, within the limits of observation. On the
other hand, in the region of the spectrum extending from the red toward
the long wave lengths the emissivity is greatly affected by a variation in
thickness of the radiating layer of incandescent particles in the flame.
Hence, in and beyond the red part of the spectrum the data apply only
to cylindrical flames which are operated under specified conditions.

w. w. c.

PHOTOMETRY. — An interlaboratory -photometric comparison of glass
screens and of tungsten lamps, involving color differences. G. W.
Middlekatjff and J. F. Skogland. Bureau of Standards Scien-
tific Paper No. 277 (Bull. Bur. Stds. 13: 287-307). 1916.
In 1911 the Bureau of Standards and the National Physical Labo-
ratory of England, in cooperation, established groups of 1.5 wpc tung-

447

448 abstracts: photometry

sten standards, using Lummer-Brodhun contrast photometers in step-
ping from corresponding groups of 4 wpc carbon standards. Although
the agreement between the two laboratories was very satisfactory and
subsequent measurements of the new standards at the Bureau checked
the original values, it was realized, in view of the small number of
observers in each laboratory, that if other groups of observers had
made the measurements or if some other photometric method had
been used the results might have been different.

Therefore, in order to obtain information as to the agreement which
might be reasonably expected among different groups of experienced
observers working by the same and by different methods, the Bureau
invited the Nela Research Laboratory, the Electrical Testing Labora-
tories, and the Physical Laboratory of the United Gas Improvement
Company to cooperate in an intercomparison of photometric measure-
ments of blue glass screens and tungsten lamps involving color differ-
ences such as were encountered in the establishment of the new stand-
ards. The first two laboratories, like the Bureau, used Lummer-
Brodhun contrast photometers, while the third used a special flicker
photometer, and in no laboratory were the screens and lamps measured
at the same time.

The results of the intercomparison show that each observer, regard-
less of the kind of photometer used, maintained a fairly definite cri-
terion with respect to the mean of his laboratory, and that each labo-
ratory likewise consistently maintained its relation to the mean of all,
as judged from the measurements on the screens and those made on
the lamps some months afterward.

Considering the difficulties involved in the measurements, the differ-
ent characteristics of observers, and the wide difference in illumina-
tion employed, the agreement among the laboratories was remarkably
good. It is true, however, that although the differences are small
they are not negligible in precision photometry. It is evident, there-
fore, that measurements to establish standards involving color differ-
ence should be left as much as possible to the standardizing laboratory,
where the observers must be carefully selected and a considerable
number employed, and the kinds of instruments and other conditions
definitely fixed.

An examination of the Bureau's observers who took part in this
intercomparison and who were included in a group of 114 observers
tested at the Bureau by Crittenden and Richtmyer, using a special

abstracts: geology 449

flicker photometer, shows that their mean characteristic is very approxi-
mately the same as that of the average of the 114.

Furthermore, the flicker values found in this intercomparison and
also by Crittenden and Richtmyer for the tungsten lamps at 1.5 wpc
are in agreement with the Bureau's values. Hence it is concluded
that the values which were originally assigned to the new 1.5 wpc
tungsten standards as a result of the intercomparison with the National
Physical Laboratory can be considered as average eye values.

G. W. M.

GEOLOGY. — Economic geology of the North Laramie Mountains,

Converse and Albany Counties, Wyoming. Arthur C. Spencer.

U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin No. 626, pp. 46-81, with 2

plates and 4 figures.

This report includes a description of the broader geological features

of the North Laramie Mountains and detailed notes on localities where

prospecting work has been done in the search for copper ores. A colored

geologic map of the general region, contributed by N. H. Darton, shows

a central belt of pre-Cambrian rocks, flanked by areas of stratified

rocks ranging in age from Carboniferous to late Cretaceous. With

one exception the metalliferous deposits examined occur in the old

crystalline rocks, which comprise granite, serpentine, and schists of

various kinds.

In general the copper deposits of the region are not promising, though
it is possible that in a few places small deposits will be profitably worked.
Deposits of chromite and of asbestos occmring in the western part of
the region appear not to be of economic impc rtance.

A. C. S.

GEOLOGY. — Geology and underground water of Luna County, New
Mexico. N. H. Darton. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin No. 618.
Pp. 188, colored map, 12 other plates, 15 text figures. 1916.
A large part of Luna County consists of a desert plain underlain by
sand, gravel, and clay of Quaternary age. Rising from this plain are
narrow rocky ridges which contain a thick succession of sedimentary and
igneous formations resting on pre-Cambrian granite, the whole consider-
ably flexed and faulted. The sedimentary rocks include formations of
Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Triassic (?),
Cretaceous, and Tertiary age but only a portion of each period is repre-
sented. Most of the formations present features similar to those in

450 abstracts: geology and engineering

other parts of southern New Mexico and western Texas but some of
them are local or present peculiarities. The Tertiary rocks consist of
thick accumulations of agglomerate, tuff, and ash and thin sheets of
various kinds of lava.

The principal mineral resource is underground water, which occurs in
large quantities in the deposits underlying the plain, and is pumped for
irrigation. It is supplied by percolation from Mimbres River and by
local rains. Tests of five wells by A. T. Schwennesen gave yields
ranging from 122 to 603 gallons per minute, or from 14.5 to 88 gal-
lons per minute for each foot of drawdown. 0. E. M.

GEOLOGY AND ENGINEERING.— Contributions to the hydrology
of the United States, 1915. Nathan C. Grover. U. S. Geologi-
cal Survey Water-Supply Paper No. 375. Pp. 131, 9 plates, 31
text figures. 1916.

This volume includes the following papers:

Ground water for irrigation in the Sacramento Valley, California. Kirk
Bryan. Sacramento Valley, 150 miles long, 40 miles wide, and con-
taining more than 3,000,000 acres of agricultural land, is remarkable
for its great supply of ground water, the rapid recharge of this supply
in the rainy season, and the large area in which the water table stands
close to the surface. More than 80 per cent of the valley has a depth
to water of less than 25 feet. In 1913, water was drawn from wells
at 1664 pumping plants for the irrigation of 40,859 acres.

Ground water in Paradise Valley, Arizona. O. E. Meinzer and A. J.
Ellis. Paradise Valley affords an example of "stream escape," in
contrast to "stream capture." Cave Creek, entering this valley
from the side, formerly discharged through it, but built up its alluvial
fan until it found an exit through a pass in the opposite mountain wall.
It now crosses the valley and still furnishes most of its ground-water
supply.

The relation of stream gaging to the science of hydraulics. C. H. Pierce
and R. W. Davenport. This paper emphasizes the modernness of
stream gaging as a science and coordinates it with the science of hy-
draulics and the still more comprehensive science of hydrology. The
evolutio n of stream gaging to its present status has involved in a high
degree that balancing of practice against abstract theory which has
made hydraulics to so large an extent an empirical science. The im-
portance of analytical studies and of utilizing the established facts
of the science of hydraulics in the practice of stream gaging is illus-
trated by examples. Stream gaging, or, in a broad sense, hydrometry,

abstracts: geology and engineering 451

has a steadily expanding field in the collection of stream-flow data,
both for statistical purposes and as a basis for the design of various
kinds of hydraulic works, in drainage investigations, in the operation
of irrigation systems in the arid regions, in the determination of hydrau-
lic constants and coefficients, in the testing and operation of water-
power plants, and in other directions.

Ground water in Big Smoky Valley, Nevada. O. E. Meinzer. Big
Smoky Valley is a typical desert valley occupying a closed basin of
3250 square miles. Numerous beach ridges and embankments, 50 feet
in maximum height, show that in the Pleistocene epoch this valley
contained two lakes — Lake Toyabe, which covered 225 square miles,
and Lake Tonopah, which covered 85 square miles. The alluvial
slopes are broken by fault scarps, indicating maximum displacements of
more than 100 feet. Nearly 50 small mountain streams discharge into
the valley, 10 of which, according to measurements made in October,
1914, contribute 7000 acre-feet a year to the ground-water supply.
Ground water is discharged into the atmosphere from two areas which
together cover about 205 square miles. These areas were mapped on
the basis of (1) soil moisture and position of the water table, (2) soluble
salts at the surface and in the soil, and (3) native plants that feed on
ground water.

A method of correcting river discharge for a changing stage. B. E.
Jones. When a river is rising fast it has a greater velocity and a
greater discharge than it has at the same height when its stage is con-
stant. This is caused by the increase in slope due to the rising stage.
Likewise, when it is falling fast it has a lower velocity and a lower
discharge. A formula is obtained for comparing the discharge under
changing stage conditions with that under constant stage conditions,
as follows:

The change in slope is assumed equal to the change in stage per
second divided by the distance the water travels per second. Then
as the discharge varies as the square root of the slope, the relation
of the discharge under constant stage conditions (Qi) to the discharge
under changing stage conditions (Q2) would be

^2 ^ / c u ra^e °f cnan9e °f s^aQe

^S1

velocity
Si in the equation is the surface slope under constant stage conditions.

452 abstracts: geology

As it is shown that a flood travels nearly at the rate of the surface
velocity, the velocity used in the formula is the surface velocity which
is obtained by dividing the mean velocity of the stream by 0.90.

If K stands for the change of stage per second, V for the mean ve-
locity determined during the changing stage, and N for the coefficient
for obtaining mean velocity from surface velocity, the formula may be
written :

Qi VSi

Q2 I „ ~ NK
V

^£1

Tables and curves are given showing the results obtained by this
method on streams varying in size from a canal carrying 50 second-
feet up to the Ohio River carrying 365,000 second-feet.

Conditions requiring the use of automatic gages in obtaining records
of stream flow. C. H. Pierce. In 1913-14 the U. S. Geological
Survey maintained 1741 gaging stations of which 325 were equipped
with automatic gages. The conditions which require the use of auto-
matic gages are (1) regulation of the stream by power developments;

(2) operation of canals and ditches delivering water for irrigation;

(3) fluctuations due to variation in run-off under natural conditions
(a) caused by rain and '(b) caused by melting ice and snow; (4) inac-
cessibility of gaging station or lack of reliable observer; (5) continuous
record needed for legal purposes; and (6) human fallibility of most
gage observers.

Ground water in Lasalle and McMullen counties, Texas. Alexander
Deussen and R. B. Dole. (Abstract in Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci., 6:
224-225. 1916.) O. E. M., R. W. D., B. E. J.

GEOLOGY. — Geology and water resources of Tularosa Basin, New Mexico.
O. E. Meinzer and R'. F. Hare. U. S. Geological Survey
Water-Supply Paper No. 343. Pp. 317, with maps, sections, and
views. 1915.
Tularosa Basin is a closed drainage basin in south-central New Mex-
ico covering about 6,000 square miles. Its central plain is in part
underlain by sediments to depths of more than 1 ,000 feet and is bordered
on both sides by fault scarps several thousand feet high. Features of
special interest are: (1) basaltic lava sheets of two ages, both Quaternary,
with three volcanic cones; (2) recent fault scarps and shore features;

abstracts: mineralogy 453

(3) steep-walled alkali flats, covering 165 square miles, formed chiefly
by wind erosion ; (4) dunes of gypsum sand, covering 270 square miles,
on the leeward side of the alkali flats; (5) sink holes developed in the
gypseous valley fill; and (6) numerous large mounds produced by
springs.

The basal granite is unconformably overlain by Carboniferous rocks
which comprise Mississippian limestone at the bottom and limestone,
red beds, gypsum, etc., of the Magdalena and Manzano groups at the
top. Cretaceous deposits, chiefly of the Dakota to Montana groups,
are well represented; also younger intrusive rocks. Coal was observed
in Carboniferous as well as in the Cretaceous strata.

Water occurs in valley fill and in Cretaceous and Carboniferous rock.
About 150 analyses were made. The waters differ widely in chemical
character and concentration, several distinct types being recognized
and correlated with different rock formations. Various relations of
alkali in soil and of zones of vegetation to water supplies are described.

O. E. M.

MINERALOGY. — Mineralogic Notes, Series 3. Waldemar T. Schal-
ler. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin No. 610. Pp. 164, with 5
plates and 99 figures. 1916.

New minerals described are as follows:

Koechlitiite, bismuth molybdate, Bi203Mo03, from Schneeberg,
Germany, as small greenish-yellow rectangular plates, orthorhombic,
simple and twinned.

Inyoite, from Inyo County, California, as white rhombic-shaped
monoclinic crystals, 2CaO3B203-13H20, largely altered to meyer-
hofferite.

Meyerhofferite, alteration of inyoite, colorless to white, prismatic,
triclinic crystals, 2CaO3B203-7H20.

Lucinite, dimorphous form of variscite, A1203-P205-4H20, from
Lucin, Utah. Very small green, octahedral-shaped orthorhombic
crystals, directly associated with variscite.

Yelardenite, from Velardena, Mexico, 2CaOAl203-Si02, tetragonal,
is an essential component of the "gehlenites" and enters into the com-
position of the "melilites."

Fremontite is the name proposed to replace the objectionable term
natramblygonite for the hydrous sodium aluminum phosphate member
of the amblygonite group, found in Colorado. Triclinic crystals of
fremontite are described.

454 abstracts: botany

The other mineralogic papers treat of: (1) The crystallography of
variscite, extending the crystal forms to 14 and noting several different
habits. (2) The composition of schneebergite is definitely fixed as
2CaOSb204. The paragenesis of the schneebergite specimens from
Schneeberg, Austrian Tyrol, is fully described and illustrated. (3) Ro-
meite from Italy and from Brazil is analyzed and its composition de-
termined as 5CaO3Sb205. The romeite from Brazil has been erron-
eously called atopite. (4) The natural antimonites and antimonates are
listed. (5) The melilite group is studied and it is concluded that all
melilites and gehlenites may be considered as isomorphous mixtures
of the tetragonal minerals, velardefiite, 2CaOAl203-Si02, sarcolice,
3CaOAl203-3Si02, and akermanite, 4MgO8CaO9Si02. (6) Thau-
masite crystals, from West Pater son, N. J., are hexagonal, c{0001),
rajlOlO}, p{1011}, the c-axis being 1.09. (7) The water in tremolite
is held to be essential and not "as dissolved water .... not
chemically combined . . . . " Analyses suggest the formula,
8Si02-5MgO2CaOH20; (8) Massive guanajuatite was identified
from Salmon, Idaho, brilliant yellow to orange greenockite from
Topaz, California, and well-crystallized jarosite from Bisbee, Arizona.
(9) Gigantic crystals of spodumene (one 47 feet long) from the Etta
mine, South Dakota, are described and illustrated. (10) Mariposite
from California, and alurgite from Italy probably represent the same
mineral species.

The bulletin also includes reprint's of papers on cebollite, nephelite,
bloedite, alunite, custerite, hodgkinsonite, pisanite, strengite, and a
note on the calculation of a mineral formula. W. T. S.

BOTANY.— The genus Espeletia. Paul C. Standley. American
Journal of Botany, 2: 468-485, pi. 17, f. 1-6. 1915.
The genus Espeletia is a member of the family Asteraceae. Its rep-
resentatives, natives of the high mountains of northeastern South
America, are conspicuous among the composites because of the dense
woolly covering of their leaves and inflorescence, and the peculiar habit
of many of the species. The present study is based chiefly upon mate-
rial from Venezuela received recently by the U. S. National Herbarium.
Seventeen species are recognized, six of which are described as new.
Six of the species previously described are represented in the National
Herbarium by recent collections. P. C. S.

REFERENCES

Under thia heading it is proposed to include, by author, title, and citation, reierences to all
scientific papers published in or emanating from Washington. It is requested that authors cooperate
with the editors by submitting titles promptly, following the style used below. These references are
not Intended to replace the more extended abstracts published elsewhere in this Journal.

PALEONTOLOGY

Knowlton, F. II. Description of a neiv fossil fern from the Judith River forma-
tion of Montana. Torreya, 15: 67-70, figs. 1-5. June 15, 1915.

Knowlton, F. H. Seed-bearing ferns. Amer. Fern Journ., 5: 83-87. July,
1915.

BOTANY

Babcock, E. B. A new walnut. Journ. Heredity, 6: 40-45, figs. 16-19. January,

1915.
Bartlett, H. H. Systematic studies on Oenothera,—}'. (E. robinsonii and (E.

cleistantha, spp. now. Rhodora, 17: 41-44, pi. 111. March 17, 1915.
Belling, J. The Georgia velvet bean. Journ. Heredity, 6: 290. June 25, 1915.
Bose, J. C. Plant-autographs and their revelations. Smithsonian Inst. Ann.

Rep. 1914, pp. 421-443, 'figs. 1-18. 1915.
Chase, Agnes. Impressions of the ferns of Porto Rico. Amer. Fern Journ., 5:

79-83. July 1915.
Chase, Agnes. A teretologieal specimen of Panicum amarulum Hitchc. & Chase.

Rhodora, 17: 72. April 2, 1915.
Cook, O. F. Dale palm allies in America. Journ. Heredity, 6: 117-122, figs.

8-10. February 25, 1915.
Coville, F. V. Grossularia marcescens. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 28:

181. November 29, 1915.
Crandall, W. C. The kelp beds from Lower California to Puget Sound. U. S.

Dept. Agr. Soils Rep. 100, pp. 33-49. April 10, 1915.
Eggleston, W. W., Kirk, G. L., and Underwood, J. G. Flora of Vermont.

Yerniont Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 187, pp. 145-258. 1915.
Fairchild, D. Green leaf in a cherry blossom. Journ. Heredity, 6: 262-263,

fig. 7. May 25, 1915.
Frye, T. C. The kelp beds of southeast Alaska. U. S. Dept. Agr. Soils Rep.

100, pp. 60-104. April 10, 1915.
Garle, C. H. The wild tomato. Journ. Heredity, 6: 242, frontispiece. May

25, 1915.
Greene, F. C. A preliminary list of the ferns of Rolla, Missouri. Amer. Fer.

Journ., 5: 105-107. December, 1915.
Griffiths, D. Hardier spineless cactus. Journ. Heredity, 6: 182-191, figs.

15-19. March 25, 1915.

455

456 references: botany

Hitchcock, A. S. New or noteworthy grasses. Amer. Journ. Bot., 2: 299-310.

June, 1915. (Includes descriptions of»7 new species in the genera Stipa,

Danthonia, Campulosus, Gymnopogon, Eragrostis, and Agropyron. —

W. R. M.)
Hitchcock, A. S. Note on a New Zealand grass. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington,

28 : 182. November 29, 1915.
Hitchcock, A. S., and Chase, Agnes. Tropical North American species of

Panicum. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb., 17: 459-539, figs. 11-149. July 24, 1915.
Johnson, D. S. The history of the discovery of sexuality in plants. Smithsonian

Inst. Ann. Rept. 1914, pp. 383-406. 1915.
Johnson, D. S. Sexuality in plants. Journ. Heredity, 6: 3-16, figs. 1-10. Janu-
ary, 1915.
Mackenzie, K. K. Two new sedges from the southwestern United States. Smith-
sonian Misc. Coll., 657: 1-3. April 9, 1915. (Describes as new: Carex wootoni

and C. rusbyi.—W. R. M.)
Maxon, W. R. The North American species of Psilogramme. Bull. Torrey

Club, 42 : 79-86. March 2, 1915. (Includes descriptions of the new species

Psilogramme chiapensis, P. glaberrima, P. villosula. — W. R. M.)
Maxon, W. R. Notes on American ferns: IX. Amer. Fern Journ., 5: 1-4.

March, 1915.
Maxon, W. R. Note upon Polypodium subtile and a related species. Amer.

Fern Journ., 5: 50-52. May, 1915. (Proposes the new name Polypodium

cretatum for a Jamaican species. — W. R. M. )
Maxon, W. R. Notholaena aschenborniana and a, related new species. Amer.

Fern Journ., 5: 4-7. March, 1915. (Describes as new Notholaena hyalina.

— W. R. M.)
Maxon, W. R. Polypodium marginellum and its immediate allies. Bull. Torrey

Club, 42 : 219-225. April, 1915. (Notes on the peculiar morphology of this

group, with description of 2 new species: P. hessii and P. ebeninum. —

W. R. M.)
Maxon, W. R. Report upon a collection of ferns from western South America.

Smithsonian Misc. Coll., 658: 1-12. May 3, 1915. (Includes descriptions of

six new species in Polypodium, Cheilanthes, Notholaena, and Dryopteris.

— W. R. M.)
Moore, A. H. Two Philadelphus combinations. Rhodora, 17: 121-123. June

18, 1915.
Nash, G. V., and Hitchcock, A. S. Poaceae (Pars). North Amer. Fl., 17: 197-

288. December 20, 1915.
Piper, C. V. Andropogon halepensis and Andropogon sorghum. Proc. Biol.

Soc. Washington, 28: 25-44. March 12, 1915.
Pittier, H. On the characters and relationships of the genus Monopteryx Spruce.

Bull. Torrey Club, 42: 623-627, figs. 1, 2. December 11, 1915. (Describes

Monopteryx jahnii, sp. nov.— W. R. M.)
Rigg, G. B. The kelp beds of Puget Sound. U. S. Dept. Agr. Soils Rep. 100, pp.

50-59, fig. 2. April 10, 1915.
Rigg, G. B. The kelp beds of western Alaska. IT. S. Dept. Agr. Soils Rep. 100,

pp. 105-122. April 10, 1915.

references: phytopathology 457

Rose, J. N. Edward Lee Greene. Bot. Gaz., 61: 70-72, with portrait. January

15, 1915.
Rose, J. N. Exploration in western South America. Journ. N. Y. Bot. Gard.,

16: 172-174. August, 1915.
Safford. W. E. An Aztec narcotic (Lophophora williamsii). Journ. Heredity,

6: 291-311, figs. 1-11. June 25, 1915.
Shear, C. L. Charles Edwin Bessey. Phytopathology, 5: 200. June 4, 1915.
Smith, C. P. Carex tuckermani niagarensis; a neglected sedge. Rhodora, 17:

57-59, figs. 1, 2. April 2, 1915.
Standley, P. C. The genus Espeletia. Amer. Journ. Bot., 2: 468-486, pi. 17,

figs. 1-6. December 16, 1915.
Standley, P. C. Hepaticae of New Mexico. Bryologist, 18: 81-83. November,

1915.
Standley, P. C. A new species of Achyranthes from Tobago. Proc. Biol. Soc.

Washington, 28: 87-88. April 13, 1915. (Describes Achyranthes ingramiana,

sp. nov.—W. R. M.)
Standley, P. C. A new species of Iresine from the United States. Proc. Biol.

Soc. Washington, 28: 171-173. November 29, 1915. (Describes Iresine rhi-

zomatosa, sp. nov. — W. R. M.)
Standley, P. C. Two plants new to the flora of Louisiana. Torreya, 15: 9-11,

fig. 1. January 25, 1915.
Standley, P. C. Vegetation of the Brazos Canyon, New Mexico. Plant World,

18: 179-191, figs. 1-3. July, 1915.
Thom, C., and Turesson, G. W. Penicillium avellaneum, a new ascus-produc-

ing species. Mycologia, 7: 284-287, figs. 1-3. September, 1915.
Van Eseltine, G. P. An abnormal specimen of Citrullus vulgaris. Torreya,

15: 44-45, figs. 1, 2. March, 1915.
Wooton, E. O., and Standley, P. C. The ferns of New Mexico. Amer. Fern

Journ., 5: 65-78, pis. 5, 6. July, 1915.
Wooton, E. O., and Standley, P. C. Flora of New Mexico. Contr. U. S. Nat.

Herb., 19: 1-794. 1915.

FORESTRY

Humphrey, H. B., and Weaver, J. E. Natural reforestaion in the mountains
of northern Idaho. Plant World, 18: 31-47, figs. 1-9. February, 1915.

PHYTOPATHOLOGY

Appel, O. The control of cereal and grass smut and the Helminthosporium disease

in Holland and Germany. Phytopathology, 5: 230-232. August, 1915.
Appel, O. Disease resistance in plants. Science, II. 41: 773-782. May 28,

1915.
Appel, O. Leaf roll diseases of the potato. Phytopathology, 5: 139-148. June

4, 1915.
Appel, O. The relations between scientific botany and phytopathology. Ann.

Missouri Bot. Gard., 2: 275-285. May 17, 1915.
Carleton, M. A. A serious new wheat rust in this country. Science, II. 42:

58-59. July 9, 1915.

458 references: plant physiology

Harter, L. L. Notes on the distribution and prevalence of three important sweet

potato diseases. Phytopathology, 5: 124-126. April, 1915.
Harter, L. L., and Field (Tillotson), E. C. Experiments on the susceptibility

of sweet potato varieties to stem rot. Phytopathology, 5: 163-168. June

4, 1915.
Hartley, C, and Brunner, S. C. Notes on Rhizoctonia. Phytopathology,

5: 73-74. February, 1915.
Hartley, C, and Merrill, T. C. Storm and drouth injury to foliage of orna-
mental trees. Phytopathology, 5: 20-29, figs. 1-3. February, 1915.
Hawkins, L. A. Some effects of the brown-rot fungus upon the composition of

the peach. Amer. Journ. Bot., 2: 71-81. February, 1915.
Hedgcock, G. G. Notes on some diseases of trees in our national forests, — V.

Phytopathology, 5: 175-181. June, 1915.
Jones, L. R. Problems and progress in plant pathology. Smithsonian Inst. Ann.

Rept. 1914, pp. 407-419. 1915.
Norton, J. B. S. Tomato diseases. Ann. Rep. Maryland Agr. Exp. Sta. 27,

pp. 102-114. 1914.
Potter, A. A. The loose kernel smut of sorghum. Phytopathology, 5: 149-154,

pi. 10, figs. 1, 2. June 4, 1915.
Scales, F. M. Some filamentous fungi tested for cellulose destroying power. Bot.

Gaz., 60: 149-153. August 14, 1915.
Shear, C. L. Mycology in relation to phytopathology. Science, II. 41: 479-

• 484. April 2, 1915.
Shear, C. L. The need of a pure culture supply laboratory for phytopathology

in America. Phytopathology, 5: 270-272. October, 1915.
Smith, E. F. A conspectus of bacterial diseases of plants. Ann. Missouri Bot.

Gard., 2: 377-401. May 17, 1915.
Townsend, C. O. Sugar beet curly-top. Phytopathology, 5: 282. October, 1915.
Townsend, C. O. Sugar beet mosaic. Science, II. 42: 219-220. August 13, 1915.
Weir, J. R. Razoumofskya tsugensis in Alaska. Phytopathology, 5: 229.

August, 1915.
Weir, J. R. Telial stage of Gymnosporangium tubulatum on Junipernus sco-

pulorum. Phytopathology, 5: 218. August, 1915.

PLANT PHYSIOLOGY

Appleman, C. O. Biochemical and physiological study of the rest period in the
tubers of Solanum tuberosum. Ann. Rep. Maryland Agr. Exp. Sta. 27,
pp. 181-226, figs. 1-17. May, 1915.

Hasselbring, H. Effectos de la sombra sobre la transpiracion y la asimilacion
de la planta del tabaco en Cuba. Cuba Estac. Exp. Agron. Bull. 24, pp. 1-38,
February, 1915.

Hawkins, L. A. The utilization of certain pentoses and compounds of pentoses
by Glomerella cingulata. Amer. Journ. Bot., 2: 375-388. October, 1915.

Schreiner, O., and Skinner, J. J. Specific action of organic compounds in modi-
fying plant characteristics; methyl glycocoll versus glycocoll. Bot. Gaz., 59:
445-463, figs. 1-4. June 17, 1915.

references: evolution 459

Skinner, J. J. The antizymotic action of a harmful soil constituent: salicylic alde-
hyde and mannite. Plant World, 18: 162-167. June, 1915.

Skinner, J. J. Effect of vanillin as a soil constituent. Plant World, 18: 321-330,
figs. 1-5. December, 1915.

True, R. H., and Bartlett, H. H. The exchange of ions between the roots of
Lupinus albus and culture solutions containing one nutrient salt. Amer.
Journ. Bot., 2: 255-278, figs. 1-13. June, 1915.

True, R. H., and Bartlett, H. H. The exchange of ions between the roots of
Lupinus albus and culture solutions containing two nutrient salts. Amer.
Journ. Bot., 2: 311-323, figs. 1-3. July, 1915.

EVOLUTION

Bartlett, H. H. Additional evidence of mutation in Oenothera. Bot. Gaz.,

59: 81-123, figs. 1-17. February 16, 1915.
Bartlett, H. H. The experimental study of genetic relationships. Amer. Journ.

Bot., 2: 132-155. April 23, 1915.
Bartlett, H. H. Mass mutation in Oenothera pratincola. Bot. Gaz., 60:

425-456, figs. 1-15. December 16, 1915.
Bartlett, H. H. Mutation en masse. Amer. Nat., 49: 129-139, figs. 1-9 March,

1915.
Bartlett, H. H. The mutations of Oenothera stenomeres. Amer. Journ.

Bot., 2: 100-109, figs. 1-4. February, 1915.
Belling, J. The chromosome hypothesis of heredity. Journ. Heredity, 6: 67.

January 25, 1915.
Belling, J. Prepotence in plant breeding. Journ. Heredity, 6: 45. January,

1915
Cockerell, T. D. A. The marking factor in sunflowers. Journ. Heredity,

6: 542-545, figs. 5, 6. November 26, 1915.
Cook, O. F. Two classes of hybrids. Journ. Heredity, 6: 55-56. January 25, 1915.
Dorsey, M. J. Pollen sterility in grapes. Journ. Heredity, 6: 243-249, figs.

1-6. May 25, 1915.
Earle, F. S., and Popenoe, W. Plant breeding in Cuba. Journ. Heredity,

6: 558-568, figs. 10-15. November 26, 1915.
Francis, M. S. Double seeding petunias. Journ. Heredity, 6: 456-461, figs.

6-8. September 27, 1915.
Gardner, V. R. Sweet cherry breeding. Journ. Heredity, 6: 312-313. June

25, 1915.
Gates, R. R. On the nature of mutations. Journ. Heredity, 6: 99-108, figs. 1-7.

February 25, 1915.
Hayes, H. K. Tobacco mutations. Journ. Heredity, 6: 73-78, figs. 12, 13 and

frontispiece. January 25, 1915.
Jones, D. F. Illustration of inbreeding. Journ. Heredity, 6: 477-479, figs.

10, 11. September 27, 1915.
Kraus, E. J. The self -sterility problem. Journ. Heredity, 6: 549-557, figs. 7-9.

November 26, 1915.
Kraus, E. J. Somatic segregation. Journ. Heredity, 7: 3-8, fig. 1 and frontis-
piece. December 29, 1915.

460 references: entomology

Lewis, C. L. Plant breeding problems. Journ. Heredity, 6: 468-470. Septem-
ber 27, 1915.

Marshall, C. G. Per jugate cotton hybrids. Journ. Heredity, 6: 57-64, figs.
1-5. January 25, 1915.

Norton, J. B. Inheritance of habit in the common bean. Amer. Nat., 49: 547-
561. September, 1915.

Perkins, L. S. The pomerange. Journ. Heredity, 6: 192. March 25, 1915.
(Discusses a natural hybrid between the orange and pomelo. — W. R. M.)

Richardson, A. E. V. Wheat breeding. Journ. Heredity, 6: 123-141, figs. 11-
19. February 25, 1915.

Vincent, C. C. Apple breeding in Idaho. Journ. Heredity, 6: 453-455. Sep-
tember 27, 1915.

ENTOMOLOGY

Banks, Nathan. A new ortalidfly. Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington, 16: 138. Sep-
tember, 1914. (Describes Pseudotephritis approximata from Virginia. — J. C.
C)

Busck, August. New Microlepidoptera from Hawaii. Insecutor Inscitiae Men-
struus, 2: 103-107. July, 1914. (Describes the new genus Petrochroa and five
new species. — J. C. C.)

Cockerell, T. D. A. Australian bees of the family Prosopididae. Insecutor In-
scitiae Menstruus, 2: 97-101. July, 1914. (Five new species and one new
variety are described. — J. C. C.)

Cockerell, T. D. A. A new carpenter bee from California. Insecutor Inscitiae
Menstruus, 2: 101-103. July, 1914. (Describes Xylocopa libocedri. — J. C.
C.)

Crawford, J. C. Notes on the chalcidoid family Callimomidae. Proc. Ent. Soc.
Washington, 16: 122-126. September, 1914. (Gives a table of subfamilies,
describing one new subfamily, Erimerinae, the new genera Erimerus, Idiona-
cromerus, Antistrophoplex, and Zaglyptonotus, and three new species. — J.
C. C.)

Crawford, J. C. Some new Chalcidoidea. Insecutor Inscitiae Menstruus, 2:
180-182. December, 1914. (Describes three new species and gives notes on
two others. — J. C. C.)

Cushman, R. A. A revision of the North American species of the braconid genus
Habrobracon Johnson (Ashmead) . Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington, 16: 99-108.
September, 1914. (Gives a table of the American species of the genus and
describes two new species. — J. C. C.)

Dyar, H. G. Report on the Lepidoptera of the Smithsonian Biological Survey of
the Panama Canal Zone. Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum, 47:
139-350. May 20, 1914. (Describes the new genera Otacustesis in the Nym-
phalidae; Gaudeator, Palaeozana, Serincia, Abrochocis, Geridixis, Anaene,
Dixanaene, Saozana, in the Litosiidae; Ablita, Dymba, Araeopterella, Charo-
blemma, Gelenipsa, Via, Prodosia, Egchiretas, Pogopus, Cola, Hopothia,
Crambophilia, Tineocephala, in the Noctuidae; Unduzia in the Megalopy-
gidae; Ca in the Dalceridae; Parambia, Homophysodes,. Escandia, Eobrena,
Gephyrella, Restidia, Zamanna, Craftsia, Chenevadia, Torotambe, Deop-
teryx, Replicia, Ocoba, Passelgis, Conotambe, Dismidiea, Chalcoelopsis,

references: entomology 461

Taboga, Cenopaschia, Pocopaschia, Stenopaschia, Glossopaschia, Difun-
della, Anypsipyla, Drescoma, Zamagiria, Cabima, Chorrera, Homalopalpia,
Illatila, Anthopteryx, Bema, Relmis, Moerbes, Harnocha, Eurythmasis, Har-
nochina, Hypermescinia, Calamophleps, Comotia, Strymax, Microphycita,
Microphestia, Micromescinia, Tinitinoa, Schenectadia, in the Pyralidae;
together with 474 new species, 6 new subspecies and 5 new varieties, a few
being extra-limital, coming from Brazil, British Guiana, Argentina and
Ecuador. J. C. C.)

Dyar, H. G. A new sturnian from Mexico. Insecutor Inscitiae Menstruus, 2:
107-108. July, 1914. (Describes Copaxa mannana. — J. C. C.)

Dyar, H. G. A new syntomid from Cuba. Insecutor Inscitiae Menstruus, 2:
111-112. July, 1914. (Describes Zellatilla Columbia, a new genus and new
species. — J. C. C.)

Dyar, H. G. A new phycitid injurious to pine. Insecutor Inscitiae Menstruus,
2: 112. Ju'y> 1914. (Describes Pimipestis erythropasa, injuring pine cones,
from Arizona. — J. C. C.)

Felt, E. P. New gall midges (Itonididae). Insecutor Inscitiae Menstruus, 2:
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Fisher, W. S. A new species of Callichroma from Texas. Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash-
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table of the species found in America (north of Mexico. —J. C. C.)

Gahan, A. B. Descriptions of new genera and species, with notes on parasitic
Hymenoptera. Proc. U. S. Nat.Mus., 48: 155-168. December 16, 1914. (De-
scribes the new genera Liodontomerus and Trimeromicrus in the Chalcidoi-
dea, together with three new species of Ichneumonoidea and 10 new species of
Chalcidoidea; gives a table of the North American species of the genus Te-
trastichus having only one bristle on the submarginal vein. — J. C. C.)

Girault, A. A. Descriptions of new chalcid-flies. Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington,
16: 109-119. September, 1914. (Describes the new genera Paranaphoidea
and Ufensia, together with 12 new species. — J. C. C.)

Heidemann, Otto. A new species of North American Tingitidae. Proc. Ent.
Soc. Washington, 16: 136-137, fig. 1. September, 1914. (Describes Garga-
phia solani. — J. C. C.)

Hopkins, A. D. List of generic names and their type-species in the coleopterous
super f amily Scolijtoidea. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 48: 115-136. December 16,
1914. (An alphabetical list of the genera of this subfamily, together with
the original reference, the type species, indication of whether the genus is
monobasic or not and if not the authority for the type designation, together
with the locality from which the type species was described. — J. C. C.)

Jones, T. H. Some notes on the life history and habits of Lauron vinosa Drury.
Insecutor Inscitiae Menstruus, 2: 108-111. July, 1914. (Describes the im-
mature stages as well as the adult, giving a note on the length of these stages
and a brief sketch of the life history. — J. C. C.)

Knab, Frederick. Ceratopogoninae sucking the blood of other insects. Proc.
Ent. Soc. Washington, 16: 139-141. September, 1914. (Additional obser-
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462 references: entomology

Knab, Frederick. Two North American Syrphidae. Insecutor Inscitiae Men-
struus, 2: 151-153. October, 1914. (Describes Syrphus diver sifasciatus, sp.
nov.— J. C. C.)

Knab, Frederick. New ydata and species in Simuliidae. Insecutor Inscitiae
Menstruus, 2: 177-180. December, 1914. (Describes Simulium pulverulen-
tum from British Honduras and S. rubicundulum from Mexico. — J. C. C.)

Knab, Frederick. A new Cuterebra from Panama. Insecutor Inscitiae Men-
struus, 2: 187-188. December, 1914. (Describes Cuterebra maculosa. — J.
C. C.)

Malloch, J. R. The early stages of Metriocnemus Lundbecki Johannsen. Proc.
Ent. Soc. Washington, 16: 132-136, fig. 9. September, 1914.

Malloch, J. R. Forcipomyia propinquus Williston, a correction. Proc. Ent.
Soc. Washington, 16: 137-138. September, 1914.

Phillips, W. J. Further studies of the embryology of Toxoptera graminum. Jour-
nal of Agricultural Research, 4: 403-404, pis. 59-60. August, 1915.

Pierce, W. D. A new interpretation of the relationships of temperature and humid-
ity to insect development. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 1183-1192,
figs. 1-2. March 20, 1916.

Pierce, W. D. Descriptions of two new species of Strepsiptera parasitic on sugar
cane insects. Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington, 16: 126-129. September, 1914.
(Describes the new genera Stenocranophilus and Pyrilloxenos and two new
species. — J. C. C.)

Rohwer, S. A. Descriptions of two parasitic Hymenoptera. Proc. Ent. Soc.
Washington, 16: 141-142. September, 1914. (Describes Sympherta mne-
monicae from Virginia and Podogaster evetrivorus from New Mexico. — J. C. C.)

Townsend, C. H. T. New muscoid flies, mainly Hystriciidae and Ptjrrhosiinae
from the Andean Montanya. Insecutor Inscitiae Menstruus, 2: 133-144 (con-
tinued). September, 1914. (Describes the new genera Trichosaundersia and
Saundersiops, together with 12 new species and 2 new subspecies. — J. C. C.)

Townsend, C. H. T. Note on a classification of sexual characters. Proc. Ent.
Soc. Washington, 16: 138-139. September, 1914.

Townsend, C. H. T. New muscoid flies, mainly Hystriciidae and Pyrrhesiinae
from the Andean Montanya. Insecutor Inscitiae Menstruus, 2: 153-160 (con-
tinued). October, 1914. (Describes the new genera Quadratosoma, Mela-
nepalpus, Trichoepalpus, Xanthoepalpus, and Chromoepalpus, together with
8 new species. — J. C. C.)

Walton, W. R. A new tachinid parasite of Diapheromera femorata Say. Proc.
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scribes Euhallidaya severinii, a new genus and new species. — J. C. C.)

Walton, W. R. Neocelatoria ferox Walton a synonym of Chaetophleps setosa
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Walton, W. R. Report on some parasitic and predaceous Diptera from northeast-
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Wolcott, G. N. The cotton boll weevil in Cuba. Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington,
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references: technology 463

PHYSIOLOGY

Langworthy, C. F., and Milner, R. D. An improved respiration calorimeter
for use in experiments with man. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 299-
348, pis. 30-36. November 22, 1915.

Ross, E. L., Keith, M. H., and Grindley, H. S. Phosphorus metabolism of
lambs fed a ration of alfalfa hay, corn, and linseed meal. Journal of Agri-
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PATHOLOGY

Eichhorn, Adolph. Experiments in vaccination against anthrax. U. S. Depart-
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Ransom, B. H. Effects of refrigeration upon the larvae of Trichinella spiralis.
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Rommel, G. M., and Vedder, E. B. Beriberi and cottonseed poisoning in pigs.
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TECHNOLOGY

Boughton, E. W. The effect of certain pigments on linseed oil. Bureau of Stand-
ards Tech. Paper No. 71. Pp. 16. 1916.

Boughton, E. W. The determination of oil and resin in varnish. Bureau of
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Brand, C. J., and Merrill, J. L. Zacaton as a paper-making material. U. S.
Department of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 309. Pp. 1-28. November 4, 1915.

Bureau of Standards. Notes on the Baume scales in use in the United States.
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Bureau of Standards. The testing of glass volumetric apparatus, 8th ed. Cir-
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Holler, H. D., and Peffer, E. L. The relation between composition and density
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Hubbard, Prevost, and Jackson, Jr., F. H. Relation between the properties
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McCullom, B., and Logan, K. H. The leakage of current from electric railways.
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January 7, 1916.

464 references: technology

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corn cockle, kinghead, and vetch. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bulletin

No. 328. Pp. 24. December 30, 1915.
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of Standards Sci. Paper No. 273, pp. 211-244. 1916.
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5: 1177-1182, fig. 1, pis. 85-86. March 20, 1916.

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VI AUGUST 19, 1916 No. 14

PHYSICS. — Recent improvements in the petrographic microscope.
F. E. Wright, Geophysical Laboratory.

1. Sliding objective changer. In modern microscopes two forms
of objective changer are in common use. On ordinary, non-
polarizing microscopes (biological, etc.) the revolving nose piece
is universally favored and serves the purpose well. In case exact
centering is required, however, the revolving nose piece is me-
chanically inadequate and for this reason has never proved satis-
factory in petrographic microscope work. In its place some
form of objective clamp is usually adopted in polarizing micro-
scopes; but with such a clamp each change from one objective
to another involves a number of different operations which
together require from 10 to 30 seconds to accomplish; in the
course of a day's work, especially with fine grained and artificial
preparations, this may consume 5 and even 10 per cent of the
observer's available time. From an efficiency standpoint such
a procedure cannot be considered satisfactory; but it can fortu-
nately be remedied by a simple arrangement such that the time
involved in changing objectives is of the order of half a second
with the result that the total time is reduced to a fraction of 1
per cent of the day's working hours. The new device has been
in constant use for nearly a year and has proved its usefulness.

The device is shown in figure 1 and consists simply of a sliding
brass carriage in which are mounted two objectives in excentric
conical steel rings, so cut that there is no change in focus in
passing from one objective to the second. Each objective is

465

466

WRIGHT: PETROGRAPHIC MICROSCOPE

centered, once for all, in a vertical direction by rotation in an
excentric steel supporting ring and in a horizontal direction by
one of the hardened steel screws A or B; against the flanges of
these screws the hardened steel face-plates of the carriage strike.
Mechanically the bearing surfaces are wide and the objectives
return to exact center and focus on changing. For most petro-

graphic work
two objectives
only are re-
quired (high
power, E. F. =
4 mm., and low
power E. F. =
16 mm.) and
one carriage
suffices for the
purpose. But
occasionally ob-
jectives of other
focal length are
desired; these
are then mount-
ed on a second
slider which is
slipped into the
mount in place
of the first car-
riage. In this
operation the
semi-circular
flange of the

stop screw B (fig. 1) is first turned through 90° to allow the
slider to pass.

2. The removal of the astigmatism introduced by the analyzer.
It has long been known that the introduction of the analyzer
into the optical system seriously disturbs the optical quality of
the image by introducing into it astigmatism and other defects.

Fig. 1, Petrographic microscope with new accessories:
A, sliding objective changer; B, lens system for removal
of astigmatism caused by analyzer; C, prism for observation
of interference figures; D, device for use in the accurate
measurement of extinction angles.

WRIGHT: PETROGRAPHIC MICROSCOPE 467

Tissot and Pellin1 sought to remove the astigmatism by means
of a cylindrical lens placed above the eye lens of the ocular, but
this arrangement proved to be only partially successful. Recently
S. Becher2 has studied the question in detail and suggests that
the astigmatism can best be obviated by converting the micro-
scope lens system into a telecentric system such that the rays pass
through the analyzer as parallel beams. He proposes to accom-
plish this by using objectives specially corrected for image plane
at infinity and to employ a weak positive lens above the analyzer
to focus the parallel beams emerging from the nicol on the image
plane of the eyepiece.

Experience has shown that Becher's plan to remove astigma-
tism by means of the telecentric lens system is feasible ; but that
other arrangements in the optical system are better adapted from
a practical standpoint to accomplish the same purpose.

In the first place it is not convenient to require a specially
computed objective for the observations in polarized light. Such
objectives would have to be computed and made specially, and
would serve only a special purpose, On taking up this matter
with the Bausch & Lomb Optical Company it was suggested to
the writer by Dr. H. Kellner3 that a weak negative lens may be
used below the nicol in conjunction with an ordinary objective,
the negative lens to be of such focal length that the rays con-
verging toward points in the image plane are converted into
parallel beams and pass as such through the nicol. After emer-
gence from the nicol they are rendered again convergent by
means of a weak positive lens. The new plan was tried out
nearly a year ago and has been regularly introduced since then
on all research model microscopes constructed by the Bausch &
Lomb Optical Company. For observations in parallel polarized
light the new scheme works well and is satisfactory, but for
observations in convergent polarized light it is useless, as is also
the plan suggested by Becher.

1 Comptes Rendus, 145: 866-877. 1907.

2 Siegfried Becher. Uber den Astigmatismus des Nicols und seine Beseitigung
im Polarisations Mikroskop. Ann. d. Physik: 4 Folge, 47: 285-364. 1915.

3 Letter of September 18, 1915.

468 WRIGHT: PETROGRAPHIC MICROSCOPE

Some of the most important measurements in petrologic micro-
scopic work are made in the interference figure (optic axial angles
and angular distances of isochromatic curves), and it is highly
desirable that a method be available for eliminating the astig-
matism and distortion from the interference figure,4 as this
seriously affects the degree of attainable precision. The inter-
ference figure is formed in the upper focal plane of the objective
and the rays from its points are imaged, after passage through
the analyzer and Bertrand lens, in the image plane of the eye-
piece. In order to fulfil the condition that these rays enter the
nicol as parallel beams, a weak positive lens must be introduced
below the analyzer in such a position that the lower focal plane
of the lens coincides with the plane of the interference figure.
The rays after emergence from the analyzer are focussed by
means of a weak positive lens in the image plane of the eyepiece.
In effect this arrangement is that of two astronomical telescopes
in series, the objective and lens below the nicol forming the first
system, the lens above the polarizer and the eyepiece the second.

The practical problem, to .combine the arrangement for elimi-
nating astigmatism in parallel polarized light with that for con-
vergent polarized light, is being met on the writer's microscope
as follows: The negative lens and the positive lens required for
the correction in parallel polarized light are fitted below and
above the nicol respectively. To pass to convergent polarized
light a positive lens is introduced in a slider in a slot between
the analyzer and the objective; the focal length of this lens is
such that its combination with the negative lens functions as a
positive lens whose lower focal plane coincides with the plane of
the interference figure. By this arrangement the interference
figure is imaged slightly magnified (magnification approximately
equal to the ratio of the focal length of upper positive lens to that
of combination positive and negative lens below the analyzer)
in the image plane of the eyepiece. In the case of small sections
it is essential that all extraneous light from adjacent sections be
excluded from the field ; this can only be done by means of a stop

4 See, F. E. Wright. Methods of petrographic microscope research. Carnegie
Institution of Washington, Publication No. 157, pp. 53-56. 1911.

WRIGHT: PETROGRAPHIC MICROSCOPE 469

in the image of the object plane. To accomplish this a sliding
stop or iris diaphragm is introduced just beneath the sliding posi-
tive lens; by raising the objective the object is imaged in the
plane of the stop, which allows only light from the particular
section to pass. In the writer's microscope the correct position
of focus is determined by means of the Bertrand lens which
together with the ocular constitutes a weakly magnifying micro-
scope focussed on the plane of the stop.

For most petrographic microscope work relatively low magnifi-
cations are used and the astigmatism introduced by the nicol
is not a serious factor either in parallel or convergent polarized
light. It would seem, therefore, that except in work of precision
the above changes are in a sense refinements which add to the
complexity of the instrument.

The assertion of Becher that the telecentric system permits
the use of the oblique end type of nicol prism as analyzer is not
borne out either by theory or by practice, because the oblique
ends of such a prism rotate the plane of vibration of the emergent
rays and are under all conditions inferior to the square end type
such as the Glan-Thompson prism.

3. The prism method for the observation of interference figures.
In 1906 the writer described5 a simple method for the observa-
tion of interference figures by the Lasaulx method; the method
consisted essentially in reflecting, by means of a prism mounted
in a slider, the rays of light from the axis of the microscope out
to a path outside the tube of the microscope, thus obviating the
necessity of removing the eyepiece each time an interference
figure is observed by the Lasaulx method. Improvements in
this device have been made by replacing the two reflecting prisms
by a single doubly reflecting prism; in reducing the size of the
prism so that it cuts out a small part of the center of the field
and thus serves as an effective stop sufficiently small to include
only one section or grain of ordinary size; and in placing the
prism slider directly beneath the field lens of the ocular so that
the part of the field covered by the prism can be viewed directly

5 Am. J. Sci. (Series 4), 22: 19. 1906.

470 WRIGHT: PETROGRAPHIC MICROSCOPE

(fig. 1, C). These improvements have greatly extended the use-
fulness of this device, which experience has shown to save an
appreciable amount of the observer's time in routine work.

4. A device for use in the accurate measurement of extinction
angles. The measurement of an extinction angle involves two
operations: (a) the setting on the position of darkness, and (b)
the placing of some definite crystallographic direction, as a cleav-
age line or a line of crystal growth, parallel with one of the cross
hairs in the eyepiece. The precision of the second operation
depends largely on the quality of the crystallographic direction
which is used as line of reference; in case this is sharply devel-
oped there is no difficulty in setting with a precision of 1' of arc.
The first operation, on the other hand, depends on a number of
factors, one of the most important of which is the sensitiveness
of the eye of the observer and his personal equation. The eye
is sensitive down to a certain value (threshold value) below which
the field appears dark. Under ordinary conditions of illumina-
tion in microscope work there is a legion of 1° to 2° within which
the average birefracting plate between crossed nicols can be
rotated and yet appear to be dark. The common practice in
measuring extinction angles is to ascertain the position of maxi-
mum darkness on rotation of the crystal plate a number of
times to the right and stopping at the position judged to be the
darkest; this operation is repeated a certain number of times;
and similarly for an equal number of rotations to the left. The
average of these readings is then considered to be the most
probable position of darkness. In principle this method is ex-
cellent, especially if the half shade principle be introduced to
increase the precision of each setting; but in practice there is a
tendency, which is exceedingly difficult to correct, for the observer
unconsciously to attach special importance to the first reading
and thus to give it undue weight.

In all measurements of this type, where settings of relative
intensity are made, it is essential for accurate work to eliminate
this element of the undue weighting of first readings and to
make each setting without knowledge of its agreement or lack

weight: petrographic microscope 471

of agreement with foregoing readings. Only in this way can a
proper random distribution of errors be obtained which will fur-
nish a good probable value.

To apply this principle to the measurement of extinction angles
a simple flexible arm of brass was cut out and attached by means
of tightly fitting plugs into the clip holes on the microscope stage
(fig. 1, D). At the other end of the arm a needle point is sol-
dered. To record a setting, a mark by the needle point is made
in a sheet of millimeter cross section paper mounted in proper
position on a block of wood (shown greatly foreshortened in fig.
1). A convenient length of radius to use is 28.66 cm; each degree
on the arc of the circle ^s then 5 mm. and readings can readily
be made to tenths of a degree and even to fiftieths.

Experience with this simple device which can easily be made,
in an hour has shown that much time can be saved by its use.
Settings are made by simply pressing down the needle and no
readings are required. A number of settings are made with
clockwise rotation of the stage, and an equal number with counter-
clockwise rotation. By reference to the graduated circle on the
microscope stage the angular position of the average position of
the points punched in the paper can be read off directly and with
it the most probable extinction position. Experience has shown
that the eye can estimate the average center of a series of points
grouped about the center with sufficient accuracy for practical
purposes. The actual angular position of each point can, of
course, be ascertained and an arithmetical average then taken,
but for most purposes this is unnecessary.

It is of interest to note that the mean position of clockwise
rotation may be situated a whole degree away from the mean
position of counter-clockwise rotation, thus showing the import-
ance of making measurements by approaching the position of
extinction from the right and from the left as well. The above
device is useful also in enabling the observer, especially if he be
a student, to ascertain the probable error of the single settings
and at the same time to increase the precision of his measure-
ments without extra labor.

472 dellinger: planck's constant c2

PHYSICS. — The calculation of Planck's constant C2.1 J. H.
Dellinger, Bureau of Standards.

This constant, which is of great importance in high tempera-
ture measurements and in atomic theory, has heretofore been
obtained from radiation data by processes involving the use of
a graph. It may be calculated directly and very simply from
any two observations. A solution of Planck's equation for C2 in
terms of the ratio of energies at any two wave lengths and
temperatures is readily obtained, C2 appearing in a correction
term in the solution. The various relations which have been
used for obtaining C2 from radiation data are deducible as special
cases.

The equation for two observations of wave length at constant
temperature is of special interest; the following approximate
expression is sufficiently exact for most cases.

2 =

X2 — Xl -

log — + 5 Jog — — e \20
J] Xi J

An approximate value of C2 always suffices for the last term. This
general method of solution is superior to the method of equal
ordinates. No curve has to be drawn, and the calculations are
not limited to particular pairs of points. The method is more
powerful in determining whether an observed curve fits the
Planck equation. In fact, curves which give normal values for
C2 by the method of equal ordinates were found to give very
high values when calculations were made by this method for
two points both on the same side of the maximum.

Points on the Planck curve for which Wien's displacement law
holds, in particular the maximum of the curve, have been con-
sidered as furnishing additional ways of determining C2. Such
methods are debarred by lack of accuracy, and in fact these
special points may themselves be obtained most accurately and
conveniently by the same process of using two observations
which is used for obtaining C2. Substantially the same simple
equation suffices to determine C2 and all the special points.

1 Detailed paper to appear as Bureau of Standards Scientific Paper No. 287
(Bull. Bur. Stds., 13: 535-545). 1916. *

COBLENTZ: NEW DESIGNS OF RADIOMETEES 473

PHYSICS. — Some new designs of radiometers. W. W. Coblentz,
Bureau of Standards.

In continuing the improvement of stellar radiometers several
new designs of instruments were considered and some of the pre-
liminary tests of their efficiency appear to be of sufficient impor-
tance to warrant publication.

When a very thin strip of blackened metal, e. g. a bolometer
strip, is exposed to radiation it becomes warmed and it in turn
emits radiation. In previous investigations of the diffuse reflect-
ing power of various substances1 and of the behavior of an abso-
lute thermopile2 it was found that this warming of the receiver
is quite appreciable, and that this receiver can be a very efficient
secondary source of radiation which, in turn, can be used to
operate a radiometer. The utilization of this secondary source
of radiation can be accomplished by placing the receiver at the
center of an accurately ground hollow sphere having an opening
to admit radiation. In this case one would utilize the "re-
radiation" which has to be very carefully excluded in diffuse
reflection measurements.3

Another logical method for utilizing this radiation is the em-
ployment of multiple receivers, one being placed back of another ;
for example, a thermopile receiver back of a bolometer strip,
or one bolometer strip (or thermopile receiver) back of another.
It is with this method that the present paper is chiefly concerned.

1 Bull. Bur. Stds., 9: 283. 1913.

2 Bull. Bur. Stds., 11: 157. 1914.

3 Paschen (Ber. Berliner Akad., p. 409. 1899) appears to have been the first
one to use a hemispherical mirror in front of a bolometer in order to "blacken"
it. The device has been used extensively by the writer (Bull. Bur. Stds., 4:
392. 1908). In spectral radiation work care must be exercised to avoid reflec-
tion of radiation from the adjacent parts of the spectrum upon the bolometer
strip. In investigations where it is unimportant whether some of the incident
beam of radiation falls upon a reflecting surface at the rear of the receiver before
it falls upon the receiver (i.e. in cases where it is unimportant whether the com-
plete beam of incident radiation is completely intercepted by the receiver) it
is possible to place the receiver at the center of an accurately made hollow sphere
as just mentioned. Pfttnd (Phys. Rev. 34: 288. 1912) claims a very large
increase in sensitivity as the result of using a thermoj unction at the focus of a
spherical mirror.

474 COBLENTZ: NEW DESIGNS OF EADIOMETERS

The efficiency of such a device was tested in the following
manner. Two strips of very thin platinum, such as is used in
bolometers (thickness about 0.001 mm.), about 6 by 20 mm. in
area were mounted over slits cut in cardboard which was 0.45
mm. thick. Both sides of these strips were painted with a thin
coat of lamp black and covered with soot from a sperm candle.
The thermopile receiver was 1.8 by 16 mm. Slits of bright
aluminum, 0.85 mm. thick, were placed in front of the thermo-
pile or in front of the blackened platinum strips when they were
in front of the thermopile. The distance between the thermo-
pile receiver and the platinum strip (and between the two plati-
num strips) was 0.45 mm. When the thermopile was exposed
directly to a standard of radiation the deflection was 12.15 cm.;
when one platinum strip intervened the deflection was 5.88 cm. ;
and when the two platinum strips were in front of the thermopile
the deflection was 3.57 cm.

The multiple bolometer receiver. Since there is but little differ-
ence between the radiation sensitivity of a bismuth-silver ther-
mopile and a bolometer, the above tests show that the radiation
sensitivity of a bolometer can be increased by 50 per cent by
having the receiver (the arm of the bridge) consist of two strips,
one back of the other, the front strip being exposed to radiation.
By using three strips placed one back of another the galvanom-
eter deflection would be increased by about 80 per cent, and
by using four strips (joined in series, or a single strip folded three
times) the deflection will be double that produced by the front
strip. The sensitivity of the whole combination would be further
increased by placing this multiple receiver at the focus of a hemi-
spherical mirror.

The bolo-pile. This is a combination of a single bolometer
strip, close back of which is placed the receiver of a thermopile.
The latter is so constructed that the pairs of receivers are in two
rows corresponding to the two bolometer strips. In this manner
the heating produced by the current passing through the bolome-
ter strips will produce no deflection in the thermopile circuit.
The manner of connecting the bolometer and the thermopile

COBLENTZ: NEW DESIGNS OF RADIOMETERS 475

circuit to the galvanometer will depend upon the relative change
in voltage of the two circuits when the receiver is exposed to
radiation. If the error due to shunting is too great when the
two circuits are joined to the same binding posts, the bolometer
current can be passed through one galvanometer coil and the
thermopile current through another coil.

The simplest and probably the most useful arrangement is a
bolometer consisting of two branches of thin narrow strips of
platinum close back of which is placed a thermocouple. In
measuring the heat from stars a gain of only 50 per cent in sen-
sitivity is worth considering.

The multiple thermocouple receiver. The use of two thermo-
couples, joined in series, with the receivers one back of the other,
has not yet proved to be so efficient, because of the greater heat
capacity of the thermocouple receiver used as compared with a
bolometer. The comparison of this combination with the two
preceding instruments, and with a single thermocouple (or bo-
lometer) in the focus of a spherical inclosure, in which all the
parts are reduced to the dimensions which would be used in
measuring stellar radiations, is in progress.

In conclusion it may be added that as a result of the writer's
previous measurements of stellar radiation4 the conclusion was
arrived at that, in order to do much successful work in stellar
radiometry, it will be necessary to have a 100-fold greater sensi-
tivity than that previously employed. This gain in sensitivity
was to be attained by increasing the light-gathering power of
the telescope 5 times, the sensitivity of the galvanometer 10
times, and the radiometer sensitivity 2 times. In a paper5 just
published data are given showing an increase of more than 10
times in the galvanometer sensitivity, while the present paper
indicates the way to double the radiometer sensitivity. Appar-
ently then it remains to find a suitable mirror and funds to
operate it.

* Bull. Bur. Stds., 11: 613. 1914.
6 Bull. Bur. Stds., 13: 423. 1916.

476 nutting: gray radiation

PHYSICS. — Criteria for gray radiation. P. G. Nutting, Roches-
ter, New York. (Communicated by N. E. Dorsey.)

If the logarithm of the energy radiated from a body within
a short range of wave lengths be plotted against the reciprocal
of the absolute temperature, the result is known to be a sensibly
straight line over a wide range of temperatures. These logarith-
mic isochromatic lines pass through a common point in some
cases, not in others. Benedict1 concludes that this stigmatic
condition is characteristic of gray radiation, while the lack of
it means that the radiation is selective. Hyde2 from his own
data on lamp filaments concludes that the stigmatic condition
is insufficient as a criterion for grayness. Foote and Fairchild3
have shown further that the stigmatic condition may hold even
for a body known to be strongly selective.

The mathematical side of the problem appears to have been
neglected, although capable of rather simple treatment. Let
the equilibrium radiation from a "black body" be represented by

J = Bi X-5 e-xr (1)

in which Bx and B2 are independent of wave length and tem-
perature. Also let

E = d X-»e-X? • (2)

represent radiation from some body, but not in equilibrium
with it.

log J = logCBiX-5) - — (3)

hence for any fixed wave length, log J" is a linear function of 1/T.
Writing (3) '

y = a — bx (4)

it is seen to represent a family of straight lines whose Y inter-
cept is a and whose direction tangent is b.

But the general representation of a stigmatic pencil of lines
passing through the point (x0) y0)) is

V - 2/o = -b (x - Xo), (5)

1 E. Benedict. Ann. d. Physik, (4) 47: 641. 1915.

2 E. P. Hyde. Ann. d. Physik, (4) 49: 144. 1916.

* Foote and Fairchild. This Journal, 6: 193. 1916.

nutting: gray radiation 477

hence the necessary and sufficient condition that the pencil
of lines represented by (4) be stigmatic is that a be a linear func-
tion of b,

a = ijo + bx0 (6)

x0 and y0 being constants independent of both wave length and
temperature.

This condition however is not satisfied even for equilibrium
radiation, for a = log {Bi A-5 ) and b = B*/\, and neither of
these expressions can be a linear function of the other. Over
but a moderate range of wave lengths the expression holds to
a fair approximation (probably to within the limits of experimen-
tal error). For, let X = X0 (1 =•= 5) where 8 is so small that its
square may be neglected in comparison with its first power.
In this case a and b are both linear functions of 8 and hence of
one another.

Consider now the free radiation represented by (2) whether
gray or selective. The parameters Ch n and C2 vary not only
from surface to surface but (in general) with both wave length
and temperature; in other words, the equation is too simple
to represent free radiation. However, the stigmatic condition
may be applied even though no parameters are constant. If
the data indicate that a number of logarithmic isochromatic
lines pass through a common point, then an equation similar
to (6) must hold over the range of wave lengths covered by the
data. Hence, for any variation da = x0 db; for example, da/d\
= x0 db/dX. The linear relation (6) requires

log CiX— = 7/o + — - (7)

Hence, by substitution in (2), in any region within which
the stigmatic condition holds, even though d, n and C2 vary,

E CJl 1\

^ Er i:\rr t) (8)

where E0 and T0 are fixed constants such that log E0 and 1/T0
are the coordinates of the point of stigmatism.

This is of the same form as the Paschen-Wanner equation,
used so much in monochromatic pyrometry, but with a some-

478 ROSA and vinal: silver voltameter

what different interpretation. Imposing the stigmatic condition

has eliminated both n and d with their possible variations. It

is well known from experimental data that this form of equation

holds well and that the stigmatic condition is frequently fulfilled.

For gray radiation \og(E/J) is by definition independent

of wave length. In case C\, n and C2 are all constant, as with

equilibrium radiation, the stigmatic condition can hold for but

a limited range of wave lengths. The gray condition in the

general case with varying parameters gives

, d \-"+5 C2 - B2

log = constant + — — —

jDj A/

This is consistent with the stigmatic condition (7) for free radia-
tion, but either may be true without the other.

We have shown that the logarithmic isochromatic lines repre-
senting equilibrium radiation do not form a stigmatic pencil
except for a limited range of wave lengths. For free radiation,
the stigmatic condition gives an equation known to be of wide
validity. The stigmatic condition and the condition for gray-
ness may both be satisfied, but either may hold without the other.

PHYSICS. — Summary of experiments on the silver voltameter at
the Bureau of Standards.1 E. B. Rosa and G. W. Vinal,
Bureau of Standards.

The investigation of the silver voltameter at this Bureau was
first begun by the late Dr. K. E. Guthe in 1904. His results
were published in two papers about a year later. In 1907 the
work was again taken up by Dr. N. E. Dorsey in cooperation
with the present authors, but the results obtained at this time
did not confirm the newly published experiments of the National
Physical Laboratory, and new difficulties arose which were not
understood. These experiments were not .published. In the
following year the work was resumed and preparations were
made for a very thorough study of the silver voltameter. The
voltameter received added importance when the ampere was
adopted by the London Electrical Congress as the second funda-

1 A more detailed summary will appear as Bureau of Standards Scientific
Paper No. 285 (Bull. Bur. Stds., 13: 479-514. 1916).

ROSA AND VINAL: SILVER VOLTAMETER 479

mental electrical unit, so that the investigations which the pres-
ent authors began in the summer of 1908 have passed beyond
the original plans in scope and duration. This has also been
due, in large measure, to the numerous and intricate sources of
error which were discovered in the course of the work, all of
which required painstaking investigation.

Other experimenters who have cooperated with us at various
times during the course of the work are Dr. A. S. McDaniel,
Prof. S. J. Bates, Prof. G. A. Hulett, and Mr. Wm. M. Bovard.
The results of these investigations have been published in a
series of eight papers.2

A few of the principal results may be summarized as follows:
1. The effect of filter paper on silver nitrate solutions (whether
the paper is used in the voltameter itself, as has been commonly
done, or whether it is used in the preparation of the silver nitrate
solution) was shown to be serious and to result in the formation
of colloidal silver. This effect of the filter paper is due to the
formation of reducing agents from the oxycellulose of the paper
itself and is not due to impurities.

2 E. B. Rosa and G. W. Vinal. Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No. 194 (Bull. Bur. Stds.,
9: 151. 1913); summaries in this Journal, 2: 451. 1912; Elec. World, 60: 1261.
1912; Elektrotech. Zs., 34: 232. 1913.

E. B. Rosa, G. W. Vinal, and A. S. McDaniel. Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No.
195 (Bull. Bur. Stds., 9: 209. 1913); summaries in this Journal, 2: 509. 1912;
Elec. World, 60: 1262. 1912; Elektrotech. Zs., 34: 233. 1913.

E. B. Rosa, G. W. Vinal, and A. S. McDaniel. Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No. 201
(Bull. Bur. Stds., 9: 493. 1913); summaries in this Journal, 3: 40. 1913; Elec.
World, 61: 84. 1913; Elektrotech. Zs., 34: 1168. 1913.

G. W. Vinal and S. J. Bates. Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No. 218 (Bull. Bur. Stds.,
10: 425. 1914) ; Journ. Am. Chem. Soc, 36: 916. 1914; summary in this Journal,
4: 69. 1914.

E. B. Rosa, G. W. Vinal, and A. S. McDaniel. Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No. 220
(Bull. Bur. Stds., 10: 475. 1914); summaries in this Journal, 4: 52. 1914; Elec.
World, 63: 373. 1914; Elektrotech. Zs., 35: 789. 1914.

G. A. Hulett and G. W. Vinal. Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No. 240 (Bull. Bur.
Stds., 11: 553. 1915); Journ. Phys. Chem., 19: 173. 1915; summary in this
Journal, 4: 593. 1914.

G. W. Vinal and W. M. Bovard. Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No. 271 (Bull. Bur.
Stds., 13: 147. 1916); Journ. Am. Chem. Soc, 38: 496. 1916; see also this Journal
6: 222. 1916.

E. B. Rosa and G. W. Vinal. Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No. 283 (Bull. Bur. Stds.,
13:447. 1916); see also this Journal, 6: 500. 1916.

480 ROSA and vinal: silver voltameter

2. The appearance of the deposit is altered by the presence of
impurities in the solutions (such as those resulting from filter
paper). Pure solutions give crystalline deposits of very pure
silver, but colloids, if present, break up the crystals and produce
striated deposits which are too heavy to represent accurately the
amount of electricity which passed through the voltameter.

3. Many forms of voltameter have been compared. The
Bureau has found that the most satisfactory are the porous cup
voltameter and the new form devised by Mr. F. E. Smith of the
National Physical Laboratory.

4. The Bureau has devised means of preparing pure silver
nitrate and suitable tests for it, so that an electrolyte of a uni-
formly high state of purity can be prepared. These tests are for
acidity and for reducing agents. The Bureau has also found
that the agreement between the results obtained from large and
from small sizes of voltameters, used simultaneously, is a valu-
able test of purity; impure solutions (except for acid) invariably
give heavier deposits in the large size voltameters. This phe-
nomenon we have called the volume effect.

5. The temperature coefficient of the voltameter is found to
be zero.

6. Tests of the purity of the silver deposits show that when
made from pure electrolyte, the impurities included with the
silver crystals represent on the average only 0.004 per cent of
the weight of the deposit.

7. The absolute electrochemical equivalent of silver was found
to be 1.11800 mg. per coulomb and the voltage of the Weston
normal cell was found to be 1.01827 volts at 20°C.

8. Comparisons with the iodine voltameter were made and the
ratio, the amount of silver deposited to the amount of iodine
deposited by the same current, was found to be 0.85017, which,
corrected for the inclusions in the silver deposits, gives 0.85013.
The electrochemical equivalent of iodine in absolute measure
was computed to be 1.31507 mg. per coulomb.

The value for the faraday on the basis of the absolute electro-
chemical equivalent of • silver and of iodine and their atomic
weights is as follows:

LUBS AND CLARK: HYDROGEN-ION INDICATORS 481

On the silver basis (Ag = 107.88) 96,494

On the iodine basis (I = 126.92) 96,512

Mean 96,503

The best round value which can be assigned to this constant
appears to be 96,500 coulombs.

A brief history of the specifications for the voltameter, as well
as revised specifications proposed by the Bureau of Standards,
will be given in the detailed paper.3 As no adequate specifica-
tions have been adopted since the London Conference of 1908 it
is hoped that the carefully drawn specifications whicl^ the Bureau
will present may be adopted as a whole or in part, whenever it
is possible to reach an international agreement. In any case,
for the present, these specifications will be available for the
guidance of such investigators as may wish to use the silver
voltameter.

An appendix to the paper will contain an extensive bibli-
ography of the subject.

CHEMISTRY. — A note on the sulphone-phthaleins as indicators
for the colorimetric determination of hydrogen-ion concentra-
tion.1 Herbert A. Lubs and William Mansfield Clark,
Bureau of Animal Industry.

In a previous paper2 from this laboratory there were described
several new indicators of the sulphone-phthalein series and an
improved method for the preparation of those previously made
by others. In .our subsequent work on indicators suitable for
the colorimetric determination of hydrogen-ion concentration,
we have investigated other compounds of this series and have
found another that promises to be particularly useful for this pur-
pose; namely, dibrom-o-cresol-sulphone-phthalein. We have also
found that slight modifications in the methods of preparation of
some of the indicators described in our earlier paper will insure

3 Shortly to appear as Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No. 285 (Bull. Bur. Stds.,13:
479-514. 1916).

1 From the research laboratories of the Dairy Division, Bureau of Animal
Industry. Published by permission of the Secretary of Agriculture.

2 Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci., 5: 609. 1915.

482 LUBS AND CLARK : HYDROGEN-ION INDICATORS

better products. These modifications will be discussed under
the indicators in question. At the end of the article will be found
a list of the sulphone-phthaleins which have been investigated in
this laboratory, with their color changes and the r«anges over which
the changes occur. An account of our investigations of the
more useful indicators will shortly appear in the Journal of
Bacteriology.

O-CRESOLSULPHONE-PHTHALEIN

Ten gramsof the chloride of o-sulphobenzoic acid, 10 grams of freshly
fused zinc chloride, and 15 grams of o-cresol were heated for 6 hours
at 110°-120°, instead of at 165°-170° as previously recommended. At
the lower temperature a purer product was obtained.

DIBROM-O-CRESOL-SULPHONE-PHTHALEIN

This indicator was prepared practically as described by Sohon.3 Two
grams of o-cresolsulphone-phthalein was suspended in 10 cc. of glacial
acetic acid and 2 cc. of bromine was added. The flask was allowed to
stand over night and the reddish-white crystals were filtered off the
next morning. These crystals can be recrystallized by dissolving in
boiling toluol and allowing the solution to cool.

The color changes are from yellow to a brilliant purple and occur over
the range Pj 5.2 to P+ 6.8. A 0.04 per cent aqueous solution of
the mono-sodium salt is satisfactory for the indicator solution.

THYMOLSULPHONE-PHTHALEIN

This compound can be prepared more satisfactorily by heating the
mixture of the chloride of o-sulphobenzoic acid, zinc chloride, and
thymol at 100°-110°for 6 hours, instead of at 140° as recommended in
our previous paper.

DIBROMTHYMOL-SULPHONE-PHTHALEIN

In our earlier paper this compound was described simply as brom-
thymol-sulphone-phthalein. Subsequent analyses have shown that it
is the dibrom compound.

3 Amer. Chem. Journ., 20: 257. 1898.

CLARK AND LUBS: INDICATORS FOR CULTURE MEDIA 483

ANALYSES

I. 0.1456 gram gave 0.0881 gram AgBr.
II. 0.1865 gram gave 0.1158 gram AgBr.
Calculated for C27H2sBr205S, 25.6 per cent Br.
Found, I, 25.8 per cent; II, 26.4 per cent.

TABLE 1

Color Changes and Approximate Ranges of the Various
sulphone-phthaleins

INDICATOR

Thymolsulphone-phthaleinf

Tetrabrom-phenolsulphone-phthalein.
Tetrachlor-phenolsulphone-phthalein*
Dibrom-o-cresol-sulphone-phthalein . .
Dibromthymol-sulphone-phthalein.. . .

Phenolsulphone-phthalein

o-Cresolsulphone-phthalein

Phenol-nitro-sulphone-phthalein*

a-NaphthoIsulphone-phthalein

Thymolsulphone-phthalein

Thymol-nitro-sulphone-phthalein*

Carvacrolsulphone-phthalein*

COLOR CHANGE

RANGE PH

Red — yellow

1.2-2.8

Yellow-

-blue

2.8-4.6

Yellow-

-blue

2.8-4.6

Yellow-

-purple

5.2-6.8

Yellow-

-blue

6.0-7.6

Yellow-

-red

6.8-8.4

Yellow-

-red

7.2-8.8

Yellow-

-red

6.8-8.4

Yellow-

-blue

7.4-9.0

Yellow-

-blue

8 0-9.6

Yellow-

-blue

8.0-9.6

Yellow-

-blue

8.0-9.6

* These compounds were prepared only in small amounts. Upon investiga-
tion we found that they showed no advantage over compounds more easily pre-
pared. On this account we did not attempt to find the best conditions for their
preparation, and for this reason the details of methods for their preparation are
not given.

t This indicator shows color changes in both alkaline and acid solutions.
Between P "£ 3 and P ^ 8.0 its solution is yellow in color.

CHEMISTRY. — The colorimetric determination of the hydrogen-
ion concentration of bacteriological culture media.1 William
Mansfield Clark and Herbert A. Lubs, Bureau of Ani-
mal Industry.

In a previous note2 we described some new indicators which
are especially useful in colorimetric determinations of hydrogen-
ion concentrations. In the present number of this Journal we
present some further notes.

1 From the research laboratories of the Dairy Division, Bureau of Animal
Industry. Published by permission of the Secretary of Agriculture.

2 Ltjbs, H. A., and Clark, W. M. Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci., 5: 609. 1915.

484 CLARK AND LUBS: INDICATORS FOR CULTURE MEDIA

The chief object of these studies has been to assemble a set of
indicators which may be used from about PH = 1.0 to PH = 10.0
and which will have such brilliancy and such reliability that they
may be used in the colored and turbid solutions handled by the
bacteriologist. Preliminary tests had shown the value of some
of the indicators of the methyl red and sulphone-phthalein types.
We have now concluded a more extensive investigation in which
over four hundred electrometric measurements were made of the
hydrogen-ion concentrations of a variety of culture media and
cultures with simultaneous measurements by the colorimetric
method.

In these studies we have had to test the applicability of the
indicators upon a heterogeneous collection of solutions such as
are used in bacteriological work and, in order to subject the method
to the severe conditions which it will have to meet if applied to
many bacteriological problems, we have devoted most of our
attention to measurements of colored and turbid solutions. The
material was therefore not favorable for any systematic study of
the so-called "protein and salt errors." Furthermore, since we
consider the colorimetric method to be only supplementary to the
more precise electrometric method, we confined our attention to
very simple and rapid colorimetric procedures, such as are avail-
able to all and such as are convenient for handling the enormous
number of tests which certain classes of research and routine
bacteriological work require. The electrometric measurements,
on the other hand, were made with care and with the improved
equipment described by Clark3 and by Clark and Lubs.4

The details of these extensive comparisons between the elec-
trometric and the colorimetric determinations are beyond the
scope of this brief article. They will be published elsewhere, to-
gether with a discussion of the applications of the colorimetric
method in bacteriology. The main results may be briefly sum-
marized as follows.

Since the colorimetric method, if applied extensively in routine,
should be made as convenient as possible, we devised and carefully

3 Clark, W. M. Journ. Biol. Chem., 23: 475. 1915.

4 Clark, W. M., and Lubs, H. A. Journ. Biol. Chem., 25: 479. 1916.

CLARK AND LUBS I INDICATORS FOR CULTURE MEDIA 485

studied a new set of standard buffer solutions which has several advan-
tages over those formerly used. The details of this part of our investi-
gation have recently been published.5

A new set of indicators has been assembled. Each of them has been
studied sufficiently to enable us to make a selection of the most promis-
ing. The selection is listed in table 1, together with the short names
we suggest for laboratory parlance. In this table are included the
apparent dissociation constants. These constants, which are, of course,
not the true dissociation constants, were determined by the method
of Salm.6 While they are only approximate, they are probably accurate
enough to be used by those who may wish to apply them to titrimetric
problems (see Bjerrum).7 We have used them in our more detailed
paper merely to illustrate some points in the discussion and to deter-
mine the approximate theoretical limits of PH within which the several
indicators may be used. The limits so found are in substantial agree-
ment with those found empirically. They are given in table 1.

TABLE 1

Selection of Indicators

K AS

USEFUL

CHEMICAL NAME

SHORT NAME

RANGE PH

Thymolsulphone-phthalein (acid range) . .

Thymol blue

1.7

1.2-2.8

Tetrabrom-phenolsulphone-phthalein

Brom-phenol blue

4.1

2.8-4.6

Ortho-carboxy-benzene-azo-dimethyl-

aniline

Methyl red

5.4

4.4-6.0

Ortho-carboxy-benzene-azo-dipropyl-

aniline

Propyl red
Brom-cresol purple

5.1
6.3

4.8-6.4

Dibrom-o-cresol-sulphone-phthalein

5.2-6.8

Dibromthymol-sulphone-phthalein

Brom-thymol blue

7.0

6.0-7.6

Phenolsulphone-phthalein

Phenol red

7.9

6.8-8.4

o-Cresolsulphone-phthalein

Cresol red

8.3

7.2-8.8

Thymolsulphone-phthalein (alk. range) .

Thymol blue

8.9

8.0-9.6

o-Cresolphthalein

Cresol-phthalein

9.4

8.2-9.8

The confusing effect of the natural color of most culture media,
vegetable extracts, etc., can be overcome to a large extent by using
brilliant indicators such as the sulphone-phthalein indicators are, and
by using the compensation method of Walpole.8 The simple comparator

5 Clark, W. M., and Lubs, H. A. Journ. Biol. Chem., 25: 479. 1916.

6 Salm, E. Zeitschr. physik. Chem., 57: 471. 1906.

7 Bjerrum, N. Sammlung chem. u. chem. -tech. Vortrage, 21: 1. 1915.
'Walpole, G. S. Biochem. Journ., 5: 207. 1910.

486 CLARK AND LUBS : INDICATORS FOR CULTURE MEDIA

of Hurwitz, Meyer, and Ostenberg9 has been found useful for this pur-
pose. We have also developed the dilution method, which consists in
diluting about 2 cc. of the tested solution to 10 cc. with distilled water
and measuring the PH of this comparatively clear dilution. As is well
known, this degree of dilution of solutions such as those tested has so
small an effect on the PH value that it can seldom' be detected by the
crude colorimetric method.

TABLE 2

Deviations of Colorimetric from Electrometric Ph Determinations of

Beef Infusion Media

NO. OF
DETER-
MINA-
TIONS

7
6
4
4
2

10
5

14
5

12
8
6
3
3
5
3
3
3

INDICATOR

Brom-phenol blue . . .

Methyl red.

Methyl red

Propyl red

Brom-cresol purple . .
Brom-cresol purple. .
Brom-thymol blue . .
Brom-thymol blue . .

Phenol red

Cresol red

a-Naphtol-phthalein

Thymol blue

Phenol-phthalein. . . .
o-Cresol-phthalein . .

comparator

dilution

comparator

dilution

comparator

dilution

comparator

dilution

comparator

dilution

comparator

dilution

comparator

dilution

comparator

AVERAGE

MEAN

MAXIMUM

-0.05

0.16

-0.38

+0.10

0.11

+0.28

+0.08

0.08

+0+8

+0.08

0.08

+0.18

±0.00

0.00

±0.00

-0.01

0.04 ,

±0.07

-0.03

0.05

-0.14

-0.10

0.15

-0.25

-0.10

0.12

-0.26

-0.04

0.04

±0.07

-0.06

0.06

-0.12

-0.03

0.03

-0.07

-0.06

0.06

-0.11

-0.06

0.06

-0.12

-0.04

0.09

+0.14

-0.01

0.03

-0.06

+0.03

0.07

+0.14

+0.03

0.07

+0.14

MINIMUM

-0.01
±0.00
±0.00
±0.00
±0.00
±0.00
-0.01
+0.03
+0.01
-0.01
-0.02
-0.01
-0.02
-0.02
-0.02
-0.01
-0.01
-0.01

The confusing effect of turbidity has been found to be more serious
in many instances than the coloration usually encountered. This has
been especially noticeable when either brom-phenol blue or brom-cresol
purple was used. These indicators arc red in thick layers of their
solutions but blue in thin layers (at. the proper PH) . The impossibility
of establishing with such indicators a good comparison between a
turbid solution, which can not be effectively viewed in any great depth,
and a clear comparison standard of the same PH is quite evident. With

9 Hurwitz, S. H., Meyer, K. F., and Ostenberg, Z.
Hospital, 27: 16. 1916.

Bull. Johns Hopkins

CLARK AND LUBS : INDICATORS FOR CULTURE MEDIA 487

such meagre aid as a small hand spectroscope afforded we were able to
trace the nature of this " dichromatism" and to devise a light source
with which the effect may be avoided. This source is simply a bank
of ordinary electric lights from which the shorter wave lengths are
screened by a translucent paper coated with an acid solution of phenol-
sulphone-phthalein. With this screen fairly good measurements could
be made with brom-phenol blue and excellent measurements with brom-
cresol purple.

To illustrate the accuracy attained we may quote two tables. Table
2 'summarizes some measurements made upon ordinary beef infusion
media, some samples of which were quite dark or else turbid from
addition of the acid or alkali used to bring the PH value within the range
of the indicator used.

In table 2 "comparator" indicates that the determination was made
by the compensation method of Walpole. "Dilution" indicates that
the tested solution was diluted five times with distilled water before
measurement. "Average" deviation is the average of the positive and
negative deviations when the electrometric value was subtracted from
the colorimetric value in each case. "Mean" deviation is the average
of the deviations, neglecting sign.

Table 3, which gives a few determinations made on urines is self-
explanatory.

In regard to each indicator the following points may be noted:

Thymol blue, which was previously described for use in alkaline
solutions, exhibits very brilliant color changes at high acidities. Al-
though we have made only a comparatively few determinations in the
acid range, the indicator seems to be reliable and promises to be useful
in a zone of PH for which there has been no very satisfactory indicator.
It is hoped that others will try it in studies of the gastric contents. It
should be useful for vinegars and for cultures of yeast and moulds.

Brom-phenol blue has not proved reliable when used in turbid solu-
tions without a properly screened light, but for many approximate
measurements it is useful. One may show, for instance, that material
such as silage which is fermented by organisms of the bidgaricus type has
about the same PH as pure cultures of B. bidgaricus.

Methyl red has given some irregular results, for instance in Dunham's
solutions, where frequently errors of 0.2 PH were found. In media such
as those used in the differentiation test of Clark and Lubs10 methyl red
has been found to give excellent results.

10 Clark, W. M. and Lubs, H. A. Journ. Infect. Diseases, 17: 160. 1915.

488 CLARK AND LUBS : INDICATORS FOR CULTURE MEDIA

Propyl red we have used chiefly to cover a zone between the ranges
of methyl red and brom-thymol blue. This zone may now be studied
with the aid of brom-cresol purple. The latter indicator is "dichro-
matic" like brom-phenol blue, but lends itself well to use in the screened
light. It may be noted especially that this indicator is useful in that
PH zone within which the reactions of most urines fall.

TABLE 3

COLORIMETRIC AND ElECTROMETRIC DETERMINATIONS OF THE PH OP URINES

INDICATOR

Methyl red.

Propyl red.

Brom-cresol purple.

Brom-thymol blue.

Phenol red.

COLOHIMETRIC

ELECTROMETRIC

5.5

5.54

5.3

5.38

5.5

5.55

5.3

5.33

5.7

5.77

5.6

5.62

6.0

6.01

6.4 •

6.39

5.9

5.88

6.5

6.67

6.1

6.01

6.0

6.04

6.4

6.36

5.7

5.62

5.7

5.77

5.5

5.54

6.8

6.80

6.5

6.67

6.5

6.43

6.4

6.38

6.8

6.80

With both thymol blue (alkaline range) and its dibrom derivative
discrepancies between the colorimetric and electrometric determina-
tions appear more like uncertainties' in judgment than like consistent
errors. In general, good agreement was found, but it is the unfavorable
nature of the colors which we believe may lead to error.

Phenol red and cresol red are undoubtedly the most reliable indica-
tors of the series.

In regard to phenol-phthalein we may say in the first place that
neither it nor its homologue, ortho-cresol-phthalein, is as useful in the

CLARK AND LUBS I INDICATORS FOR CULTURE MEDIA 489

solutions we have studied as the two-colored indicator thymol blue. In
our experience a two-colored indicator is generally to be preferred for
hydrogen-ion determinations, especially when the solution itself is
colored. On the other hand these phthaleins can be used at slightly
higher PH than thymol blue and consequently must be used in certain
instances. Of the two we prefer the cresol compound, because of its
greater brilliancy. Indeed we now use the cresol compound in place
of phenol-phthalein in ordinary titrations.

Determinations with whey, banana juice, unfiltered extract of cow
feces, thick green silage juice, overheated bouillons containing sugar
decomposed to a dark brown solution, and vegetable extracts such as
that of the potato which had oxidized till it appeared perfectly black
in bulk are samples of the material we have handled with errors in PH
which seldom were as great as 0.3 Ph and generally much less.

A consideration of certain broad principles involved in bacteriologi-
cal studies has led us to believe that in general the order of accuracy
which may be attained with these indicators when using simple and
rapid procedures is quite adequate for the testing of acid and alkali
fermentations, for the study of the effect of PH upon the stability or
decomposition of culture media, for studying the effect of PH upon the
filterability of toxins, enzymes, etc., for determining the effect of PH
upon bacterial metabolism in general and enzyme activity in particular,
and for controlling the reaction of solutions during the study of various
processes. One of us11 has already called attention to the inadequacy
of the titrimetric method of adjusting the so-called degree of reaction
of bacteriological culture media. For adjusting to various PH values
the indicators are quite adequate.

It may be mentioned that many of the criticisms which we have
urged against the use of titration methods by the bacteriologist apply
with equal force to many tests of the so-called titratable acidity of
natural products or extracts thereof. To maintain that the analytical
content of acid in some of these solutions can be determined by titra-
tion to a given tint of phenolphthalein is untrue. The differences which
are determined and which often are of great practical value may fre-
quently be observed with greater clarity by colorimetric PH determina-
tions. The indicators we have described should therefore be useful in
a wide variety of instances.

11 Clark, W. M. Journ. Infect. Diseases, 17: 109. 1915.

490 swingle: Chinese teee of heaven

BOTANY. — The early European history and the botanical name
of the Tree of Heaven, Ailanthus altissima. Walter T.
Swingle, Bureau of Plant Industry.

The story of the first introduction of the Tree of Heaven from
China into Europe presents some features of interest which seem
to have been overlooked by botanists and arboriculturists of
recent times.

INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE FROM CHINA

The seeds of the Tree of Heaven were first sent from China
to the Royal Society of London in 1751 by Pierre dTncarville,
a French Jesuit missionary then residing at Peking. He sent the
seeds under the impression that they were secured from the
lacquer or varnish tree at Nanking. These seeds were turned
over to Philip Miller at Chelsea Gardens and to Philip Carteret
Webb at Busbridge near London.

About four years later, on March 18, 1755,1 Philip Miller,
writing to the Royal Society from Chelsea, notes that "the seeds,
which were sent to the Royal Society some years ago, for those
of the true varnish-tree, by the Jesuits at China, prove to be of
this wild sort;" .... [Kaempfer's "Fasi no ki. A rbor verni-
cifera spuria, sylvestris, angustifolia" =Rhus succedanea L.].

John Ellis, afterwards famous for his discovery of the Venus
fly trap, Dionaea muscipula, sent to the Royal Society on Novem-
ber 8, 1756, an illustrated paper2 on the lacquer or varnish tree
in which he contends that the trees raised at Busbridge and
Chelsea from seed sent by Pierre dTncarville are not the spurious
varnish tree of Kaempfer, but a new species of sumac of which
he says: "As it has not been yet described, I shall call it ... .
'Rhus sinense foliis alatis, foliolis oblongis acuminatis, ad basin
subrotundis & dentatis.'"3 He mentions that in Mr. Webb's
greenhouse the foliage developed an odor so intensely disagree-

1 Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc, 491: 163. 1756.

2 Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. 492: 870-871, pi. 25, fig. 5. 1757.

3 The Latin term alatis, in English winged, was used by both- Ellis and Miller
to denote what we now call pinnate.

SWINGLE: CHINESE TREE OF HEAVEN 491

able that he frequently got headache and a sickness at the stom-
ach by remaining too long near it. In the summer of 1755 he
measured a leaf 3 feet in length and also notes that the tree
"throws out a great number of suckers." The base and tip of
a leaf are figured and the leaflets show near the base the promi-
nent dentation characteristic of the Tree of Heaven and quite
unlike the lacquer tree (Rhus vernicifera DC.) or the false lacquer
tree (Rhus succedanea L.).

Philip Miller replied to Ellis, in a paper published in the
Philosophical Transactions two years later,4 attributing the dis-
crepancies between the leaf characters of Kaempfer's spurious
varnish tree, the "Fast no hi" of Japan, and the tree grown from
the seeds sent from China by Pierre dTncarville to the differ-
ence in situation of the leaves, those of Kaempfer's figure being
supposed to be on fruiting branches, while those figured from
the tree in Mr. Webb's garden were taken from lower branches.
He goes on to cast doubt on the idea of the tree belonging to
Rhus, as the seeds he planted "were shaped like a wedge, being
thicker on one edge than the other, and not unlike those of the
beech-tree."5

Ellis, in turn, replied to Miller's criticism in the same number
of the Philosophical Transactions (pp. 441-456, pis. 17-18), de-
fending his view that the American poison sumac, the Japanese
true varnish tree, the Japanese false varnish tree, and the so-
called Chinese varnish tree are all different species, and in par-

4 Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. GO1: 430-440. 1758.

5 This would indicate that the seeds had been removed from the indehiscent
winged fruit. Perhaps this unusual method of treating the seeds may have been
to deceive dTncarville, who supposed he was sending seeds of the lacquer or
varnish tree from Nanking when in reality he was sending seeds of the Tree of
Heaven, disguised by having been removed from the fruits. The herbarium of
dTncarville, now in the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle at Paris, contains speci-
mens of Ailanthus glandulosa Desf. collected at Peking, with a note: "Cet arbre
resemble au Frene, mais le fleur ny le fruit conviennent point au Frene, son fruit
resemble plus tost a l'Erable." (Franchet. Les plantes du pere d'lncarville
dans V herbier du Museum d'histoire naturelle de Paris. Bull. Soc. Bot. France,
29: 7. 1882.)

As dTncarville noted the similarity of these fruits to those of the maple he
would doubtless not have been deceived by the Ailanthus seeds had they not
been taken out of the fruit.

492 swingle: Chinese tree of heaven

ticular insisting that d'Incarville's supposed China varnish tree
was distinct from the Japanese false varnish tree. To sub-
stantiate his claim he figured side by side a leaf from d'Incar-
ville's tree grown in Mr. Webb's garden and one of Kaempfer's
false varnish tree from the Sherardian herbarium at Oxford.
He also examined Kaempfer's specimens in the British Museum.
It is but just to say that in this contention Ellis has been fully
justified by later botanists.

In neither of his articles did Ellis adopt the Linnaean trivial
names introduced in the Species Plantarum, published in 1753
(only two to four years before) , and so did not publish a name for
the Tree of Heaven valid under our present rules of nomenclature.

This appears to have been done for the first time in 1774
when Houttuyn in his Natuurlyke Historie reprinted Ellis's Latin
diagnosis with the second word set off in parentheses and printed
in italics, thus: "Rhus (Sinense) Foliis alatis, Foliolis oblongis
acuminatis, ad basin subrotundis et dentatis." This is a method
of publishing trivial names adopted by Linnaeus in editing the
works of travel written by his pupils and also used a few years
previously by Philip Miller in the 8th edition of his Gardeners'
Dictionary, published in 1768. As Ellis had in the meantime
adopted the Linnaean nomenclature,6 it was perfectly proper for
Houttuyn to make effective Ellis's vigorously expressed view
that the Tree of Heaven constituted a new species of Rhus dis-
tinct from the Chinese lacquer or varnish tree and from the
Japanese false varnish tree.7

Owing to the delay in the publication of Ellis's name it was,
unfortunately, antedated by Toxicodendron altissimum, published
by Philip Miller in the eighth edition of his Gardeners' Dictionary

6 In 1708 he wrote an account of the famous Venus fly trap, naming it Dionaea
muscipula.

7 The fact that this tree was not listed as a separate species by Houttuyn, but
was merely referred to incidentally in his account of Rhus Vernix L., does not
invalidate this publication, since he refers in the same way on a preceding page
to Rhus succedanea published by Linnaeus, whom he professes to follow. Fur-
thermore, though he refers to Ellis's species under Rhus Vernix L., he could not
have meant it as a synonym, since he says it seems to be more nearly related to
Rhus javamca L., which he describes in another place.

SWINGLE! CHINESE TREE OF HEAVEN 493

(1768). Without a knowledge of Miller's previous papers it
might easily be assumed that this name was applied to the false
varnish tree of Kaempfer, which is cited as a synonym after a
very short description. However, a closer study shows unmis-
takably that the name is based on the plant grown in England
from the seeds sent by d'Incarville. The specific name altissi-
mum, explained in the English paraphrase as the " tallest Poison-
tree," is significant, since the wax tree of Japan (the spurious
varnish tree of Kaempfer, Rhus succedanea) is not taller than the
oriental lacquer tree, Rhus vernicifera DC, or the American
poison sumac, Rhus Vernix L., which two latter species were
held by Miller to be a single species, Toxicodendron pinnatis.
The note in the body of the text referring to the new species is
still more explicit. It reads as follows: "The tenth sort came
from China. This grows to a large size, sending out many
branches on every side, which are garnished with very long
winged leaves, each leaf having fourteen or sixteen pairs of lobes,
which stick close to the midrib; as this has not produced flowers
in England, so we are at a loss where to place it, but it is hardy
enough to live in the open air in winter. This propagates fast
enough by the many suckers sent out from the roots."

There can be no longer any doubt that Miller is basing his
new species on the plants grown by him in England. The tall
growth, the very long leaves, the abundant suckering, all apply
to the Tree of Heaven and not to the Japanese wax tree. Further-
more, his doubts as to the botanical position of the new species,
which he puts as the last of the species of Toxicodendron, are
doubtless based on his memory of the unusual shape of the seeds
he planted in 1751 and would not be justified by anything to be
found in Kaempfer's description or figures. We must, then,
conclude that Miller's Toxicodendron altissimum was based on
the Tree of Heaven grown in England from seeds sent from China
by Pierre d'Incarville in 1751 and that the validity of his species
is in no way impaired by his citing of Kaempfer's Fdsi no Ki",
Arbor vernicifera spuria, etc., Amoen. Exot. 5: 794, as a syno-
nym, but merely proof that he persisted in his mistaken notion
that these two were the same species.

494 swingle: Chinese tree of heaven

In September. 17S2. Friedrich Ehrhart. in the course of a
journey in Holland, visited the commercial nurseries of a Mr.
Brakel in the outskirts of Utrecht just in front of the Kermis-
Waterpoortje. Here he found many rare plants, among them,
growing in the open, a tall tree looking something like Juglans
nigra and having a trunk a foot thick. He named it Rhus
Cacodendron,* basing his diagnosis on leaf characters alone, as he
had no flowers or fruits. His article was dated Herrenhausen,
23 Nov., 1782.

In an article dated Herrenhausen. 4 Aug.. 17S3. published in
17SS. Ehrhart reprinted his diagnosis of Rhus Cacodendron. which
he calls the large-leaved sumac {"Der grossblattrige Sutnac"),9
adding that it is a native of 'Xorth America and occurs in the
Dutch gardens and also at Harbke.

In the Memoir es de V Academic Roy ale des Sciences for 1786,
published at Paris in 17SS. Rene Louiche Desfontaines described
the Tree of Heaven as Ailanthus gla?idulosa. new genus and new
species. This excellent description, accompanied by a good cop-
per plate drawn by L. Freret. is based on a fertile tree growing,
presumably at Paris, in the garden of M. le Monnier, first physi-
cian-in-ordinary to the king.

In the following year. 1789, William Ait on in Ms Hortus Keiven-
recognized Rhus Cacodendron as a synonym of Ailanthus gland-
ulosa Desf.. in spite of Ehrhart 's error in assigning a Xorth
American origin to his species. Up to within a very few years
Desfontaines' name has been almost universally applied to the
Tree of Heaven, but recently (In 1912) Ehrhart ?s older name,
Rhus Cacodendron, was taken up by Schinz and Thellung and
transferred to the genus Ailanthus. as A. Cacodendron, on the
supposition that this was the oldest valid name for this species.
As has been shown above, this is not the case, there being at least
two older trivial names applied to this species.

! Ehrhart, Friedrich. Meine Reise nach der Graff-shaft Bentheim, und von
da rtach Holland, nebst der Retour nach Herrenha Hannoverisches Magazin,

21: 225-226 No. 15. Feb. 21), 1783; reprinted in Ehrhart. Beitrage zur Natur-
kunde, etc. 2: 111. 1788.

9 Ehrhart. Friedrich. Be?timmung einiger Baume und Strduche aus unsern
Lustgebuschen. Beitrage zux Xaturkunde, 3: 20. 1788.

SWINGLE: CHINESE TREE OF HEAVEN -490

The oldest valid name applied to the Tree of Heaven was
Toxicodendron altissimum; consequently its synonomy becomes s
follows:10

Ailanthus altissima Miller) Swingle, comb. nov.

Toxicodendron Altissimum Miller. Gard. Diet., ed. 8. 1768.
Rhus Sinense Ellis: Houttuyn. Xatuur. Hist.. II. 2: 212. 1774.
Rhus Cacodendron Ehrhart, Hannov. Mag.. 21: 225-226. Feb., 178

Beitrage. 2: 111. 1788.
Ailanthus glandidosa Desf. Mem. Acad. Sci. Paris. 1786: 265. pi. 8.

17SS: LHeritier. Stirp. Nov.. 179-1S1. pi. 84. 1791.
Ailanthus procera Salisbury, Prodr. 171. 1796.
Pongelion glandulosum Pierre, Fl. Cochinchin., 4: text pi. 294.

1893.
Ailanthus Cacodendron Sehinz <Jt Thelluns:, Mem. Soc. Sci. Xat.

Cherbourg, 38: 679. 1912.

In spite of the derivation of the generic name from the native
name of a tree growing in Amboyna. Ailanthus is not based upon
the Amboyna species described by Piumphius but on A. glandu-
losa, as Desfontaines says that the Arbor coeli11 of Rumphius
seems to belong to his genus, which of course makes it clear that
he does not definitely include it.

ORIGIN OF THE NAME "TREE OF HEAVEN*'

The common name of this tree also has a curious history. At
first it was supposed to be the Chinese varnish tree, because seeds
had been sent from China under that name by d'lncarville.
When Desfontaines constituted a new genus for this Chinese
species he named it Ailanthus from the native name Aylanto of
a tree growing in Amboyna. as he thought the Amboyna tree

10 There is no warrant for using the generic name Pongelion Adans., 1763, or
Pongdium Scopoli. 1777. for this tree ani its congeners, since no species were
published under either name until 1893, when Pierre resuscitated Pongelium
under the mistaken idea that it was established before Ailanthus of Desfontain -

11 "II [Ailanthus glandidosa] est originaire de la Chine, tfc iarbor coeli de Rum-
phius, hort. amboin. que les Indiens appelent ailanthe, dans leur langue, est une
espece qui nous paroit appartenir au genre que nous venons de decrire: e'esl
pourquoi nous avous conserve cette denomination pour nom generique. " Des-
foxtaixes. Memoire sur un nouveau genre d'arbre Ailanthus glandulosa. L Ail-
anthe glandukux. Mem. Acad. Sci. Paris, 1786: 271. 17--

496 swingle: Chinese tree of heaven

probably belonged to the same genus. Rumphius, in his Her-
barium Amboinense, says:12 "Arbor coeli is called in Malay Caju
langit, in Amboyna, Aylanto, that is, heaven-tree,13 as if they
would accuse it of lacerating the heaven because of its height."
Rumphius had previously said it was the tallest tree known to
him in Amboyna.

Rumphius' species (Ailanthus Pongelion Gmel., figured in Herb.
Amboin 3, pi. 132) was at first confounded with the Chinese tree
and probably this led to the transfer of the Malayan name,
"tree of heaven," to the Chinese species. Even without this
confusion of the species, the name "tree of heaven" could easily
be formed by a mere translation of the generic name.

Curiously enough, although the modern Chinese name around

Peking is Ch'ou Ch'un ijl ^ or stinking ch'un (in contrast to
H siang Ch'un ^ 7^ or fragrant ch'un, Cedrela sinensis Juss.), it
is known to the Chinese poets of older times as Shen shu jpij} |^.|

or God's tree. It is interesting to note that this old Chinese
epithet is exactly translated in the German Gotterbaum. Su Shih
(or Su Tung-po), 1036-1101 A. D., a famous scholar of the Sung
dynasty, wrote a stanza beginning, "Since ancient times it was
called God's tree," and goes on to lament the departure of the
spirit formerly supposed to dwell within this tree. (Imperial
Encyclopedia, T'u shu chi ch'eng, Science, Vegetable Kingdom,
Bk. 253). In the Book of History and in other ancient Chinese

works this plant is called Ch'u ||E , which name is still used

in some parts of China at the present time.

THE TREE OF HEAVEN IN THE UNITED STATES

According to A. J. Downing, the Tree of Heaven was intro-
duced directly from China into Rhode Island under the name

12 3: 206. According to the Century Dictionary (1913 Edition, 1: 121) the
native name aylanto is apparently derived from ai lanit, a Moluccan form of the
Malayan kdyu langit, tree of the sky.

13 Possibly this ties up with the "heaven-tree," said by James H. Murray (New
English Diet., 5: 177) to be a "mythical tree, which figures in some Malay and
Polynesian beliefs, as reaching from the under-world to the earth, or from earth
to heaven."

SWINGLE: CHINESE TREE OF HEAVEN 497

tillou.14 Sprouts from the roots of these original trees were used
to propagate the species which was common in the nurseries of
this country as early as 1841, when Downing published the first
edition of his famous work on landscape gardening.15

Ailanthus altissima grows like a weed and is in fact a common
weed in the towns and villages of the northern United States.
Even in the outskirts of New York, Washington, and other large
cities it is spreading rapidly over waste land by means of its
abundant root sprouts. It is undeniably a handsome tree and
grows most luxuriantly even in cities where smoke and dust harm
most other trees; furthermore, its foliage is almost immune to
attack by insects. The leaves fall suddenly in autumn after the
first frosts, exposing the smooth-barked branches which are desti-
tute of small lateral twigs.

Experts have prized the wood of the Tree of Heaven very
highly both for fuel and for cabinet-making. They have ranked
its wood with that of the white oak, black walnut, and birch for
fuel, and considered it as having few superiors among woods in
temperate regions as material for the cabinet-maker's use. Its
heavy, strong, clear, light-yellow wood does not shrink or warp
in drying and although coarse grained it takes a fine polish. It
is said to produce wood, even on poor soil, more than twice as
fast as any native tree having wood of anything like the same
fuel value.16

The greatest drawback to this tree is the disagreeable odor
of the male flowers, probably carried by the pollen, which is said
also to cause irritation of the throat and eyes, to some persons
at least. If only fertile trees are propagated, which is easily
done by taking suckers from seed-bearing trees, this drawback
is in large part overcome, for the fertile trees, although usually

14 This name cannot at present be traced; it is perhaps a South Chinese name,
as the China merchants of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries traded
chiefly with Canton.

15 Downing, A. J. A treatise on the theory and practice of landscape garden-
ing, Ed. 1, p. 174. 1841.

16 [Stiles, William Augustus]. The Ailanthus, [Editorial] in Garden and
Forest, 11 : 385-386. 1888.

498 swingle: Chinese tree of heaven

having fertile stamens, do not produce nearly so much pollen
as the male trees.

Other drawbacks to this species as an ornamental tree are its
habit of sprouting profusely from the roots and the fact that its
leaves and twigs are malodorous if rubbed or bruised even
slightly. Ailanthus trees, if cut off after they are once well
established, send up astonishingly vigorous shoots that some-
times grow 12 to 15 feet high in a single season and bear leaves 4
or 5 feet long. Because of this they are sometimes used as a
screen, being cut to the ground every year.

AILANTHUS A FOOD FOR WILD SILK WORMS

In China a silk worm, Attacus cynthia or Philosamia cynthia,
eeds on the leaves of Ailanthus and produces a very durable kind
of silk, similar to shantung or pongee. An account of the wild silk
worms of China was published in 1777 by the French Jesuit
missionary Martial Cibot.17 He noted this tree under its Chinese
name, Ch'ou ch'un (tcheou-tchun), as one of the three species on
which the Chinese wild silk worm feeds. This Ailanthus silk
worm has been introduced into Europe and America and has
become naturalized in the eastern United States. It would be
hard to find a plant capable of producing a larger bulk of leaves
than the Tree of Heaven, and as these so-called wild silk worms
feed out of doors and can endure cold and even wet weather, it
would seem worth while to experiment in raising them in this
country for silk production.

17 Cibot, Pierre Martial. Sur les vers a soie sauvages. Mem. concernant
l'hist. les sciences etc. des Chinois, 2: 575-598. Paris, 1777

ABSTRACTS

Authors of scientific papers are requested to see that abstracts, preferably
prepared and signed by themselves, are forwarded promptly to the editors.
Each of the scientific bureaus in Washington has a representative authorized to
forward such material to this journal and abstracts of official publications should
be transmitted through the representative of tbe bureau in which they originate.
The abstracts should conform in length and general style to those appearing in
this issue.

PHYSICS. — Sensitivity and magnetic shielding tests of a Thomson gal-
vanometer for use in radiometry. W. W. Coblentz. Bureau
of Standards Scientific Paper No. 282 (Bull. Bur. Stds., 13: 423-
446). 1916.

The present paper gives the results of an investigation of the force
exerted by various galvanometer coils when operated under standard
conditions. Some of the coils were wound according to theoretical
requirements, while others were wound empirically. Numerical
data are given relating to coils having various resistances.

A simple coil is described, wound with a single size of wire (No.
28 B & S) which is as efficient as a compound coil wound upon the
same mandrel but in three sections of graded wire.

A 9-ohm coil of graded wire is described which is very efficient and
is well adapted for use with the bismuth-silver thermopiles previously
described.

A comparison is made of various astatic magnet systems, and data
are given showing the importance of using small mirrors, in order to
increase the sensitivity.

Experiments in shielding the galvanometer from external magnetic
disturbances are described. Various shields are described consisting
of laminated cylinders made from transformer iron and solid cylindri-
cal shells cut from wrought iron gas pipe. By embedding the galvan-
ometer coils in blocks of Swedish iron which are surrounded by cylindri-
cal shells of transformer iron and of wrought iron, the effect of external
magnetic perturbations upon the astatic needle system is easily re-
duced to 1/2000 of its original value. This embedding of the coils
also reduces the air space ; the resultant elimination of convection cur-
rents greatly improves the steadiness of the needle system.

499

500 abstracts: electro-chemistry

Experiments on a vacuum galvanometer, in which a sensitivity
was attained which is more than 10-fold that used in the writer's pre-
vious work on stellar radiation, are described. W. W. C.

METROLOGY. — Report of the tenth annual Conference on Weights and
Measures, May 25-28, 1915. Bureau of Standards. Bur.
Stds. Special Publication. Pp. 254. 1916.

The report is a record of the proceedings of the Conference, which
is composed of State and local weights and measures officials and
weights and measures manufacturers from various parts of the United
States.

The report consists of the papers presented and of the general
record of the conference proceedings. It includes short reports of
about twenty-five State delegates on the progress made in the enforce-
ment of local laws during the year and a report of the Bureau of Stand-
ards showing the progress made in the track scale tests for States,
railroads, and industrial corporations; papers on the methods of testing
track scales, on the construction of automatic scales, and on the mean-
ing and effect of the standard barrel law recently enacted by Congress;
a general discussion of legislation pending in Congress and of the
proper limits for suggested legislation. The tolerances and specifica-
tions for commercial weighing and measuring apparatus and a model
State law on weights and measures adopted by the conference are
given in full in the appendix. L. A. F.

ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY.— The volume effect in the silver voltameter.

E. B. Rosa and G. W. Vinal. Bureau of Standards Scientific

Paper No. 283 (Bull. Bur. Stds. 13: 447-457). 1916.

Some years ago the Bureau discovered that the silver deposits in

large size voltameters were consistently heavier than the deposits

in small voltameters which were used in series with them. The cause

of this effect was attributed to impurities in the solution, but this

explanation was not accepted by all the observers who have worked

with the voltameter. Because the evidence rested principally on the

results with the porous cup form of voltameter, Jaeger and von Stein-

wehr thought that the effect was due to the porous cup. Richards,

on the contrary, thought that the greater surface of the large cathodes

permitted greater inclusions and therefore the deposit appeared heavier.

The recent experiments of Vinal and Bovard have shown that Richards'

abstracts: paleontology 501

theory is not correct, but some further experiments were necessary
to answer Jaeger and von Steinwehr's contention.

The • authors have analyzed all of their former observations with
reference to the volume of the electrolyte, the weight of the deposit,
and the purity of the solution. They have also made some further
experiments with especially impure solutions and with other forms
of the voltameter than the porous cup form. Allof these observations
have been treated by statistical methods, and the authors show, first,
that the volume effect is not confined to the porous cup form of volta-
meter, but that it is common to all forms of voltameter, and, sec nd,
that it is caused by impurities in the electrolyte. The authors give
a theory of the mechanism of the effect, and they believe that the
evidence proves conclusively that the effect is a valuable criterion
for the purity of the silver nitrate. G. W. V.

PALEONTOLOGY. — Cambrian trilobites. Charles D. Walcott.
Smithsonian Misc. Coll., 64: No. 3, 1916.

The purpose of this paper is to afford data to aid in clearing up some
of the problems of formations of the Appalachian region by a careful
comparison of portions of their contained faunas with those of the
Mississippi Valley, the Cordilleras, and other localities. No thorough
study and comparison of many genera of the Cambrian faunas has
been made, though collections from many outcrops have been in the
writer's possession for years, awaiting the opportunity to make these
studies so necessary in his work on the Cambrian trilobites.

The paper is illustrated with fifteen plates, containing 280 figures of
trilobites. Two new families are proposed, Menomonidae and Nor-
woodidae, and seven new genera: Menomonia, Millardia, Dresbachia,
Norwoodia, Saratogia, Vanuxemella, and Hanburia; 46 new species
|ind three new varieties are described and figured, with 19 earlier
described species and several genera. One of the marked features of
the paper is the description of a number of genera of the order Proparia :
Menomonia, Millardia, Dresbachia, and Norwoodia. These, the writer
says, taken in connection with the genus Burlingia, described in a
previous paper [Cambrian trilobites. Smithsonian Misc. Coll., 53: No.
2, p. 14. 1908.] establish the existence of a strong group of the order in
Cambrian time.

The stratigraphic position of the Weeks formation is changed from
Middle to Upper Cambrian, and the problem of whether the Conasauga

502 abstracts: geology

formation of the Coosa Valley and adjoining areas shall be restricted
to the Upper Cambrian, and the Middle Cambrian beds there given a
formation name, is left for further detailed study.

The discussion and comparison of the Crepicephalus group of trilo-
bites is particularly interesting, including a comparison of 17 different
species, 10 of them new species, 3 new varieties, and two undetermined
species. The five plates of illustrations of this large trilobite also
present many new and interesting features of the animal, now so long
extinct. G. R. B.

GEOLOGY. — The Caddo oil and gas field, Louisiana and Texas. George

C. Matson. U. S. Geologicl Survey Bulletin 619. Pp. 62, with

map, sections, and illustrations. 1916.

This bulletin contains a description of the physiography, geology of

the Cretaceous, Tertiary, and Quaternary systems, and the structure

of the rocks in the Caddo oil and gas field. It also discusses relations

of oil and gas and the possible extensions of the Caddo oil field.

R. W. S.

GEOLOGY. — Ground water in San Joaquin Valley, California. W. C.
Mendenhall, R. B. Dole, and Herman Stabler. U. S. Geologi-
cal Survey Water-Supply Paper No. 398. Pp. 310, 5 plates and
4 figures. 1916.
This report outlines the geography and geology of the valley, the
character of the soils, and the availability of the surface waters, and
describes in detail the occurrence, utilization, and quality of the ground
waters, especially in reference to their availability for irrigation, boiler
supply, and domestic use. The great value of the agricultural products
and the lack of sufficient surface water in this valley have brought
about unusual development of ground water resources. Nearly every
phase of practical irrigation is illustrated, including flood, deep-ditch,
and subterranean irrigation, the utilization of deep waters, the use of
steam and gas engines and electric motors for power, the disastrous
rise of alkali, the effect of alkali on growing plants, and the applica-
tion of strongly mineralized waters. Ground water of good quality
can be pumped at moderate expense throughout the east side of the
valley, but the level of the ground water on the west side is much
deeper and the mineral content of the water is much greater; yet neither
its cost nor its quality will prevent its ultimate use in many parts of

abstracts: geology 503

the west side. The axis of the valley includes a long narrow area
yielding flowing water that ranges widely in chemical character at
different depths and in different places. The report as a whole exem-
plifies geologic, engineering, and chemical methods for reconnaissance
of ground water resources in large areas. It includes records of more
than 8,500 wells, 500 assays and analyses, and 55 tests of pumping
plants. R. B. D.

GEOLOGY. — Retreat of Barry Glacier, Port Wells, Prince William
Sound, Alaska, between 1910 and 1914. B. L. Johnson. U. S.
Geological Survey Professional Paper 98-C. Pp. 5, with illus-
■ trations. 1916.

This short paper gives the linear retreat of the Barry glacier for a
number of years and 6 photographs taken in different years and from
different points of view illustrating the face of the glacier during differ-
ent stages of retreat. R. W. S.

GEOLOGY. — Ground water in the Hartford, Stamford, Salisbury,
Willimantic, and Saybrook areas, Connecticut. Herbert E.
Gregory and Arthur J. Ellis. U. S. Geological Survey Water-
Supply Paper No. 374. Pp. 146, with maps, sections, and views.
1916.
The areas covered by this report represent the typical geologic
conditions of Connecticut. The Hartford area, in the Connecticut
River Valley, is underlain by Triassic sediments and lavas; the Stam-
ford area, in the southwest corner of the State, is underlain by crystal-
line rocks; the Salisbury area, in the northwest corner of the State, has
its lowlands underlain by Cambrian or Ordovician limestone; the Wil-
limantic area, in the eastern highlands, is underlain by metamorphic
rocks of various types on which a highly varied topography has been
developed; the Saybrook area, at the mouth of Connecticut River, is
low and comparatively flat and the presence of salt water is a feature
of ground water problems.

The chief water-bearing formation in all of these areas is the glacial
drift overlying the bedrocks. It includes unstratified drift, or till,
and stratified drift, or glacial outwash. The latter occurs principally
as valley fill and in the Connecticut Valley attains a thickness of more
than a hundred feet. Unstratified drift is the principal source of private
domestic water supplies, which are generally obtained from wells less

504 abstracts: geology

than 30 feet deep. Municipal supplies could be developed from the
stratified drift in the Connecticut Valley by sinking gangs of driven
wells similar to those successfully used at Brookline, Mass., Brooklyn,
N. Y., and Plainfield, N. J., which are described in the report.

The bedrocks are practically impervious, but they are intensely
fractured, and contain numerous water-bearing joints. Wells drilled
to depths of 200 or 300 feet rarely fail to intercept a sufficient number
of these joints to furnish supplies of water adequate for domestic use.

A. J. E.

GEOLOGY. — Experiments on the extraction of potash from Wyomingite.

R. C. Wells. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 98-D.

Pp. 4. 1916.
This paper describes investigations made in the chemical laboratory
of the U. S. Geological Survey to determine the possibility of extract-
ing potash from Wyomingite and lava occurring extensively in the
Leucite Hills, Sweetwater County, Wyoming. While all the experi-
ments described can not be considered as suggestions of commercial
possibilities, a record of them may save much repetition of preliminary
investigation on the part of private investigators, R. W. S.

GEOLOGY. — Geology and coal resources of Castle Valley, in Carbon,
Emery, and Sevier Counties, Utah. Charles T. Lupton. U. S.
Geological Survey Bulletin No. 628. Pp. 86, with 12 plates
and 1 figure. 1916.
This report describes the geology and coalresources of Castle Valley,
a belt of country 10 to 20 miles wide and 80 miles long lying between
San Rafael Swell and Wasatch Plateau in central Utah. It includes
also general descriptions and sections of those formations outcropping
from the interior of the Swell to the top of the Plateau, a stratigraphic
distance of more than 11,000 feet. The rocks exposed range from Car-
boniferous to Quaternary in age.

The Ferron sandstone member of the Mancos shale, which var'es
greatly in thickness and character, is described and indicated on the
maps. At the northeast end of the field it is about 75 feet thick and
consists mainly of shaly sandstone containing concretions. It thickens
gradually, reaching a maximum of about 800 feet of sandstone, shale,
and coal beds near the southwest end of the area described. This
sandstone, in the northern part of Castle Valley, is believed to repre-

abstracts: geology 505

sent the feather edge of a series of coal-bearing rocks in the lower part
of the Colorado group recognized in northern Arizona, southwestern,
west-central, and northern Utah, and southwestern Wyoming.

A large part of the report consists of a description of the coal, which
is bituminous and occurs principally in the above mentioned sand-
stone. A little coal is present in the Dakota sandstone but is not
economically important. A large amount of coal is contained in the
Mesaverde formation in Wasatch Plateau, but it was not extensively
studied. C. T. L.

GEOLOGY. — The 'physical conditions and age indicated by the flora of
the Alum Bluff formation. E. W. Berry. U. S. Geological Survey
Professional Paper 98-E. Pp. 18, with illustrations. 1916.
This paper describes a small flora from the Alum Bluff formation in
Liberty County, Florida. This flora represents a horizon hitherto un-
represented paleobotanically in southeastern North America. It is con-
cluded that the Alum Bluff formation as a whole is a predominantly
shallow water deposit of clays and sands, and that the flora preserved
at Alum Bluff records the last phase of sedimentation before the area
emerged from the sea. The most profound break in Tertiary sedi-
mentation in the southeastern United States is represented by the
unconformity at the top of the Alum Bluff formation. R. W. S.

GEOLOGY. — The Chisana-White River district, Alaska. Stephen R.
Capps. U. S. Geological Survey Bull. 630. Pp. 126, with maps,
sections, and views. 1916.
The Chisana-White River district comprises that portion of the
White River basin which lies west of the international boundary and
the headward portion of the Chisana River basin east of that river and
south of the north front of the Nutzotin Mountains. The oldest rocks
of the district are basic lavas and pyroclastics with a considerable
amount of black shale of Devonian age. The next succeeding system,
the Carboniferous, comprises a great thickness of interbedded lavas,
tuffs, agglomerates, and breccias, containing very little sedimentary
material. Upon these lies a bed of massive limestone, associated with
thin-bedded limestones and shales. Above the limestones and shales
is a great thickness of lavas and pyroclastic rocks similar to those
mentioned, again interrupted by other massive limestones. These in
turn are succeeded by other bedded basic lava flows, which form the
highest part of the Carboniferous system recognized in this district.

506 abstracts: technology

The rocks next younger are massive limestones carrying Triassic
fossils. In the Nutzotin Mountains there are banded slates and gray-
wackes, scantily fossiliferous, which may be in part Triassic.

Shales and graywackes of Jurassic age have been recognized in the
region, but their upper and lower limits were not determined. Shales
and graywackes, carrying Lower Cretaceous fossils, lie immediately
above the Jurassic beds, without any observed stratigraphic break.

Tertiary sediments are represented by small, detached areas of shale,
sandstone, conglomerate, and tuff, with minor amounts of lignite. Cer-
tain old but unconsolidated gravels are also probably of Tertiary age.
The extrusion of widespread lava flows was also begun in Tertiary time
and has continued intermittently ever since, so that it is difficult to
separate the Tertiary from the Quaternary lavas.

Quaternary deposits are present in considerable variety and abun-
dance. The oldest consist of glacial till and outwash gravels interbedded
with lava flows, representing a stage of glaciation much earlier than the
last notable ice advance. These older glacial deposits are overlain by
extensive lava flows. During their last great advance the glaciers left
deposits of morainal material scattered throughout the district. Large
deposits of outwash gravels were laid down during the retreat of the
ice and are still accumulating in the valleys of the glacier-fed streams.
Accumulations of talus, peat, and muck, with some volcanic ash, and
the products of normal stream deposition make up the postglacial
materials in the areas not now receiving glacial and glacio-fluvial
deposits. A. H. B.

TECHNOLOGY. — The properties of some European plastic fire clays.
A. V. Bleininger and H. G. Schurecht. Bureau of Standards
Technologic Paper No. 79. Pp. 34. 1916.

The properties of five well known European plastic fire clays, largely
used for glass pots, graphite crucibles, etc., have been studied for the
purpose of securing data, making possible a comparison with similar
American clays. Such properties as the content of shrinkage and
pore water, drying shrinkage, fineness of grain, rate of drying, mechani-
cal strength in the dry state, rate of vitrification, final softening tem-
perature, and the chemical composition were determined.

From the results obtained it was shown that these famous European
clays do not differ radically from similar materials found in this country
but that the same, or possibly superior, results can be obtained with
mixtures of known American clays. A. V. B.

abstracts: technology 507

TECHNOLOGY. — Further data on the oxidation of automobile cylinder
oils. C. E. Waters. Bureau of Standards Technologic Paper
No. 73. Pp. 20. 1916.

In continuation of work already published by the Bureau of Stand-
ards, as well as in the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry,
a study was made of the rate of oxidation of three automobile cylinder
oils when exposed to sunlight and air. This was done by determining
the increase in weight and in acidity at intervals during a period of
438 hours exposure. The accompanying changes in the carboniza-
tion values were also determined. The general result was that there
is a gradual lessening of the rate at which the weight increases, and
at the same time the formation of acid and the carbonization value
increase more and more rapidly.

The Maumene numbers of the oils increased greatly as a result of
oxidation, while there was a marked drop in the iodine numbers.
After oxidation the oils showed a much greater tendency than before
to emulsify when agitated with water. Filtration through animal
charcoal removed, to a certain extent, the substances that caused this
tendency and that raised the carbonization values.

When the three oils used in the work above, and eight others, were
heated to 250°C. for periods ranging from one to seven hours, the
formation of carbonized matter proceeded at a rapidly increasing rate.
The same was true of the eleven oils when heated for three hours at
various temperatures from 230° to 280°C. It was found that in both
cases, the greater the carbonization value at first, the more rapidly did
it increase as the temperature was raised or the time of heating ex-
tended. In other words, an oil which had a low carbonization value
if heated to 250° for two or three hours, and an oil showing a some-
what higher value under the same conditions, will be farther and farther
apart as the conditions become more strenuous. This being so, it is
unnecessary to prolong greatly the time of heating in routine testing.

The need of extreme care in taking and preserving samples, as well
as in testing them, was emphasized, because the presence of rust par-
ticles or other extraneous matter increases the amount of carbonization.

In conclusion it is shown that the carbonization value is independent
of the flash and fire points and of the evaporation loss on heating.

C. E. W.

REFERENCES

Under this heading it is proposed to include, by author, title, and citation, references to all
scientific papers published in or emanating from Washington. It is requested that authors cooperate
with the editors by submitting titles promptly, following the style used below. Th^se references are
not intended to replace the more extended abstracts published elsewhere in this Journal.

TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM

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Bauer, L. A. On possible planetary magnetic effects. Phys. Rev., (2) 7: 500.
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Coblentz, W. W., and Emerson, W. B. Studies of instruments for measuring
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Coblentz, W. W., and Emerson, W. B. The coefficient of total radiation of a uni-
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Coblentz, W. W., and Emerson, W. B. Distribution of energy in the visible spec-
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Curtis, H. L. The volume resistivity and surface resistivity of insulators. Gen.
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Foote, Paul D. The illumination from a radiating disk. Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper
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1915.

Herschel, Winslow H. Most economical vacuum for steam turbines. Power,
June 1, 1915, p. 744. 1915.

Herschel, Winslow H. Correlation between tensile and bending tests of cast iron.
Tech. Monthly and Harvard Eng. Journ., Feb., 1916.

Herschel, Winslow H. Quantitative test for resistance of lubricating oils to
emulsificalion Power, 43: 485. 1916; Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter, April
17, 1916, p. 36 R; Proc. Amer. Soc. Test. Materials. 1916.

Herschel, Winslow H. The lubricating value of oils, with remarks on the Baumi
hydrometer. Oil, Paint, and Drug Reporter, April 17, 1916, p. 36 R. 1916.

Herschel, Winslow H. Remarks on efflux viscosimeters. J. Wash. Acad. Sci.,
6: 155. 1916.

Hersey, M. D. The present work of the Bureau of Standards. Tech. Monthly
and Harvard Eng. Journ., 2: 4-10. 1915.

Hersey, M. D. Aneroid barometers. Phys. Rev., (2) 6: 75-77. 1915.

Hersey, M. D On the laws of lubrication of journal bearings. Journ. Am. Soc.
Mech. Engs., 37: 534-538. 1915; Trans. Am. Soc. Mech. Engs., 37: 167-202.
1915.

Hersey, M. D. Discussion of Edgar Buckingham's paper on model experiments .
Journ. Am. Soc. Mech. Engs., 37: 532-533. 1915.

Hulett, G. A., and Vinal, G. W. Studies on the silver voltameter. J. Phys.
Chem., 19: 173-192. 1915; Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No. 240 (Bull. Bur. Stds.,
11: 553-570). 1915.

Humphreys, W. J. The thunderstorm. Phys. Rev., (2) 6: 516. 1915.

Ives, H. E., Coblentz, W. W., and Kingsbury, E. F. The mechanical equiva-
lent of light. Phys. Rev., (2) 5: 269-293. 1915.

Kolster, Frederick A. Ein direkt anzeigender Dekrement- und W ellenmesser .
Jahrb. d. drahtl. Teleg. und Teleph., 1915, pp. 316-339. 1915; Bur. Stds.
Sci. Paper No. 235 (Bull. Bur. Stds., 11: 421-455). 1915.

Lasier, E. L. The strength of clamped splices in concrete reinforcement bars.
Proc. A. S. T. M., vol. 16. 1916; Eng. News. 76: 134. 1916; Eng. Record,
July 8, 1916; Cement Era, July, 1916. 1916.

Lasier, E. L. Tests of frictional resistance of concrete on shale. Eng. News,
74: 156-158. 1915.

McCollum, Burton, and Ahlborn, G. H. Procedure in making electrolysis sur-
veys. Bur. Stds. Tech. Paper No. 28. Pp. 84. 1916.

512 references: physics

Middlekauff, G. W., and Skogland, J. F. Photometry of gas-filled lamps. Bur.
Stds. Sci. Paper No. 264 (Bull. Bur. Stds., 12: 587-604). 1916.

Middlekauff, G. W., Mulligan, B., and Skogland, J. F. Life testing of incan-
descent lamps at the Bureau of Standards. Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No. 265
(Bull. Bur. Stds., 12: 605-630). 1916; Trans. 111. Eng. Soc, 10: 814-837.
1915.

Middlekauff, G. W., and Skogland, J. F. An inter lab oratory photometric com-
parison of glass screens and of tungsten lamps, involving color differences.
Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No. 277 (Bull. Bur. Stds., 13: 287-307). 1916; Trans.
Ilium. Eng. Soc, 11: 164-183. 1916.

Miller, J. M. The effective resistance and inductance of iron and bimetallic wires.
J. Wash. Acad. Sci., 5: 455-456. 1915: Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No. 252 (Bull.
Bur. Stds., 12: 207-267). 1915.

Miller, J. M. The effect of imperfect dielectrics in the field of a radiolelegraphic
antenna. Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No. 269 (Bull. Bur. Stds., 13: 129-136). 1916.

Peters, O. S. Protection of life and property against lightning. J. Wash. Acad.
Sci., 5: 625-628. 1915; Bur. Stds. Tech. Paper No. 56. Pp. 127. 1915.

Priest, Irwin G. A proposed method for the photometry of lights of different
colors. Phys. Rev., (2) 6: 64-66. 1915.

Priest, Irwin G. Some devices used in evaluating certain trigonometric and
exponential functions occurring in photometry. Phys. Rev., (2)7:414. 1916.

Priest, Irwin G. The Bureau of Standards' contrast method for measuring trans-
parency. Trans. Amer. Ceramic Soc, vol. 17. Pp. 17. 1915.

Priest, Irwin G., and Peters, Chauncey G. Report on investigations concern-
ing the color and spectral transmission of cotton seed oil. Proc Sixth Ann.
Conv. Soc. Cotton Products Analysts. Pp. 67-80. 1915.

Rosa, E. B., and Taylor, A. H. The integrating sphere, its construction and use.
Trans. Ilium. Eng. Soc, 11: 453-478. 1916.

Rosa, E. B., and Vinal, G. W. The volume effect in the silver voltameter . Bur.
Stds. Sci. Paper No. 283 (Bull. Bur. Stds., 13: 447-457). 1916.

Rosa, E. B., and Vinal, G. W. Summary of experiments on the silver voltameter
at the Bureau of Standards. J. Wash. Acad. Sci., 6: 478-4S1. 1916.

Rosa, E. B., and Vinal, G. W. Summary of experiments on the silver voltameter
at the Bureau of Standards, and proposed specifications. Bur. Stds. Sci.
Paper No. 285 (Bull. Bur. Stds., 13: 479-514). 1916.

Schlink, F. J. Weighing scales. Machinery, 22: 968-973. 1916.

Schlink, F. J. Automatic scales. Tenth Ann. Conf. Weights and Meas., pp.
95-108. 1916.

Schlink, F. J. Damping devices in precise weighing. Scale Journ., April,
1916.

Schlink, F. J. Method of indicating screw threads. Machinery, 22: 800. 1916.

Schlink, F. J. A use for the cone pivot. Scale Journ., April, 1916.

Silsbee, F. B. Inductance of copper conductors at close spacing. Elec World,
68: 125-126. 1916.

Silsbee, Francis B. A study of the inductance of four -terminal resistance stand-
ards. J. Wash. Acad. Sci., 6: 419-421. 1916; Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No. 281
(Bull. Bur. Stds., 13: 375^22). 1916.

references: physical chemistry 513

Skogland, J. F. A direct-reading device for use in computing characteristics of

vacuum tungsten lamps. J. Wash. Acad. Sci., 5: 453-455. 1915; Bur. Stds.

Sci. Paper No. 253 (Bull. Bur. Stds., 12: 269-288). 1915.
Smith, W. S. Tangier. Polarized skylight and the petrographic microscope. J.

Wash. Acad. Sci., 6: 229-234. 1916.
Stratton, S. W. Annual report of the Director of the Bureau of Standards, 1914-

1915. Pp. 148. 1915.
Stillman, M. H. A new method for the accurate testing of cubic foot bottles and

other large capacity measures. {A method depending upon Archimedes prin-
ciple of buoyancy). Scale Journ., vol. 2, No. 1. 1915.
Stillman, M. H. The damping of waves and other disturbances in mercury. Bur.

Stds. Sci. Paper No. 289 (Bull. Bur. Stds., vol. 13). 1916.
Swann, W. F. G. On the origin and maintenance of the earth's negative charge.

Phys. Rev., (2) 6: 508. 1915.
Swann, W. F. G. On the ionization of the upper atmosphere. J. Terr. Mag., 21:

1-8. 1916.
Swann, W. F. G. Equipartition of energy and radiation theory. Phys. Rev., (2)

7: 154-156. 1916.
Taylor, W. A., and Curtis, H. L. An accurate method for the measurement of the

conductivity of electrolytes. Phys. Rev., (2) 6: 61-64. 1915.
Vinal, G. W., and Bovard, W. M. Inclusions in the silver voltameter deposits.

J. Amer. Chem. Soc, 38: 496-515. 1916; Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No. 271 (Bull.

Bur. Stds., 13: 147-172). 1916.
Wenner, Frank. A method of measuring earth resistivity. J. Wash. Acad. Sci.,

5: 561-563. 1915; Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No. 258 (Bull. Bur. Stds., 12: 469-

478). 1915.
Wenner, Frank. General design of critically damped galvanometers. Bur. Stds.

Sci. Paper No. 273. (Bull. Bur. Stds., 13: 211-244). 1916. (A theoretical

discussion of the subject. — N. E. D.)
White, Walter P. Mechanical strain and thermoelectric power. Phys. Rev.,

(2) 6: 234-236. 1915.
White, Walter P. Convection currents and calorimeter design. Phys. Rev., (2)

7: 682-6S3. 1916.
Wolff, F. A., Shoemaker, M. P., and Briggs, C. A. Construction of primary

mercurial resistance standards. J. Wash. Acad. Sci., 5: 458-461. 1915; J.

Franklin Inst., 180: 104-106. 1915; Bur. Stds. Sci. Paper No. 256 (Bull. Bur.

Stds., 12: 375-464). 1915.

PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY

Blum, W., Holler, H. D., Rawdon, H., and Lasier, E. L. The deposition of

copper in electrotyping baths. Met. and Chem. Eng., May 1, 1916. 1916.
Bureau of Standards. Regulation of electrotyping solutions. 2ded. Circular

No. 52. Pp. 13. 1916.
Burgess, G. K. Some problems in physical metallurgy at the Bureau of Standards.

J. Franklin Inst., 182: 19-35. 1916.
Burgess, G. K., and Kellberg, I. N. On a supposed allotropy of copper. J.

Wash. Acad. Sci., 5: 657-662. 1915; Phys. Rev., (2) 7: 281-282. 1916.

514 references: geology

Burgess, G. K., and Merica, P. D. An investigation of fusible tin boiler plugs.

J. Wash. Acad. Sci., 5: 461-462. 1915; Bur. Stds. Tech. Paper No. 53. Pp.

37. 1915. .
Burgess, G. K., and Sale, P. D. A study of the quality of platinum ware. Bur.

Stds. Sci. Paper No. 254 (Bull. Bur. Stds., 12: 289-316). 1915; J. Ind. and

Eng. Chem.,7:561. 1915.
Burgess, G. K., and Scott, H. Mesure thermoelectrique des points critiques du

fer. Comptes rendus d. l'Acad. d. Sci., 163: 30. 1916.
Rawdon, Henry S. Microstructural changes accompanying the annealing of

bronze. J. Wash. Acad. Sci., 5: 589-591. 1915; Bur. Stds. Tech. Paper No.

60. Pp. 17. 1915.
Rawdon, Henry S. Standard zinc-bronze, relation of micro-structure and mechani-
cal properties. J. Wash. Acad. Sci., 5: 631-632. 1915; Bur. Stds. Tech.

Paper No. 59. Pp. 67. 1915.
Sosman, R. B., Hostetter, J. C., and Merwin, H. E. The dissociation of calcium

carbonate below 500°C. J. Wash. Acad. Sci., 5: 563-569. 1915.
Wells, Roger C. The solubility of calcite in water in contact with the atmosphere,

and its variation with temperature. J. Wash. Acad. Sci., 5: 617-622. 1915.

GEOLOGY

Allen, E. T. The composition of natural bornite. Amer. Journ. Sci., 41: 409-413.

1916.
Becker, George F., and Day, Arthur L. Note on the linear force of growing

crystals. Journ. of Geology, 24: 313-333. 1916.
Bliss, Eleanor F., and Jonas, Anna I. Relation of the Wissahickon mica gneiss

to the Shenandoah limestone and Octoraro schist of the Doe Run and Avondale

region, Chester County, Pennsylvania. U. S. Geological Survey Professional

Paper 98-B. Pp. 25, with illustrations. 1916.
Bowen, N. L. The later stages of the evolution of the igneous rocks. Journ. of

Geology, 23 : Supplement to Number 8. Pp. 89. 1915.
Capps, Stephen R. Two glacial stages in Alaska. Journ. of Geology, 23: 748-

756. 1915.
Iddings, Joseph P., and Morley, Edward W. Contributions to the petrography

of Java and Celebes. Journ. of Geology, 23: 231-245. 1915.
Johnston, J., Merwin, H. E., and Williamson, E. D. The several forms of

calcium carbonate. Amer. Journ. Sci., 41: 473-512. 1916.
Lee, Willis T. Reasons for regarding the Morrison as an introductory Cretaceous

formation. Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., 26: 303-314. 1916.
Leffingwell, E. De K. Ground-ice wedges. The dominant form of Ground-
ice on the north coast of Alaska. Journ. of Geology, 23: 635-654. 1915.
Lindgren, W. Processes of mineralization and enrichment in the Tinlic District.

Economic Geology, 10: 225-240. 1915.
Lindgren, W. The origin of kaolin. Economic Geology, 10: 89-93. 1915.
Lloyd, E. Russell, and Hares, C. J. The Cannon-ball marine member of the

Lance formation of North and South Dakota and its bearing on the Lance-

Laramie problem. Journ. of Geology, 23: 523-547. 1915.

references: engineering 515

Paige, Sidney. The mechanics of intrusion of the Black Hills (S. D.) pre-Cam-

brian granite. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 2: 113-114. 1916.
Sosman, Robert B. Types of prismatic structure in igneous rocks. Journ. of

Geology, 24: 215-234. 1916.
Stanton, T. W. Invertebrate fauna of the Morrison formation. Bull. Geol. Soc.

Amer., 26: 343-348. 1915.
Vaughan, T. W. The present status of the investigation of the origin of the Barrier

coral reefs. Amer. Journ. Sci., 41: 131-134. 1916.
Washington, H. S., and Day, Arthur L. Present condition of the volcanoes of

southern Italy. Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., 26: 375-388. 1916.
Wright, Fred. E. Obsidian from Hrofntinnuhryggur, Iceland. Its lithophysae

and surface markings. Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., 26: 225-286. 1915.

ENTOMOLOGY

Back, E. A., and Pemberton, C. E. Banana as a host fruit of the Mediterranean

fruit fly. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 793-804, pis. 59-62. January

24, 1916.
Back, E. A., and Pemberton, C. E. Effect of cold-storage temperatures upon

the Mediterranean fruit fly. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 657-666.

January 10, 1916.
Baker, A. C. Identity of Eriosoma Pyri. Journal of Agricultural Research,

5: 1115-1120, fig. 1. March 6, 1916.
Baker, A. C., and Turner, W. F. Morphology and biology of the green apple

aphis. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 955-994, figs. 1-4, pis. 67-75.

February 21, 1916.
Herrick, G. W., and Matheson, Robert. Observations on the life history of

the cherry leaf beetle. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 943-950, pis.

64-65. February 14, 1916.
Johnson, Pauline M., and Ballinger, Anita M. Life-history studies of the

Colorado potato beetle. Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 917-926, pi. 63.

February 14, 1916.
Parrott, P. J., and Fulton, B. B. Cherry and hawthorn sawfly leaf miner.

Journal of Agricultural Research, 5: 519-528, pi. 51. December 20, 1915.
Tower, D. G. Biology of Apanteles militaris. Journal of Agricultural Re-
search, 5: 495-508, fig. 1, pi. 50. December 20, 1915.

ENGINEERING

Grover, Nathan C., Henshaw, F. F., Baldwin, G. C., and Lamb, W. A. Sur-
face water supply of the United States, 1912, Part XII, north Pacific drainage
basins. United States Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 332. Pp.748.
1916.

Marshall, R. B. Spirit leveling in West Virginia, 1896 to 1915 inclusive. U. S.
Geological Survey Bulletin 632. Pp. 168, with one illustration. 1916.

Marshall, R. B. Spirit leveling in Maine, 1899-1915. U. S. Geological Survey
Bulletin 633. Pp. 64, with one illustration. 1916.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED

SOCIETIES

THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

The 112th meeting of the Washington Academy of Sciences was
held in the Auditorium of the New National Museum, Thursday eve-
ning, May 11, 1916, with President L. O. Howard in the chair and a
large audience present.

Dr. Ekwin F. Smith, Chief of the Laboratory of Plant Pathology,
Bureau of Plant Industry, delivered an illustrated lecture on Resem-
blances between crown gall in plants and human cancer. The speaker
reviewed the objections that have been raised to the theory that can-
cer is of bacterial origin, and showed that such objections do not rest
upon a sound experimental basis. He then developed the striking
parallelism which exists between human cancer and crown-gall in
plants, the latter being of unquestioned bacterial origin and readily
developed by inoculation with pure cultures.

The address has been published in Science (New Series, 43: 871-889.
June 23, 1916) under the title, Further evidence that crown gall of plants

W. J. Humphreys, Recording Secretary.

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 309th meeting of the Society was held in the lecture room of the
Cosmos Club on April 26, 1916.

REGULAR PROGRAM

K. F. Kellerman: Bacteria as agents in the precipitation of calcium
carbonate. Precipitation of calcium carbonate from solutions of cal-
cium sulphate, calcium acetate, and artificial sea water by bacteria.
Formation of spherulites. (Illustrated.) No abstract.

John Johnston : Some factors which influence the deposition of calcium
carbonate. By means of the solubility-product constant of calcite we
are enabled to calculate its solubility under various conditions; whence
it appears that this solubility is affected materially by variations of the
temperature and of concentration of free CO2 in the water which may
well occur in nature. For example, a change in the proportion of CO2
in the air from 3.2 to 3.0 parts per 10000, or a rise of temperature of
2°C, would result ultimately in the precipitation of about 2 grams
CaC03 from each cubic metre of a solution saturated with it. Conse-
quently, since the warmer portions of the ocean are substantially satu-

516

proceedings: geological society 517

rated with calcite, precipitation must take place, independent of any
other agencies, wherever the water is being warmed, or is losing free
C02, or both. This view that this mode of precipitation, brought about
by the operation of purely inorganic factors, actually takes place on a
large scale, does not exclude the other views which have been pro-
posed to account for the deposition of limestones, and is not in conflict
with any facts which are definitely ascertained. It could be estab-
lished or disproved by systematic bathymetrical and chemical investi-
gation of the ocean, an investigation which would have an important
bearing on many biological as well as geological processes.

H. E. Merwin: The forms of calcium carbonate and their occurrence.
A new form of calcium carbonate which is hexagonal, optically positive,
and less stable than aragonite, was described. It forms readily in solu-
tion at about 60°. Criteria for distinguishing the three established
forms of calcium carbonate were discussed, and the necessity for dis-
tinguishing the properties of aggregates from those of definitely bounded
crystal fragments was emphasized in connection with evidence which
was given to show that "vaterite" is really porous calcite and that
"ktypeite" is porous aragonite. The precipitation of aragonite is
favored by the presence of sulphate, but magnesium has little influence.
Sulphate is taken into solid solution in aragonite in sufficient quantity
to make it more stable probably than calcite. Aragonite containing
sulphate was separated from muds of the shoal waters of the Bahamas.
Four types of original structure of oolites were described and illus-
trated.

Discussion led by T. Wayland Vaughan, Chas. D. Walcott, G. R.
Mansfield.

The 310th meeting was held in the lecture room of the Cosmos Club
on May 10, 1916.

informal communications

Fred. E. Wright described a more delicate method than those usu-
ally employed for determining isotropic and anisotropic character in
opaque minerals.

REGULAR PROGRAM

Henry S. Washington : The persistence of the volcanic vents at Strom-
boli. When Stromboli was visited in August, 1914, it was in a state
of moderate activuy, there being five vents on the crater terrace. The
most active of these, that at the east end of the upper edge of the
Sciarra, is called 'Tantico," and Bergeat pointed out in 1899 that this
vent had probably occupied the same location for over a hundred
years. Search through the literature yielded evidence, especially in
the form of sketches and plans of the crater terrace, favoring Bergeat's
view, and going to show that not only this vent, but also another on
the west, scarcely less active in 1914, have not materially altered their

518 proceedings: geological society

positions for a period of at least about a century and a half. It may
be mentioned that the crater of Stromboli is an exceptionally favorable
one for the study of such a feature, as it is bounded on two sides by
prominent ridges, one or both of which appear in all views and plans,
that form permanent landmarks by which the relative positions of
the several vents at different dates can be readily established. A
series of about 15 of these views and plans, dating back to 1768, was
shown.

This feature of Stromboli, and possibly of other volcanoes, as it
seems to be presented at Kilauea and elsewhere, does not appear to
have been generally recognized. It would, however, seem to have an
important bearing on certain volcanological problems, such as, among
others, the size of the lava reservoir immediately beneath the crater
floor. Such a persistence of location of volcanic vents apparently
favors Daly's view that the size of volcanic conduits is small, rather
than Dana's, that they are nearly commensurate in size with the whole
crater floor. The formation of these relatively small vents may possi-
bly be explained by Daly's "gas-fluxing" hypothesis.

F. C. Schrader: Ore deposits of the Rochester district, Nevada. The
deposits consist of silver and gold-bearing veins, lodes, and associated
replacement bodies. They occur in volcanic rocks which are chiefly
rhyolites of Triassic age. The rocks, nearly 2,000 feet in thickness,
dip gently to the east. The veins dip steeply to the west. In some
of them good ore bodies are opened to the depth of a thousand feet.

The deposits lie in two north-south belts, Henzel Hill belt on the
east and Lincoln Hill belt on the west, which are about two miles
apart, each a mile wide and five miles long. In the Henzel Hill belt
they are chiefly silver-bearing, in the Lincoln Hill belt gold-bearing.

Henzel Hill belt near its middle point contains Henzel Hill, an oval
silicified knob 3000 feet long, the seat of the most important deposits.
Here the deposits occur in and associated with fissures, joint planes,
and shear zones. Some of them are 40 feet in width. The ores which
average about $20 to the ton contain chiefly silver but carry also
several dollars to the ton in gold, which increases in amount with
depth.

The ore minerals are chiefly argentite and sulphantimonites with a
little associated proustite, cerargyrite, bromyrite, pyrargyrite, scales of
native silver, and specks of free gold. From the 200-foot level down
the ore minerals are mostly sulphides.

At Packard, 2 miles south of Henzel Hill, the deposits occur as massive
replacement ore beds, nearly 100 feet in maximum width, in soft schis-
tose rhyolite. They contain but little quartz. The ore minerals are
chiefly cerargyrite and argentite. Most of the ore produced up to 1916
averaged in silver about $50 to the ton.

In the Lincoln Hill belt the deposits are more distinctly narrow veins
of the filled fissure type. The gangue is quartz which contains almost
exclusively free gold ores, averaging about $140 to the ton, with some
that are very rich. The associated minerals are pyrite, arsenopyrite,

proceedings: biological society 519

tourmaline, specularite, argentite, bromyrite, and a gold telluride. Some
of the gold is coarse, which fact suggests that these veins probably
represent an important source of the rich placers mined in neighboring
Spring Valley and American Canyon.

From the presence of minerals of deep-seated origin, the replacement
character of the deposits, and hydrothermal alteration of the rocks,
the Rochester deposits seem to have been formed at relatively high
temperatures and at considerable depth. Their origin is referred to
magmatic solutions and gases emanating from post-Jurassic granite,
which as a batholithic mass intrudes the rocks on the north and is
believed to extend beneath the district. The deposits therefore are
probably of early Cretaceous age.

From the deep-seated character of the deposits and their close asso-
ciation with the major geologic structures which are very persistent,
it is believed that some of the deposits may extend to considerable
depth.

W. C. Alden: The Iowan stage of glaciation — a review of the evidence
based upon field studies in 1914 and 1915, by the United States and Iowa
Geological Surveys. For resume of the facts presented in this paper see
Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., 27: 117-119. 1916.

Carroll H. Wegemann, Secretary.

THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 557th regular meeting was held at the Cosmos Club on May 20,
1916; called to order by President Hay at 8 p.m.; 30 persons present.

On recommendation of the Council, James L. Peters was elected
to active membership.

The President announced that the Council of the Society had voted
to adopt the custom of the medical and of many other scientific societies
of allowing members to speak but once during the discussion of a paper
and of asking the original speaker to answer all questions at the end
of the discussion and to close the same.

Under the heading of Brief notes and exhibition of specimens, Dr.
Howard E. Ames referred again to the dorsally placed mammae of
the coypu (Myocastor coypu) and exhibited photographs of a female
coypu in the collection of the Philadelphia Zoological Society show-
ing the mammae so placed.

The first paper of the Regular program was by A. T. Speare: Some
fungi that kill insects. Mr. Speare spoke briefly of certain experiments
that were conducted in Europe about 1885, in which the "green mus-
cardine" fungus was used in a practical way to combat the cockchafer
of wheat. Reference was also made to similar work that has recently
been conducted in Florida, and Trinidad, B. W. I. The writer spoke
also of the present status of the chinch bug disease and of the brown
tailed moth disease. In regard to the latter he spoke in detail of the
methods employed in spreading this disease in the field. At the end
of the paper he exhibited slides illustrating various types of entomog-

520 proceedings: biological society

enous fungi, some of which were collected by him in the Hawaiian
Islands. Mr. Speare's communication was discussed by General
T. E. Wilcox and by Dr. L. 0. Howard.

The second paper was by L. 0. Howard : The possible use of Lachnos-
terna larvae as a food supply. Dr. Howard briefly referred to the preju-
dice against insects as food and gave an account of his experiments
recently undertaken with white grubs sent in from Wisconsin. They
were sterilized, thoroughly washed, the contents of the alimentary
canal removed, and were then served as a salad and in a broth. They
were eaten by several members of the Bureau of Entomology and by
Mr. Vernon Bailey of the Biological Survey and were pronounced
distinctly edible. The speaker urged further experimentation with
numerous species of insects as to their food value. Dr. Howard's com-
munication was discussed by the Chair, Mr. W. E. Safford, General
Wilcox and Medical Inspector Ames.

The last paper was by W. E. Safford: Agriculture in pre-Columbian
America. Mr. Safford described various plants used by the early in-
habitants of America, particularly those of Mexico and of Central and
South America, and the manner of their use and preparation, and called
attention to those employed at the present day and adopted by civilized
man. The prominent part which these plants played in the life of the
pre-Columbian inhabitants is shown in ceremonial objects, earthen-
ware products, etc., ornamented by designs based on these plants and
in some cases by molds of parts of plants. Mr. Safford's communi-
cation was illustrated by numerous lantern slide views of the plants
under consideration and of many objects bearing plant designs. It
was discussed by the Chair, General Wilcox and by Prof. E. 0.
Wooton.

M. W. Lyon, Jr., Recording Secretary.

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VI SEPTEMBER 19, 1916 No. 15

MATHEMATICS. — A precision projection plot. F. E. Wright,
Geophysical Laboratory.

For the solution of spherical triangles and of certain crystal-
lographic-optical problems graphical methods are often used.
These problems involve the angular relations between direc-
tions in space and are best presented and solved by means
either of a sphere or of some projection of the sphere such as the
stereographic projection. The first stereographic projection plot
or net of which the writer has found record was published in
1854 as "The Great Circle Protractor" by Prof. W.Chauvenet1
of the U. S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and was in-
tended for use by navigators in great circle sailing and in the
solution of spherical triangles. This chart consists of an equa-
torial stereographic projection net, 15 inches in diameter and with
parallels and meridians 1° apart. A second and similar plot
printed on transparent material was placed above the first net
on a pivot and could be rotated about the common center.
The maze of lines hereby introduced rendered, however, the
application of the projection difficult and the method was not
used to any great extent ; it was found that tracing paper served

1 First described in May, 1854, at the Washington meeting of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science. It was adopted the same year by
the U. S. Navy Department and the TJ. S. Naval Academy; was reissued in 1867
by the U. S. Hydrographic Office. Described also in Great Circle Sailing, by
G. W. Littlehales. TJ. S. Hydrographic Office, No. 90, 1889; see also S. L. Pen-
field, Am. J. Sci. (4), 13: 250. 1902.

521

522

WRIGHT! PRECISION PROJECTION PLOT

the purpose better, as the observer could draw on it only those

lines which he needed in his triangles.

In 1885 Commander C. D. Sigsbee2 published a paper on

Graphical Methods for Navigators in which was included an

exceedingly exact
stereographic projec-
tion net 18 inches in
diameter. The great
and small circles are
drawn at 1° intervals
on this net, which is
the most accurate in
existence. This net
was issued as a sepa-
rate sheet in 1888 by
the U. S. Hydro-
graphic Office.3 Solu-
tions with it were
made commonly on a
sheet of tracing paper
placed above the net
and rotated about the
center point. Experi-
ence has shown
that projection nets
printed on paper suf-
fer distortion as a re-
sult of the unequal
contraction of the pa-
per on drying. To
obviate this difficulty,
which may become

Fig. 1. Precision projection plot and stand.

2 Proc. U. S. Naval Institute, 11: 241-263. 1885.

3 Graphical Solution of Spherical Triangles. By Commander C. D. Sigsbee,
U.S.N. Published December, 1888. U. S. Hydrographic Office. Plate 513.
Price 40 cents. Republished in 1896 in Sigsbee's Graphical Methods for Navi-
gators. U. S. Hydrographic Office.

WRIGHT: PRECISION PROJECTION PLOT 523

serious when accurate measurements are to be made, R. A.
Harris4 suggested that a polar stereographic net be drawn
over the Sigsbee equatorial net, so that all rotations can be
accomplished directly in the projection itself and the errors due
to distortion after printing be thus eliminated.

Stereographic projection nets were made use of by Fedorow5
and Michel Levy6 for the representation of the optical data of
the plagioclase feldspars. In 1901 Penfield7 published an ex-
tended account of the stereographic projection and described
several protractors to facilitate its practical application. In 1902
G. Wulffs published a stereographic net and claimed to intro-
duce new and improved methods of using the stereographic pro-
jection; his method is commonly referred to in the literature as
Wulff's method. It is of interest to note, however, that both
Chauvenet and Sigsbee had published stereographic projection
nets many years before Wulff and that their nets were of greatly
superior precision. In view of the fact that the new method
described by Wulff is identical with that which Sigsbee described
many years before, it is incorrect to name the method after Wulff;
if the method is to be called after its first originators it should
be named the Chauvenet-Sigsbee method.

In 1906 G. W. Littlehales9 published an atlas of many plates
of a carefully drawn stereographic projection net 12 feet in
diameter. By use of this net spherical triangles can be solved
with an error of only 2' in favorable cases.

Improvements in the method of mounting and rotating the
projection paper were suggested by Wulfing,10 Johannsen,11
Wright,12 and Noll.13

4 G. W. Littlehales. Great circle sailing. 2d edition. U. S. Hydrographic
Office, No. 90: 41-45. 1899.

5Zeitschr. Krist,, 21: 574-714. 1893: 22: 229-268. 1894; 26: 225. 1896; 27:
337. 1897; 29: 604. 1898.

6 La Determination des Feldspaths. I, Paris, 1894; II, Paris, 1896.

7 Am. J. Sci. (4), 11: 1-24, 115-114. 1901; 13: 245-275, 347-376. 1902; 14:
241-284. 1902.

8Zeitschrift f. Kristallographie, 36: 14. 1902.

9 Altitude, azimuth, and geographic position. Philadelphia, 1906.
10 Centralblatt ftir Mineralogie, 1911.
"Journ. Geology, 19: 752. 1911.

12 Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 167: 166. 1911.

13 Centralblatt ftir Mineralogie, 380, 1912.

524 WRIGHT: PRECISION PROJECTION PLOT

The device described below is similar in principle to that
adopted by Wiilfing, Johannsen, and Noll; but its design and
construction are different; it is built with special reference to
precision and convenience. A metal stand (fig. 1) supports an
electric lamp at C which illuminates a disk of frosted plate glass ;
this plate in turn supports an equatorial projection net, stereo-
graphic or angle (globular), printed on thick, transparent cellu-
loid. The two nets are 40 cm. in diameter and were reduced
photolithographically by the precision methods of the U. S.
Geological Survey,14 the first from a carefully taken print of the
Sigsbee projection net,15 the second from an accurate drawing 50
cm. in diameter of an angle (globular) projection net. On both
these nets, either one of which may be used, the curves are at
1° intervals and are sufficiently separated (nearly 2.5 mm. on
an average) that 0.1° can be read off without difficulty. The
celluloid disk rests on the glass disk and by means of center-
ing screws can be centered to the axis of rotation of the outer
steel ring which runs in an accurately turned bearing and carries
the tracing paper on which the measurements are plotted in the
positions indicated by the underlying projection net.

Experience extending over several years with this apparatus
has shown that it meets the exacting requirements of accurate
work well and is, moreover, convenient to use. The tracing paper
is held in place by means of the hinged iron bars which pass over
the outside square ends of the rotating ring and clamp the paper
securely.

Experience has also shown that the distortion of the stereo-
graphic projection has in certain instances an appreciable effect
on the attainable accuracy, and that for most purposes of calcu-
lation and of projection of optical data the angle (globular)
projection net is preferable.

14 The writer is indebted to Dr. Geo. Otis Smith, Director of the U. S. Geo-
logical Survey for having had these reproductions made.

15 Furnished to the writer through the courtesy of Geo. W. Littlehales of the
U. S. Hydrographic Office.

hersey: viscosimeters 525

PHYSICS. — The theory of the torsion and the rolling ball viscos-
imeters, and their use in measuring the effect of pressure on
viscosity.1 M. D. Hersey, Bureau of Standards. (Com-
municated by S. W. Stratton.)

Theory of the torsion viscosimeter . By dimensional reasoning,
the torque exerted on the suspended inner cylinder, by the uni-
formly rotating outer cylinder of liquid, is found to be

T = fJLnr*f(—,—, shaped (1)

\g v /

in which p denotes viscosity, n revolutions in unit time, r radius
of inner cylinder, g gravity, and v kinematic viscosity n/p, where
p is the density. The unknown function / may be determined
empirically by varying the arguments shown, and this may be
done without altering r. Three interesting cases are, first, that
in which turbulence and the drag on the bottom are negligible,
while the inner cylinder projects above the free surface. In this
case we may calculate, approximately, the proportions for which
the concavity in the free surface, due to centrifugal force, will
serve to secure compensation against speed fluctuations, thus
dispensing with the use of either a speed governor or a stop
watch. It turns out that a large sample of the liquid will be
required. The second special case is that in which the torque
is not independent of the density of the sample, owing to spiral
flow across the bottom or to turbulent end effects, but in which
the free surface is level, so that the argument containing g in
(1) drops out. In this case the instrument is self-calibrating;
by observing with a single liquid what function of speed the
deflection is, we can at once infer what function it is of the
viscosity. Finally, a third case is that of a completely immersed
cylinder, so slender that the end effects are small, and run-
ning so slowly that the final deflection is independent of the
density. For this case we may integrate the equations, and

1 This work was done at the Jefferson Physical Laboratory, Harvard Univer-
sity. It will later be published in detail, as a part of a more general paper on
lubrication.

526 hersey: viscosimeters

design the instrument so that it shall have any desired character-
istics ; referring to experiment only after the instrument has been
set up ready for use, and then only to get a more accurate value
of the single calibration constant which is required, namely r0,
the deflection at unit speed in water.

The constants of performance of such an instrument, besides
t0, are: the free period t; the stress in the suspension at unit deflec-
tion; the lag, or time required to attain a stated fraction of the
final deflection; and the viscosity for critical damping. Of these
to and t are the most important, and are given by

r0 = 256ir£-° — ^?- (2)

and

i = htez in (3)

d2 " rj

in which mo is the viscosity of the standardizing liquid, rj the
shear modulus of the suspension (assumed circular; for a ribbon
the coefficient 256 t would give way to some larger number) ;
I the length and d the diameter of the suspension, H the height
of the inner cylinder, R the ratio of outer to inner radii, and I
the moment of inertia of the suspended system. Note from (2)
the insensitiveness of the instrument to changes in outer radius
when the clearance is large. It is desirable that t0 be large,
and imperative that t be small.

Construction and use. A simple form of this instrument,
roughly constructed for immediate use, had the calculated values
t0 = 0.32 radian /r. p. s. in water at 20°C, and t = 6 sec; and
the observed values t0 = 0.38 and t = 5. Deflections were read
off by a pointer and graduated circle, and, subject to deviations
of several per cent, were found proportional to the speed, and
therefore to the viscosity. An ordinary test tube forms the
outer cylinder. In changing samples, one test tube is bodily
removed, and the next inserted. Thus 30 cc. is a sufficiently
large sample, and the container need not be cleaned. This use
of the test tube, together with the fact that the shape of the

hersey: viscosimeters 527

parts permits its performance to be predicted mathematically,
are the advantages of this modification over those recently used
by McMichael, and by Hayes and Lewis.

The torsion viscosimeter was used to determine the viscosities
of a series of liquids, ranging from water to castor oil, subse-
quently needed in calibrating the rolling ball viscosimeter.

Theory of the rolling ball viscosimeter. The time required for a
ball to roll down a slanted tube, filled with the liquid, has been
proposed and used by Flowers, who resorts to a fine bore to
make roll time proportional to viscosity. In adapting this type
of viscosimeter to observations under pressure, the writer has
avoided the difficulties of technique accompanying small tubes,
by using a large tube, fo^ which the roll time is not proportional
to the viscosity, and then determining its characteristics by
dimensional reasoning.

Assuming no surface friction, some relation must subsist be-
tween the roll time t, the kinematic viscosity v, density p, ball
density p0, gravity g, tube diameter D, ball diameter d, tube
length I, angle with horizontal a, and roughness r. If so, the
relation can be completely mapped out, for any one series of
geometrically similar arrangements, by varying experimentally

the three arguments tt„> -^tj and — Or, without stopping to

U~ L) p

establish the complete relation, we can at once determine rela-
tive viscosities by comparing observations taken under dynami-
cally similar circumstances; for, as long as the above arguments
are kept constant,

n = W = \dJ

Finally, by observing the transit time r per unit length, between
two points for which the speed is sensibly constant, the three
arguments above may be coalesced into two, leaving

F (x, y) = 0 (5)

in which .t denotes r \DglPo -l J and y denotes v \D3g( ° -lj.

528 hersey: viscosimeters

An experimental determination of this function F affords the
desired calibration equation for viscosity in terms of roll time.
Experimental test of the theory. Equations (4) and (5) were
verified in the course of a series of experiments in which the
behaviour of the tubes was minutely studied, and the linear
relation

y = a + bx (6)

was found to hold over the range from y = 0.0001 to y = 0.1,

the constants having the values a = — 0.0009 and b = +0.00027,

(subject to accidental errors of several per cent due to tempera-

d
ture uncertainties); provided a = 15° and j: = 0.63, and that

the ball and tube are of ordinary smoothness. The experiments
on which the above generalized equation is based were made
with a glass tube about 1 cm. in diameter, containing a \ inch
(0.635 cm.) steel ball. Since x, y, a, and b are dimensionless,
the numerical values given are common to all systems of normal
units.

Construction for use under pressure. The foregoing details
were duplicated, except for small corrections, in the steel tube
used under pressure. This tube was fitted with electric contacts,
and with pressure-tight plugs of the type developed by Bridg-
man, in whose laboratory the work was carried on. It was
connected to the pump and gage by a considerable length of
copper tubing, and swivelled so that either end could nstantly
be thrown up to a prescribed angle. This steel tube was cali-
brated for different densities by reference to equation (6).

Residts on two lubricating oils. Lard oil and minera machine
oil were selected for testing, because of the well known differ-
ence in their behaviour as lubricants, although, under atmos-
pheric conditions, they have nearly the same viscosity. Express-
ing the results in the form

ix = Mo (1 + «P) (?)

and measuring pressure in atmospheres, (kg. /cm.2), the value of
the pressure coefficient of viscosity, a, at 20°C, was found to
be 0.0023 for lard, and 0.0032 for machine oil, over a range of

hersey: viscosimeters 529

200 atm. The lard oil was later carried to 500 atm., and its
viscosity found to increase much more rapidly than at the lower
pressures. These results point to the advisability of now map-
ping out the n, p, t surfaces of all lubricants in a systematic
manner. In doing so, it is possible that both the above method
and the free discharge method suggested below will be found
simpler than the immersed capillary tube under differential pres-
sure, used by Faust in some recent experiments not embracing
lubricants.

The extension of Poiseuille's law to high pressures. Various
equations relating to lubrication might well be generalized to
include the effect of pressure. Thus Poiseuille's law may be
rewritten

Q=l~r*C (8)

o Ho

in which Q is the volume discharged in unit time, by steady
isothermal stream line flow, through a tube of radius r under a
pressure gradient G; fi0 being the viscosity at the outlet pressure,
and C a dimensionless coefficient depending on the viscosity-
pressure curve of the liquid. Thus

C= Mo FJP- (9)

P-Pj?»f(p)

P0 being the outlet, and P the inlet values of the pressure p,
and ju = f{p) being some empirical formula for the viscosity.
By postulating a particular form for /, we could, in theory, eval-
uate the coefficients therein (such as a of equation (7) ), by
observing the discharge from a high pressure reservoir through
a long water-jacketed tube into the free air.

To determine how nearly isothermal such flow could be made,
note that, when K is constant, the final temperature rise of any
incompressible viscous fluid, during steady (unaccelerated) adia-
batic flow, is rigorously given by the formula

Ap
JK

in which Ap is the total pressure drop, P -- P0, J the mechanical

At = -5* (10)

530 JACKSON: ROTATION OF DEXTROSE

equivalent, and K the thermal capacity of the liquid per unit
volume. Thus the temperature rise depends solely on Ap and
K; it is independent of the shape, diameter, or length of the
tube, the viscosity of the liquid, or the rate of discharge.

CHEMISTRY. — The saccharimetric normal weight and the spe-
cific rotation of dextrose.1 Richard F. Jackson, Bureau of
Standards. (Communicated by S. W. Stratton.)

Pure dextrose was prepared from starch conversion products
and from invert sugar solutions. After a preliminary purging
had removed a great portion of the adhering impurities, the sub-
stance was dissolved to form a 60 per cent solution in water and
the crystals allowed to form slowly during continuous agitation.
Two or three recrystallizations were sufficient to produce dex-
trose of high purity. A portion was subjected to a fractional
crystallization and another portion precipitated by ethyl alcohol.
The various purified samples showed essentially identical prop-
erties.

Dextrose crystallizes from water solution with one molecule
of water of crystallization which it loses very readily at 60°C.
The residual moisture was removed by heating in a vacuum at
60°-80°C. for several hours.

To prepare the solution for polarization, approximately the
quantity required was weighed and dried in a weighed volu-
metric flask, and the solution was made up to the graduation
mark of the flask at 20°C. From the data obtained the den-
sities of dextrose solutions were calculated and found to corre-
spond to the formula:

D 20o = 0.99840 + 0.003788 p + 0.00001412 p2 where p is

per cent anhydrous dextrose by weight in vacuo. The formula
is valid for values of p between 5 and 30.

The solution was allowed to stand over night at room temper-
ature in order to destroy the mutarotation.

Twelve independent measurements were made to determine
the weight of substance which, contained in 100 cc. of solution,

1 To appear in detail as a Scientific Paper of the Bureau of Standards.

JACKSON: ROTATION OF DEXTROSE 531

would cause a rotation of 100°$ on the scale of the quartz-wedge
saccharimeter. If the latter is controlled by the conversion fac-
tors determined by Bates and Jackson,2 namely, 34?620 for
X = 5892.5 A or 40?690 for X = 5461 A or by the rotation of
26.000 gm. of pure sucrose in 100 cc, the normal weight of dex-
trose is 32.231 gm., weighed in air with brass weights. If the
saccharimeter is calibrated by the Herzfeld-Schonrock factor,
34?657, which Bates and Jackson have shown to be in error, the
normal weight of dextrose is 32.264 gm.

For solutions more dilute than normal the rotations deviate
from proportionality. It is, therefore, necessary to apply cor-
rections, to make the scale reading indicate the per cent of sub-
stance. These corrections are given in Table 1.

TABLE 1

Reading: 90°S 80°S 70°S 60°S 50°S 40°S 30°S 20°S 10°S
Correction: +0.20 +0.35 +0.46 +0.53 +0.55 +0.53 +0.46 +0.35 +0.20

The rotation of the normal solution (32.231 gm.) for X = 5461
A is 40?898. Since the normal quartz plate rotates 40?690, it
is evident that there is a considerable divergence between the
rotary dispersion curves of dextrose and of quartz. Thus, when
the quartz-wedge saccharimeter is set for a photometric match,
the field is slightly heterochromatic and the degree of repro-
ducibility of the setting is necessarily less than that of sucrose,
whose dispersion curve coincides more closely with that of quartz.
This difficulty is only overcome by an increased number of set-
tings and by some preliminary experience on the part of the
observer.

The specific rotation, which is a function of the concentration
of dextrose, corresponds to the formula

W2M6°i a = 62.032 + 0.04257 c

where c is grams of anhydrous dextrose weighed in vacuo and
contained in 100 cc. of solution, or to the formula

MS a = 62-032 + 0.04220 p + 0.0001897 p2
where p is per cent dextrose by weight in vacuo.

2 Journ. Wash. Acad., 6: 25. 1916; Bull. Bur. Standards, 13: 67. 1916.

532 SOSMAN AND MERWIN: LIME: FERRIC OXIDE

CHEMISTRY. — Preliminary report on the system, lime: ferric
oxide. R. B. Sosman and H. E. Merwin, Geophysical
Laboratory.

Previous work. Apart from various isolated observations on
the calcium ferrites, the only extensive investigation of the
system calcium oxide: ferric oxide has been by Kohlmeyer.1 He
observed the melting and freezing temperatures of 44 mixtures,
containing from 5 up to 95 molecular per cent CaO. The
density and external crystal form, as well as the chemical behavior
toward water, carbon dioxide, etc., of the products, were also
determined. Unfortunately no optical examinations were made,
and no optical properties measured.

Experience has shown that in the study of such systems as
the silicates and ferrites the assistance of the petrographic micro-
scope is almost indispensable; false conclusions may easily be
reached from thermal data alone. Such was the case with Kohl-
meyer's study. We have proved the existence of only one out
of his five supposed compounds, while we have found one new
compound, the existence of which was not shown by his thermal
data.

Dissociation of the ferric oxide. A certain amount of ferrous
iron is formed in all melted mixtures of CaO and Fe203. Between
50 and 100 molecular per cent CaO the percentage of ferrous
oxide is small in mixtures heated to 1400°-1500°; but in melts
containing from 0 to 50 per cent CaO the amount of ferrous
oxide increases rapidly with the temperature and with the pro-
portion of Fe203, so that some of the melting and solidifying
points observed may actually belong in the three component
system : lime-iron-oxygen. The completion of the diagram from
0 to 50 per cent CaO will therefore have to await experiments
under oxygen at pressures higher than atmospheric.

Since apparatus for such experiments is not immediately avail-
able, and since the results already obtained are of some interest,
particularly in connection with certain problems of Portland

1 Diss., Berlin 1909. Ber. Don. Chem. Ges., 42: 4581-4594. 1909.

SOSMAN AND MERWIN : LIME: FERRIC OXIDE 533

cement, we are publishing this preliminary report in order to
make these results accessible to those interested.

It is possible that work on three component systems in which
Fe203 and CaO are components, especially on the system Si02 —
CaO — Fe203, in which quenchings can be made, will indicate
changes that should be made on the accompanying CaO — Fe203
diagram, which, however, represents satisfactorily the facts so
far obtained.

Method and materials. For the thermal data we depended
almost entirely upon thermal curves (temperature-time curves).
The method of quenching in mercury is of little avail in the
system CaO — Fe203, for the reason that the products crystallize
so easily and so rapidly that undercooled "glasses" are not
obtained as in the case of the silicates, and the primary phase
cannot, therefore, be always identified. Heating curves com-
bined with optical examinations are, however, sufficient for the
working out of the diagram. The optical properties are not as
readily determinable as those of the silicates, on account of the
deep colors and high indexes of refraction of the compounds, but
the use of high refracting immersion glasses makes it possible to
identify the phases with certainty.

Thermal curves and optical examinations were made on vari-
ous mixtures of CaO and Fe203, made up initially from chemically
pure CaC03 (J. T. Baker, and Baker and Adamson) and Fe203
(Baker and Adamson, and Kahlbaum). Charges of from 1.0 to
2.5 grams were used, in small platinum crucibles in a platinum-
wound furnace. The carbonate-oxide mixtures were first melted
down and then ground and re-melted for the determination of
the thermal breaks. The mixtures containing less than 50 molec-
ular per cent CaO were not heated above 1250°, to avoid, as
far as possible, dissociation of the Fe203. Temperatures were
measured by the platinum-platinrhodium thermoelement and
potentiometer.

The composition-temperature diagram. We find only two binary
compounds in the system CaO — Fe203. These are: (1) the
1 : 1 compound, CaO . Fe20 ; (2) the 2 : 1 compound, 2CaO . Fe203.
Both of these appear to be dissociated at their melting points.

534

SOSMAN AND MERWIN: LIME : FERRIC OXIDE

The melting point of pure CaO is 2570°, according to Kanolt.2
Its properties have been published elsewhere.3

The " transition temperature" at which the compound
2CaO. Fe203 dissociates and is in equilibrium with CaO and liquid
is 1436°. All mixtures from about 64 molecular per cent (about
38 weight per cent) of CaO up to pure CaO liquefy in part at this
temperature, leaving pure CaO as the solid phase in excess. This

1600
1500
1400
1300

1200
1100

WOO

CaO + Liquid \

CaO + 2.CaO.Fe203

CaO

ECaOFe203

Fe203

+ Liquid \^CaO.Fe203 + Liquid / +i,qUjd

zCaO.Fe203
+ CaO.Fe203

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10

Molecular Percentage CaO

Fig. 1. Composition-temperature diagram of the system CaO-Fe203. Circles
represent observed thermal breaks.

forms relatively large, rounded, clear grains, which dissolve as
the temperature is raised, until they disappear completely at the
temperature of the liquidus curve.

The corn-pound 2CaO . Fe203 crystallizes well, giving black crys-
tals which are of a yellowish brown color by transmitted light
under the microscope. The liquid can be undercooled to 1385°

2 This Journal, 3: 31.5-318. 1913.

3 Rankin and Wright. Am. Journ. Sci., 39: 3. 1915.

SOSMAN AND MERWIN: LIME : FERRIC OXIDE 535

or lower. The crystallized product then shows traces of free
CaO and CaO . Fe203, which are due to dissociation, and which
have not combined during cooling. The compound forms from
a finely powdered mixture of CaC03 and Fe203 at a temperature
considerably below its liquefying point; under our conditions a
considerable quantity of the compound formed during 30 min-
utes heating at 1000°, although none was visible in a mixture
heated rapidly to 950°, at which temperature most of the carbon
dioxide had been expelled.

The optical properties of the compound 2CaO . Fe203 are : biax-
ial, positive, with a moderate optic axial angle. aLi = 2.200
± 0.005, |8Li = 2.220 ± 0.005, yLi = 2.290 ±0.005. The opti-
cal dispersion of a is the same as of the immersion medium,
therefore aNa is about 2.25; /3 and y have lower dispersion, a is
absorbed considerably through the red as well as for shorter
wave-lengths. /3 and y are absorbed little at wave-lengths longer
than 620mm, and are transmitted considerably at 550mm-

There is no optical evidence of solid solution either of CaO or
of CaO.Fe203 in the compound.

The transition temperature at which the compound CaO . Fe203
dissociates, and is in equilibrium with liquid and with 2CaO . Fe203
is 1216°. All mixtures between about 48 and 65 molecular per
cent of CaO (about 24.5 to 38 weight per cent) liquefy in part
at this temperature, forming liquid and leaving excess of
2CaO . Fe203 as the crystalline phase, which dissolves with rising
temperature and disappears at the liquidus curve.

The compound CaO.Fe203, after dissociating and nearly all
liquefying at 1216°, becomes completely liquid at about 1250°
by the disappearance of the solid 2CaO.Fe203 formed by dis-
sociation. The liquid crystallizes with less undercooling than
does the compound 2CaO.Fe203, and the temperature of the
thermoelement sometimes rises to within a few degrees of 1216°.
The crystallized product contains an appreciable amount of
2CaO.Fe203, and dark dusty ferric oxide. When powdered and
reheated at 1190°, these dissociation products recombine com-
pletely, forming a homogeneous product of red CaO.Fe203; the
powder also sinters together.

536 sosman and merwin: lime: ferric oxide

The compound forms from a finely powdered mixture of CaC03
and Fe203 at a temperature well below the melting point, just
as the 2 : 1 compound does. It crystallizes well, giving black
crystals. The crystals are frequently in the form of long needles,4
but no evidence of prismatic habit is visible in the powdered
preparation under the microscope.

The optical properties of the compound CaO.Fe203 are as
follows: Color: deep red, about like hematite; optical character:
nearly or quite uniaxial, negative; indexes of refraction: coLi =
2.465 ± 0.005, eLi = 2.345 =±= 0.005. For sodium light co is about
2.58 and c about 2.43. These values were determined by observ-
ing that throughout the red and orange the dispersion of the
compound was not noticeably different from that of the immer-
sion medium, e is absorbed slightly more than co in the orange
and at shorter wave-lengths, but not noticeably more in the red.
Grains 0.01 mm. in thickness show scarcely any absorption at
wave lengths longer than 610mm; at wave lengths shorter than
580mm they are very dark.

There is no optical evidence of solid solution either of
2CaO . Fe203 or of Fe203 in the compound.

There is a eutectic at 1203° between CaO.Fe203 on the one
hand, and ferric oxide (hematite) on the other. The mixture
containing 10 molecular per cent CaO shows clearly an excess
of hematite. The mixture with 25 molecular per cent CaO con-
sists almost entirely of a deep red, apparently homogeneous,
material, which is probably an intimately intergrown eutectic of
CaO.Fe203 and Fe203; the mixture contains also a little excess
of red CaO . Fe203. The eutectic composition is therefore between
10 and 25 per cent CaO, and probably near the latter.

The melting point of pure Fe2Os is unknown, as it dissociates
under atmospheric pressure of oxygen before the melting point
is reached into oxygen and a solid solution of Fe304 in Fe203.5
Its optical properties have been published elsewhere.6

4 See photographs by Hofman and Mostowitsch, Bull. Am. Inst. Min. Eng.
39: 628-653. 1909.

5 Sosman and Hostetter. Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, 38: 807-833. 1916.
'Merwin. Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, 38: 830. 1916.

cook: morphology and evolution of leaves 537

The Fe203 fragments in the preparation containing 10 molecu-
lar per cent CaO, which had been heated to 1250° but was not
completely melted, had a variable and lower refractive index
than pure hematite (w as much as 0.05 lower). This is due to
solid solution either of CaO . Fe203 or of Fe304. co was measured
in an amorphous mixture of selenium and arsenic selenide(As2Se3),
by means of which, with the addition of tellurium, a refractive
index of about 3.15 for red can be reached.

We have found no evidence as yet of a 3 : 1 compound anala-
gous to tricalcium aluminate. Samples of this composition
quenched7 after 15 minutes at 1575°, 15 minutes a„t 1525°, 15
minutes at 1325°, and 3 hours at 1375° all consisted only of CaO
and 2CaO . Fe203. Thermal curves on this mixture showed only
the melting at 1434-1436°.

Chemical analogy has naturally led several authors to expect
a phase rule diagram for the system CaO — Fe203 similar to that
for CaO — A1203. Campbell,8 for instance, assumed the exist-
ence of the compound 5Ca0.3Fe203, analogous to the 5 : 3 com-
pound of lime and alumina, and claimed to have found chemical
evidence for its existence. We find no evidence of such a com-
pound. Instead of being analogous to CaO — A1203, the dia-
gram of the system CaO - Fe203 resembles that of MgO - Si029
much more clearly than it resembles that of any other of the
silicate systems with which we are familiar.

PLANT MORPHOLOGY.— Morphology and evolution of leaves.
O. F. Cook, Bureau of Plant Industry.

In seedlings of many palms, grasses, and other plants the first
leaves are simple, bladeless sheaths, or the blade appears as an
appendage or expanded outgrowth from the rim of the sheath.
Leaves with larger blades are produced as the plant grows, until
the adult degree of specialization is attained. The essential fea-
ture of the primitive leaf is the basal sheath, in the form of a

7 Quenchings by G. A. Rankin.

8 E. D. Campbell. Jour. Ind. Eng. Chem., 7: 835-837. 1915.

9 N. L. Bowen. Am. Jour. Sci., 37: 487-500. 1914.

538 cook: morphology and evolution of leaves

cylinder. Each sheath in turn encloses the terminal bud of the
shoot, and later encircles the stem.

Three elements of leaf structure — blade, petiole, and stipules —
are recognized generally in manuals and textbooks. These are
convenient for purposes of description, but for understanding
the structure and evolution of leaves it is better to begin with
the sheath or with the sheath and the blade, the two elements
that appear to have been differentiated in advance of the others.
Sheaths have been looked upon as expanded petioles or united
stipules, instead of being considered as a primitive element. It
has seemed reasonable to suppose that the petiole and the stip-
ules have been derived from the blade, which in most plants is
the largest and most important part of the leaf, but a general
interpretation in accord with evolutionary facts is needed in the
study of structural variations of plants.

THE PRIMITIVE FUNCTION OF LEAVES

In plants like Equisetum, Ephedra, and Casuarina the inter-
nodes perform the vegetative functions. Leaves are represented
only by sheaths or scales which are mere appendages of the inter-
nodes, apparently of little use except for protecting the buds.
Palms and many other plants afford examples of internodes and
sheaths that have chlorophyll and stomata in the epidermal tis-
sues and share the vegetative functions with the blades of the
leaves. Cacti and specialized desert plants of other families have
very small or rudimentary leaves, thus reducing transpiration.

It is customary to think of bud scales and similar organs as
leaves that have been specialized by reduction, but it may be
more correct morphologically to think of foliage leaves as enlarged
bud scales that have assumed the vegetative functions formerly
discharged by the internodes. The function of the bud scales
is older than are the present forms of leaves, and may date back
to the stage when the sheaths were simple cylinders, before the
development of more specialized forms of leaf structure. It is
unnecessary to suppose that the early types of seed plants lacked
bud scales.

cook: moephology and evolution of leaves 539

the course of specialization in leaf-forms

Other specialized forms of leaves, such as sepals, bracts, and
scales of subterranean rootstocks, may also be considered as
representing primitive sheaths or bud scales, rather than as reduc-
tions from the fully developed type of foliage leaves. From this
point of view the foliage leaves appear to be the most specialized.
Yet in developing the foliage leaves plants have not lost the
ability to produce the simpler organs — sheaths, bud scales, or
bracts. The plant body is a succession of different kinds of
internodes, or metamers, bearing different kinds of leaves. At
one end of the series are the cotyledons or seed-leaves, at the
other the carpels or fruit-leaves, with many intermediate stages
between the different kinds of foliar and floral organs.

As stamens are often transformed into petals, so we may think
of cotyledons and foliage leaves as sterile carpels performing
vegetative functions. Some of the species of Sterculia have broad
leaflike carpels that persist and remain green long after the seeds
have been shed. That the stamens and carpels of the different
families of plants are generally more alike than the leaves or other
parts of the plant body is more easily understood when we con-
sider the evolution of plants as a process of intercalation of more
numerous and more specialized forms of metamers. Plants like
the junipers, pines, and eucalypts have two distinct kinds of
foliage leaves, showing clearly that a double evolution of these
organs has taken place.

The succession of different kinds of leaves, the classical exam-
ple used by Goethe in presenting the idea of evolutionary changes
in the forms of the same organ, may not be less significant for
the strictly morphological purpose of understanding the origin
and homologies of the structural elements of the leaves. The
changes that take place in passing through the succession of leaf-
forms, during the development of the plant, are also of interest
for the study of heredity.1

1 Cook. O. F. Dimorphic leaves of cotton and allied plants in relation to heredity.
U. S. Dept, Agric, Bur. PI. Ind., Bull. 221. 1911. Heredity and cotton breeding.
U. S. Dept, Agric, Bur. PL Ind., Bull. 256. 1912.

540 cook: morphology and evolution of leaves

differentiation of the ligule

In the development of foliage leaves the ligule was probably
the first structure to be added after the sheath and the blade.
The ligule may be described as a thickened rim of the leaf sheath,
bearing the weight of the blade or holding the sheath in place
around the stem. In Serenoa and related genera of fan-palms
the ligule is supplemented by a ligule-like expansion of the rim
that supports the bases of the segments on the under side of the
leaf. Although these subligules, as they may be called, appear
in only a few palms, they are not without general interest as
organs that are closely parallel in structure and function with
the true ligules.2

The sheaths of most palms are thickened on the side that sup-
ports the petiole, and are split on the opposite side, allowing the
leaf to diverge more widely from the trunk, but the more primi-
tive condition of closed sheaths with nearly uniform texture is also
found, as in Calamus, Desmoncus, and Chamaedorea. Even in
the large royal palms and many others the sheaths are not split
until the leaves are ready to fall.

In palms like Desmoncus and Pyrenoglyphis, as in many mem-
bers of the family Polygonaceae, the sheath, instead of being
specialized at the mouth to form a ligule, is prolonged far above
the insertion of the petiole, forming what is known as an ocrea.
A similar prolongation of the sheath beyond the point of attach-
ment with the petiole is found in the bud scales of Magnolia and
Ficus. Some writers have taken it for granted that the ocrea,
or the entire sheath, has been formed by the union of stipules,
but the indications point rather to the formation of stipules by
reduction and specialization of the sheaths of the more primi-
tive forms of leaves.

Whether we consider that the blade arose simply as an expan-
sion of the upper portion of the sheath or as an outgrowth from
the rim of the sheath, the ligule may be considered as marking

2 My attention has been called by Mr. H. Pittier to illustrations of the sub-
ligule of Trithrinax campestris published by C. De Candolle, Bull. Soc. Bot.
Geneve, II. 5: 106, pi. 3. 1913.

cook: morphology and evolution of leaves 541

a line of separation of the two portions of the primitive leaf
that became specialized. Even this indication of definite spe-
cialization of parts is lacking in many plants, as among the
lilies, orchids, and plantains, where the leaves still appear as
simple sheaths with a gradually broadened distal portion to serve
as a blade, but no distinct separation of special parts. The idea
of leaf blades arising as outgrowths from leaf sheaths appears
more probable, or at least less fantastic, when we consider such
a case as the leaf of Smilax, where the end of the sheathing base
produces a pair of slender tendrils several inches in length, in
addition to the blade of the leaf. It may not be without sig-
nificance that rudimentary blades of abnormal or reduced leaves
often assume very slender, tendril-like forms.

THE EVOLUTION OF STIPULES

It has been supposed that stipules were developed from basal
lobes of leaf blades. This interpretation was suggested by Ward
and later adopted by Berry on the basis of evidence drawn from
fossils and abnormal leaf-forms of Liriodendron, but these can
be understood as intermediate stages between normal leaf-forms
and bud scales. It seems unnecessary to suppose that stipules
began with Liriodendron, or that the stipules of Liriodendron are
not homologous with those of other genera and families.3

The very general occurrence of stipules or stipular structures
is in itself a fact that must make it difficult to credit the idea of
recent development or independent derivation of such organs,
either in the family Magnoliaceae or in the many and widely
different families of plants that have stipules. The stipules of
Liriodendron may be more primitive than those of other Magno-
liaceae in retaining more of the vegetative functions of the primi-
tive sheath, but their nearly complete separation from the petiole
and from each other may be considered as a specialization, since
partially united stipules occur. Union between the stipules and
the petiole is shown in many of the reduced leaves or the large
floral bud scales that have small petioles and blades. Union

3 Berry, E. W. The origin of stipules in Liriodendron. Bull. Torrey Bot.
Club, 28: 493. 1901.

542 cook: morphology and evolution of leaves

between the stipules on the side opposite the petiole is some-
times shown in very large stipules of strong shoots.

Another line of evidence tending to throw doubt on this idea
of stipules as specializations of leaf blades might be drawn from
bracts and other organs that take the form of sheaths, even in
families whose normal foliage leaves are without stipules. Thus,
in the genus Hicoria the outer scales of lateral buds have the form
of a closed sheath, carinate on each side, somewhat similar to the
prophylla of grasses and palms. The large membranous bud
scales that precede the leaves on new shoots of Hicoria also
represent sheaths and sometimes appear in modified form as
stipular wings of the petiole, on abnormal leaves of shoots devel-
oped late in the season.

Considerations drawn from the study of "nodal anatomy"
have been used recently by Sinnott and Bailey as the basis of
interpretation of leaf morphology. Stipules, sheaths, and ligules
are classed together as " modifications of the base of the petiole,"
the final conclusion being that " a leaf with two distinct stipules
is more ancient in type than one with a sheathing base."4

Stipules have also been considered as "accessory leaves," or
as a specialized development of the basal portion of the "true
petiole."5 In the present view, stipules, bud scales, and various
forms of bracts appear to have been derived not from the blade
or the petiole of specialized leaves, but from the primitive sheath.
The ligule and even the blade itself are considered as specializa-
tions from the distal end of the sheath ; but scales and stipules as
specializations of the basal portion. Petioles are not all homolo-
gous, but are of two kinds, some derived from the sheath, and
others from the blade.

THE TWO KINDS OF PETIOLES

Taking account of the ligule or the ocrea as marking the end
of the primitive sheath makes it possible to distinguish very

4 Sinnott, E. W., and Bailey, I. W. Investigations on the phylogeny of the
angiosperms. 3. Nodal anatomy and the morphology of stipules. Amer. Journ.
Bot., 1: 441-453, pi. 44. 1914.

6 See, Tyler, A. A. The nature and origin of stipules. Ann. N. Y. Acad.
Sci., 10: 1-49, pis. 1-111. 1897.

cook: morphology and evolution of leaves 543

clearly the two kinds of petioles. Both kinds are represented
among the palms. In fan-palms the so-called petiole is below
the ligule, whereas the part described as petiole in some of the
pinnate-leaved palms certainly is above the ligule or ocrea. In
the fan-palms it is plain that the petiole is a narrowed, elongated
portion of the leaf sheath, ending at the ligule, whereas the
petiole of the Cocaceae and Chamaedoreaceae represents a naked
basal portion of the rachis or midrib.6

That the petioles are of two kinds is apparent also from the
fact that in the fan-palms the petioles agree in structure and are
entirely continuous with the leaf sheath, while in the pinnate-
leaved palms there is equally complete agreement and continuity
with the rachis. But the leaf structure is not the same in all
of the pinnate-leaved families. There appear to have been sev-
eral independent derivations of pinnate leaves from fan-leaved
ancestors. The Geonomaceae are a pinnate-leaved family in
which the petiole appears to be a part of the sheath, the same as
in fan-palms.

The magnolia family affords another example of double differ-
entiation of the petiole, the lower part of the organ being formed
by a thickened segment of the leaf sheath, while the upper part
is a narrowed base of the blade, as shown by the decurrent
margins which run down to the ligule. In such species as Mag-
nolia virginiana the lower portion of the petiole is marked very
distinctly by the scar of the deciduous leaf sheath, with a minute
hairy prominence at the end, which may be considered as a thick-
ened base of the ligular prolongation that forms the apex of the
sheathing bud scale.

It is conceivable that a petiole formed originally from the
sheath element might become separated from the remainder of
the sheath, which would account for the evolution of such organs
as the deciduous bud scales of the Artocarpaceae. But all
petioles formed from sheaths would remain essentially different
morphologically and developmentally from those that were
formed originally as basal elongations of the midrib of a simple

6 Cook, O. F. Origin and evolution of angiosperms through apospory. Proc.
Wash. Acad. Sci., 9: 174. 1907.

544 cook: morphology and evolution of leaves

leaf, or by moving the pinnae farther up the rachis of a com-
pound leaf, as in the pinnate palms.

SHEATH PETIOLES AND BLADE PETIOLES

The recognition of the two kinds of petioles as representing
distinct morphological elements makes it necessary to have more
convenient ways of designating the two classes of organs to
which the word petiole has been applied indiscriminately. The
use of such terms as sheath petiole and blade petiole would afford
a way of indicating the distinction. Sheath petioles would be
understood as those that represent specializations of the primi-
tive sheath, and blade petioles as specializations of the blade or
midrib of the leaf.

Other terms that might be used are infraligular for the sheath
petioles and ultraligular for the blade petioles, in allusion to the
differences of position in relation of the ligule. It might be
objected that ligules are confined to a few families, but the terms
would still serve to indicate the homologies of the parts to those
of plants whose possession of ligules gives the most definite basis
for the distinction between the two kinds of petioles.

THE FOOT AS A NEW ORGAN

For general descriptive purposes and especially for dealing
with plants in which the resemblance to the primitive sheath
has entirely disappeared, it may be simpler to treat the petiole-
like sheath element as a new organ not formally distinguished
hitherto. On this basis instead of sheath petiole or infraligular
petiole, a single word like foot, in Latin descriptions pes, might
be used. This would have the advantage of leaving the term
petiole as nearly as possible in its present signification, which
would need to be modified only in those cases where the so-called
petiole might be found to represent the sheath element. No
doubt there are many plants where not only the stipules are lack-
ing, but also the foot.

From this point of view it would be possible in dealing with
different families of plants to define the foot in any way that
might be most convenient, as a thickened segment of the primi-
tive sheath, as the element of the primitive sheath that supports

cook: morphology and evolution of leaves 545

the blade, as the element that is between the petiole and the
internode, or as the element to which the stipules are attached.
Thus in the peaches, almonds, plums, and other members of the
family Amygdalaceae, the petiole is articulated at its base to
the foot, to which the stipules are attached. The petiole is
deciduous with the blade, but the foot persists for another season
and functions as a bud scale. The foot is present also in apples,
pears, and roses, but falls with the leaf, there being no joint at
the base of the petiole.7 The joint is present in Oxalis and in
many leguminous plants.

Objection might be taken on etymological grounds to using
the word foot for an element that in many plants is smaller than
the petiole, which term means a small foot. It does not seem,
however, that this is likely to cause confusion, since the obvious
signification of foot is in relation to the lowest, most truly basal
portion of the leaf. Absence of the foot is to be considered as a
specialization of leaf structure, and it will be interesting to deter-
mine the status of the organ in the different families. Even
though not present in the foliage leaves, the foot may still be
represented in the bud scales, bracts, or other organs which from
our present point of view appear to be more primitive and less
specialized than the foliage leaves. That the cotyledon is some-
times called the nursing foot, or simply the foot, hardly con-
stitutes an objection to the use of this word, with other leaves,
for the element that corresponds to the cotyledons and primitive
bladeless sheaths of seedlings.

pulvini and articulations

Pulvini and articulations represent special forms of tissue con-
nected with the ligule or base of the blade in grasses and palms,
and found in corresponding positions in other families of plants.
The chief function of pulvini is to control the position of the
leaf blade, which is accomplished by varying the turgidity or
water pressure in the rather loose cells of which the pulvini are
composed. A flexible pulvinus is in the nature of a joint.

7 Cook, O. F. Jointed leaves of Amygdalaceae. Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci.,2:
218-220. 1912.

546 cook: morphology and evolution of leaves

Many leaves have a basal pulvinus, with a layer of absciss
tissue to form an articulation with the internode, when the leaf
separates at maturity. In other leaves the joint that provides
for the detachment of the leaf is between the foot and the petiole,
as in the case of the peaches, plums, cherries, and related plants.
In Magnolia virginiana there is a pronounced development of the
entire upper surface of the foot as a pulvinus, which has a special
function in lifting the winter bud scales in the spring.

The organ that is usually described as a true petiole may
prove to be a foot in cases where there are pulvini at both ends,
as in cacao. In the patashte tree, a relative of cacao, the petioles
of the leaves of the fruiting branches have the structure of pul-
vini for their whole length.8 In the cotton plant also there are
pulvini at both ends of the petiole. Other reasons for consider-
ing the cotton petiole as a foot may be found in the fact that
while the margins of the leaf blade never show any tendency to
become decurrent, the petiole is often united with the margins
of enlarged stipules like those that form the involucral bracts.

The suppression or extreme reduction of the blade in the for-
mation of the involucral bracts of the cotton plant might also
be considered as an indication that the blade, in spite of its
much greater size, still behaves in some respects as an appendage
of the sheath. That the general course of evolution has been
in the direction of enlarging the blade and reducing the sheath
element may be considered as at least a partial explanation of
the fact that enlargement of the stipules is almost invariably
accompanied by reduction of the blade of the leaf. If only one
stipule is enlarged, a lobe is likely to be wanting on the same
side of the blade.9

SUMMARY

The leaves of angiosperms show a primary division into two
morphological elements, (1) a basal sheath supporting (2) an
expanded blade, as represented in the leaves of palms, grasses,
and many other plants. The organs that are usually described

8 Cook, O. F. Branching and flowering habits of cacao and patashte. Contr.
U. S. Nat, Herb., 17: 609-625, pis. 44-54. 1916.

9 Cook, O. F. Brachysm, a hereditary deformity of cotton and other plants.
Journ. Agric. Research, 3: 387-400, pis. 53-62. 1915.

safford: narcotic snuff, cohoba 547

as petioles are of two kinds, (1) some that appear to have arisen
through a narrowing of the base of the blade, and (2) others
through a narrowing of the primitive sheath. The name foot
is suggested for a specialized portion of the leaf sheath that
serves as a petiole. Both the petiole and the foot are represented
in many plants, in such families as the Amygdalaceae, Rosaceae,
and Magnoliaceae. Stipules, bud scales, bracts, ligules, and pul-
vini are other specializations of the primitive sheath element,
and the blade also appears to have arisen as an outgrowth or
expansion of the sheath.

ETHNOBOTANY. — Identity of cohoba, the narcotic snuff of
ancient Haiti.1 William Edwin Safford, Bureau of Plant
Industry.

The natives of Hispaniola, or Haiti, at the time of the Dis-
covery made use of a narcotic snuff, which they inhaled through
the nostrils by means of a bifurcated tube. This snuff induced
a kind of intoxication or hypnotic state, accompanied by visions,
which were regarded by them as supernatural. While under
its influence the necromancers, or priests, were supposed to hold
communication with unseen powers, and their incoherent mutter-
ings were regarded as prophesies or revelations of hidden things.
The same practice was also followed by their physicians in treat-
ing the sick, in order to ascertain the cause of maladies and to
determine remedies which should be used for their cure. This
snuff was called in the language of the islanders "coxoba" (the
sound of the x approaching that of the German ch, or the gut-
tural Spanish j) . In Spanish orthography the word was written
"cojoba," and in Italian "cogioba," a form which has been
incorrectly transcribed "cogiba" and "cojiba." These various
forms of the word might lead to confusion, were it not for the fact
that Las Casas clearly indicates its pronunciation, as follows:
"These powders and these ceremonies, or acts, were called
cohoba, the middle syllable long in their language, in which they
pronounce as in the Arabic, or like the Germans confusedly."2

1 Published with the permission of the Secretary of Agriculture.

2 Las Casas. Apolog. Hist, de las Indias, Chapt. 166, pp. 445-446, ed. Serrano
y Saenz, Madrid. 1909.

Fig. 1. Cohoba, Piptadenia peregrina (L.) Benth., the source of the narcotic
snuff of Hispaniola. Natural size.

548

safford: narcotic snuff, cohoba 549

By nearly all authors who have written of ancient Haiti or on
the history of tobacco, cohoba snuff has been confused with
tobacco, and the bifurcated snuffing tubes have been mistaken
for nose pipes used for smoking. This confusion can be traced
to Oviedo, whose account of tobacco is misleading and incorrect.
Oviedo, indeed, is responsible for many mistakes that have been
handed down from writer to writer. His statements are often
contradictory, and not infrequently he confesses that he writes
from memory or from the testimony of others. In his first work,
De la natural hystoria de las Indias (1526), he does not mention
either cohoba or tobacco, in connection with the natives of His-
paniola. In his Historia general de las Indias (1535) he says
nothing of snuff but speaks of the evil custom of taking certain
fumigations, which the Indians call tobacco, in order to lose
their senses; "and this they did with the smoke of a certain herb,
which, according to what I have been able to learn, is of the quality
of hen-bane [Hyoscyamus] but not resembling that plant in
form and habit;"3 and he further states that the smoke was in-
haled through certain canes with two tubes, of which he presents
a Y-shaped figure, which, like his description of the method of
using them, was certainly drawn, not from his personal observa-
tion, but from the descriptions of others. Oviedo, unfortunately,
has been quoted by many authors, and his Y-shaped figure,
with its branches so diverging that they could not possibly have
been simultaneously inserted in the nostrils of a human being,
has been copied again and again.4

EARLIEST ACCOUNTS OF COHOBA

The ceremonial use of cohoba is described in the very first work
which treats of the ethnology of the New World, written in 1496

3 "Usavan los indios desta isla entre otros sus vicios uno muy malo, que es
tomar unas ahumadas que ellos llaman tabaco para salir de sentido : y esto hazian
con el humo de cierta yerva, que a lo que yo he podido entender es de calidad
del velefio: pero no de aquella hechura o forma a la vista." Oviedo, op cit.,
fol. xlvii. 1535.

4 Among the earliest writers to cite Oviedo was Purchas, who states that the
natives of Hispaniola "had tobacco in religious veneration, not only for sanity,
but for sanctity also, as Oviedo writeth; the smoke whereof they took into the nose

550 safford: narcotic snuff, cohoba

by Ramon Pane, who accompanied Columbus on his second
voyage. This paper, originally in Spanish, is best known through
an Italian translation published as an appendix to the Historie
of Fernando Colombo (1571), now a rare work, a copy of which
is in the Library of Congress. The author, whose name appears
in the introduction as "Frate Roman, povero Eremita del Tor-
dine di San Gieronimo," wrote, in obedience to the command
of the illustrious Lord Admiral and Viceroy, what he was able to
learn concerning the beliefs and idolatry of the Indians. In
describing their snuff he calls it in one place cohoba and elsewhere
cogioba (Italian orthography, like "Gieronimo" quoted above).
Writing in the present tense, he says: "This powder they draw
up through the nose, and it intoxicates them to such an extent
that when they are under its influence they know not what they
do."5 In striking contrast to Oviedo, Fra Ramon wrote only
what he had actually seen, and he confined the field of his obser-
vations to the natives of the island of Hispaniola, stating:
"Color, de' quali cio scrivo, son dellTsola Spagnuola; percioche
delle altre Isole io non so cosa alcuna, non haven do mai veduto."6
Peter Martyr's account of the inhabitants of Hispaniola, in
his De Orbe Novo, is simply a paraphrase of Fra Ramon's paper,
in Latin. It adds nothing to his description of cohoba, but on the
other hand it is misleading, since it refers to it as "an herb which
they pound up and drink;" and though it states that the natives
"absorb the intoxicating herb called cohobba, which is the same
as that used by the bovites to excite their frenzy," it fails to

with a forked pipe fitted to both nostrils, holding the single end in the smoke
of that herb burning in the fire until they became senseless. Their priests most
used this, who, coming to themselves after this sleepy fume, delivered the oracles
of their zemes or devils, which sometimes spake by them." — Purchas, His Pil-
grimage, 5: 957. 1626. Among the latest authorities to be misled by Oviedo
is H. Ling Roth; see his account of tobacco in The aborigines of Hispaniola, in
Journ. Anthrop. Inst. 16: 258. 1887. See also, Bourne, Edward Gaylord,
in Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester, n. s., 17: 327.
1906; and Fewkes, J. W., in Twenty-fifth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., 630. 1907.

6 "Una certa polvere, chiamata Cohoba, tirandola a se per il naso, la quale
gli imbriaga de tal maniera, che non sanno quel, che si fanno." — Ramon Pane,
(1496), in appendix to Fernando Colombo's Historie, cap. XV, f. 134. 1571.

6 Ramon Pane, op. cit., f. 126. 1571.

safford: narcotic snuff, cohoba 551

specify that they breathed it through their nostrils by means of
a forked tube. Nothing is said of the apparatus by which the
snuff is taken, and indeed Ramon Pane himself neglects to give
a description of it. Fernando Colombo, however, in the work
already cited, states that for holding the snuff the natives had
a finely wrought table of a round form, resembling a trencher
{come un tagliere) , and that they took it by means of a bifurcated
tube: "con una canna di due rami, che si mettono al naso."

The description of Las Casas, who was an eye-witness to the
ceremony of the cohoba, is even more precise. The snuff-tray
he describes as "a plate, not flat but slightly concavish or deep,
made of wood, so handsome, smooth, and pretty, that it could
not be very much more so, were it made of gold or silver; it was
almost black and polished like jet" (cuasi negro y lucio como de
azabache). The tube, he says,

was fashioned the size of a flute and was quite hollow like a flute.
From two-thirds of its length onward it divided by means of two hollow
canes, just as we open the two middle fingers, leaving out the thumb,
with the hand extended. The ends of these two canes inserted into the
windows of the nostrils, and the base of the flute, let us say, into the
powder on the plate, they would draw in their breath and snuffing up,
would receive through the nostrils as much of the powder as they
wished to take, which, when taken, would go at once to the brain,
almost as though they had drunk strong wine; for they would become

drunk or almost drunk It was their custom, in coming

together to decide difficult matters, such as the manoevures of one of
their war parties, or the performance of other things which they deemed
important, to make their cohoba and with it intoxicate themselves or
nearly so to do. ... . . I saw these people on several occasions

celebrate their cohoba, and it was an interesting spectacle to witness
how they took it and what they spake. The Chief began the ceremony,
and while he was engaged all remained silent. When he had taken his
cohoba (that is, when he had snuffed up the powder through his nostrils,
as I have described), they being seated on certain handsomely carved
low benches which they called duohos (the first syllable long), he remained
silent for a while with his head inclined to one side and his arms placed
on his knees. Then he raised his face heavenward uttering certain
words which must have been his prayer to the true God, or to him whom
he held as God; after which all responded, almost as we do when we
say Amen; and this they did with a loud voice or sound. Then they
gave thanks and said to him certain complimentary things, entreating
his benevolence and begging him to reveal to them what he had seen.
He described to them his vision, saying that the Cemi had spoken to

552 safford: narcotic snuff, cohoba

him and had predicted good tunes or the contrary, or that children
were to be born or to die, or that there was to be some dispute with
their neighbors, and other things which might come to his imagination,
all disturbed with that intoxication; or if perhaps without it, what the
devil, to deceive them and win them to his worship, had brought to
them.7

The snuff itself was described by Las Casas as " finely ground
and of the color of cinnamon or powdered henna" (de color de
canela 6 de alhena ?nolida).8

THE COHOBA TREE STILL PERSISTS IN HAITI

That a substance with the intoxicating effects of cohoba should
have been identified with tobacco seems strange; but if not
tobacco, what could have been its origin? Is the custom of tak-
ing a narcotic snuff by means of a bifurcated tube still in exist-
ence in any part of America? If so, from what plant is the snuff
prepared, and is this plant to be found growing on the island of
Haiti? These questions may be answered as follows: The cus-
tom of taking a narcotic snuff still prevails in various localities
of South America, showing that at one time it must have been
widely spread. In inhaling it some tribes used bifurcated tubes
which correspond very closely with the descriptions of those
used in Hispaniola. The plant from which the snuff is derived
is Piptadenia peregrina, a tree which grows both spontaneously
and in cultivation on the banks of the Orinoco and Amazon Rivers
and their tributaries. This tree does grow on the island of
Hispaniola, or Haiti, as well as upon the neighboring island of
Porto Rico and several other of the Antilles; and — most inter-
esting and convincing of all facts connected with it — it still bears
the name cohoba, which was applied in ancient times both to the
snuff itself and to the ceremonial practice of using it.

7 Las Casas. Apol. Hist, de las Indias, Chapt. 166, pp. 445-446, ed. Serrano
y Saenz, Madrid. 1909.

8 Alhena is the name of the so-called Egyptian privet, Lawsonia inermis,
the powdered leaves of which, called henna, were used by the Egyptians for
coloring their finger-nails. The fragrant flowers of this plant are the principal
source of the perfume wafted by the breezes of "Araby the Blest."

safford: narcotic snuff, cohoba 553

narcotic snuffs of south america

It was in connection with his studies of the economic plants
and plant products of the aborigines of America that the writer
came upon a description of the custom of snuff-taking by certain
tribes of Indians inhabiting the tributaries of the Orinoco, in
Padre Gumilla's El Orinoco Ilustrado, printed in Madrid in 1741.
In describing the customs of the Otomaco Indians this venerable
missionary bewails their use of inebriants, as follows:

They have another most evil habit of intoxicating themselves through
the nostrils, with certain malignant powders which they call yupa,
which quite takes away their reason (que les quita totalmente el juicio) ,
and furious, they grasp their weapons; and if the women were not
adept at seizing and tying them, they would commit cruel havoc every
day; this is a tremendous vice. They prepare this powder from cer-
tain pods of the yupa (unas algarrobas de yupa) from which the name
is derived, but the powder itself has the odor of strong tobacco. That
which they add to it, through the ingenuity of the devil, is what causes
the intoxication and the fury. After eating certain very large snails
which they find in the inundated areas along the river they put their
shells into the fire and burn them to quicklime whiter than snow itself.
This lime they mix with the yupa in equal quantities, and after reducing
the whole to the finest powder there results a mixture of diabolical
strength; so great, that in touching this powder with the tip of the
finger, the most confirmed devotee of snuff cannot accustom himself
to it, for in simply putting his finger which touched the yupa near to his
nose, he bursts forth into a whirlwind of sneezes. The Saliva Indians
and other tribes of which I shall later treat also use the yupa, but as
they are people gentle, benign, and timid, they do not become maddened
like our Otomacos, who, even on account of this, have been and still
are formidable to the Caribs; for before a battle they would throw
themselves into a frenzy with yupa, wound themselves, and full of blood
and rage (llends de sangre y de sana) go forth to battle like rabid tigers."9

Shortly afterwards (1743) M. de la Condamine, while explor-
ing the Marafion River, found the Omagua Indians living at a
village near the mouth of the Rio Napo making use of two
narcotic plants:

One called by the Spaniards floripondio [Datura arborea], with
flowers shaped like a drooping bell, which has been described by Pere
Feuillee ; the other in the native vernacular called curupa, both of them
purgatives. They cause intoxication lasting 24 hours, during which
it is pretended that they have strange visions. The curupa is taken

9 Gumilla, Joseph. El Orinoco Ilustrado, pp. 117-118. 1741.

554

safford: narcotic snuff, cohoba

in the form of powder, as we take tobacco, but with more apparatus.
The Omaguas make use of a cane tube terminating in a fork, of a Y-
shaped form, each branch of which they insert into one of their nostrils.
This operation, followed b}^ a violent inspiration, causes them to make
diverse grimaces.10

This snuff, called curupa and also, according to Gilii, curuba.11
was afterwards identified by Humboldt with the yupa or nupa
of the Otomac Indians, described by Gumilla,
and the paricd of Brazil,12 and* traced to a tree,
which he called Acacia Niopo. Humboldt states
that the missionaries on the Orinoco commonly
call it tree-tobacco (tabac en arbre) to distinguish
it from the ordinary herbaceous tobacco (Nico-
tiana) .

humboldt's description

Humboldt, who observed a party of Otomac In-
dians at Urana, a mission on the Orinoco River,
says of them:

. they throw themselves into a peculiar
state of intoxication, one might almost say of mad-
ness, by the use of the powder of niopo. They gather
Fig. 2. Bifur- the long pods of a Mimosacea, which we have made
cated tube for known under the name Acacia Niopo, cut them to pieces,
snuffing pow- moisten them, and cause them to ferment. When the
dered seed of softened seeds begin to turn black they are ground
Piptadenia pere- into a paste, and after having mixed with them some
grina. Used by flour of cassava and some lime made from the shell of
Otomac Indians an Ampullaria, they expose the whole mass to a very
of the Orinoco brisk fire, on a gridiron of hard wood. The hardened
River. Berlin paste is given the form of little cakes. When wanted
Museum. Scaled for use it is reduced to a fine powder, and placed on
a dish five or six inches wide. The Otomac holds
this dish, which has a handle, in his right hand, while he inhales the
niopo by the nose, through a forked tube of bird's bone. This bone,

10 See, Relation abregee d'un voyage fail dans I'interieur de V Amerique merid-
ionale, etc. par. M. de la Condamine, in Mem. de l'Acad. Roy. des Sciences,
Annee 1745, p. 428. Paris, 1749.

11 Gilii, F. S. Saggio de storia Americana, 1: 201-202. 1780.

12 Humboldt & Bonpland. Voyage aux regions equinoxiales, 2: 620. 1819.

safford: narcotic snuff, cohoba 555

without which the Otomac believes he could not take this kind of snuff,
is seven inches long: it appeared to me to be the leg-bone of a sort
of plover.

A snuffing tube of the Otomac Indians, corresponding to this
description of Humboldt and now in the Berlin Museum, is shown
in the accompanying illustration, drawn by Mrs. R. E. Gamble
after Max Uhle (fig. 2). Its form is closely similar to that of
the polished wooden tubes of the Tamos of ancient Haiti, as
described by Las Casas.

RUBBER SYRINGES OF THE OMAGUAS

De la Condamine, after describing the use of narcotic snuff
by the Omagua Indians of the Maranon, tells of their peculiar
use of syringes of rubber (Cahuchu). It was from these Indians,
he says, that the Portuguese of the Para learned to make rubber
"pompes ou seringues" which do not require a piston.

They have the form of hollow pears, pierced with a little hole at their
end, in which a tube of wood is fitted .... This instrument
is much used by the Omaguas. When they assemble together for
some fete the master of the house does not fail to present one, as an
act of courtesy, to each one of the guests, and its use always precedes,
among them, the repasts of ceremony.13

Why such a peculiar custom should have become established
among these Indians seems at first inexplicable; but the testi-
mony of other travellers shows that similar practices exist, or
did exist, among other tribes inhabiting the shores of tributaries
of the Amazon; and that for these injections not water was used,
but an extract of the same narcotic seeds as those from which
snuff was made.

ACCOUNT OF SPIX AND MARTIUS

After describing the use of paricd snuff by the Mura Indians
of the Rio Negro, Spix and Martius, in the narrative of their
travels, tell of a custom of these people, during their strange
annual assemblies which last eight days and are accompanied by
all sorts of debauchery, of taking a decoction of paricd in the

13 De la Condamine, in Mem. de l'Acad. Roy. des Sciences, Annee 1745, pp.
430-431. 1749.

556 safford: narcotic snuff, cohoba

form of an enema: "Ein anderer Gebrauch des Paricd ist, einen
Absud da von sich selbst als Klystier zu geben." Administered
in this way, they say, the narcotic effect of the paricd is similar
but weaker than when taken in the form of snuff. Commenting
upon the custom, they continue:

Man kann nicht umhin, durch diese viehische Lustbarkeit an die
eckelhafte Sitte der Ostiaken und Kamtschadalen erinnert zu wer-
den, welche sich bekanntlich durch den Genuss des Fliegelschwammes
[Amanita muscaria] . . . . zu einer ahnlichen Wuth erhitzen.14

ROBERT SOUTHEY's ACCOUNT OF PARICA SNUFF

The Mura Indians of the Rio Negro, instead of Y-shaped tubes,
made use of tubes of another form, by means of which the men,
in pairs, blew the snuff into each other's nostrils. The following
description, published in 1819 by Robert Southey, was taken by
him from the MS. of P. Joam Ribeiro:

Some of the Rio Negro tribes have an extraordinary and tremendous
ceremony, for which a large house is set apart in all their villages. It
begins by a general flogging, the men in pairs scourging and lacerating
one another with a thong, and a stone at the end: this continues eight
days, during which the old women, who, among the American savages,
officiate at most works of abomination, roast the fruit of the Parica
tree, and reduce it to a fine powder. The parties who had been paired
in the previous discipline are partners also in the following part, each
in turn blowing this powder with great force through a hollow cane
into the nostrils of his friend. They then commence drinking; and the
effect of the drink and the deleterious powder is such, that most of them
lose their senses for a time, and many lose their lives. The whole
ceremony continues sixteen days: it is observed annually, and is called
the feast of the Parica.15

IDENTITY OF TREES YIELDING SNUFF

In early descriptions of cohoba snuff of Hispaniola there is
nothing to indicate the nature of the plant producing it. Oviedo,
as we have seen, confused it with tobacco. On the other hand
nearly all the descriptions of similar snuff used by South Ameri-
can Indians pointed to a mimosaceous tree bearing algaroba-like
pods as its origin. Humboldt, as cited above, described the
yupa, or niopa, as an Acacia; Spix and Martius, in the narrative

14 Spix und Martius. Reise in Brasilien, 3: 1075. 1831.

15 Southey, Robert. History of Brazil, 3: 722-723. 1819.

safford: narcotic snuff, cohoba 557

of their travels, referred to the parted tree as a species of Inga;
specimens collected by Schomburgk were described by Bentham
under the name Mimosa (?) acacioides; Lieutenant Herndon,
U. S. Navy, in the report of his exploration of the valley of the
Amazon (1853) called it Acacia angico. Finally Bentham made
a careful study of all the botanical material he could lay his
hands on, and came to the conclusion that all the South Ameri-
can trees above referred to as the source of narcotic snuff were

•

probably one species, and were identical with Linnaeus' Mimosa
peregrina, which was first described in 1737 from a seedling grow-
ing in the celebrated Clifford Garden in Holland. In studying
the flowers of this tree Bentham came to the conclusion that it
could be regarded neither as a true Mimosa nor as an Acacia,
but that it must be placed in a closely related genus, which he
called Piptadenia, and consequently, in accordance with the rules
of priority, be called Piptadenia peregrina. In his synonymy he
made no reference to the cohoba tree of Haiti and Porto Rico.
In Martius's Flora Brasiliensis this and several very closely
related species are set apart as a section of Piptadenia, called
Niopo. It is quite possible that some other of these species,
especially Piptadenia macrocarpa Benth., are also a source of
narcotic snuff; and it is either this species or P. peregrina itself
from which the Quichua Indians derived their intoxicating huillca,
or vilca, with which, according to Acosta, they used to get glori-
ously drunk (emborrachanse bravamente) .

SEBIL AND HUILLCA SNUFF OF ARGENTINA AND PERU

Still another very closely allied species of Piptadenia was
described by Grisebach from specimens growing in the vicinity of
Cordova, Argentina. A careful study of Grisebach's description
inclines the writer to believe it possible that the plant in ques-
tion, described by Grisebach first under the name Acacia Cebil
and afterwards as Piptadenia Cebil, is a variety of P. peregrina,
or of P. macrocarpa. Grisebach does not indicate the narcotic
properties or indeed any uses of this plant, but in his first descrip-
tion he gives its vernacular name in Tucuman as cebil.16 Of the

16 See Grisebach, in Abhandl. der konigl. Gesellsch. der Wissensch. zu Got-
tingen, 19: 136. 1874; ibid., 24: 121. 1879.

558 safford: narcotic snuff, cohoba

use of the fruit of this same tree for snuff we have an early
account, written about the year 1583. In Pedro Sotelo Narvaez's
Relation de las Provincias de Tucuman, he says of the Indians
living in the vicinity of Cordoba:

They do not make such great use of azua (fermented chicha) as the
Indians of Peru. They take through the nostrils the sebil, which is
a fruit like the vilca; this they pulverize and inhale through the nostrils
(hdcenla polvos y bebenla por las narices).17

Vilca, also written huilca, or huillca, described by certain
writers as lit tie beans (frisolillos que llaman vilca), remained un-
identified until very recently, although, as cited
above, it was mentioned at a very early date by
Acosta as an intoxicant used by the Quichuas.
Specimens were secured by Mr. O. F. Cook, of
the U. S. Department of Agriculture, from an
Indian drug-vender in southern Peru, in 1915.
They were labeled huillca, and proved to be seeds
of a Piptadenia, if not identical with P. peregrina,
at least very closely allied to that species.

Huillca, like cohoba, nopa, and cebil, was snuffed
c i f ii UP ky means of tubes. Max Uhle obtained a re-
bone from Tiahu- markable snuff tube, in all probability used in
anaco, Bolivia, the process by the ancient Quichuas, at Tiahu-
PhiladelphiaMu- anaC0) Bolivia, in June, 1895. This tube (fig.
Uhle Scale A ^) is now in the Philadelphia Museum of Sci-
ence and Art (No. 36095). It resembles closely
a specimen, recently discovered in a burial cave at Machu
Picchu by the Peruvian Expedition sent out under the aus-
pices of Yale University and the National Geographical Society. ls
The fork of the snuffing tube is formed by the bifurcation of
the distal end of the metatarsus or leg-bone, of a llama. The
Tiahuanaco specimen, finished and ornamented by incised carv-
ing, has been slightly chipped at the lower end; the Machu
Picchu specimen, in the first stages of manufacture, has a trans-

17 Relacioncs Geograficas, Peru, 2: 152. 1885.

18 See, Eaton, (Ikorge F., in Mem. Conn. Acad. Arts and Sciences, 5: 58, pi.
4, fig. 8. May, 1916.

safford: narcotic snuff, cohoba 559

verse cut across the bifurcation; this in all probability was in-
tended to be cut off, so that the ends might fit the nostrils.

The Tiahuanaco specimen is described at length by Max Uhle,
who published a photographic illustration of it,19 from which the
figure here shown was drawn. Uhle believed that this tube was
used for snuffing tobacco; but this I think doubtful. Humboldt,
as already quoted, says that Piptadenia was commonly called
"tree-tobacco," and the custom of snuffing its powdered seeds
was common among many tribes inhabiting the banks of the
tributaries of the great rivers of South America, which extended
to the boundaries of Peru and Bolivia; and we have the definite
statement that the snuff made from the seeds of P. Cebil was
quite similar to the vilca (or huillca) of the Peruvians.

In the paper above cited, Uhle recognized that cohoba snuff
and tobacco had been confused bjr various authors, and even sug-
gests the possibility of the common origin of the names cohoba
and curupa, but he says nothing of the actual presence of Pipta-
denia peregrina, the true "tree-tobacco," in Hispaniola. It was
not until the writer consulted Urban's recent work on the flora
of the Antilles that he found mention not only of the tree itself
but of the ancient name by which it was known to the aborigines
of Hispaniola.20 Urban, however, gives no hint of its former use
as a source of snuff, or of the narcotic properties of its seeds.

BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION OF COHOBA

Piptadenia peregrina (L.) Benth. Journ. Bot. Hook., 4: 340. 1842.
Mimosa peregrina L. Sp. PL, 1504. 1753. (Mimosa inermis, etc.

Hort, Cliff. 209. 1737.)
Inga Niopo Willd. Sp. PL, 4: 1027. 1806.
Acacia peregrina Willd. Sp. PL, 4: 1073. 1806.
Acacia microphijlla Willd. Sp. PL, 4: 1073. 1806.
Mimosa Niopo Poir. in Lam. Encycl. SuppL, 1: 48. 1810.
Acacia Niopo Humb. & BonpL, Relation Hist., 2: 620-623. 1819;

H. B. K., Nov. Gen. et Sp., 6: 282. 1823; Kunth, Synop. PL,

4: 20. 1825.
Acacia angustiloba DC. Prodr., 2: 470. 1825.
Mimosa (?) acacioides Benth. Journ. Bot. Hook., 2: 132. 1840.
Piptadenia Niopo Spruce, Notes of a Botanist, 2: 426. 1908.

19 See, Bull. Mus. Science and Art, University of Pennsylvania, Vol. 1, No. 4.
1898.

20 Urban, I. Symbolae Antillanae, 4: 269. 1905.

560 safford: narcotic snuff, cohoba

Piptadenia peregrina is a Mimosa-like shrub or a tree reaching the
height of about 60 feet, with a trunk about 2 feet in diameter. The
bark is often more or less muricated, but the branches and leaves are
unarmed. The leaves are bipinnate, resembling those of many Acacias
and Mimosas, with 15 to 30 pairs of pinnae and very numerous minute
leaflets (30 to 80 pairs), these linear in shape and apiculate at the apex.
On the petiole at some distance from the base there is a conspicuous
oblong nectar-gland and on the rachis, between the last pair or last
two or three pairs of pinnae, there is usually a minute gland, as in
many of the Mimosaceae. The inflorescence is in the form of spherical
heads of minute white flowers, borne on long slender peduncles in ter-
minal or axillary racemose clusters. As seen under the lens the calyx
and corolla are both 5-toothed, the former campanulate, the latter
connate to the middle. The 10 stamens are free, much exserted, the
anthers at anthesis bearing a minute stipitate gland. The ovary con-
tains several to many ovules, and develops into a broadly linear, flat,
leathery, or woody 2-valved legume, rough on the outer surface and
thickened along the sutures, and resembling that of an Inga, but without
pulp surrounding the seeds. The seeds are flatfish and orbicular,
greenish at first, at length black and glossy.

So far as the writer can ascertain, no figure of this species has hitherto
been published. The accompanying illustration (fig. 1) is from a
photograph of a specimen in the U. S. National Herbarium (No. 847320),
collected on a hillside near Mayagiiez, Porto Rico, in March, 1906, by
John F. Co well (No. 630).

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION

Piptadenia peregrina has a most appropriate specific name, for
it has a wide geographical range. This has undoubtedly been
increased by human agency. Various travellers have noticed it
planted near villages, as well as growing spontaneously in the
forests bordering the great rivers of South America. It was in
all probability carried to Haiti and Porto Rico by the ancestors
of the Tainos, whom Columbus found inhabiting those islands.
Including with it the very closely allied Piptadenia macrocarpa
Benth. and P. Cebil Griseb., its distribution may be roughly
indicated as follows:

Haiti, or Hispaniola, where according to Ramon Pane and
Las Casas, it was called cohoba, or cogioba; Porto Rico, where
it is still called cojoba or cojobo (Urban), or cojobana (Cook and

safford: narcotic snuff, cohoba 561

Collins) ; Venezuela, where it is called curuba, ?Tupa, fiopa, niopa,
niopo (Gumilla; Gilii; Humboldt); Northeastern Peru, on
the Maranon, where it is called curupa (de la Condamine);
Southern Peru, where it is called vilca, villca, huillca (Acosta;
O. F. Cook) ; Argentina, where it is called cebil, or sebil (Grise-
bach; Sotelo Narvaez); Guiana, where two varieties are found,
paricd and black parted (Schomburgk) ; Brazil (many parts),
where it is generally known as paricd (Spix and Martius; Lieu-
tenant Herndon; Spruce).

CHEMICAL PROPERTIES AND PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION

The most remarkable fact connected with this narcotic is that
its chemical properties are still unknown. An exhaustive search
through literature, in a vain attempt to find something bearing
upon the subject, indicates that it has never been studied chemi-
cally or therapeutically. The only authority who mentions it
is Dragendorff, who dismisses it with the statement: "Der Same
zu Schnupftabak (Niopo, Nupa), der stark aufregen soil, ver-
wendet." No authority is quoted, except for the botanical name
and its synonyms. This may have been in consequence of the
remark Humboldt made in connection with the snuff:

La famille des Legumineuses varie singulierement dans les proprietes
chimiques et medicales de ses graines, de ses sues et de ses racines; et
quoique le sue du fruit du Mimosa nilotica soit tres-astringent, on ne
peut croire que ce soit principalement la silique de V Acacia Niopo qui
donne la force excitante au tabac des Otomaques. Cette force est due
a la chaux fraichement calcinee.'21

That Humboldt was mistaken is indicated by Spruce's obser-
vations. Moreover it is not so strange, as Humboldt would
indicate, that the seeds of certain Leguminosae have narcotic
properties. The red seeds of Sophora secundiflora of Texas and
northern Mexico are very narcotic and are still used by certain
Indian tribes to cause intoxication. They are used in certain
secret ceremonies by the "Red Bean Society" of the Iowa Indians,
which takes its name from them. Spruce witnessed the prepa-
ration of fiopa snuff without the addition of lime, in June, 1854,
by a party of Guahibo Indians from the Rio Meta, temporarily

21 Humboldt & Bonpland. Voyage aux regions equinoxiales, 2: 621. 1810.

562 safford: narcotic snuff, cohoba

encamped near the cataracts of the Orinoco. In his account of
it he says: "In the modern niopo, as I saw it prepared by the
Guahibos themselves, there is no admixture of quicklime, and
that is the sole difference [from the method of its preparation
described by Humboldt]." He describes the process of roasting
and powdering the seeds, and the snuff-tube made of the leg
bones of birds, shaped somewhat like a tuning fork, with the
forked ends tipped with small black knobs (the endosperms of a
palm). This instrument, which he secured and deposited in the
Museum of Vegetable Products at Kew, is almost identical in
form with that of the Otomac Indians in the Berlin Museum
(fig. 2), and also very much like the one used in ancient Haiti,
so accurately described by Las Casas and incorrectly figured by
Oviedo.

SUMMARY

Cohoba, a narcotic snuff which the aboriginal inhabitants of
Haiti took by means of a bifurcated tube, has hitherto been
regarded by most writers as a form of tobacco. It was, how-
ever, prepared from the seeds of a Mimosa-like tree, Piptadenia
peregrina. This tree is widely spread in South America, and by
several tribes of Indians its seeds are used, or have been used
until recently, as a source of snuff, the effects of which are highly
intoxicating. Among several of these tribes the snuffing tubes
are bifurcated and very similar to those of the ancient Haitians.
The source of the snuff on the island of Haiti has remained
unknown for so long a time on account of the early annihilation
of the aborigines and their replacement by Africans, who did not
adopt the habit of snuffing. The most remarkable fact con-
nected with Piptadenia peregrina, or " tree-tobacco," is that,
though its fruit has been reported by many explorers and botan-
ists as highly narcotic, it has never been studied chemically or
therapeutically, and the source of its intoxicating properties still
remains unknown. Abundant material may be obtained from
the island of Porto Rico, where the tree is common, and it is
hoped that a careful study may be made of the seeds, the
peculiar properties of which were noticed in the very first work
which treated of the ethnology of the New World.

ABSTRACTS

PHYSICS. — Wheatstone bridges and accessory apparatus for resistance
thermometry. E. F. Mueller. Bureau of Standards Scientific
Paper No. 288 (Bull. Bur. Stds., 13: 547). 1916.

A type of Wheatstone bridge, suitable for use in resistance ther-
mometry, has been developed, in which plugs or dial switches are used,
and the circuits so arranged that the errors due to contact resistances
are no greater than with the mercury contact bridges heretofore used.
With a comparatively simple and inexpensive type of apparatus it has
been possible to attain the high degree of precision and accuracy de-
manded in modern work with resistance thermometers.

A method of measuring potential terminal resistances by the Wheat-
stone bridge method is also given, and the necessary accessory appa-
ratus for this purpose is described. E. F. M.

PHYSICS. — The damping of waves and other disturbances in mercury.
M. H. Stillman. Bureau of Standards Scientific Paper No. 289
(Bull. Bur. Stds., Vol. 13). 1916.

In instruments involving the use of mercury, the waves and other
disturbances, produced by the unsteadiness of the containing vessel,
are a frequent source of trouble. If the mass of mercury be subjected
to a strong magnetic field, the direction of the field being approxi-
mately at right angles to the direction of motion of the mercury, these
motions will be strongly damped.

The substitution of a non-magnetic metallic container for a glass
container greatly increases the magnitude of the damping.

It is suggested that this method might sometimes be used when it
is desired to obtain accurate adjustments of mercury surfaces at sea
and in other places where unsteadiness of the mercury container is
unavoidable. M. H. S.

563

564 abstracts: geology

GEOLOGY. — The flora of the Fox Hills sandstone. F. H. Knowlton.

U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 98-H. Pp. 8, with

one illustration. 1916.
The known flora of the Fox Hill sandstone includes only thirteen
forms. Of these it appears that only four of the species have been
previously known, the remainder being new to science or so fragmentary
as not to merit specific designation. This little Fox Hills flora shows
distinctly Upper Cretaceous affinities, being, as might be presumed
from its stratigraphic position, intermediate between the older floras
of the Montana group and the younger flora of the overlying Laramie,
but having a preponderance in its resemblances to the Montana.
Ecologically this flora appears to indicate a much more abundant
supply of moisture than now exists in the region, though this should
naturally follow from the fact that it must have been growing near the
sea and not far above sea level. The meager data appear to indicate
a warm-temperate climate. Descriptions of the species are given to-
gether with illustrations. R. W. S.

GEOLOGY. — The fauna of the Chapman sandstone of Maine, including
descriptions of some related species from the Moose River sandstone.
H. S. Williams, assisted by C. L. Breger. U. S. Geological
Survey Professional Paper 89. Pp. 347, 27 plates, 3 figs. 1916.
The Chapman sandstone is exposed over a small area in Chapman
Township, Aroostook County, Maine. It includes at least 500 feet of
medium, fine grained, brown to gray sandstone, much of it thick bedded,
with some fine grained shaly layers separating the beds. In these
shaly sandstones occur most of the fossils which are marine. Here and
there fragments of plants appear in the sandstone. In the supposedly
overlying Mapleton sandstones only plant fossils have been discovered.
A detailed study of the fauna described in this volume demonstrates
its general affinity with the later phase of the American Helderbergian
fauna. Several species from the Moose River sandstones are mentioned
and figured, from which it is evident that this Moose River sandstone
is roughly equivalent to the Oriskany sandstone of New York and the
York River of Gaspe Peninsula. The evidence is clear that the Chap-
man forms, closely related to the Moose River species, are earlier repre-
sentatives of the evolutional lines to which they belong than the Moose
River forms. This report contains, besides the detailed descriptions
of many genera, 27 plates depicting hundreds of fossils. R. W. S.

abstracts: geology 565

GEOLOGY. — Revision of the Beckwith and Bear River formations of
southeastern Idaho. G. R. Mansfield and P. V. Roundy. U. S.
Geological Survey Professional Paper 98-G. Pp. 9, with illus-
trations. 1916.
It has been found necessary to apply new names to strata hitherto
referred to the Beckwith and Bear River formations or to portions of
the Laramie as mapped by the Hayden Survey. The formations dis-
cussed extend from the northeastern part of the Montpelier quadrangle
northward through the eastern part of the Wayan quadrangle and
thence northward an undetermined distance, possibly including a con-
siderable part of the Caribou Range. They include about 17,000 feet
of strata, unless there are unrecognized repetitions by folding or fault-
ing. The strata in this area that were formerly called the Bear River
are here assigned to the Wayan formation, of Cretaceous, possibly
Lower Cretaceous, age, and the so-called Beckwith is divided into seven
formations, of which the lower two are marine formations of Jurassic
age, and the remaining five are nonmarine formations assigned to the
Ganett group, of Cretaceous (?) age. This paper gives a statement of
the stratigraphic problems involved and a description of the formations.

R. W. S.

GEOLOGY.— The Yukon-Koyukuk region, Alaska. H. M. Eakin.
U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 631. Pp. 85, with maps, sec-
tions, and view. 1916.

The Yukon-Koyukuk region lies in central Alaska and is drained by
the two rivers from which it takes its name. Most of its relief is low,
but locally there are northeasterly trending mountain ranges (5000-
6000 feet). The predominant type of topography consists of rolling,
maturely dissected uplands of moderate relief broken by extensive low-
lands. The timber is chiefly spruce and birch, and timber line is at an
altitude of about 2000 feet. Meadows of luxuriant growths of grass
break the timbered areas.

The bed rock consists of metamorphic sediments (Paleozoic or older),
greenstones (Post Devonian?), and more extensive areas of conglom-
erates, sandstones and shales probably chiefly of Upper Cretaceous
age. Two epochs of granitic intrusion are recognized. The older
granites cut the metamorphic series and are more or less altered while
the j^ounger granite is intruded into the Cretaceous and is in most
places entirely massive. There is some auriferous mineralization along
the margins of the younger intrusive masses. The Quaternary is repre-

566 abstracts: geology

sented by the alluvium of the lowlands and valleys, by high gravel and
silt terraces, and in the higher mountains by local glacial deposits.
The metamorphic series is intensely deformed and the Cretaceous strata
also exhibit complex structures.

There is clear evidence that very extensive changes of drainage have
taken place during Quaternary times. This is believed to have been
due to the advance of glaciers from the mountains which bound the
central Yukon region. The terraces are believed to have been formed
in lakes caused by ice damming. A. H. B.

GEOLOGY. — Natural gas resources of parts of North Texas. E. W.

Shaw, et al. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 629. Pp. 129,

with maps, sections and illustrations. 1916.
The examination on which this report is based was instigated by the
citizens of Dallas and Fort Worth, for the purpose of getting informa-
tion as to the sufficiency and the prospective duration of the gas re-
serves within reach of these cities. The two reports contained in this
volume describe not only the geology of several gas fields but also
discuss the original quantity of the gas, the present capacity and the
probable life of the fields. Areas that are worthy of prospecting with
the drill are pointed out and it is concluded that the Petrolia field from
which the present supply is being drawn would last the cities only 3
or 4 years. The other known pools of Texas being small it becomes
necessary either to discover new gas pools or to lay pipe lines to those
of Oklahoma. E. W. S.

GEOLOGY. — Petroleum withdrawals and restorations affecting the public
domain. Max W. Ball. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 623.
Pp. 427, with 9 maps. 1916.
This bulletin contains true and accurate copies of orders of with-
drawal, restoration, modification and classification and of the more
important correspondence leading to changes of policy regarding these;
an index to the orders, township by township ; a short statement of the
purpose of the withdrawal policy; and a brief review of the history of
oil withdrawals. In addition, it includes a chapter on oil-land law,
giving the statues and decisions, judicial and departmental, which may
be of most interest to the oil operator on the public domain. It is
accompanied by maps showing the areas withdrawn in each state —
Arizona, California, Colorado, Louisiana, Montana, North Dakota,
Utah, and Wyoming — where oil withdrawals were outstanding January
15, 1916). R. W. S. '

abstracts: geology 567

GEOLOGY. — The physical conditions indicated by the flora of the Calvert
formation. E. W. Berry. U. S. Geological Survey Professional
Paper 98-F. Pp. 12, with illustrations. 1916.
This paper gives a summary of the small flora preserved in the Mio-
cene diatomaceous beds of the Calvert formation in the District of
Columbia and Virginia, and discusses its bearing on the physical con-
ditions of the Calvert epoch. It is concluded that the Calvert flora
was coastal flora of strikingly warm-temperate affinities, comparable
with the existing coastal floras of South Carolina and Georgia, or with
those along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico from western Florida to
eastern Texas. The climate of the Chesapeake Miocene epoch, cooler
undoubtedly than that of the Apalachicola or preceding epochs, was
neither cold nor cool-temperate. The age indicated by the Calvert
flora is middle Miocene. R. W. S.

GEOLOGY. — Antimony deposits of Alaska. Alfred H. Brooks. U.
S. Geological Survey Bulletin 649, Pp. 64, with maps. 1916.

Stibnite is widely distributed in Alaska having been found in 67
localities. In many of these it occurs simply as an accessory mineral,
but lodes have been found in the Fairbanks, Kantishna, Innoko, Idi-
tarod, Nizina, and Port Wells districts and on the Kenai and Seward
peninsulas in which stibnite forms the principal metallic mineral.

The country rock of the stibnite lodes is sedimentary as a rule, but
differs greatly both as to age and lithology in the different districts.
Some deposits have been found in highly metamorphosed schists of
pre-Cambrian age. Others are found in little-altered elastics, as young
as Upper Cretaceous. Practically all the antimony lodes occur in
association with granular acidic intrusive rocks, among which the domi-
nating lithologic types have been described as quartz diorite and
monzonites.

The Alaska antimony deposits may be classed in three principal
groups — siliceous gold-bearing stibnite lodes, stibnite-cinnabar lodes,
and stibnite-galena lodes. Of these the first two can be further divided
according to structure as fissure veins, shear-zone deposits, and stock-
works.

The evidence at hand indicates that most of the stibnite deposits
were formed at a later time than the widespread epoch of Mesozoic
mineralization to which so many of the gold deposits have been assigned.
Formerly it was generally believed that nearly all the metalliferous
deposits of Alaska were associated with Mesozoic intrusives. It is

568 abstracts: technology

only in recent years since the metalliferous deposits of the lower Yukon
and Kuskokwim regions have been studied that the importance of the
Tertiary period of mineralization has been recognized. Localities in
this general province as widely separated as the lower Kuskokwim and
northern British Columbia are now known to have been mineralized
in Tertiary time, but between these localities there are mining districts
in which the metallization is of Mesozoic age. Thus there seems to
be here an overlapping of the two metallogenetic provinces. Like the
Mesozoic mineralization, that of Tertiary age is genetically connected
with granular acidic intrusive rocks, but the later intrusives seem to
have been less widely distributed than the earlier.

It should be noted that though mineralization accompanied the Ter-
tiary intrusives, no metalliferous lodes have been found in the Tertiary
sediments. It appears that the conditions for the formation of the
metalliferous veins necessitated a deeper cover than that furnished by
these beds. A. H. B.

ENGINEERING.— Surface water supply of the United States, 1914.
Part III. Ohio River Basin. Nathan C. Grover, et al. U. S.
Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 383. Pp. 121, with two
illustrations. 1916.
This volume is one of a series of reports presenting results of measure-
ments of flow made on streams in the Ohio River Basin during the year
ending September 30, 1914. It includes also a list of the stream gag-
ing stations and publications relating to water resources in this Basin.

O. E. M.

TECHNOLOGY. — The correlation of the mechanical and magnetic prop-
erties of steel. Chas. W. Burrows. Bureau of Standards Sci-
entific Paper No. 272, pp. 173-210. 1916.
This paper is a review of the work done in correlating the magnetic
and mechanical properties of steel with special reference to the commer-
cial application of the magnetic data as criteria of the mechanical fit-
ness of a given steel and of magnetic changes under stress as indications
of the state of strain. C. W. B.

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VI OCTOBER 4, 1916 No. 16

PHYSICS. — The theory of the stiffness of elastic systems.1 By
M. D. Hersey, Bureau of Standards. (Communicated by
Louis A. Fischer.)

Introduction. The stiffness of a body, or of a system of
bodies, we define as the ratio of the force2 applied to the deflec-
tion produced. It is. not, of course, an intrinsic property of the
body or system itself, but depends also on the manner of apply-
ing the force, and on the point whose displacement is to be ob-
served. The stiffness of a body under given conditions is, how-
ever, its most important elastic property. The conception is
useful in dealing with the vibrations of structures; the yielding
of the supports of instruments; the design of aneroid barometers,
pressure gages, torsion meters,2 etc.; and with springs wherever
they occur. But the tendency in elasticity, as in other branches
of physics today, appears to be to desert the obvious and to
court the remote. Instead of treating stiffness directly, writers
on elasticity make a detour, first determining the strain distri-
bution throughout the interior of the body; a procedure which,
besides being laborious, limits the validity of the result to cer-
tain rather simple geometrical shapes. This detailed analysis is
indispensable for some purposes but not for all, as the theorems
presented in this paper will show. All of these theorems have

1 This work was done at the Jefferson Physical Laboratory, Harvard Uni-
versity. It is expected that it will be published in more detail upon the com-
pletion of a series of experiments on the subject recently begun at the Bureau
of Standards.

2 The reader interested in galvanometer suspensions or other torsion prob-
lems can readily modify the formulas of the present paper so as to make them
apply to couples instead of to translational forces.

569

570 hersey: stiffness of elastic systems

applications to the aneroid barometer, which will be treated
elsewhere, but their applicability is not confined to that par-
ticular elastic system.

The stiffness of coupled systems.3 Having given the individual
stiffness sa and sb of two systems A and B (ordinarily but not
necessarily single bodies) which are coupled together, let it be
required to find the stiffness, S, of the coupled system. It is
understood that sa and sb refer to forces and displacements at
the coupling, while S refers to a displacement at the coupling,
but to a force applied anywhere. The desired general relation
is found to be4

S = \(sa + sb) . (1)

where X is a dimensionless characteristic of the component to
which the external force' is applied, and denotes the ratio of its
stiffness with respect to that force, to its stiffness (sa or sb)
with respect to a force at the coupling. If the external force is
itself applied at the coupling, X = 1, and the stiffness of the
coupled system equals the sum of the stiffnesses of the compo-
nents. This can be shown by a simple experiment. Make a
rigid frame about a foot square and cut off two five-inch lengths
of the same helical spring. Fasten the two springs, respec-
tively, each by one end, to two opposite sides of the frame, in

3 In treating coupled systems, the displacements are assumed small. This
restriction does not apply to the subsequent discussion of a single body.

4 Let x be the displacement of a reference mark at the fraction r of the dis-
tance along the coupling piece from A toward B, while xa and xb are the respec-
tive displacements necessary for coupling the two members, t being the tension
in the coupling, and F the particular external force, applied to A, with respect
to which we seek the stiffness of the coupled system, S. Then, by definition,

F . .

S = — , while the conditions of equilibrium and constraint are expressed by the
x

four equations

x =(l — r)xa — rxb xa + xb = constant

F t t

xa = -| h const. xb = h const.

Xsa sa sb

in which the forces and displacements are interpreted vectorially. Eliminating
the three quantities xa, xb, and t gives

F = \(sa + sb)x + K
in which K denotes a term involving r, sa, and sb, but obviously vanishing if
the system is so adjusted that x = 0 when F = 0. Dividing through by x now
gives the result (1).

dS dsa . M v dsb
- rj + (1 - r))

S sa sb

hersey: stiffness of elastic systems 571

such a way that the springs fail to meet by about an inch.
Holding the frame vertical, hang a weight to the free end of the
upper spring, and note the deflection. Then couple the two
springs together. The same weight will now cause but half
that deflection. The experiment can readily be extended to show
the effect of using springs of unequal stiffnesses, or of weights
hung not at the coupling.

Influence of temperature and elastic after-effect on coupled sys-
tems.5 Differentiating (1) gives for the fractional change in the
stiffness of the coupled system, in terms of the fractional changes
in the stiffnesses of the components, due to any cause whatever,

(2)
, and

Sa ~\~ Sb

depends evidently on the two components but not on X, and,
therefore, not on the manner of applying the external force.
The changes dsa and dsb may equally well be interpreted as
temperature effects, or elastic after-effects. In either case (2)
shows that the relative contributions of the two components are
fixed by the single factor r\ and are proportional to the respec-
tive stiffnesses. We therefore pass to the consideration of the
stiffness of a single body.

General expression for the stiffness of a body. The treatment
of non-homogeneous or anisotropic bodies will be simplified by
the conception of generalized shape. Two bodies may be said
to have the same generalized shape when not simply linear
magnitudes, but all physical quantities associated with points
in the bodies, are similarly distributed in the two bodies; that
is, distributed so that the ratio of the two magnitudes of any
one such quantity is the same at all pairs of corresponding
points. Thus two pieces of rolled sheet metal of different sizes
and materials have the same generalized shape if they have been
cut out to the same geometrical shape, similarly oriented with
respect to the direction of rolling, and if the rolling has pro-

5 The displacement due to temperature or to elastic after-effect at constant
load is assumed so small that, in differentiating (1), \ may be regarded as
constant.

572 hersey: stiffness of elastic systems

duced in each case the same relative variation of elastic con-
stants over the cross section. When any elastic constant of a
series of bodies is represented by a single symbol, it is to be
understood that this refers to its mean value, or to its value
at a particular point and in a particular direction, and that all
bodies in the series are of the same generalized shape. Fin-
ally, if the bodies in such a series, although not violating Hooke's
law at any point within the material, are so greatly deformed
that there is no longer a direct proportionality between load and
deflection, it is to be understood that the bodies remain geo-
metrically similar to each other while being deformed.

With this understanding, it may be shown by dimensional
reasoning that the stiffness of any of a series of perfectly elastic
bodies of different sizes or materials but of the same generalized
shape is given by

S = LE-4>{a) = LM^(a) = L-f(E^) (3)

in which L denotes any chosen linear dimension, E Young's
modulus, ij, the rigidity (i.e., shear modulus) and o- Poisson's
ratio. The functions 4>, \p, and / are to be found, if they need
to be known at all, by detailed calculations employing the
conventional theory of elasticity, or by model experiments.

Thus to find <p (<r) we need only plot observed values of — —

against known values of a for a series of models of the same gen-
eralized shape, but having any convenient values of L, E, and a
covering the desired range along the a scale. In practice, the
method of model experiments will be limited by the difficulty
of procuring materials, which, if intended to be isotropic, are
sufficiently so; or which, if intended to be anisotropic, are suffi-
ciently similar in internal structure sensibly to satisfy the re-
quirement of having the same generalized shape.

The change in stiffness with temperature, and criteria for com-
pensation. Differentiating (3) gives, for the fractional change
in stiffness with temperature, 6,

I^=Aa + £/3 + 7 (4)

S d9

in which

voegtlin: role of vitamines in nutrition 575

The condition (10) for compensation therefore reduces to - = 1.7.

When j3/a exceeds that value, and if, as usual, both a and /3
are negative, we are led to the paradoxical conclusion that the
disc will become stiffer when heated. Nor can the paradox be
avoided by supposing that no such materials will be found or
that a and (3 depend on the state of stress — both of which pos-
sibilities may in themselves be true — for the variable 6 in the
differentiation was in fact arbitrary, so that we may restate the
conclusion thus: Of two discs having the same Young's modulus,
that with the less rigidity is the stiffer.

Note on the proposed experiments. The experiments referred
to in footnote (1) have as their ultimate object the develop-
ment of formulas for the stiffness of corrugated diaphragms.
In the course of the experiments it is proposed to determine
anew a and /3 for a series of materials, and thus to test directly
the above paradox. A preliminary group of experiments on
flat circular discs, conducted at the Bureau of Standards in
July with the assistance of H. B. Henrickson, and in which both
the increase in hysteresis and the decrease in stiffness with
rising temperature were observed, led to the following progres-
sion of materials when arranged in descending order of magni-
tude of the latter effect : soft sheet iron, tempered steel, phos-
phor-bronze, zinc, aluminum, copper, brass, and German silver.

The value of - — was about — 6 per cent per degree C. for the
o dd

iron disc, and for German silver it was 0 at small deflections and

just perceptibly positive at large deflections; intermediate, but

very small and nearly equal, values were found for the intervening

materials.

PHYSIOLOGY. — The importance of vitamines in relation to nu-
trition in health and disease.1 Carl Voegtlin, Professor of
Pharmacology, United States Public Health Service.

The purpose of my lecture is to give you a brief outline of the
most recent phase of the science of nutrition ; namely, the impor-

1 A lecture delivered before the Washington Academy of Sciences, April 28 ,
1916.

576 voegtlin: role of vitamines in nutrition

tance of the presence in the diet of man of small quantities of
substances essential for the maintenance of health. Until very
recently physiology taught that the human diet should meet the
following requirements: (1) It should contain an adequate amount
of protein, fat, carbohydrate, and inorganic salts; and (2) the
daily ration should conform to certain definite requirements in
regard to its caloric or fuel value. . Once these requirements were
met the diet was considered as being physiologically satisfactory.
However, a number of unexplained facts did speak in favor
of the assumption that the human diet should also contain some
other substances, so-called accessory dietary constituents. For
instance, it has been known for some time that scurvy is a disease
which occurs in man and certain higher animals when the diet
does not contain fresh vegetables or animal foods. Epidemics
of scurvy broke out on sailing vessels when the crew was forced
to live for several months on such food as canned beef and dried
cereals to the complete exclusion of food in the fresh state.
During the siege of Paris in the year 1871 part of the population
was also deprived of fresh food and an epidemic of scurvy
appeared. Scurvy was apparently due to the lack of fresh food
in the diet. This conception of the cause of scurvy is supported
by the fact that a corresponding change of diet and especially
the administration of fresh milk or lemon juice leads to a rapid
recovery of most cases affected by this disease. Hence, we might
conclude that there exist in fresh food some substances which
are essential for the prevention of scurvy. These substances
may be designated as antiscorbutic substances. As stated pre-
viously, they have no direct relation to the other known dietary
constituents such as the proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and salts.
The chemical composition of the antiscorbutic substance is still
unknown, although numerous fruitless attempts aiming at its
isolation have been made. All we know about this substance is
that it is fairly stable in acid media. This is probably the reason
why lemon juice with its high acidity is the classical preparation
used in the prevention and treatment of scurvy. For the same
reason fresh milk, having a neutral reaction, on being exposed

voegtlin: role of vitamines in nutrition 577

for a considerable length of time to a temperature exceeding
100°C. loses its antiscorbutic properties and when forming the
exclusive diet of children may give rise to infantile scurvy, or
Barlow's disease.

Another interesting disease which has been shown to be caused
by a diet deficient in the above sense is beri-beri. This disease,
being especially prevalent in eastern countries, as Japan and the
Philippines, is a disease of the nervous system, and appears in
people having lived for several months on a diet which consisted
mainly of highly milled (white) rice or wheat. It is interesting
to note that this disease is not so apt to appear if the rice forming
the diet is not deprived of its outer layers, including the so-called
aleurone. Evidently the whole rice grain meets all the require-
ments of a diet for the prevention of beri-beri. Although beri-
beri was known to occur for centuries in the East, many students
of this disease were struck by the intimate relation which seemed
to exist between the prevalence of the disease and the intro-
duction of highly milled (white) rice. In prisons where the
highly polished rice was substituted in the diet of the inmates
for the rice of lower milling, epidemics of beri-beri seemed to
follow this dietary change. Time does not permit me to go into
further detail concerning the many interesting observations which
were made in the study of the dietary peculiarities of this disease.
It may suffice to say that Eykman, a Dutch investigator, by
accident discovered in 1897 that chickens fed exclusively on
white rice developed within three to four weeks a disease which
he considered as practically identical with human beri-beri.
This discovery marked the beginning of the epoch of the sys-
tematic study of this disease, and opened up a new field for
nutritional studies. By means of chickens or pigeons which had
developed symptoms of experimental beri-beri it was possible
to test the therapeutic value of food extracts of assumably pro-
phylactic and curative properties. Thus it was soon found that
extracts made from rice polishings representing the outer por-
tions of the rice kernel brought about a cure of birds affected
with the disease. Efficient extracts were also prepared from

578 voegtlin: role of vitamines in nutrition

beans, brewers' yeast, and many other raw products. These
same extracts were also shown to have some curative value in
cases of human beri-beri.

Before entering into the question of the chemical isolation of
these curative substances, I should like to call attention to the
work of some American investigators which furnished additional
evidence as to the importance of some accessory food constitu-
ents essential for normal growth. McCollum, Osborne, and
Mendel found that a diet of purified protein, fat, carbohydrates,
and mineral salts was inadequate for the maintenance of the
normal growth of young rats. These discoveries were in contra-
diction to the previously held conceptions of growth. The diet
of these rats was in every respect balanced from the point of
view of its content of protein, carbohydrate, fats, and salts, yet
normal growth was not observed in rats fed exclusively on this
artificial diet. There was obviously something lacking in this
diet, which was essential for normal growth.

CHEMICAL ISOLATION OF VITAMINES

Having definitely established the presence in certain foods of
unknown accessory food components, it became a matter of con-
siderable importance to determine their chemical nature and
physiological action. An enormous amount of energy and time
on the part of investigators interested in this question was
necessary to obtain our present knowledge of these substances.
Preliminary experiments showed that the antiscorbutic and anti-
neuritic substances2 could be extracted from certain foods by
means of water. The antineuritic substances were also found
to be soluble in alcohol. By submitting these primary extracts
to further chemical purification various workers succeeded in
preparing fractions which seemed to be fairly pure and possessed
high curative properties. We are especially indebted for this
pioneer work to Funk and Suzuki and their collaborators. Funk,
in 1912, succeeded in devising a method which led to a product

2 Antineuritic substances prevent beri-beri and polyneuritis in birds.

voegtlin: role of vitamines in nutrition 579

of high physiological activity. Two to three milligrams of this
substance (that is to say, an exceedingly minute amount) pro-
duced a cure of completely paralyzed pigeons sometimes within
two to three hours. This substance was obtained in crystalline
form, being composed of small needles. The substance seemed
to have a definite melting point (233°), and on analysis contained
carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. The properties of the
substance in regard to its behavior toward various precipitating
agents seemed to warrant the conclusion that it was an organic
base; this led Funk to designate this substance as vitamine, from
vita (life) and amine, meaning that this substance was an amine
essential for life. It is true enough that Funk did not have
sufficient evidence to prove that the substance was an amine in
the chemical sense, nor did he know whether or not other acces-
sory food substances belonged in the same chemical group. How-
ever, he applied the term vitamines to the substances preventing
beri-beri and scurvy. These diseases were called deficiency dis-
eases or avitaminoses, meaning that the diet which gives rise
to these diseases is deficient in certain vitamines. I fully realize
the objection which might be, and has been, raised to the use of
the term vitamine; at the same time we may, for the present at
least, accept this designation, as it is brief and undoubtedly has
some truth in it, as these substances are essential for normal life.
The work of Funk and Suzuki has been repeated and some-
what elaborated during the last three years by a number of other
investigators. The main difficulty which presented itself in the
study of these substances was the fact that with the available
methods only small amounts of the relatively pure substances
could be obtained from hundreds of pounds of the most suitable
raw material, such as yeast and rice polishlngs. Realizing this
difficulty, work was started over a year ago at the Hygienic
Laboratory, and somewhat later at the Pellagra Hospital of the
U. S. Public Health Service, in search of improved methods for
the isolation of vitamines. I am glad to say that the work
resulted fairly successfully, although it is by no means com-
pleted. For each raw product it seems necessary to make some

580 voegtlin: role of vitamines in nutrition

modification in the method, in order to obtain the maximum
yield. Thus, Dr. Seidell succeeded in removing practically all
of the antineuritic vitamine from an active solution of autolyzed
yeast filtrate by means of a special preparation of kaolin, or
fullers' earth. It was found that the so-called Lloyd's reagent
(hydrous aluminium silicate) removes the vitamine from auto-
lyzed brewers' yeast. We must assume that this reaction is
based on adsorption, a view which will be referred to later.
Vedder and Williams had previously shown that animal charcoal
will also remove the antineuritic vitamine from an extract of
rice polishings. Furthermore, Funk had observed that kaolin
removed the antiscorbutic vitamine from cow's milk. We were
able to show quite recently that mastic, a resin, also removes
the antineuritic vitamine from an autolyzed yeast solution. Dr.
Seidell demonstrated that his preparation of vitamine was fairly
stable and inasmuch as it is very easily prepared and at low cost
this preparation may be expected to be of value in the treatment
of certain deficiency diseases. The preparation is being tested
clinically at present. The work along this line at the Pellagra
Hospital has also yielded encouraging results. Dr. Sullivan and
myself have succeeded in modifying Funk's method in such a
way as to give a much better yield and a fairly stable preparation.
I now shall call your attention to some other results ob-
tained by Williams, of the Bureau of Chemistry. Williams
prepared some oxypyridines, and on testing these substances on
pigeons found that they effected a temporary cure in doses of
about 1 mg. This is a most interesting observation. Suzuki
and also Funk had previously isolated nicotinic acid from the
crude vitamine fraction of rice polishings and yeast. Funk had
expressed the opinion that nicotinic acid may be part of the
vitamine molecule. It is, therefore, very important that Williams
should have discovered the antineuritic properties of some pyri-
dine derivatives, especially as nicotinic acid is also a pyridine
derivative. This latter substance, however, has no curative
action. Whatever may be the final solution of the chemical
constitution of this vitamine, whether the synthetic product has

voegtlin: role of vitamines in nutrition 581

any chemical relation to the natural vitamine or not, the work
just referred to is certainly exceedingly interesting.

CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF VITAMINES

At present relatively little is known regarding the chemical
and physiological properties of vitamines. Some facts, how-
ever, have been established. The antineuritic vitamine, for
instance, is present in the natural foods, largely in a combined
form which is soluble in 90 per cent alcohol, or water. This
mother substance can be split into the physiologically Tiighly
active substance by acid hydrolysis or autolysis by means of
enzymes. Very little is known as to the chemical nature of the
mother substance of this beri-beri vitamine. The observations
that foods rich in lipoids are also rich in vitamines and the solu-
bility of the mother substance in alcohol might lead to the belief
that vitamines enter into the molecule of certain lipoids, an
assumption which recent experiments by Sullivan and myself
have made highly improbable. The antineuritic substance is
probably not in combination with carbohydrates, as the starchy
part of cereals seems to be extremely poor in this substance.
The probability that certain parts of the protein molecule (nucleic
acid) may hold in combination the active substance is still open
for consideration.

A fact of fundamental importance is that vitamines are fairly
susceptible to temperatures above 100°C. A large number of obser-
vations made on man and experimental animals show that the
prolonged heating of most of the natural foods to a temperature
of 120° for one to three hours will destroy most of the physio-
logical activity of the vitamines originally present in these foods.
Beef which is sub nutted to such treatment is found to lend to
symptoms of scurvy in man, if forming the exclusive diet to-
gether with other food deficient in vitamines.

The vitamines which prevent scurvy and beri-beri seem to be
fairly resistant to strong acids. As a matter of fact certain acids
seem to prevent the deterioration of vitamines. On the other
hand, strong alkalies under certain conditions seem to destroy
the physiological activity of vitamines; at least, at higher tem-
perature. The behavior of vitamines to acids and alkalies is of

582 voegtlin: role of vitamines in nutrition

great importance from a dietary point of view, as we shall see
later.

In closing this chapter I should like to raise one more ques-
tion, namely: Do vitamines occur in colloidal form? Although
this question is of a highly technical nature, I do not feel that
I can omit giving it some consideration. I have already stated
that certain adsorbing agents, such as charcoal, kaolin, and mas-
tic, remove the vitamines from autolyzed yeast solutions, as well
as milk. Now we know that these reagents remove substances
by means of adsorption, a physico-chemical process character-
ized by a particular property of the surface of some finely divided
substances to condense on it other substances of a similar nature.
In order that such a condensation can take place, the adsorbing
as well as the adsorbed substance must be in the colloidal state.
We have, therefore, good reason to assume that vitamines may
occur in the colloidal state. If this should be proven beyond
doubt by future investigations, it certainly would help in explain-
ing the remarkable physiological action of vitamines.

PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF VITAMINES

As to the physiological action of vitamines, but very little is
known at the present time. Of course, we can easily demon-
strate the relief of the paralytic symptoms of polyneuritis in birds
by means of vitamines, but we know very little as to the physio-
logical mechanism by which the symptoms are removed. Any-
body who has ever observed the effect of an active preparation
of vitamine on a completely paralyzed pigeon must be impressed
by the marvelous action of these preparations. The animals
may look as if on the verge of death, exhibiting a complete
paralysis of the voluntary muscles, accompanied with a deep
and abnormally slow respiration and a weakened heart action,
yet the injection of a few milligrams of active substance will
change the picture often completely within three hours. At the
end of this time the bird may be seen walking about normally,
and greedily eating the food which he had refused before the
treatment was initiated. To the pharmacologist the clinical

voegtlin: role of vitamines in nutrition 583

picture appears to possess all of the earmarks of an intoxication.
The rapid recovery might be considered as an antagonistic action
of the vitamine to some toxic product contained in the tissues
of the animal. This leads me to mention a very striking rela-
tion that exists between the beri-beri vitamine (antineuritic) and
carbohydrate metabolism. Funk, and Braddon and Cooper
observed that for each gram of carbohydrate in the diet there
must also be present a certain minimal quantity of vitamine, in
order to prevent the occurrence of experimental beri-beri in
pigeons. If the carbohydrate or starchy component of the diet
is increased, the vitamine content must be increased accordingly.
This explains some of the earlier observations that a diet rich
in carbohydrates is more apt to give rise to the appearance of
beri-beri in man. It is possible that in the absence of a sufficient
vitamine content of the body the intermediate products of carbo-
hydrate metabolism may exert a toxic action of some kind which
is antagonized by the administration of a sufficient amount of
vitamine. So far the natural vitamines were shown to be devoid
of any toxic action, if given in moderate doses.

It is of prime importance to state here that the animal body is
not capable of manufacturing the known vitamines from vitamine-
free food. All of the higher animals, including men, receive their
vitamine supply directly or indirectly from plants. It is the
plant that synthesizes the vitamine, and we obtain our necessary
vitamine supply either by eating vegetable food or animal food.
Cows store up in their bodies the vitamines which they consume
in their fodder; part of it is secreted with the milk, supplying the
calf with the necessary vitamines, as well as furnishing a valuable
source of vitamine for man. Chickens transfer part of the vi-
tamine content of their cereal food into the eggs they lay. It is
the plant which keeps up the vitamine supply essential for animal
life. The plant is capable of building up the vitamine from
simple inorganic compounds, another example of the wonderful
synthetic power of plants.

What becomes of the vitamines in the body of animals f This is
a very pertinent question, which is not easily answered. Some
years ago Funk was able to obtain a small quantity of anti-

584 voegtlin: kole of vitamines in nutrition

neuritic vitamine from dried ox brain. A little later Dr. Towles
and myself were able to demonstrate the presence of this sub-
stance in crude extracts from the spinal cord which was free from
blood and other contaminations and, therefore, represented, to a
large extent, nerve cells and nerve fibers. From this it would
appear that the antineuritic substance under normal conditions
forms an essential part of the nerve cell and fiber and that its
presence in nervous tissue in sufficient amounts is essential for
the proper function of this organ. When the vitamine content
of the nervous tissue is no longer replaced by an adequate supply
in the diet, degeneration of the nervous tissue begins. In this
connection I also call attention to the fact that lipoids and
antineuritic vitamine seem to be distributed in the body in
similar proportions. This may be due to the lipoid solubility
of the antineuritic vitamine. Another point of importance is
that the animal body has the capacity of holding on to its vi-
tamines. If we change the diet of man from one sufficient in
vitamines to one deficient or free of vitamine, we find that as a
rule it takes several weeks and even months before obvious and
well defined symptoms of deficiency diseases appear. One might
ask why the body does not react more rapidly to a deficient diet.
Apparently the initial vitamine content of the body, which in
absolute terms probably amounts to only a few grams in a
person weighing 100 pounds, is not easily used up or eliminated
together with the excretions. The katabolism of vitamines, if
there is such a thing, must be extremely slow. If my statement
that vitamines may occur in the colloidal state be correct, and
we have seen that a number of facts seem to prove this assump-
tion, it is very likely that certain other body colloids may fix
the vitamines in the tissue fluids by means of adsorption. Traube
has shown that certain alkaloids with very powerful and pro-
longed physiological action occur in the form of colloids. The
fact that these substances are colloidal may be one of the reasons
for their powerful physiological activity, especially as the recent
teachings of biochemistry seem to support the view that life
itself is largely dependent on the colloidal state of living matter.
Before closing the chapter of the physiological action of vi-

voegtlin: role of vitamines in nutrition

585

tamines it may be well to point out that recent experiments have
demonstrated that normal growth of certain higher animals, and
probably also of man, requires a diet which must be sufficient
in certain accessory foods or vitamines.

DISTRIBUTION OF VITAMINES IN FOODS

From the practical point of view of human nutrition it is
highly desirable to know something of the distribution of vi-

TABLE 1

ANTI-NEURITIC PROPERTIES

ANTI-SCORBUTIC PROPERTIES

Relatively rich

Relatively poor

Relatively rich

Relatively poor

Brewers' yeast

Sterilized milk

Fresh vegetables

Dried vegetables

Egg yolk

Sterilized meat

Fresh fruits

Dried fruits

Ox heart

Cabbage

Raw milk

Sterilized milk

Milk (fresh)

Turnips

Raw meat

Canned meat

Beef and other

Carrots and other

Cereals, sprouting

Dried cereals

fresh meats

vegetables of

Pork fat

Fish

this type

Starch

Beans

Highly milled ce-

Molasses

Peas

reals

Corn syrup

Oats

Starch

Barley

Molasses

Wheat

Corn syrup

Corn

Other cereals

tamines in the various natural foods. It is important to know
roughly whether a certain food like milk or barley is relatively
rich or poor in vitamines. Unfortunately we do not possess at
the present time a quantitative method for estimating the vi-
tamine content of a given food. The preceding table (Table 1)
illustrates the relative vitamine content of foods, beginning with
those richest in vitamines. I do not pretend that this table is
a very accurate compilation, but in our present state of knowl-
edge it will probably be found of some use in deciding questions
as to what constitutes a satisfactory diet from this point of view.
It is fortunate that most people, on account of their dietary
habits, live on a mixed diet containing enough of these accessory

586 voegtlin: role of vitamines in nutrition

foods to prevent an outbreak of scurvy or beri-beri. The average
mixed diet is composed of animal food, which, with few excep-
tions (meat fat), is relatively rich in vitamine, and vegetable
food. The latter may contain sufficient vitamines (legumes)
or may be relatively deficient in this respect.

FACTORS WHICH TEND TO REDUCE THE VITAMINE CONTENT OF THE

DIET

The food supply of the human race is, however, subjected to
various changes which may lead to more or less radical changes
in the nutritive value and availability of certain foods. The
trend of modern civilization, leading to the concentration of the
population in large cities away from the source of food produc-
tion, has strongly influenced the methods of food production and
with it also the composition of some foods. This whole ques-
tion was discussed in an excellent address by Prof. L. B. Mendel
before the Second Pan-American Scientific Congress, held in
Washington last December. It remains for me only to point
out the changes in the, food supply which have affected the
vitamine content of our diet. We can state without exaggeration
that this country has led the world in the introduction on a
large scale of modern methods of food production, preservation,
and conservation. A number of industries have seen radical
changes in modern times. I have only to refer to the develop-
ment of the canning industry, the packing houses, and the great
cereal mills, in order to illustrate this point. These changes,
together with increased transportation facilities, have resulted
in a wonderful change of our whole economic life. Whereas,
people a hundred years ago used to live largely on food raised
in this country, the market basket of today is made up of food
coming from all parts of the world. The diet of the population
of larger cities, and to a lesser extent that of the rural districts,
has been subjected to great changes. Nowadays, we are able to
purchase all the year around foods which formerly were only
available at certain seasons. New foods have appeared on the
market. Without these changes in food supply, food produc-

voegtlin: role of vitamines in nutrition 587

tion, and preservation the development of our modern industrial
life would have been utterly impossible, as it is a very essential
thing that people should be properly fed. The pertinent ques-
tion arises: Have these changes in our diet affected its nutritive
value favorably or unfavorably? It is perfectly evident that
such a question is not answered without a great deal of thorough
investigation. All I can say today is that it seems that the diet
of a certain proportion of the population may have been mate-
rially improved in recent years, leading to a greater variety of
dietary components. On the other hand, I firmly believe, as
a result of personal observations in a limited portion of the
South, that the diet of some Southern people has markedly
decreased in nutritive value from the point of view of its vi-
tamine content. This is especially true of people living under
rather poor economic conditions. I observed that the poorer
people usually were unable to obtain the more expensive foods
like beef, or other fresh meat, eggs, and milk, foods which are
relatively rich in vitamines. Their diet was largely composed
of cereal products, pork fat, carbohydrates in the form of molasses
or corn syrup, and a few canned products. During the summer,
and less so in the winter, fresh vegetables also were procured,
some from their own gardens. The following table is an example
of the yearly food supply of a family of cotton mill workers in
Spartanburg County, South Carolina.

This dietary record is representative of a fairly large percent-
age of the cotton mill workers of this section of the South. It
should be emphasized that the wheat flour which is used by these
people is highly milled (patent) and forms perhaps the most
important staple article of the diet. The diet as a whole must
be considered as deficient in antineuritic vitamines, with the
exception of the beans, which this family raised in their garden.
During the winter time the cereal products, namely, wheat flour,
corn meal, and grits, and pork fat (fatback) form the bulk of the
diet. It is evident, therefore, that under these conditions it is
important that the vitamine content of the cereal products should
be sufficient, in order to prevent the consumption of a deficient
diet. From the point of view of public health it is of considerable

588

voegtlin: role of vitamines in nutrition

importance that the bread supplied for human consumption
should contain the highest possible nutritive value.

TABLE 2
Example of Yearly Food Supply of a Family of Cotton Mill Workers

Baking powder

Beans (dried)

Blackberries (canned).

Bread (wheat)

Butter

Candy

Cheese

Chicken (one)

Corn (canned)

Corn meal

Crackers

Cream of wheat

Dried peaches

Fat salt pork

Jelly

Lard, Compound

Watermelon

Oatmeal

Peanuts

Porkside

Potatoes, Irish

Salmon (canned)

Sardines (canned)

Soda

Sour kraut (canned) .

Sugar

Syrup (corn)

Syrup (cane)

Tomatoes (canned) . .
Wheat flour

COST

$4.

10
3

35
55
25
50
85
50
45
25
20
25
00
45
25
41
,25
30
.75
.15
.05
.12
.00
.95
.25
.50
.40
.95
.25
.80
.45
.35

gram

9,222

3,624

1,410

3,670

6,114

2,265

7,224

1,132

250

184,824

3,660

2,400

1,812

58,663

3,240

43,486

3,000

588

126

4,303

224,235

19,756

475

3,971

3,716

37,824

2,730

16,308

9,888

429,897

PROTEIN

gram

816
18

390
61

2,139
154

17,001

, 358

264

119

2,944

CARBOHY-
DRATE

gram

2,160

153

1,770

2,172

198

139,352

2,729

1,830

1,607

CALORIES

1,935

137

389

408

4,933

41,269

4,112

140

37,824

1,932

11,298

118

394

48,987

325,102

gram

5,165

2,774

139

3,504

329

72,962

43,486

2,650

224

2,341

4,298

12,840

837

9,260

49,103

8,922

30,799

1,937

838

675,240

15,617

8,907

7,163

690,498

8,115

405,120

585

1,964

716

26,410

190,575

39,864

1,220

1,000

155,304

7,608

46,440

2,228

1,575,340

From all of the available data one may conclude that the
nutritive value of bread made from corn or wheat remained much
the same from the time of the early settlers to about 1880.
During this long period bread was prepared from wheat flour
or corn meal and salt, with or without addition of other ingredi-

voegtlin: role of vitamines in nutrition 589

ents, such as fresh milk, buttermilk, molasses, et cetera. The
wheat flour or corn meal was obtained by simply crushing the
whole grain between stones, by various means, to the desired
degree of fineness. The resulting flour or corn meal, from which
the coarser particles of bran were partly sifted out, was then
used for baking bread. Accordingly, the bread contained practi-
cally all of the nutritive elements of the whole grain. During
the last fifty years, however, radical changes have taken place,
with the tendency of reducing considerably the vitamine content
of bread.

The introduction of the roller mill system into the United
States in 1878 represents probably the most important change
in this direction. By means of the roller process it was made
possible to separate more or less the various parts of the kernel,
namely, the germ, or embryo, the bran, and the endosperm, or
starchy part. The latter represents the bulk of the fine (patent)
flour, which, on account of its white appearance, appealed to
the housewife as an assumably purer product. Accordingly the
germ and bran were largely discarded as human foods. While
it is quite true that the highly milled products (wheat flour, corn
meal, corn flour, and grits) obtained by the roller process are
far superior to whole wheat flour and the old-fashioned corn
meal, as far as the keeping qualities are concerned, at the same
time this modern process deprives the finished products of some
of their vitamine content, an assumption which has been amply
verified in some recent work by Myers and myself. These sub-
stances are located in the intact kernel in the outer layers (aleu-
rone layer) and probably also in the germ.

Fowl, the classical experimental animal for the physiological
estimation of the vitamine content of foods, will live in perfect
health for many months on an exclusive diet of wheat, corn,
whole wheat flour, or so-called water ground corn meal. If these
animals are fed, however, on highly milled products, they will
die within a month or two of polyneuritis, a disease very similar
to beri-beri. There seems, therefore, to exist a perfect analogy
between the well known relation of the polishing of rice and its
nutritive value, and the milling of wheat and corn and the

590 'voegtlin: role of vitamines in nutrition

nutritive value of wheat flour and corn meal. As stated pre-
viously, numerous observations have demonstrated the fact that
if the diet of people is largely made up of highly polished rice
and is otherwise deficient in vitamines, beri-beri will make its
appearance; whereas, if undermilled rice is substituted for the
highly milled variety the disease is not so likely to break out.
Little3 reports an epidemic of beri-beri among the fishermen of
Newfoundland who lived mainly on bread made from highly
milled wheat flour.

. From these considerations it would appear that a simple
method for the determination of the vitamine content of cereal
products would be of great value. Unfortunately it is still
impossible to base such a method on the direct isolation of
these substances from the natural foods. The determination of
the total phosphorus content of these products, however, seems
to give a fairly accurate index of the relative amounts of vitam-
ines present. While phosphorus does not enter into the vitamine
molecule, the distribution of phosphorus and vitamines within
the grain run practically parallel. Fraser and Stanton, on the
basis of a large number of observations and analyses, came to
the conclusion that rice containing less than 0.4 per cent of P205
is deficient in vitamines. Myers and myself have used this
method in order to correlate the vitamine content of wheat and
corn products as found by animal experimentation with that of
the quantitative estimation of the P205 content of these same
products. Without going into detail it was found that in the
case of these cereals the same relation exists between P2O5 and
vitamine content as in the case of rice. (See Table 3.)

We believe that the determination of the P205 index will be
found of value in all cereal products, except the so-called "self-
rising flours." These latter products contain baking powders
which often are composed of phosphates. As the label of these
flours always indicates whether baking powder has been adied,
it will be an easy matter to discard such flours for this purpose.
I now should like to call attention to another factor involved

3 Little. Journ. Am. Med. Assoc, 68: 2029. 1912.

hersey: stiffness of elastic systems 573

0 (<0 dE if, (a) bfx {

= E dd' ' ti de' J " L dd'

(5)

It is significant that there are no terms inseparably involving
both shape factors and thermal properties; as a consequence of
this, the complete expression for the effect of temperature on
the stiffness of a body, made of a material whose temperature
coefficients, a, /?, and y, are known, can be developed empir-
ically without changing the temperature. The dimensionless
factors A and B depend only on Poisson's ratio and the gen-
eralized shape, while a, /3, and y are familiar thermal properties
of the material as such.

It would appear that a body of any fixed shape could be com-
pensated for temperature, provided materials for its construc-
tion could be found having such values of a, /S, and y as will
make the right hand side of (4) vanish; and, conversely, that a
body of any fixed material could be compensated, if its shape
could be so modified as to give to A and B values which would
make that member vanish.

Simplified expressions for homogeneous isotropic bodies. When
the relation

- = 2 (1 + «■) (6)

characterizing homogeneous isotropic bodies is satisfied, the two
factors A and B coalesce into one factor, C, giving

i^ = (l + C)«-C73 + 7 (7)

o Old

in which

where, by (3)

C=(l + 4 log*M (8)

d<r

♦M - ± (0)

574 hersey: stiffness of elastic systems

The procedure for determining C is simple. Plot the values of

log — — , observed in a series of model experiments, as ordinates
LE

against a as abscissa; S' being any magnitude (for example, the

weight needed to give a certain deflection of a spot of light on

some arbitrary scale) which is proportional to the true stiffness,

S. The value of C, at any part of this curve, will then be (1 + <x)

times the slope of the curve.

Note from (7) that, when C is positive, the /3 term has an

opposite effect from the a term and may outweigh it. In fact,

the condition for temperature compensation is

I c > (10)

= 1 + — approx. \

Numerical results in particular cases. For pure stretching or
bending, C = 0; for pure twisting or shearing, C = — 1.

For a thin flat circular disc deflected at the center by a so-
called concentrated load, while freely supported at the rim, we
may take the deflection formula readily available in treatises on
elasticity,6 and, by recasting it into the form of (3), just as if
it were the result of model experiments, and then applying (8),
obtain the expression

c _ 2 (1 + <r)2

(l-<r) (3 + <r) . (11)

= 1.5 for a = 0.3

6 Thus from Love, Theory of Elasticity, 2nd edition, eq. (57J, p. 454, by put-
ting r = 0 and h = 0 and taking the value of D given by eq. (16). p. 443, we
find for the stiffness of an infinitely th:.n disc of radius a and thickness 2 h,

a „ 32 ir /hy

Comparing this expression with our eq. (3), and treating a as the linear dimen-
sion L, evidently

const.

<t> ( a ) = ; •

(3+<r) (l-O

Differentiating logarithmically, according to (8), immediately gives (11). In

2«r

the case of a disc clamped at the edge, the expression for C would be

1 — a

voegtlin: role of vitamines in nutrition

591

in the reduction of the vitamine content of corn bread. This
concerns the use of baking soda in the preparation of bread. Simul-
taneously with the introduction of highly milled corn meal it was
found that this product, when mixed with salt and water, did
not yield a bread of the same lightness as the old-fashioned meal.
Housekeepers, therefore, began to resort to artificial leavening.
Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) became very popular among

TABLE 3
Summary of Experiments

PER CENT

P2O0 IN DRY

FOOD

Wheat bread, made from highly milled

flour

"Patent" wheat flour

"Whole wheat" flour

"Graham" flour

Whole wheat

Corn grits (highly milled)

Corn meal (highly milled)

Corn meal (old fashioned rock ground)

Corn meal (rock ground)

Corn germ

Corn whole

0.114
.20-0.25
0.61
0.86
1.120
0.210
0.30
0.659
0.772
2.816
0.760

NUMBER OP DAYS REQUIRED
FOR APPEARANCE OF POLYNEU-
RITIS IN FOWL FED EXCLUSIVELY
ON THIS FOOD

20-32 days

20-40 days

Remained well

No symptoms developed

30 days

35 days

Remained well

The various methods for the estimation of P2O5 yield different results. The
method used in this work was described in Hygienic Laboratory Bulletin No.
103, and is considered as being very satisfactory for comparative analyses.
Explanation of terms used: (1) "Undermilled cereal products," cereals retaining
a large share of the aleurone layers and germ; (2) "highly milled cereal products,"
products that have been deprived to a great extent of the above mentioned parts
of the germ. These terms have been in common usage in the scientific litera-
ture and are, therefore, adopted in this paper.

the housekeepers. This preparation is used very extensively
for this purpose in South Carolina, where I had an opportunity
of studying its uses in cooking. Bread made by means of baking
soda has often a distinctly alkaline taste. In order to prepare
bread in this way corn meal is mixed with water or sweet milk,
and fat, to which baking soda has been added. The resulting
mush is baked in the oven. The high temperature in the oven lib-

592

voegtlin: role of vitamines in nutrition

erates carbon dioxide from the baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
and the latter is transformed into sodium carbonate, a strong
alkali. The evolution of C02 causes the bread to rise. Recent
experiments by Sullivan and myself have clearly demonstrated
the destructive action of alkalies, under certain conditions, on vit-
amines. These substances lose their physiological activity when
exposed to alkalies, this being especially true at higher tempera-
ture. Corn bread made from old-fashioned (whole) corn meal,
sweet milk, and soda, when forming the exclusive diet of chickens
leads to symptoms of polyneuritis, whereas, corn bread prepared

TABLE 4

LABORATORY NUMBERS OF ANIMALS

NUMBER OF D^YS REQUIRED FOR APPEARANCE
OF POLYNEURITIS AFTER FEEDING WAS BEGUN

17 days (average)

from corn meal, sweet milk, and salt (NaCl) does not give rise
to any symptoms and fowls seem to live in perfect health.
Chickens which have developed polyneuritis on the corn bread
made with sweet milk and soda are cured by the administration
of vitamines prepared from various foods. Hence, we may con-
clude that corn bread prepared by means of baking soda, without
the addition of butter-milk, or substances of an acid character
(cream of tartar), is deficient in antineuritic vitamines and that
this deficiency is due to the destructive action of the alkali (baking
soda) on the vitamines which were originally contained in these
foods.

The preceding table (Table 4) illustrates the destructive action
of baking soda on the vitamine content of corn bread. Ten

voegtlin: role of vitamines in nutrition 593

chickens were fed on corn bread of the following composition:
600 gm. of corn meal, 800 cc. of sweet milk, and 10 gm. of baking
soda. Chickens fed on corn bread made with 600 gm. of corn
meal, 800 cc. of sweet milk and 10 gm. sodium chloride did not
subsequently exhibit at any time symptoms of polyneuritis.4

It should be strongly emphasized, however, that the old-fash-
ioned way of combining baking soda with butter-milk in the
preparation of bread is a perfectly harmless procedure, provided
that sufficient butter-milk is added to neutralize fully the alka-
linity of the baking soda. The label of the brand of baking
soda in use in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, clearly
states that butter-milk or tartaric acid should be added in order
to obtain the best results. The prevalent use in that section of
the country of baking soda without butter-milk or tartaric acid
seems to be due to the lack of knowledge on the part of the
housewives, as well as to the fact that it is often very difficult
to obtain butter-milk.

We do not mean to imply that the use of baking soda will
always lead to an injurious action on the health of persons eating
bread prepared by this method, although such bread is undoubt-
edly deficient in vitamines. However, when the other dietary
components, outside of corn bread, are also deficient in vitamines,
the consumption of corn bread made with baking soda accentu-
ates this dietary deficiency and may lead to an impairment of
health. The same statement holds true in the case of highly
milled cereals.

A few words about the effect of food preservation on vitamines
may not be out of place here. Various methods have been in
use for this purpose. Simple drying at ordinary temperature of
such food as legumes, cereals, etc., has been in vogue for many
centuries. In the absence of moisture food decay does not take
place. Drying, however, seems to reduce the content of foods
in antiscorbutic vitamines. The antineuritic vitamine, on the

4 One chicken of this series, however, developed after a very long time symp-
toms of paralysis which were relieved by the administration of vitamine.

594 voegtlin: role of vitamines in nutrition

other hand, is only slightly affected by this treatment.5 Salting
and smoking food is also commonly resorted to. Little is known
as to the effect of these last mentioned methods of preservation
on the vitamine content. Another method of food preservation
which has assumed immense proportions within the last 50 years
is the canning of food. The process of canning was discovered
in the time of Napoleon the first, who offered a prize to the
scientists of his country for a method of preserving fresh foods.
Appert received the prize, as he was able to show that food
exposed for some time to the temperature of boiling water and
kept from contact with the air could be stored for a considerable
time without danger of decay. This process was used to a
limited extent in the period immediately following its discovery,
but the credit belongs to this country for having put it on a
large scale, until nowadays nearly everybody consumes part of
his diet in the form of canned foods. It seems important, there-
fore, to determine whether or not canning of food deprives the
food of some of its vitamine content. Experiments having this
idea in view have been made by myself and others on a small
scale, but it is altogether too early to draw any definite con-
clusions. Thus, several statements can be found in the litera-
ture pointing to the destructive action of the canning on the
antineuritic vitamine present in fresh meat and fresh milk. On
the other hand, I have been able to show that canned peas and
beans seem to retain a considerable amount of antineuritic
vitamine. Such questions should be given considerable atten-
tion, keeping in mind, however, that the benefits derived from
the fact that canned foods are available for human nutrition are
very considerable. This statement applies equally well to the
milling of cereals. While it is of prime importance to preserve
the full nutritive value of foods, at the same time it is imperative
that we also consider the great benefit which our modern methods
of food production and food preservation have yielded. Any
deficiencies in these methods from the point of view of the

6 Hoist and Froelich in 1907 succeeded in producing scurvy in guinea pigs by
means of an exclusive diet of dry cereals.

voegtlin: role of vitamines in nutrition 595

preservation of vitamines which might possibly be discovered in
the future should be removed if possible without disturbing the
normal continuation of these valuable industries.

OUTLOOK

Looking back over the history of the discovery of the acces-
sory foods and especially the vitamines, we at once realize that
it has opened up a new field of investigation, undreamed of a
relatively short time ago. Fundamental problems in physiology,
pharmacology, and pathology are awaiting the worker interested
in this field. The purely scientific, as well as the practical,
aspects of this field should stimulate research, which will require
a small army of workers in order that rapid progress be made.
It is of great importance that vitamine preparations should
become available for the practicing physician for the treatment
of deficiency diseases. It is quite possible that a number of
indefinite complaints and symptoms of adults and infants may
be due to a partially deficient diet and would be benefited by
the administration of vitamines. It is not always necessary
that the full picture of a deficiency disease make its appearance.
Such vague symptoms as loss of appetite and general weakness
might very well, in some instances, be due to a deficient diet.
In passing, it should also be stated that the scientific and practi-
cal problems of stock-raising will probably be very greatly bene-
fited by researches on the effect of vitamines on the growth of
animals and the composition and nutritive value of cows' milk.
Efforts should be made to make use of certain industrial wastes
rich in vitamines, such as brewers' yeast, rice polishings, etc.
If certain reports are correct, Germany at the present time is
fully aware of the great nutritive value of brewers' yeast, inas-
much as this raw product is now used in that country for human
nutrition.

In conclusion I should like to emphasize an old truth quoted
by Langworthy to the effect that "Each country and each
epoch has its own food problems." It is up to us to solve them.

ABSTRACTS

METEOROLOGY. — Weather forecasting in the United States. Alfred
J. Henry and others. Weather Bureau Publication No. 583.
Pp. 370, with 199 charts and diagrams. 1916. (For sale by Super-
intendent of Documents, Washington, D. C.)

It is a matter of common knowledge that although weather fore-
casts have been made in the United States for upwards of forty years,
scarcely anything has been written to explain in more or less detail the
processes by which weather forecasts are made. This volume is the
result of an attempt to put on record the rules and considerations
which have been found useful by experienced forecasters of the Weather
Bureau. The volume has been prepared primarily as an aid to begin-
ners in the art, and presupposes some acquaintance on the part of the
reader with graphic methods of presenting weather data. It is not for
general distribution.

Preliminary chapters upon the theoretical aspects of the problem of
atmospheric motions have been contributed by C. F. Marvin and Wm.
J. Humphreys.

The relation of atmospheric pressure distribution and of certain
well known barometric configurations to subsequent weather is dis-
cussed in three chapters by Alfred J. Henry. The well marked phe-
nomena of the weather, such as cold waves, frosts, high winds, fog,
snow, sleet, and thunderstorms, are discussed in four chapters; cold
waves and frosts are discussed by Henry J. Cox; high winds, by Edward
H. Bowie; fog, snow, and sleet, by H. C. Frankenfield.

Three chapters, devoted to the routine forecasts of wind and weather,
are contributed by the district forecasters for the five forecast districts
of the country, and, finally, a chapter on long range forecasts is pre-
sented by E. H. Bowie. A bibliography concludes the work.

A. J. H.
596

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VI OCTOBER 19, 1916 No. 17

PHYSICS. — A note on electrical conduction in metals at low tem-
peratures. F. B. Silsbee, Bureau of Standards. (Com-
municated by P. G. Agnew.)

Some time ago I had occasion to study the accounts of the
brilliant experiments of Kamerlingh Onnes on the resistivity of
various metals at liquid helium temperatures. In so doing I
have noticed a certain correlation between the phenomena of
critical current density and critical magnetic field. Though the
relationship seems quite obvious I have come across no mention
of it in the literature of the subject, and think it worthy of notice
as furnishing a possible clue to further theories of metallic
conduction.

The present state of our experimental knowledge of the sub-
ject is somewhat as follows. Certain metals — mercury, tin, and
lead — at the very low temperatures obtainable in a bath of
liquid helium show a very greatly increased electrical conduc-
tivity, to which Kamerlingh Onnes has given the name " super-
conductivity." The actual resistivity of the metal in this state
is too small to measure but lias been shown1 to be less than
2 X 10-u times the resistivity at 0°C. As the temperature of
any of these metals is lowered from room temperature, the re-
sistance decreases uniformly with the normal coefficient of about
0.4 per cent per degree until the temperature has become very
low, then the rate of decrease becomes for a time less rapid. At
a certain critical temperature (4?2 K for mercury, 3?8 K for

1 Kon. Akad. v. Weten. Amsterdam, 17 : 2S0.

597

598 silsbee: conduction at low temperatures

tin, and 6° K for lead),2 however, there is a sudden break in the
curve connecting resistance and temperature, and within a
temperature range of a few hundredths of a degree the resist-
ance drops from about 10~3 times its value at 0°C. to less than
10~10 times the same value. Other metals, such as gold, silver,
platinum, and iron, do not show this phenomenon but tend to
approach a constant value as the temperature is lowered to the
lowest value (1?6 K) at which such measurements have been
made. The critical temperature at which the change occurs is
very definite when the current used to measure the resistance is
small, but when the measuring current is very large the critical
temperature is found to be definitely lower. Conversely, if the
temperature of the bath be held constant some degrees below the
critical value and the current be increased, a certain "threshold"
value of current will be found at which the resistance suddenly
appears.3 The lower the temperature the greater the value of the
critical current.

It is further found that when a superconductor is placed in a
weak magnetic field it remains superconducting; but that, as the
field is increased, the normal resistance appears suddenly at a
certain critical value of the magnetic field, and for still higher
values of the field it increases slowly with the field.4 The criti-
cal value is slightly less when the field is transverse to the direc-
tion of current flow than when it is longitudinal, but the differ-
ence is not great.

The particular point which is the subject of this note is that
the "threshold" value of the current is that at which the magnetic
field due to the current itself is equal to the critical magnetic field.
In other words the phenomenon of threshold current need not
be regarded as a distinct phenomenon, to be explained by heating,
or otherwise, but is a direct result of the existence of the pheno-
menon of threshold magnetic field.

If the specimen is in the form of a coil of wire it is evident that
the inner turns are in a magnetic field, due to the current in the

2 Comm. Phys. Lab. Leiden, No. 133, pp. 7, 52, 60.

3 L.c, p. 3.

4 Comm. Phys. Lab. Leiden, No. 139, pp. 65-71.

silsbee: conduction at low temperatures 599

other turns, which is very similar to that due to an entirely ex-
ternal electromagnet. Consequently, when this field reaches the
critical value, first the inner turns will become resisting and, as
the current is increased, more and more of the wire will cease to
be superconducting. Because of the enormous factor by which
the conductivity decreases from the superconducting to the nor-
mal state, most of this decrease will take place when only a small
fraction of a turn of the coil ceases to be superconducting. Owing
to the cumulative effect of the successive turns, the field produced
by a given current is much greater in the coil than in the same
wire when straight, and, consequently, the current required to
give the critical field strength will be much less. This is verified
by the results of Onnes5 on coils of lead and tin wire for which
the critical currents were, respectively, TV and £ of those for
the same wire when straight. No attempt has yet been made
to measure the further gradual increase of resistance, which
would be expected on this theory, as the current is further in-
creased and more and more turns become resisting.

In the case of a straight wire of circular section the effect to
be expected is rather more complicated. Consider a supercon-
ducting wire of radius r0 carrying a current /, uniformly distrib-
uted over the cross-section. The magnetic field intensity H
at any point, distant r from the axis, but inside the wire, is given

H=24 CO

and that at the surface of the wire by

#o=- (2)

If the current be increased to a value slightly greater than

Hcr0

——- , where Hc is the critical field intensity for the material, the

outermost layer of the wire will become resisting. Since this

5 Comm. Phys. Lab. Leiden, No. 133, pp. 57, 60.

600 silsbee: conduction at low temperatures

layer is shunted by the superconducting core, the whole current
will tend to flow in this core. This, however, would make the
field at the edge of the core even greater than that in the former
outer layer, since by equation (2) the field varies inversely as the
external radius.

The system is therefore unstable and the current will shift
suddenly to a new distribution. This distribution will depend
on the exact form of the relation connecting resistivity with mag-
netic field; and if this relation were known, the current distribu-
tion might be computed from the usual electromagnetic equations.

If it be assumed that the resistivity increases discontinuously
by a large factor, k, at a definite field intensity Hc, then for a
current very slightly in excess of the critical value there will be

a superconducting core of radius — , in which the current density

will be k times the average value; and therefore - of the total

current will flow in this core. Outside of the core the material
will be in a field equal to or greater than Hc and will by hypothe-
sis have an increased and uniform resistivity. Since the core
is so small that in spite of the great current density existing
there it carries only a small part of the total current, the resist-
ance of the wire as a whole is nearly k times the superconducting
value. For the materials studied k is of the order of 107, so that
the effect of the core is negligible.

For any other relation between resistivity and field there
would be a corresponding current distribution. In general the
abruptness of the increase of resistance with current would be
similar to that of the increase of resistivity with field.

Owing to the great experimental difficulties of working at these
extreme temperatures the data available for an experimental
verification of this theory are rather scanty. Table 1 contains in
condensed form the observed values of threshold current for
various wires at different temperatures, as published by the
Leiden laboratory. Since the threshold values depend con-
siderably on temperature, a comparison is possible only when ob-

silsbee: conduction at low temperatures

601

solvations have been made on two wires at the same tempera-
ture; the table contains the results of practically all such obser-
vations that have been published.6

TABLE 1

Critical Values of Current for Various Metals and Temperatures

Data by H. K. Onnes

THRESHOLD
CURRENT

THRESHOLD
CURRENT DENSITY

MAX. MAG. FIELD

Mercury

deg, K

mm.-

amperes

amperes /mm.2

gauss

4.1

0.0016

0.17

107

0.0025

0.17

0.0055

0.23

0.0055

0.32

3.6

0.0016

1.00

625

0.0025

1.07

427

0.0040

>1.04

>260

>59

0.0052

0.78

151

Hcrit. = 200 at 2°K

1.6

0.0143
0.0143

1.0

8.0

70
560

430 coil
240 st. wire

Lead. Hcrit = 600 at 4?2 K

4.25

0.025

9.0

680

385 st. wire

0.014

>4.0

>300

>110 in vacuo

0.014

0.6

375 coil

1.7

0.014

0.84

550 coil

0.014

11.10

790

330 st. wire

In the last column is given the maximum value, within the
conductor, of the magnetic field due to its own threshold current,
that is, the field at the surface of a straight wire or at the inner
turns of a coil (the computations for the latter case being cnly

,; Comm. Phys. Lab. Leiden, No. 133.

602 silsbee: conduction at low temperatures

approximate). It is seen from the table that at each tempera-
ture this magnetic field is much more nearly a constant of the
material than either the current or the current density. In the
case of mercury the effect of a magnetic field on the resistance
in the superconducting state has not been measured. For tin
the threshold value at 2°K is about 200 gauss, which is in good
agreement with the slightly larger values computed from the
threshold current corresponding to a slightly lower temperature.
In the case of lead the agreement of the observed critical field
(600 gauss at 4°K) with the computed values is not so good, par-
ticularly in the case of the straight wire. Any discrepancy here,
however, is easily explained by the possibility (frequently re-
ferred to by Onnes) of the existence in the wire of thin spots
where the field intensity would be much greater for a short
length.

Further experiments immediately suggest themselves. The
critical magnetic fields for mercury should be determined.
The relation here advanced would indicate a critical field of
only about 15 gauss at 4? IK and less than 100 gauss at 3?6K.
It would also be of interest to observe the threshold value of
current when the material is in very thin films. In this case, for
a given section of material the magnetic field resulting from a
given current density is less than in the case of a straight wire,
and the threshold current density would consequently appear
larger.

The theories thus far proposed by Onnes,7 Lindemann,s and
Thomson9 to account for superconductivity do not specifically in-
dicate the existence of a critical magnetic field, and only the
latter (by assuming a saturation effect) accounts for a threshold
current density. If it is true, as indicated in this paper, that the
magnetic effect is the more fundamental, it would seem that this
fact might afford a valuable clue leading toward a more satisfac-
tory theory of the superconducting state and perhaps of metal-
lic conduction in general.

Onnes. Comm. Phys. Lab. Leiden, No. 119.
8 Lindemann, F. C. Phil. Mag., 29: 127. 1915.
'Thomson, J. J. Phil. Mag., 30: 192. 1915.

clarke: early forms of life 603

BIOLOGY. — Geochemical evidence as to early forms of life.-1 F.
W. Clarke, Geological Survey.

When life began on earth the conditions favorable to its devel-
opment were, generally speaking, somewhat different from what
they are today. Rocks derived from the remains of living or-
ganisms did not, of course, exist; and the only sediments were
those due to erosion, increased, doubtless, by volcanic dust and
other ejectamenta. The surface of the land was made up of
primitive rocks, and among them the specifically lighter varieties
probably predominated. By erosion these rocks were gradu-
ally decomposed, and their more soluble constituents were taken
up by the primeval waters, whose character gradually changed
as the process of erosion went on. At first, silica and alkalies
passed into solution, with lime and magnesia in much smaller
proportions. A large part of the lime and magnesia in the waters
of today is derived from the solution of limestones of organic
origin, which came into existence later. Possibly algal and
foraminiferal limestones were among the earliest to form large
masses, but of that it is not well to be too positive. We can
only assume that the simplest forms of life came first, even
though their remains have since been obliterated. In geologic
time the complex forms are relatively modern.

So far as we are able to judge from anything like positive evi-
dence, the earliest living organisms were aquatic, and their
physical constitution was determined by the character of their
environment. Whether the waters were warm or cold we do
not know, and speculation upon that subject is hardly profitable.
Whether the primeval ocean was fresh or saline is also uncertain,
but we can assert that the composition and concentration of its
dissolved salts have undergone great changes and are still chang-
ing. The enormous load of saline matter annually poured into
the ocean by rivers is evidence that can not be ignored. Part
of that load remains in solution, part is precipitated, either di-
rectly or through the agency of plants and animals, and so the
changes are brought about. These changes in the environment

1 Published with the permission of the Director of the U. S. Geological
Survey.

604 CLARKE: EARLY FORMS OF LIFE

of life must have affected the course of evolution, although with
exceeding slowness. Every variation in the composition of the
fluviatile or oceanic salts modified the conditions under which
life developed. As living organisms multiplied, they in turn
altered the composition of the waters, by just so much as they
withdrew lime, or magnesia, or phosphoric oxide, or silica from
solutions and used them in building up the sedimentary cherts,
phosphorites, and limestones of today.

To trace these changes in detail would be difficult, if not
impossible, but some of the ancient conditions can reasonably be
inferred. The chemical reactions involved in the discussion are
the same now as at the beginning, although the results produced
by them have varied from time to time and place to place. The
chemical elements are not uniformly distributed; at one point
there is more silica, at another more lime; and organisms with
siliceous, calcareous, or phosphatic shells or skeletons developed
in accordance with their surroundings. Where the primeval
waters were relatively rich in silica, siliceous organisms were most
readily evolved; where lime predominated, the development of
calcareous organisms was favored. So much seems to be clear.

It has already been stated that the land surface of the earth
was at first composed of rocks such as form only one fourth of it
today; that is, of igneous, plutonic, or crystalline rocks with no
sedimentaries of organic origin. At present persilicic rocks of
granitic or granitoid type are the most abundant of these, and
they are relatively poor in lime. In this respect it is highly prob-
able that the earliest rocks followed the same rule.

Many analyses of river waters have been made, some of them
with reference to their geological relations. Waters emerging
from areas of sedimentary rocks, or from basaltic regions, are
quite unlike those which issue from granite and its congeners.
The meteoric waters act differently upon different kinds of rock,
and take up dissimilar loads of soluble substances. Waters from
limestone or from certain ferromagnesian rocks are relatively
rich in lime; those from dolomite contain a larger proportion of
magnesia, and so on; the waters varying in composition as the
rocks themselves vary. Each water at its point of origin has its
own chemical characteristics, which are fixed by its Jithologic

CLARK : NEW GENERA OF CRINOIDS 605

parentage. This fact, which is almost self evident, has been
verified by numerous analyses, which, however, have received
less attention than they deserve.

Persilicic rocks, as I have already stated, are now the most
abundant plutonics and, in all probability, have been so from
the beginning. There is no reason for supposing that in this
respect any important change has occurred. Such rocks consist
mainly of quartz and feldspar, with only minor accessories.
Waters issuing from them are low in salinity but relatively
rich in silica and alkalies, the proportion of silica being especially
high and much in excess of lime. The silica often approaches
40 per cent of the total inorganic matter in solution, and in some
tropical rivers exceeds 50 per cent. Such waters offer a most
favorable environment for the growth of siliceous organisms, all
of which are low forms of life, like the radiolarians, diatoms, and
siliceous sponges. They, or their ancestors, were probably
among the earliest organisms to develop inorganic skeletons, and
were in greater abundance than the calcareous forms. Doubt-
less there were local areas, basaltic for example, in which the
waters carried much lime in solution, and here the conditions
would be reversed. In every case, however, the chemical char-
acter of the environment determined the chemical character of
the plants or animals which appeared. I speak now, of course,
only of those organisms which built skeletons to support their
tissues, or shells to house them; the simplest, earliest forms of
life were hardly more than aggregations of protoplasm. How
that originated and how it became endowed with life, that is,
the ability to move about, to assimilate food, and to reproduce
its kind, are questions on which only speculation is possible.
Such problems I must leave to ,others.

ZOOLOGY. — Six new genera of unstalked crinoids belonging to
the families Thalassometridae and Charitometridae.1 Austin
H. Clark, National Museum.

A recent survey of the comatulid families Thalassometridae
and Charitometridae has shown that the following six system-
atic units are worthy of recognition as genera:

1 Published with the permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institu-
tion.

606 CLARK : NEW GENERA OF CRINOIDS

Oceanometra, new genus

Genotype. — Thalassometra giqantea A. H. Clark, 19 33.

Diagnosis. — A genus of Thalassometrinae (Thalassometridae) in
which the dorsal surface of the ossicles of the division series and of the
arm bases is covered with numerous prominent spines, which become
stouter and more prominent on the proximal and distal borders; there
are from 15 to 28 arms; the IIBr series are all, or mostly, 4(3+4); the
ossicles of the division series and first four brachials are strongly and
evenly rounded dorsally, appearing' relatively narrow; one or both of
the elements of each of the pairs of ossicles in the division series, and
of the first brachial pair, bears a more or less prominent median keel;
the distal borders of the brachials are evenly rounded and very spinous ;
the centrodorsal is large, more or less conical, the cirrus sockets arranged
in ten columns, two in each radial area; the cirri are of variable length,
composed of from 55 to 79 segments.

Range. — Moluccas to the Philippine and Hawaiian Islands.

Bathy metrical Range. — From 54 to 858 meters.

Included Species. — Oceanometra gigantea (A. H. Clark), Oceanometra
magna (A. H. Clark), and Oceanometra annandalei (A. H. Clark).

Crossometra, new genus

Genotype.- — Pachylometra investigatoris A. H. Clark, 1909.

Diagnosis. — A genus of Charitometridae in which the centrodorsal is
more or less conical, with the cirrus sockets arranged in ten definite col-
umns, two in each radial area; the cirri are XX-XL, 19-23, stout;
there are from 26 to 33 arms 125 mm. to 150 mm. long; the IIBr series
are 4(3+4); the IIIBr series are 2(1+2), or 2, internally developed in
1-2-2-1 order; IVBr series, if present, resemble the IIIBr series; the
ossicles of the division series and lower brachials are in close apposition
and sharply flattened against their neighbors, evenly rounded dorsally,
with the dorsal surface usually more or less uneven; the brachials are
evenly rounded dorsally; the oral pinnules are more slender than those
succeeding, though not appreciably longer; the genital pinnules are
only slightly expanded, the expansion involving a considerable number
of segments and dying away gradually distally.

Range. — Kei Islands to the Malay Archipelago, the Philippine Islands,
and southern Japan.

Bathy metrical Range. — From 54 to 403 meters.

Included Species. — Crossometra investigatoris (A. H. Clark), Crosso-
metra helius (A. H. Clark), and Crossometra septentrionalis (A. H. Clark).

Perissometra, new genus

Genotype. — Antedon flexilis P. H. Carpenter, 18S3.

Diagnosis. — A genus of Charitometridae in which the centrodorsil is
more or less conical, with the cirrus sockets arranged in ten definite
columns, two in each radial area; the cirri are usually large and stout,

CLARK : NEW GENERA OF CRINOIDS 607

XX-L (usually XX-XXX), 15-31; the arms are from 10 to 20 in num-
ber, from 75 mm. to 250 mm. (rarely less than 150 mm.) in length; the
IIBr series, when present, are 4(3+4) or, less commonly, 2; the ossicles
of the division series and the lower brachials are in close apposition and
are sharply flattened against their neighbors; their dorsal surface is
smooth or coarsely rugose, raised more or less sharply into a broad or
narrow regular or irregular median tubercle, which may be longitudi-
nally elongate; the division series usually make a relatively small angle
with the dorsoventral axis, so that the lower part of the animal is rela-
tively narrow; the brachials are evenly rounded dorsally, and the more
proximal may bear a small rounded dorsal tubercle; the oral pinnules,
though more slender than those succeeding, are not appreciably longer;
the genital pinnules are only slightly expanded, the expansion always
involving a number of segments and gradually tapering away distally.

Range. — Laccadive and Andaman Islands to Timor and the Kei
Islands, and northward to the Philippines and southern Japan.

Bathymetrical Range. — From 73 to 1289 meters.

Included Species. — Perissometra angusticalyx (P. H. Carpenter), Peris-
sometra patula (P. H. Carpenter), Perissometra robusta (P. H. Carpenter),
Perissometra selene (A. H. Clark), Perissometra gorgonia (A. H. Clark),
Perissometra timorensis (A. H. Clark), Perissometra crassa (A. H. Clark),
Perissometra lata (A. H. Clark), Perissometra flexilis (P. H. Carpenter),
Perissometra invenusta (A. H. Clark), and Perissometra macilenta (A. H.
Clark).

Monachometra, new genus

Genotype. — Pachijlometra frag His A. H. Clark, 1912.

Diagnosis. — A genus of Charitometridae in which the centrodorsal is
thick-discoidal or more or less columnar, with the cirrus sockets ar-
ranged in fifteen crowded columns; the cirri are XXX, 19; ths arms are
from 15 to 19 in number, 145 mm. long; all the division series are 2;
the ossicles of the division series and the first two brachials are sharply
flattened laterally, with the dorsal surface rising rather sharply into a
blunt keel; the IBri are produced inwardly, so that their inner apices
nearly meet in the center of the calyx; the visceral mass rests on the
ossicles of the IIBr series and first two brachials, and on the sharply
flattened and almost horiz ntal inner face of the IBr2 (axillary); the
synarthrial articulations (between the elements of the division series
and between the first two brachials) are extraordinarily brittle; the
brachials have a faint and obscure median carination; the oral pinnules
are of approximately the same length as those succeeding, though more
slender; the genital pinnules are. rather stout, but without a localized
expansion.

Range. — Philippine Islands and the Moluccas.

Bathymetrical Range. — From 118 to 243 meters.

Included Species. — Monachomstra fragilis (A. H. Clark).

608 CLARK: NEW GENERA OF CRINOIDS

Calyptometra, new genus

Genotype. — Charitometra lateralis A. H. Clark, 1908.

Diagnosis. — A genus of Charitometridae in which the proximal por-
tion of the animal is robust, very broad, and well rounded, the profile
of the division series and arm bases strongly convex ; the ossicles of the
division series and first four brachials which are in close apposition and
sharply flattened against their neighbors, have the lateral borders
strongly, the proximal and distal borders less strongly, everted, un-
modified, finely tubercular, or crenulate, and possess each a narrow
blunt median keel; the brachials are rounded dorsally, each usually
with a prominent, though low, small rounded median tubercle, which
beyond the middle of the arm gradually becomes obsolete; the 10 or 11
(only exceptionally more than 10) stout arms are 160 mm. to 180 mm.
in length; the IIBr series, when present, are 2; the proximal pinnules
are somewhat longer and more slender than their successors; the fol-
lowing pinnules are very stout in the basal half, thence tapering gradu-
ally to a slender tip, the expansion of the basal segments becoming
less and less marked distally; the cirri are about XXX, 15-21 (usually
16-19), the component segments slightly constricted centrally with
prominent ends.

Range. — Hawaiian Islands.

Bathy metrical Range. — From 574 to 812 meters.

Included Species. — Calyptometra lateralis (A. H. Clark).

Chondrometra, new genus

Genotype. — Chlorometra robusta A. H. Clark, 1911.

Diagnosis. — A genus of Charitometridae in which the 10 arms, from
75 mm. to 211 mm. in length, are stout at the baser becoming narrow
and strongly compressed laterally in the outer portion ; the mid-dorsal
line of each brachial is elevated into a broad, high and blunt overlap-
ping spine or tubercle; the ossicles of the division series and the first
two brachials, which are in close apposition and are sharply flattened
against their neighbors, have the central portion elevated in such a
way that their dorsal surface is in the shape of a broadly V-shaped
gable; the proximal pinnules are about as long as those succeeding, or
at any rate no longer; the genital pinnules are only slightly expanded,
the expansion involving a number of segments and tapering away
evenly distally; the centrodorsal is large, sharply conical to more or
less columnar, the cirrus sockets arranged in one irregular or two
regular columns in each radial area; the cirri are XV-XXX, 18-28,
stout, varying from short to very long.-

Range. — Timor to the Meangis and Philippine Islands.

Bathymetrical Range. — From 520 to 1314 meters.

Included Species. — Chondrometra rugosa (A. H. Clark), Chondrometra
robusta (A. H. Clark), and Chondrometra aculeata (P. H. Carpenter).

swanton: siouan tribes of the east 609

ETHNOLOGY. — Some information from Spanish sources re-
garding the Siouan tribes of the East. John R. Swanton,
Bureau of American Ethnology.

The discovery of a group of tribes of the Siouan linguistic
stock in the southeastern part of our country was in its day one
of the great surprises in American Ethnology. The number and
names of these, together with the relationships existing between
them and the ethnological information regarding them furnished
by early writers, were made the subject of a special study by
Mr. James Mooney and the results appear in Bulletin 22, of
the Bureau of American Ethnology, entitled Siouan Tribes of the
East. Not much additional information bearing upon these
peoples has since come to light and but very few alterations
would be required in a new edition, so far as the Siouan tribes
themselves are concerned. Nevertheless, as information regard-
ing them is scanty it becomes proportionately more valuable, and
for this reason I desire to call attention to one or two additional
sources of information among Spanish writings.

The first of these, in a work long well known to students of
American history but unfortunately overlooked by the ethnolo-
gist, is Peter Martyr's account of the province of Chicora, and
the customs of its inhabitants, in his De Orbe Novo. The reason
for this neglect is, no doubt, due in part to the dependence of
investigators on Gomara's transcription of Peter Martyr's nar-
rative, particularly because they were acquainted only with
faulty translations of the latter, which contain grotesque and
exaggerated statements tending to throw discredit upon the
entire account, a discredit moreover which has ancient support
from the historian Oviedo. The greater part of the information
was derived by Peter Martyr from an Indian of Chicora, named
by the Spaniards Francisco, who was carried to Spain and taught
the Spanish language, but taken back as interpreter for Ayllon's
colony which came to such an inglorious end in 1526. The origi-
nal narrative is contained in the Seventh Decade of Peter Mar-
tyr's work, where it occupies all of the third book and parts of
the second and fourth; and if one goes back to this, instead of
trying to depend on later transcriptions and translations, he

610 swanton: siouan tribes of the east

will find little in it that can not be accounted for without im-
pugning the honest intentions of the writer or his Indian inform-
ant. A close examination of the Ayllon narratives leads to the
belief that Francisco of Chicora came from that part of the Atlan-
tic coast of the Carolinas occupied by Siouan tribes, and in all
probability from the neighborhood of the present Winyaw bay.
Among several reasons for this belief may be cited the charac-
teristic r sounds in the words, as in the name Chicora itself,
which is so conspicuous among the Siouan dialects of this region.
The material recorded by Peter Martyr contains some informa-
tion regarding the economic lives of the people and their cus-
toms, some notes touching upon their myths, medical practice,
etc., and particularly accounts of three of their ceremonies.
Some trees also are mentioned and the native names borne by
them. It should be noticed that most of this information con-
cerns, not Chicora, but a neighboring province called Duhare or
Duache.

A little further light is let in upon these people by documents
in the Lowery collection, preserved in the Manuscripts Division
of the Library of Congress, particularly by the narratives of two
expeditions from St. Augustine under the command of Francisco
Fernandes de Ecija, sent in search of an English colony reported
to have been established somewhere to the north. The first of
these was in the year 1605. The explorers passed along the
coasts of Georgia and South Carolina until they came to the
"barra de Cayegua," now Charleston harbor. Not far beyond
was the bar of Joye, and twelve leagues beyond that a sandy
point near which was the river Jordan. This latter (placed by
the explorers in N. Lat. 33° 11') was, as we know well, the Santee,
and the sandy point near by was evidently Cape Romain. It
must be observed that the Cape San Roman of the Spaniards is
not the Cape Romain of today, but probably Cape Fear, and we
must not be surprised, therefore, to read immediately afterward
that it was about 20 leagues from the River Jordan to Cape San
Roman. We are informed that the chief of Joye ruled over all
the land at the mouth of this river. The Indians told Ecija that
it was large and that" the interior people came down it in canoes

swanton: siouan tribes of the east 611

with cloaks (huapiles) and many other things, including copper
and silver, to exchange for fish and salt. They stated also that
pearls were found near the mountains in a place* called Xoada,
described as very populous. The explorers met a Christian In-
dian in this region named Alonso, who acted as interpreter;
his father-in-law, whose name was Panto, was head chief of the
town of Sati (sometimes spelled Hati). One of these Indians had
been as far on the trail to Xoada as a town called Guatari. On
the direct road thither they said the following places were en-
countered: Guatari, Coguan-Guandu, Guacoguayn-Hati, Guaca-
Hati-Animache, Lasi, Guasar, Pasque, Cotique. From the mouth
of the Santee to Xoada was thirty days, "as Indians travel."

Ecija entered the Jordan on his second expedition July 8,
1609, and found some small houses and fields sowed with corn.
He heard of a Frenchman living in the town of Sati and sent the
Indians to fetch him. The Frenchman then told Ecija that he
had heard from one of the natives that there was a town called
Daxe four days' travel beyond Sati, and one and a half days'
travel beyond that another, called Guandape, on an island near
which the English had established themselves. One of the Indi-
ans from whom the Frenchman had derived this information
was from a town called Guamuyhurto, the other two from a town
called Quixis, a.nd one had acted as interpreter for the English.
It would seem that the settlement referred to must have been the
Roanoke colony and not that at Jamestown, then only two
years old. Four leagues up the Jordan Ecija met three chiefs,
Sati, Gaandul, and Guatari. Another town in the interior was
known as Ypaguano, and still another, five days' journey from
Alonso's village, was called Guano. A river ten leagues from
Cape San Roman [Cape Fear] was called by the natives the river
Barachoare. Somewhere east of the Jordan and Santee was a
province known as Amy.

With the exception of the interesting note regarding trade
there is little direct ethnological information in all this. It does,
however, yield some important facts regarding the tribes of the
section. In the first place there can be little doubt that the
Sati of Ecija are identical with the Santee of the English. In

612 swanton: siouan tribes of the east

native speech the n was probably nasalized, and the English
chose to make a full n out of it while the Spaniards preferred to
ignore it. It m equally evident that Guatari is the later Wateree,
gua being a common Spanish equivalent of English wa. Joye
is spelled in another place Suye and in still another Xoye or
Xoya. As x was often employed by Spanish writers of this
period to designate the sh sound, it is evident that the initial
sound was either sh or s; and when we add to this the fact that
the chief of Joye is represented as ruling over all of the land at
the mouth of the Santee, the identity of Joye, Xuye, or Suye
with the later Sewee becomes almost certain. If the name of one
of the tribes mentioned by Ayllon and his chroniclers should be
spelled Duache, as it appears in some places, instead of Duhare,
it may be identical with Daxe, but no such tribe appears in later
times. Xoada, the town near the mountains, is, as Mooney
has shown, the tribe known to the English as Saraw, then living
at the head of Broad river. If there has been a mistake in copy-
ing, Lasi may be intended for Issi, the old name of the Catawba.
At any rate Guasar is undoubtedly Waxaw, while Pasque, al-
though not found as a tribal name in the English period, is the
Pasqui of Francisco of Chicora. On the authority of Lederer and
some others Gregg and Mooney have expressed an opinion that
in the latter part of the seventeenth century the Wateree were
not on the river which now bears their name, but upon the Pedee
or Yadkin.1. Unless we suppose there were two divisions to the
tribe, however, the statements just quoted indicate that this is
a mistake, and that at least part of the Wateree were in their later
well known historic seats almost at the beginning of the seven-
teenth century. In fact Ecija's testimony throughout is to the
comparative permanence in location of the tribes in the area in
question. The Sewee, Santee, Waxaw, and possibly Catawba
are where the South Carolina settlers found them more than
sixty years later. If there be an exception it is in the case of
the Chicora, who may have been the Sugeree or the Shoccoree,
found later by the Carolina colonists a considerable distance
inland.

'Gregg, A., Hist, of the Old Cheraws, p. 7; Mooney, James, Bull. 22, Bur.
Amer. Ethn., p. 81.

ABSTRACTS

ELECTRICITY. — The international system of electric and magnetic
units. J. H. Dellinger. Bureau of Standards Scientific Paper
No. 292 (Bull. Bur. Stds., 13: 599-631). 1916.
A complete and distinct system of electric and magnetic units is in
use, based on the international ohm and ampere, the centimeter, and the
second. While these international units differ in their derivation from
the electrostatic and electromagnetic units, they nevertheless repre-
sent very closely decimal multiples and submultiples of the theoretical
electromagnetic units. The very slight differences are determined by
absolute measurements made from time to time. One of the reasons why
the international system is the most convenient and the most used elec-
trical system is because it is centered around the phenomena of electric
current. Electric current is more familiar and of vastly greater practi-
cal importance than electrostatic charges or magnetic poles, upon which
the other two familiar systems are based. Another fortunate aspect of
the international system is the convenience of its dimensional expres-
sions. They are very simple, and directly suggest the ordinary rela-
tions of electrical theory and practice. Other systems, involving the
definition of new units of certain quantities in such a way as to redis-
tribute the factor 4x in the equations, have been proposed from time
to time and some of these are now used to a limited extent. An attempt
to redistribute the 47r's in an advantageous manner has been called a
"rationalization" of the units. A careful study has been made to
determine whether the advantages of these proposed systems are such
as to justify the trouble and confusion incident to a general change of
units. No such advantage has been found. A strong reason against
a general change of units for the purpose of rationalization is the fact
that a rationalized system is obtained merely by using the ampere-
turn as the unit of magnetomotive force. D. J. M.

613

614 abstracts: electricity

ELECTRICITY. — A system of remote control for an electric testing lab-
oratory. P. G. Agnew, W. H. Stannard, and J. L. Fearing.
Bureau of Standards Scientific Paper No. 291 (Bull. Bur. Stds.,
13:581-597). 1916.
This paper describes a system of remote control which was developed
primarily for use in testing electrical measuring instruments. Small
multiple lever controllers, which may be operated in any one of several
laboratory rooms, give complete control of the output of a group of
motor-generator sets. For example, in testing a wattmeter, or an a.c.
watthour meter on low power factor, the five levers of a controller
give both a coarse and a fine adjustment of frequency, current, voltage,
power factor, and an auxiliary d.c. voltage, respectively. The field
rheostats are very long slide-wire resistances. They are tubular in
form and are wound helically with the resistance wire. They are 32
mm. in outside diameter, and as much as 12 meters in length. When
necessary they are cooled by circulating water through the tube. Spe-
cial laminated brushes, which bear directly on the winding, are oper-
ated by small worm-geared motors which pull them along the tubes by
means of cord and pulley. The phase relation of current to voltage
is controlled by a motor-operated worm drive. A large, motor-oper-
ated, low voltage rheostat for currents up to 10,000 or 12,000 amperes
is included in the system. P. G. A.

ELECTRICITY. — A variable self and mutual inductor. H. B. Brooks

and F. C. Weaver. Bureau of Standards Scientific Paper No.

290 (Bull. Bur. Stds., 13: 569-580). 1916.

The instrument consists of two pairs of fixed coils held in stationary

hard rubber disks between which a third disk carrying two coils is

arranged to be rotated. The form and the spacing of the coils were

determined so as to secure the following advantages: (1) high ratio of

inductance to resistance; (2) scale divisions of uniform length reading

directly in units of inductance; (3) astatic arrangement of the coils,

which reduces the liability of errors caused by the proximity of other

instruments or of conductors carrying currents. Diagrams and data

are given from which instruments of this type can be designed for given

uses. Comparison is made of the new instrument and of some other

older forms of variable inductor, including the Ayrton-Perry.

H. B. B.

abstract: engineering 615

GEOLOGY. — Contributions to economic geology, 1915. Part I. Metal
and non-metals except fuels. F. L. Ransome, et al. U. S. Geo-
logical Survey Bulletin 620. Pp. 361, with illustrations. 1916.
This bulletin is made up of short reports by a number of different
authors as listed herewith:

A gold-platinum-palladium lode in ' southern Nevada. Adolph

Knopf.
Gold deposits near Quartzsite, Arizona. E. L. Jones, Jr.
A reconnaissance in the Kofa Mountains, Arizona. E. L. Jones, Jr.
A reconnaissance of the Cottonwood- American Fork mining region,

Utah. B. S. Butler aND G. F. Loughlin.
Notes on the fine gold of Snake River, Idaho. J. M. Hill.
Preliminary report on the economic geology of Gilpin County, Colo-
rado. E. S. Bastin and J. M. Hill.
The Aztec gold mine, Baldy, New Mexico. W. T. Lee.
Iron Ore in Cass, Marion, Morris, and Cherokee counties, Texas.

E. F. Burchard.

Iron-bearing deposits in Bossier, Caddo, and Webster parishes,

Louisiana. E. F. Burchard.
Some cinnabar deposits in western Nevada. Adolph Knopf.
Quicksilver deposits of the Mazatzal Range, Arizona. F. L. Ransome.
Potash in certain copper and gold ores. B. S. Butler.
Recent alunite developments near Marysvale and Beaver, Utah. G.

F. Loughlin.

Nitrate deposits in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon. G. R.

Mansfield.
A reconnaissance for phosphate in the Salt River Range, Wyoming.

G. R. Mansfield.

Cassiterite in San Diego County, California. W. T. Schaller.

E. S. B.

ENGINEERING.— Surface water supply of the United States, 1914.

Part IV. St. Lawrence Basin. Nathan C. Grover, et al. U.

S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 384. Pp. 128, with 2

illustrations. 1916.
This volume is one of a series of reports presenting results of meas-
urements of flow made on streams in the St. Lawrence River Basin
during the year ending September 30, 1914. It includes also a list of
the stream gaging stations and publications relating to water resources
in this Basin. 0. E. M.

REFERENCES

Under this heading it is proposed to include, by author, title, and citation, references to ail
scientific papers published in or emanating from Washington. It is requested that Puthors cooperate
with the editors by submitting titles promptly, following the style used below. These references are
not intended to replace the more extended abstracts published elsewhere in this Journal.

ASTRONOMY

Abbot, C. G., Fowlb, F. E., Aldrich, L. B. Confirmatory experiments on the
value of the solar constant of radiation. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 1: 331-333.
1915.

Becker, G. F. A possible origin of some spiral nebulae. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci.,
2: 1-8. 1916.

Burton, H. E. and Watts, C. B. Observations of Comet 1913 f (Delavan). As-
tronomical Journal, 29: 172, No. 693. 1916.

EiChelberger, W. S. The distances of the heavenly bodies. Journal Washing-
ton Academy of Sciences, 6: 161-175. 1916; Science, 43: 475-483. 1916.

Hall, A., Burton, H. E., Watts, C. B., and Bower, E. C. Occultations of stars
by the moon. Astronomical Journal, 29: 128-132, No. 688. 1916.

Hoogewerff, J. A. Actual time of signals from the U. S. Naval Observatory.
Published each month in Popular Astronomy. 1916.

Littell, F. B. and Hill, G. A. Determination of difference of longitude be-
tween Washington and Paris, 1913-1914- Reprint of Publications of the
United States Naval Observatory, Second Series, vol. 9, Appendix. 1916.

Peters, George H. Observations of asteroids with the photographic telescope.
Astronomical Journal, 29 : 147-148, No. 690. 1916.

Ross, F. E. The Sun's mean longitude. Astronomical Journal, 29: 152-156, No.
691. 1916.

Ross F. E. Investigations on the orbit of Mars. Astronomical Journal, 29: 157-
163, No. 692. 1916.

ENGINEERING

Marshall, R. B. Spirit leveling in Louisiana, 1903 to 1915, inclusive. U. S.

Geological Survey Bulletin 634. Pp. 101, with one illustration. 1916.
Marshall, R. B. Primary traverse in Alabama and North Carolina, 1913-1915.

U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 644-A. Pp. 12, with one illustration. 1916.
Marshall, R. B. Triangulation in Arizona and New Mexico, 1913-1915. U. S.

Geological Survey Bulletin 644-B. Pp. 24, with one illustration. 1916.
Marshall, R. B. Triangulation in California, 1913-1915. U. S. Geological

Survey Bulletin 644-C. Pp. 84, with one illustration. 1916.

6X6

JOURNAL ^

OF THK

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VI NOVEMBER 4. 1916 No. IS

MATHEMATICS.— Note on an integrating device. M. D. Her-
sey, Bureau of Standards. (Communicated by Louis A.
Fischer.)

This note offers an approximate method for evaluating the
integral

/ = P f(y) dx (l)

in which f(y) is stated analytically but in which the relation
between y and x is available in the form of a curve only.

yl yZ

When f(y) takes the form y, — , or — , the integral becomes,

respectively, the area, the statical moment, or the moment of
inertia, about the .r-axis, of the plane figure bounded by the
curve, the z-axis, and the limiting ordinates at xl andrr2. These
three problems are familiar ones in machine design and naval
architecture. They are frequently solved, with sufficient accu-
racy for the purpose, by plotting an auxiliary curve of squares
or cubes if the case requires it, and then determining an area by
cutting up the figure into strips of equal width, and applying
some average ordinate rule. The present device is offered as
a substitute for the latter method. It is equally accurate and
more convenient. The applicability of the device is not limited
to these particular functions.

The device consists of a templet, or plane figure, to be cut out
of stiff paper, celluloid, or German silver. In its simplest form,
the templet is bounded by two perpendicular lines and a curve.
Call the two straight lines respectively the back and the base,

617

618 hersey: an integrating device

and call the curve the front of the templet. The templet is to
be placed on the drawing board right over the (x, y) curve so
that it can be slid along with its base on the x-axis. Starting
with the back at xx, make a mark where the front of the templet
crosses the (x, y) curve. Then slide it along until the back comes
to the mark and make a second mark where the front now
crosses the curve, and so on. Let n be the number of steps
necessary to travel across from xx to x2 in this manner. An
approximate numerical value of the integral I will then be

I = nC (2)

in which C is a known constant for a given templet.

In order to obtain the simple result (2), it is necessary only
that the front of the templet be cut to the curve

f(Y)-X = C (3)

Here X and Y are respectively the abscissa and ordinate of any
point on the templet curve, relative to the back and the base
as axes.

To prove (2), let the variable Ax denote the width of each step
along the x-axis. When the templet is in any one of the suc-
cessive positions marked on the (x, y) curve, X = Ax and Y = y.
Hence by (3)

f(y) ■ ax = c (4)

Integrating (1) between x and x + Ax gives for the contribution
which the strip of width Ax makes to the integral/, approximately

Al=f{y)'Ax (5)

Comparing (4) and (5),

Al = C (6)

Thus every strip contributes the same amount C; therefore the
whole integral is

/ = 2AJ = nC (7)

The accuracy of the result is enhanced if the device be made
up of two such templets, back to back in one piece. The work-
ing formula will then be

I =nK (8)

hersey: an integrating device 619

in which

K =2C (9)

Any number may be chosen for K, and the templet cut accord-
ingly. It is desirable that K be a multiple of 10, provided this
does not make the device inconveniently large or small. It is
immaterial where the extremities are cut off. Further expedi-
ents for simplifying the work, such as the use of templets of
graded sizes, or auxiliary base lines for the (x, y) curve, will sug-
gest themselves upon examining each particular problem.

The equilateral hyperbola has the property that the rectangle
formed under any point has a constant area. This property has
been utilized in various ways for determining the areas of plane
figures. One such device is known as Beauvais' hyperbolic tri-
angle.1 The present contribution is nothing other than a gen-
eralization of the hyperbolic triangle so that it will determine
any function, and not simply areas.

The statical moment and moment of inertia have been cited
as functions which can be evaluated by the new device. Another
function, which the writer has met both in barometric altitude
calculations and in studying the effect of pressure on viscosity,
is the integral of the reciprocal of the ordinate of an empirical
curve,

■*■ dx

>xi y

The templet needed for stepping off this integral is simply an
inverted triangle.

To integrate any function F{x) which can be written f[^{x)],
it is necessary only to evaluate J*f(y)dx along an auxiliary curve
y = <f>(x). The result will be J*F(x)dx. For example, let it be

J™X2
| e~x'dx. Here
ji

F 0) = e~x*

4>{x) = x* (10)

/ (y) = e~y

1 Engineering News, 66: 340, 628. 1911.

620 hersey: derivatives of physical quantities

Cut out a double faced templet to the curve e~ 'X = const.,
i.e., to the curve

F=log|+logX (11)

in which K is chosen at pleasure. If n is the number of steps
needed for traversing the curve

y =x> . (12)

from Xi to x2 with this templet, .

e-xidx = nK (13)

The device therefore is not limited to problems involving empiri-
cal curves to start with. It is applicable also to cases in which
the integrand is given analytically. It will be practically useful
in such cases, whenever F(x) is sufficiently complicated to
warrant the trouble of dealing separately with the two functions
4>(x) and /(?/).

PHYSICS. — Note on a relation connecting the derivatives of physi-
cal quantities.1 M. D. Hersey, Bureau of Standards.
(Communicated by E. Buckingham.)

Statement of the problem,. Given the fact that some relation
of unknown form

Qo = / (Qi, Q„ • . . . Qn-i) (1)

subsists between N physical quantities Q0, Qi, Q2, . • • Qn-u
no others being involved, it is required to deduce a relation of
known form

0Q1 XoQo /

(2)

such that at any point whose generalized coordinates, Q0, Qi,
Q2, etc., are given, the value of any one of the N-l partial deriva-
tives of Q0 can be computed from any other. Thus, it is required
to calculate one of the component slopes of the generalized sur-

1 This work was done at the Jefferson Physical Laboratory, Harvard Uni-
versity.

hersey: derivatives of physical quantities 621

face (1) from a knowledge of another, although the equation of
the surface is not available. The interest of the problem to the
physicist lies in the fact that he may wish to learn the value of
a derivative not readily accessible to experiment, in a case
where some other derivative of the same quantity can easily be
observed. It will be shown that a definite solution can always
be obtained, provided certain dimensionless products of the N
quantities are held constant.

Other classes of relations among derivatives. The proposition,
that relations may be found connecting the derivatives of quan-
tities in the absence of a primitive equation, is not new. There
are two other classes of such relations. One consists of mathe-
matical identities, applicable to any set of related quantities,
whether physical or not. To this class belongs the identity

d dQ0 d dQo

as well as the triple product relation

dQ0 DQt bQ,

(3)

dQi dQ2 dQc

= - 1 (4)

The other class comprises relations requiring the explicit use of
physical laws, such as the two laws of thermodynamics, or
Hamilton's principle. To this class belong Maxwell's four ther-
modynamic relations, and the reciprocal relations of generalized
dynamics.2 The relations to be presented here are of a nature
intermediate between the other two classes, in that they require
a knowledge only of the dimensions of the quantities.

Derivation of the new relation. The present result depends
upon and is a corollary to Buckingham's n-theorem,3 according
to which any complete physical equation is reducible to the
form

funct.(n1, n2, . . . TU) = 0 (5)

2 J. J. Thomson, Applications of dynamics to physics and chemistry, Chap. V.

3 This Journal, 4: 347-353. 1914; Phys. Rev., 4: 345-376. 1914; Trans. Am.
Soc. Mech. Engs., 37: 263-296. 1915. Any one who can sufficiently visualize the
meaning of the n-theorem will be able to treat each concrete problem by itself,
dispensing with the formulas of the present paper save as a check.

622 hersey: derivatives of. physical quantities

in which the n's are all the independent dimensionless products
which can be built up by combining in any way the N physical
quantities involved. Further, the total number of such prod-
ucts, or dimensionless arguments, will always be the same, no
matter how the quantities are grouped. This number will be

i = N -k (6)

if k is the number of fundamental units needed for measuring
the N quantities.4

Let LT0 and LT designate any two of the i products in (5) which
contain between them the three quantities Q0, Qi, and Q2 in which
we are interested. Let Q0 appear to the first power in n0 and
not at all in any other product. This can always be done, for
Buckingham has shown that a certain standard arrangement is
possible in which each product contains to the first power some
one quantity of type P which occurs nowhere else.5 We shall
then have

n„ = #•<??' ••<£' -Go (7)

and

n = Q? Qi ■ ■ Qt ■ Qk+l (8)

The exponents are abstract numbers fixed by the dimensions of
the N quantities; in any particular problem some of them may
be zero. If we now agree to keep the remaining i — 2 products
constant, (5) becomes

n0 = </>(n) (9)

in which the form of </> is unknown. The restriction to constant
products can always be fulfilled in theory, but it may lead to
difficulties in practice; it will be discussed in a later section.
Differentiating (9) and then (8) gives in succession

dllo __ dcf> dn _ dct> all ,-^v

From (7)

dlTo _ dQ0 lip apllo .--.

dQi = = dQi Q0 Qi

4 The question of the number of fundamental units needed has been discussed
by Riabouchinsky, Rayleigh, and Buckingham; see Nature, 93: 396-397. 1915.
• 5 Trans. Am. Soc. Mech. Engs., 37: 291-292; note eq. (11) and its discussion.

hersey: derivatives of physical quantities 623

Comparing (10) and (11)

udcf> _ QiH0/ 1 5Qp a0\ (12)

du~ a \Q0dQ1 QJ K

Similarly

ud<f> _ Q2U0/ 1 dQo j30\ , .

du" p \Q0bQ2 QJ )

Comparing (12) and (13)

<>Qo _ foe \ Q0 a Q2 bQQ n..

Hence the desired relation (2) has the linear form

^=a + b^ (15)

in which the coefficients

.-(=*-«.)§ (16)

and

b = «9l (17)

involve none of the N quantities save Q0, Qlf and Q2.
Evidently (14) can be written also

dlogQo (<* R \ adlogQo nQN

___^0-aoj + ___ (18)

in which the coefficients are independent of the coordinates.
Thus the relation connecting the logarithmic derivatives is the
same all over the generalized surface. ,

Extension to higher derivatives. Differentiating (14) with re-
spect to Qi and using the identity (3) gives

^=A+B^+C^-° (19)

cQl dQ2 dQl

in which the coefficients are

■ A-Sfefc— )&*— '-1) (2P)

624 hersey: derivatives of physical quantities

B"Sffe'-Oa+sw (21)

and

C =

-V (22)

1/3/

Thus the curvature with respect to Qi can be calculated from
the slope and the curvature with respect to Q2.

Integral form of the relation.6 Integrating (14) at the point

(Qo = go, Qi = <7i, Q2 = Qi) over an interval so short that — ^°

may be treated as constant, and denoting its value by the symbol

- , gives for the primitive equation of an element of the surface
oq2

in which

On
_ a fq2 bq

(23)

h = - l^^ + Po -«• (24)

0 \q0 dq2 /

The use of (23) would permit a direct comparison of any new
results obtained by the present method with empirical results
previously published in one-term, constant-exponent formulas.

Discussion of the constant-product restriction. Let ITC denote
any one of the i — 2 arguments which we have agreed to hold
constant, and let Q stand for either Qi or Q2. Then, unless nc
can be so chosen that it does not contain Q, it must be so chosen
that it will contain some additional quantity Qc not occurring

6 If instead of an isolated value of ^—^ we were furnished with the entire curve

OQ,

Qo = f-i (Qi), the direct use of the n-theorem would be preferable, and would give
the whole curve Qo = /i (Qi)- If successively furnished with additional curves,
Qo= JiiQz) and so on, we could gradually build up generalized cross sections
of the surface (1) until, when N-k independent curves had been given, we should
have the whole of it. The problem of developing empirical equations syntheti-
cally has not been treated in the available papers. That problem is a general
one, of which the problem of the present paper is a special case; this situation is
illustrated by the fact that our final result (23) applies only to an infinitesimal
piece of the curve Qo = fi(Qi)-

hersey: derivatives of physical quantities 625

in any other product. The rule for keeping nc constant will
then be: Vary Qc simultaneously in such a manner as to com-
pensate the changes due to Q.

If Q enters nc to the nth power and Qc enters it to the first,
the derivatives in (15) and elsewhere are subject to one or more
conditions of the type Qc «= Q~n. For such a derivative let us

adopt from now on the notation (^tt) _„• There are two

experimentally independent methods for getting its numerical
value: First, by directly observing the change in QQ with Q
while simultaneously changing Qc in the prescribed manner;
second, by calculating it from separate observations on the
change in Qo with Q at constant Qc, and the change in Q0 with
Qc at constant Q. Expanding the conditioned derivative into

the form ( --£ ) + ( ~ ) ,° and taking account of the fixed
\oQ/Qc \oQc/Q uQ

relation between Qc and Q leads to the working formula

/5QA /&Qo\ _wQ.7aQ.\ (25)

VaQA^-n \?>Q/qc Q\^Qc/q

for the second method. In the most general case where there
are i — 2 arguments to be kept constant, the second term on the

right of (25) will be replaced by — ^ times the summation of

i — 2 terms of the type nQ,

(

dQ0\
ZQc/q'

While the procedure outlined in this section is always possible
and sufficient, it is not always necessary or even desirable. For
example: if the number of quantities, N, does not exceed the
number of fundamental units, k, by more than 2, there will be
no other arguments than n0 and II; again, if the remaining i — 2
arguments do not involve Q (i.e., Qi or Qo), their constancy will
not be disturbed at all by the fact that Qi and Q2 do vary.
Further expedients for simplifying the work will suggest them-
selves upon examining each particular case by itself.

Some illustrative examples. For reference in solving problems
it is convenient to rewrite (5) in the form

626 hersey: derivatives of physical quantities

Q?Q2° ■■■QKk- Qo=funct. (Q? Qf.--Q£- Qk+1, and other n's) (26)

The values of a, (3, etc, can now be read off directly by identi-
fying them with the corresponding numerical exponents in the
equation, of type (26), afforded by the particular example in
hand.

I. In the case of a journal bearing, under certain restrictions,
we may expect a relation of type (1) to connect the coefficient
of friction /, with the viscosity of the lubricant n, the revolutions
per unit time n, the bearing pressure p, the journal diameter D,
and the volume of oil V forced through the bearing in unit time.
Let it be required to calculate the effect of altering the size of
the machine from a test in which nothing is varied but the rate
of pumping oil through the bearing. By the Il-theorem,

/ = funct. (®^, ^, shape) (27)

\ V p /

Let*/, D and V serve respectively as Q0, Qi, and Q?.. Compar-
ing (27) with (26), «o = 0, /So = 0, a = 3, 0 = - 1; hence, by (16)

and (17), a = 0 and b = — 3 — , or

y = -ziy ' (28)

dD DdV K

Also, by (20) and (22), A = 0, B = 12 —^ and C = 9 (-Y; there-
fore

w.uZ^Wnvay (29)

Equations (28) and (29) enable us to predict the bearing losses
of any slightly larger or smaller machine in the same geometri-
cally similar series. This requirement of geometrical similarity is
an instance of the constant-product restriction. The products
in this case are the length ratios fixing the shape.

II. Let it be required to find the effect of gravity on a rolling
ball viscosimeter in terms of the effect produced by changing

hersey: derivatives of physical quantities 627

the size of the instrument. Let D, I, and 0 denote, respectively,
the diameter and length of the tube and its angle of inclination
to the horizontal, d and p0 the diameter and density of the
ball, p and p the density and viscosity of the liquid, and t the
roll-time7 in a locality8 of gravity g. Assuming that a complete
relation does subsist among these quantities, the n-theorem
shows that any equation describing that relation, whether ob-
tained theoretically or experimentally, must be reducible to the
form

- 1 = f unct. fe g-^-, shape) (30)

2 \p n2 /

the shape, in turn, being fixed by the arguments y^, jz, and 0.

Taking t, g, and D respectively for Q0, Qif and Q2 gives a0 = 0,
/So = - 2, a = 1, and /3 = 3; so that by (18)

tdg 3 3 t dD

An interesting check on (31) is afforded by differentiating the
empirical equation for such an instrument.9 The equation has
been presented in the form y = a + bx, in which x denotes

-V*(?-i)

and y denotes vl\D*g[- 1 ), r being the roll

j •

time per unit length — , v the kinematic viscosity — , and a and

I p

b particular numerical values fixed by a particular choice of —

and 0. Recast in the form (30) it becomes

7 That is, the time required for the ball to roll down. This instrument, pro-
posed by Flowers (Proc. Am. Soc. Test. Mat., 14: 565. 1914), is further discussed
by the writer in this Journal, 6: 527. 1916.

8 Having set up such a viscosimeter in Cambridge, the question arose whether
there would be any sensible change upon taking it to Washington, where gravity
is 0.3 per cent less. The conclusion is that the roll-time in a very viscous liquid
will be 0.3 per cent greater in Washington; and that the effect of gravity dimin-
ishes when the fluidity of the liquid increases, falling to 0.2 per cent for water.

9 This Journal, 6: 528, eq. (6). 1916.

628 hersey: derivatives of physical quantities

t = — (l+BVgDs) (33)

in which A and 5 (both intrinsically positive) do not involve g

at all, nor D except in a shape factor. The values of — — and

t bg

D <:t

— — — found by differentiating (33) do satisfy (31).

III. Without knowing the empirical equation let it be required
to predict the change in roll time due to any small change in
liquid density, such as would occur upon using the tube under
pressure, by reference to an observation on the effect of chang-
ing the ball density. Since an expression for — in terms of —

dp bPo

is sought, t, p, and p0 are selected for Q0, Qh and Q2 respec-
tively. If (30) were to be used as it stands there would be a

restriction on the derivative — , which is hardly to be desired.

An equivalent result in a more convenient form can evidently
be obtained by confining p to a smaller number of arguments.
This is done by replacing (30) by one of the alternative forms
provided by the n-theorem, such as

\k * = funct. h, g-fJ^, shape) (34)

~D \p p? /

Comparing this with (26), «0 = 0, /?0 = 0, a = 1, (3 = - 1; hence
by (14)

bt po/dl\

or by (25)

= - £-° (^L ) (35)

Op p \C)po/Mccpo

1 / bt . bt\ ,QA;

= --(po — + p— ) (36)

p \ Opn bp/

stand ley: new genus of allioniaceae 629

In the last transformation ft took the part of Qc and p0 of Q,
while n had the value — 1.

The following observations afford an experimental illustration
of (36). They were made with a tube 59 em. long and 1 cm. in
diameter, containing a \ inch (0.635 cm.) ball, ordinarily of steel
(p0 = 7.7 g./cm.3). The tube was filled with lard oil (p. = 0.74

c. g. s. units, p = 0.92 g./cm.3). The slope — was found to be

OjJ.

31 c. g. s. units. Substituting now a brass ball (p0 = 8.6 g./cm.3)
for the steel one, the roll-time dropped from 27.9 to 24.7 seconds,

making — equal to — 3.6 c. g. s. units. From these data, in

Opo

conjunction with (36), the value — = 5.2 c. g. s. units would

be predicted. From (32), the actual value is found to be 5.7
c. g. s. units. Since — is itself a correction term, the agree-

ment is sufficient.

BOTAXY. — Ammocodon, a new genus of Allioniaceae, from the
southwestern United States.1 Paul C. Stand ley, National
Museum.

The genus Selinocarpus was proposed by Gray, in 1S53,2 in a
paper dealing with the plants of the family Allioniaceae3 col-
lected by Charles Wright during his explorations of western
Texas, southern Xew Mexico and Arizona, and northeastern

1 Published by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

- Amer. Journ. Sci. II. 15: 262.

3 Dr. Gray used the family name Xyctaginaceae. a term more widely employed
by botanists than the earlier Allioniaceae. The designation of this family is
not based, as some suppose, upon the genus Nyctaginia, but upon Nyciago, an
early name for the four-o'clocks, to which Linnaeus assigned the generic term
Mirabilis, which is universally used today. Consequently the term Xyctagi-
naceae is objectionable, as applied to a family, since it is based upon a generic
name nowhere accepted as valid.

An example of mistaken ideas concerning the source of the word Xyctaginaceae
and certain related forms is found in Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Ferns
of Connecticut (Connecticut Geol. and Nat. Hist. Surv. Bull. 14, p. 172. 1910).
In explanation of the specific name of Oxybapkus nyctagineus (Michx.) Sweet

630 stand ley: new genus of allioniaceae

Mexico, which extended from 1849 to 1852. Two species were
described, S. diffusus and S. chenopodioides. There is no indi-
cation that the genus was based primarily upon either species;
consequently the first, S. diffusus, may be taken as the type.

Selinocarpus is related to the large genus Boerhaavia, being dis-
tinguished chiefly by the broad, thin wings of the fruit. In the
latter, it is true, the fruit is sometimes winged, but the wings
are narrow, thick, and usually veined. No one, apparently, has
questioned the claims of Selinocarpus to generic rank, for the
plants are decidedly different in their general aspect from the
group of species comprised in Boerhaavia, as restricted by the
present writer.4

Since 1853 five species of Selinocarpus have been published,
the genus now being known to range from Nevada and southern
Utah to western Texas and southward to Coahuila, Mexico.
Upon close inspection of the seven species it is evident that one
of the two original ones, S. chenopodioides, differs in certain
floral characters from the genotype and the five subsequent addi-
tions to the genus. Its perianth is campanulate and conspicu-
ously constricted above the ovary, while in S. diffusus and the
other species the perianth is tubular-funnelform and not at all
constricted. In the case of the latter group of species the
perianth varies markedly, however, in shape and size, being
only 1 cm. long and with a short tube in S. angustifolius Torr.,
and 2.5 to 4.5 cm. long, with a slender, elongate tube, in the other
species. In S. chenopodioides the perianth is 4 to 5 mm. long.
In the last, moreover, the stamens are 2 or rarely 3, their fila-
ments free from the perianth, while in S. diffusus and its allies
the stamens are 5 or 6, their filaments adherent to the perianth
tube. These striking differences in the perianth and androecium
are accompanied by habital differences, also : In S. chenopodioides
the flowers are aggregated in many-flowered, umbelliform cymes,

(Allionia nyctaginea Michx.) the statement is made that it signifies "like Nycta-
ginia, a genus of this family." As a matter of fact, Michaux's species was pub-
lished many years before the generic name Nyctajinia. His specific name doubt-
less alludes to the resemblance of the leaves of the Allionia to those of the com-
mon four-o'clock, Mirabilis jalapa, the Nyctajo of pre-Linnaean botanists.
4 Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb., 12: 372-387. 1909.

standley: new genus of allioniaceae 631

each flower subtended by one or rarely 2 bracts, while in the
other species the few flowers are solitary or geminate in the leaf
axils, each subtended by 2 or 3 bracts.

In 1913 Dr. Anton Heimerl, an eminent Austrian botanist
well known for his studies of this family of plants, pointed out5
these differences and used them as a basis for the division of
Selinocarpus into two sections, Breviflori and Tubiflori. To the
writer, however, it seems that the section Breviflori deserves
generic rank, and the name Ammocodon is accordingly proposed
for it. The primary characters upon which the genus is based
are those of the flower and androecium, and they are certainly
of greater significance than the quantitative fruit characters
which are used to separate Selinocarpus and Boerhaavia.

Ammocodon Standley, gen. nov.

Erect or decumbent perennial herbs with thick roots and dichot-
omous pubescent stems. Leaves opposite, petiolate, those of a pair
often unequal, the blades succulent. Flowers umbellulate, the um-
bellules in open cymes, each flower subtended by a minute subulate
bract, or a second smaller bract rarely also present; perianth campanu-
late, purplish red, constricted above the ovary, shallowly 5-lobed, the
lobes plicate. Stamens 2 or rarely 3; filaments filiform, short-connate
at the base, free from the perianth. Ovary narrowly oblong; style
filiform, exserted; stigma peltate, smooth. Fruit a compressed antho-
carp, broadly 5-winged vertically, the wings hyaline. Testa of the
seed adherent to the pericarp; embryo conduplicate, the cotyledons
enclosing the farinaceous endosperm; radicle elongate, descending.

Type species, Selinocarpus chenopodioides Gray.

Ammocodon chenopodioides (Gray) Standley.

Selinocarpus chenopodioides Gray, Amer. Journ. Sci. II. 15: 262.
1853.

The type was collected by Charles Wright in valleys from Providence
Creek to the Rio Grande, western Texas. The species ranges from
western Texas through southern New Mexico to southeastern Arizona,
and southward into Chihuahua. It is very abundant in the region
about El Paso, growing chiefly in the loose sandy soil of the mesas,
usually along with creosote bush (Covillea glutinosa). The flowers are
not very showy, but bright-colored and borne in great profusion. Like
those of most, if not all, of the herbaceous members of the family,
they open late in the evening and close about noon or earlier the fol-
lowing day.

5 Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschr., 63: 354-355.

ABSTRACTS

TECHNOLOGY. — An investigation of cartridge enclosed fuses. Report
of the Bureau of Standards in the case of Economy Fuse and Manu-
facturing Co. vs. Underwriters' Laboratories (Inc.) concerning the
fire and accident hazard of the Economy Refutable Fuse as compared
with approved fuses. E. B. Rosa, H. B. Brooks, B. McCullom,
W. J. Canada, and F. W. Gladding. Bureau of Standards
Technologic Paper No. 74. Pp. 199. 1916.
This report represents the results of the investigation carried out
by the Bureau of Standards acting as referee on the joint request of
the Economy Fuse and Mfg. Co. and Underwriters' Laboratories, Inc.,
on the question of the relative fire and accident hazard of Economy
Refillable fuses and fuses at present listed as standard by Underwriters'
Laboratories, Inc. The evidence on which the finding of the Bureau
was based includes a large number of tests of fuses under widely differ-
ent conditions, as well as inspections of numerous fuse installations in
practice, personal interviews with many fuse users, evidence and argu-
ments submitted by the Economy Fuse and Mfg. Co. and Under-
writers' Laboratories both at a public hearing and by correspondence,
and evidence and arguments submitted by a number of manufacturers
of fuses at present listed as standard by Underwriters' Laboratories.
The investigation disclosed that the experience with the present type
of Economy fuse is not yet sufficient to determine whether the total
hazard is greater or less than it is with approved fuses as they are
actually used in practice. The report contains numerous tables and
110 oscillographic records showing the performance of both Economy
and approved fuses under various short circuit conditions.

B. McC.
632

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED

SOCIETIES

THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 775th meeting was held on May 27, 1916, at the Cosmos Club.
President Briggs in the chair; 47 persons present. The minutes of
the 774th meeting were read in abstract and approved.

The evening was devoted to a symposium on the atom. Mr. H. L.
Curtis presented a paper on The atom as a miniature solar system.
The author briefly sketched the history of atomic theory from Dalton's
work in 1803 to the recent work of J. J. Thomson, Rutherford, Nichol-
son, Bohr, Van der Brock, Zeeman, and others. Two types of nucleus
atom are possible, viz, the planetary type and the Saturnian type.
In the planetary type each electron has an orbit different from that of
any other electron, as is the case of the planets rotating about the
sun, but different from this in that they repel each other while the
planets attract. In the Saturnian type, which is most generally ac-
cepted, the electrons rotate in rings around the nucleus. Bohr's
assumptions of the laws holding at atomic dimensions and the results
from his hypothesis were given in detail. The present trend of thought
is towards accepting the Saturnian type of the nuclear atom. It is
generally conceded that the forces which bind the parts of the atom
together are different from those with which we are accustomed' to
deal. The radiation giving the lines of the visible spectrum is con-
cerned with the outer rings of the atomic system, while X-rays are
produced by vibrations of the inner rings of electrons. Radioactive
phenomena and chemical affinity appear to be concerned with the
nucleus.

Discussion. Mr. Agnew referred to experiments in magnetization
which indicate the validity of the Saturnian or planetary-type theory.
Bohr's theory predicted that certain lines of the spectrum of helium
were due to hydrogen. Mr. Bauer referred to the looseness of terms
found in writings on the atomic theories; for example, 8 out of 10
will use "rotation" instead of "revolution." In many theories of
astronomy it is not necessary to take account of rotation, but no
astronomer would attempt to explain all facts and phenomena only
by revolution; it, therefore, appears that the time may come when it
may be necessary to consider both rotation and revolution in connec-
tion with atomic theories. Mr. Sosman referred to the recent work
on the valence of atoms in chemical compounds. Mr. Wright re-
ferred to studies in crystal structure in which particular directions
within an atom find expression in atomic arrangement of crystals.

633

634 proceedings: philosophical society

Mr. Swann referred to conflicting theories between the chemist and
the physicist with reference to the structure of the atom. He thought
that perhaps some part of the apparent excellent agreement of con-
stants might be due to a juggling of the 27r-factor in the computations.
Mr. Dellinger thought that Mr. Swann's last remark explained some
agreements found in recent contributions.

Mr. W. J. Humphreys presented a paper on The magnetic field of
an atom. Recent investigations by Weiss, Ritz, Humphreys, Oxley,
and Merritt of atomic phenomena and structure were reviewed. These
investigations all give varied evidence in favor of the assumption that
atoms have powerful magnetic fields which are of the order 108 gauss,
and which are due, presumably, to orbital revolutions of electrons. It
might seem that atoms with such strong magnetic fields would collapse;
the author's calculations, however, show that the electric forces between
the portions of atomic models of the Saturnian type would be more
than sufficient to prevent collapse through the interaction of their
powerful magnetic fields.

Mr. Swann thought the indicated order of magnitude of the atomic
fields is large, judging, for example, from computations, assuming a
field of 108 gauss, of the moment of the equivalent magnet and of the
deflection that would be produced in shooting a-particles through a
thin piece of magnetic iron.

The 776th meeting was held on October 14, 1916, at the Cosmos Club.
Vice-President Buckingham in the chair; 65 persons present. The
minutes of the 775th meeting were read in abstract and approved.

Mr. A. L. Day presented a communication, illustrated by lantern
slides, on Do volcanoes offer evidence in regard to the interior of the earth?
Recent studies are helping to emphasize more and more sharply the
conclusion that volcanoes are local phenomena of very limited signifi-
cance in affording information concerning the interior of the earth.
This view is supported by the differences in chemical composition
between lava outflows in different parts of the world, by the differences
in altitude of the points of outflow even in neighboring volcanoes, by
the apparently complete independence of one another of volcano vents
which are immediately contiguous, as at Stromboli, Hawaii, and other
places, and by the fact that most of the volcanic phenomena appear
to derive their energy from gas reactions in which only the gases appear
to be of deep-seated origin. The formation of vertical conduits, under
this view, is then simply the result of gas reactions ("gas fluxing")
which generate sufficient heat to melt the adjacent rock masses and
to form more or less vertical outlets for gaseous or liquid products.
Neighboring conduits of this kind often show complete independence
of action in time, in pressure (as shown by the lava level), and in
character of explosive or other activity at the mouth, all of which
point to the independence of the local supply chambers to which the
vents serve as outlets. Of course, a great rift like the one on the
south flank of Mauna Loa, from which two lava streams recently

proceedings: philosophical society 635

flowed to a distance of 8 miles, indicates a basin of much larger magni-
tude than those at Stromboli, but still vanishing^ small when com-
pared with the magnitude of the earth or even with the magnitude of
the volcanic island (Hawaii) of which it forms a part. In fact, the
complete absence in the geological record, of any really great outpour-
ing of lava, and the absence of evidence of extreme temperatures in
those outlets which have been accessible to study, point to the con-
clusion that all are local and probably not even deep-seated phenomena.
Discussion. Mr. Washington called attention to the characteristics
of the volcanic rocks from the continent of Africa which are quite
different from those, for example, from Vesuvius and Etna. Mr.
Clarke referred to the pioneer work of Herbert Spencer regarding the
condition of the interior of the earth. Mr. Farquhar made inquiry
regarding the temperature gradients determined from borings and the
relation of such gradients to Chamberlin's hypothesis. Mr. Day
stated that, judging from the temperature gradient determined from
borings, the interior temperature may reach 20,000° which Chamber-
lin admits in his hypothesis. He stated that bore-hole temperature
records must alwa}^s be carefully used since conditions are generally
not typical; determinations of temperature gradients from different
sources vary by 100 per cent.

Mr. L. A. Bauer presented a communication, illustrated by lantern
slides, entitled Concerning the origin of the earth's magnetic field. The
various recent theories regarding the origin of the Earth's magnetic
field were reviewed with particular reference to their bearings on the
general topic of the evening: the constitution of the earth's interior.
The hypothesis of chief interest in this connection, namely, that of an
iron core being the cause of terrestrial magnetism, has inherent in it
many difficulties, which, however, may not be insuperable. Should
experiments decisively show that increased pressure elevates the criti-
cal temperature of magnetization, then the depth of 10 to 12 miles,
now supposed to limit the presence of materials in the magnetic stage,
would be increased. However, the few experiments available indicate
that increased pressure lowers the critical temperature of magnetiza-
tion. The various hypotheses as to the earth's magnetic field being
caused by electric currents within the earth's crust, or as to its con-
nection in some manner with the speed and direction of rotation of the
earth, were briefly discussed. The exceedingly small effect to be
observed renders conclusive laboratory experiments, if not a hopeless
task, certainly a very difficult one with present appliances. The author
reiterated a belief, already expressed on a former occasion, that our
chief hope at present of determining the origin of the earth's magnetic
field appears to lie in the direction of determining what causes the
field to vary in the remarkable manner it does. The definite limita-
tions imposed by the variations in the earth's magnetic field, both of
the periodic and aperiodic kind, and the departures of the field from
the simple uniform type, are too frequently overlooked by theorists.
Most theories, for example, are found inadequate when the attempt is

636 proceedings: botanical society

made to explain, besides the origin of the field, the secular variation
as it is actually observed.

In conclusion it was pointed out that the solution of some of the
questions entering into the problem of the origin of the earth's magnetic
field must be deferred until the completion of the magnetic survey of
the earth now in progress under the auspices of the Carnegie Institu-
tion of Washington.

Discussion. Mr. Burgess discussed the question of the effect of
pressure on magnetic properties of iron. Our knowledge of variations
in the magnetic conditions of ferrous materials is at present insufficient
to give much help. Mr. Swann referred to the difficulty associated
with the assumption of electric currents as the origin of the earth's
magnetic field primarily in the explanation of the e. m. f. to which
these currents owe their origin; this difficulty is not, however, as great
as may appear, for it is not improbable that the state of equilibrium
in the rotating earth might involve relative motion between the elec-
trons and the ordinary matter as a condition for the absence of degra-
dation into heat of such motion as exists. It is a known fact that the
intensity of magnetization produced in a sphere of infinite permeability
when placed in a magnetic field is only four times the intensity which
would be produced were the permeability only two; the reason for this
is to be found in the demagnetizing force which a magnetic sphere
produces in its own substance. It appears that the principle inherent
in the phenomenon is not limited to the case where the magnetizing
influence is an ordinary magnetic field but is of wide application, so that
we may say in general that it is impossible to produce, no matter what
the material of the sphere may be, an appreciable magnetization in a
sphere by feeble influence. J. A. Fleming, Secretary.

BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 112th regular meeting of the Botanical Society of Washington
was held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club, Tuesday, April 4,
1916. Fifty-two members and five guests were present. Harry R.
Fulton, George L. Keenan, Lester A. Round, J. F. Clevenger,
C E. Temple, A. E. Aldous, Victor Birckner, and Forrest S.
Holmes were elected to membership. The following papers were
presented.

Botanical explorations in South America: J. N. Rose.

Plants domesticated in Peru: 0. F. Cook. Mr. Cook gave a brief
account of the agriculture of the Incas, with their wonderful terraces
and system of irrigation. Among the plants domesticated by them
were maize, beans, lima beans, peanuts, quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa),
red peppers {Capsicum), mandioca, tomatoes, passion fruits, sweet
potatoes, tuberous Tropaeolum and Oxalis, arracacha (a celery-like
plant), squashes and pumpkins, gourds; and among the fruits were
chirimoyas, lucuinas, and pepinos. The narcotic coca, from which
cocaine is now prepared, was also grown. Mr. Cook's paper is embodied
in an article since published in the National Geographic Magazine,
29:474-534. June, 1916.

W. E. Safford, Corresponding Secretary.

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VI NOVEMBER 19, 1916 No. 19

GEOPHYSICS. — A theory of terrestrial volcanoes and the geog-
raphy of the moon.1 Stanislas Meunier, Museum of Natural
History, Paris. (Communicated by Arthur L. Day.)

Long-continued studies have led me to develop a new theory
in regard to the phenomenon of volcanoes, a theory which, it
seems to me, harmonizes with the best-established facts of geo-
dynamics, differing therein from all preceding theories. A
necessary sequel has been a study of the consequences to which
the theory leads as regards the future of eruptive activity itself.

In making that study, I adopted the method of the mathe-
matician, who proceeds to the solution of a given problem by
varying the elements of the problem in order to discover the
corresponding special cases. Accordingly I have assumed hy-
potheses regarding the geologic consequences that result from
modifying the variables of the problem. I shall not try to con-
ceal the satisfaction I felt on finding that one of the supposi-
tions examined explains completely the circumstances of lunar
economy.

The discussion involves three main consequences:

1. It tightens in an unexpected manner the geologic bonds
existing between the earth and the moon. This result is so con-
formable to the ingenious cosmologic conception of Laplace as
to constitute a veritable confirmation of it, by furnishing defini-
tive proof of the similarity of the physical constitution of our

1 Translated from the French.

637

638 . meunier: theory of volcanoes

globe and its satellite, as well as of the identity of their be-
havior in the course of sidereal evolution, in which they repre-
sent two successive stages.

2. In the second place, the relation of the history of the moon
to the history of the earth, so different at first sight as regards
the phenomena of volcanism, includes the verification, the tan-
gible verification so to speak, of the eruptive theory, although
the latter had been established on purely geologic considerations
at the very moment when I felt compelled to postpone the
selenographic study, which seemed to require a combination of
special conditions.

3. Finally, by means of a correlation which a priori seemed
hazardous, my results furnish a new support for that great
chapter of science which is yet far from being fully understood,
but which nevertheless has so often and so strongly fascinated
me from the very beginning of my career, namely, the chapter
of comparative geology.

This may seem a bold program, and in laying it before the
reader I feel that it may arouse a certain skepticism. Never-
theless I feel confident that my undertaking will benefit the
work on which I am engaged, namely, the building-up of a body
of arguments which will naturally group themselves into one
of the chapters of the geologic harmonies of the physical uni-
verse.

In order readily to understand the bearing of the statements
just made, it is necessary to call briefly to mind the nature of
the proposed volcanic theory and what, in my opinion, it is
capable of explaining.

According to this theory, volcanic activity is a normal and
therefore inevitable result of the regular evolution of our globe.
It therefore determines, on the one hand, all the details of the
earth's constitution, that is to say, of its anatomy, and, on the
other, all the details of its activity, that is to say, of its physi-
ology. According to this theory, also, volcanic activity is a
natural and frequent result of the formation of mountains,
being in fact its' epiphenomenon, so to speak.

We have to recall the circumstances accompanying the be-

meunier: theory of volcanoes 639

ginning of planetary history and to assume, with Laplace, that
the earth is but a drop of the chaotic substance separated from
the sun, like the other globules of the same nature, which, be-
fore or after it, have taken on the condition of autonomous
bodies. The sun represents the enormous residue of primordial
matter from which these successive products were derived.

The globular form assumed by the mass that was to be our
planet results from the dominant property possessed by the
molecules of all mobile matter to attract one another and thus
to become grouped around their common center of gravity. La-
place has shown how this attraction causes the heating of the
whole mass and at the same time its general movement of rota-
tion around its own axis. We need add nothing to the concep-
tion of the author of the Exposition du Systeme du Monde in
order to understand in outline the successive stages of our globe,
all due to the spontaneous cooling caused by its position in
space, the temperature of which is far below that of the earth
itself.

The first effect of cooling was to deprive the chaotic matter
of any homogeneity which it might have had at the start, the
result being a solid crust forming a partition between the un-
cooled fluids that constitute the nucleus of the globe and the far
less dense fluids forming the ocean and the atmosphere.

Ever since the crust began to form and to grow thicker by
additions on the inside, owing to the progressive solidification
of the nucleus, it has tended to accommodate itself to the ever-
changing conditions arising from the steady diminution in vol-
ume of the enclosed mass. While that mass contracts during
cooling without changing its form, which remains spherical
while its diameter decreases, the crust, which is not contractile,
responds in a different way. As the support furnished by the
fluid nucleus is withdrawn because of its contraction, the crust
has to follow it and hence becomes increasingly corrugated,
with attendant faults (geoclases) and tangential thrusts.

This is the well-known cause of topographic relief, the cause
of continents and oceanic basins. The water, instead of cover-
ing the globe as a uniform sheet, has collected in the oceanic

640 meunier: theory of volcanoes

basins, to which, by a ceaseless circulation, it always returns
after falling as rain and flowing over the land as storm water
and running water — aside from the large amount that seeps
into the ground, of which we will speak later on.

Without entering into details which every one knows, I will
merely add, for the sake of clearness, that the deformations of
the earth's crust, constantly diminishing the diameter of the
planet, consist essentially in the transformation of a centripetal
action into a tangential compression, as is shown by the great
mountain ranges, whose natural escarpments so often and so
clearly reveal to us the internal structure. In these mountain
ranges beds of a great variety of rocks are seen resting one on
the other, which may be correlated with the strata of the plains,
but which have been modified in their mineral composition by
metam'orphism and in their relative position by orogenic forces.

As regards the last-mentioned point, the essential fact is that
geologically old strata commonly rest on geologically younger
strata, which is exactly the reverse of what prevails in undis-
turbed sedimentary regions. When, for example, we climb the
Alps we first pass over very recent beds, such as the Tertiary
conglomerates of the Righi, next over Mesozoic deposits, " such
as the Cretaceous and Jurassic marbles of Mount Pilatus, next
over Paleozoic sediments, such as the Carboniferous shales of
the Mcede, etc., and only when we arrive at the top do we find
the primitive rocks, such as the gneisses of the Jungfrau.

There can be no doubt that these strata were pushed along
nearly horizontal planes of fracture, with the result that they
now occupy a much smaller area than they did originally, while
their thickness has increased by superposition, as has just been
pointed out. Thus there has been a transfer of deep-seated
material over younger strata. It is necessary to recall this
commonplace notion, because it suffices to give us the viewpoint
needed for the present subject as regards everything relating to
the structure of mountain ranges, which for that matter varies
widely.

Summarizing this first point, we see that the spontaneous
cooling of the globe gives rise to a tangential compression of the

meunier: theory of volcanoes 641

crust, which at any given moment is too wide for its contentSj
and that this is the sole cause of the characteristic superposi-
tions observed in mountains.

This, however, does not yet suffice to explain completely the
origin of mountains, and it is proper to note that the process just
described is strictly confined to the underground regions. In
order that a mountain may be formed another thing is neces-
sary: the block that has been compressed in the underground
region has to be raised by tangential reactions, causing a pro-
tuberance that rises above the general surface of the planet.
The gigantic tuberosity of Thibet, in the heart of the Asiatic
continent, is a type.

Space will not admit of presenting the arguments which prove
that the compression and transfer on the incline planes of geo-
clases can take place only in a certain portion of the crust. The
deeper portions are still too hot to admit of the production and
maintenance of gliding planes in their plastic substance, while
in the outer parts the porosity and compressibility of the rocks
constituting the substratum, opposing their inertia to the propa-
gation of vibrations, protect the superficial strata against exces-
sive mechanical shocks, which would constitute an insuperable
obstacle to the development of external phenomena, such as the
manifestations of organic life.

Without dwelling on this subject let us note merely that the
mechanical deformations of the crust are not the only inevitable
consequences of the spontaneous cooling of the globe.

Another fact of equal importance, and without which vol-
canism would be impossible, develops parallel with the first.
We have already noted that the lowering of the surface temper-
ature has led to the condensation of water, the fall of rain, and
the development of rivers, whose waters accumulate in the ocean
basins. Part of the water penetrates into the crust not only
by constant infiltration but by the burial of wet sediments under
later sediments, whereby water and other volatilizable matter
are imprisoned in the solid mass at constantly increasing depths
and are incorporated in a large part of the thickness of the crust.

This being premised, we must next observe that the over-

642 MEUNIER:. THEORY OF VOLCANOES

.thrusting :just described, whereby the rock masses are super-
posed (often in inverted order) acquires a new meaning from the
very presence of water. The water-soaked zone thus forms an
envelope around the deeper zone which is as yet too hot to ad-
mit the entrance of water. At many points the orogenic com-
pression, taking advantage of geoclases, carries hot waterless
strata over less hot water-soaked strata. The latter are thus
subjected to reheating under circumstances which are particu-
larly, interesting. We know the effects that are likely to be
produced by such reheating under the influence of water incor-
porated in deeply buried rock masses having no communication
with the surface. On this point Senarmont has made experi-
ments of which I am unable for lack of space to mention more
than the results. He has shown that in superheated water, as
.he called it, that is to say, water subjected to a temperature of
several hundred degrees in a closed vessel, the ordinary rocks
take on all the characters of metamorphic and volcanic rocks.
The water, strongly compressed and having reached the condi-
tion when it assumes the mineralizing function, becomes in-
corporated with the rock particles, and thus in the state of occlu-
sion it endows them with the expansive property.
'. Suppose next that a mass of rocks thus charged with occluded
water under high pressure is put into communication with
the atmosphere through a fissure, for example. The occluded
vapor, no longer held back by a resistance equal to its expansive
force, will seek to attain equilibrium of pressure with the atmos-
phere; it will issue from its confinement and carry with it the
rock magma in which it is dissolved, ejecting it through the
vent, and thus will produce the volcanic phenomenon in all its
details. Without attempting any detailed proof, let us note that
this line of reasoning explains all the incidents of the volcanic
phenomenon, from the ejection of ashes, vesicular pumice, and
scoriae to the rise and overflow of lava and even the formation
and reaction of fumaroles.

: Volcanism as a whole, as has just been found to be the case
<with seismism, is an epiphenomenon of the production of moun-
tains. This is why intrusions of igneous rocks in all their forms
play such a prominent part in all complete mountain ranges.

meunier: theory of volcanoes 643

Summarizing, we may say that eruption results from the collab-
oration of two processes, seemingly quite unrelated :

1 . The progressive penetration of water and other volatile sub-
stances to a depth within the earth's crust which is strictly depend-
ent at every instant on the degree of spontaneous cooling;

2. The tangential compression of the rocks, due to the contrac-
tion of the nucleus and also to the tendency of the crust to
founder into deeper and deeper regions where the horizontal
sp£ ce grows narrower and narrower.

Thus the crust of our planet forms a kind of weaver's loom,
producing the volcanic tissue, the warp being represented by the
descending network of threads of water, while the woof is repre-
sented by the tangential network of heated material, due to the
orogenic superposition of intrusive masses over water-soaked
sediments.

Harking back to the point from which we started, we may
here adopt the practice of the mathematician who devotes him-
self to the discussion of a given problem. We may inquire what
special results would follow from modifying one or the other
of the two factors of the eruptive phenomenon.

Let us note, first of all, that the volcanic phenomenon could
only have appeared after a long evolution of the terrestrial
globe, because it requires a crust, and not only this but the super-
position of two concentric zones: the one deep down and very
hot, the other at less depth, impregnated with water and of
moderate temperature.

However, to dwell on this point would be to enter into the
domain of comparative geology. Suffice it to say that from the
moment when the crust was formed, and long before, eruptions
had taken place, different no doubt from, but yet comparable in
certain respects and belonging to, the class now represented by
the majestic spectacle of the solar eruptions.

Herve Faye recently established the synthetic theory of the
sunspots and of the red protuberances accompanying them, and
showed that these phenomena represent an incessant radial
circulation of the material constituting the epidermic zone of the
sun; we might almost say the cortical zone, for the photosphere

644 meunier: theory of volcanoes

represents as it were a rudimentary crust, situated, like the
earth's crust, between the atmosphere and the nucleus, but as
yet in an unstable condition because of its extreme thinness.
It exhibits one of the stages through which the lithosphere of
our own globe must necessarily have passed.

The circulation, which (like the circulation of water in the
earth's organism) is radial, results from conditions no longer
found on our globe, conditions due to the extreme mobility of
all the solar elements. Faye notes the production of whirl-
winds in the sidereal mass, and he does not hesitate to compare
their course and cause to those of the eddies in rapid rivers.
The solar eddies, like those of rivers, carry into the depths of
the moving fluid the material derived from the peripheral zone,
and their descent, though effected in quite a different way, re-
minds us of the progressive soaking of the rocks by water, for,
like this soaking, it results in producing the mechanical force
that is the cause of eruption. Once this relatively cool mate-
rial derived from the solar surface has been carried to the proper
depth, it is heated, expands, and yields to an enormous pressure
tending to shoot it out into the atmosphere, where it forms the
rose-colored flames. Evidently it cannot burst forth in this
way without carrying with it material derived from relatively
lesser depths, especially from the photosphere. This process
shows that the solar explosion is an agent for the mixing of sub-
stances which by the diversity of their physical properties seemed
destined to be forever separated, just as happens in the case of
volcanic eruptions on the earth.

We are not yet in a position to give an exact account of the
details exhibited by the volcanic phenomenon at its first ap-
pearance, as soon as the necessary conditions were realized on
our globe. However, observations of a purely geologic nature
show that the upheavals of rocks since the oldest sedimentary
epochs are so closely comparable to the work of modern erup-
tions as to suggest that the appearance of volcanoes was virtually
instantaneous. To gain a clearer view on this point we should
have to consider successively the consequences that would flow
from the various possible combinations of temperature distri-

meunier: theory of volcanoes 645

bution along one and the same terrestrial radius, under the com-
plications that would arise from the fact of the freezing of water
at the surface and also at greater and greater depths. We should
also have to make the same inquiry as regards the distribution
of the water soaking into the deep strata, which would neces-
sarily carry with it the zone of volcanic activity. All these
subjects, and various other subjects besides, suggest discussions,
some of which promise definite conclusions. It may suffice here
to suggest them, while awaiting fuller data from the progress of
science. We can merely attempt to set up a few hypotheses
as regards the future of eruptive activity.

First of all, we may turn our attention to the relations be-
tween the cooling process and the stock of infiltrated water.
The quantity of water available in the superficial regions of the
earth is evidently limited, and the progress of cooling constantly
tends to diminish the amount of water in seas, lakes, air, and
even in the interstices of rocks. The tentative estimates made
on this point at various times, by totally different methods,
have invariably led to the conclusion that the quantity of water
already absorbed by the crust is several times larger than the
total volume of water still remaining on the surface in the liquid
state; and that this remainder is only a small fraction of the
amount that would be needed to saturate the entire crust to the
degree of humidity observed in moist rocks, described by the
expressive term of quarry-water. A time will come, therefore,
when the earth will be completely dried up, because all its water
will have disappeared, by infiltration, in the beds of rock.

On the other hand the globe, growing cooler all the time, will
some day arrive at a state of equilibrium with the temperature
of space. Thus the two factors of volcanism will disappear
independently of each other, and not necessarily at one and the
same time.

Several suppositions may be based on this consideration.
Suppose, first of all, that the time necessary for the complete
absorption of the water by the crust is exactly equal to the time
required for the complete cooling of the globe. In that case it
may be that the volcanic phenomenon may gradually fade away

646 meunier: theory of volcanoes

and disappear without any important modification of the ex-
terior of the planet.

Suppose, in the second place, that the quantity of water were
much larger than it actually is on the earth. In that case, when
the cooling has been completed, the whole planet will still be
impregnated with water, a surplus of which will even remain on
the surface. Long before that time, of course, the water will
be frozen, and ice will be a rock like the other petrographic
species.

Let us, however, take the opposite case, supposing that the
quantity of water is insufficient to moisten the entire rock mass
during the process of cooling. In that case the volume of the
seas and of all the other liquid water bodies of the surface will
diminish until it disappears, and the globe will be completely
dried up while still warm. But — and this is the essential point —
the drying up will not necessarily cause the disappearance of
the volcanic phenomenon. That phenomenon is not a super-
ficial reaction; on the contrary, its focus is situated at a great
depth, and that depth is consantly increasing as the absorption
of liquid water continues. Thus the conditions necessary for
an eruption may continue long after the drying of the surface is
completed. For example, the water that active volcanoes emit
nowadays no doubt represents a contribution from the ocean
going back to very ancient geologic periods. The orogenic super-
position of moist subterranean regions by hot rocks driven tan-
gentially over the roof of the great geoclases may continue for
long geologic periods, which means that water of impregnation
will continue to be occluded in the substance of ancient sedi-
ments, which will take advantage of the smallest fissure com-
municating with the upper, less dense regions to inject them-
selves into them. by expansion. The feebleness of the atmos-
pheric pressure, dwindling little by little to zero, will increase
the number and energy, perhaps also the volume, of the out-
bursts, and will especially affect the relief of the material ejected
upon the surface as cones of lapilli and ashes, needles, chaotic
accumulations of scoriae, and lava flows. In addition the su-
perficial water, except the volcanic rains, having little by little

meunier: theory of volcanoes 647

disappeared, erosion, formerly so active, will cease, and conse-
quently the products of eruption will persist without much
alteration. Meantime the centers of eruption wilJ constantly
increase in number, until they may eventually cover the entire
surface of the planet. By a singular contrast the planet des-
tined to perish by progressive cooling will don as its final gar-
ment a shroud woven by volcanic energy.

The picture thus drawn of the effects of a prolongation of vol-
canic activity after the complete absorption of the surface water
is closely analogous to the most essential features of lunar geog-
raphy. Without going into detail, I will content myself with
expressing my satisfaction on finding that the volcanic theory
outlined at the beginning of this article is completely borne out
by an object-lesson, the moon.

Let us suppose that this theory really expresses the facts, and
that the earth at the dawn of the Tertiary epoch had reached
a condition where all its surface water had been absorbed, while
the volcanic activity was still in full blast. It is easy to see
what would have happened. Volcanic eruptions would have
continued, and their products would have been spread over the
surface ; but there would have been this essential difference, the
volcanic outflows would no longer have been exposed to the
destructive action of rain and seas. They would have accumu-
lated side by side without perceptible change. To form an idea
of the morphologic effect on the earth's surface it may suffice to
point out that the previous sediments would have disappeared,
more or less completely, beneath this sheet of volcanic material.

The importance of this fact will be appreciated if we cast a
glimpse at the condition in which Europe, for example, would
be if all the eruptive formations poured out since the beginning
of Tertiary time had remained intact, side by side.

From Iceland, with Hecla and its companions, from the
British isles, with Skye, the Hebrides, the Faroes, and Ireland,
with Antrim, to the Mediterranean basin, with Sicily, conti-
nental Italy, Elba, and Santorin, the Tertiary and Quaternary
eruptive centers follow one another without any wide gaps. All
central Europe was volcanic: Hungary and Transylvania are

648 meunier: theory of volcanoes

dappled with trachytes and rhyolites; Bohemia rests on vast
and highly varied outflows ; in the Hohgau, basalts are associated
with phonolites; the Siebengebirge around Bonn, the Drachen-
fels, Mount Meissner in Hesse, the so-called Kaiserstuhl region
in the Breisgau, the vicinity of Mainz and of Cassel, the Eifel,
and above all the vicinity of the Laacher See, are made up of
outflows, and their analogues occur throughout the central
plateau of France, in Puy-de-D6me, Mont-Dore, Cantal, Velay
and Vivarais, and also in Catalonia, near Olot and Castel-Follit.
The Carpathians, the Caucasus, the region of the Great Ararat,
and Allagoz belong to the list, which we may here bring to a
close, long before it is complete.

If we remember that the other parts of the world are not less
rich in volcanic manifestations than Europe, and if we recall
that the ocean basins also are dotted with them — the Indian
Ocean as well as the Pacific and Altantic showing everywhere
eruptive centers, most of them as yet imperfectly known; if,
finally, we remember that in the absence of rain and wind the
pulverulent ejections of the volcanoes would cover the earth's
surface around every fiery vent in such a way as to mask all the
anterior formations under this volcanic snow, we shall arrive
at the conclusion that the earth would exhibit all the charac-
teristics shown so clearly and sharply on the disk of the moon.
So far as I am aware, this is the first time, since observers have
been busy with the lunar problem, that its explanation crops
out of itself as a logical consequence of a hypothesis elaborated
independently of any astronomic considerations.

In conclusion I may be allowed to dwell on the last remark,
which suggests a reflection in the line of comparative geology:
That science has grown up on the common frontier of geology
(or science of the earth) and physical astronomy (or science of
the heavens), exactly as comparative anatomy has grown up on
the common frontier of human anatomy (or science of the human
body) and animal anatomy (or science of the bodies of animals).
The resemblance extends even to the increase of knowledge and
to the philosophic generalizations by which both of the com-
pared sciences benefit. The great general laws of animal organ-

meunier: theory of volcanoes 649

ization, revealed to us by the science of comparative anatomy,
are an earnest of those which we may discover in regard to the
economy of the celestial bodies as a result of the progress of com-
parative geology. We know that astronomy proceeds not only
by purely morphologic investigations of the celestial bodies, but
that several other means of study have been opened to it suc-
cessively by physics and chemistry; spectroscopy, which is
based on the prismatic analysis of the light emanating from the
heavenly bodies or reflected by them, has demonstrated the
chemical unity of the heavens, just as telescopy had shown
their mechanical coordination. On the other hand, through a
piece of good luck which no one could have foreseen or hoped
for, bits of substance derived from the cosmic regions and pre-
cipitated on our planet in the form of meteorites, have supple-
mented the spectroscopic evidence by a large number of extra-
terrestrial minerals, enabling still closer comparisons to be made.
A geologic relationship has thus been revealed, and the legiti-
macy of synthetic suppositions of the widest scope can now no
longer be called in question. It does seem as if we were now in
position to say that all conceptions that hold that the physical
constitution of heavenly bodies differs from the constitution of
the earth are erroneous. I may be permitted to express the
hope that the present paper may serve to reinforce this conclu-
sion by showing that the moon, which has inspired so many
hypotheses, in reality presents morphologic features that are
not only compatible with those of the earth but also harmonize
completely with the proposed volcanologic theory of the earth, an
agreement as neat as it was unforeseen. It furnishes the most
valuable confirmation of that theory, while in return it receives
not less decisive confirmation from geologic studies.

It is a rare pleasure to find such complete agreement between
two lines of study which at first sight seem so unrelated. I
may even be permitted to express a sort of gratitude, somewhat
superstitious perhaps, to the Unknown Cause which reveals to
our minds some of the harmonies, hitherto so jealously hidden,
of the natural mechanism. A glimpse of these harmonies some-
times bursts on the mind so suddenly that one has the feeling of
an astonished spectator rather than of an originator.

650

BURGESS AND SCOTT: CRITICAL RANGES OF IRON

PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY. — Thermoelectric measurement of the
critical ranges of pure iron.1 George K. Bcrgess and H.
Scott, Bureau of Standards.

The methods hitherto employed for the determination of the
thermoelectric properties of conducting materials possess the
characteristic, which is particularly disadvantageous in the case
of a substance such as iron which ha? two critical ranges, of

TABLE 1
Thermoelectric Power of Jrox Agaixst Platixcm

innr'Hft-

irBE

MICBOVOI.TS PEE DEGREE

PELTrEE EFFECT

THOMSON" EFFECT

:iv:.3bade

dE -

TdE :

d'-E dl-

19.5

5.320

-0.010

100

18.1

6.750

-0.027

200

15.4

7,280

-0.035

300

11.7

6,700

-0.033

400

9.5

6.390

-0.010

500

9.1

7.030

+0.009

600

10.8

9.430

4-0.026

700

14.3

13.910

+0.036

780

18.1

18,980

+0.045

• 800

18.4

19.740

+0.014

>V'

19.4

22.350

^0.010

Heating

Cooling

Heating Cooling

Heating

Cooling

900

19.7

17.5

23.100 20.510

0.000

-0.400

910

19.4

10.8

22.940 12.770

-0.050

-0.040

920

16.6

10.9

19.800 13,000

— 0.575

+0.010

930

11 4

11.1

13.710 13.350

-0.023

+0.017

1,000

16,030

+0.017

requiring a length of the material in question to have a tempera-
ture distribution extending from the maximum to the. lowest
temperature. There may then be ambiguity or superposition of
thermoelectric effect-

U-ing a length of pure iron wire (Fe =99.968 per cent) of some
7 cm. length and 0.05 cm. diameter and joined between the hot

1 To appear in detail as Bureau of Standards Scientific Paper Xo. 296 (Bull.
Bur. Stds., vol. 14).

swingle: seyerixia euxifolia 651

junctions of two Le Chatelier thermocouples within a furnace 60
cm. long, several series of accurate observations in vacuo of the
thermoelectric power of the couple iron-platinum have been
taken, at 2° intervals, over the temperature range 0° to 1000°C.

In the thermoelectric power vs. temperature curve the critical
point A3 is marked by a discontinuity of considerable magnitude
at about 915°C. on heating, and at 900CC. on cooling. At A2
there is a change in shape of the curve. The thermal effect at
A2 is superimposed upon the thermoelectric and manifests itself
as a slight protuberance or dent at 768°C.

In Table 1 are given the thermoelectric power (dE di), Peltier
effect (TdE di), and Thomson Effect (d2E dt-) for iron-platinum
from 0° to 1000°C.

These thermoelectric observations give further evidence of
the distinct character of the critical points A2 and A3 delimiting
the regions of alpha, beta, and gamma iron.

BOTANY. — Severinia buxifolia, a Citrus relative native to southern
China. Walter T. Swingle. Bureau of Plant Industry.

In southern China, Tonkin, and Annam, and in the adjacent
islands of Formosa. Hongkong, and Hainan, there occurs not
uncommonly a much-branched thorny shrub which has shiny
box-like leaves aDd small, black, berry-like fruits. 1-1.5 cm. in
diameter. This plant is commonly called Atalantia bilocularis
(Roxb.) Wall., or Atalantia buxifolia (Benth.) Oliv. in recent bo-
tanical works. In connection with a survey of the plants re-
lated to Citrus this plant has been studied, with the result that
it seems necessary to recognize it as constituting the type of a
distinct genus, for which, fortunately, there is a valid name.
Severinia. established in 1S40 by Tenore.

The nomenclatorial history of this plant has been a checkered
one. The earliest reference to it by a European botanist seems
to have been in 1757. when Osbeck. one of Linnaeus 's pupils,
published the original Swedish edition of his diary of a voyage
to the East Indies. On October 20. 1751. he found on Danish
Island, near Canton. China, a plant of which he says "Buxoides
aculeata. what the Chinese call Sau-pann-gipp. is like our box-

652 swingle: severinia buxifolia

tree, but thorny. I did not see its parts of fructification."1 Al-
though a Latin binomial name is apparently assigned to this
plant, it is very unlikely that it was intended as a true botani-
cal name, inasmuch as Osbeck's teacher, Linnaeus, strongly
objected to generic names ending with -oides.2 At any rate
the description is insufficient to identify the plant, of which
Osbeck did not see the flowers or fruits. So far, the Cantonese
name Sau-pann-gipp cannot be traced, but Loureiro gives for
his Limonia monophylla a similar Cantonese name, Sao peng lac,3
"lac" being perhaps the common Cantonese word lak, meaning
thorn.

In 1798 Poiret described in the Encyclopedie methodique of
Lamarck, as Citrus buxifolia, a plant which had been found in
China by Sonnerat. The latter had forwarded specimens of it
to Citizen Lamarck, in whose herbarium Poiret had examined
them.

Already in 1790 Loureiro in his Flora Cochinchinensis had
described this same plant, but had referred it erroneously to
Limonia monophylla L.

In 1825 David Don in his Flora of Nepaul described, as a
new species, Limonia retusa. Although the description is very
short and the writer has had no opportunity of examining Don's
specimens, it seems very probable that Don's diagnosis refers
to the plant in question.

Another obscure name, Limonia microphylla, published in 1828
by Voigt, would seem to belong here. Voigt's article is a descrip-
tion of the plants cultivated in the Jena Botanic Garden and the
descriptive phrase following the name reads merely " folia Buxi
apice emarginata, crenata." This phrase, however, seems to
warrant considering Voigt's plant identical with the one in ques-
tion.

1 Buxoides aculeata. Obs. kallas pa Chinesiska Sau-pann-gipp; och liknar
war Buxbom; men ar taggig. Fructificationen blef jag aldrig warse. — Osbeck,
Pehr. Dagbok ofwer en Ostindisk Resa, p. 242. Stockholm, 1757.

2 "Nomina generica in oides desinentia, e foro Botanico releganda sunt."
Linnaeus, C. Philosophia Botanica, §226. 1751.

3 Loureiro, J. Flora Cochinchinensis, 1: 271. 1790.

swingle: severinia buxifolia 653

Desfontaines, in the third edition (1829) of the catalogue of
plants of the Paris Botanic Garden, describes as a new species
Citrus emarginata, which is undoubtedly the same plant.

While Don seems to have been the first to record this species
from India, Wallich and Roxburgh again report it from that
country (1832), but under a different name. This time it fig-
ures as Limonia bilocularis Roxb. or Atalantia? bilocularis Wall.

In 1834 Wight and Arnott described this species as Sclero-
stylis atalantioides, referring to it as synonyms Atalantia? biloc-
ularis Wall, and Limonia bilocularis Roxb. These authors add
that no one except Dr. Berry, who had sent it to the Botanic
Garden in 1807, seemed to have found this plant in India.

The first botanist to recognize this plant as belonging to a
distinct genus was Tenore, who in 1840 published anew genus
Severinia, transferring to it Citrus buxifolia of the gardeners as
Severinia buxifolia. Tenore seems to have overlooked the fact
that Citrus buxifolia was no mere gardener's name, but had been
properly published by Poiret in 1798. In the following year
Tenore submitted this and two other of his new genera to the
Third Convention of the Italian Scientists held at Florence in
September, 1841, for their approval. The President of the Sec-
tion, Professor Moris, appointed three distinguished foreign bot-
anists— Robert Brown, Heinrich Link and Charles Morren —
present at the meetings, on a committee to report on the mat-
ter. Robert Brown, chairman, reported a few days later that
Severinia seemed to the committee to be a good new genus of
the orange family.4

However, George Bentham, in 1851, took exception to Ten-
ore's new genus, stating that specimens sent him by the latter
had enabled him to identify this as "a not uncommon Chinese
plant," and transferring Tenore's species to Sclerostylis as
Sclerostylis buxifolia Benth. Ten years later Bentham in-

4 "Che la Severinia, pianta della famiglia delle Auranziacee sembragli ancor
essa poter con buona ragione formare un genere nuovo. Per i suoi caratteri
somigliare essa la Bergera, ma da questa differirne per avere le foglie semplici,
mentre che quella le ha impari pennate. Esser poi ben distinta in grazia del
suo ovario biloculare dalla Limonie, le quali lo hanno uniloculare." Brown,
Robt., in Atti della terza rinuione degli scienzati ital., p. 533. 1841.

654 swingle: severinia buxifolia

eluded this plant in his Flora Hongkongensis under the name
Atalantia buxifolia Oliv. MS., and in the same year Oliver him-
self described it in his treatise on the Aurantiaceae. In his
paper he doubts the Indian station for this plant, saying [Introd.
p. 11]: " Atalantia buxifolia I believe to be an Eastern Asiatic
species only, and not a Coromandel plant, as stated in Rox-
burgh's 'Flora Indica,' " and [p. 26] "I consider this alleged In-
dian station to have originated in some garden mistake . . ."

Roemer,5 the indefatigable but uncritical compiler, described
the plant in 1846 under three different names: (1) Atalantia
Loureiriana, based on the Limonia monophylla of Loureiro, not
of Linnaeus; (2) Helie atalantioides, based on Sclerostylis ata-
lantioides W. & A., and having Limonia bilocularis Roxb. as a
synonym; and (3) Citrus buxifolia Poir. Under the latter name,
he remarks that this may be a variety of Citrus sinensis Risso.

The best and fullest account of the plant as yet published,
giving both the morphological and anatomical characters, is
that by Penzig.6 As it was the only species of Atalantia studied
by him, he did not have opportunity to note how widely it dif-
fers from the typical species, Atalantia monophylla (Roxb.) DC,
and its congeners.

As a matter of fact it is very unlike the true Atalantias, dif-
fering in having a berry-like fruit becoming very dark red or
nearly black, as it ripens, through the softening and darkening
of the ovarial walls. The pulp vesicles remain very rudimen-
tary, mere blunt papillae lining the ovary walls, quite unlike
the pulp vesicles of the true Atalantias. Two or three large oil
glands develop in the mesocarpic tissues of the young ovary.

The leaves are shiny above, very strongly veined below and
emarginate (see fig. 1). The flowers are smal and the stamens
are free, with rather broad filaments. The seeds are green,
large and subglobose, with thin teguments, and germinate from
buried cotyledons; the first post-cotyledonary leaves are cata-
phylls, as in Eremocitrus and Poncirus (see fig. 2).

5 Roemer, M. J. Fam. Nat. Reg. Veg. Syn. Monogr., Fasc. 1, p. 37, 42, 52.
1846.

B Penzig, Otto. Siudi hot. sugli agrumi, in Annal. di. Agric. 1S87, no. 116,
p. 149-163; Atlas, pi. 11, figs. 6-17, pi. 12, figs. 1-21. 1887.

swingle: severinia buxifolia 655

The fruit characters are so different that the plant cannot be
considered to be a congener of Atalantia and must be considered
to be a distinct genus, for which the oldest available name is
Severinia of Tenore. The oldest name for this plant becomes,
therefore, Severinia buxifolia, with the following synonyms:

Severinia buxifolia (Poir.) Tenore,. Ind. Sem. Hort. Bot. Neapol., 1840,
p. 3 (?) [not seen]; Atti della terza riunione degli scienzati ital.,
501-3. 1841.

(?) Buxoides aculeata Osb. Dagbok Ostindisk Resa, p. 242. 1757
[nom. subnud.].

Limonia monophylla Lour. FL Cochin. 1: 271. 1790. [err. det.]

Citrus buxifolia Poir. in Lam. Encycl. 4: 580. 1798. (?)

Limonia bilocularis R. Hort. Bengal. 32. 1814. [nom. nud.]

(?) Limonia retusa Don. Prod. Fl. Nepal. 224. 1825.

(?) Limonia microphylla Voigt, Syll. PL Ratisb. 53. 1828.

Citrus emarginata Desf. Cat. Hort. Paris, ed. 3, 235, 406. 1829.

Atalantia? bilocularis Wall. Cat. no. 6356. 1831. [nom. nud.]

Limonia bilocularis Roxb. Fl. Indica, 2:377. 1832.

Sclerostylis atalantioid.es Wight & Arn. Prodr. 1: 93. 1834.

Atalantia Loureiriana Roem. Syn. Hesperid. 37. 1846.

Helie atalantioides Roem. Syn. Hesperid. 42. 1846.

Sclerostylis buxifolia Benth. in Hook. Journ. Bot. 3: 326. 1851.

Atalantia buxifolia Oliv. Proc. Linn. Soc. 5, Suppl. 2:26. 1861 (ex
Benth. Fl. Hongkong. 51. 1861).

Illustrations: Seeman, Bot. Voy. Herald, pi. 81, 1852-7; Penzig,
O., Studi bot. sugli agrumi, Atlas, pi. 11, figs. 6-17, pi. 12, figs. 1-21,
1887.

Type Locality: "Cette plante est originaire de la chine, & y a ete
observe par Sonnerat" [in the vicinitv of Canton, China].

Distribution: Southern China (Hongkong, Kwangtung, Hainan),
Tonkin, Annam, Formosa.

The writer examined in 1911 the type specimen in Lamarck's her-
barium in the Museum d'histoire Naturelle at Paris. It consists of a
single leafy twig about 20 cm. long with three short branches. The
branch still bears a few flower buds. There can be no possible doubt
of its being the plant common in southern China. The original label
in Lamarck's handwriting reads: "Citrus — de la chine." A later label
in Poiret's handwriting reads: "Citrus buxifolia, Diet. No. — ."

In the Kew herbarium is a flowering branch of Severinia buxifolia
collected by Tenore in the botanic garden at Naples and probably a
merotype of the plant upon which the genus Severinia was based. This
specimen is undoubtedly congeneric and doubtless conspecific with the
type specimen of Citrus buxifolia Poir.

656

swingle: severinia buxifolia

In the Rijks Herbarium at Leyden there is an apparently authentic
specimen of Citrus emarginata Desf., possibly a merotype, which is
undoubtedly Severinia buxifolia.

RELATIONSHIPS

Severinia, in spite of its being referred to Atalantia by all
recent botanical writers, is not at all closely related to the typical
species of that genus. In its fruit characters it resembles Tri-

Fig. 1. Severinia buxifolia. Twig bearing flowers and fruits, and showing

emarginate leaves and sharp spines.

Scale §.

phasia, but it has very different flowers, leaves, and twigs. Pos-
sibly Severinia may prove to be related to the aberrant Ata-
lantias, A. disticha (Bl.) Merr., A. linearis (Bl.) Merr., A. mari-
tima Merr., etc. Its affinities are certainly with Triphasia and
other members of the tribe Citreae, rather than with Claucena
or Micromelum. It is, however, distinctly not one of the true
citrous fruits constituting the subtribe Citrinae, — Citrus, For-
tunella, Microcitrus, Eremocitrus, Poncirus, and Citropsis.

lamb: the moreh oak

657

USES OF SEVERINIA

The Severinia is a handsome shrub, readily propa-
gated from cuttings and suitable for hedges, if care
be taken to select for multiplication the very thorny
forms which are common in this
species. Some forms have sharp
spines two to three inches long.
Severinia has proved useful in Lou-
isiana for hedges.

Experiments have shown that Sev-
erinia can withstand unusually large
amounts of salt in the soil. It may
prove of interest as a stock for cit-
rous fruits in regions having alkali in
the soil or having salty irrigation water

Fig. 2. Severinia
buxifolia. Seed-
ling, showing the
cataphylls suc-
ceeded by foliage
leaves. The scar
of one of the coty-
ledons shows near
the base. Natural
size.

BOTANY. — Moreh oak, a new name for Quercus morehus
Kellogg.1 W. H. Lamb, Forest Service.

The name Moreh oak is proposed as a standard common name
for Quercus morehus Kellogg, a tree of the Sierra Nevada foot-
hills and the north coast ranges of California.

The tree is one which has presented many problems to the
botanist. It is most frequently regarded as a form of hybrid
origin, one parent being the California black oak (Quercus
calif ornica or Quercus kelloggii), the other the canyon live oak
(Quercus wislizenii) .2 The discoverer, Dr. Albert Kellogg, called
the tree Abram's oak, giving it at the same time the scientific
name of Quercus morehus. For many years, however, the
meaning and derivation of the scientific name and the signifi-
cance of the common name were matters of much futile specula-
tion among botanists, and although the species was described

1 Published with the permission of the Secretary of Agriculture.

2 Greene, E. L. Illustrations of West American oaks from drawings by the
late Albert Kellogg, M.D., pi. 2. 1889. Sargent, C. S. Manual of the trees of
North America, p. 255. 1905. Jepson, W. L., Silua of California. Memoirs of
the University of California, 2 : 46-^9. 1910.

658 KLEIN : CONSTITUTION OF PORCELAIN

in 18633 it was not until 18874 that the derivations of the names
were fully understood. It was the custom of Dr. Kellogg to ex-
press his veneration for Biblical characters and places by nam-
ing his botanical discoveries in their honor, just as other writers
have sought to commemorate the name of friends or localities
intimately associated with their experiences. In this instance
it was desired by the author to recall the dwelling place of
Abram, by honoring the newly discovered tree with its name.
Anticipating perhaps that Moreh might not be recognized as
the inspiration of his name, he called the tree "Abram's oak."
But notwithstanding his precaution, the name "morehus oak"
has appeared in forestry literature as the common name of this
interesting tree.5 This name has no meaning, is grammatically
incorrect, and only perpetuates the fact that Dr. Kellogg's name
has not been understood. The name "Abram's oak" is some-
times used;6 but on account of the fact that the erroneous name
"morehus oak" has been so widely circulated, it seems advis-
able to replace it with the correct English equivalent of the
scientific name. It is proposed, therefore, that Quercus morehus
Kellogg be uniformly designated as Moreh oak.

CERAMICS. — The constitution and microstructure of porcelain.1
A. A. Klein, Bureau of Standards. (Communicated by
S. W. Stratton.)

A petrographic microscopical study of porcelains prepared in
the laboratory of the Bureau of Standards, of commercial por-
celain, as well as of various combinations of the raw materials
which enter into porcelain, has led to results which are interest-
ing and important both scientifically and technically.

Bodies and mixtures of the following types were examined:
kaolin, feldspar-kaolin, feldspar-quartz, and feldspar-clay-quartz.

3 Proceedings of the California Academy of Science, 2: 36. 1863.

4 Greene, E. L. Biographical notice of Dr. Albert Kellogg. Pittonia, 1:
145. 1887.

6 Sudworth, G. B. Nomenclature of the arborescent flora of the United Stales.
Bull. 14, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Forestry. 1897.
6 Britton, N. L. North American Trees, p. 308. 1908.
1 To appear in detail as Bureau of Standards Technologic Paper No. 80.

KLEIN: CONSTITUTION OF PORCELAIN 659

These were burned at various known temperatures. The com-
mercial bodies investigated represented the practices of the fol-
lowing countries: United States, England, Germany, France,
Austria, Denmark, and Japan. The end in view was to obtain
data concerning the changes involved by burning porcelain at
various temperatures; for bodies whose composition lay within
the limits of whiteware and hard fired porcelains it was found
possible to correlate to a certain degree the constitution and
microstructure with the burning temperature.

The result of this investigation leads to the following conclu-
sions : Kaolin appears homogeneous microscopically when heated
up to 1200°. At about this temperature a trace of dissociation
occurs. As the temperature is raised above 1200° the dissocia-
tion increases very slowly at first, then at an increasing rate until
at 1400° it seems to be complete. The products of dissociation
are silica and aluminium silicate. The latter compound has
been identified as an amorphous phase of sillimanite from the
following facts: it shows no crystalline form, has an index of re-
fraction above 1.60, and by heating at a higher temperature
(about 1450°) it inverts to minute needle crystallites corre-
sponding to sillimanite in all determinable optical properties.

Up to 1340°, in mixtures of quartz and feldspar, the quartz
dissolves to only a small extent in the feldspar glass. At 1460°
the quartz is practically completely dissolved in specimens
having as high a quartz content as 50 per cent quartz to 50 per
cent feldspar.

In specimens containing kaolin and feldspar the kaolin dis-
sociates entirely at 1340°. The amount of crystallized and
amorphous sillimanite increases with an increased content of
kaolin, at least to a concentration of 50 per cent kaolin to 50
per cent feldspar.

At 1460°, apparently 10 per cent kaolin is entirely soluble in
the feldspar glass. With higher concentrations of kaolin the
amount of crystallized sillimanite increases. The needle crys-
tals are well developed and comparatively large.

At 1310°, in quartz-clay-feldspar bodies, the feldspar is present
as a glass; the clay shows almost complete dissociation with the

660 KLEIN: CONSTITUTION OF PORCELAIN

formation of amorphous sillimanite mainly and but little crys-
tallized sillimanite, while the quartz is undissolved and the
grains may still be of considerable size, up to 0.2 mm. or more,
depending upon the fineness of grinding.

By burning these bodies at 1380° to 1400° the feldspar glass
dissolves considerable quartz, there being only a comparatively
small amount of residual quartz remaining. The quartz grains
are much rounded and etched and they seldom show a length
over 0.06 mm. The clay is dissociated with the formation of
crystallized sillimanite, although an extremely small amount of
amorphous sillimanite may be present.

The changes involved by burning commercial bodies are
identical with those of laboratory prepared bodies. The quartz
grains observed in whiteware and in low-fired vitreous ware
are large and angular, showing a size of 0.2 mm., or more,
whereas in the hard porcelains, due to solution, the quartz
grains are rounded and etched, and seldom exceed 0.05 mm.
in length.

The constitution and the microstructure of porcelain depend
upon the temperature of burning, and change as this temperature
changes. This has served as a basis for the estimation of the
probable burning temperatures of the commercial bodies, a
fact which was accomplished with success, the error involved
being within 25°. It appears that the time-of-burning factor is
by no means as important as that of the burning temperature
in determining the constitution and microstructure of the ware.

No cristobalite or tridymite has been definitely observed in
any of the laboratory or commercial bodies examined. It ap-
pears that the quartz dissolves in the feldspar glass more readily
than it inverts to the oMier modifications of silica.

In conclusion, it may be stated that the petrographic micro-
scopic study of porcelain has led to interesting and, it is to be
hoped, important technical results. It has placed the chemical
and physical processes involved in the formation of porcelain
on a more quantitative thermal basis. Furthermore it has
offered a means of estimating the burning temperature of a ware
by an examination of a fragment much too small in size to be
satisfactory for even a chemical analysis.

ABSTRACTS

TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM— On the results of some magnetic
observations during the solar eclipse of August 21, 1914- L. A.
Bauer and H. W. Fisk. Journ. Terr. Mag., 21 : 57-86. 1916.

In response to a circular letter issued by the Director of the Depart-
ment of Terrestrial Magnetism, several observatories made observa-
tions during the eclipse of August 21, 1914, and forwarded their data
to Washington. The present paper comprises a compilation of ab-
stracts of the reports of the various institutions which supplied data,
and a discussion of the results.

At the four stations, Eskdalemuir, Stonyhurst, Kew, and Rude
Skov, the maximum phase of the eclipse occurred at about the time
when the declination needle was approaching its maximum westerly
position for the day, and on examining the curves for these stations
it appeared that at each one of them a bay occurred a few minutes
before the time of maximum obscuration. As the result of this bay
the customary progression towards a westerly extreme was inter-
rupted, and a retrograde movement occurred, which continued for
some time. Of the above stations, the bay was most developed at
Rude Skov, the nearest one of the four to the belt of totality.

On plotting a vector diagram for Rude Skov, with the north and
west components of the field as derived from the observed declinations
and horizontal intensities, it was found that during the eclipse the
regular course of the curve was interrupted and a loop was described.
The occurrence of this loop, which appeared also in the vector dia-
grams for Eskdalemuir and Kew, is in harmony with the similar effect
found at Rocky Mount, North Carolina, during the total eclipse of
May 28, 1900.

Atmospheric-electric observations were furnished by Kew, Eskdale-
muir, and the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism. The conduc-

661

662 abstracts: geology

tivity gave no reliable evidence of any effect attributable to the eclipse,
and, while the diurnal variation curves for the potential-gradient
showed depressions at the time of maximum obscuration, this effect
was not sufficiently pronounced, in relation to other variations, to
render its connection with the eclipse a certainty. W. F. G. S.

GEOLOGY. — Notes on some mining districts in eastern Nevada. James
M. Hill. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 648. Pp. 207, with
6 plates and 18 figures. 1916.
This reconnaissance report describes 29 mining districts in eastern
Nevada, extending from the line of the Southern Pacific Railroad to
the Colorado River and comprising parts of Elko, White Pine, Lincoln,
Nye, Clark, and Lander counties. Details of the mining development
in the various camps are given, as well as information concerning the
production of those districts for which figures are available. The re-
port discusses briefly the grouping of the copper, lead, gold, and silver
deposits about or near masses of granitic rocks which are intrusive
into Paleozoic sediments ranging in age from Cambrian to Permian,
and of gold veins in the probably pre-Cambrian schists near the Colo-
rado River. It includes notes on the tungsten deposits in the Kern
Mountains of northeastern White Pine County, and on gold deposits
associated with Tertiary volcanic rocks at Atlanta, Lincoln County,
in which carnotite is found. Most of the deposits discussed are either
replacements or veins. Contact metamorphic deposits, though of some
importance, are not as common in this region as would be expected
from the wide distribution of intrusive rocks. J. M. H.

GEOLOGY. — Geology and ground waters of northeastern Arkansas, with
a discussion of the chemical character of the waters. L. W.
Stephenson, A. F. Cruder, and R. B. Dole. U. S. Geological
Survey Water-Supply Paper 399. Pp. 315, with 11 plates and 4
figures. 1916.
The report describes the physiography, geology, and ground water
resources of that part of Arkansas lying northeast of Arkansas River
and east of the Ozark hills. Much information compiled from scattered
previously published sources is incorporated, together with a large
amount of new data gathered by the authors in the field and by corre-
spondence. Emphasis is laid on the availability of the vast quantities
of water contained in the Pleistocene alluvial deposits for the irriga-
tion of the extensive tracts of land that are suitable for rice culture.

abstracts: geology 663

The section on geologic history describes the interesting succession of
events that resulted in the formation of the alluvial lowlands compos-
ing the greater part of the area treated. The chapter of the chemistry
of the waters contains in addition to the discussion of the character
of the Arkansas ground waters, much general information on the min-
eral constituents of water, the character of water suitable for boiler
use, irrigation, and domestic use, and methods of purifying water.

L. W. S.

GEOLOGY. — The Pliocene Citronelle formation of the Gulf coastal plain
and its flora. George Charlton Matson and Edward Wilber
Berry. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 98-L. Pp.
167-208, with 16 plates and 3 figures. 1916.
This report describes the character and areal distribution of the
Pliocene deposits, chiefly non-marine, occurring near the seaward mar-
gin of the Gulf coastal plain from Florida to eastern Texas. These
are called the Citronelle formation, which is made to include portions
of the deposits formerly classified as "drift," "Orange sand," "Lafay-
ette," and "Grand Gulf." The fossil plants, by means of which the
age determinations are made, are represented by 18 species. Three of
these are Pleistocene and Recent forms and 15 are extinct, the latter
embracing 2 West Indian and one non- American type. The plants
are, without exception, coastal forms and they indicate climatic condi-
tions very similar to those prevailing at the present time along the Gulf
coast, and a physiography of barrier beaches and coastal lagoons, with
gum swamps and cypress ponds near the coast. It is concluded that
this flora flourished in the latter half of the Pliocene. E. W. B.

GEOLOGY. — The Lower Eocene floras of southeastern North America.
Edward Wilber Berry. U. S. Geological Survey Professional
Paper 91. Pp. 481, with 117 plates and 16 figures. 1916.

This report describes a small flora of early Eocene age from Texas,
tentatively referred to the Midway formation, and gives an exhaustive
discussion of the large flora of the Wilcox Group. The character,
succession, areal distribution, and stratigraphic relations of the Wilcox
deposits are described, and it is shown that the Wilcox is separated by
a hitherto unrecognized time interval from the underlying basal
Eocene, or Midway, and from the overlying middle Eocene, or Clai-
borne.

The Wilcox flora, which comprises over 300 species, is fully described
and figured, and its composition, distribution, relations, and environ-

* * •

t»

664 abstracts: technology

ment are discussed in great detail. The Wilcox flora is one of the most
extensive American fossil floras known from a single horizon in a single
area, and it includes a large number of types hitherto unknown from
North America and more than 200 species new to science. It contains
]arge numbers of figs, lauraceae, and leguminosae and is prevailingly a
strand flora, subtropical in character, which invaded southeastern
North America from the equatorial region at a time when the Missis-
sippi Gulf reached northward to southern Illinois and covered nearly
all of the states of Mississippi and Louisiana as well as a large area in
Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Texas. The Wilcox deposits are
definitely correlated with the Sparnacian and Ypresian stages of the
European lower Eocene section. E. W. B.

GEOLOGY. — The Catahoula sandstone and its flora. George Charl-
ton Matson and Edward Wilber Berry. U. S. Geological
Survey Professional Paper 98-M. Pp. 209-259, with 13 plates
and 7 figures. 1916.
The Catahoula sandstone is redefined and its lithology, topography,
structure, thickness, origin, and stratigraphy are discussed. It is
shown that in central Louisiana this formation is interbedded with
lower Oligocene limestones and marls of the Vicksburg formation,
while near the Texas line it replaces all of the marine lower Oligocene.
Across Mississippi the Catahoula lies above the Vicksburg, and east-
ward in Alabama and western Florida it merges into the marine beds
of the Chattahoochee formation.

TECHNOLOGY. — The density and thermal expansion of American
petroleum oils. H. W. Bearce and E. L. Peffer. Bureau of
Standards Technologic Paper No. 77. Pp. 26. 1916.
This paper gives an account of the experimental work on which are
based the expansion tables of Bureau of Standards Circular No. 57,
United States standard tables for petroleum oils. It gives a detailed
description of the methods and apparatus employed in the determina-
tion of the density and thermal expansion of petroleum oils from the
various oil fields of the United States. H. W. B.

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VI DECEMBER 4, 1916 No. 20

MATHEMATICS. — Note on relativity: The geometric potential.
Edwin Bidwell Wilson, Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
nology. (Communicated by Arthur L. Day.)
1. In our treatment1 of the principle of relativity Lewis and I
introduced as fundamental the extended (i.e., four-dimensional)
vector m of which the space and time components, when once a
time-axis has been arbitrarily selected, are the ordinary re-
tarded vector potential a and the retarded scalar potential <p.
We called the vector m the extended vector potential, and by
its differentiation we obtained the electromagnetic field equa-
tions. This is the converse of the usual procedure, which is to
regard the field equations as fundamental and to introduce the
retarded potentials as "certain auxiliary functions on which the
electric and magnetic forces may be made to depend."2

We built up the potential for a distributed charge from that
for a point charge and reduced the potential of a point charge
to the product of the charge and a vector p, which may be called
a geometric potential because of its definition solely by geo-
metric means. To find the potential p at a point Q (of the
four-dimensional manifold) and due to a curve 8 which is the
space-time locus of a moving charge, the first step is to draw
the backward singular cone with vertex Q and determine its
intersection 0 with the curve 5; then draw at 0 the forward
unit tangent w to the curve, and let the perpendicular from Q

1 Wilson, Edwin B., and Lewis, Gilbert N., The space-time manifold of
relativity; the non-euclidean geometry of mechanics and electromagnetics, Proc.
Amer. Acad. Arts ScL, 48: 389-507. 1912.

2 See, for example, Lorentz, The Theory of Electrons, p. 19. What Lorentz
here calls electric and magnetic forces are what we call field intensities.

665

666 wilson: geometric potential

to this tangent be R. If then 1 denotes the vector OQ, the
singular vector from the acting point to the point at which the
potential is desired, the potential3 p is

1 1

p = p = ~ i~" (1)

R 1-w

The vector p satisfies the two fundamental conditions

0 • 0 p = o, 0 • p = o, (2)

of which the first is the wave equation needed to represent the
fact of the propagation of an electromagnetic disturbance, and the
second is the condition usually imposed upon the auxiliary func-
tions a and <p to make their determination complete.4

To validate the selection of (1) as definition of the potential,
a definition which thus far apparently has nothing but simplicity
in its favor, we may cite our proof that (1) is, apart from a
numerical multiplier, the only possible form for the potential p
which satisfies (2) and depends only on 1 and w, that is, on the
retarded position and velocity but not on the acceleration.

2. I wish now to remove from the hypotheses the condition
0 • p = 0 and to state the theorem :

The only possible choice for the geometrical potential p, de-
pendent only on 1 and w but not on the derivatives of w, and
subject to satisfying the wave equation 0- Op = 0,is p = Al/R,
where A is a constant.5

When we have proved this theorem we have, from the point
of view of relativity, a completely rational basis for the theory
of the potential and field of the point charge,6 and through it,

3 This is the definition given by Minkowski in his Raum und Zeit, Gesam-
inelte Werke, vol. 2, p. 442.

4 See, for example, Lorentz, los. cit., p. 239.

5 Page, L., in Relativity and ether, Amer. J. Sci., 37: 169-187, 1914, apparently
reaches a similar conclusion in a totally different way; but it is difficult to com-
pare the arguments.

r Even if we believe that electricity always occurs in continuous distribu-
tions, that is, that electrons are continuous surface or volume spreads of elec-
tricity with appropriate densities, it is convenient to have a rational theory of
the point charge for those investigations in which the size of the electron is
negligible, and particularly as the density within or upon the electron is un-
known.

WILSON: GEOMETRIC POTENTIAL 667

by integration, for the theory of continuous distributions of
electricity.

Before we can give the proof, we must make precise the mean-
ing of the statement that p is dependent only on 1 and w. Geo-
metrically7 speaking, 1 and w determine a plane, and thus also a
second plane completely perpendicular to their plane, but they
determine no particular vector in this second plane or in their
own plane.8 Hence, if a vector p is to depend on 1 and w alone,
it must lie in their plane. The scalar products of 1 and w by
themselves are

M = 0, 1-w = — R, w-w = — 1.

Hence the function p must take the form

p = v(R) w+/(/2)l. (3)

To show that p reduces to the form A l/R, we have merely to
substitute the general form (3) in the equation 0-0 p =0 and
see that the only possibilities are <p (R) =A/R, f (R) = 0. Now
if/ is a scalar and u, v are two vectors,

0-0(/v) = (0-0/)v + 2 0/.0v+/0-0v

0-0 (u.v) =v.(0-0u) + 2 0u:0v + u.(0-0v)
0-0f(R)=f"(R)0R-0R+f'(R)0-0R

With the formulas that we have established (§44, loc. cit.),
namely

A 1, /v 1 dc
0 w = — lc 0 c =

R Rds

0l = /+Iiw 0fl=-w+1 +1'cl

R R

where c is the retarded curvature d\v/ds of the space-time locus

7 We might discuss this question more in detail as H. Burkhardt does the cor-
responding general problem for three dimensional vector analysis in Ueber Func-
tionen von Vectorgrossen, welche selbst wieder Vectorgrossen sind. Eine Anwen-
dung invariantentheoretischer Methoden auf eine Frage der mathematischen Physik.
Math. Ann., 43: 197-215. 1893. For our present purposes this seems hardly-
necessary.

8 The plane of 1 and w and the plane completely perpendicular to it cut the
singular cone in pairs of lines which are respectively real and imaginary, but
no vectors along these directions are determined.

**;

668

wilson: geometric potential

of the charge, and I is the idemfactor, it is easy to show that

0-0p= -2cU»/ + £ +w

+ 1

J" +

R,
R

2/+ U+-

IR V R

V + 21-c)

]

(l+21.c)+2/,(l+l.c)

If this is to vanish, / + <p/R = 0, that is

<p =

/ = 0

3. As the potential has turned out homogeneous of degree
zero in w, we may write

w u

P = ~ ;— = - .—
l'W 1-u

where u is any tangent to the curve 5. If we define dq by the
relation dr = u dq, where dr is the increment along the curve,
we have determined a parametric representation of the curve
so that u = dr/dq, which is analogous to w = dr/ds, but more
general in that it would be applicable to curves of zero length.
The equations for the derivatives would now become

0u =

1-u

01 = /-

hL
1-u

0(l.u) = (01).u+(0u).l = u-~l+-l

l,u

1.11

where
Then

and

c1 = du/dq

0v =

0xp =
P= 0xp =

(1-u)- (1-u)3

u-u , . 1-c1 . lc1

lu + — — — lu -

a-w)1

d-uy

U-U , , 1-C1 . IXC1

lxu + - - Ixu -

(l;u);
u -u

lxu +

a-u)« (huy

lxfl^uxc1)]

(1-u)3 " (1-u)3

The vector P, of the second sort, is the (geometric) field9 set

9 Wilson and Lewis, loc. cit., p. 460.

WELLS AND LARSEN I LORETTOITE 669

up by the potential; the first term varies inversely as the square
of the interval of 1, and the second term inversely as the interval
itself. When u = w the result reduces to that previously
found.10 The interest attaching to the present form is that it
is applicable to the case in which the curve is a singular curve,
that is, to the path of a particle of light, whereas the previous
form was applicable only to curves that could be described by
electrons or material particles.

If we consider the vector u as a singular vector, the first term
in P drops out by virtue of u.u = 0. We have therefore the
following result:

In the (geometric) field of a particle of light that portion which
corresponds to Coulomb's law for the field of an ordinary par-
ticle vanishes identically.

The field P vanishes entirely unless the particle of light (as-
sumed to be moving with the normal velocity of light in free
space) travels in a curved path so that c1 is not parallel to u.

MINERALOGY. — Lorettoite, a new mineral: Roger C. Wells
and Esper S. Larsen, Geological Survey.

A specimen, furnished by Mr. Frank L. Hess of the United
States Geological Survey and received by him from Mr. I. N.
Wilconson of Loretto, Tennessee, proved on analysis to differ
chemically from any known mineral. A specimen labeled
"massicot," without a location, in the collections of the Univer-
sity of California, differs in its optical properties from any
known mineral, and a later optical examination of the Loretto
mineral showed the essential identity of the two. The name
lorettoite is proposed for the mineral, from its occurrence near
Loretto, Tennessee.

Physical properties. The mineral is in flat, compact pieces,
up to an inch thick, and apparently occurs in thin seams. It
has a bladed structure and a very perfect cleavage along these
blades. The blades commonly extend across the specimen and

10 Wilson and Lewis, loc. cit., p. 464.
1 Published with the permission of the Director of the U. S. Geological Survey.

670 WELLS AND LARSENI LORETTOITE

are about half a millimeter in width. The specific gravity of
the Loretto specimen, as determined by the picnometer method,
is 7.39; that of the University of California specimen, as deter-
mined with a Joly balance, is 7.65. The cloudiness of the Loretto
specimen is due to minute gas cavities which may account for the
apparently low specific gravity. The Loretto specimen fuses
readily in the flame of a candle (F = 1) to a mass which on cool-
ing is a yellow, crystalline bead. It has a hardness of about 3.
Its luster is adamantine, its color honey-yellow, and its streak
pure yellow.2 It is optically negative, sensibly uniaxial, and the
optic axis is normal to the cleavage. The indices of refraction
as measured in sulphur-selenium melts are, for the Loretto
specimen :

Wu = 2.40 ± 0 . 02
eLi = 2.37 ±0.02

and for the specimen at the University of California :

WLi = 2.35 =•= 0.02
€Li = 2.33 ± 0.02

The specimen from the University of California is less clouded
than that from Loretto, and basal sections show a delicate cross-
grating at 90° due to the minute gas inclusions collected along
certain planes. The mineral is therefore probably tetragonal
with very perfect basal cleavage.

Chemical properties. Lorettoite dissolves easily in hot dilute
nitric acid, leaving only a very slight residue. It dissolves
slowly in hot dilute hydrochloric acid, and lead chloride sepa-
rates from the solution on cooling. Sulfuric acid decomposes it
very slowly. It is not appreciably soluble in hot water. The
slight effervescence of the Loretto specimen with acids is due
to a small amount of carbonate.

A microscopic examination of the powder analyzed showed a
little impurity, estimated at 2 per cent, consisting chiefly of
carbonate and a little of an opaque mineral, lead gray in reflected

2 Following Ridgway's Color Standards and Nomenclature, 1912, the color is
honey-yellow (19" — ), and the streak strontium-yellow (23' — ).

WELLS AND LARSEN : LORETTOITE

671

light, probably galena or metallic lead. The results of a chemi-
cal analysis of lorettoite are given in Table 1. The material on
which the second chlorine determination was made contained
very little impurity.

TABLE 1

Composition of Lorettoite from Loretto, Tennessee
(R. C. Wells, analyst)

Insoluble

0.58
93.98
3.98
0.11
0 48
0.56
0.08
0.31
0.20
None
0.03

PbO..

4.09

P205. .

CaO

MgO

A1203

ZnO

C02 .

Br, I, F

HoO

Less 0 eq. of CI

100.31
0.90

99.41

Chlorine was determined by gently fusing the mineral with
sodium carbonate and, after carefully neutralizing the cold
aqueous extract of the melt writh nitric acid, precipitating and
weighing the chlorine as silver chloride. A determination of
chlorine in selected material, almost entirely homogeneous, from
the California specimen gave 4.94 per cent.

If all the constituents except chlorine, lead, and oxygen in
the complete analysis are regarded as extraneous, the composi-

TABLE 2

(0)

(6)

(c)

PbO

PbCL_

83.72
16.28

80.62
19.38

82.80
17.20

100.00

672 wherry: the habitat of the walking fern

tion reduces to (a), Table 2. If the California specimen is as-
sumed to contain only lead, oxygen, and chlorine, the composi-
tion would be as shown under (&). Under (c) is given the
theoretical percentage for the formula 6PbO.PbCl2.

It would, perhaps, be rash to claim that the evidence at hand
establishes the existence of a definite chemical compound with
the formula 6PbO.PbCl2, but the composition of the lorettoite
approaches more nearly to the requirements of this than of any
other simple formula.

Summary. Lorettoite occurs in honey-yellow masses made
up of rather coarse fibers or blades. It is probably tetragonal
in crystallization and has a very perfect basal cleavage. Its
specific gravity is about 7.6, its hardness about 3, and its fusi-
bility about 1. Its luster is adamantine and its streak is pure
yellow. It is sensibly uniaxial, optically negative, and its indices
of refraction are: wLi = 2.40, eLi = 2.37. It dissolves readily in
acid and has the approximate composition 6PbO.PbCl2.

SOIL CHEMISTPtY — A chemical study of the habitat of the
walking fern, Camptosorus rhizophyllus (L.) Link.1 Edgar
T. Wherry, National Museum.

A problem that often confronts the field geologist is the
determination of the calcareous or non-calcareous nature of a
given ledge of rock, and while a bottle of acid can be carried
along and actual tests of the rock for carbonates performed, the
existence of an easily recognizable index-plant, which might be
found growing only on calcareous rocks, would be a great ad-
vantage. In order to ascertain the possible value in this con-
nection of the plants classed by botanists as calciphilous, the
writer decided to make a chemical study of the rocks associated
with such a plant. For this purpose the walking fern, Campto-
sorus rhizophyllus, was selected, as it is a fairly common and read-
ily recognized plant and is stated in all of the well known botani-
cal treatises to prefer a calcareous habitat.

Samples of the rocks and soils on which colonies of the plant

1 Published by permission of the .Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

wherry: the habitat of the walking fern 673

were growing were collected at some twenty places in Pennsyl-
vania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. It is a pleasure
to acknowledge the assistance in locating these stations received
from Mr. Harold W. Pretz, of Allentown, Pa., Prof. Glenn V.
Brown and Prof. N. F. Davis of Bucknell University, Lewisburg,
Pa., and Dr. T. C. Stotler and Prof. H. T. McDonald, of Harpers
Ferry, W. Va.

The walking fern was found not only on limestone, but also
on various rocks not ordinarily classed as calcareous, comprising
granite, schist, shale, sandstone, and quartzite, as well as on
tree trunks, both living and dead. To make certain that these
rocks were actually low in lime, analyses were made on samples
collected as near as possible to the roots of the fern plants.
Standard methods of analysis were employed, involving de-
composition of the rock by evaporation with hydrofluoric acid
or by fusion with sodium carbonate, removal of the iron and
aluminium by ammonium hydroxide, and precipitation of the
calcium as oxalate, followed by ignition and weighing as lime.
For completeness, several undoubtedly calcareous rocks were
also analyzed, being first dissolved in hydrochloric acid and the
lime separated as above outlined. The several rocks were found
to vary in lime content from 53.8 per cent down to less than
0.1 per cent; details are given in Table 1, below.

At the outset, then, it was apparent that the walking fern
could not be depended on as an index of calcareous rocks. From
a theoretical viewpoint, however, plants would be expected to
respond not so much to the rock upon which they grow as to
the soil which clothes that rock, since it is from the soil that
their mineral nutriment is directly obtained. Analysis showing
from 30 to 40 per cent of lime in the ash of the plant, it was
decided to extend the investigation so as to determine whether
the walking fern might perhaps be limited to highly calcareous
soils.

That the soil supporting plant growth is not necessarily
closely related in composition to the underlying rock has been
repeatedly pointed out,2 yet is not always recognized in studies

2 Compare, Coville, Frederick V. The formation of leafmold. Journ.
Wash. Acad. Sci., 3: 77. 1913; Ann. Rept. Smithsonian Inst., 1913, 333. 1914.

674 wherry: the habitat of the walking fern

of plant habitats; attention is therefore again called to it here.
The soil may contain: (1) less lime than the underlying rock if
(a) it originated on a non-calcareous rock, but has been trans-
ported to a more calcareous one, or (b) lime has been leached
from it by the rain; (2) more lime than the underlying rock if
(a) it originated on a calcareous rock, but has been transported
to a less calcareous one, or (b) lime has become concentrated
in it by long continued decay of vegetable matter.

To determine which of the above relations holds in the case
of the walking fern, samples of the several soils were dried at
105°C, so that they could be more easily handled, and shaken
from the network of roots. The soils in almost every case were
found to be filled with rock fragments of all sizes, so that some
arbitrary classification, on the basis of size, into " rock " and " soil"
particles was unavoidable. A sieve with 40 meshes to the centi-
meter was adopted for this purpose, and the various soils were
gently sifted through it, the chips of rock and coarse vegetable
matter being thereby removed. The particles passing through
this sieve were finely powdered in an agate mortar and used
for the analytical work. Two-tenth gram samples of the soils
were weighed out into platinum crucibles, and ignited over
complete-combustion burners to drive off volatile matter; this
varied between 20 and SO per cent in the several soils studied.
The residues were then fused with sodium carbonate, and analyzed
for total lime in the usual way; the results are given in Table 1.

The total lime is, however, probably not so important in this
connection as the soluble lime, for it is conceivable that even in
soils high in total lime only a very minute amount may be
present in such a form as to be available to the plants. It was,
therefore, decided to test the soils for soluble lime.

It is, of course, impracticable to determine the amount of
lime in the natural soil liquid when dealing with such small
quantities of material as are available in this case. An excess
of water must be added, so that a volume of liquid sufficient
for analysis can be obtained. The complexity of soils is so
great, and the factors involved so numerous, that it can not be
assumed that the composition of a solution obtained by adding

wherry: the habitat of the walking fern 675

an excess of water to a soil will bear any simple relation to that
of the original soil liquid, nor that it will contain any definite
fraction of the total soluble lime. Although the analytical
results will, therefore, have no absolute numerical significance,
their general order of magnitude should show in a rough way the
extent to which lime is available to the plant. In order that the
results should represent as nearly as possible the natural con-
dition of the soil, the samples to be used for determination of
soluble lime were not dried, finely sifted, or pulverized. For
the same reason water saturated with carbon dioxide was used
for extracting, and the amount of this water was reduced to the
smallest possible quantity consistent with convenient analytical
operation.

One-gram samples of soil were carefully separated from the
roots and placed in centrifuge tubes, 3 cc. of distilled water
saturated with carbon dioxide being added; the tubes were
shaken gently to insure uniform moistening, stoppered, allowed
to stand one hour, and centrifuged for a few minutes, and the
lime in the liquid was determined in the usual way. The results
obtained are given, along with the others, in Table 1.

Still another feature of the soils, their acidity or alkalinity,
seemed worth determining, since there is evidence that some
plants are sensitive to relatively slight changes in these factors.
The acidity or alkalinity of soils is often expressed in terms of
"normality," the equivalent weight of soil being taken as 1000
and water extracts being titrated with standard alkali or acid,
using phenolphthalein as indicator; and such normality determi-
nations were made as described below. In addition, to determine
the true acidity (or alkalinity), the soils were examined by
the colorimetric method developed by Dr. L. J. Gillespie of
the Bureau of Soils, U. S. Department of Agriculture.3 The
results obtained by this method are presented in two forms, in
the last three columns of the table. First the PH value is given,
this being the negative exponent of 10 corresponding to the
concentration of hydrogen ions present in the solution. Then,
as the PH figures do not express clearly the relative strengths

3 Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci., 8: 7. 1916.

676 wherry: the habitat of the walking fern

of the acids (or alkalies) to persons not accustomed to thinking
in such terms, actual numerical intensities of acid and alkali
are also given. These have been obtained by subtracting 7,
the PH value of a neutral solution, from each PH value in turn,
making the sign + , and raising 10 to the power indicated; the
figures derived from PH values less than 7 going hi the acid,
and from PH values greater than 7 in the alkaline column.

For the two preceding determinations, 2-gram samples of the
soils, in their natural condition, were treated in 50 cc. centrifuge
tubes with 10 cc. of distilled water which had been boiling for
some time in a resistance-glass flask to remove carbon dioxide.
The tubes were stoppered, allowed to stand for several hours,
and then centrifuged. Five cc. of the liquid, which represents
the soluble matter in 1 gram of soil, was titrated in a resistance-
glass vessel, using phenolphthalein as an indicator, carbon
dioxide being continually boiled out. The remainder of the
liquid was used for the color comparison, phenolsulfonephthalein
and rosolic acid being found to be the most convenient indicators.
The solutions of standard concentration required were tested
electrometrically by Dr. Gillespie, to whom the writer's hearty
thanks are herewith extended for this courtesy, as well as for
much valuable advice in connection with the methods of pro-
cedure.

Because of the fact that phenolphthalein changes color only
in a somewhat alkaline solution, the true alkalinity is always
greater than the alkalinity inferred from the normality values;
indeed, when the solution is only weakly alkaline, as in soils
Xos. 3, 7, 13, 14, and 19, the two methods give apparently con-
flicting results, in that the reaction is acid toward phenolphthalein
yet alkaline when compared to a truly neutral solution. It
seems probable that the true alkalinity (or acidity) is of more
significance than the normality, with reference to the growth of
plants, and the normality determinations are given merely to
permit comparison of the results with those which have been
obtained in other similar investigations.

The rocks on which the walking fern was observed to grow
are listed in Table 1 in order of decreasing lime content. Only

wherry: the habitat of the walking ferx

677

the first 5 are of types to which the term calcareous is generally
applied, lime being present as carbonate, so that the rocks effer-
vesce when acid is applied. The remainder comprise igneous,

TABLE 1
Results of Analyses

LOCALITY °

ROCK

son.

Xame

-.=

£ _:

- :

XormaJity

Intensities

NO.

—

a £
- -
-
-

c ~

- B
a

—

Alk.

Acid

Alk.

Acid

3.5 mi. n. w. of L..

Limestone

53.8

5.4

0.21

0.006

3.0 mi. s. w. of A. .

Dolomite-lime-
stone

29.0

10.5

0.05

0.011

9.0

100

12 2 mi. s. w. of A. .

Limestone-con-
glomerate

8.5

3.6

0.08

0.004

: 5

12.3 mi. s. w. of A..

Limestone-eon-
glomerate

8.3

2.3

0.06

neut

rai

8.0

2.0 mi. s. of L

Argillaceous
limestone

7.5

2.5

0.08

0.009

6.5

6.0 mi. s. w. of H..

Mica schist

7.5

6.3

0.04

0.006

7.0

neu

tral

10.7 mi. s. of A. .

Gneissoid
granite

7.5

5.1

0.14

0.003

7.5

3.0 mi. s. e. of A.. .

Gneissoid

7.2

4. 30.03

0.007

7.0

neu

tral

granite

1.3 mi. s. e. of H...

Mica schist

5.9 2.50.04

0.01S

5 . 5 30

10.0 mi. n. w. of W.

Granitic gneiss

5.0 4 SO. 09

0.010

6.5 3

6.1 mi. s. w. of H..

Mica schist

4.1 2.00.07

0.017

5.5

11.0 mi. n. w. of A.

Shale

2.9 1.5 0.04

0.013

6.0

1 . 1 mi. s. e. of H. .

Granite

2.0 4.30.04

0.004

7.5

1.8 mi. n. of H

Mica schist

1 4 1.20.02

0.002

7.5

12.5 mi. n. w. of A.

Sandstone

0.S 3.70.07

0.011

6.5

2.5 mi. s. of L

Shale

0.4 4 00.11

0.009

6.5

3.0 mi. s. of A...

Jasperoid

quartzite

0.1

5.1

0.10

0.01S

5.5

0.2 mi. s. e. of H..

Quartzite

tr.

3.2

0.06

0.010

6.5

Same as 6

Hemlock trunk
Hemlock stump

5.1
10.0

0.04
0.30

0.004

0.002

7.5

- •

9X)

Same as 1.

Average for walking fer
Averncrp for severnl fielr

a soils

4.4
O.S

o.os

0.01

0.008
0.015

7.0 neu tral

1 soils..

6 0

" In this column the capital letters stand for the following localities:
A. = Allentown, Pa., H. = Harpers Ferry. \Y. Va.. L. = Lewisburg. Pa., and
W. = Washington. D. C.

678 wherry: the habitat of the walking fern

metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. Even though in some
cases fairly high in lime, these are not ordinarily classed as cal-
careous, their lime being united with silica and other constituents
in relatively insoluble form; several, indeed, contain only ex-
tremely small amounts of lime. When the total lime contents of
the soils are compared to those of the rocks, however, wide diver-
gences are shown. The several soils vary in total lime from 1.2 to
10.5 per cent, containing hi some cases less and in others more
lime than the rocks upon which they occur; in other words, in
so far as this one constituent is concerned, the composition of the
soil bears no relation whatever to that of the underlying rock.
Soil transportation on any considerable scale is virtually ex-
cluded; but it is evident that leaching out of lime by the rain
and its concentration by accumulation and decay of vegetable
matter are both effective processes. Which is dominant depends
on circumstances, such as exposure to rain, opportunity for leaves
to fall in, etc., but the net result is that in cases where the rock
is high in lime the soil usually contains less lime than the rock,
whereas with rocks low in lime the reverse is usually true; and
the average lime content of the soil is slightly more than 4 per
cent. If a calcareous soil is defined as one containing more
lime than the average field soil (0.8 per cent or less), then the
soils supporting the growth of walking fern are certainly highly
calcareous.

The percentage of soluble lime bears no recognizable relation
to that of total lime, but it is also on the average many times
as great as the figure for ordinary field soils. The habitat of
the walking fern is thus calcareous with reference to both total
and soluble lime. It is not claimed that the plant grows in
these calcareous soils merely because of the presence of abundant
lime; more probably the lime acts indirectly by favoring the
accumulation of humus or the growth of beneficial microorgan-
isms; no doubt the physical condition of the soils, the amount of
moisture, the degree of drainage, etc., have an important bearing
on the question also; but as this phase of the subject lies entirely
outside of the scope of the present investigation it will not be
further discussed.

wherry: the habitat of the walking fern 679

The results in the last five columns, and more particularly the
last two, show that some of the soils are alkaline, some neutral,
and some acid. The chief sources of the alkalinity are, no
doubt, calcium and potassium salts of weak organic acids; of
the acidity, these acids in a free state; but the amount of soil
available is too limited to permit of isolation or identification
of these substances. At any rate it is evident that the walking
fern is not especially sensitive to variations in the reaction of the
soil.

Summary. — -It has been shown by chemical analysis that the
rocks supporting the growth of walking fern (Camptosorus rhizo-
phyllus) are by no means necessarily calcareous, but that the
soils in which this fern grows are rather high in both total and
soluble lime. Rocks high in lime suffer leaching during soil
formation, and those low in this constituent gain it through
decay of vegetable matter, the ultimate amount varying widely
with the conditions, but averaging about 4 per cent. The
above results indicate that the view often held, that the occur-
rence of calciphilous plants necessarily indicates the presence of
lime in the underlying rock strata, is untenable, except in cases
where circumstances preclude the accumulation and decay of
vegetable matter, and the resulting accumulation of lime in
the soil.

ABSTRACTS

Authors of scientific papers are requested to see that abstracts, preferably
prepared and signed by themselves, are forwarded promptly to the editors.
Each of the scientific bureaus in Washington has a representative authorized to
forward such material to this journal and abstracts of official publications should'
be transmitted through the representative of the bureau in which they originate.
The abstracts should conform in length and general style to those appearing in
this issue.

METALLURGY. — The failure of brass. — 1. Microstructure and initial
stress it\ wrought brasses of the type 60 per cent copper and Ifi per
cent zinc. P. D. Merica and R. W. Woodward. Bureau of
Standards Technologic Paper No. 82. Pp. 72. 1916.
This paper gives an account of an investigation of the cause of
failure of a number of articles, particularly bolts, of wrought brass of
the type 60 : 40 (i.e. of such material as naval brass and manganese
bronze) with particular reference to the microstruccure of the material
and the presence in it of initial stress. In the course of this investiga-
tion the physical properties, microstructure, and initial stress distribu-
tion have been studied in some 250 materials, some of which had been
in service (in the Catskill Aqueduct construction, in the Filtration Plant
of the City of Minneapolis, in the U. S. Navy Department, and in
the Panama Canal construction) and some of which was new material,
rods having been kindly furnished by several manufacturers. It was
shown that the initial stresses in rods could be relieved by annealing
for one or two hours at low temperatures, 300°C. to 400°C, at which
the physical properties of the rods were not appreciably affected.

P. D. M.

METALLURGY.— The failure of brass.— 2. The effect of corrosion on
the ductility and strength of brass. Paul D. Merica. Bureau of
Standards Technologic Paper No. 83. Pp. 7. 1916.
Investigations of a homogeneous alpha brass have shown that the
electrolytic solution potential of this material is increased by the appli-
cation of a tensile stress. This measured increase amounts to approxi-
mately 0.1 millivolt for 10,000 lbs. per sq. in. of stress.

On this fact can be based an explanation of the decrease of strength
and of ductility of brasses when corroded while under stress. Over
a roughened surface of a bar the tensile stress will vary in value,

680

abstracts: geology 681

being greatest at the bottom of furrows and depressions and least,
almost zero indeed, at the tops of the ridges. The e.m.f. will there-
fore, other things being equal, be greater (i.e., more electropositive)
at the bottoms of the furrows than elsewhere; corrosion will set in
here most rapidly, forming a crack which will grow narrower and
sharper, its rate of growth being greater the sharper it is. In time the
cross section of such a bar is so reduced by these cracks that fracture
occurs, the brass exhibiting only slight elongation (ductility) and fail-
ing at a stress value apparently less than the ultimate strength. This
explanation is borne out by the examination of a number of brass
failures which have occurred under such conditions. P. D. M.

METALLURGY.— T/;e failure of brass. — 3. Initial stress produced by
the "burning-in" of manganese bronze. Paul D. Merica and C.
P. Karr Bureau of Standards Technologic Paper No. 84. Pp.
7. 1916.
In connection with the failure, by cracking, of a number of man-
ganese bronze valve castings in the Catskill Aqueduct at or near areas
repaired by "burning-in," an investigation has been made of the initial
stress produced in a manganese bronze double bar casting by the burn-
ing-in of a constrained portion. The stresses measured were in each
case about 8000 to 10,000 pounds per square inch (i.e., the true elastic
limit of the material) and the material within the burned-in area was
of course in tension. The microstructure of the portion adjacent to
the burned-in metal was not altered; the burned-in metal was in all
cases of finer grain than that of the casting.

The conclusion is reached that, although distortion of a burned-in
casting may partially relieve the initial stresses set up by this opera-
tion, such castings will, in all probability, generally contain local stresses
of dangerous magnitude, i.e., near the elastic limit of the material.
Castings repaired in this manner should either be thoroughly preheated
or subsequently annealed in order to eliminate these stresses.

P. D. M.

GEOLOGY. — Some Paleozoic sections in Arizona, and their correlation.

F. L. Ransome. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper No.

98-K. Pp. 133-166, with 8 plates and 4 figures. 1916.
A comparison is made of ten stratigraphic sections from Bisbee,
near the Mexican border, to the Grand Canyon. Attention is called
to the thickness of the Cambrian beds in the Globe-Ray region in

682 abstracts: botany

contrast with those of the Grand Canyon section and to the exposure
in the Mazatzal Range and Sierra Ancha of a thick series of quartz-
ites, shales, and conglomerates unconformably beneath the Cambrian.

The observations presented in this paper indicate that in Cambrian
time a land barrier existed in the region now adjacent to Tonto Basin,
between the depositional basin of central and southern Arizona and
that now corresponding to the Arizona Plateau, or at least to that
part of the plateau between Payson and the Grand Canyon. It fol-
lows that while the whole Apache group of the Globe-Ray region and
its stratigraphic equivalents in eastern and southern Arizona were
deposited at probably about the same time as the beds of the Tonto
group, the beds of the two groups were probably never continuous
within the Tonto region of Arizona. It can not be said that any
particular sandstone or quartzite of the Apache group is identical with
the Tapeats sandstone.

Although the evidence from fossils is lacking, it appears to be fairly
well established that the entire Apache group is Cambrian, or possibly
in part younger, and, so far as can be seen over a wide region, is con-
formably overlain by the Devonian, while in the northern parts of
the Mazatzal Range and Sierra Ancha the Paleozoic beds overlie with
conspicuous unconformity a series of shales, quartzites, and conglomer-
ates, which is probably equivalent to the Grand Canyon series.

The marked difference in the Carboniferous sections of the two geo-
graphic provinces in north-central Arizona suggests that the natural
barrier supposed to exist in Cambrian time may have persisted in some
form, possibly as a submarine ridge, throughout the Paleozoic era.

F. L. R.

BOTANY. — Fungi of New Mexico. Paul C. Standley. Mycologia,
8: 142-177. 1916.
But little attention has been given by collectors to the lower plants
of New Mexico. The only previous list of fungi of the state, enume-
rating 46 species, was published by Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell in 1904.
The present paper is based chiefly on material collected by the author
in connection with his work upon the phanerogamic plants. Two
hundred and ten species are listed, 113 of which are rusts. There is
included a description of a new rust, Aecidium cockerellii Arthur, on
Chamaesaracha coronopus (Dunal) Gray. P. C. S.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED

SOCIETIES

BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

The 113th regular meeting of the Society was held in the Assembly
Hall of the Cosmos Club, Tuesday, May 2, 1916. Mr. Frank N.
Meyer, geographical explorer of the U. S. Department of Agriculture,
was elected to membership. The program consisted of the following-
papers.

Dr. Edward L. Greene, an appreciation: H. H. Bartlett. As it was
impossible for Mr. Bartlett to be present at the meeting, the paper
was read by title. It has since been published in Torreya.1

Winter rape and adulterants of this seed (with lantern) : Edgar Brown.
Five types of plants raised from seed imported into the United States
under the name of rape were briefly described and illustrated. The
Dutch and German sources of the winter rape seed normally used in
this country for the production of forage having been shut off, seed was
imported from other sources, including winter rape from England,
France, and Japan, annuals of no forage value from Argentina, France,
China, and Japan, and biennials of no forage value from France and
Japan.

An economic Amaranthus of ancient America (with exhibition of speci-
mens and lantern) : W. E. Safford. Among the tributes paid to Monte-
zuma by the pueblos of Mexico was a certain grain of ivory whiteness
and more minute than a mustard seed, called by the Aztecs huauhtli.
Eighteen imperial granaries were filled with it each year, each having
a capacity of about 9000 bushels. In some parts of Mexico, at times
when maize was scarce this seed was used in its stead and along the
Pacific coast it was an important food staple. Cabeza de Vaca noticed
it in Sonora in 1536. Its most important use was in religious cere-
monies, when a paste, called tzoalli, was made of it together with
maguey syrup, and images of the god Uitzilipuztli were molded of it.
After having been adorned with beautiful ornaments and carried in
procession, the image was carried to the top of the pyramidal temple
in the city of Mexico. Sacrifices were made to it, including human
beings, and the next day it was broken up into fragments and served
as communion to the people. For a long time the botanical identity of
this seed was unknown. The late Edward Palmer, while making col-

x16: 151-175, with portrait. July, 1916

683

684 PEOCEEDINGS: BOTANICAL SOCIETY

lections in the states of Sinaloa and Jalisco, found an Amaranthus
growing both in cultivation and spontaneously. Its ivory-white seeds,
resembling fish-eggs, corresponded exactly with the huauhtli as de-
scribed by early writers. Moreover its local name, "guauto," is only
a variation of the Nahuatl huauhtli. Near Guadalajara Dr. Palmer
found a paste made of this seed and sugar offered for sale in the form
of strings of dumplings enveloped in corn husks, under the name of
"suale," a corruption of the Nahuatl tzoali. He collected botanical
specimens of the plant producing the seed, which proved to be an
Amaranthus, evidently a white-seeded form of A. paniculatus. Al-
though Dr. Palmer did not realize that he had rediscovered an impor-
tant economic plant of the Aztecs, his botanical specimens together
with his field notes, found by the writer in the U. S. National Her-
barium, have served to establish the identity of the sacred huauhtli.
The possibility of cultivating this Amaranthus in suitable situations in
the southwestern United States was suggested by the writer. Very
closely allied plants, also producing white seeds, are cultivated as grain
crops in India, Thibet, South America, and Africa. Of the existence
of this particular form in pre-Columbian America there can be no
doubt. It remains to be determined whether or not the Asiatic and
African plants were endemic in the countries where they are now culti-
vated, or were introduced there after the discovery of America. Mr.
Safford's paper will appear in full in the Proceedings of the Ninth
Congress of Americanists.

Fungus fairy rings in eastern Colorado and their effect on vegetation
(with lantern) : H. L. Shantz and R. L.. Piemeisel. (To be published
by the U. S. Department of Agriculture.)

Report on the local flora: A. S. Hitchcock.

W. E. Safford, Corresponding Secretary.

JOURNAL

OF THE

WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Vol. VI DECEMBER 19, 1916 No. 21

MINERALOGY.— Hopeite from the H. B. mine, Salmo, B. C.
T. L. Walker, Royal Ontario Museum of Mineralogy.

The mineral hopeite, a hydrous zinc phosphate, occurs very
sparingly along with smithsonite, calamine, hydrozincite, spen-
cerite, hibbenite, and cerusite at the H. B. mine near Salmo,
B. C. It is remarkable that the ore as mined and shipped is
almost entirely free from sulphides even on the 300-foot level.
From this mine two new zinc phosphates, spencerite and hib-
benite, have been recently described. The phosphates occurred
in considerable quantity in a cave from which almost 100 tons
were sent to the smelter. Calamine and smithsonite appear to
be less prominent in this ore than the phosphates, which in
places occurred in very pure stalactitic masses weighing at least
ten pounds. In the stalactitic growths the central core is always
spencerite, while the outer zone is principally calamine. There
is often a solution zone between these two, and in these solu-
tion cavities small bright crystals of hopeite are found attached
to the spencerite by which they were at one time completely
enclosed. In general these crystals do not exceed 3 mm. in
length, although some attain a length of 1 cm.

Chemical properties. As the amount available was insufficient
for a quantitative analysis the mineral was subjected to quali-
tative tests and found to respond in all respects to the reactions
of hopeite. Heated in the closed tube it yields water. In the

6S5

686

walker: hopeite

forceps it fuses quietly to a clear glass, which is not yellow when
hot.

Physical properties. The specific gravity, determined by
means of a solution of potassic mercuric iodide, is 3.03. Under
the microscope the crystals exhibit parallel extinction in the
prismatic zone. There are three cleavages corresponding to the
three pinacoids. The luster is vitreous except on the macro-
pinacoid, which is pearly.

Crystallographic properties. The three crystals measured were

similar as to habit and forms
present. The macropinacoid is
generally the predominant form.
The prism (120) is usually well
developed, while of the terminal
faces the most prominent are
the unit pyramid (111) and the
unit macrodome (101). The
other terminal faces are usual-
ly quite small, but, considering
their size, remarkable for the ac-
curacy with which they can be
measured. The measurements
on the two large crystals, while
satisfactory, are somewhat less
concordant than those obtained
from the third crystal, which is
only 2 mm. in length. The fol-
lowing forms were observed:

' \ '

1 \l

1 1
1 1
1 1

/ /x

I 1

1 1

1
1

\ 1
\ 1

if'

i ~~~ — — .
i

Fig. 1.

Hopeite from British
Columbia.

(a) Pyramids (Ill) and (133)

(b) Brachydomes (Oil) and (021)

(d) Prisms (670), (120), (5.11.0), (130), (3.11.0), and (160)

(e) Pinacoids (010) and (100)

The above list contains all the forms observed by Spencer
on crystals from Rhodesia except the pyramid (233). The form
(201) observed by Levy in 1837 on material from Aix-la-Chapelle

walker: hopeite

687

is represented by one face on crystal No. 2. The following forms
have not been previously observed:

(021) represented by five faces out of a possible six on the
three crystals measured,

(670) observed on two crystals,

(3.11.0) shown on one crystal.

Fig. 2. Gnomonic projection of hopeite from British Columbia.

688

walker: hopeite

From crystal No. 1 the polar elements were found to be
p0 = 0.8277; q0 = 0.4720, corresponding to the axial ratios
a : b : c : : 0.5703 : 1 : 0.4720. These ratios are slightly lower
than those obtained by previous observers, though they are
very near the values of Levy — a : b : c : : 0.5723 : 1 : 0.4718.

The details of the measurements given in the following table
were obtained from crystals 1 and 2 except the values for the
form (103), which are from the third.

NO. 1 OBSERVED

NO. 2 OBSERVED

CALCULATED

NO.

FORM

Faces

<$>

Faces

111

60° 17'

43° 37'

59° 51'

43° 20'

60° 18'

43° 37'

133

30° 07'

28° 35'

30° 22'

28° 52'

30° 19'

2S° 40'

011

0°35'

25° 51'

0°

25° 16'

. 021

0° 10'

43°

0° 20'

43° 28'

0°

43° 21'

103

89° 37'

15° 26'

90°

15° 26/

101

89° 55'

39° 40'

88° 55'

39° 30'

90°

39° 36'

201

89° 29'

59° 04'

90°

58° 52'

670

56° 19'

89° 32'

56° 22'

90°

120

40° 42'

90°

40° 49'

89° 19'

41° 15'

90°

5.11.0

38° 44'

90°

38° 33'

90°

130

29° 34'

90°

29° 13'

S9° 05'

30° 53'

90°

3.11.0

25° 48'

90°

25° 34'

90°

160

16° 02'

89° 55'

16° 20'

90°

010

0°05'

90°

0°

90°

100

90°

89° 42'

90°

The principal faces are shown in figure 1, while all the forms
observed appear on the gnomonic projection in figure 2.

Hopeite has been found in the zinc mines near Aix-la-Chapelle
and at the Broken Hill mine in Rhodesia. The occurrence at
the H. B. mine near Salmo, B. C, is the first recorded for the
American continent.

INDEX TO VOLUME VI

An * denotes an abstract of a printed paper. A f denotes an abstract of a paper presented before
the Academy or an affiliated society.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED SOCIETIES

Anthropological Society of Washing-
ton. Proceedings: 130, 312, 407.

Biological Society of Washington.
Proceedings: 24, 78, 104, 159, 228,
256, 311, 362, 406, 519.

Botanical Society of Washington.
Proceedings: 99, 158, 191, 636, 683.

Chemical Society of Washington.
Proceedings: 302.

Geological Society of Washington.
Proceedings: 21, 155, 189, 251, 309,
404, 516.

Philosophical Society of Washington.

Proceedings: 51, 73, 128, 150, 187,

298, 361, 402, 633.
U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey —

100th anniversary. Proceedings:

260.
Washington Academy of Sciences.

Proceedings: 226, 296, 516.

AUTHOR INDEX

Abbot, C. G. fNew proofs of the
solar variability. 152.

Adams, L. H. "("Thermoelectric power
of pure metals. 299.

Agnew, P. G. *A system of remote
control for an electric testing lab-
oratory. 614.

Alden, W. C. fThe lowan stage of
glaciation — a review of the evi-
dence based upon field studies, in
1914 and 1915, by the United
States and Iowa Geological Sur-
veys. 519.

Allen, E. T. fChemical studies in
copper sulphide enrichment. 21.

Alsberg, C. L. Biochemical analysis
of nutrition. 269.

fChemical analysis of nutrition.

227, 305.

Anderson, C. L. G. fOld Panama.
407.

Anderson, J. A. fDiffraction grat-
ings: their preparation and use.
403.

Appleman, C. O. fRelation of cata-
lase and oxidases to respiration in
plants. 101.

Ashley, G. H. *Rhode Island coal.
94.

Austin, L. W. Quantitative experi-
ments with the audion. 81.

Babcock, W. H. "("Certain pre-Colum-
bian notices of American aborig-
ines. 314.

Baekeland, L. H. f Chemistry in re-
lation to war. 227.

Bailey, R. K. lntumescent kaolin-
ite. 67.

Bailey, Vernon. fGame and other
mammals of the Yellowstone Park
region. 160.

Baldwin, A. L. *Triangulation in
West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky,
Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri.
17.

Ball, M. W. *Petroleum withdrawals
and restorations affecting the pub-
lic domain. 566.

689

<ai I

690

INDEX

Bassler, R. S. *Bibliographic index
of American Ordovician and Si-
lurian fossils. 186.

Bates, Frederick. Constants of the
quartz-wedge saccharimeter and
the specific rotation of sucrose.
Part 1. Constants for the 26-
gram normal weight. 25.

Bauer, L. A. fConcerning the origin
of the earth's magnetic field. 635.

"("Corresponding changes in the

earth's magnetic field and the solar
radiation. 153.

*On the results of some magnetic

. observations during the solar
eclipse of August 21, 1914. 661.

*Researches of the department of

terrestrial magnetism (vol. II):
Land magnetic observations, 1911-
1913, and reports on special re-
searches. 49.

■ *Solar radiation and terrestrial

magnetism. 397.

fSome corresponding changes in

solar radiation, terrestrial mag-
netism, and astronomy. 155.

fWork done by the U. S. Coast

and Geodetic Survey in the field
of terrestrial magnetism. 260.

Bearce, H. W. *Density and thermal
expansion of American petroleum
oils. 664.

Berry, E. W. *The Catahoula sand-
stone and its flora. 664.

*Erosion intervals in the Eocene

of the Mississippi embayment.
92.

*Lower Eocene floras of south-
eastern North America. 663.

*Physical conditions and age in-
dicated by the flora of the Alum
Bluff formation. 505.

*Physical conditions indicated by

the flora of the Calvert formation.
567.

*Pliocene Citronelle formation of

the Gulf coastal plain and its
flora. 663.

Bingham, E. C. Plastic flow. 1154,
177.

Black, W. M. fU. S. Corps of Engi-
neers and its relation to the U. S.
Coast and Geodetic Survey. 263.

Bleininger, A. V. *Properties of
some European plastic fire clays.
506.

Blum, William. Determination of
aluminium as oxide. 421.

Bovard, W. M. ""Inclusions in silver
voltameter deposits. 222.

Bowen, C. F. "("Review of the stratig-
raphy and structure of the Hanna
basin, Wyoming. 253.

^Stratigraphy of the Montana

group. 92.

Bowie, William. "[Determination of
the intensity of gravity on land in
the United States. 187.

Breger, C. L. *Fauna of the Chap-
man sandstone of Maine, includ-
ing descriptions of some related
species from the Moose River
sandstone. 564.

Breton, Adela C. "(Australasian mu-
seums and their work. 409.

Briggs, L. J. "("Measurement of the
acceleration of gravity at sea.
188.

Brooks, A. H. *Antimony deposits
of Alaska. 567.

fThe physiographic provinces of

Alaska. 252.

Brooks, H. B. "("Investigation of car-
tridge enclosed fuses. Report of
the Bureau of Standards. 632.

*A variable self and mutual in-
ductor. 614.

Bryan, Kirk. *Ground water for ir-
rigation in the Sacramento Val-
ley, California. 450.

Buckingham, E. fNotes on the the-
ory of efflux viscosimeters. 154.

Bureau of Standards. *Report of
the 10th Annual Conference on
Weights and Measures. 500.

INDEX

691

Burger, W. H. fThe contribution of
the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Sur-
vey to geodesy. 264.

Burgess, G. K. Further experiments
on the volatilization of platinum.
365.

tSome examples of metal failures.

304.

Thermoelectric measurement of

the critical ranges of pure iron.
650.

Burns, Keivin. interference meas-
urements of wave lengths in the
iron spectrum (3233A-6750A). 399.

Burrows, C. W. *Correlation of the
mechanical and magnetic proper-
ties of steel. 56S.

Butts, Charles. fFaults of unusual
character in central Pennsylvania.
251.

Byars, L. P. fNotes on plant-para-
sitic nematodes. 99.

Cain, J. R. *Determination of car-
bon in steels and irons by direct
combustion in oxygen at high
temperatures. 225.

■ *Preparation of pure iron and

iron-carbon alloys. 147.

Campbell, M. R. Contributions to
economic geology, 1913. Part II.
Mineral fuels. 20.

Canada, W. J. investigation of car-
tridge enclosed fuses: Report of
the Bureau of Standards. 632.

Capps, S. R. *Ancient volcanic erup-
tion in the upper Yukon basin,
Alaska. 72.

*The Chisana-White River dis-
trict, Alaska. 505.

*The Ellamar district, Alaska. 93.

*The Willow Creek district,

Alaska. 93.

Clark, A. H. A new starfish {Lydi-
aster americanus) from the Gulf of
Mexico. 141.

On the temperature of the water

below the 1000-fathom line be-
tween California and the Hawaiian
Islands. 175.

On the temperature of the water

below the 500-fathom line on the
west coast of South and North
America. 413.

Ophiomaria, a new genus of ophi-

urans from southern South Amer-
ica and the adjacent portion of
the Antarctic continent. 3S4.

Seven new genera of echinodcrms.

115.

Six new genera of unstalked cri-

noids belonging to the families
Thalassometridae and Charitomet-
ridae. 605.

Clark, W. M. Colorimetric deter-
mination of the hydrogen-ion con-
centration of bacteriological cul-
ture media. 483.

Note on the sulphone-phthaleins

as indicators for the colorimetric
determination of hydrogen-ion
concentration. 481.

Clarke, F. W. Geochemical evidence
as to early forms of life. 603.

tlnorganie constituents of ma-
rine invertebrates. 191.

Cleaves, H. E. *Determination of
carbon in steels and irons by di-
rect combustion in oxygen at high
temperatures. 225.

*Preparation of pure iron and iron-
carbon alloys. 147.

Coblentz, W. W. Constants of spec-
tral radiation of a uniformly
heated inclosure or so-called black
body, 11. 418.

*Distribution of energy in the vis-
ible spectrum of an acetylene
flame. 447.

*Present status of the determina-
tion of the constant of total radia-
tion of a black body. 223.

*Sensitivity and magnetic shield-
ing tests of a Thomson galvanom-
eter for use in radiometry. 499.

Some new designs of radiometers.

473.

692

INDEX

*A study of instruments for meas-
uring radiant energy in absolute
value : an absolute thermopile. 223.

Cockerell, T. D. A. A Lower Cre-
taceous flora in Colorado. 109.

The uropods of Acanthotelson

stimpsoni. 234.

Coker, R. E. fA biological and fish
cultural experiment station. 259.

Collins, G. N. A field auxanometer.
204.

Cook, O. F. Agriculture and native
vegetation in Peru. 284.

Morphology and evolution of

leaves. 537.

fPlants domesticated in Peru . 636.

Polynesian names of sweet pota-
toes. 339.

Quichua names of sweet potatoes.

86.

Cook, R. C. Polynesian names of
sweet potatoes. 339.

Cooke, C. W. fAge of the Ocala
limestone of Florida. 22.

Cooke, W. W. fNotes on Labrador
birds. 104.

Crider, A. F. *Geolbgy and ground
waters of northeastern Arkansas.
662.

Crittenden, E. C. fEffect of atmos-
pheric pressure on the candle-
power of various flames. 51.

Crocker, William. fExpenmental
study of the life duration of seeds.
102.

Cross, Whitman. *Lavas of Hawaii
and their relations. 294.

Curtis, H. L. fThe atom as a minia-
ture solar system. 633.

Ctjstis, H. H. fAction of light on
chlorine, with special reference to
the formation of chloracetic acid.
307.

Daniels, Josephus. fCooperation of
the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Sur-
vey with the Navy. 267.

Darton, N. H. *Geology and under-
ground water of Luna County,
New Mexico. 449.

fSome geologic features of south-
eastern California. 23.

Davenport, R. W. *ReIation of
stream gaging to the science of
hydraulics. 450.

Day, A. L. fDo volcanoes offer evi-
dence in regard to the interior of
the earth? 634.

fVolcanic phenomena at Lassen

Peak. 405.

Dearborn, Ned. fFur farming in
Alaska. 159.

Dellinger, J. H. Calculation of
Planck's constant C2. 472.

*The international system of elec-
tric and magnetic units. 613.

fRationalization of the magnetic

units. 77.

Densmore, Frances. fMandan mu-
sic. 408.

Deussen, Alexander. *Ground wa-
ter in Lasalle and McMullen coun-
ties, Texas. 224.

Dickinson, H. C. fHeat transmission
through air layers. 298.

Diller, J. S. fGeologic history of
Lassen Peak. 404.

fMount Shasta — some of its geo-
logical aspects. 147.

Dole, R. B. fAction of natural
waters on boilers. 303.

*Geology and ground waters of

northeastern Arkansas. 662.

*Ground waters in San Joaquin

Valley, California. 502.

*Ground water in Lasalle and

McMullen counties, Texas. 224.

Doolittle, A. A. fMississippi River
dam at Keokuk, Iowa: Its effect
upon biological conditions, es-
pecially those of the plankton. 79.

DuBois, E. F. Basal energy require-
ment of man. f296, 347.

Eakin, H. M. *The Yukon-Koyukuk
region, Alaska. 565.

Eakle, A. S. Xanthophyllite in crys-
talline limestone. 332.

Eichelberger, W. S. Distances of
the heavenly bodies. 161, fl88.

INDEX

693

Ellis, A. J. *Ground water in Para-
dise Valley, Arizona. 450.

*Ground water in the Hartford,

Stamford, Salisbury, Willimantic,
and Saybrook areas, Connecticut.
503.

Emerson, W. B. *Distribution of en-
ergy in the visible spectrum of an
acetylene flame. 447.

*A study of instruments for meas-
uring radiant energy in absolute
value: an absolute thermopile.
223.

English, W. A. *Geology and oil
prospects of the Cuyama Valley,
California. 400.

Fairchild, C. O. Misconception of
the criterion for gray body radia-
tion. 193.

Fearing, J. L. *A system of remote
control for an electric testing
laboratory. 614.

Fewkes, J. W. Relation of Sun
Temple, a new type of ruin lately
excavated in the Mesa Verde Na-
tional Park, to prehistoric "tow-
ers." 212.

Fisk, H. W. *On the results of some
magnetic observations during the
solar eclipse of August 21, 1914.
661.

Fleming, J. A. *Researches of the
department of terrestrial magnet-
ism (vol. II). 49.

Foote, P. D. f" Center of gravity"
and "effective wave-length" of
transmission of pyrometer color-
screens, and the extrapolation of
the high temperature scale. 52.

"Illumination from a radiating

disk. 222.

Luminosity and temperature of

metals. 323.

Misconception of the criterion for

gray body radiation. 193.

Relation between color tempera-
ture, apparent temperature, true
temperature, and monochromatic
emissivity of radiating materials.
317.

Forbes, E. B. Mineral elements in
animal nutrition. |297, 431.

Fowle, F. E. "(Transparency of air
and water vapor. 73.

Fraser, W. W. "(Vectors and quater-
nions; what has been done and
what can be done. 300.

Gidley, J. W. "("Relation of verte-
brate fossils to stratigraphy. 23.

fA talk on the extinct animal life

of North America. 228.

Gillespie, L. J. Reaction of soil and
measurements of hydrogen-ion
concentration. 7.

Gladding, F. W. investigation of
cartridge enclosed fuses: Report of
the Bureau of Standards. 632.

Grant, U. S. *Geology and mineral
resources of Kenai Peninsula,
Alaska. 148.

Gray, A. W. *Protected thermoele-
ments. 399.

Gregory, H. E. "("Ground water in
the Hartford, Stamford, Salisbury,
Willimantic, and Saybrook areas,
Connecticut. 503.

Grover, N. C. *Contributions to the
hydrology of the United States,
1915. 450.

*Surface water supply of the

United States, 1914. Part III.
Ohio River basin. 568. Part IV.
St. Lawrence basin. 615.

Hall, A. "("Equatorial micrometers of
the Naval Observatory. 299.

Hare, R. F. *Geology and water re-
sources of Tularosa basin, New
Mexico. 452.

Hares, C. J. fStratigraphic relations
of some of the Cretaceous and
Tertiary formations of the Hanna
and Powder River basins with
those of the Wind River basin.
255.
•Hay, O. P. "(New Pleistocene sloth
from Texas. 24.

Hay, W. P. "(Notes on the growth of
the loggerhead turtle. 258.

694

INDEX

Hazard, D. L. "("Magnetic work of the
U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.
76.

*Results of observations made at

the U. S. Coast and Geodetic
Survey Magnetic Observatory near
Tucson, Arizona, 1913 and 1914.
397.

*Results of observations made at

the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Sur-
vey Magnetic Observatory at
Cheltenham, Md., 1913 and 1914.
71.

*Results of observations made at

the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Sur-
vey Magnetic Observatory near
Honolulu, 1913 and 1914. 358.

Heck, H. N. "("Detailed submarine re-
lief, a practical method of devel-
opment. 150.

Heller, Edmund. "("Hunting in the
Peruvian Andes. 312.

Henry, A. J. *Weather forecasting
in the United States. 596.

Hersey, M. D. Note on a relation
connecting the derivatives of phy-
sical quantities. 620.

Note on an integrating device.

617.

Theory of the stiffness of elastic

systems. 569.

Theory of the torsion and the

rolling ball viscosimeters, and
their use in measuring the effect
of pressure on viscosity. 525.

Hewett, D. F. tManganese deposits
in Virginia. 155.

Hewlett, C. W. "("Analysis of com-
plex sound waves. 402.

Hicks, W. B. *Evaporation of brine
from Searles Lake, California.
360.

Hill, J. M. *Notes on some mining
districts in eastern Nevada. 662.

Hollick, Arthur. *Geology and
mineral resources of Kenai Penin-
sula, Alaska. 148.

Hostetter, J. C. fZonal growth in
hematite and its bearing on the
origin of certain iron ores. 309.

Hough, Walter. "("Progress in an-
thropology in California. 130.

Howard, L. O. "("Possible use of Lach-
nosterna larvae as a food supply.
520.

|Some biological pictures of Oahu

(Hawaii). 24.

Humphreys, W. J. fMagnetic field of
an atom. 634.

Jackson, H. H. T. *Review of the
American moles. 50.

Jackson, R. F. Constants of the
quartz-wedge saccharimeter and
the specific rotation of sucrose.
Part I. Constants for the 26-gram
normal weight. 25.

Saccharimetric normal weight and

specific rotation of dextrose. 530.

Johnson, B. L. *Ellamar district,
Alaska. 93.

*Geology and mineral resources of

Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. 14S.

*Retreat of Barry Glacier, Port

Wells, Prince William Sound,
Alaska, between 1910 and 1914.
503.

Johnson, D. W. "[Contribution of
the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Sur-
vey to physical geography. 266.

"("Surface features of Europe as a

factor in the war. 227.

Johnston, John*. Some factors which
influence the deposition of calcium
carbonate. f297, f516.

Jones, B. E. *Method of correcting
river discharge for a changing
stage. 451.

Jones, William. *Kickapoo tales.
186.

Kanolt, C. W. fX-ray spectra. 361.

Karr, C. P. *The failure of brass. —
3. Initial stress produced by the
"burning-in" of manganese
bronze. 681.

INDEX

695

Kearney, T. H. "("Native plants as
indicators of the agricultural value
of land. 363.

Kellerman, K. F. Bacteria as agents
in the precipitation of calcium
carbonate. f297, f516.

Kempton, J. H. A field auxanometer.
204.

Klein, A. A. Constitution and mi-
crostructure of porcelain. 658.

Knab, Frederick. fDispersal of
some species of flies. 78.

Knowlton, F. H. *Flora of the Fox
Hills sandstone. 564.

Note on a recent discovery of

fossil plants in the Morrison for-
mation. 180.

Notes on two conifers from the

Pleistocene Rancho La Brea as-
phalt deposits, near Los Angeles.
California. 85.

LaFlesche, Francis. fRight and
left in Osage rites. 131

LaForge, Laurence. Resume of the
geology of southeastern New Eng-
land in the light of field work since
1908. 251.

Lamb, W. H. Moreh oak, a new name
for Quercus morehus Kellogg. 657.

Lantz, D. E. fAn early seventeenth

j^.« century mammalogist. 228.

Larsen, E. S. Lorettoite, a new min-
eral. 669.

Leverett, Frank. *The Pleistocene
of Indiana and Michigan and the
history of the Great Lakes. 18.

Littlehales, G. W. "("Hydrography
and charts with special reference
to the work of the U. S. Coast and
Geodetic Survey. 264.

Lloyd, J. U. fPractical demonstra-
tion of some of the principles of
colloidal chemistry. 308.

Logan, K. H. fChemical factors af-
fecting electrolytic corrosion in
soils and reinforced concrete.
303.

Loughlin, G. F. "("Faulting in the.
Tintic Mining district, Utah. 190.

Lubs, H. A. Colorimetric determina-
tion of the hydrogen-ion concen-
tration of bacteriological culture
media. 483.

Note on the sulphone-phthaleins

as indicators for the colorimetric
determination of hydrogen-ion
concentration. 481.

Lupton, C. T. *Geology and coal re-
sources of Castle Valley, Utah.
504.

■ fNotes on the stratigraphic and

structural relations in southern
and eastern Bighorn basin, Wy-
oming. 310.

Lusk, Graham. Food economics.
t296, 387.

Lyman, G. R. "("Pathological inspec-
tion work of the Federal Horti-
cultural Board. 158.

Lyon, M. W., Jr. "("Hemolysis and
complement fixation. 256.

fLongevity of bacteria. 406.

McAtee, W. L. fSketch of the natural
history of the District of Colum-
bia. 406.

McCollum, B. fChemical factors af-
fecting electrolytic corrosion in
soils and reinforced concrete. 303.

investigation of cartridge en-
closed fuses: Report of the Bureau
of Standards. 632.

Mansfield, G. R. *Revision of the
Beckwith and Bear River forma-
tions of southeastern Idaho. 565.

fSome Jurassic and Cretaceous

formations of southeastern Idaho.
157.

Subdivisions of the Thaynes lime-
stone and Nugget sandstone, Meso-
zoic, in the Fort Hall Indian Res-
ervation, Idaho. 31.

Martin, G. C. *Geology and mineral
resources of Kenai Peninsula,
Alaska. 148.

696

INDEX

Mason, S. C. fEgyptian use of date
tree products other than fruit.
158.

Matson, G. C. *Caddo oil and gas
field, Louisiana and Texas. 502.

*The Catahoula sandstone and its

flora. 664.

*Pliocene Citronelle formation of

the Gulf coastal plain and its
flora. 663.

Meggers, W. F. interference meas-
urements of wave lengths in the
iron spectrum (3233A-6750A).
399.

Meinzer, O. E. *Ground water in
Paradise Valley, Arizona. 450.

*Ground water in Big Smoky Val-
ley, Nevada. 451.

*Geology and water resources of

Tularosa basin, New Mexico.
452.

fPhysical features of Guantanamo

Bay and adjacent areas in Cuba.
189.

Mendenhall, T. C. fSuperintend-
ents of the U. S. Coast and Geo-
detic Survey. 267.

Mendenhall, W. C. *Ground water
in San Joaquin Valley, California.
502.

Merica, P. D. fSome metallographic
methods. 129.

fSome examples of metal failures.

304.

*The failure of brass. — 1. Micro-
structure and initial stress in
wrought brasses of the type 60
per cent copper and 40 per cent
zinc. 680.

*The failure of brass.— 2. The

effect of corrosion on the ductility
and strength of brass. 680.

*The failure of brass. — 3. Initial

stress produced by the "burning-
in" of manganese bronze. 681.

Merrill, E. D. fGeographic rela-
tionships of the Philippine flora.
78.

fSome Philippine botanical prob-
lems. 101.

Systematic position of the "rain

tree," Pithecolobium saman. 42.

Merrill, P. W. interference meas-
urements of wave lengths in the
iron spectrum (3233A-6750A). 399.

Merwin, H. E. Forms of calcium
carbonate and their occurrence.
f297, f517.

fLinear interpolation of wave-
lengths in spectrograms. 128.

Preliminary report on the system,

lime : ferric oxide. 532.

Metjnier, Stanislas. Theory of ter-
restrial volcanoes and the geog-
raphy of the moon. 637.

Meyer, F. N. fEconomic botanical
exploration in China. 102.

Michelson, Truman. An archeologi-
cal note. 146.

*Kickapoo tales. 186.

Ritualistic origin myths of the

Fox Indians. 209, f313.

Middlekauff, G. W. *lnterlabora-
tory photometric comparison of
glass screens and of tungsten
lamps, involving color differences.
447.

*Photometry of gas-filled lamps.

358.

Miller, J. M. *Effect of imperfect
dielectrics in the field of a radio-
telegraphic antenna. 359.

Millikan, R. A. fSome recent as-
pects of the radiation problem.
301.

Mopfit, F. H. *The Broad Pass re-
gion, Alaska. 95.

Mooney, James. The Greenland Es-
kimo: Pastor Frederiksen's re-
searches. 144.

Moore, J. H. fLT. S. Coast and Geo-
detic Survey's part in the devel-
opment of commerce. 262.

Mueller, E. F. fMethods of resist-
ance measurement. 52.

INDEX

697

*Wheatstone bridges and acces-
sory apparatus for resistance ther-
mometry. 563.

Norton, J. B. Eastern and western
migrations of Smilax into North
America. 281.

Nutting, P. G. Criteria for gray ra-
diation. 476.

Pack, R. W. fStructural features of
the San Joaquin Valley oil fields,
California. 309.

Parker, G. L. *Water powers of the
Cascade Range. Part 111. Ya-
kima River basin. 225.

Parsons, C. L. fRadium. 306.

Peffer, E. L. *Density and thermal
expansion of American petroleum
oils. 664.

Pierce, C. H. *Conditions requiring
the use of automatic gages in ob-
taining records of stream flow.
452.

*Relation of stream gaging to the

science of hydraulics. 450.

PiLLSBURY, J. E. fOcean currents
and deep sea explorations of the
U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.
261.

Pittier, Henry. Inophloeum, a new
genus of the mulberry family. 112.

*New or noteworthy plants from

Colombia and Central America —
5. 360.

*On the characters and relation-
ships of the genus Monopteryx
Spruce. 295.

Pogue, J. E. *Quaternary deposits,
igneous rocks, and glaciation of
the Broad Pass region, Alaska.' 95.

Poor, C. L. fOceanic tides, with
special reference to the work of
the U. S. Coast and Geodetic
Survey. 266.

Popenoe, Paul. ]Catha edulis, a
narcotic of the southern Arabs.
103.

fProgress in the study of human

heredity. 315.

Priest, I. G. fSimple spectral color-
imeter of the monochromatic
type. 74.

Pritchard, F. J. fSome recent in-
vestigations in sugar-beet breed-
ing. 99.

Putnam, G. R. fThe Lighthouse Ser-
vice and its relation to the U. S.
Coast and Geodetic Survey. 263.

Ransome, F. L. Contributions to
economic geology, 1915. Part I.
Metals and non-metals except
fuels. 615.

*Some Paleozoic sections in Ari-
zona, and their correlation. 681.

Redfield, W. C. fScope and needs
of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic
Survey. 267.

Ricker, P. L. fThe first Washington
Botanical Society. 100.

fNotes on variations in Chinese

chestnuts. 102.

Ritter, Paul. fHassler, the organ-
izer of the U. S. Coast and Geo-
detic Survey. 267.

Rogers, G. S. fOil field waters and
their chemical relations to oil.
189.

Rosa, E. B. investigation of car-
tridge enclosed fuses: Report of
the Bureau of Standards. 632.

Summary of experiments on the

silver voltameter at the Bureau of
Standards. 478.

*Volume effect in the silver vol-
tameter. 500.

Rose, J. N. Botanical explorations
in South America. f24, f636.

Roundy, P. V. *Revision of the
Beckwith and Bear River forma-
tions of southeastern Idaho. 565.

fSome Jurassic and Cretaceous

formations of southeastern Idaho.
157.

Safford, W. E. -(Agriculture in pre-
Columbian America. 520.

Identity of cohoba, the narcotic

snuff of ancient Haiti. 547.

698

INDEX

—Proposed classification of the

genus Rollinia, with descriptions

of several new species. 370.
A remarkable new Eysenhardtia

from the west coast of Mexico.

133.
— Rolliniopsis, a new genus of An-

nonaceae from Brazil. 197.
Sanford, R. L. "("Uniformity of mag-
netic test bars. 76.
Schaller, W. T. Intumescent kao-

linite. 67.

*Mineralogic notes, series 3. 453.

Schrader, F. C. fOre deposits of the

Rochester district, Nevada. 518.
Schramm, E. *Preparation of pure

iron and iron-carbon alloys. 147.
Schijrecht, H. G. *Properties of

some European plastic fire clays.

506.
Scott, H. Thermoelectric measure-
ment of the critical ranges of pure

iron. 650.
Seidell, Atherton. "("Isolation of

vitamine from brewer's yeast.

307.
Shaw, E. W. *Natural gas resources

of parts of North Texas. 566.
Shear, C. L. fDr. W. Ralph Jones:

An appreciation. 101.
Shtjfeldt, R. W. "("Comparative study

of certain cranial sutures in the

primates. 363.

— "(Restoration of the dinosaur, Po-
dokesaurus holyokensis. 258.

Silsbee, F. B. A note on electrical
conduction in metals at low tem-
peratures. 597.

Study of the inductance of four-
terminal resistance standards.
419.

Skogland, J. F. *lnterlaboratory
photometric comparison of glass
screens and of tungsten lamps,
involving color differences. 447.

*Photometry of gas-filled lamps.

358.

Smith, E. F. "("Resemblances between
crown gall in plants and human
cancer. 516.

Smith, G.'o. fU. S. Geological Sur-
vey and its relation to the U. S.
Coast and Geodetic Survey. 262.

Smith, H. M. "("Bureau of Fisheries
and its relation to the U. S. Coast
and Geodetic Survey. 260.

Smith, P. S. fNotes on the geology of
the Lake Clark-Iditarod region,
Alaska. 190.

Smith, W. S. T. Polarized skylight
and the petrographic microscope.
229.

Sosman, R. B. Preliminary report on
the system, lime: ferric oxide.
532.

tZonal growth in hematite and its

bearing on the origin of certain
iron ores. 309.

Spaulding, Perley. "("Recent out-
breaks of white pine blister rust.
102.

Speare, A. T. fSome fungi that kill
insects. 519.

Spencer, A. C. *Economic geology
of the North Laramie Mountains,
Converse and Albany Counties,
Wyoming. 449.

fGold deposits of the Atlantic

and South Pass districts, Wyo-
ming. 157.

Spillman, W. J. fA graphic method
for the determination of the aver-
age interval between departures
from the mean greater than a
given departure. 300.

Stabler, Herman. *Ground water in
San Joaquin Valley, California.
502.

Standley, P. C. Ammocodon, a new
genus of Allioniaceae, from the
southwestern United States. 629.

Comparative notes on the floras of

New Mexico and Argentina. 236.

*The genus Espeletia. 454.

*Fungi of New Mexico. 682.

INDEX

699

*Studies of Tropical American

phanerogams — No. 2. 401.

Tidestromia, a new generic name.

69.

Stannard, W. H. *A system of re-
mote control for an electric test-
ing laboratory. 614.

Stejneger, L. fAmphisbaenoid liz-
ards and their geographic distri-
bution. 406.

Stephenson, L. W. "("Correlation of
the Upper Cretaceous deposits of
the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal
Plain. 156.

*Geology and ground waters of

northeastern Arkansas, with a
discussion of the chemical charac-
ter of the waters. 662.

Stillman, M. H. *Damping of waves
- and other disturbances in mercury.
563.

Storey, F. B. *Water powers of the
Cascade Range. Part 111. Ya-
kima River basin. 225.

Stratton, S. W. fBureau of Stand-
ards and its relation to the U. S.
Coast and Geodetic Survey. 261.

Swann, W. F. G. *On the ionization
of the upper atmosphere. 398.

Swanton, J. R. "("Influence of inher-
itance on human culture. 411.

Note on the aboriginal name

"aje." 136.

Some information from Spanish

sources regarding the Siouan tribes
of the East. 609.

Swingle, W. T. "("Botanical notes of
a trip to Japan. 101.

Early European history and bo-
tanical name of the Tree of Heav-
en, Ailanthus altissima. 490.

Pamburus, a new genus related to

Citrus, from India. 335.

Pleiospermium, a new genus re-
lated to Citrus, from India, Cey-
lon, and Java. 426.

Severinia buxifolia, a Citrus rela-
tive native to southern China.
651.

Talbot, Henry. fNepigon. 160.

Taylor, F. B. *The Pleistocene of
Indiana and Michigan and the
history of the Great Lakes. 18.

Thuras, A. L. fA method of deter-
mining densities at sea and its
use in locating ocean currents.
150.

Tillyer, E. D. fA spectrograph for
photographing Etalon rings. 128.

Tittmann, O. H. f International work
of the U. S. Coast and Goedetic
Survey. 265.

Townsend, C. H. T. fStages in the
asexual cycle of Bartonella bacilli-
formis, the pathogenic organism of
verruga. 79.

Troxell, E. L. Oligocene fossil eggs.
422.

True, R. H. "("Relation of Thomas
Jefferson to botany. 191.

Tuttle, J. B. *Determination of
barium carbonate and barium sul-
phate in vulcanized rubber goods.
91.

*Some qualitative tests for gum

arabic and its quantitative de-
termination. 91.

Van Dine, D. L. jA study of malarial
mosquitoes in their relation to
agriculture. 257.

Vaughan, T. W. Some littoral and
sublittoral physiographic features
of the Virgin and northern Lee-
ward Islands and their bearing on
the coral reef problem. 53, fl89.

fSome problems in the geologic

history of the perimeters of the
Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean
Sea. 157.

Vinal, G. W. inclusions in silver
voltameter deposits. 222.

Summary of experiments on the

silver voltameter at the Bureau of
Standards. 478.

*Volume effect in the silver volt-
ameter. 500.

700

INDEX

Voegtlin, Carl. Importance of vi-
tamines in relation to nutrition in
health and disease. f298, 575.

Wainright, Richard. fCivil War
record of the TJ. S. Coast and Geo-
detic Survey and what the Sur-
vey is doing towards prepared-
ness. 264.

Walcott, C. D. *Cambrian trilo-
bites. 501.

Walker, T. L. Hopeite from the H.
B. mine, Salmo, B. C. 685.

Waltenberg, R. G. Further experi-
ments on the volatilization of
platinum. 365.

Washington, H. S. fThe persistence
of the volcanic vents at Strom-
boli. 517.

Waters, C. E. *Further data on the
oxidation of automobile cylinder
oils. 507.

*Some qualitative tests for gum

arabic and its quantitative deter-
mination. 91.

Weaver, E. R. *Colorimetric deter-
mination of acetylene and its
application to the determination
of water. 185.

Weaver, F. C. *A variable self and
mutual inductor. 614.

Wegemann, C. H. fDiscovery of
Wasatch fossils in so-called Fort
Union beds of Powder River basin,
Wyoming, and its bearing on the
stratigraphy of the region. 254.

Wells, P. V. fStudy of fog at sea.
151.

Wells, R. C. *Experiments on the
extraction of potash from wyo-
mingite. 504.

Wells, R. S. Lorettoite, a new min-
eral. 669.

Wetmore, Alex. fNotes on the hab-
its of the duck hawk. 78.

Wherry, E. T. *Chemical composi-
tion of bornite. 149.

A chemical study of the habitat

of the walking fern, Camplosorus
rhizophyllus (L.) Link. 672.

Lozenge-shaped cavities in the

First Watchung Mountain zeolite
deposits. 181, f309.

*Notes on allophanite, fuchsite,

and triphylite. 149.

fNotes on the geology near Read-
ing, Pennsylvania. 23.

A peculiar intergrowth of phos-
phate and silicate minerals. 105.

*Peculiar oolite from Bethlehem,

Pennsylvania. 71.

White, David. Contributions to
economic geology, 1913. Part 11.
Mineral fuels. 20.

Williams, H. S. *Fauna of the Chap-
man sandstone of Maine, including
descriptions of some related spe-
cies from the Moose River sand-
stone. 564.

Williams, R. R. fChemical nature of
vitamines. 308.

Williams, T. A. fOrigin of super-
stitions. 312.

Wilson, E. B. Note on relativity:
The geometric potential. 665.

Wilson, Woodrow. fScientific spirit
of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic
Survey. 267.

Woodward, R. S. fExtraction of
square roots of numbers. 299.

Woodward, R. W. *The failure of
brass. — 1. Microstructure and ini-
tial stress in wrought brasses of
the type 60 per cent copper and
40 per cent zinc. 680.

Wright, F. E. fAnalysis of crystal
structure by X-rays. 361.

Crystals and crystal forces. 326.

A geological protractor. 5.

Note on the lithophysae in a speci-
men of obsidian from California.
367.

A precision projection plot. 521.

Recent improvements in the pet-

rographic microscope. 465.

Simple device for the graphical

solution of the equation A = B.C.
1.

Young, R. A. fBotanical and eco-
nomic notes on the dasheen. 158.

INDEX

701

SUBJECT INDEX

Agronomy. References. 247.

See also: Ethnobotany; Horticulture;
Soils.
Animal Husbandry. References. 250.
Anthropology. fAustralasian muse-
ums and their work. Adela C.
Breton. 409.

•(•California, progress in anthropol-
ogy. W. Hough. 130.

Fox Indians, ritualistic origin
myths. T. Michelson. 209, f313.

The Greenland Eskimo. J. Mooney.
144.

■(•Hunting in the Peruvian Andes.
E. Heller. 312.

*Kickapoo tales. W. Jones and T.
Michelson. 186.

See also: Archeology; Ethnology.
Archeology. An archeological note.
T. Michelson. 146.

Sun Temple, relation to prehis-
toric "towers." J. W. Fewkes.
212.
Astronomy. Distances of the heaven-
ly bodies. W. S. Eichelberger.
161, fl88.

•("Micrometers of the Naval Observa-
tory. A. Hall. 299.

References. 616.

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